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Understanding the circumstances under which insect herbivores will adopt a novel host plant is a longstanding question in basic and applied ecology. While geographic variation in host use can arise through differences in both herbivore preference and plant characteristics, there is a tendency to attribute geographic variation in host use to regional differences in herbivore preference alone. This is especially true for herbivores specialized to one or a few plant species. We compared how geographic variation in herbivore preference and host plant origin shape regional differences in host plant use by the specialized herbivore, Euphydryas phaeton. In parts of its range, E. phaeton uses only a native host, Chelone glabra, while in others, it also uses an introduced host, Plantago lanceolata. We offered female butterflies from each region the non-native host plant sourced from both regions and compared their oviposition behavior. The non-native host was almost universally rejected by butterflies in the region where only the native plant is used. In the region where butterflies use both hosts, females accepted non-native plants from their natal region twice as often as non-native plants from the other region where they are not used. Acceptance differed substantially among individual butterflies within regions but not among plants within regions. Thus, both individual preference and regional differences in both the insect and non-native host contributed to the geographic variation in different ways. These results highlight that, in addition to herbivore preference, regional differences in perceived plant suitability may be an important driver of diet breadth.

The introduction of enlarged and interconnected nanochannels into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) overcome their micropore size restriction, enhances mass transportation, and improves the accessibility of anchored metal clusters. Herein, foamed Ce‐MOF single crystals (F‐Ce‐MOF‐SC‐x) designed from a multiscale co‐assembly is reported in the presence of a copolymer template and 1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene as a structural regulator. The resultant F‐Ce‐MOF‐SC‐x possessed well‐defined microporous tandem‐ordered meso‐macroporous foams with superior connectivity and versatile Ce‐defective unsaturated sites (Ce‐DUS). F‐Ce‐MOF‐SC‐x is applied as a stable carrier for anchoring polytertiary amines (PA) via coordination interactions with Ce‐DUS. Owing to the superior ability of PA to recognize SO2, the resultant F‐Ce‐MOF‐SC‐x@yPA delivers exceptional performance in terms of the high‐temperature reversible adsorption and separation of SO2, including a remarkable capacity for SO2, spectacular selectivity for SO2/CO2/N2, an ultrafast adsorption equilibrium rate, and stability for 50 cycles. These characteristics are outstanding among those of MOFs and superior to those of many reported SO2 adsorbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to investigate the vertical distribution pattern of the soil faunal community in a low-altitude mountain area. On 8 July 2022, a low hill was selected as the study area, and soil arthropods were collected through traps. The leaf litter, vegetation type, and distribution quantity of each sampling site were investigated while the soil faunae were collected. In addition, the soil's physical and chemical parameters were measured. The results of a one-way ANOVA showed that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) in the soil properties, leaf litter, and plant quantities at different altitudes within the research area. A total of 1086 soil arthropods, belonging to five classes and ten orders, were collected during the study period. The dominant species of soil arthropods at different altitudes were significantly different. The dominant species in low-altitude areas were Armadillidium sp. and Aethus nigritus. However, Eupolyphaga sinensis and Philodromidae were the dominant species in high-altitude areas. The results of a non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showed that the soil faunae at different altitudes were clustered into two communities: a high-altitude community and a low-altitude community. With the increase in altitude, the species richness of the soil arthropods gradually decreased, and their abundance showed a decreasing trend. A redundancy analysis (RDA) of the soil arthropods and environmental factors showed that soil moisture (p < 0.01), pH (p < 0.01) and defoliation (p < 0.05) had significant effects on the distribution of the soil fauna. The results of a Pearson correlation analysis indicated that different environmental factors had interactive effects on the distribution of the soil arthropods. The quantity and species richness of the soil arthropods in different sample lines were tested using a variance analysis. The results showed that there were significantly smaller quantities of soil arthropods in the sampling line closer to the trekking ladder. This indicates that human tourism, namely mountaineering activities, had a direct impact on the soil fauna. This study can provide a reference for and data support in the development of biodiversity conservation measures for forest parks in low mountain areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The evolution of fruit size is poorly understood, though long‐standing hypotheses, the dispersal syndrome hypothesis and correlated evolution hypothesis, have highlighted the influence of frugivores and phylogeny on fruit size variation. Location: Interaction networks were extracted from studies carried out in Asia, Europe, Africa, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and the Neotropics. Time Period: Up to 50 years between 1970 and 2022. Major Taxa Studied: Frugivores (birds and mammals) and fleshy‐fruited plants. Methods: We compiled a global data set on fruit size (i.e. width and length) and plant traits (i.e. leaf area and plant height) for 349 fleshy‐fruited plants, and the body mass of frugivores from 326 interaction networks. We constructed a plant phylogeny from a mega‐tree containing 74,533 vascular plant species and we calculated Pagel's λ to assess the phylogenetic signal in plant traits and fruit size. Phylogenetic generalized linear mixed model (PGLMM) was used to reveal relationships between fruit size and plant traits as well as the body mass of interacting frugivores. We used phylogenetic partial R2s regression model to tease apart the effects of body mass of frugivores, leaf area, plant height and plant phylogeny on the evolution of fruit size. Results: We show that the global variation in fruit width is better explained by frugivorous assemblages than by phylogeny and plant functional traits (leaf area and plant height). Despite the significant evolutionary correlation between fruit length and width, fruit length appears to be more phylogenetically constrained and less sensitive to frugivore‐driven selection than fruit width. Main Conclusion: In light of the two original hypotheses, our study demonstrates a global phylogenetic constraint on fruit length and frugivore‐driven selection on fruit width, provides a novel mechanistic explanation for the evolution of fruit size across fleshy‐fruited plant species. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between frugivory, phylogeny and plant traits in the evolution of fruit size, offering valuable insights into the broader context of published findings and hypotheses in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]