Agroforestry: a refuge for tropical biodiversity?

As rates of deforestation continue to rise in many parts of the tropics, the international conservation community is faced with the challenge of finding approaches which can reduce deforestation and provide rural livelihoods in addition to conserving biodiversity. Much of modern-day conservation is motivated by a desire to conserve 'pristine nature' in protected areas, while there is growing recognition of the long-term human involvement in forest dynamics and of the importance of conservation outside protected areas. Agroforestry -- intentional management of shade trees with agricultural crops -- has the potential for providing habitats outside formally protected land, connecting nature reserves and alleviating resource-use pressure on conservation areas. Here we examine the role of agroforestry systems in maintaining species diversity and conclude that these systems can play an important role in biodiversity conservation in human-dominated landscapes.     

Have we been hebbing down the wrong path?

In this issue of Neuron, Stepanyants, Hof, and Chklovskii derive a simple mathematical formula to calculate, from measurable anatomical parameters, the capacity for neuronal wiring plasticity involving local synaptic rearrangements. Their work provides a deeper understanding of the potential contribution of structural plasticity to learning and memory.     

Do we need the "adolescent crisis" diagnosis?

The aim of the study was to examine patients in adolescent crisis at the beginning of treatment and after a period of 12 months in order to evaluate the relative diagnostic and therapeutic validity. The study included 153 Split University students in adolescent crisis; 90 of them were treated by counseling and 63 served as controls. For diagnosis, Hampstead index and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) multiaxial evaluation were used, allowing a wider insight into personal functioning. The study sample was split in 7 significantly different diagnostic subgroups. The counseling-treated examinees had better personality functioning after 12 months, but did not differ significantly from the control group. Some of their single functions were more severely disturbed at the very beginning. Counseling is a valuable therapeutic and diagnostic tool for adolescent crisis. The assessment must evaluate the entire person, because looking at only one aspect, due to different development and its place, a wrong conclusion may be reached. The "adolescents crisis" entity is clinically relevant.     

Are predator-proof fences the answer to New?Zealand?s terrestrial faunal biodiversity crisis?

A review of pest-exclusion fences throughout New?Zealand shows that the goals of fence projects are frequently not achieved and cost-benefit analyses often do not adequately quantify ongoing costs. The creation of these sanctuaries enclosed by predator-proof fences often creates small expensive zoos surrounded by degraded habitat that will never be able to sustain the animal and plant species contained within the fence. We examine what fence proponents and conservation trusts believe they are achieving and ask whether the evidence available demonstrates that fenced areas are capable of fulfilling these objectives.     

Can we detect oceanic biodiversity hotspots from space?

Understanding the variability of marine biodiversity is a central issue in microbiology. Current observational programs are based on in situ studies, but their implementation at the global scale is particularly challenging, owing to the ocean extent, its temporal variability and the heterogeneity of the data sources on which compilations are built. Here, we explore the possibility of identifying phytoplanktonic biodiversity hotspots from satellite. We define a Shannon entropy index based on patchiness in ocean color bio-optical anomalies. This index provides a high resolution (1 degree) global coverage. It shows a relation to temperature and mid-latitude maxima in accordance with those previously evidenced in microbiological biodiversity model and observational studies. Regional maxima are in remarkable agreement with several known biodiversity hotspots for plankton organisms and even for higher levels of the marine trophic chain, as well as with some in situ planktonic biodiversity estimates (from Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise). These results encourage to explore marine biodiversity with a coordinated effort of the molecular, ecological and remote sensing communities.     

Have we overestimated the benefit of human(ized) antibodies?

The infusion of animal-derived antibodies has been known for some time to trigger the generation of antibodies directed at the foreign protein as well as adverse events including cytokine release syndrome. These immunological phenomena drove the development of humanized and fully human monoclonal antibodies. The ability to generate human(ized) antibodies has been both a blessing and a curse. While incremental gains in the clinical efficacy and safety for some agents have been realized, a positive effect has not been observed for all human(ized) antibodies. Many human(ized) antibodies trigger the development of anti-drug antibody responses and infusion reactions. The current belief that antibodies need to be human(ized) to have enhanced therapeutic utility may slow the development of novel animal-derived monoclonal antibody therapeutics for use in clinical indications. In the case of murine antibodies, greater than 20% induce tolerable/negligible immunogenicity, suggesting that in these cases humanization may not offer significant gains in therapeutic utility. Furthermore, humanization of some murine antibodies may reduce their clinical effectiveness. The available data suggest that the utility of human(ized) antibodies needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking a cost-benefit approach, taking both biochemical characteristics and the targeted therapeutic indication into account.     

Have we been underestimating the effects of ocean acidification in zooplankton?

Understanding how copepods may respond to ocean acidification (OA) is critical for risk assessments of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. The perception that copepods are insensitive to OA is largely based on experiments with adult females. Their apparent resilience to increased carbon dioxide (pCO₂) concentrations has supported the view that copepods are ‘winners’ under OA. Here, we show that this conclusion is not robust, that sensitivity across different life stages is significantly misrepresented by studies solely using adult females. Stage‐specific responses to pCO₂ (385–6000 μatm) were studied across different life stages of a calanoid copepod, monitoring for lethal and sublethal responses. Mortality rates varied significantly across the different life stages, with nauplii showing the highest lethal effects; nauplii mortality rates increased threefold when pCO₂ concentrations reached 1000 μatm (year 2100 scenario) with LC₅₀ at 1084 μatm pCO₂. In comparison, eggs, early copepodite stages, and adult males and females were not affected lethally until pCO₂ concentrations ≥3000 μatm. Adverse effects on reproduction were found, with >35% decline in nauplii recruitment at 1000 μatm pCO₂. This suppression of reproductive scope, coupled with the decreased survival of early stage progeny at this pCO₂ concentration, has clear potential to damage population growth dynamics in this species. The disparity in responses seen across the different developmental stages emphasizes the need for a holistic life‐cycle approach to make species‐level projections to climate change. Significant misrepresentation and error propagation can develop from studies which attempt to project outcomes to future OA conditions solely based on single life history stage exposures.     

Have we overestimated the benefit of human(ized) antibodies?

The infusion of animal-derived antibodies has been known for some time to trigger the generation of antibodies directed at the foreign protein as well as adverse events including cytokine release syndrome. These immunological phenomena drove the development of humanized and fully human monoclonal antibodies. The ability to generate human(ized) antibodies has been both a blessing and a curse. While incremental gains in the clinical efficacy and safety for some agents have been realized, a positive effect has not been observed for all human(ized) antibodies. Many human(ized) antibodies trigger the development of anti-drug antibody responses and infusion reactions. The current belief that antibodies need to be human(ized) to have enhanced therapeutic utility may slow the development of novel animal-derived monoclonal antibody therapeutics for use in clinical indications. In the case of murine antibodies, greater than 20% induce tolerable/negligible immunogenicity, suggesting that in these cases humanization may not offer significant gains in therapeutic utility. Furthermore, humanization of some murine antibodies may reduce their clinical effectiveness. The available data suggest that the utility of human(ized) antibodies needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking a cost-benefit approach, taking both biochemical characteristics and the targeted therapeutic indication into account.Key words: immunogenicity, human anti-mouse antibody, cytokine release syndrome     

Can biodiversity hotspots protect more than tropical forest plants and vertebrates?

Conservation International's biodiversity hotspots are areas of high vascular plant endemism combined with high levels of habitat destruction and land use change. Although such hotspots have also been shown to be centres for terrestrial vertebrate endemism, much less is known about how well these areas function as hotspots for other less well‐studied groups, including the hyperdiverse arthropods, other invertebrates and fungi. Because there is a close evolutionary and ecological relationship between insects and plants, we suggest that the potential role of plants as umbrella species for herbivorous insects, potentially herbivorous fungi and nematodes, and parasitic insects should be explored. Finally, we reflect on the increasing social, economic, human conflict and governance issues and the impacts of increasing land use change and global climate change that threaten the biodiversity hotspot system.     

p53 functions and cell lines: Have we learned the lessons from the past?

p53 has a determinant role in cancer prevention and is among the most studied proteins in the world. The majority of studies devoted to this protein are carried out in cell lines because they are easy to use and have naturally emerged as the main research tool in laboratories. However, the p53 pathway is commonly deregulated in cancer cells, from which the experimental cell lines are generally derived. The fact that the pathway is deregulated challenges the relevance of using cancer‐derived cell lines to study wild‐type p53 activities, or, in a broader sense, to study any normal cellular process. In the present article, we identify and discuss a number of limitations of cell lines using examples related to p53. Finally, we point out the general limitations of cell lines and propose solutions as alternatives to these cells.     

Invertebrates in the canopy of tropical rain forests How much do we really know?

The current state of knowledge of canopy invertebrates in tropical rain forests is reviewed using data drawn, without bias toward taxon, collecting method or biogeographical region, from 89 studies concerned with mass-collecting (>1000 individuals). The review is intended to identify the most serious gaps and biases in the distribution of higher taxa among forest types and biogeographical regions. With respect to knowledge, biogeographical regions can be ranked as Neotropical > Australian > Oriental > Afrotropical. The canopy of lowland wet and subtropical forests has been studied in greater detail, whereas the canopy of lowland dry and montane forests is much less well known. Collecting techniques influence greatly the present knowledge of canopy invertebrates. Invertebrates other than arthropods, often abundant in epiphytic habitats, phytotelmata and perched litter, are virtually unknown. The abundance of several groups, such as Acari, Collembola and Isoptera, is almost certainly seriously underestimated. Densities of invertebrate individuals in the canopy of tropical rain forests appear to be lower than in temperate forests, although invertebrate abundance is dissipated by the high standing-biomass of rain forests. Coleoptera, particularly Staphylinidae, Curculionidae and Chrysomelidae, along with Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Araneae appear to be the most speciose taxa in the canopy, and it is probable that this reflects their range of feeding habits and exploitation of rain forests habitats. The distribution of individuals among the major arthropod orders and across the studies examined is complex and depends on many factors. The amount of variance that can be directly explained by biogeography, forest types (subtropical, wet, dry or montane), or collecting methods appears to be about 11%. The explained variance increases when considering major families of Coleoptera (28%) or subfamilies of Chrysomelidae (40%). In all cases, the variance explained by the type of forest is much higher than by that explained by biogeography. These conclusions are similar when considering various prey-predator relationships in the canopy. This suggests that, at the higher taxa level, the composition of the invertebrate fauna in the canopy may vary comparatively more across forest types than across biogeographical regions and this is discussed briefly from a conservation viewpoint.