搜索结果：Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

The northward drift of the Indian subcontinent and its biotic exchanges with adjacent landmasses have shaped biodiversity in South Asia. We investigate biogeographic patterns and evolutionary relationships within a clade of spiders endemic to South Asia, focusing on two newly identified species from India. Specimens of the jumping spider tribe Nannenini were collected from 15 localities across the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, including Sri Lanka's diverse climatic regions and Kerala's tropical forests. DNA sequencing was conducted for the mitochondrial gene COI, nuclear ribosomal RNA fragments (18S and 28S), and nuclear H3. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference approaches incorporated these data with time-calibrated molecular clocks. Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis methods were used for divergence time estimation and ancestral area reconstruction. Our analyses identified a robustly supported Nannenini clade with three distinct subclades. The tribe likely originated in the Oligocene-early Miocene, with the crown lineage inheriting a distribution established by earlier stem-lineage dispersal between Southeast and South Asia. It subsequently dispersed across both regions during the Late Oligocene and Miocene, as climatic and tectonic changes promoted lineage diversification. The Late Miocene cooling and aridification likely restricted forest-adapted species to montane refugia, particularly in Sri Lanka's Central Highlands and the montane zones of India, facilitating isolation and speciation. Montane environments acted as critical refugia during adverse climatic periods, enabling the survival and diversification of isolated populations. This research enhances understanding of Salticidae evolution and highlights the influence of the Indian subcontinent's geological history on present-day biodiversity patterns in Nannenini. Additionally, we describe a new genus and two new species: Indodelaxia Jose & Benjamin, gen. nov., I. albomaculata Jose & Benjamin, sp. nov. and I. thusharagiri Jose & Benjamin, sp. nov. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:96083E0A-861F-4A31-AAE3-94A8BB983A6E.

Understanding how plant traits mediate adaptation and diversification across contrasting environments remains a major challenge in evolutionary ecology. This gap is especially evident in the Neotropics, where Savannas and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs), represented here by the Cerrado and Caatinga phytogeographic domains, differ markedly in climate and ecological filters, yet remain underrepresented in trait-based evolutionary studies. Here, we investigated the evolutionary history of Discocactus (Cactaceae) to identify which morphological characters are associated with species occurrence across these contrasting biomes and to place these patterns within a phylogenetic and temporal framework. We generated a time-calibrated phylogenomic hypothesis for Discocactus using the Cactaceae591 probe set and integrated predictive machine learning, ancestral state reconstruction, and phylogenetic comparative analyses to identify morphological characters associated with species occurrence in the Savanna and SDTF biomes. We recovered the first dated phylogeny for Discocactus, providing evidence for the recognition of 16 distinct species, including the reinstatement of D. boomianus. Divergence-time analyses indicate that the genus originated in the Pliocene and diversified rapidly during the Plio-Pleistocene transition, particularly within a major Savanna-associated clade. Across analyses, flower length and stem diameter emerged as the main morphological characters associated with biome occupancy. Both characters also showed significant associations with climatic variation in phylogenetically informed regression analyses, with SDTF species tending to have shorter flowers and smaller stems than Savanna species. Our results provide a robust phylogenomic framework for interpreting diversification in Discocactus and show that morphological differentiation within the genus is associated with ecological contrasts between Neotropical SDTF and Savanna biomes. By integrating phylogenomics, predictive modeling, and phylogenetic comparative methods, this study highlights how genomic and trait-based approaches can help explain character evolution and diversification across contrasting environments.

A universal method of examining patterns of biodiversity on islands is the species-area relationship (SAR). SARs quantify the relationship between species richness (the number of species) and the area of the land mass on which they occur. An extension of the SAR, the speciation-area relationship (SpAR), quantifies the relationship between speciation rate and area. Comparing these relationships across island systems globally is a difficult task because gathering and processing a large amount of species occurrence and island data often requires researchers to conduct lengthy literature searches and combine datasets from several different sources. We present ssarp (Species-/Speciation-Area Relationship Projector), an R package that provides a systematic workflow for curating data, estimating speciation rates, and inferring SARs and SpARs. The ssarp workflow allows users to generate SARs and SpARs using either occurrence records or presence-absence matrices. Functions in ssarp use mapping tools to associate GPS points with land masses, remove points not on land, associate land masses with their areas using a built-in dataset of island names and areas, and infer SARs using unsegmented and segmented regression. The accuracy of these records can also be assessed by the user through the creation of a presence-absence matrix from ssarp's workflow. The ssarp R package also provides functions for estimating speciation rates and generating a SpAR. The ssarp R package allows researchers to increase the scope of their biodiversity research by efficiently inferring SARs and SpARs with occurrence records and presence-absence matrices.

The acceleration of urbanization and the expansion of population scale have led to increasingly prominent PM2.5 pollution. Taking the urban agglomeration in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River within the Yangtze River Delta as the study area, this research innovatively constructs a 1D-2D-3D multi-dimensional urban form indicator system. By integrating spatial autocorrelation analysis, hot spot analysis, the Optimal parameters-based geographical detector (OPGD) model, and the Geographically Weighted eXtreme gradient boosting (GW-XGBoost) model, this study systematically reveals the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of PM2.5 concentration from 2014 to 2022 and the global and local driving mechanisms of multi-dimensional urban form on PM2.5 concentration. This study aims to fill existing research gaps and provide scientific support for the precise prevention and control of PM2.5 pollution in urban agglomerations. The results indicate that: Multi-dimensional urban form exhibits significant spatial differentiation, with high values of 1D and 2D forms concentrated east of Nanjing, while high values of 3D forms are distributed west of Nanjing. The correlation coefficients of Building density (BD) with Mean building height (MBH) and Floor area ratio (FAR) reach 0.78 and 0.85, respectively, indicating a distinct characteristic of urban vertical expansion. The regional annual average PM2.5 concentration shows a continuous downward trend (decreasing from 60.77 μg/m3 in 2014 to 29.52 μg/m3 in 2022), with reductions ranging from 29.55% to 40.61% across individual cities. Spatially, a hot spot area at the 99% confidence level, centered around Nanjing and Ma'anshan, is formed, presenting a stable pattern of "high in the middle and low on both sides." Regarding the global driving mechanisms, River density (RD), Digital elevation model (DEM), and Road network density (RND) are the core factors influencing PM2.5 concentration (with q-values of 0.3232, 0.2604, and 0.1852, respectively). Pollution risk is highest when DEM is in the 19-34 m elevation zone (concentration reaching 30.06 μg/m3), and all factor interactions exhibit nonlinear enhancement effects. Significant spatial non-stationarity exists in the local driving mechanisms. The regulatory effects of urban form are stronger in core cities (Nanjing, Shanghai), with local R2 values ranging from 0.30 to 0.35. Specifically, RD exhibits a significant positive driving effect in the central region of Nanjing-Ma'anshan-Wuhu (coefficient 0.80-1.00). In key transportation areas such as northern Shanghai, the coefficient of RND reaches 0.50-0.70. The positive effect of Proportion of transportation land (PTL) is prominent along expressways and around logistics hubs (coefficient 0.30-0.50). In contrast, in peripheral cities (Anqing, Chizhou), the local coefficients of determination (R2) are only 0.16-0.20. The mitigating negative effect of the Proportion of water body (PWB) exhibits a "water-adjacent attenuation" characteristic. This study effectively compensates for the shortcomings of traditional research in the systematic integration and methodological applications of characterizing nonlinear relationships, accounting for spatial heterogeneity, and analyzing multi - dimensional urban form systems. It provides scientific support and specific pathway references for the precise prevention and control of PM2.5 pollution and urban form optimization at the urban agglomeration scale. The findings carry important practical value for air quality improvement and sustainable development in similar high - density urban agglomerations.

Emerging organic contaminants (EOCs), including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and antibiotics, persist in China's surface seawater, yet their nationwide occurrence and community-level impacts remain unclear. We integrated a systematic review (125 studies) with laboratory bioassays and field surveys to screen priority EOCs, identify drivers, and assess impacts on phytoplankton. Spatially, prevalent contaminants included perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its short-chain alternatives, naphthalene (Nap), tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47), decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209), oxytetracycline (OTC), and norfloxacin. EOC composition varied among the four seas. Temporally, PFASs and PBDEs declined (driven by regulations and substitutes) PAHs showed a fall-and-rise pattern (linked to energy shifts), while antibiotics kept rising (from mariculture). Under the lenient risk scenario, several PAHs showed 27-38% high-risk exceedance; OTC and BDE-47 had > 10% medium-risk, and PFOA had 3% medium-risk. PFAS distributions correlated with waste treatment and sewage volume, whereas PAHs were driven by direct marine pollution discharge and industrial intensity. Multi-species toxicity tests ranked BDE-47 and sulfamethoxazole as highly toxic; Nap, acenaphthylene and BDE-209 as moderately toxic. In Laizhou Bay, field measurements detected Nap (101.0 ng/L) and PFOA (91.3 ng/L); Nap, together with dissolved oxygen and pH, drove phytoplankton community. Co-culture experiments showed that environmental concentrations did not alter interspecific competition, but elevated exposures did. This work links EOC exposure to regulatory effectiveness and ecological impacts in Chinese seawater, highlights phytoplankton vulnerability, and supports targeted management: accelerating PFAS alternatives, promoting green industrial transition and controlling aquaculture antibiotics, with priority on the Bohai Sea.

The environmental conditions organisms experience during early development can have powerful and sustained effects on morphology, physiology, behaviour, and performance. Such developmental effects can influence reproductive success, survival, and life-history strategies and can be transmitted across generations (i.e. trans and intergenerational effects). In this way, developmental effects can be powerful drivers of evolutionary change. Given the developmental environment affects a range of phenotypic traits, it has been proposed that physiological responses to developmental conditions are modulated through cellular mechanisms that are shared across cell and tissue types, such as mitochondrial function. Mitochondrial respiratory function is highly sensitive to environmental conditions and exposure to adverse conditions during development can have sustained effects on different aspects of aerobic respiration in mitochondria. However, it is currently unknown if these effects are widespread across taxonomic groups and which components of mitochondrial respiratory function are most likely to be affected by the environment during development. We compiled data from 86 studies to examine the effects of developmental stressors (nutritional imbalance, glucocorticoid hormone exposure, parental care deprivation, and psychological disturbance) on mitochondrial respiratory function using meta-analysis. We sought to uncover whether there are general effects of developmental stressors on different aspects of mitochondrial respiratory function (antioxidants, metabolic capacity, oxidative damage, oxidative stress, and aerobic respiration). We tested how the type of developmental stressor, together with timing of exposure (prenatal versus postnatal), and sex and taxon of the test subjects influenced the magnitude, direction, and duration of effects on mitochondrial respiratory function. Finally, we tested which aspects of mitochondrial respiratory function were most impacted by developmental stressors. We found that exposure to glucocorticoids, parental care deprivation, and psychological disturbances during development generally decreased mitochondrial respiratory function. Generally, these developmental stressors increased the production of reactive oxygen species and oxidative damage and reduced aerobic respiration, metabolic capacity, and antioxidant levels. Nutritional imbalances during development (including both restricted and excessive nutrition) had a slight negative effect on mitochondrial respiratory function, but this effect may be influenced by publication bias. Overall, our results show that exposure to stressors during development negatively affects mitochondrial respiratory function, suggesting that changes in cellular metabolism may link developmental stressors to variation in whole animal traits and individual fitness.

Multitrophic interactions can strongly influence the structure and functioning of ecosystems, but how plant diversity influences the direction and predictability of multitrophic interactions across agricultural and natural ecosystems remains unclear. Using 149 field studies across five continents, we found that, on average, increasing plant diversity tended to exert differential top-down and bottom-up effects in croplands versus grasslands and forests. Organic and nonorganic croplands exhibited 846 and 148% higher invertebrate natural enemy-to-herbivore abundance ratios under increased plant diversity, consistent with top-down control patterns where predator gains cause herbivore declines, enhancing crop outcomes. In grasslands and forests, increasing plant diversity was associated with bottom-up effects where enhanced productivity increased both herbivore and predator populations, with the enemy-to-herbivore ratio increasing 4.73% for grasslands and 21.2% for forests. Our findings suggest that biodiversity effects on productivity are not solely explained by direct plant-plant interactions and the resulting biodiversity-productivity relationship. Rather, they reveal patterns consistent with the framework of top-down and bottom-up effects, the relative balance of which may vary depending on ecosystem and management type. The magnitude of the effects of diversified farming on crop pests suggests that crop diversification may be an important avenue for managing crop pests preventatively and thereby enhancing agricultural sustainability.

Islands with contrasting herbivore histories provide a natural framework to investigate the evolution of plant defenses. Theory predicts that on islands with historically intense vertebrate herbivory, juveniles maintain strong defenses while adults may reduce them once out of reach, whereas islands lacking vertebrate browsers show minimal ontogenetic differences and generally lower defenses. Alternatively, when extinct herbivores were particularly large, selection might also favor stronger adult defenses. Despite these theoretical expectations, empirical tests across multiple island systems remain scarce. In this study, we quantified leaf physical, chemical, and nutritional traits related to resistance and palatability in juvenile and adult individuals of 60 woody plant species across 33 families from six archipelagos: three with extinct large herbivores (New Zealand, New Caledonia, Mauritius) and three without vertebrate browsers (the Canary Islands, Azores, Channel Islands of California). We found that species from islands with historical herbivory exhibited overall lower defenses, with trait expression strongly shaped by ontogeny. Adults displayed higher phenolic concentrations and lower nutrient content than juveniles, reducing leaf palatability. By contrast, species from islands lacking herbivores showed no ontogenetic variation. These results reveal the lasting evolutionary legacy of extinct herbivores and show how herbivore history and ontogeny shape island plant defenses.

Viral community structure is known to influence the evolution of microbes in diverse and complex environments. While the diversity of microbes and their viruses have been metagenomically explored in terrestrial hot springs and hydrothermal vent systems, other volcanic features remain remarkably understudied. Fumaroles (steam vents) are geothermal features that heat groundwater with magma, releasing heated water vapor and volcanic gases, such as CO2 and H2S. Fumaroles are physicochemically dynamic compared to terrestrial hot springs-temperatures and gas emissions fluctuate rapidly with volcanic activity. The viral community structures and diversity have never been systematically characterized or explored. We hypothesize that viruses facilitate microbial community adaptation to the harsh and dynamic fumarole environment. Using a sensitive profile-based approach for identification, we identify 383 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) from 46 metagenomes of biofilms hosted near basaltic fumaroles. We estimate two previously undescribed order-level clades of Caudoviricetes (tailed phages), and find evidence of phylogenetic diversification within the fumarole systems. Read-mapping analysis of three sampled geothermal regions shows unexpected diversity and community structure within the geologic system: 99.7% of fumarole vOTUs are shared between distant fumaroles, and 40°C-60°C biofilms have high viral richness and evenness that do not correspond to biofilm microbial composition or diversity. Lastly, we provide the first description of a terrestrial environment dominated by Microviridae, which has only been described in viral communities of deep-ocean hydrothermal vents. Our study offers a unique geological system for the exploration of viral ecology in extreme environments. Geothermal environments serve as natural laboratories for studying adaptations to extreme conditions that challenge the limits of microbial life and offer insight into early life on Earth. Exploring microbial diversity in these systems reveals how ecological factors shape complex communities in extreme environments. Evidence increasingly shows that viruses influence microbial diversity in terrestrial hot springs and oceanic hydrothermal vents, yet the biogeography of viruses across these systems remains largely unexplored. We present the first metagenomic characterization of viral diversity and ecology in Hawaiian terrestrial volcanic fumaroles. Our results indicate extensive viral dispersal, in contrast to the typically more constrained dispersal observed in hot springs and hydrothermal vent systems. Furthermore, we observe a dominance of ssDNA viruses in fumarole viral communities, a pattern not previously reported in terrestrial systems. Our comprehensive analyses indicate that Hawaiian fumaroles are a valuable system for studying community patterns and the ecological determinants of viral biogeography.

Madagascar-endemic chameleons with large, conspicuous occipital lobes currently comprise 12 species that were traditionally classified in the phenetic Calumma cucullatum group. We here use a combination of DNA sequences from Restriction-Associated DNA sequencing (RADseq), museomics shotgun sequencing from historical name-bearing types, and Sanger-sequenced mitochondrial and nuclear gene fragments, to revisit the phylogeny and species delimitation in this group. We find robust phylogenomic evidence for polyphyly of the group, with C. cucullatum sister to the C. furcifer group, and species of the C. nasutum group intercalated between C. malthe and the remainder of ingroup species. Furthermore, according to our mitochondrial tree, C. tsycorne does not belong to the group. Several species such as C. brevicorne and C. malthe are recovered as paraphyletic in the mitochondrial tree while being unambiguously monophyletic in the phylogenomic tree; this mito-nuclear discordance may reflect ancestral introgressive hybridization. In our phylogenomic estimations, most currently recognized species are inferred as deep monophyletic lineages, and the RADseq clustering analysis recovered these as well-defined units. Exceptions were C. jejy, which is placed as sister taxon to the morphologically distinct C. peltierorum with rather shallow sequence divergence, and the C. brevicorne / C. crypticum complex. Combining molecular and morphological data suggests that populations of C. malthe from northern Madagascar represent a distinct species, here described as C. krystalae sp. nov. Our data reveal that chameleons, despite their elaborate phenotypic differences used in intraspecific signalling and their interspecific genital differences, can be characterized by complex evolutionary patterns probably involving hybridization and introgression.

Most bird species are diurnal but drastically change their diel cycle of activity to migrate at night. Nocturnal migration has been documented using different methods (e.g., experiments, radar and radio tracking, and acoustic monitoring), but accurately quantifying the proportion of nocturnal versus diurnal flight at the individual and species levels, and understanding how this behavior evolved across the avian tree, has remained methodologically challenging.1,2,3 Such uncertainty is not only of theoretical importance but also limits our ability to mitigate conservation threats, particularly from light pollution and building collisions.4,5,6 With multi-sensor geolocators recording light, barometric pressure, and activity,7,8 we reconstructed high-resolution migratory trajectories9,10 for 411 individuals from 56 small- or medium-sized landbird species across four continents and measured the proportion of each flight that occurred during night or day. Our species-level quantification confirmed nocturnal migration as the dominant strategy among small landbirds, while also providing precise flight proportion estimates across a broad taxonomic sample and refining the classification of several species previously described as partial or facultative diurnal migrants. We found that birds initiated and ended migratory flights near civil dusk and dawn, thereby maximizing nocturnal travel. The phylogenetic signal we detected indicates that nocturnal migration is largely conserved within lineages. While nocturnal migration confers multiple advantages, the relative importance of the proposed drivers remains to be determined.11,12 Our study provides species-specific quantification of nocturnal migration, highlights tracking gaps across taxa and regions, and opens new avenues for studying the evolutionary, ecological, and sensory drivers of nocturnal migratory flights.

Primate interspecific interactions with both other primates and non-primate species range from predator-prey dynamics to affiliative behaviors such as grooming, play, and carrying. While many primates participate in interspecific associations or commensal relationships, to our knowledge interspecific social interactions have never been systematically synthesized. Here, we present the first comprehensive review of such interactions, compiling 427 cases from the literature, media sources, and a global survey of primatologists. These involved 88 primate species and 127 non-primate species (including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, malacostracans, and insects) across wild (n = 311) and captive (n = 111) contexts. The most frequent interactions occurred within or between primate families (e.g., Cercopithecidae-Cercopithecidae, Cebidae-Atelidae), though affiliative behaviors were also directed toward distantly related taxa such as dogs and birds. Play (n = 139) and grooming (n = 136) were most common. Juveniles and infants predominantly engaged in play, while adult females were more likely to groom. Adult males were less affiliative overall. Contrary to expectations, affiliative behaviors were not more often directed toward immature than adult heterospecifics. Primates were the initiators in most interactions. These findings offer new insights into the diversity and contexts of heterospecific sociality in primates and suggest that some behavioral tendencies relevant to later forms of human-animal companionship - such as caregiving, tolerance, and exploratory play - may be more widespread among primates than previously recognized.

Clarifying the cascading responses of soil carbon sinks and surface protection functions driven by vegetation restoration during the dryland desertification reversal process is crucial for precise regional ecological management. Focusing on the Mu Us Sandy Land from 2000 to 2020, this study integrated multi-source ecological indicators-including enhanced vegetation index (EVI), gross primary productivity (GPP), soil organic carbon density (SOCD), and soil erosion rate (ERO)-and combined spatial autocorrelation, machine learning, generalized additive models, and structural equation modeling to systematically elucidate spatiotemporal evolution patterns, non-linear threshold characteristics, and driving mechanism transitions of vegetation restoration-carbon sink-erosion cascading effects. The results showed that: (1) Above- and below-ground ecological processes exhibited significant spatiotemporal asynchrony: EVI and GPP achieved robust region-wide recovery, while SOCD responses demonstrated pronounced time lag, spatial heterogeneity, and a fragmented pattern characterized by "weak global autocorrelation and strong local mismatch". (2) Vegetation-driven effects on deep ecological functions exhibited strict non-linear threshold characteristics: an EVI range of 0.142-0.160 constituted the critical "effective window" for ecological intervention, beyond which marginal gains diminished rapidly toward saturation. (3) The regional ecosystem driving paradigm achieved a fundamental transition, as statistically inferred from SEM and RDA, from a passive degradation mode "dominated by climate-physical stress" in 2000 to an active synergistic mode of "deep regulation by the vegetation hub" in 2020, with precipitation's ecological role completely reversing from an erosive force to a system resource. This study emphasizes that dryland ecological restoration urgently requires abandoning singular scale-expansion greening paradigms in favor of precise threshold-based regulation, adhering to the principle of "determining vegetation by water availability" to guarantee long-term multi-service synergy.

To investigate the level of functional coupling and coordination among the Production-Living-Ecological Space (PLES) in rural counties of Southern Xinjiang, as well as the classification of rural functions and pathways for enhancing their configurations, this study took 42 counties (cities) in Southern Xinjiang from 2010 to 2022 as research units. A multidimensional evaluation index system for rural production, living, and ecological functions was constructed, and analysis was conducted using a combination of methods, including the entropy method, horizontal and vertical comparisons, and fuzzy‑set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results indicate that: (1) The degree of functional coupling and coordination among the PLES in Southern Xinjiang has shown a steady, stepwise increase. Overall, functional values exhibit an upward trend, with rural production functions showing a marked improvement, living functions improving more rapidly, and ecological functions improving more slowly. Spatially, the distribution follows a "higher in the north, lower in the south" pattern, with high-value areas concentrated in the Aksu Prefecture. The scope of high-high clusters has shrunk, forming a pattern of "localized clustering and overall dispersion." (2) Based on the functional values of PLES, rural areas in Southern Xinjiang counties were classified into four types: weakly integrated, dual-function coordinated, single-function dominant, and multifunctional. Among these, the dual-function coordinated (production-ecology coordinated) type has the widest geographical distribution. (3) Diverse configuration pathways, such as scale-driven and density-optimized models, were identified, with analysis revealing that fixed-asset investment and the value added from the secondary and tertiary industries are the core factors driving these patterns. In summary, the findings of this study can support the formulation of targeted policies for PLES functions in Southern Xinjiang's counties, thereby promoting comprehensive rural revitalization and accelerating the modernization of agriculture and rural areas in the region.

Understanding how organisms respond to temperature variation has become central to ecology and evolution because of its role in shaping species' physiology, distribution, and ecological interactions. Thermal tolerances are critical for ectothermic organisms, which have evolved a variety of behavioral and physiological strategies to manage thermal stress that vary widely across geographic and temporal scales. This study synthesizes existing information on bees' critical thermal maximum (CTmax) and minimum (CTmin) through a systematic review of published data. Despite bees' ecological importance, research on such common metrics of thermal tolerance remains scarce, with fewer than 50 accumulated studies over the past 30 years and less than 1% of species represented. Data are biased to North America, especially the USA, Oceania and Europe, leaving vast regions unexplored. We found that while CTmax correlated with variables related to body size and ramping rates during measurement but no with mean, maximum and minimum temperatures; CTmin only correlate with the coldest month's minimum temperature and mean annual temperature. These patterns underscore the role of local climate in shaping thermal adaptation. However, major knowledge gaps persist, limiting predictions of climate change impacts. We call for broader studies on intra-specific thermal tolerance variation across geography, life stages, and social traits to predict climate change impacts and guide bee conservation.

The co-occurrence of species within the same area raises fundamental questions about how they can persist while sharing space and resources. One of the central aims of community ecology is to understand the processes that allow species to coexist over time. The sympatry between primates and ungulates has not received much specialized attention, despite long-term acknowledgment that the two groups frequently co-occur. In this contribution, we have reviewed and summarized empirical evidence from a set of published studies to determine the nature of primate and ungulate association in space and time, the ecological contexts within which such associations occur, and the types of interactions that have been reported. We particularly examined the trends in the study taxa, the geographic distribution of research, and the functional categories of interactions. Within the literature, interspecific interactions are frequently reported in Africa, between baboons (Papio sp.) and small to medium-sized ungulates. Foraging facilitation and antipredator benefits are among the most frequently documented interaction types, typically resulting in commensalistic or asymmetrical mutualistic outcomes favouring ungulate species. Nonetheless, mutualism and antagonistic interactions are also reported, which indicates the context-dependent nature of these relationships. The frequency and form of associations appear to further depend on seasonal variation and habitat structure, although these factors were not consistently taken into account in the studies considered in this review. This synthesis helps establish a set of research priorities to promote more systematic and focused studies of primate-ungulate sympatry.

N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) and its oxidation product 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-Q) are tire-derived contaminants increasingly detected in urban water matrices. Here, we systematically investigate aluminum-based electrocoagulation (EC) for their removal and elucidate the governing electrochemical and molecular mechanisms. Removal performance was strongly electrolyte-dependent: in 0.1&#x202f;mol&#x202f;L-1 NaCl at 1.5&#x202f;V (vs. Ag/AgCl), 6PPD and 6PPD-Q removals reached 80.7&#x202f;&#xb1;&#x202f;2.2% (60&#x202f;min) and 90.5&#x202f;&#xb1;&#x202f;1.5% (5&#x202f;min), respectively, whereas sulfate media yielded <&#x202f;15% removal. Electrochemical impedance and polarization analyses revealed that chloride promotes anodic depassivation, lowers charge-transfer resistance, and sustains active aluminum dissolution. Comparative anode experiments (Al, Pt, and boron-doped diamond) demonstrated that removal in the Al system was not governed by reactive chlorine species. Despite minimal free chlorine accumulation, Al-based EC outperformed Pt-based oxidation, indicating that in situ coagulation dominated over indirect oxidation. Kinetic modeling favored a pseudo-second-order adsorption framework, indicating adsorption-controlled sequestration. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provided a molecular-level basis for this structure-dependent difference. Reactive-site analysis identified the carbonyl oxygens of 6PPD-Q as its most nucleophilic sites, and cluster-based calculations showed that 6PPD-Q binds more strongly than 6PPD to aluminum hydroxide surfaces across both coordination and hydrogen-bonding modes. MD simulations on a solvated surface corroborated this stronger interfacial affinity, together providing a molecular-level explanation for the faster removal of 6PPD-Q relative to 6PPD. Ultimately, these findings establish that molecular structure governs the adsorption behavior and removal kinetics of tire-derived contaminants on in-situ aluminum flocs, with chloride-promoted dissolution as the enabling condition, providing a mechanistic basis for treating TWP-contaminated waters.

The evolutionary arms race between plants and herbivores led to numerous plant adaptations, including spinescence. However, the balance between herbivory and abiotic conditions in the evolution of spinescence remains unclear. We integrated phylogenetic, geographic, and trait data for 2686 species of an ecologically diverse and spinescent pantropical lineage, mimosoid legumes, with distribution data on 368 extant and extinct mammalian herbivores &#x2265;&#x2009;10&#x2009;kg. Using structural equation models, we assessed how herbivores, climate, soil, and fire directly and indirectly affected the proportion of spinescent mimosoids across global and continental assemblages. Models incorporating extinct herbivore assemblages explained more variation in the proportion of spiny species than those based solely on extant herbivores. Dry-season length and soil pH increased spinescence both directly and indirectly through their effects on herbivore richness. These abiotic effects exceeded herbivore effects at continental scales. Fire influenced spinescence only indirectly via its positive relationship with herbivore richness. Finally, spinescence evolved repeatedly across mimosoids from c. 35 million years ago, pre-dating the Miocene savanna expansion. Our study suggests that past herbivore communities have left a lasting imprint on present-day plant defence patterns and that long-term climatic transitions and the emergence of open, herbivore-rich landscapes played crucial roles in the evolution and distribution of spinescence.

Subspecies of Parazoanthus axinellae have been largely ignored since their inception and modern authors write of morphotypes rather than attempting to assign their specimens to these existing taxa. This hesitation to apply subspecies names is rooted in taxon definitions written to 19th century standards coupled with failure to designate type specimens that could be reexamined for clarification. Revealing the types or verifying that they no longer exist so that topotypes may be designated as neotypes creates a path for clarification of existing taxonomic hypotheses and discovering which modern morphotypes or cryptic taxa lay outside those circumscriptions. Here we reconstructed the history and updated the diagnoses of the types of P. axinellae and its nominal subspecies by reviewing historic scientific and archival documents, verifying type existence with their current caretakers, and reexamining their microanatomy. We identified type specimens and designated lectotypes and paralectotypes from the syntype series of Parazoanthus axinellae and subspecies axinellae,liguricus, and muelleri, redescribed them from histology of their type material, and provide diagnostic traits for identification in the field or laboratory. Type material for brevitentacularis was not recovered and permission to resample the type location has been denied.