搜索结果：Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Urban expansion and human disturbances have continuously reshaped land-use patterns in river basins, exacerbating landscape ecological risk (LER) and undermining ecosystem service value (ESV). To support targeted ecological restoration and spatial regulation, we focused on the plain section of the Yongding River Basin and developed an ecological restoration zoning and regulation framework based on the coupling relationship between LER and ESV. Using multi-temporal land-use and environmental datasets from 1980 to 2020, we systematically assessed the spatiotemporal variations of LER and ESV. Ecological restoration zones were delineated through Z-score standardization, while the mechanisms underlying their formation and evolution were identified using the Geodetector model. The results showed that land use in the study area had shifted from an agriculture-dominated pattern toward a mixed urban-ecological landscape, with a total land-use transition area of 404.07 km2. Built-up land expanded rapidly, while cropland declined markedly. The areas of forest, grassland, and water bodies exhibited slight reco-very under the influence of ecological restoration projects. LER showed an increasing trend, with high-risk areas expanding along the Yongding River and southern plain, whereas localized low-risk areas reflected the positive effects of ecological restoration. Total ESV declined initially and then rebounded, with regulating and supporting services showing dominance in the long-term. The ESV of the Yongding River channel was sensitive to fluctuations in regional total ESV but had not yet recovered to pre-dry-up levels. Based on the LER-ESV coupling relationship, the study area was divided into ecological protection zones, ecological control zones, ecological improvement zones, and ecological conservation zones. Ecological improvement and control zones accounted for more than 70% of the total area, constituting the primary spatial focus for current ecological restoration and risk prevention. Land use remained the dominant factor driving the spatial differentiations of LER and ESV. The intensity of interactions between natural factors and human activity factors showed a declining trend in recent years, indicating that regional ecosystem structure and function were stabilizing under ecological governance. These findings would provide scientific basis for determining ecological restoration priorities and implementing differentiated spatial regulation in the plain section of the Yongding River. 城市扩张和人类干扰持续重塑流域土地利用格局,加剧景观生态风险(LER)并削弱生态系统服务价值(ESV)。为支撑精准生态修复和空间管控,本研究以永定河流域平原段为研究区,构建基于LER-ESV 耦合的生态修复分区调控框架。利用1980—2020年多期土地利用和环境数据,系统评估LER和ESV的时空演变特征,通过Z值标准化方法划分生态修复分区,并借助地理探测器揭示分区形成及演变的驱动机制。结果表明:1980—2020年间,研究区土地利用由农业主导向城乡-生态复合格局转型,总转移面积达404.07 km2,建设用地快速扩张,耕地显著减少,林地、草地和水域在生态工程作用下略有恢复;LER整体呈上升趋势,高风险区沿永定河及南部平原扩展,而局部低风险区增长反映了生态修复成效;ESV总量表现为先降后升,调节服务和支持服务长期占主导,永定河河道ESV对区域ESV总量的波动高度敏感,但尚未恢复至断流前水平;基于LER-ESV耦合关系,将研究区划分为生态保护区、生态控制区、生态改善区和生态保育区,其中,生态改善区和生态控制区占比超过70%,构成了当前生态修复和风险防控的重点空间;土地利用始终是影响LER和ESV空间分异的主导因子,自然因子与人类活动因子的交互作用强度在近年呈衰减趋势,表明在生态治理背景下区域生态系统结构和功能趋于稳定。研究结果可为永定河平原段生态修复优先序确定和差异化空间管控提供科学依据。.

The conversion of native vegetation to anthropogenic land uses and landscape fragmentation are primary drivers of biodiversity loss and ecosystem services decline in tropical watersheds. Understanding how land use shapes the spatial configuration of forest fragments is essential to inform conservation and restoration strategies. We evaluated the configurational fragility of forest remains in the Lower São Francisco River Watershed, Brazil, combining structural metrics (area, core area and shape index) with land use and land cover (LULC). Fragility levels were defined through hierarchical classification and their relationship with LULC was tested using distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA). A principal component analysis (PCA) first summarized LULC variation. The watershed is dominated by anthropogenic matrices, with agriculture and pasture occupying 66.9% of the area, mainly pasture (57.7%). This resulted in 37,022 highly reduced and discontinuous forest fragments, of which 72.2% exhibited high configurational fragility. Savanna formation, the most representative native vegetation, had 96.1% of its patches within intermediate to high fragility levels. The PCA revealed three dominant gradients: herbaceous formations, wooded sandbank vegetation and wetlands (PC1), contrast between savanna formations and pasture (PC2), and heterogeneity of forests, forest plantation and mosaic of uses (PC3). db-RDA confirmed this pattern (adjusted R 2 = 0.362), with CAP1 explaining 92.2% of the constrained variation, demonstrating a strong opposition between natural environments and anthropogenic land uses. This study shows that configurational fragility is strongly driven by anthropogenic LULC, revealing that landscapes with the same forest cover may differ in fragility depending on the spatial organization of the remnants. In the area analyzed, sublevels High III and Intermediate I predominated, where small fragments dominated by edges coexist with larger and irregular patches, with occasional occurrences of Low III. As a management guideline, it is recommended to protect strategic remnants, intervene in intermediate areas, and restore zones of high fragility. Future studies should integrate these sublevels with functional indicators and temporal dynamics.

This study characterized mitochondrial and muscle fiber organization in the white muscle of six Amazonian fish species from the Negro and Solimões rivers, representing distinct locomotor strategies and ecological contexts. Mitochondrial traits (number, area, and volume) and muscle fiber characteristics (nuclei number, fiber size, and sarcomere length) were quantified using light and transmission electron microscopy. Significant interspecific differences were observed, particularly in the nuclear number, with Semaprochilodus taeniurus and Triportheus albus exhibiting the highest values, Pygocentrus nattereri intermediate values, and Oxydoras niger, Pterygoplichthys pardalis, and Serrasalmus gouldingi the lowest. Differences in mitochondrial traits were also detected among species. Multivariate analyses revealed that morphological variation was better explained at the species level than by dietary grouping, with higher classification accuracy when species were analyzed individually. CAP analysis further indicated that trait variation is structured along coordinated multivariate gradients integrating nuclear density, mitochondrial characteristics, and muscle fiber architecture, providing a clear separation of species according to locomotor profiles. These results indicate that muscle and mitochondrial organization are more closely associated with functional demands related to locomotor behavior than with trophic category alone. Species characterized by sustained swimming exhibited greater structural and metabolic investment, whereas benthic and burst-swimming species showed reduced or alternative organizational strategies. Diet appears to play an indirect role by influencing behavioral and locomotor patterns. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of integrating morphological and ecological approaches to understand functional adaptation in fish muscle and identify locomotor demand as the primary axis structuring white muscle and mitochondrial traits in Amazonian fishes.

Microbial communities are critical to the functioning of ecosystems and shape the ecology and evolution of host organisms. However, we have a limited understanding of how host-associated and free-living microbes differ in their structure and biogeography. Here, we test whether host-associated (fish gut) and free-living (lake bacterioplankton) microbes exhibit different metacommunity structure, spatial turnover, and consistency with neutral expectations using two independent lake systems. We characterized microbial communities in lake water (Vancouver Island and Sierra Nevada) and guts in two fish species (stickleback and brook trout) using 16S amplicon sequencing. We compared alpha and beta diversity within lakes, quantified spatial turnover (distance-decay), and tested for departure from neutral abundance-occurrence expectations between bacterioplankton and fish gut microbiomes. Fish microbiomes had lower alpha diversity compared to bacterioplankton, but higher beta diversity within lakes. Bacterioplankton were more similar across lakes yet showed stronger patterns of spatial turnover with distance than fish gut microbiomes. A neutral model explained a substantial proportion of abundance-occurrence relationships in bacterioplankton communities but performed poorly for fish-associated microbes. Our study indicates that host-associated and free-living microbes have disparate patterns of metacommunity structure and spatial turnover consistent with differences in the strength of neutral ecological processes. Fish microbiomes were less diverse at the local scale but more variable across space and time than bacterioplankton communities, suggestive of potentially strong local selection and/or reduced microbial exchange among hosts compared to environmental communities. Importantly, we observed highly consistent patterns across both lake systems despite differences in host species, sampling design, and region, demonstrating that differences in the distribution of host and environmental microbes are potentially widespread. This study demonstrates how host association fundamentally alters the diversity and spatial distribution of microbes, emphasizing the need to incorporate hosts into broader frameworks of microbial biogeography.

The Murinae subfamily, one of the most diverse and widely distributed rodent groups, is an important model in ecology, evolutionary biology, and biomedical research. However, deep-level phylogenetic relationships, especially the evolutionary status of key tribes, remain highly contentious. Although mitogenomes are widely used in mammalian evolutionary studies, an integrated analytical framework that combines comparative genomics, selection pressure, codon-usage dynamics, and morphological evidence is currently lacking. Here, we aim to reassess the deep phylogenetic relationships within Murinae, with a particular focus on verifying the proposed sister relationship between the tribes Micromyini and Vernayini. We sequenced and assembled the complete mitogenomes of a single individual of Leopoldamys neilli and Micromys pygmaeus. Through a systematic comparison of mitogenomes from 117 Murinae species-representing 13 tribes and 50 genera, we identified both conserved and lineage-specific genomic features. Murinae mitogenomes were highly conserved in structure and gene order, with length variation primarily attributable to changes in the control region. Nucleotide composition was largely uniform across most lineages, though Micromyini and Vernayini displayed distinct compositional profiles, suggesting possible differences in evolutionary pressures. All protein-coding genes were under strong purifying selection, yet evolutionary rates varied nearly tenfold among genes (e.g., ATP8 versus COX1). Codon-usage bias was predominantly influenced by natural selection and correlated with phylogenetic relationships. Critically, our large‑scale phylogenomic analyses did not support the previously proposed sister‑group relationship between Micromyini and Vernayini. Instead, we recovered Vernayini as the sister group to the remaining Murinae excluding Hapalomys-a topology that received maximal statistical support (PP = 1.00, BS = 100%). This revised phylogenetic hypothesis is supported by multidimensional evidence: (i) principal component analysis of morphological traits reveals significant divergence between the two tribes; (ii) COX1‑based genetic distances (18.93 ± 0.01%) substantially exceed both the generic (12.61%) and subfamilial (18.08%) thresholds reported for Murinae; and (iii) distinct codon‑usage patterns further differentiate these tribes at the molecular level. This study provides the first large‑scale, integrated analysis of comparative mitogenomic data, codon usage bias, and morphological data in Murinae. We supply new genomic resources, reassess the phylogenetic framework of Murinae, definitively clarify that Micromyini and Vernayini are not sister groups, and demonstrate the power of combining genomic, compositional, and phenotypic data in systematic research. These findings offer a foundation for future phylogenomic studies while highlighting the importance of validating mitochondrial‑based hypotheses with additional data sources, such as nuclear markers or morphological traits.

The "experimenter gender effect" is a pervasive confound in rodent behavioral neuroscience: the sex of the human handler alters stress, social, and pharmacological responses via olfactory cues and conserved neural circuits. Whether this effect extends to dog-a species co-domesticated with humans for over 15,000 years-has never been systematically tested. Here, we examined sex-biased social preferences in Beagle dogs during both intra- and cross-species interactions, and asked whether baseline neuroendocrine states predict such preferences. Thirty-four adult Beagles (17 males, 17 females) from a standardized laboratory colony underwent social interaction tests with same and opposite-sex conspecifics and with male and female experimenters. Baseline plasma corticosterone, serotonin (5-HT), and dopamine were measured by ELISA. Results indicated that Beagles did not exhibit significant sex-based preferences for either gender of conspecifics or human experimenters in either dog-dog or human-dog social interaction tests (all p > 0.05). However, males showed markedly higher baseline corticosterone, 5-HT, and dopamine than females (all p < 0.0001), a hormonal dimorphism that did not correlate with any behavioral measure in Spearman correlation analysis (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, this study has several limitations: only baseline hormone levels were measured (not stress-induced responses), behavioral tests involved only low-stakes affiliative interactions, and only one breed was studied under standardized conditions. These results suggest that Beagle dogs may lack experimenter-gender preference in social interactions, exhibiting stable, gender-neutral social behavior despite profound underlying hormonal differences. This decoupling of internal state from behavioral output suggests that domestication may have shaped a social phenotype resistant to the experimenter gender effect, supporting the Beagle as a valuable translational model with a stable baseline and low susceptibility to confounding social cues, making it suitable for research on affective and social-cognitive disorders.

Mixed-species bird flocks constitute a striking example of heterospecific sociality, offering participants potential benefits such as enhanced foraging efficiency and reduced predation risk. Yet, not all species join these flocks with the same frequency. Moreover, beyond simply participating, species may play distinct roles within flock networks. While some bird species may exhibit high nuclearity and occupy a central position in flock formation, cohesion, and dynamics (i.e., social hubs), others are merely peripheral followers. Understanding how phenotypic and ecological traits relate to both flocking propensity and network position can provide key insights into the drivers of interspecific social behavior in birds. Using a comprehensive dataset of over 3,000 flocks, we applied network theory to explore the relationship between species-level network metrics (connectivity, strength, and closeness), flocking propensity, and key phenotypic traits (residual eye size, beak shape, maximum song frequency, and plumage coloration) in Neotropical birds. Bayesian phylogenetic models revealed that flocking propensity was positively associated with maximum song frequency and carotenoid-based coloration, and negatively associated with residual eye size. In addition, the extent of white in plumage significantly predicted species centrality. This is the first study to evaluate whether acoustic and visual traits predict both flocking propensity and a species' structural role within flock networks. These findings, along with the moderate phylogenetic signal detected in network metrics, suggest that the evolution of heterospecific sociality may involve distinct morphological and sensory adaptations.

Island coastal aquifers, though spatially limited, sustain key ecosystem functions linked to locally critical provisioning, maintenance and cultural ecosystem services. These functions are largely dependent on the presence of highly adapted biological communities, whose microbial components remain poorly understood. Here, we describe bacterial communities across groundwater-dependent ecosystems on Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain), spanning habitats with contrasting environmental conditions and degrees of human influence, using 16&#xa0;S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. We then infer the processes shaping community variation by integrating diversity partitioning, indicator species analysis, and machine-learning classification. Bacterial taxonomic diversity varied significantly among habitats, with community composition primarily structured by turnover, consistent with environmental filtering. In contrast, predicted human-associated and potentially pathogenic taxa showed patterns dominated by nestedness, indicating localized enrichment linked to anthropogenic inputs. Caves, enclosed marine bays, and hypersaline systems hosted the most compositionally distinct microbial communities, whereas wells and anchialine pools showed greater overlap in community composition. Together, our results suggest that groundwater microbial communities are influenced by the interplay between environmental filtering and anthropogenic inputs, and that coastal aquifers can act simultaneously as reservoirs of natural biodiversity and sinks of human-associated bacteria. These findings highlight the need for integrative monitoring and conservation strategies that incorporate both hydrological and biological components to safeguard groundwater-dependent ecosystems on oceanic islands.

The soft palate harbors a morphologically and functionally heterogeneous population of sensory receptors whose coordinated activation constitutes one of the most ancient and conserved protective reflexes in vertebrate biology: the emetic reflex. Despite decades of investigation into the neurochemistry and pharmacology of emesis, the quantitative topography of palatal receptor populations, comprising free nerve endings (FNEs), encapsulated mechanoreceptors, and epithelial taste receptor cells (TRCs), remains incompletely characterized, and their evolutionary significance has received comparatively little systematic attention. The present manuscript synthesizes existing neuroanatomical, histologic, and comparative data to examine how palatal receptor density and distribution may reflect adaptive pressures operating over primate evolutionary history. Drawing on receptor density estimates from histologic studies, comparative neuroanatomy across the order Primates, and the literature on evolutionary medicine and disgust psychology, it is proposed that variation in palatal receptor density among individuals and populations constitutes a measurable bio-anthropological variable relevant to dietary ecology, toxin exposure regimes, and oral processing behavior. A model of evolutionary co-calibration between palatal receptor density, dietary breadth, and disgust sensitivity is presented. Implications for biological anthropology, evolutionary medicine, and clinical practice, including craniofacial surgery and maxillofacial prosthodontics, are discussed.

Biotic diversification in ancient lakes is shaped by complex geological histories and genetic exchange among populations. The Malili Lake system on Sulawesi Island represents a classic natural laboratory for studying freshwater fish evolution and harbors multiple endemic Oryzias species that diversified under repeated hydrological reorganizations. Previous genomic analyses inferred that two sympatric species in Lake Towuti (O. profundicola and O. loxolepis) experienced a single ancient introgression event from a "ghost lineage" derived from O. marmoratus inhabiting another lake. However, recent taxonomic re-evaluation has revealed the presence of an extant O. marmoratus population within Lake Towuti itself. This finding suggests that the putative ghost lineage may in fact represent a living population co-occurring in the lake, calling for a re-examination of the introgression history and speciation mode in Lake Towuti. By incorporating newly generated ddRAD-seq data from the true O. marmoratus in Lake Towuti, we reanalyzed phylogenetic relationships and population genetic structure among Malili Lake Oryzias. Previously reported major phylogenetic relationships and inter-lake introgression patterns were largely reproduced. In contrast, TreeMix and f4-statistic analyses revealed that introgression signals previously attributed to a "ghost lineage" into O. profundicola and O. loxolepis instead originated from the extant O. marmoratus population coexisting within Lake Towuti. Demographic model comparisons explicitly incorporating within-lake gene flow further supported a scenario in which O. profundicola and O. loxolepis diverged in allopatry, subsequently came into secondary contact within Lake Towuti, and later experienced additional gene flow following secondary contact with O. marmoratus that entered the lake. Our results demonstrate that introgression from the O. marmoratus lineage into O. profundicola and O. loxolepis was not a single ancient event, but rather a more sustained process. This finding highlights the critical importance of taxonomic resolution for accurately inferring introgression and divergence history. Comparative studies across other ancient lakes on Sulawesi will be valuable for understanding how the timing and nature of gene flow from third lineages influence patterns of population divergence and the strength of reproductive isolation.

Snakes play pivotal roles in many ecosystems. While some species, including medically important ones, are considered threatened by the IUCN, snakebite takes a heavy toll on rural agricultural populations in the developing world. Approximately 138,000 deaths and 400,000 disabilities result from snakebite annually and WHO has pledged to reduce the resulting health burden by 50% by 2030. Among a plethora of reasons for insufficient snakebite mitigation, one is limited explicit knowledge of how, where, and when humans and snakes interact, which limits the timely, accurate, and efficient deployment of resources. Here, we revise the list of medically important snakes based on recent taxonomic updates and use high-resolution data from a broad range of published and unpublished resources to compare expert-derived ranges with statistical geographical models of habitat suitability for all 508 most medically important snake species globally. Our study is the first to model every single medically important snake species including data deficient ones, at the highest resolution to date, and with the largest supporting occurrence dataset. We generate geographically explicit estimates of how much human and snake populations overlap (snake-human-overlap-index; SHOI), which is the most fundamental prerequisite for human-snake conflict to occur. Finally, we model the effects of climate change on snake distributions. We predict substantial, short- and long-term shifts in snake distributions, including range contractions for many threatened species and increased human exposure to species of major public health concern. In combination with other drivers of increased snake-human conflict, such as human behaviours and snake traits, our predictions can be used to decide where to stockpile which antivenom, how to ensure adequate capacity of individual health facilities, how to improve health care accessibility of remote at-risk communities, and where to focus conservation efforts for threatened snake species. Hence, we highlight the need for geographically targeted efforts to benefit both vulnerable human and snake populations, as part of a One-Health strategy.

While adaptive radiations significantly contribute to the world's biodiversity, much is unknown about the genetic and ecological factors underlying these rapid successions of speciation. It has been suggested that hybridisation can facilitate the speciation process by generating genetic diversity on which diversifying selection can act. Sailfin silverside fishes (Telmatherinidae) in the Malili Lakes system in Sulawesi have diversified within the last 2 million years. To establish a phylogenetic framework and investigate the presence of hybridisation in this radiation, we assembled and annotated a chromosome-scale reference genome of the riverine sailfin silverside Telmatherina bonti and generated whole genome sequences of all species of Telmatherina in Lake Matano, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, one of the world's oldest and deepest lakes. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships and inferred past and ongoing introgression patterns. Genome-wide tests confirmed two monophyletic clades, sharpfins and roundfins. However, within clades, we found mismatches between morphology-based taxonomic assignments and genome-wide genetic relationships. We found signs of both old and ongoing introgression between river-dwelling T. bonti and the lacustrine sharpfin group, as shown in elevated D-statistic, f4-ratio and f-branch statistic. Levels of excess allele sharing between riverine species and the three most common lacustrine species declined with increasing distance from the river-inlet, indicating ongoing introgression at the lake-river interface. This combination of past and ongoing hybridisation in a radiating species flock makes Lake Matano Telmatherina a particularly valuable system to study fundamental mechanisms driving rapid speciation under genomic exchange. The phylogenomic framework elaborated in this study provides the foundation for studies of the processes shaping this charismatic radiation.

Cospeciation between symbionts or other tightly associated organisms is believed to occur primarily in the case of strict vertical transmission of the interaction from parents to offspring. In a unique and obligate mutualism, Fergusonina flies and Fergusobia nematodes together form galls on plants in the Myrtaceae, primarily in Australia. The intimate biology of this interaction strongly suggests the presence of strict vertical transmission of nematodes from female flies to daughters. We obtained both fly and nematode mitochondrial sequences from extractions from 136 female flies from 118 galls of Fergusonina daviesae, Fergusonina omlandi, and Fergusonina taylori, all of which feed on overlapping hosts and are broadly sympatric to syntopic. In each of these three focal species, there were many cases of multiple fly haplotypes associated with a single nematode haplotype and vice versa. In the haplotype networks and phylogenies within each species pair, the only case of related fly haplotypes being exclusively associated with related nematode haplotypes was for F. taylori where there was a largely concordant split between fly and nematode haplotypes from Tasmania and mainland Australia. Despite strong evidence of widespread lateral transfer of nematodes within fly species, there was no direct evidence of heterospecific transfer of nematodes. Consistent with this, phylogenetic analyses of 29 Fergusonina and Fergusobia pairs found highly concordant fly and nematode phylogenies indicative of an evolutionary history dominated by cospeciation. In Fergusonina and Fergusobia, what appears to be widespread breakdown of strict vertical transmission within several species does not preclude substantial cospeciation in these groups.

Diet influences animal health and their microbiomes, potentially affecting how they cope with environmental stressors such as rising temperatures and altered food quality associated with climate change. Using a multifactorial experiment, larvae of the frog Rana temporaria were reared on three diets differing in protein, fat, and animal-derived components (low-, intermediate-, and high-quality), at two temperatures (18&#xb0;C and 24.5&#xb0;C), and either exposed or not to a simulated heatwave (28&#xb0;C for 48&#x2009;h). We examined how these treatments and associated shifts in gut bacterial indicators and predicted microbial metabolic pathways related to nutrient assimilation, host health (body condition and developmental rate), and escape behaviour. Larvae maintained body condition and developed faster at 24.5&#xb0;C, with higher diet quality further accelerating development. An intermediate-quality diet reduced responsiveness to an aversive stimulus at 24.5&#xb0;C, although this effect disappeared following heatwave exposure. Heatwave conditions were associated with increased abundance of Klebsiella and a predicted increase in the myo-inositol degradation pathway, which may influence membrane dynamics and signalling and may increase attention levels. Despite microbial shifts, host performance remained similar across most treatments, suggesting substantial microbiome plasticity and the presence of functionally redundant enterotypes that help buffer environmental stress.

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) transcription factors (TFs) serve as pivotal regulators in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress response, exhibiting great application potential in the stress-tolerant breeding of crops. Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino is a medicinally important species in the Cucurbitaceae family, whose medicinal quality and yield are directly determined by its stress resistance capacity. However, the genome-wide systematic characterization and functional validation of the NAC TF family has not yet been reported in G. pentaphyllum, which severely limits the understanding of its stress resistance regulatory mechanism and the development of molecular breeding. In this study, 86 full-length GpNAC genes were identified from the G. pentaphyllum genome, which were phylogenetically divided into 21 conserved subgroups. The reliability of this classification was verified by subsequent gene structure analysis and conserved motif characterization. Collinearity analysis revealed that segmental duplication, rather than tandem duplication, was the core driving force for the expansion of the GpNAC family, and all duplicated gene pairs were subjected to strong purifying selection during evolution. Tissue-specific expression profiling showed that GpNAC genes were widely involved in the growth and development of G. pentaphyllum, with most genes exhibiting preferential expression patterns in roots, flowers, and fruits. Phytohormone responsiveness analysis demonstrated that the majority of GpNAC genes were responsive to abscisic acid (ABA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), ethylene (ETH), and melatonin (MT), among which eight genes were simultaneously induced by all four tested hormones. Furthermore, heterologous overexpression of GpNAC68 significantly enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. This functional phenotype was achieved by suppressing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, preserving cell membrane integrity, and upregulating the expression of core drought-responsive genes. In conclusion, this study provides the first comprehensive genome-wide characterization of the NAC TF family in G. pentaphyllum, screens out key candidate genes for the stress resistance breeding of this medicinal species, and offers novel insights into the evolutionary dynamics of the NAC family in Cucurbitaceae plants.

With advances in global biodiversity data sharing, particularly following the Census of Marine Life, understanding of marine biodiversity has improved but remains incomplete. The Ocean Biodiversity Information System and Global Biodiversity Information Facility host over 150 million marine occurrence records, enabling reassessment of global biodiversity and data gaps. Here, we compile a quality-controlled dataset of ca. 48 million records covering 184,141 marine animal species, representing ~87% of accepted World Register of Marine Species and 91% of Ocean Biodiversity Information System taxa. Generalised Linear and Additive Models assess how geoecological drivers and human impact influence species richness while accounting for sampling effort and spatial autocorrelation across depth and taxa. Approximately 50% of the global ocean remains insufficiently sampled, with more than 160 million km&#xb2; below 200&#x2009;m lacking data. Sampling is biased toward developed regions, especially the North Atlantic, with major gaps in equatorial and Global South regions. Central tropical areas (&#x2009;-&#x2009;5&#xb0; to 5&#xb0;) contribute only <2.5% of global records, helping explain non-significant bimodal latitudinal patterns. Shallow-water richness is mainly associated with temperature, while deep-sea patterns relate to human impact (sampling intensity) and nitrate-driven remineralisation. These results highlight major global data gaps and the need for depth-explicit, bias-aware biodiversity assessment and monitoring to support conservation and the UN Ocean Decade.

Gossypium hirsutum is the leading fiber crop globally, but its origin as a domesticated plant and patterns of diversity in the wild remain to be elucidated. Here, we use extensive sampling of wild populations and comparative genome sequence data to illuminate the scope and patterning of wild cotton diversity across its native range. Analyses confirm the hypothesis that the Yucat&#xe1;n Peninsula (M&#xe9;xico) is the center of domestication, from which the original perennial forms and later modern annualized cultivars were derived. Population structure and phylogenomic analyses indicate that northwestern Yucat&#xe1;n harbors greater genetic diversity relative to smaller, geographically dispersed populations in northeastern Yucat&#xe1;n and the Caribbean basin. Genetic load and transposable element burden also are the lowest in northwestern Yucat&#xe1;n relative to other regions, consistent with its greater diversity and reflecting the effects of historical genetic bottlenecks in other populations. Populations from Florida and elsewhere in the Caribbean basin maintain unique pockets of diversity. Analyses of selection suggest that cotton domestication entailed long-term accumulation of mutations with relatively minor phenotypic effects, as opposed to a more punctuated process involving major domestication genes. Our study quantifies the scope and scale of genomic diversity in wild cotton, the origin of the cultivated gene pool, and the likely ecological and anthropogenic processes that shaped extant diversity and modern geographic patterning.

The escalating biodiversity crisis underscores the urgent need for a unified framework that links the mechanisms maintaining biodiversity to its functional consequences. However, studies of species coexistence and biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning have largely progressed independently. Here, using long-term data from five grassland biodiversity experiments, we quantified "coexistence potential" (i.e., the degree to which niche differences exceed fitness differences) and tested its relationships with biodiversity effects on both ecosystem productivity (via complementarity and selection effects) and stability (via species asynchrony and species stability). We found that the relationships within the coexistence-productivity-stability triad were overall positive. These patterns were mechanistically explained by phylogenetic and trait composition: Phylogenetically and functionally more diverse communities supported higher coexistence potential and greater productivity, while those dominated by species with stronger root-mycorrhizal collaboration and larger seeds exhibited enhanced productivity and stability. Our work provides integrative empirical evidence linking biodiversity maintenance to ecosystem functioning, demonstrating that conserving phylogenetically and functionally diverse communities, particularly those including collaborative species, is key to sustaining biodiverse, productive, and stable ecosystems.

Comparative analysis of 40 diploid cotton genomes reveals contrasting evolutionary patterns among gene duplication modes, linking WGD/DSD to conserved functions and TD/PD/TRD to rapid diversification. The increasing availability of high-quality cotton genomes and developmental time-course transcriptomes datasets has facilitated comparative analyses of gene duplication during cotton evolution. However, the evolutionary characteristics of different duplication modes in diploid cotton remain incompletely understood. In this study, we analyzed 40 diploid cotton genomes and transcriptome datasets from representative diploid and tetraploid cottons species to compare five duplication modes, including whole-genome duplication (WGD), tandem duplication (TD), proximal duplication (PD), transposed duplication (TRD), and dispersed duplication (DSD). The results showed that DSD and WGD are the primary drivers of diploid cotton genome architecture, although their contributions vary significantly among species. Most duplicated genes evolved under purifying selection, with WGD- and DSD-derived genes generally exhibiting lower Ka/Ks values than TD-, PD-, and TRD-derived genes. Transcriptome analysis further indicated that WGD genes exhibit the highest expression conservation during seed development, whereas TD and TRD genes showed greater expression divergence. In particular, TD gene expression divergence was observed between diploid progenitors and became more pronounced following polyploidization and domestication. Gene conversion patterns also differed among duplication modes. TD-derived genes exhibited relatively frequent and persistent gene conversion events, likely associated with the close physical distance between duplicated gene copies. By contrast, gene conversion was less common in other duplication categories. Overall, these findings suggest that different duplication modes contributed differently to cotton genome evolution and functional divergence. WGD- and DSD-derived genes appear to be associated with relatively conserved evolution, whereas TD-, PD-, and TRD-derived genes may contribute more to functional diversification and adaptive evolution in cotton. These results provide useful insights into duplicated gene evolution and genome diversification in cotton.