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Synthesis research in ecology and environmental science improves understanding, advances theory, identifies research priorities, and supports management strategies by linking data, ideas, and tools. Accelerating environmental challenges increases the need to focus synthesis science on the most pressing questions. To leverage input from the broader research community, we convened a virtual workshop with participants from many countries and disciplines to examine how and where synthesis can address key questions and themes in ecology and environmental science in the coming decade. Seven priority research topics emerged: (1) diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), (2) human and natural systems, (3) actionable and use-inspired science, (4) scale, (5) generality, (6) complexity and resilience, and (7) predictability. Additionally, two issues regarding the general practice of synthesis emerged: the need for increased participant diversity and inclusive research practices; and increased and improved data flow, access, and skill-building. These topics and practices provide a strategic vision for future synthesis in ecology and environmental science.

We evaluated several horticultural cultivars and species of Monarda, a genus native to North America with a center of diversity in the Southeast and advertised as beneficial to wildlife, to assess landscape performance with respect to vegetative habit, flower production, and disease tolerance in Georgia Piedmont and montane habitats. We established two experimental sites: the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens (USDA Zone 8b) and the Georgia Mountain Education and Research Center in Blairsville (USDA Zone 7b). We then tracked plant performance over 2 years after establishment. Our study included 10 samples of Monarda, representing five cultivars and four species. Estimated height and width at flowering showed M. bradburiana, M. Sugar BuzzVR Grape Gumball, and the M. punctata ecotypes were smaller than other tested taxa. M. fistulosa had the most flowers at the Blairsville site and equal flowering with M. punctata at the Athens location, but most taxa flowered for 2 to 3 months with ~100 flowering stems per stand. All samples were susceptible to powdery mildew, but M. bradburiana displayed the highest level of tolerance. Otherwise, cultivars tended to be more tolerant to powdery mildew than species. The observed variations in horticultural characteristics and performance highlight the high value of this genus for Georgia landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emergent evidence base indicates a higher prevalence of autism exists amongst people attending gender identity clinics. This qualitative study explored adults' with autism experiences of coming to understand and address their gender dysphoria (GD). Data were collected and analysed using Grounded Theory. Ten adults with autism and GD undertook semi-structured interviews. A tentative theoretical framework of common processes involved in understanding and addressing GD for individuals with autism was developed. The experience is captured in the core category--"Conflict versus Congruence." A key finding was the impact of autism as a barrier but sometimes a protective factor in participants' understanding and addressing GD. Participants appeared to achieve greater personal congruence and wellbeing upon transition. Nevertheless, conflicts remained as they navigated the social world with a continuing fear of hostility and sense of difference due to having two stigmatised identities.

Ecosystems vary broadly in their responses to disturbance, ranging from highly impacted to resilient or resistant. We conducted a large‐scale analysis of hurricane disturbance effects on coastal marshes by examining 20 years of data from 10 sites covering 100,000 ha at the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long‐Term Ecological Research site distributed across gradients of salinity and proximity to the ocean. We analyzed the impacts of Hurricanes Matthew (in 2016) and Irma (in 2017) on marsh biota (plants, crabs, and snails) and physical attributes (erosion, wrack deposition, and sedimentation). We compared these variables prior to the storms (2000–2015) to years with storms (2016, 2017) to those after the storms (2018–2020). Hurricanes generated storm surges that increased water depth and salinity of oligotrophic areas for up to 48 h. Biological variables in the marsh showed few effects of the hurricanes. The only physical variable affected was creek bank slumping; however, slumping had already increased a year before the hurricanes, suggesting that slumping could have a different cause. Thus, our study uncovered only minor, ephemeral impacts on Georgia coastal marshes, highlighting their resistance to hurricane disturbance of the lower magnitude that typically confronts this region of coastline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emergent evidence base indicates a higher prevalence of autism exists amongst people attending gender identity clinics. This qualitative study explored adults' with autism experiences of coming to understand and address their gender dysphoria (GD). Data were collected and analysed using Grounded Theory. Ten adults with autism and GD undertook semi-structured interviews. A tentative theoretical framework of common processes involved in understanding and addressing GD for individuals with autism was developed. The experience is captured in the core category-Conflict versus Congruence. A key finding was the impact of autism as a barrier but sometimes a protective factor in participants' understanding and addressing GD. Participants appeared to achieve greater personal congruence and wellbeing upon transition. Nevertheless, conflicts remained as they navigated the social world with a continuing fear of hostility and sense of difference due to having two stigmatised identities., Author(s): Rachel S. Coleman-Smith [sup.1] [sup.3] , Richard Smith [sup.2] , Elizabeth Milne [sup.1] , Andrew R. Thompson [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.11835.3e, 0000 0004 1936 9262, Department of Psychology, [...]

Strategies for managing biological invasions are often based on the premise that characteristics of invading species and the invaded environment are key predictors of the invader's distribution. Yet, for either biological traits or environmental characteristics to explain distribution, adequate time must have elapsed for species to spread to all potential habitats. We compiled and analyzed a database of natural history and ecological traits of 138 coastal marine invertebrate species, the environmental conditions at sites to which they have been introduced, and their date of first introduction. We found that time since introduction explained the largest fraction (20%) of the variability in non-native range size, while traits of the species and environmental variables had significant, but minimal, influence on non-native range size. The positive relationship between time since introduction and range size indicates that non-native marine invertebrate species are not at equilibrium and are still spreading, posing a major challenge for management of coastal ecosystems.

The annual "Horizon Report" describes the continuing work of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, a qualitative research project established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years. The "Report" is produced as part of an ongoing collaboration between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program. The 2010 Advisory Board, like those before it, considered a broad picture of emerging technology and its intersection with the academic world through a close examination of primary sources as well as through the lens of their own experiences and perspectives. The six technologies featured in each "Horizon Report" are placed along three adoption horizons that indicate likely time frames for their entrance into mainstream use. Note that the "Horizon Report" is not a predictive tool. It is meant, rather, to highlight emerging technologies with considerable potential for teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. Each of them is already the focus of work at a number of innovative institutions around the world, and the work the authors showcase in this article reveals the promise of a wider impact. The technologies to watch on the near-term horizon--within the next 12 months--are "mobile computing" and "open content". In the second adoption horizon--two to three years out--people will begin to see widespread adoptions of "electronic books" and "simple augmented reality". On the far-term horizon--four to five years--are "gesture-based computing" and "visual data analysis".

The Horizon Report series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The report examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. This report presents five trends that have been identified as key drivers of technology adoptions for the period 2010 through 2015 and the technologies to watch featured in the "Horizon Report" which include: cloud computing and collaborative environments under the near-term horizon; game-based learning and mobiles for the second adoption horizon; and augmented reality and flexible displays for the far-term horizon.

This paper provides a history of the "Pachyderm 2.0 Project," a partnership led by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMONA), and funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The project brings software development teams and digital library experts from six NMC universities together with counterparts from six major museums to create a new, open-source authoring environment for creators of Web-based and multimedia learning experiences. The new tool is based on "Pachyderm," the authoring and publishing tool used by SFMOMA to author its successful series, Making Sense of Modern Art (www.sfmoma.org/msoma). Developed by SFMOMA to make the publication of modular and updateable rich media an easy task, "Pachyderm" has allowed nonprogrammers to create a variety of engaging resources that draw from, and build on, the collections of SFMOMA. The paper provides an overview of the project's history, a description of the development process and the collaborative processes used, and a discussion of the features that make "Pachyderm" effective as a tool for teaching and learning. A final section describes the "Pachyderm" user community and mentions how interested institutions can become involved.

Restoration of foundation species promises to reverse environmental degradation and return lost ecosystem services, but a lack of standardized evaluation across projects limits understanding of recovery, especially in marine systems. Oyster reefs are restored to reverse massive global declines and reclaim valuable ecosystem services, but the success of these projects has not been systematically and comprehensively quantified. We synthesized data on ecosystem services associated with oyster restoration from 245 pairs of restored and degraded reefs and 136 pairs of restored and reference reefs across 3500 km of U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastlines. On average, restoration was associated with a 21‐fold increase in oyster production (mean log response ratio = 3.08 [95% confidence interval: 2.58–3.58]), 34–97% enhancement of habitat provisioning (mean community abundance = 0.51 [0.41–0.61], mean richness = 0.29 [0.19–0.39], and mean biomass = 0.69 [0.39–0.99]), 54% more nitrogen removal (mean = 0.43 [0.13–0.73]), and 89–95% greater sediment nutrients (mean = 0.67 [0.27–1.07]) and organic matter (mean = 0.64 [0.44–0.84]) relative to degraded habitats. Moreover, restored reefs matched reference reefs for these ecosystem services. Our results support the continued and expanded use of oyster restoration to enhance ecosystem services of degraded coastal systems and match many functions provided by reference reefs. Article Impact Statement:Restored oyster reefs enhance ecosystem services relative to degraded habitats and match those of references, supporting future restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive species disrupt native ecosystems by restructuring communities and altering ecosystem functions. To restore invaded plant communities, conservation practitioners eradicate invasive species, and re‐establish natives, but a lack of empirical understanding about how restoration methods and herbicide application frequencies affect native and invasive species limits restoration effectiveness. We developed a partnership between scientists and practitioners to evaluate conservation practices used to remove invasive stiltgrass Microstegium vimineum in an ongoing restoration of a Piedmont floodplain forest in Georgia, U.S.A. We examined the effects of the practitioners' existing large‐scale field application methods (herbicide, herbicide + native perennial seeding, herbicide + native perennial planting, and native perennial seeding) and frequencies (single, annual) using a smaller‐scale, controlled experiment. Both herbicide and planting native perennial seedlings reduced the invasive stiltgrass, but the methods varied in their optimal application frequency. Specifically, herbicide required annual application to maintain its potency, but planting natives was most effective following a single herbicide application. Our work highlights the benefits of planting native perennials as an effective alternative to herbicide in restoration plans. Furthermore, unlike the broad‐spectrum herbicide, native plantings did not reduce nearby non‐target taxa density. Our study illustrates trade‐offs in choosing restoration methods; although planting natives reduced the invasive species and provided associated benefits to the native community, this method took multiple growing seasons to establish and could require more up‐front costs than herbicide alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The annual "Horizon Report" describes the continuing work of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, a qualitative research project established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years. This article discusses the key emerging technologies for postsecondary education on the near-term horizon (within the next 12 months)--mobile computing, open content, electronic books, and simple augmented reality--and on the far-term horizon (four to five years)--gesture-based computing and visual data analysis.

The "Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The report examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. This is the second in the K-12 series of reports. It discusses key trends, critical challenges that schools face, and technologies that are expected to have the greatest impact on teaching and learning over the next five years, including cloud computing, collaborative environments, game-based learning, and augmented reality.

Most research on growing bacterial colonies on agar plates has concerned the effect of genetic or morphotype variation. Some studies have indicated that there is a correlation between microscopic bacterial motion and macroscopic colonial expansion, especially for swarming strains, but no measurements have been obtained for a single strain to relate the microscopic scale to the macroscopic scale. We examined here a single strain (Paenibacillus dendritiformis type T; tip splitting) to determine both the macroscopic growth of colonies and the microscopic bacterial motion within the colonies. Our multiscale measurements for a variety of growth conditions revealed that motion on the microscopic scale and colonial growth are largely independent. Instead, the growth of the colony is strongly affected by the availability of a surfactant that reduces surface tension.