Recent developments in microscopic and molecular tools have opened new avenues for assessing parasitic infections in wildlife populations. This is particularly important for the noninvasive detection and quantification of endoparasites in live animals. Here, we combined copromicroscopic (Mini-FLOTAC) and molecular (qPCR) techniques to detect the infection of the macroparasite Ligula intestinalis (Cestoda, Pseudophyllidea) in fresh droppings of Gull-billed Terns Gelochelidon nilotica (Charadriiformes, Laridae) breeding in southwestern Spain. Additionally, we sequenced the cytochrome b gene in parasite isolates from Gull-billed Terns (definitive host) and Common Bleak Alburnus alburnus (second intermediate host) sampled around tern colonies to explore potential genetic differences between the isolates. The qPCR test showed a higher prevalence (18%; in 13/73 samples) than Mini-FLOTAC (8%; in 7/87 samples), indicating that qPCR is more sensitive for diagnostic purposes than fecal flotation alone. Although the agreement between both techniques was substantial (84.2%) mainly due to the large number of uninfected samples, only Mini-FLOTAC allowed us to quantify parasite loads. When combining techniques, prevalence of infection did not differ between adults and chicks, suggesting frequent trophic transmission from parents to their offspring via food provisioning. Phylogenetic analyses identified four haplotypes in the isolates from Gull-billed Terns and Bleak, all of which were placed within a European clade composed of tapeworms recovered exclusively from phylogenetically derived cyprinid fish. This, combined with the short lifespan of mature tapeworms, suggests that Gull-billed Terns became infected after consuming infected fish around their breeding colonies rather than on their West African wintering grounds. Altogether, our results represent the first record of L. intestinalis in Gull-billed Terns and the first molecular characterization of the parasite for the Iberian Peninsula. This integrative copro-diagnostic protocol can be applied to other host–parasite systems, allowing researchers to study helminth infections in wild populations in a noninvasive manner.

Intracellular plant defense against pathogens is mediated by a class of disease resistance genes known as NB-LRRs or NLRs (R genes). Many of the diseases these genes protect against are more prevalent in regions of higher rainfall, which provide better growth conditions for the pathogens. As such, we expect a higher selective pressure for the maintenance and proliferation of R genes in plants adapted to wetter conditions. In this study, we enriched libraries for R genes using RenSeq from baits primarily developed from the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) reference genome. We sequenced the R gene libraries of Silphium integrifolium Michx, a perennial relative of sunflower, from 12 prairie remnants across a rainfall gradient in the Central Plains of the United States, with both Illumina short-read (n=99) and PacBio long-read (n=10) approaches. We found a positive relationship between the mean effective annual precipitation of a plant’s source prairie remnant and the number of R genes in its genome, consistent with intensity of plant pathogen coevolution increasing with precipitation. We show that RenSeq can be applied to the study of ecological hypotheses in non-model relatives of model organisms.

Division of labour occurs when cooperating individuals specialise to perform different tasks. In bacteria and other microorganisms, some species divide labour by random specialisation, where an individual’s role is determined by random fluctuations in biochemical reactions within the cell. Other species divide labour by coordinating across individuals to determine which cells will perform which task, using mechanisms such as between-cell signalling. However, previous theory, examining the evolution of mechanisms to divide labour between reproductives and sterile helpers, has only considered clonal populations, where there is no potential for conflict between individuals. We used a mixture of analytical and simulation models to examine non-clonal populations and found that: (1) intermediate levels of coordination can be favoured, between the extreme of no coordination (random) and full coordination; (2) as relatedness decreases, coordinated division of labour is less likely to be favoured. Our results can help explain why coordinated division of labour is relatively rare in bacteria, where groups may frequently be non-clonal.

Generalist species that benefit from human impacts on terrestrial ecosystems and expand their distribution range can threaten biodiversity by outcompeting or predating on native specialists. This is exemplified by the northward expansion of the red fox onto the arctic tundra where this mesopredator threatens endemic arctic fox and ground nesting bird populations. Here, effective management efforts to control the expansion depend on understanding the spatiotemporal scales of red fox movement within the tundra, and on identifying habitats that provide food resources to red foxes. We addressed these needs by studying the geographic space use and habitat selection of 14 red foxes on the low Arctic tundra of Varanger Peninsula in Norway by means of GPS telemetry. Red foxes used large home ranges and were especially mobile during winter, partly owing to occasional movements beyond home range boundaries. Home ranges were significantly smaller near the marine coastline and at higher human land use intensities, likely owing to higher food availability. These habitat features were also selected for within individual home ranges, confirming the importance of these habitats to red foxes on the tundra. High mobility necessitates large-scale culling efforts aimed at achieving long-term reductions in red fox densities. However, localized and temporary effects may be achieved by aligning culling with periods of reduced red fox movement and breeding of vulnerable species in late spring and summer. Additionally, reducing food subsidies associated with human land use could mitigate the underlying drivers of red fox expansion, offering a more sustainable approach to management.

Experiments have shown that predation risk effects on prey fitness can be highly contingent on environmental conditions, suggesting a potential difficulty in generalizing risk effects on prey abundance in natural settings. We examine this problem with a novel approach. Rather than study the influence of a particular controlled factor, we examined the influence on risk effects of study conditions that would likely be deemed inconsequential, i.e., to factors incidental to a study. If such incidental factors influence can influence the magnitude and even direction of risk effects, this suggests risk effects on prey population density are profoundly influenced by context in natural communities. We compared results of multiple experiments conducted under similar conditions, objectives, measurables and implementation, and which captured much of the complexity of natural systems (e.g., they were performed with diverse prey assemblages (≥11 taxa) over multiple prey generations). There was consistently no risk effect of fish on some zooplankton prey abundance, but great variability effect on other prey including combinations of negative, absent or positive effects on the same prey’s abundance. We review mechanisms that could underlie these results. Our findings highlight the need to understand the mechanisms linking trait responses to fitness and, ultimately, to abundance of prey, to understand risk effects across studies and systems.

In degraded ecosystems, soil microbial communities (SMCs) may influence the outcomes of ecological restoration. Restoration practices can affect SMCs, though it is unclear how variation in the onset of restoration activities in woodlands affects SMCs, how those SMCs influence the performance of hard-to-establish woodland forbs, and how different woodland forbs shape SMCs. In this study, we quantified soil properties and species abundances in an oak woodland restoration chronosequence (young, intermediate, and old restorations). We measured growth of three woodland forb species when inoculated with live whole-soil from young, intermediate, or old restorations. We used DNA metabarcoding to characterize SMCs of each inoculum treatment and the soil after conditioning by each plant species. Our goals were to: 1) understand how time since onset of restoration affected soil abiotic properties, plant communities, and SMCs in a restoration chronosequence, 2) test growth-responses of three forb species to whole-soil inoculum from restoration sites, and 3) characterize changes in SMCs before and after conditioning by each forb species. Younger restored woodlands had greater fire-sensitive tree species and lower concentrations of soil phosphorous than intermediate or older restored woodlands. Bacterial and fungal soil communities varied significantly among sites. Forbs exhibited greater growth in soil from the young restoration. Each forb species developed unique soil microbial community. Our results highlight how restoration practices affect SMCs, which can in turn affect growth of hard-to-establish forb species. Our results also highlight that the choice of forb species can have major effects on SMCs, with long-term potential consequences for restoration success.

1. While territoriality is one of the key mechanisms influencing carnivore space use, most studies quantify resource selection and movement in the absence of conspecific influence or territorial structure without inference on resource selection processes. 2. Our analysis incorporated intra-specific competition in a resource selection framework, via territorial data of conspecifics, to investigate mechanisms of territoriality and to better understand the role of neighboring packs on African wild dog habitat selection. We fit integrated step selection functions to 3-hour GPS data from 12 collared wild dog packs in the Okavango Delta, and estimated selection coefficients using a conditional Poisson likelihood with random effects. 3. Packs selected for the outline of their neighbors’ 30-day boundary (defined as their 90% kernel density estimate), and for the outline of their own 90-day core (defined as their 50% kernel density estimate). Neighbors’ 30-day boundary had a greater influence on resource selection than any habitat feature. Habitat selection differed when they were within versus beyond their neighbors’ 30-day boundary. 4. Pack size, pack age, pup presence, and seasonality all mediated how packs responded to neighbors, and seasonal dynamics altered the strength of residency. While newly-formed packs and packs with pups avoided their neighbors’ boundary, older packs and those without pups selected for it. Packs also selected for the boundary of larger neighboring packs more strongly than that of smaller ones. 5. Social structure within packs has implications for how they interact with conspecifics, and therefore how they are distributed across the landscape. Future research should continue to investigate how territorial processes are mediated by social dynamics and, in turn, how territorial structure mediates resource selection and movement. These results could inform the development of a human-wildlife conflict (HWC) mitigation tool by co-opting the mechanisms of conspecific interactions to manage space use of endangered carnivores.

Variations in coat morphology are well-documented among felids and are theorised to aid in camouflage during stalk and ambush hunting. A diverse array of coat types has arisen in Felis silvestris catus (feral cats) through domestication and subsequent selective breeding. This species has successfully spread across Australia over the past 200 years, raising the question of whether any specific coat types offer an adaptive advantage. We used 24 657 camera-trap images of feral cats in Tasmania, Australia, and assigned each cat observation a coat colour and pattern. We analysed these data to examine how different spatial features affect the presence or absence of coat types. We also tested if cats with differing coat types were active on different days in response to temporal features, including moon luminosity (full or new). Elevation was positively associated with the presence of orange (odds ratio= 1.74, 97.5% confidence interval= 1.25, 2.4) and tortoiseshell (odds ratio= 1.93, CI= 1.32, 2.83) cats, while blotched brown cats were negatively associated with elevation (odds ratio= 0.74, CI= 0.59, 0.93), relative to black cats. All coat types were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to be active on nights with a new moon, except for orange cats who were equally active regardless of moon luminosity (odds ratio= 0.94, CI= 0.62, 1.42). Our results indicate that coat types are equally successful across Tasmania, perhaps owing to naïve prey or limited predator competition. The high activity of orange cats irrespective of moon phase may be reflective of the male cat’s tendency to patrol territory, as opposed to favouring dark nights for hunting. Future studies should consider comparing the coat types found in feral cats to adjacent domestic populations, and against a wider array of habitat types to further investigate the potential for selective pressure on feral cat coat types in Australia.

The Francois’ langur (Trachypithecus francoisi) is a rare and endangered and the indicated primate species distributed in karst area in northern Vietnam and southwestern China. However, holistic conservation management has been hampered by research limited to specific nature reserves or sites. Building a comprehensive map of potential distribution for the Francois’ langur is essential to advance conservation efforts and ensure coordinated management across regions. Here, we used 82 occurrence records of Francois’ langur surveyed in Guangxi, Guizhou, and Chongqing from 2017 to 2020, along with 12 environmental variables to build the potential habitat model under current and future climate (for the periods 2021-2040, 2041-2060, 2061-2080, 2081-2100) using maximum entropy models (MaxEnt). Our results indicated that 1) precipitation- and temperature-associated bioclimatic variables made the greatest contributions to the distribution of Francois’ langur, vegetation, water source and anthropogenic variables were also important factors affecting the distribution of Francois’ langur; 2) 144207.44 km2 potential Francois’ langur suitable habitat across the entire range in China was estimated by the current model, moderate- and high-suitability habitat accounted for only 23.76% (34265.96 km2) of the predicted suitable habitat and mainly distributed in southwest Guangxi, east of Chongqing and the border between Guizhou and Chongqing; 3) the suitable habitats of Francois’ langur will dramatically contract under future climate change and the habitat centroid will move in the southeast direction with the shifting distance about 2.84km/year from current to 2100. The habitat prediction of Francois’ langur and related drivers proposed in this work will provide essential insights for future conservation of this species, which is, not only existing distribution areas should be monitored and protected, but also conservation beyond existing habitats should be a focus of effort, especially future expansion areas, to ensure effective and timely protection under climate change and anthropogenic pressures.

Birds of prey frequently feature in reintroductions and the hacking technique is typically used. Hacking involves removing large nestlings from donor populations, transferring them to captivity, feeding them ad libitum. Potentially, via the hacking method, stress of captivity and disruption of parental feeding may be detrimental. Alternatively, provision of ad libitum food may be advantageous. Although hacking has underpinned reintroduction project successes there has been no research on how the method may affect the health and nutritional status of translocated birds during captivity. We compared blood chemistry data from 55 young White-tailed Eagles, translocated from Norway as part of the species’ reintroduction to Scotland, from sampling soon after arriving in captivity and again (≈ 42 d later) before their release. Numerous significant differences between first and second samples were found, but no significant interactions showed that sexes responded similarly to captivity. According to hematological and biochemical metrics, individuals showed several changes during captivity, including in red blood cell parameters, plasma proteins and white cellular parameters related to the immune system, that indicated improved health status. Captivity with ad libitum food was associated with decreased urea and uric acid values: high values can indicate nutritional stress. Urea values became more normally distributed before release, indicating that ad libitum food had reduced nutritional differences between early nestlings in the season and later ones. Despite plentiful food, both sexes lost body mass before release, suggesting an inherent physiological mechanism to improve flight performance in fledglings. We conclude that hacking improved the health and nutritional status of released eagles which is likely to enable birds to cope with greater costs of exploratory behavior which they may require in reintroduction projects. In this context, we note the absence of survival differences between hacked and wild raptors in previous research.

Conflicts between individuals of the same species are common in nature and are mostly resolved with limited aggression. Several theoretical studies, such as the Hawk-Dove game model, investigate the evolution of limited aggression expressed during conflicts between individuals. These studies mainly focus on the individuals involved in the conflict and their genes. Recently accumulating evidence indicates that microbes are associated with diverse functions of their host, and can affect host behavior. Here we extend the classic Hawk-Dove game model to include both the hosts and their microbes. We find that non-aggressive host behavior is more likely to evolve and spread in population when induced by the microbes residing in the host, compared to non-aggressive behavior induced by host genes. Our results suggest that microbes may help explain the ubiquity of non-violent conflict resolution. Consequently, factors that alter the microbial composition within hosts may affect the aggressiveness level in host populations.

Association is the basic unit of plant community classification. Exploring the distribution of plant associations can help improve the understanding of biodiversity conservation. Different associations depend on different habitats. Studying the association level is significant for ecological restoration, regional ecological protection, regulating the ecological balance, and maintaining biodiversity. However, previous studies have focused only on the suitable distribution areas of species and not on the distribution of plant associations. Larix gmelinii is a sensitive and abundant species spread in the southern margin of Eurasian boreal forests, and its distribution is closely related to permafrost. In this study, 420 original plots of L. gmelinii forests were investigated. We used Maxent model and ArcGIS software to project the potential geographical distribution of L. gmelinii associations in the future (by 2050 and 2070) according to the climate scenarios RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, and RCP 8.5. The causes for the changes in spatial distribution were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression analysis. The results revealed that temperature is the most important factor affecting the distribution of L. gmelinii forests and most of its associations under different climate scenarios. Further, the suitable areas for each association type are shrinking by varying degrees, especially due to habitat loss at high altitudes in special terrains. For different L. gmelinii associations, management measures should also be different based on the different site conditions, composition structure, growth, development, and renewal succession trends. Furthermore, subsequent research should consider data on biological factors to obtain more accurate prediction results.

Plants have developed defence mechanisms against herbivory, including stinging trichomes. Unlike smaller trichomes, which deter insects, the larger, biomineralized, stinging trichomes in Urticaceae defend plants from mammals. The trichome tip breaks off, pierces the skin, and injects irritants, causing an immediate sensation of pain. The herbivore will cease consuming the plant. Some herbivores process and consume nettles. Volcanoes National Park (VNP) in Rwanda provides habitat for several large folivores, including the endangered mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). VNP mountain gorillas feed on stinging nettle species, including Laportea alatipes, Urtica massaica, and Girardinia bullosa. We investigated the link between the importance (proportion) of these stinging nettles in the diet of gorilla groups ranging in the southwest of VNP and their level of defence through assessing trichome density, length, and glandular base length from each plant organ of 15 specimens per nettle species, which were photographed with a scale ruler under a digital microscope. We also videotaped 14 mountain gorillas consuming L. alatipes to examine adapted feeding techniques to cope with stinging trichomes. We found that L. alatipes, which is consumed most frequently from the three study nettles, had a significantly higher stinging trichome density compared to U. massaica and G. bullosa. However, the length of stinging trichomes and glandular bases containing irritating secrets were significantly smaller in L. alatipes and U. massaica than in G. bullosa, from which gorillas almost exclusively avoid consuming above-ground organs covered with long trichomes. This suggests that larger stinging trichomes and secretory glandular bases offer a more effective defence against mountain gorillas than increased trichome density. The trichome density of L. alatipes tended to be higher on top leaves and stem sections, which are consumed by gorillas more frequently compared to lower parts. Plants have evolved in an intricate way to adapt to herbivores’ attack.

Aim: To test whether the occupancy of shorebirds has changed in the eastern Canadian Arctic, and whether these changes could indicate that shorebird distributions are shifting in response to long-term climate change Location: Foxe Basin and Rasmussen Lowlands, Nunavut, Canada Methods: We used a unique set of observations, made 25 years apart, using general linear models to test if there was a relationship between changes in shorebird species’ occupancy and their Species Temperature Index, a simple version of a species climate envelope. Results: Changes in occupancy and density varied widely across species, with some increasing and some decreasing. This is despite that overall population trends are known to be negative for all of these species, based on surveys during migration. The changes in occupancy that we observed were positively related to the Species Temperature Index, such that the warmer-breeding species appear to be moving into these regions, while colder-breeding species appear to be shifting out of the regions, likely northwards. Main Conclusions: Our results suggest that we should be concerned about declining breeding habitat availability for bird species whose current breeding ranges are centred on higher and colder latitudes.

We use adaptive dynamics models to study how changes in the abiotic environment affect patterns of evolutionary dynamics and diversity in evolving communities of organisms with complex phenotypes. The models are based on the logistic competition model and environmental changes are implemented as a temporal change of the carrying capacity as a function of phenotype. In general we observe that environmental changes cause a reduction in the number of species, in total population size, and in phenotypic diversity. The rate of environmental change is crucial for determining whether a community survives or undergoes extinction. Until some critical rate of environmental changes, species are able to follow evolutionarily the shifting phenotypic optimum of the carrying capacity, and many communities adapt to the changing conditions and converge to new stationary states. When environmental changes stop, such communities gradually restore their initial phenotypic diversity.

Beneficial mutations can become costly following an environmental change. Compensatory mutations can relieve these costs, while not affecting the selected function, so that the benefits are retained if the environment shifts back to be similar to the one in which the beneficial mutation was originally selected. Compensatory mutations have been extensively studied in the context of antibiotic resistance, responses to specific genetic perturbations and in the determination of interacting gene network components. Few studies have focused on the role of compensatory mutations during more general adaptation, especially as the result of selection in fluctuating environments where adaptations to different environment components may often involve tradeoffs. We examine if costs of a mutation in lacI, which deregulated expression of the lac operon in evolving populations of Escherichia coli bacteria, was compensated. This mutation occurred in multiple replicate populations selected in environments that fluctuated between growth on lactose, where the mutation was beneficial, and on glucose, where it was deleterious. We found that compensation for the cost of the lacI mutation was rare, but, when it did occur, it did not negatively affect the selected benefit. Compensation was not more likely to occur in a particular evolution environment. Compensation has the potential to remove pleiotropic costs of adaptation, but its rarity indicates that the circumstances to bring about the phenomenon may be peculiar to each individual or impeded by other selected mutations.

Multi-use landscapes are now recognized for their value in supporting biodiversity and aiding species conservation, including charismatic megafauna. However, arid and semi-arid open-canopy human-use landscapes have faced multiple anthropogenic stressors over the past centuries and have received meagre conservation attention, especially in South and Southeast Asia. Colonial legacy of attributing open natural ecosystems (ONEs) as “degraded lands” and resultant policy interventions have irreversibly transformed these ecosystems for agriculture, infrastructure development and green energy initiatives. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that such ecosystems, even with low-intensity use, can provide habitats for globally threatened species and support their conservation. India, a country with megafauna inhabiting human-use areas, growing economic and climate aspirations and a colonial past, provides a model for understanding the role of arid and semi-arid multi-use landscapes in supporting populations of large-bodied wildlife. Using key informant interviews with pastoralists and single-season single-species occupancy modelling framework, we explored distribution of three species: striped hyena Hyaena hyaena, sloth bear Melursus ursinus, and blackbuck Antilope cervicapra in an agro-pastoral semi-arid landscape in India’s Deccan Peninsula. Hyena, sloth bear and blackbuck occupied 52%, 26% and 63% of the landscape, respectively, despite the absence of protected areas. Conservative estimates also suggest that Indian grey wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) was present in at least 76% of the landscape. ONEs favoured occupancy of hyena and sloth bear, while low-intensity agriculture supported blackbuck presence. Our results highlight the conservation potential of multi-use landscapes and challenge the prevailing narrative of mischaracterizing semi-arid open ecosystems as “wastelands”. We also demonstrate the value of incorporating indigenous knowledge to aid conservation research and practices. Under global change scenarios, misclassification and mismanagement of critical socio-ecological systems, such as ONEs of Deccan Peninsula, will not only directly threaten the populations of endangered species but also weaken the land sharing potential of regions.

Hybridization is a natural process whereby two diverging evolutionary lineages reproduce and create offspring of mixed ancestry. Differences in mating systems (e.g., self-fertilization and outcrossing) are expected to affect the direction and extent of hybridization and introgression in hybrid zones. Among other factors, selfers and outcrossers are expected to differ in their mutation loads. This has been studied both theoretically and empirically; however, conflicting predictions have been made on the effects mutation loads of parental species with different mating systems can have on the genomic composition of hybrids. Here we develop a multi-locus, selective model to study how the different mutation load built up in selfers and outcrossers as a result of selective interference and homozygosity impact the long-term genetic composition of hybrid populations. Notably, our results emphasize that genes from the parental population with lesser mutation load get rapidly over-represented in hybrid genomes, regardless of the hybrids own mating system. When recombination tends to be more important than mutation, outcrossers’ genomes tend to be of higher quality and prevail. When recombination is small, however, selfers’ genomes may reach higher quality than outcrossers’ genomes and prevail. Taken together these results provide concrete insights into one of the multiple factors influencing hybrid genome composition and introgression patterns in hybrid zones with species containing species with different mating systems.