bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Risky roots and careful herbivores: Sustained herbivory by a root‐feeding herbivore attenuates indirect plant defences
Authors: Grunseich John M. , Thompson Morgan N. , Hay Allison A. , Gorman Zachary , Kolomiets Michael V. , Eubanks Micky D. , Helms Anjel M. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Above‐ground plant tissues produce characteristic blends of volatile compounds in response to insect herbivory. These herbivore‐induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) function in plant defence and mediate foraging decisions by herbivores and their natural enemies. The ecological roles of HIPVs as foraging cues for different trophic levels highlight an important conflict for herbivores that need to locate suitable host plants while avoiding competition and predation.

Plant roots also emit HIPVs following herbivory, but our understanding of root‐produced volatiles and their ecological functions in soil environments remains limited. Moreover, recent studies have documented the effects of temporal dynamics of plant volatile production on ecological interactions, but little is known about how root HIPVs change throughout herbivory or the resulting ecological implications from such changes.

In this study, we examined the roles of HIPVs from roots of cucumber plants Cucumis sativus as foraging cues for a specialist herbivore, striped cucumber beetle Acalymma vittatum and its natural enemies, entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs). We predicted HIPVs from A. vittatum‐damaged roots would attract EPNs, while repelling conspecific larvae that avoid competition, induced plant defences and increased risk of predation by EPNs. To capture the temporal dynamics of root HIPVs, we determined how HIPV‐mediated interactions change over time with sustained herbivory.

Initially (after 24 hr), A. vittatum herbivory on C. sativus, or mechanical wounding, induced greater production of root volatiles. These root HIPVs recruited EPNs and repelled foraging A. vittatum larvae, although larval performance was not affected by prior damage. Sustained (7 days) herbivory by larvae reduced HIPVs to levels indistinguishable from undamaged control roots while mechanically damaged roots continued to produce higher levels of volatiles. Attenuation of HIPVs impaired indirect defence responses of C. sativus by reducing recruitment of EPNs and deterrence of A. vittatum larvae.

These results suggest that root HIPVs function as honest signals that indicate the presence of herbivores, induction of indirect plant defences and increased risk of predation by natural enemies. However, some herbivores may overcome this line of plant defence by attenuating production of HIPVs and thus altering the outcomes of subsequent interactions among plants, herbivores and natural enemies.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
They like it cold, but only in winter: Climate‐mediated effects on a hibernator
Authors: Fietz Joanna , Langer Franz , Schlund Wolfgang 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Variations in ambient temperature (Ta) profoundly influence energy consumption in endotherms and therefore their survival and fitness. But depending on whether endotherms are hibernating or active, the same changes in Ta may have opposing consequences for their energy consumption.

The aim of this study was therefore to investigate how variations in Ta, occurring during hibernation and during the active period of a hibernator, affect different fitness relevant traits.

To understand whether changes in Ta impact phenology, body mass and reproduction in a small mammalian hibernator, we analysed Ta variations and detailed capture–mark–recapture data on edible dormice Glis glis collected between 1993 and 2016 in South‐West Germany.

Results revealed that during hibernation a Ta increase of 1°C advanced the date of first capture after hibernation by 6 days, but only if food availability during the preceding year was low. In contrast, after years of comparatively high food availability, date of first capture was not affected by Ta, but dormice had a significantly lower body mass after emergence, if Ta during hibernation was elevated (3–6 g per 1°C). We presume that an earlier emergence as well as a lower body mass after emergence potentially reduces the chance to survive.

During the active period of edible dormice, mean spring Ta did not affect the date of birth but was positively associated with litter size, potentially improving reproductive success.

Results of this study highlight that, depending on the physiological state of a hibernator, an increase in Ta can have positive and negative effects on fitness relevant traits.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Group density, disease, and season shape territory size and overlap of social carnivores
Authors: Brandell Ellen E. , Fountain‐Jones Nicholas M. , Gilbertson Marie L. J. , Cross Paul C. , Hudson Peter J. , Smith Douglas W. , Stahler Daniel R. , Packer Craig , Craft Meggan E. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

The spatial organization of a population can influence the spread of information, behaviour and pathogens. Group territory size and territory overlap and components of spatial organization, provide key information as these metrics may be indicators of habitat quality, resource dispersion, contact rates and environmental risk (e.g. indirectly transmitted pathogens). Furthermore, sociality and behaviour can also shape space use, and subsequently, how space use and habitat quality together impact demography.

Our study aims to identify factors shaping the spatial organization of wildlife populations and assess the impact of epizootics on space use. We further aim to explore the mechanisms by which disease perturbations could cause changes in spatial organization.

Here we assessed the seasonal spatial organization of Serengeti lions and Yellowstone wolves at the group level. We use network analysis to describe spatial organization and connectivity of social groups. We then examine the factors predicting mean territory size and mean territory overlap for each population using generalized additive models.

We demonstrate that lions and wolves were similar in that group‐level factors, such as number of groups and shaped spatial organization more than population‐level factors, such as population density. Factors shaping territory size were slightly different than factors shaping territory overlap; for example, wolf pack size was an important predictor of territory overlap, but not territory size. Lion spatial networks were more highly connected, while wolf spatial networks varied seasonally. We found that resource dispersion may be more important for driving territory size and overlap for wolves than for lions. Additionally, canine distemper epizootics may have altered lion spatial organization, highlighting the importance of including infectious disease epizootics in studies of behavioural and movement ecology.

We provide insight about when we might expect to observe the impacts of resource dispersion, disease perturbations, and other ecological factors on spatial organization. Our work highlights the importance of monitoring and managing social carnivore populations at the group level. Future research should elucidate the complex relationships between demographics, social and spatial structure, abiotic and biotic conditions and pathogen infections.
Behavioural and fitness effects of translocation to a novel environment: Whole‐lake experiments in two aquatic top predators
Authors: Monk Christopher T. , Chéret Bernard , Czapla Philipp , Hühn Daniel , Klefoth Thomas , Eschbach Erik , Hagemann Robert , Arlinghaus Robert 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Translocation into a novel environment through common fisheries management practices, such as fish stocking, provides opportunities to study behavioural and fitness impacts of translocations at realistic ecological scales. The process of stocking, as well as the unfamiliarity with novel ecological conditions and the interactions with resident fish may affect translocated individuals, leading to alterations of behaviours and causing fitness impacts.

Our objectives were to investigate how aquatic top predators behaviourally establish themselves and compete with resident individuals following introduction in a novel lake environment and to investigate the resulting fitness consequences.

Using high‐resolution acoustic telemetry, we conducted whole‐lake experiments and compared the activity, activity‐space size and fate of translocated and resident individuals in two model top predators, the northern pike Esox lucius (n = 160) and European catfish Silurus glanis (n = 33). Additionally, we compared the reproductive success of translocated and resident northern pike. The experiment was conducted with large (adult) individuals of different origins, resilient to predation, but subject to agonistic interactions and competition with resident fish.

Over a period of several months, the translocated catfish exhibited consistently larger activity‐space sizes than resident catfish, but did not differ from residents in activity and survival. The pike from one of the two translocated origins we tested also showed elevated space‐use, and both translocated origins revealed higher mortality rates than their resident conspecifics, indicating maladjustment to their novel environment. When non‐resident pike reproduced, they overwhelmingly produced hybrid offspring with resident fish, indicating that introductions fostered gene flow of non‐native genes.

Our study indicates that fish introductions result in behavioural and fitness impacts even in large‐bodied top predators that experience low levels of natural predation risk.
When to stay and when to leave? Proximate causes of dispersal in an endangered social carnivore
Authors: Behr Dominik M. , McNutt John W. , Ozgul Arpat , Cozzi Gabriele 
Published: July 2020

AbstractReliable estimates of birth, death, emigration and immigration rates are fundamental to understanding and predicting the dynamics of wild populations and, consequently, inform appropriate management actions. However, when individuals disappear from a focal population, inference on their fate is often challenging.Here we used 30 years of individual‐based mark–recapture data from a population of free‐ranging African wild dogsLycaon pictusin Botswana and a suite of individual, social and environmental predictors to investigate factors affecting the decision to emigrate from the pack. We subsequently used this information to assign an emigration probability to those individuals that were no longer sighted within their pack (i.e. missing individuals).Natal dispersal (i.e. emigration from the natal pack) showed seasonal patterns with female dispersal peaking prior to the mating season and male dispersal peaking at the beginning of the wet season. For both sexes, natal dispersal rate increased in the absence of unrelated individuals of the opposite sex in the pack. Male natal dispersal decreased with increasing number of pups in the pack and increased in larger packs. Female natal dispersal decreased with increasing number of pups in larger packs, but increased with increasing number of pups in smaller packs. Individuals of both sexes were less likely to exhibit secondary dispersal (i.e. emigration from a pack other than the natal pack) if they were dominant and if many pups were present in the pack.Our models predicted that 18% and 25% of missing females and males, respectively, had likely dispersed from the natal pack, rather than having died. A misclassification of this order of magnitude between dispersal and mortality can have far‐reaching consequences in the evaluation and prediction of population dynamics and persistence, and potentially mislead conservation actions.Our study showed that the decision to disperse is context‐dependent and that the effect of individual, social and environmental predictors differs between males and females and between natal and secondary dispersal related to different direct and indirect fitness consequences. Furthermore, we demonstrated how a thorough understanding of the proximate causes of dispersal can be used to assign a dispersal probability to missing individuals. Knowledge of causes of dispersal can then be used within an integrated framework to more reliably estimate mortality rates.
RestoreNet: An emerging restoration network reveals controls on seeding success across dryland ecosystems
Authors: Havrilla Caroline A. , Munson Seth M. , McCormick Molly L. , Laushman Katherine M. , Balazs Kathleen R. , Butterfield Bradley J. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Drylands are Earth's largest terrestrial biome and support one‐third of the global population. However, they are also highly vulnerable to land degradation. Despite widespread demand for dryland restoration and rehabilitation, little information is available to help land managers effectively re‐establish native perennial vegetation across drylands.

RestoreNet is an emerging dryland restoration network that systematically tests revegetation techniques across environmental gradients. Using the RestoreNet experimental framework, we tested the effectiveness of restoration treatments (i.e. ConMod nurse plant structures, mulch, pits) that increase soil moisture and seed mixes with different climatic niches to achieve revegetation goals.

Across sites, seedling recruitment was consistently influenced by treatment and seed mix type. Pit and mulch treatments increased total seedling density, with pits promoting the highest seeded species recruitment while limiting non‐native species establishment. Seeding increased total seedling density regardless of seed mix type, but cooler‐adapted seed mixes promoted greater seeded species density and resulted in lower density of unseeded (non‐native) species relative to warmer‐adapted mixes.

Seedling recruitment was also controlled by the temporal and environmental context of restoration with the positive effect of high precipitation greatest in the weeks immediately following seeding. Above‐average precipitation during the study period across most of the sites may partially explain why the highest seeded species recruitment occurred in pit treatments and seed mixes with cooler, wetter niche requirements.

Synthesis and applications. Results from the dryland restoration network, RestoreNet help to better understand variation in seeding and restoration treatment success across space and time in drylands. Relationships between restoration practices and environmental conditions in our study suggest the importance of anticipatory restoration strategies that forecast seasonal and sub‐seasonal weather conditions and select plant species with climate niche requirements appropriate for current and future climate conditions. This information is critical to land managers tasked with improving ecosystem conditions across degraded dryland regions.
The medicalisation of female genital cutting: Harm reduction or social norm?
Authors: Van Eekert Nina , Buffel Veerle , De Bruyn Sara , Van de Velde Sarah 
Published: July 2020

AbstractToday, female genital cutting is increasingly practised by trained healthcare providers. While opposition to medicalised female genital cutting (FGC) is strong, little is known about the underlying motivation for this medicalisation trend in practising communities. We formulated three hypotheses based on medicalisation theories. The medicalisation of FGC: (i) is stratified and functions as a status symbol, (ii) functions as a harm‐reduction strategy to conform to social norms while reducing health risks and (iii) functions as a social norm itself. Conducting multilevel multinomial regressions using the 2005, 2008 and 2014 waves of the Egyptian Demographic Health Survey, we examined the relationship between the mother’s social position, the normative context in which she lives and her decision to medicalise her daughter’s cut, compared to the choice of a traditional or no cut. We found that an individual woman’s social position, as well as the FGC prevalence and percentage of medicalisation at the governorate level, was associated with a mother’s choice to medicalise her daughter’s cut. Further research on factors involved in decision‐making on the medicalisation of FGC is recommended, as an in‐depth understanding of why the decision is made to medicalise the FGC procedure is relevant to both the scientific field and the broader policy debate.
PARP inhibitors as maintenance therapy in newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer: a meta‐analysis
Authors: Lin Q , Liu W , Xu S , Shang H , Li J , Guo Y , Tong J 
Published: July 2020

BackgroundUp to 70% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a relapse after primary therapy. New agents and approaches are urgently needed to avoid or slow down this recurrence.ObjectivesTo investigate the efficacy of PARP inhibitors (PARPis) as maintenance treatment in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.Search strategyPubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases.Selection criteriaAll randomised clinical trials (RCTs) that compared PARPis with placebo as first‐line maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer.Data collection and analysisTwo reviewers extracted data. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) and risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated.Main resultsPARPis were associated with significant improvement of progression‐free survival (PFS) in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (AeOC) (HR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.40–0.71; P < 0.0001). The benefit was not only in women with BRCA mutations (HR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.29–0.42; P < 0.00001) and homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.32–0.60; P < 0.00001), but also in those with nonmutated BRCA (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.63–0.82; P < 0.00001) and even non‐HRD (HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70–0.99; P = 0.04).ConclusionsPARP inhibitors are effective as maintenance therapy among patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer after platinum‐based chemotherapy, regardless of BRCA mutation or HRD status.Tweetable abstractPARPis provide a significant PFS benefit as first‐line maintenance therapy in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.
A systematic review on reported outcomes and outcome measures in female idiopathic chronic pelvic pain for the development of a core outcome set
Authors: Ghai V , Subramanian V , Jan H , Pergialiotis V , Thakar R , Doumouchtsis SK ,   CHORUS: An International Collaboration for Harmonising Outcomes, Research, Standards in Urogynaecology, Women's Health
Published: July 2020

BackgroundA core outcome set (COS) is required to address inconsistencies in outcome reporting in chronic pelvic pain (CPP) trials.ObjectivesEvaluation of reported outcomes and selected outcome measures in CPP trials by producing a comprehensive inventory to inform a COS.Search strategySystematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) identified from Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Embase and MEDLINE databases.Selection criteriaRCTs assessing efficacy and safety of medical, surgical and psychological interventions for women with idiopathic CPP.Data collection and analysisTwo independent researchers extracted outcomes and outcome measures. Similar outcomes were grouped and classified into domains to produce a structured inventory.Main resultsTwenty‐four trials were identified including 136 reported outcomes and outcome measures. Rates of reporting outcomes varied (4–100%) and pelvic pain was the most frequently reported outcome (100%). All trials reported the pain domain; however, only half reported quality of life, clinical effectiveness and adverse events. No differences in outcome reporting were observed in five high‐quality trials (21%). Univariate analysis demonstrated an association between quality of outcome reporting and methodological quality of studies (rs = 0.407, P = 0.048).ConclusionThere is wide variation in reported outcomes and applied outcome measures in CPP trials. While a COS is being developed and implemented, we propose the interim use of commonly reported outcomes in each domain: pain (pelvic pain, dyspareunia, dysmenorrhoea), life impact (quality of life, emotional functioning, physical functioning), clinical effectiveness (efficacy, satisfaction, cost effectiveness, return to daily activities) and adverse events (surgical, perioperative observations, nonsurgical).Tweetable abstractThere is significant variation in outcome reporting in CPP trials. Our systematic review forms the basis for the development of a core outcome set.
Competitor densities, habitat, and weather: effects on interspecific interactions between wild deer species
Authors: FERRETTI Francesco , FATTORINI Niccolò 
Published: July 2020

AbstractThere is a growing interest on the potential interplay between weather, habitat, and interspecific competition on population dynamics of wild herbivores. Favorable environmental conditions may buffer the negative effects of competition; conversely, competition may be expected to be stronger under harsh environmental conditions. We investigated relationships between competitor abundance, weather, and habitat cover on density and local distribution of a medium‐sized herbivore, the roe deer Capreolus capreolus, as well as its spatial overlap with fallow deer Dama dama in a Mediterranean protected area. Over 11 years (2007–2017), roe deer density was not affected by spring–summer rainfall in the previous year and decreased with increasing density of fallow deer in the previous year. Hence, over the considered temporal scale, results supported a major role of competition over weather in influencing population trends of roe deer. At a finer spatial scale, roe deer occupancy was negatively affected by local abundance of fallow deer, especially in “poorer” habitats. We found a slight support for a positive effect of fallow deer density on interspecific spatial overlap. Moreover, fine‐scale spatial overlap between deer species increased with decreasing rainfall in spring–summer. Fallow deer were introduced to our study area in historical times and their role as superior competitors over roe deer has been found also in other study areas. We suggest a potential role of harsh weather conditions during the growing season of vegetation (i.e. scarce rainfall) in triggering the potential for ecological overlap, emphasizing the negative effects of interspecific competition.