The Arctic is melting at an unprecedented rate and key drivers are changes in snow and ice albedo. Here we show that red snow, a common algal habitat blooming after the onset of melting, plays a ...crucial role in decreasing albedo. Our data reveal that red pigmented snow algae are cosmopolitan as well as independent of location-specific geochemical and mineralogical factors. The patterns for snow algal diversity, pigmentation and, consequently albedo, are ubiquitous across the Arctic and the reduction in albedo accelerates snow melt and increases the time and area of exposed bare ice. We estimated that the overall decrease in snow albedo by red pigmented snow algal blooms over the course of one melt season can be 13%. This will invariably result in higher melt rates. We argue that such a 'bio-albedo' effect has to be considered in climate models.
Trophic organisation defines the flow of energy through ecosystems and is a key component of community structure. Widespread and intensifying anthropogenic disturbance threatens to disrupt trophic ...organisation by altering species composition and relative abundances and by driving shifts in the trophic ecology of species that persist in disturbed ecosystems. We examined how intensive disturbance caused by selective logging affects trophic organisation in the biodiversity hotspot of Sabah, Borneo. Using stable nitrogen isotopes, we quantified the positions in the food web of 159 leaf-litter ant species in unlogged and logged rainforest and tested four predictions: (i) there is a negative relationship between the trophic position of a species in unlogged forest and its change in abundance following logging, (ii) the trophic positions of species are altered by logging, (iii) disturbance alters the frequency distribution of trophic positions within the ant assemblage, and (iv) disturbance reduces food chain length. We found that ant abundance was 30% lower in logged forest than in unlogged forest but changes in abundance of individual species were not related to trophic position, providing no support for prediction (i). However, trophic positions of individual species were significantly higher in logged forest, supporting prediction (ii). Consequently, the frequency distribution of trophic positions differed significantly between unlogged and logged forest, supporting prediction (iii), and food chains were 0.2 trophic levels longer in logged forest, the opposite of prediction (iv). Our results demonstrate that disturbance can alter trophic organisation even without trophically-biased changes in community composition. Nonetheless, the absence of any reduction in food chain length in logged forest suggests that species-rich arthropod food webs do not experience trophic downgrading or a related collapse in trophic organisation despite the disturbance caused by logging. These food webs appear able to bend without breaking in the face of some forms of anthropogenic disturbance.
•We examine insectivorous understory birds (babblers) in Bornean rainforests.•We relate impacts of logging on relative abundance to species’ feeding ecology and size.•Trophic positions spanned more ...than an entire trophic level.•Large ground-feeding species at high trophic positions were worst affected.•Data highlight the importance of assessing trophic position numerically.
Habitat destruction and degradation are major drivers of biodiversity loss and attention is increasingly focused on how different traits of species affect their vulnerability. Dietary traits are critical in this respect, and are typically examined by assigning species to different feeding and foraging guilds. However, such guilds may mask large variation in species’ trophic interactions, limiting our understanding of species’ responses. Here we use stable isotopes to quantify trophic positions within a Family of insectivorous understory birds, the Timaliidae (babblers), within Bornean rainforests. We then relate changes in species’ abundances following intensive selective logging of forest to their trophic positions, body sizes and foraging heights. We found that trophic positions within this single feeding guild spanned more than an entire trophic level. Moreover, changes in abundance following logging were significantly and independently related to mean trophic position in primary forest, body size and foraging height: large ground-feeding species occupying high trophic positions were more adversely affected than small understory-feeders with lower trophic positions. These three variables together explained 81% of the variance in species’ responses to logging. The single most important predictor, however, was a species’ mean trophic position. Species recorded in both habitats also had significantly higher trophic positions in logged forest. These data provide critical new understanding of species’ responses to disturbance. They also indicate previously unrecognised functional changes to species assemblages following logging, highlighting the importance of numerical assessments of trophic position within individual feeding guilds.
South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of ...intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.
Effects of logging on species composition in tropical rainforests are well known but may fail to reveal key changes in species interactions. We used nitrogen stable-isotope analysis of 73 species of ...understory birds to quantify trophic responses to repeated intensive logging of rainforest in northern Borneo and to test 4 hypotheses: logging has significant effects on trophic positions and trophic-niche widths of species, and the persistence of species in degraded forest is related to their trophic positions and trophic-niche widths in primary forest. Species fed from higher up the food chain and had narrower trophic-niche widths in degraded forest. Species with narrow trophic-niche widths in primary forest were less likely to persist after logging, a result that indicates a higher vulnerability of dietary specialists to local extinction following habitat disturbance. Persistence of species in degraded forest was not related to a species' trophic position. These results indicate changes in trophic organization that were not apparent from changes in species composition and highlight the importance of focusing on trophic flexibility over the prevailing emphasis on membership of static feeding guilds. Our results thus support the notion that alterations to trophic organization and interactions within tropical forests may be a pervasive and functionally important hidden effect of forest degradation. Los efectos de la tala sobre la composición de especies en bosques lluviosos tropicales son bien conocidos pero pueden fallar en la revelación de cambios clave en las interacciones de especies. Utilizamos análisis de isotopos estables de nitrógeno de 73 especies de aves de sotobosque para cuantificar las respuestas tróficas a la tala intensiva del bosque lluvioso en el norte de Borneo y para probar 4 hipótesis: la tala tiene efectos significativos sobre posiciones tróficas y la amplitud de nicho de las especies, y la persistencia de especies en el bosque degradado está relacionado con sus posiciones tróficas y amplitud de nicho trófico en el bosque primario. Las especies se alimentaron más arriba en la cadena trófica y tuvieron nichos más angostos en el bosque degradado. Las especies con nichos angostos en bosques primarios tuvieron menor probabilidad de persistir después de la tala, resultado que indica que especies con dietas especializadas tienen mayor vulnerabilidad a la extinción local después de una perturbación de hábitat. La persistencia de especies en bosque degradado no se relacionó con la posición trófica. Este resultado indica cambios en la organización trófica que no fueron aparentes con los cambios en la composición de especies y resaltan la importancia de concentrase en la flexibilidad trófica en vez del énfasis prevaleciente en la membresía de gremios alimenticios estáticos. Por lo tanto, nuestros resultados soportan la noción de que las alteraciones de la organización trófica y las interacciones en los bosques tropicales pueden ser un efecto oculto, dominante e importante funcionalmente, de la degradación de bosques.
Eutrophication is a globally significant challenge facing freshwater ecosystems and is closely associated with anthropogenic enrichment of phosphorus (P) in the aquatic environment. Phosphorus inputs ...to rivers are usually dominated by diffuse sources related to farming activities and point sources such as waste water treatment works (WwTW). The limited availability of inherent labels for different P sources has constrained understanding of these triggers for eutrophication in natural systems. There have been substantial recent advances in the use of phosphate oxygen isotopes (δ18OPO4) as a way of understanding phosphate sources and processing. Results from all previous studies of the δ18OPO4 composition of WwTW effluent and septic tanks are combined together with significant new data from the UK to assess δ18OPO4 compositions in waste water sources. The overall average δ18OPO4 value is 13.9‰, ranging from 8.4 to 19.7‰. Values measured in the USA are much lower than those measured in Europe. A strong positive correlation exists between δ18OPO4 and δ18OH2O, suggesting biologically-mediated exchange between the water molecules and the phosphate ions. A comparison of δ18OPO4 and the offset from isotopic equilibrium showed a strong positive linear correlation (ρ = 0.94) for the data from Europe but no relationship for the historic USA data which may be due to recent advances in the extraction procedure or to a relative paucity of data. This offset is most strongly controlled by the δ18OH2O rather than temperature, with greater offsets occurring with lower δ18OH2O. Time series data collected over 8–24 h for three sites showed that, although there were significant changes in the phosphate concentration, for a given WwTW the δ18OPO4 stayed relatively constant. Two new studies that considered instream processing of δ18OPO4 downstream of WwTWs showed mixing of the upstream source with effluent water but no evidence of biological cycling 3 km downstream. It is suggested that δ18OPO4 can be an effective tool to trace P from WwTWs provided the source of the effluent is known and samples are collected within a day.
•Extensive dataset of phosphate oxygen isotope (δ18OPO4) values from waste water effluents compiled.•Data shows differences in δ18OPO4 values between countries.•δ18OPO4 is found to be relatively constant over a 24 h period despite changes in SRP.•Difference between δ18OPO4 and equilibrium values is controlled by water isotope composition.•δ18OPO4 effluent values can be preserved up to 3 km downstream of the effluent source.
Chemical and sulphur isotopic analyses are presented of fissure-waters and pore-waters in the deep confined zone of a dual porosity carbonate aquifer. Some of the fissure-waters show good evidence ...for bacterial sulphate reduction, with low concentrations of sulphide present which is strongly to moderately depleted in
34S relative to sulphate. The sulphur geochemistry is best interpreted as mixing between: (i) a reduced water with sulphide ∼60‰ depleted in
34S relative to sulphate; and (ii) a sulphate-rich water from up-dip in the aquifer. In addition, sulphide oxidation occurs where sufficiently oxidizing water is drawn in by abstractions. The large isotope fractionation factor associated with the sulphidic waters is probably the result of redox cycling of sulphur with little net reduction, rather than a true kinetic fractionation factor. By contrast, pore-waters in the “sulphate reducing zone” show little or no evidence for the effects of sulphate reduction, despite the fact that the pore-waters represent a significant reservoir of sulphate for reduction. Some pore-waters have been modified recognizably by diffusional exchange with the fissure-waters, but the aquifer matrix has not been colonized by sulphate reducing bacteria, probably because porethroats in the limestone are too small for bacteria to pass. Physical exclusion of bacteria from the aquifer matrix and limited diffusional exchange are likely to exert fundamental controls on bacterial redox processes in dual porosity aquifer systems and other systems with low permeability due to small pore interconnections.
Nitrogen isotope signatures (δ15N) provide powerful measures of the trophic positions of individuals, populations and communities. Obtaining reliable consumer δ15N values depends upon controlling for ...spatial variation in plant δ15N values, which form the trophic ‘baseline’. However, recent studies make differing assumptions about the scale over which plant δ15N values vary, and approaches to baseline control differ markedly. We examined spatial variation in the δ15N values of plants and ants sampled from eight 150-m transects in both unlogged and logged rainforests. We then investigated whether ant δ15N values were related to variation in plant δ15N values following baseline correction of ant values at two spatial scales: (1) using ‘local’ means of plants collected from the same transect and (2) using ‘global’ means of plants collected from all transects within each forest type. Plant δ15N baselines varied by the equivalent of one trophic level within each forest type. Correcting ant δ15N values using global plant means resulted in consumer values that were strongly positively related to the transect baseline, whereas local corrections yielded reliable estimates of consumer trophic positions that were largely independent of transect baselines. These results were consistent at the community level and when three trophically distinct ant subfamilies and eight abundant ant species were considered separately. Our results suggest that assuming baselines do not vary can produce misleading estimates of consumer trophic positions. We therefore emphasise the importance of clearly defining and applying baseline corrections at a scale that accounts for spatial variation in plant δ15N values.
Trophic organisation defines the flow of energy through ecosystems and is a key component of community structure. Widespread and intensifying anthropogenic disturbance threatens to disrupt trophic ...organisation by altering species composition and relative abundances and by driving shifts in the trophic ecology of species that persist in disturbed ecosystems. We examined how intensive disturbance caused by selective logging affects trophic organisation in the biodiversity hotspot of Sabah, Borneo. Using stable nitrogen isotopes, we quantified the positions in the food web of 159 leaf-litter ant species in unlogged and logged rainforest and tested four predictions: (i) there is a negative relationship between the trophic position of a species in unlogged forest and its change in abundance following logging, (ii) the trophic positions of species are altered by logging, (iii) disturbance alters the frequency distribution of trophic positions within the ant assemblage, and (iv) disturbance reduces food chain length. We found that ant abundance was 30% lower in logged forest than in unlogged forest but changes in abundance of individual species were not related to trophic position, providing no support for prediction (i). However, trophic positions of individual species were significantly higher in logged forest, supporting prediction (ii). Consequently, the frequency distribution of trophic positions differed significantly between unlogged and logged forest, supporting prediction (iii), and food chains were 0.2 trophic levels longer in logged forest, the opposite of prediction (iv). Our results demonstrate that disturbance can alter trophic organisation even without trophically-biased changes in community composition. Nonetheless, the absence of any reduction in food chain length in logged forest suggests that species-rich arthropod food webs do not experience trophic downgrading or a related collapse in trophic organisation despite the disturbance caused by logging. These food webs appear able to bend without breaking in the face of some forms of anthropogenic disturbance.
The amplification of GTP cyclohydrolase 1 (pfgch1) in Plasmodium falciparum has been linked to the upregulation of the pfdhfr and pfdhps genes associated with resistance to the antimalarial drug ...sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. During the 1990s and 2000s, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine was withdrawn from use as first-line treatment in southeast Asia due to clinical drug resistance. This study assessed the temporal and geographic changes in the prevalence of pfdhfr and pfdhps gene mutations and pfgch1 amplification a decade after sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine had no longer been widely used.
A total of 536 P. falciparum isolates collected from clinical trials in Thailand, Cambodia, and Lao PDR between 2008 and 2018 were assayed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the pfdhfr and pfdhps genes were analyzed using nested PCR and Sanger sequencing. Gene copy number variations of pfgch1 were investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.
Sequences of the pfdhfr and pfdhps genes were obtained from 96% (517/536) and 91% (486/536) of the samples, respectively. There were 59 distinct haplotypes, including single to octuple mutations. The two major haplotypes observed included IRNI-AGEAA (25%) and IRNL-SGKGA (19%). The sextuple mutation IRNL-SGKGA increased markedly over time in several study sites, including Pailin, Preah Vihear, Ratanakiri, and Ubon Ratchathani, whereas IRNI-AGEAA decreased over time in Preah Vihear, Champasak, and Ubon Ratchathani. Octuple mutations were first observed in west Cambodia in 2011 and subsequently in northeast Cambodia, as well as in southern Laos by 2018. Amplification of the pfgch1 gene increased over time across the region, particularly in northeast Thailand close to the border with Laos and Cambodia.
Despite the fact that SP therapy was discontinued in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos decades ago, parasites retained the pfdhfr and pfdhps mutations. Numerous haplotypes were found to be prevalent among the parasites. Frequent monitoring of pfdhfr and pfdhps in these areas is required due to the relatively rapid evolution of mutation patterns.
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