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Topic Review
Vertebrate Hindbrain Segmentation
In metazoans, Hox genes are key drivers of morphogenesis. In chordates, they play important roles in patterning the antero-posterior (A-P) axis. A crucial aspect of their role in axial patterning is their collinear expression, a process thought to be linked to their response to major signaling pathways such as retinoic acid (RA) signaling. The amplification of Hox genes following major events of genome evolution can contribute to morphological diversity. In vertebrates, RA acts as a key regulator of the gene regulatory network (GRN) underlying hindbrain segmentation, which includes Hox genes. 
  • 835
  • 18 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Interactions of Toxic Cyanobacteria with Other Aquatic Microbes
Water resources are critically important, but also pose risks of exposure to toxic and pathogenic microbes. Toxic cyanobacteria have been linked to the death and disease of humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife in freshwater systems worldwide. Management approaches successful at reducing cyanobacterial abundance and toxin production have tended to be short-term solutions applied on small scales (e.g., algaecide application) or solutions that entail difficult multifaceted investments (e.g., modification of landscape and land use to reduce nutrient inputs). 
  • 825
  • 31 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Differential Spatiotemporal Distribution of Cryptic Intertidal Bangiales
Morphologically similar but genetically distinct species have been termed cryptic and most have been assumed to be ecologically similar. However, if these species co-occur at a certain spatial scale, some niche differences at finer scales should be expected to allow for coexistence. Bladed Bangiales were identified and quantified across four intertidal elevations and four seasons for one year, at five rocky intertidal sites (between 39° S and 43° S) in southern Chile. Species determination was based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene amplification. To assess species gross morphology, thallus shape, color, and maximum length and width were recorded. Hundreds of organisms were classified into nine Bangiales species belonging to three genera (i.e., Fuscifolium, Porphyra, and Pyropia), including five frequent (>97% of specimens) and four infrequent species. All species, except for Pyropia saldanhae, had been previously reported along the coasts of Chile. The thallus shape and color were very variable, and a large overlap of the maximum width and length supported the cryptic status of these species. Multivariate analyses showed that the main variable affecting species composition was intertidal elevation. Species such as Py. orbicularis were more abundant in low and mid intertidal zones, while others, such as Po. mumfordii and Po. sp. FIH, were principally observed in high and spray elevations. Despite all numerically dominant species being present all year long, a slight effect of seasonal variation on species composition was also detected. These results strongly support the existence of spatial niche partitioning in cryptic Bangiales along the Chilean rocky intertidal zone.
  • 816
  • 10 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Intraspecific Heterogeneity
Intraspecific heterogeneity describes the phenotypic and genetic diversity within the population of a species. Intraspecific heterogeneity is derived from microevolution and is a strong driving force for the expansion of invasive species such as the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Raphidiopsis raciborskii.
  • 811
  • 30 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Contaminants of Soil–Vegetable Interface
Vegetable consumption is considered as an important part of the human diet as it serves as an essential source of vitamins, nutrients, and minerals. In this regard, the demand for new technologies and ideas in the agricultural sector has grown steadily to help expand the production of vegetable crops. The uptake and accumulation of trace elements (TEs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) as contaminants in vegetables have been accelerated by man-made activities.
  • 799
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Mycorrhizal Symbiosis in Coastal Grasslands
Grasslands form a large and essential part of terrestrial ecosystems in terms of occupied areas as well as for both biodiversity maintenance and functional importance. Among different grassland types, coastal grasslands are unique in that they are habitats where the influence of marine and terrestrial determining factors combine. Most importantly, interactions between plant and microbial diversity were recognized as the main driving force in carbon storage. There have been more attempts to make functional generalizations of grassland existence related to changes or gradients of environmental factors. For example, the belowground characteristics of plants—the presence of clonal growth organs, vegetative buds, fine root spread—have been related to the degree of water availability in grasslands. There has been an increasing awareness of the fact that precisely functional interactions involving plants and their diversity are important drivers of plant distribution and multiple ecosystem services in grasslands.
  • 797
  • 19 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Plague and Trace Metals in Natural Systems
All pathogenic organisms are exposed to abiotic influences such as the microclimates and chemical constituents of their environments. Even those pathogens that exist primarily within their hosts or vectors can be influenced directly or indirectly. Yersinia pestis, the flea-borne bacterium causing plague, is influenced by climate and its survival in soil suggests a potentially strong influence of soil chemistry. 
  • 788
  • 26 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Influence of Heavy Metals on Plant–Microorganism Interactions
Heavy metals  are among the primary environmental factors affecting plants and microorganisms. The use of beneficial microorganisms is considered one of the most promising methods of increasing stress tolerance since plant-associated microbes reduce metal accumulation, so the research focuses on plant–microorganism interactions and their practical application in phytoremediation. 
  • 774
  • 12 May 2023
Topic Review
Factors Affecting Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions
Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions (WVCs) are the most obvious negative effect of roads on wildlife. Scientists have estimated that approximately 194 million birds and 29 million mammals may be killed on roads in Europe each year. WVCs have serious consequences for wildlife populations. Road mortality can be a primary cause of death for some species in some regions, can reduce species abundance near roads, can limit genetic diversity, and can pose extinction threats to certain wildlife. Identifying the influencing factors and summarizing the spatial-temporal patterns of WVCs have been major research trends in recent decades and are of great importance for mitigation measures.
  • 771
  • 04 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Salt and Drought Stress Effects on Populus euphratica
Water is a vital resource in the agricultural systems of countries impacted by aridity and salinity. Worldwide efforts to reduce quantitative yield losses on Populus euphratica by adapting tree plant production to unfavorable environmental conditions have been made in response to the responsiveness of the increasing control of water stress. Although there has been much advancement in identifying the genes that resist abiotic stresses, little is known about how plants such as P. euphratica deal with numerous abiotic stresses. P. euphratica is a varied riparian plant that can tolerate drought, salinity, low temperatures, and climate change, and has a variety of water stress adaptability abilities.
  • 751
  • 19 Dec 2023
Topic Review
The Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Ireland
Crayfish plague is a devastating disease of European freshwater crayfish and is caused by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci (A. astaci), believed to have been introduced to Europe around 1860. All European species of freshwater crayfish are susceptible to the disease, including the white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes. A. astaci is primarily spread by North American crayfish species and can also disperse rapidly through contaminated wet gear moved between water bodies. This spread, coupled with competition from non-indigenous crayfish, has drastically reduced and fragmented native crayfish populations across Europe. Remarkably, the island of Ireland remained free from the crayfish plague pathogen for over 100 years, providing a refuge for A. pallipes. However, this changed in 1987 when a mass mortality event was linked to the pathogen, marking its introduction to the region. 
  • 748
  • 18 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Real-Time Automatic Drone Surveillance and Wildlife Monitoring
Wildlife monitoring can be time-consuming and expensive, but the fast-developing technologies of uncrewed aerial vehicles, sensors, and machine learning pave the way for automated monitoring.
  • 715
  • 29 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Acoustic Information Exchange
The behavioural, physiological, and energetic repercussions for wildlife that result from changes in their soundscapes are increasingly being realized. To understand the effects of changing acoustic landscapes, people first must establish the importance of the acoustic sense for species to transfer information between the environment, con- and heterospecifics, and a receiver, and the functional role of calling in behaviours such as foraging, navigation, mate attraction, and weaning.
  • 698
  • 17 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Environmental Epigenetics in Soil Ecosystems
One of the major emerging concerns within ecotoxicology is the effect of environmental pollutants on epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs. Epigenetic mechanisms regulate gene expression, meaning that the alterations of epigenetic marks can induce long-term physiological effects that can even be inherited across generations. Many invertebrate species have been used as models in environmental epigenetics, with a special focus on DNA methylation changes caused by environmental perturbations (e.g., pollution). Among soil organisms, earthworms are considered the most relevant sentinel organisms for anthropogenic stress assessment and are widely used as standard models in ecotoxicological testing of soil toxicity.
  • 695
  • 04 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Bacteria-Assisted Phytoremediation
Anthropogenic activities generate a high quantity of organic pollutants, which have an impact on human health and cause adverse environmental effects. Monitoring of many hazardous contaminations is subject to legal regulations, but some substances such as therapeutic agents, personal care products, hormones, and derivatives of common organic compounds are currently not included in these regulations. Classical methods of removal of organic pollutants involve economically challenging processes. In this regard, remediation with biological agents can be an alternative. For in situ decontamination, the plant-based approach called phytoremediation can be used. However, the main disadvantages of this method are the limited accumulation capacity of plants, sensitivity to the action of high concentrations of hazardous pollutants, and no possibility of using pollutants for growth. To overcome these drawbacks and additionally increase the efficiency of the process, an integrated technology of bacteria-assisted phytoremediation is being used. For the system to work, it is necessary to properly select partners, especially endophytes for specific plants, based on the knowledge of their metabolic abilities and plant colonization capacity. The best approach that allows broad recognition of all relationships occurring in a complex community of endophytic bacteria and its variability under the influence of various factors can be obtained using culture-independent techniques. However, for practical application, culture-based techniques have priority. 
  • 669
  • 27 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Aquatic Productivity under Multiple Stressors
Aquatic ecosystems are responsible for about 50% of global productivity. They mitigate climate change by taking up a substantial fraction of anthropogenically emitted CO2 and sink part of it into the deep ocean. Productivity is controlled by a number of environmental factors, such as water temperature, ocean acidification, nutrient availability, deoxygenation and exposure to solar UV radiation. These factors may interact to yield additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects. While ocean warming and deoxygenation are supposed to affect mitochondrial respiration oppositely, they can act synergistically to influence the migration of plankton and N2-fixation of diazotrophs. Ocean acidification, along with elevated pCO2, exhibits controversial effects on marine primary producers, resulting in negative impacts under high light and limited availability of nutrients. However, the acidic stress has been shown to exacerbate viral attacks on microalgae and to act synergistically with UV radiation to reduce the calcification of algal calcifiers. Elevated pCO2 in surface oceans is known to downregulate the CCMs (CO2 concentrating mechanisms) of phytoplankton, but deoxygenation is proposed to enhance CCMs by suppressing photorespiration. While most of the studies on climate-change drivers have been carried out under controlled conditions, field observations over long periods of time have been scarce. Mechanistic responses of phytoplankton to multiple drivers have been little documented due to the logistic difficulties to manipulate numerous replications for different treatments representative of the drivers.
  • 630
  • 02 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Factors Accompanying Spaceflights: Effects on the Retina
Spaceflight (SF) increases the risk of developmental, regenerative, and physiological disorders in animals and humans. Astronauts, besides bone loss, muscle atrophy, and cardiovascular and immune system alterations, undergo ocular disorders affecting posterior eye tissues, including the retina. Under microgravity conditions, mammals show disturbances in the retinal vascular system and increased risk of oxidative stress that can lead to cell death in the retina.
  • 621
  • 14 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Ant–Pollinator Conflict in Extrafloral Nectary-Bearing Plants
The net outcomes of mutualisms are mediated by the trade-offs between the costs and benefits provided by both partners. This trade-off has important implications for understanding the evolution of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), an adaptation that has repeatedly evolved throughout the flowering plant clade.
  • 594
  • 12 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Pharmaceuticals in Water
The presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment presents a challenge to modern science. The most significant impact this can induce is the emergence of antibiotic resistance, which can lead to a global health emergency. It is important to note that the impact of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment is not limited to antibiotic resistance. Pharmaceuticals can also affect the behaviour and reproductive systems of aquatic organisms, with cascading effects on entire ecosystems.
  • 570
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Influence of Environmental Variables in Micropterus salmoides
Biological invasions in fresh waters cause biodiversity loss and impairment of ecosystem functioning. Many freshwater invasive species are fish, including the largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, which is considered one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. Fast individual growth rates, high dispersal ability, ecological tolerance, and trophic plasticity are among the characteristics contributing to its success. The negative impact of M. salmoides on littoral fish communities is believed to be mitigated by habitat structural complexity resulting from aquatic vegetation and coarse woody debris, while the main limits on its spread seem to be strong water flows and high turbidity, which impairs visual predation. Together with the human overexploitation of its potential fish antagonists, habitat alteration could result in M. salmoides having seriously detrimental effects on native biodiversity.
  • 561
  • 22 Nov 2023
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