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Hypoxia is presently seen as the principal driver behind the decline of the former dominating Eastern Baltic cod stock (EBC; Gadus morhua). It has been proposed that both worsening conditions for reproduction and lower individual growth, condition, and survival are linked to hypoxia. Here, we elucidate the ecological envelope of EBC in terms of salinity stratification, oxygen content, and benthic animal biomasses, and how it has affected EBC productivity over time. The spawning conditions started deteriorating in the Gotland Deep in the 1950s due to oxygen depletion. In contrast, in the Bornholm Basin, hydrographic conditions have remained unchanged over the last 60 years. Indeed, the current extent of both well-oxygenated areas and the frequency of hypoxia events do not differ substantially from periods with high EBC productivity in the 1970s–1980s. Furthermore, oxygenated and therefore potentially suitable feeding areas are abundant in all parts of the Baltic Sea, and our novel analysis provides no evidence of a reduction in benthic food sources for EBC over the last 30 years. We find that while reproduction failure is intricately linked to hydrographic dynamics, a relationship between the spread of hypoxia and the decline in EBC productivity during the last decades cannot be substantiated.

We propose a quantitative approach for categorising mammalian diets based on the taxonomy of food items and parts consumed (the form of food). Our analysis covers 82% of the mammalian species alive today. The diet information comes from different data sources—textbooks, datasets and peer-reviewed literature and includes a transformation of narrative quantitative data into qualitative data. We link a database on nutrient composition of diet items of the quantitative diet data and analyse the distribution of macronutrients of diets across taxonomic groups and map them to the dental morphology of the eaters. The results show associations between dental complexity and the concentrations of some nutrients. Our analysis highlights omnivory as a multi-faceted concept—there are many kinds of omnivores within the dietary space we report. The developed dataset and the proposed approach relating the chemical composition of diets offers a basis for future comparative studies of living and fossil mammals. With this study, we make the accompanying large-scale dietary data publicly available online (https://www.mammalbase.net).

The dietary nutrient profile has metabolic significance and possibly contributes to species' foraging behavior. The brown bear (Ursus arctos) was used as a model species for which dietary ingredient and nutrient concentrations as well as nutrient ratios were determined annually, seasonally and per reproductive class. Brown bears had a vertebrate- and ant-dominated diet in spring and early summer and a berry-dominated diet in fall, which translated into protein-rich and carbohydrate-rich diets, respectively. Fiber concentrations appeared constant over time and averaged at 25% of dry matter intake. Dietary ingredient proportions differed between reproductive classes; however, these differences did not translate into a difference in dietary nutrient concentrations, suggesting that bears manage to maintain similar nutrient profiles with selection of different ingredients. In terms of nutrient ratios, the dietary protein to non-protein ratio, considered optimal at around 0.2 (on metabolizable energy basis), averaged around 0.2 in this study in fall and around 0.8 in spring and summer. We introduced the minimal non-fat to fat ratio necessary for efficient maintenance metabolism. This ratio varied across seasons but never fell beneath the theoretically estimated minimum to ensure metabolic efficiency. This population thus managed to ingest diets that never exerted a lack of glucogenic substrate, suggesting that metabolic efficiency may either be a driver of active diet selection or that natural resources available to bears did not constitute a constraint in this respect. Given the considerable proportion of fiber in the diet of brown bears, the relevance of this nutrient and its role in foraging behavior might be underestimated.

Wild, adfluvial brown trout (Salmo trutta) are iconic targets in recreational fisheries but also endangered in many native locations. We compared how fishing and natural selection affect the fitness-proxies of brown trout from two pure angling-selected strains and experimental crosses between an adfluvial, hatchery-bred strain and three wild, resident strains. We exposed age 1+ parr to predation risk under controlled conditions where their behaviour was monitored with PIT-telemetry, and stocked age 2+ fish in two natural lakes for experimental fishing. Predation mortality (16% of the fish) was negatively size-dependent, while capture probability, also reflecting survival, in the lakes (38.9% of the fish) was positively length- and condition-dependent. Angling-induced selection against low boldness and slow growth rates relative to gillnet fishing indicated gear-dependent potential for fisheries-induced evolution in behaviours and life-histories. Offspring of wild, resident fish showed slower growth rates than the crossbred strains. Strain effects suggested significant heritable scope for artificial selection on life-history traits and demonstrated that choices of fish supplementation by stocking may override the genetic effects induced by angling.

Understanding spatiotemporal variation in habitat quality is essential for guiding wildlife reintroduction and restoration programs. The habitat productivity hypothesis posits that home range size is inversely related to habitat quality. Thus, home range size may be used as a proxy for habitat quality and can identify important land cover features for a recovering species. We sought to quantify variation in home range size across the biological cycle (seasons) for a reintroduced elk (Cervus canadensis) population in southwestern Virginia, USA and quantify habitat quality by linking home range sizes to the land cover types they contain using linear mixed-effects models. We found mean home range size was largest during late gestation for female elk. Additionally, throughout the year, smaller home ranges were associated with larger proportions of non-forested habitats whereas forested habitats were generally the opposite. However, both presumed poor- and high-quality habitats influenced female elk space use. Our approach revealed spatial variation in habitat quality for a recovering elk herd, demonstrated the importance of non-forested habitats to elk, can guide decisions regarding the location of future elk reintroduction programs, and serve as a model for evaluating habitat quality associated with wildlife reintroductions. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources [F18AF00664]; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program Published version Funding for this project was provided by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources to Virginia Tech using Wildlife Restoration funds (award F18AF00664) provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

1. Differences in hatching dates can shape intraspecific interactions through size-mediated priority effects (SMPE), a phenomenon where bigger, early hatched individuals gain advantage over smaller, late hatched ones. While SMPE may be important for population dynamics, to what extent and how these are affected by key environmental factors such as warming and predation risk imposed by top predators remains unclear.2. In a laboratory experiment, we studied effects of warming (low and high temperature) and predation risk (presence and absence of predator cues of perch) on SMPE in life history and physiological traits in the cannibalistic damselfly Ischnura elegans. We induced SMPE by manipulating hatching dates, thereby creating four groups: non-mixed phenology early (E) and late (L) hatchers, and mixed phenology early (E+L) and late (L+E) hatchers. 3. We found strong SMPE for survival and emergence success, with the highest values in E+L larvae and the lowest values in L+E larvae. Neither temperature nor predator cues affected SMPE for these two life history traits. The other life history traits (development rate and mass at emergence) did not show SMPE, but were affected by temperature and predator cues.4. SMPE was found for protein content, but only in the high temperature treatment. The other physiological traits (immune function measured as phenoloxidase activity and fat content) showed fixed expressions across treatments, indicating decoupling between physiology and life history. 5. The results underline that SMPEs are trait-dependent, and only weakly affected by temperature and predation risk.

The postcranial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis (AL 288-1) exhibits clear adaptations for bipedality, although there is some debate as to the efficiency and frequency of such upright movement. Some researchers argue that AL 288-1 walked with an erect limb like modern humans do, whilst others advocate for a "bent-hip bent-knee" (BHBK) gait, although in recent years the general consensus favors erect bipedalism. To date, no quantitative method has addressed the articulation of the AL 288-1 hip joint, nor its range of motion (ROM) with consideration for joint spacing, used as a proxy for the thickness of the articular cartilage present within the joint spacing which can affect how a joint moves. Here, we employed ROM mapping methods to estimate the joint spacing of AL 288-1's hip joint in comparison to a modern human and chimpanzee. Nine simulations assessed different joint spacing and tested the range of joint congruency (i.e., ranging from a closely packed socket to loosely packed). We further evaluated the sphericity of the femoral head and whether three rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs) sufficiently captures the full ROM or if translational DOFs must be included. With both setups, we found that the AL 288-1 hip was unlikely to be highly congruent (as it is in modern humans) because this would severely restrict hip rotational movement and would severely limit the capability for both bipedality and even arboreal locomotion. Rather, the hip was more cartilaginous than it is in the modern humans, permitting the hip to rotate into positions necessitated by both terrestrial and arboreal movements. Rotational-only simulations found that AL 288-1 was unable to extend the hip like modern humans, forcing the specimen to employ a BHBK style of walking, thus contradicting 40+ years of previous research into the locomotory capabilities of AL 288-1. Therefore, we advocate that differences in the sphericity of the AL 288-1 femoral head with that of a modern human necessitates all six DOFs to be included in which AL 288-1 could osteologically extend the hip to facilitate a human-like gait., This research was supported by a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (Grant Number: ECF-2021-054) awarded to ALAW.

1. The effects of environmental temperature on components of insect flight determine life history traits, fitness, adaptability, and ultimately, organism ecosystem functional roles. Despite the crucial role of flying insects across landscapes, our understanding of how temperature affects insect flight performance remains limited. 2. Many insect pollinators are considered under threat from climatic warming. Quantifying the relationship between temperature and behavioural performance traits allows us to understand where species are operating in respect to their thermal limits, helping predict responses to projected temperature increases and/or erratic weather events. 3. Using a tethered flight mill, we quantify how flight performance of a widespread bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, varies over a temperature range (12-30oC). Given that body mass constrains insect mobility and behaviour, bumblebees represent a useful system to study temperature-mediated size-dependence of flight performance owing to the large intra-colony variation in worker body size they exhibit.. 4. Workers struggled to fly over a few hundred metres at the lowest tested temperature of 12oC, however flight endurance increased as temperatures rose, peaking around 25oC after which it declined. Our findings further revealed variation in flight capacity across the workforce, with larger workers flying further, longer, and faster than their smaller nestmates. Body mass was also positively related with the likelihood of flight, although importantly this relationship became stronger as temperatures cooled, such that at 12oC only the largest workers were successful fliers. Our study thus highlights that colony foraging success under variable thermal environments can be dependent on the body mass distribution of constituent workers, and more broadly suggests smaller-bodied insects may benefit disproportionately more from warming than larger-bodied ones in terms of flight performance. 5. By incorporating both flight endurance and likelihood of flight, we calculated a simple metric termed ‘temperature-mediated foraging potential’ to gain a clearer understanding of how temperature may constrain colony foraging. Of our tested temperatures, 27oC supported the highest potential, indicating that for much of the range of this species, higher mean daily temperatures as forecasted under climate warming will push colonies closer to their thermal optimum for flight. Subsequently, warming may have positive implications for bumblebee foraging returns and pollination provision.

Biotic homogenization-increasing similarity of species composition among ecological communities-has been linked to anthropogenic processes operating over the last century. Fossil evidence, however, suggests that humans have had impacts on ecosystems for millennia. We quantify biotic homogenization of North American mammalian assemblages during the late Pleistocene through Holocene (similar to 30,000 ybp to recent), a timespan encompassing increased evidence of humans on the landscape (similar to 20,000-14,000 ybp). From similar to 10,000 ybp to recent, assemblages became significantly more homogenous (>100% increase in Jaccard similarity), a pattern that cannot be explained by changes in fossil record sampling. Homogenization was most pronounced among mammals larger than 1 kg and occurred in two phases. The first followed the megafaunal extinction at similar to 10,000 ybp. The second, more rapid phase began during human population growth and early agricultural intensification (similar to 2,000-1,000 ybp). We show that North American ecosystems were homogenizing for millennia, extending human impacts back similar to 10,000 years.

The density and mean size of 0 + pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) were studied in late summer in 2004-2017 in clay-turbid and eutrophic Lake Tuusulanjarvi in southern Finland. Hydroacoustics and simultaneous experimental trawling were used to estimate the density of 0 + pikeperch. In some autumns, 0 + pikeperch was the most abundant species in the pelagic fish assemblage. However, the annual amplitude of pikeperch density was extremely high (1,300 -19,900 individuals ha(-1)). The density and size variations of 0 + pikeperch were analysed in relation to air temperature sums and degree days. Unexpectedly, the density of 0 + pikeperch showed no correlation with the air temperature sums or degree days, but both the mean length and weight of 0 + pikeperch correlated positively with these temperature variables. The highest correlation coefficients between mean size and temperature were found with temperature sums over 10 degrees C and degree days over 5 degrees C. The correlation between density and condition of 0 + pikeperch was negative but non-significant. The high density of 0 + pikeperch in some autumns suggests that pikeperch may play a central role in the pelagic food web in eutrophic lakes - not only as a predator of planktivores but also by its own planktivory.

Simple Summary Climate warming affects phenological events of cold-blooded organisms. In this analysis we studied, in laboratory conditions, the impact of warming and hatching dates on key life history and physiological traits in a cannibalistic damselfly, Ischnura elegans. Larvae were reared in groups from hatching to emergence through one or two growth seasons, depending on the voltinism. Larvae were equally divided by hatching dates (early and late) and temperature treatment (current and warming). Early and late hatched groups were not mixed. Despite no difference in cannibalism rate between different hatching dates and temperatures, early hatched larvae reared under warming had elevated immune function measured as phenoloxidase (PO) activity. This increased PO activity was not traded off with life history traits. Instead, age and mass at emergence, and growth rate were mainly affected by temperature and voltinism. Our results confirm the importance of phenological shifts in a warming world for shaping physiology and life history in a freshwater insect. Under climate warming, temperate ectotherms are expected to hatch earlier and grow faster, increase the number of generations per season, i.e., voltinism. Here, we studied, under laboratory conditions, the impact of artificial warming and manipulated hatching dates on life history (voltinism, age and mass at emergence and growth rate) and physiological traits (phenoloxidase (PO) activity at emergence, as an indicator of investment in immune function) and larval survival rate in high-latitude populations of the damselfly Ischnura elegans. Larvae were divided into four groups based on crossing two treatments: early versus late hatching dates and warmer versus control rearing temperature. Damselflies were reared in groups over the course of one (univoltine) or two (semivoltine) growth seasons, depending on the voltinism. Warming temperature did not affect survival rate. However, warming increased the number of univoltine larvae compared to semivoltine larvae. There was no effect of hatching phenology on voltinism. Early hatched larvae reared under warming had elevated PO activity, regardless of their voltinism, indicating increased investment in immune function against pathogens. Increased PO activity was not associated with effects on age or mass at emergence or growth rate. Instead, life history traits were mainly affected by temperature and voltinism. Warming decreased development time and increased growth rate in univoltine females, yet decreased growth rate in univoltine males. This indicates a stronger direct impact of warming and voltinism compared to impacts of hatching phenology on life history traits. The results strengthen the evidence that phenological shifts in a warming world may affect physiology and life history in freshwater insects.

The Red Queen's hypothesis portrays evolution as a never-ending competition for expansive energy, where one species’ gain is another species’ loss. The Red Queen is neutral with respect to body size, implying that neither small nor large species have a universal competitive advantage. Here we ask whether, and if so how, the Red Queen's hypothesis really can accommodate differences in body size. The maximum population growth in ecology clearly depends on body size—the smaller the species, the shorter the generation length, and the faster it can expand given sufficient opportunity. On the other hand, large species are more efficient in energy use due to metabolic scaling and can maintain more biomass with the same energy. The advantage of shorter generation makes a wide range of body sizes competitive, yet large species do not take over. We analytically show that individuals consume energy and reproduce in physiological time, but need to compete for energy in real time. The Red Queen, through adaptive evolution of populations, balances the pressures of real and physiological time. Modeling competition for energy as a proportional prize contest from economics, we further show that Red Queen's zero-sum game can generate unimodal hat-like patterns of species rise and decline that can be neutral in relation to body size.

Capsule: Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosashow sexual size dimorphism and size differences between the subspecies. The shape varies slightly between the subspecies, but not between the sexes.Aims: To investigate whether and how the three subspecies of Black-tailed Godwits, and the sexes of these subspecies, differ in size and shape.Methods: We collected body dimensions (lengths of the bill, total head, tarsus, tarsus-toe and wing) of adult Black-tailed Godwits from three locations (Iceland, the Netherlands and northwest Australia) corresponding to the breeding or wintering grounds of three known subspecies (islandica, limosa and melanuroides, respectively). Determining sex by molecular assays, we computed degrees of sexual size dimorphism. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we compared differences in size and shape among the different subspecies.Results: The limosa subspecies was the largest and also showed the most significant sexual size dimorphism. Sexual size dimorphism was smallest for wing length and largest for bill length. The first two axes of the PCA that included all subspecies of both sexes explained 94% of the total variation. Most body dimensions were highly correlated with each other, but wing length varied independently of the other dimensions. Males and females differed only in size (the first axis). However, one of the two small subspecies, islandica, also differed in shape (the second axis) from limosa and melanuroides.Conclusions: In all three subspecies of Black-tailed Godwits, females are larger than males. The fact that subspecies differed in the degree of size dimorphism and slightly in shape hints at sex-related differences in the ecological selection pressures between the different flyways.

Modern speciation theory has greatly benefited from a variety of simple mathematical models focusing on the conditions and patterns of speciation and diversification in the presence of gene flow. Unfortunately the application of general theoretical concepts and tools to specific ecological systems remains a challenge. Here we apply modeling tools to better understand adaptive divergence of whitefish during the postglacial period in lakes of northern Fennoscandia. These lakes harbor up to three different morphs associated with the three major lake habitats: littoral, pelagic, and profundal. Using large-scale individual-based simulations, we aim to identify factors required for in situ emergence of the pelagic and profundal morphs in lakes initially colonized by the littoral morph. The importance of some of the factors we identify and study - sufficiently large levels of initial genetic variation, size- and habitat-specific mating, sufficiently large carrying capacity of the new niche - is already well recognized. In addition, our model also points to two other factors that have been largely disregarded in theoretical studies: fitness-dependent dispersal and strong predation in the ancestral niche coupled with the lack of it in the new niche(s). We use our theoretical results to speculate about the process of diversification of whitefish in Fennoscandia and to identify potentially profitable directions for future empirical research.

Community composition in a given landscape is a complex product of the constituent species' niche requirements, geographic connectivity, environmental properties, species interactions and drift. In this study, we examined niche use of 16 cladoceran species in 81 zooplankton communities that inhabit environmentally variable sites along a strong urbanization gradient. We tested to what extent niche shifts occurred along the urbanization gradient. We also quantified to what extent niche overlap can explain co-occurrence patterns and tested whether alternative processes such as dispersal limitation or environmental heterogeneity impact co-occurrence patterns. Niche use in the study region was size-mediated, with larger species preferring nutrient-rich environments while smaller species were more specialized on distinct niche axes. Our analyses also revealed that mainly generalist species were able to establish in urban sites. While the average niche position for most species was conserved from rural to urban sites, the niches of those species occurring in both rural and urban areas remain partly unfilled in the urban populations. We observed that a relatively small proportion (13%) of species pairs co-occurred more or less often than expected by chance, but also that niche overlap was the only predictor that was strongly and significantly associated with co-occurrence scores in our study. While most of these species pairs showed evidence for a role of environmental filtering, a few common, generalist species pairs displayed segregated co-occurrence patterns and high niche overlap, suggesting a role of limiting similarity relationships as well. Our study highlights the damaging effects on biodiversity of urbanization through biotic homogenization benefitting generalist species, as well as the difficulty species may face in occupying available niche space in urbanized habitats.

Animals on islands typically depart from their mainland relatives in assorted aspects of their biology. Because they seem to occur in concert, and to some extent evolve convergently in disparate taxa, these changes are referred to as the ‘island syndrome’. While morphological, physiological and life-history components of the island syndrome have received considerable attention, much less is known about how insularity affects behaviour. In this paper, we argue why changes in personality traits and cognitive abilities can be expected to form part of the island syndrome. We provide an overview of studies that have compared personality traits and cognitive abilities between island and mainland populations, or among islands. Overall, the pickings are remarkably slim. There is evidence that animals on islands tend to be bolder than on the mainland, but effects on other personality traits go either way. The evidence for effects of insularity on cognitive abilities or style is highly circumstantial and very mixed. Finally, we consider the ecological drivers that may induce such changes, and the mechanisms through which they might occur. We conclude that our knowledge of the behavioural and cognitive responses to island environments remains limited, and we encourage behavioural biologists to make more use of these ‘natural laboratories for evolution’.

An intensively debated issue in ecology is whether the variations in the biodiversity patterns of different biological groups are congruent in space and time. In addition, ecologists have recognized the necessity of accounting for both taxonomic and functional facets when analysing spatial and temporal congruence patterns. This study aimed to determine how the cross-taxon congruence of taxonomic and functional beta diversity varies across space and time, using data from four floodplains at a continental scale. Our general hypothesis was that the congruence between aquatic biological groups, either taxonomic or functional, would decrease with the “between-group” functional distance. Also, we examined how congruence patterns varied across spatial and temporal scales by focusing on how the cross-taxon relationships differ among Brazilian floodplains and between dry/wet periods. Our study comprised information on eight biological groups from the four largest Brazilian river-floodplain systems, and cross-taxon congruence was assessed using Procrustes analysis. Our results show how detailed analyses can reveal different patterns of cross-taxon congruence, and partially support the hypothesis that the strength of cross-taxon congruence is negatively related to between-group functional distance.

The adaptive radiation of hipparionins after their Old World dispersal was linked with a trend towards smaller body sizes. The appearance of the small-sized forms has usually been associated to open environments and grazing diets. A recent approach, moreover, highlights the role of life history modifications related to habitat conditions as triggers of their size shifts. Here, we test the relationship between hipparionin size and diet analyzing the dental microwear textures of different-sized hipparionins from Vallesian and Turolian circum-Mediterranean localities. Our results show that hippari-onins were mainly mixed-feeders and that there was no general link between body size and diet. However, we identified broader feeding spectra in western Mediterranean smaller forms and more specialized grazing diets in larger ones, a differentiation not found in the eastern Mediterranean hipparionins. At odds with the notion of more open habitats eastward, we detected a larger browsing component in eastern hipparionin diets. The consumption by extant equids of more woody browse during the dry season leads us to propose a greater seasonality as a possible cause. Considering the argu-able role of external abrasives on the microwear, another interpretation might involve the presence of more grit in the eastern opener habitats. Interestingly, we found that sympatric hipparionins tend to have similar feeding habits, which points to the fact that their diets were influenced by the local environment. Our results, then, suggest that the small size of some hipparionins resulted from different selective pressures rather than to a general adaptation to increasing habitat opening., MCIN/AEI [PID2020-117118GBI00]; CERCA Program, Generalitat de Catalunya; Wenner-Gren International Collaborative Research Grant; Ege University [TTM/001/2015, TTM/001/2016]; AGAUR [2017 SGR 960]; FI-DGR 2016 grant - AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya) [2016FI_B00202]; Erasmus + fellowship; [SYN-THESIS ES-TAF-1846]; [CGL2015-63777], We would like to thank M. Fernandez and X. Aymerich for the molding of the material from the ICP (Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont) . G.O-O. acknowledges the help received from F. Martin (PALEVOPRIM) during the obtainment of the DMT parameters and the posterior analyses. We further thank to D. Kostopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) for his comments on the earlier versions of this manuscript. The editors (Y. Nakamura, A. Bush, and J.X. Samuels) and four reviewers including J. Saarinen are acknowledged for their helpful comments. Moreover, we would like to thank to the authorities of the following museum collections to give access to the related materials: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN), ICP museum, Laboratory of Geology and Palaeon-tology at the University of Thessaloniki, Palaeontological Museum Dimitar Kovachev at Asenovgrad, and the Ege University Natural History Museum. Funding for this study was provided by the Grant PID2020-117118GBI00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.3039/501100011033 (M.K) , the project CGL2015-63777 (M.K) , and the CERCA Program, Generalitat de Catalunya. R.S.S., T.K., S.M., and G.M. were granted through a Wenner-Gren International Collaborative Research Grant (PIs: R.S. Scott and T. Kaya) to collect most of the Vallesian and Turolian equiddental molds from the eastern Mediterranean, and S.M. and T.K. were supported by the Ege University Research Projects TTM/001/2015 and TTM/001/2016. M.K. and G.O-O. were part of a research group recognized without funding by AGAUR (2017 SGR 960) and G.O-O. was supported by a FI-DGR 2016 grant (2016FI_B00202) awarded by AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya) and held an Erasmus + fellowship during his stay in the PALEVOPRIM laboratory (CNRS and University of Poitiers). The grant SYN-THESIS ES-TAF-1846 for the stay of J.C. at the MNCN of Madrid is also acknowledged.

The balance between costs and benefits is expected to drive associations between species. While these balances are well understood for strict associations, we have no insights to which extent they determine facultative associations between species. Here, we quantified the costs of living in a facultative association, by studying the effects of red wood ants on the facultatively associated isopod Porcellio scaber. Porcellio scaber frequently occurred in and near hostile red wood ant nests and might outnumber obligate nest associates. The facultative association involved different costs for the isopod. We found that the density of the isopod decreases near the nest with higher ant traffic. Individuals in and near the nest were smaller than individuals further away from the nest. Smaller individuals were also found at sites with higher ant traffic. A higher proportion of wounded individuals was found closer to the nest and with higher ant traffic. We recorded pregnant females and juveniles in the nest suggesting that the life cycle can be completed inside the nests. Lab experiments showed that females died sooner and invested less in reproduction in presence of red wood ants. Porcellio scaber rarely provoked an aggression response, but large numbers were carried as prey to the nest. These preyed isopods were mainly dried out corpses. Our results showed that the ant association incurred several costs for a facultative associate. Consequently, red wood ant nests and their surrounding territory act as an alternative habitat where demographic costs are offset by a stable resource provisioning and protection.

Background The mTOR-PI3K-Akt pathway influences cell metabolism and (malignant) cell growth. We generated sex-specific polygenic risk scores capturing natural variation in 7 out of 10 top-ranked genes in this pathway. We studied the scores directly and in interaction with energy balance-related factors (body mass index (BMI), trouser/skirt size, height, physical activity, and early life energy restriction) in relation to colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in the Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS) (n=120,852). The NLCS has a case-cohort design and 20.3 years of follow-up. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire on diet and cancer in 1986 when 55–69 years old. ~75% of the cohort returned toenail clippings used for DNA isolation and genotyping (n subcohort=3,793, n cases=3,464). To generate the scores, the dataset was split in two and risk alleles were defined and weighted based on sex-specific associations with CRC risk in the other dataset half, because there were no SNPs in the top-ranked genes associated with CRC risk in previous genome-wide association studies at a significance level p−5. Results Cox regression analyses showed positive associations between the sex-specific polygenic risk scores and colon but not rectal cancer risk in men and women, with hazard ratios for continuously modeled scores close to 1.10. There was no modifying effect observed of the scores on associations between the energy balance-related factors and CRC risk. However, BMI (in men), non-occupational physical activity (in women), and height (in men and women) were associated with the risk of CRC, in particular (proximal and distal) colon cancer, in the direction as expected in the lower tertiles of the sex-specific polygenic risk scores. Conclusions Current data suggest that the mTOR-PI3K-Akt pathway may be involved in colon cancer development. This study thereby sheds more light on colon cancer etiology through use of genetic variation in the mTOR-PI3K-Akt pathway.

Extinctions stemming from environmental change often trigger trophic cascades and coextinctions. Bottom-up cascades occur when changes in the primary producers in a network elicit flow-on effects to higher trophic levels. However, it remains unclear what determines a species' vulnerability to bottom-up cascades and whether such cascades were a large contributor to the megafauna extinctions that swept across several continents in the Late Pleistocene. The pathways to megafauna extinctions are particularly unclear for Sahul (landmass comprising Australia and New Guinea), where extinctions happened earlier than on other continents. We investigated the potential role of bottom-up trophic cascades in the megafauna extinctions in Late Pleistocene Sahul by first developing synthetic networks that varied in topology to identify how network position (trophic level, diet breadth, basal connections) influences vulnerability to bottom-up cascades. We then constructed pre-extinction (-80 ka) network models of the ecological community of Naracoorte, south-eastern Sahul, to assess whether the observed megafauna extinctions could be explained by bottom-up cascades. Synthetic networks showed that node vulnerability to bottom-up cascades decreased with increasing trophic level, diet breadth and basal connections. Extinct species in the Naracoorte community were more vulnerable overall to these cascades than were species that survived. The position of extinct species in the network - tending to be of low trophic level and therefore having relatively narrow diet breadths and fewer connections to plants - made them vulnerable. However, these species also tended to have few or no predators, a network-position attribute that suggests they might have been particularly vulnerable to new predators. Together, these results suggest that trophic cascades and naivety to predators could have contributed to the megafauna extinction event in Sahul.

Wing morphology has been used in taxonomic and systematic studies of insects, often enabling the identification of groups based on the variation. In this study, wing Geometric Morphometrics was used to verify if eastern and western populations of Partamona rustica, separated by the São Francisco River, are discriminated, thus confirming previous molecular data. The two groups of P. rustica exhibited significant differences in wing size and shape. Better differentiation of populations and groups was achieved with the centroid size. We generated dendrograms using Mahalanobis and Procrustes distances, which discriminated the eastern and western populations. Isolation by the distance between morphometric and geographic distances was found. The confirmation of the two population groups points out the need for further studies investigating the occurrence of barriers to gene flow and colonization history in the semiarid region by this stingless bee.

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to assess if kidney tissue surrogates (KTSs) are superior to distilled water-iodine solutions in the emulation of energy-dependent computed tomography (CT) attenuation characteristics of renal parenchyma and to estimate attenuation thresholds for definite lesion enhancement for low-kV single-energy and low-keV dual-energy virtual monoenergetic imaging.METHODS: A water-filled phantom (diameter, 30 cm) with multiple vials was imaged on a dual-source dual-energy CT (DS-DE) and a single-source split-filter dual-energy CT (SF-DE), both in single-energy mode at 80, 100, 120, 140 kVp and in dual-energy mode at 80/Sn150, 90/Sn150, and 100/Sn150 kVp for DS-DE and AuSn120 kVp for SF-DE. Single-energy images, linear-blended dual-energy images, and virtual monoenergetic imaging at energy levels from 40 to 190 keV were reconstructed. First, attenuation characteristics of KTS in solid and liquid consistencies were compared. Second, solid KTSs were developed to match the CT attenuation of unenhanced renal parenchyma at 120 kVp as retrospectively measured in 100 patients. Third, CT attenuation of KTS-iodine and water-iodine solutions at 8 different iodine concentrations (0-10 mg I/mL) were compared as a function of tube voltage and of keV level using multiple linear regression models. Energy-dependent attenuation thresholds for definite lesion enhancement were calculated.RESULTS: Unenhanced renal parenchyma at 120 kVp measured on average 30 HU on both scanners in the patient cohort. Solid KTS with a water content of 80% emulated the attenuation of unenhanced renal parenchyma (30 HU) more accurately compared with water-iodine solutions (0 HU). Attenuation difference between KTS-iodine and water-iodine solutions converged with increasing iodine concentration and decreasing x-ray energy due to beam-hardening effects. A slight attenuation difference of approximately 2 HU was found between the 2 CT scanners. Attenuation thresholds for definite lesion enhancement were dependent on tube voltage and keV level and ranged from 16.6 to 33.2 HU and 3.2 to 68.3 HU for single-energy and dual-energy CT scan modes for DS-DE and from 16.1 to 34.3 HU and 3.3 to 92.2 HU for SF-DE.CONCLUSIONS: Kidney tissue surrogates more accurately emulate the energy-dependent CT attenuation characteristics of renal parenchyma for multienergy CT compared with conventional water-iodine approaches. Energy-dependent thresholds for definite lesion enhancement could facilitate lesion characterization when imaging at different energies than the traditional 120 kVp.