Cannibalism prevents evolutionary suicide of ontogenetic omnivores in life‐history intraguild predation systems

The majority of animal species are ontogenetic omnivores, that is, individuals of these species change or expand their diet during life. If small ontogenetic omnivores compete for a shared resource with their future prey, ecological persistence of ontogenetic omnivores can be hindered, although predation by large omnivores facilitates persistence. The coupling of developmental processes between different life stages might lead to a trade‐off between competition early in life and predation later in life, especially for ontogenetic omnivores that lack metamorphosis. By using bioenergetic modeling, we study how such an ontogenetic trade‐off affects ecological and evolutionary dynamics of ontogenetic omnivores. We find that selection toward increasing specialization of one life stage leads to evolutionary suicide of noncannibalistic ontogenetic omnivores, because it leads to a shift toward an alternative community state. Ontogenetic omnivores fail to re‐invade this new state due to the maladaptiveness of the other life stage. Cannibalism stabilizes selection on the ontogenetic trade‐off, prevents evolutionary suicide of ontogenetic omnivores, and promotes coexistence of omnivores with their prey. We outline how ecological and evolutionary persistence of ontogenetic omnivores depends on the type of diet change, cannibalism, and competitive hierarchy between omnivores and their prey.     

Early emergence increases survival of tree seedlings in Central European temperate forests despite severe late frost

Global warming is expected to result in earlier emergence of tree seedlings that may experience higher damages and mortality due to late frost in spring. We monitored emergence, characteristics, and survival of seedlings across ten tree species in temperate mixed deciduous forests of Central Europe over one and a half year. We tested whether the timing of emergence represents a trade‐off for seedling survival between minimizing frost risk and maximizing the length of the growing period. Almost two‐thirds of the seedlings died during the first growing period. The timing of emergence was decisive for seedling survival. Although seedlings that emerged early faced a severe late frost event, they benefited from a longer growing period resulting in increased overall survival. Larger seedling height and higher number of leaves positively influenced survival. Seedlings growing on moss had higher survival compared to mineral soil, litter, or herbaceous vegetation. Synthesis. Our findings demonstrate the importance of emergence time for survival of tree seedlings, with early‐emerging seedlings more likely surviving the first growing period.     

Spatial patterns and interspecific associations among trees at different stand development stages in the natural secondary forests on the Loess Plateau,China

Quercus wutaishansea populations on the Loess Plateau are currently becoming more dominant in natural secondary forests, whereas Pinus tabulaeformis is declining. In the present paper, the diameter class (instead of age) was used to classify the different growth stages as juvenile, subadult, or adult, and the univariate function g(r) was used to analyze the dynamic changes in spatial patterns and interspecific associations in three 1‐ha tree permanent plots on the Loess Plateau, NW China. Our results suggested that the niche breadth changed with the development stage. The diameter distribution curve was consistent with the inverted “J” type, indicating that natural regeneration was common in all three plots. There was a close relationship between the spatial pattern and scale, which showed significant aggregation at small distances, and became more random as distance increased, but in the Pinus + Quercus mixed forests, the whole species were aggregated at distances up to 50 m. The degree of spatial clumping decreased from juvenile to subadult and from subadult to adult. The spatial pattern also differed at different growth stages, likely due to strong intraspecific competition. Associations among different growth stages were positively correlated at small scales. Our study is important to the understanding of the development of the Q. wutaishansea forests; thus, the spatial dynamic change features should be received greater attention when planning forest management and developing restoration strategies on the Loess Plateau.     

Null model analyses of temporal patterns of bird assemblages and their foraging guilds revealed the predominance of positive and random associations

Patterns of species associations have been commonly used to infer interactions among species. If species positively co‐occur, they may form predominantly neutral assemblages, and such patterns suggest a relatively weak role for compensatory dynamics. The main objective of this study was to test this prediction on temporal samples of bird assemblages (n = 19, 10–57 years) by the presence/absence and quantitative null models on assemblage and guild levels. These null model outcomes were further analyzed to evaluate the effects of various data set characteristics on the outcomes of the null models. The analysis of two binary null models in combination with three association indices revealed 20% with significant aggregations, 61% with random associations, and only 19% with significant segregations (n = 95 simulations). The results of the quantitative null model simulations detected more none‐random associations: 61% aggregations, 6% random associations, and 33% segregations (n = 114 simulations). Similarly, quantitative analyses on guild levels showed 58% aggregations, 20% segregations, and 22% random associations (n = 450 simulations). Bayesian GLMs detected that the outcomes of the binary and quantitative null models applied to the assemblage analyses were significantly related to census plot size, whereas the outcomes of the quantitative analyses were also related to the mean population densities of species in the data matrices. In guild‐level analyses, only 9% of the GLMs showed a significant influence of matrix properties (plot size, matrix size, species richness, and mean species population densities) on the null model outcomes. The results did not show the prevalence of negative associations that would have supported compensatory dynamics. Instead, we assume that a similar response of the majority of species to climate‐driven and stochastic factors may be responsible for the revealed predominance of positive associations.     

佛冈县不同类型橘园柑橘木虱的种群动态

[目的] 明确佛冈县不同类型橘园柑橘木虱的种群动态,为当地柑橘木虱及柑橘黄龙病的防治工作提供科学依据。[方法] 通过2015-2016年的系统调查,对广东省佛冈县砂糖橘园的柑橘木虱种群消长动态进行研究,对比分析了不同处理措施对柑橘木虱种群数量的影响。[结果] 1-3月柑橘木虱发生危害较轻,随着嫩梢增多,其种群数量开始上升,6-9月为种群发生高峰期,期间出现多个发生高峰,10月之后种群数量逐渐进入消退期,种群数量维持在较低水平;2015、2016年佛冈县柑橘木虱的季节性消长动态基本一致,但种群发生量存在明显差别;3种不同类型橘园内柑橘木虱种群发生数量也存在显著差异,常年失管橘园柑橘木虱种群发生数量最高,常规水肥管理橘园次之,二者均显著高于常规水肥管理及化学防治橘园。[结论] 化学防治可在一定程度上控制柑橘木虱的种群数量,及时清理失管橘园对控制柑橘木虱和柑橘黄龙病传播至关重要。     

Using CFD simulations and statistical analysis to correlate oxygen mass transfer coefficient to both geometrical parameters and operating conditions in a stirred-tank bioreactor

Optimization of a bioreactor design can be an especially challenging process. For instance, testing different bioreactor vessel geometries and different impeller and sparger types, locations, and dimensions can lead to an exceedingly large number of configurations and necessary experiments. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), therefore, has been widely used to model multiphase flow in stirred-tank bioreactors to minimize the number of optimization experiments. In this study, a multiphase CFD model with population balance equations are used to model gas–liquid mixing, as well as gas bubble distribution, in a 50 L single-use bioreactor vessel. The vessel is the larger chamber in an early prototype of a multichamber bioreactor for mammalian cell culture. The model results are validated with oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) measurements within the prototype. The validated model is projected to predict the effect of using ring or pipe spargers of different sizes and the effect of varying the impeller diameter on k_La. The simulations show that ring spargers result in a superior k_La compared to pipe spargers, with an optimum sparger-to-impeller diameter ratio of 0.8. In addition, larger impellers are shown to improve k_La. A correlation of k_La is presented as a function of both the reactor geometry (i.e., sparger-to-impeller diameter ratio and impeller-to-vessel diameter ratio) and operating conditions (i.e., Reynolds number and gas flow rate). The resulting correlation can be used to predict k_La in a bioreactor and to optimize its design, geometry, and operating conditions.     

Drug repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 main protease: Molecular docking and molecular dynamics investigations

The current novel corona virus illness (COVID-19) is a developing viral disease that was discovered in 2019. There is currently no viable therapeutic strategy for this illness management. Because traditional medication development and discovery has lagged behind the threat of emerging and re-emerging illnesses like Ebola, MERS-CoV, and, more recently, SARS-CoV-2. Drug developers began to consider drug repurposing (or repositioning) as a viable option to the more traditional drug development method. The goal of drug repurposing is to uncover new uses for an approved or investigational medicine that aren't related to its original use. The main benefits of this strategy are that there is less developmental risk and that it takes less time because the safety and pharmacologic requirements are met. The main protease (Mpro) of corona viruses is one of the well-studied and appealing therapeutic targets. As a result, the current research examines the molecular docking of Mpro (PDB ID: 5R81) conjugated repurposed drugs. 12,432 approved drugs were collected from ChEMBL and drugbank libraries, and docked separately into the receptor grid created on 5R81, using the three phases of molecular docking including high throughput virtual screening (HTVS), standard precision (SP), and extra precision (XP). Based on docking scores and MM-GBSA binding free energy calculation, top three drugs (kanamycin, sulfinalol and carvedilol) were chosen for further analyses for molecular dynamic simulations.     

Merozoite surface protein 2 of Plasmodium falciparum: expression, structure, dynamics, and fibril formation of the conserved N-terminal domain

Merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) is a GPI-anchored protein on the surface of the merozoite stage of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. It is largely disordered in solution, but has a propensity to form amyloid-like fibrils under physiological conditions. The N-terminal conserved region (MSP2(1-25)) is part of the protease-resistant core of these fibrils. To investigate the structure and dynamics of this region, its ability to form fibrils, and the role of individual residues in these properties, we have developed a bacterial expression system that yields > or =10 mg of unlabeled or (15)N-labeled peptide per litre of culture. Two recombinant versions of MSP2(1-25), wild-type and a Y7A/Y16A mutant, have been produced. Detailed conformational analysis of the wild-type peptide and backbone (15)N relaxation data indicated that it contains beta-turn and nascent helical structures in the central and C-terminal regions. Residues 6-21 represent the most ordered region of the structure, although there is some flexibility around residues 8 and 9. The 10-residue sequence (MSP2(7-16)) (with two Tyr residues) was predicted to have a higher propensity for beta-aggregation than the 8-mer sequence (MSP2(8-15)), but there was no significant difference in conformation between MSP2(1-25) and [Y7A,Y16A]MSP2(1-25) and the rate of fibril formation was only slightly slower in the mutant. The peptide expression system described here will facilitate further mutational analyses to define the roles of individual residues in transient structural elements and fibril formation, and thus contribute to the further development of MSP2 as a malaria vaccine candidate.     

Species Dynamics During Early Secondary Forest Succession: Recruitment, Mortality and Species Turnover

The "Initial Floristic Composition" hypothesis is applied to secondary tropical rain forest succession in abandoned agricultural fields with light previous land-use and close to seed sources. This hypothesis predicts that both pioneer and shade-tolerant species colonize a site directly after abandonment, and as the canopy closes, the recruitment of pioneers sharply declines, while recruitment of shade-tolerant species continues. It also predicts higher mortality among pioneers. Consequently, recruited and dead trees are expected to differ in species composition, with highest species richness for the recruits. During 18 mo, we monitored recruitment and mortality of trees with height ≥ 1.5 m in eight plots in abandoned cornfields with initial fallow age of 1–5 yr, in SE Mexico. Shade-tolerant species established in the first years of succession, albeit in low numbers. As predicted, recruited and dead trees differed in species richness and composition, and in shade-tolerant frequency. In contrast to our expectations, over 50 percent of recruits were from pioneer species, as high stand-level mortality opened new opportunities for continued pioneer colonization. Species turnover starts very early in succession but is not always a gradual and continuous process, complicating prevailing succession models. The strong spatial and temporal variability of succession emphasizes the need to monitor these dynamics in permanent plots across a range of initial stand ages, with multiple plots in a given age class.     

Attraction of Fruit-Eating Bats with Essential Oils of Fruits: A Potential Tool for Forest Restoration

Previous tests with essential oils from ripe chiropterochoric fruits suggested they can be used to attract and capture fruit-eating bats inside forest remnants. Here we evaluated the efficiency of these oils to attract frugivorous bats to open areas. We performed field tests with artificial fruits impregnated with essential oils of the genera Piper or Ficus that were attached to two groups of mist-nets set 50 m outside the border of a forest remnant. One group of artificial fruits received the corresponding oil isolated through hydrodistillation and the other received water only. Fruits with oils attracted significantly more fruit-eating bats, especially Artibeus lituratus that regularly crosses open habitats to reach other forest remnants. The highly significant attraction of A. lituratus by the oil of Piper was unexpected, since this bat is a specialist on Ficus fruits. We hypothesize that in habitats with no fruit available it is possible to attract frugivorous bats with the odor of several ripe fruit species. Furthermore, we verified that almost half of the individuals captured defecated seeds, indicating that the oils also attract recently fed bats, even when their preferred food is available nearby. This technique potentially may increase seed rain at specific locations, being particularly promising to restoration projects.