Climatic changes are altering Earth's hydrological cycle, resulting in altered precipitation amounts, increased interannual variability of precipitation, and more frequent extreme precipitation ...events. These trends will likely continue into the future, having substantial impacts on net primary productivity (NPP) and associated ecosystem services such as food production and carbon sequestration. Frequently, experimental manipulations of precipitation have linked altered precipitation regimes to changes in NPP. Yet, findings have been diverse and substantial uncertainty still surrounds generalities describing patterns of ecosystem sensitivity to altered precipitation. Additionally, we do not know whether previously observed correlations between NPP and precipitation remain accurate when precipitation changes become extreme. We synthesized results from 83 case studies of experimental precipitation manipulations in grasslands worldwide. We used meta‐analytical techniques to search for generalities and asymmetries of aboveground NPP (ANPP) and belowground NPP (BNPP) responses to both the direction and magnitude of precipitation change. Sensitivity (i.e., productivity response standardized by the amount of precipitation change) of BNPP was similar under precipitation additions and reductions, but ANPP was more sensitive to precipitation additions than reductions; this was especially evident in drier ecosystems. Additionally, overall relationships between the magnitude of productivity responses and the magnitude of precipitation change were saturating in form. The saturating form of this relationship was likely driven by ANPP responses to very extreme precipitation increases, although there were limited studies imposing extreme precipitation change, and there was considerable variation among experiments. This highlights the importance of incorporating gradients of manipulations, ranging from extreme drought to extreme precipitation increases into future climate change experiments. Additionally, policy and land management decisions related to global change scenarios should consider how ANPP and BNPP responses may differ, and that ecosystem responses to extreme events might not be predicted from relationships found under moderate environmental changes.
Future changes in precipitation will strongly impact ecosystem functioning and services through changes in plant growth. Here, we synthesize 83 precipitation experiments to look at responses of above and belowground plant growth (ANPP and BNPP) across climatic gradients and levels of precipitation change extremity. Overall, we found that (1) ANPP was more responsive to precipitation increases than decreases, and this was especially evident in dry ecosystems; (2) BNPP responses were similar under precipitation increases vs. decreases; (3) under extreme wet conditions, NPP responses leveled off, creating a saturating function of NPP response vs. the magnitude of precipitation change. Based on these findings, we suggest that future research focus on BNPP and plant responses to extreme precipitation change.
There is a growing realization among scientists and policy makers that an increased understanding of today's environmental issues requires international collaboration and data synthesis. ...Meta-analyses have served this role in ecology for more than a decade, but the different experimental methodologies researchers use can limit the strength of the meta-analytic approach. Considering the global nature of many environmental issues, a new collaborative approach, which we call coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs), is needed that will control for both spatial and temporal scale, and that encompasses large geographic ranges. Ecological CDEs, involving standardized, controlled protocols, have the potential to advance our understanding of general principles in ecology and environmental science.
Objective
Preoccupation (excessive and constant thoughts) about shape/weight and food/eating is thought to be prominent in individuals with eating disorders but has received much less research than ...overt behavioral features. This study examined the significance and distinctiveness of different foci of preoccupation in individuals categorized with different forms of eating disorders and in individuals with higher weight.
Method
Participants (N = 1,363) completed a web‐based survey with established measures of eating‐disorder psychopathology and depression. The current study compared preoccupation among individuals with core features of bulimia nervosa (BN; n = 144), binge‐eating disorder (BED; n = 576), anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 48), and higher body weight (body mass index BMI ≥ 25) without eating‐disorder features (higher weight HW; n = 595). Associations of each type of preoccupation with other eating‐disorder psychopathology and depression were examined both between and within study groups.
Results
Preoccupation with shape/weight and with food/eating showed a graded pattern of statistically significant differences: AN and BN had higher preoccupation than BED, which was higher than HW. Within BN, BED, and AN study groups, correlation magnitudes of shape/weight and food/eating preoccupation with eating‐disorder psychopathology and depression did not differ significantly. Within the HW group, shape/weight preoccupation was significantly more strongly correlated than food/eating preoccupation with overvaluation, body dissatisfaction, and depression.
Discussion
The preoccupation cognitive style, as well as focus, appears associated with other facets of eating‐disorder psychopathology and depression. If results are confirmed among individuals with formal diagnoses, clinicians addressing maladaptive cognitions in cognitive‐behavioral therapy should consider the role of preoccupation. Future research should investigate whether preoccupation predicts or moderates eating disorder treatment outcomes.
Reliable data on the provision of ecosystem services (ES) is essential to the design and implementation of policies that incorporate ES into grassland conservation and restoration. We developed and ...applied an innovative approach for regional parameterization, and calibration of the CENTURY ecosystem model. We quantified spatiotemporal variation of soil organic carbon stock (SOC) and aboveground plant biomass production (AGB) and examined their responses to the recent climate change across a diverse range of native grassland systems in Alberta, western Canada. The simultaneous integration of SOC and AGB into calibration and analysis accounted for most of the spatiotemporal variability in the SOC and AGB measurements and resulted in reduced simulation uncertainty across nine grassland regions. These findings suggest the importance of the systematic parameterization and calibration for the reliable assessment of carbon-related ES across a wide geographic area with heterogeneous ecological conditions. Simulation results showed a pronounced variation in the spatial distribution of SOC and AGB and their associated uncertainty across grassland regions. Under baseline grazing intensity regime, an overall negative effect of recent climatic changes on the SOC, and a less consistent effect on the AGB were found. While, an overall positive or slightly negative impact of recent climate change on the SOC and AGB was found under a proposed 10% lower grazing intensity regime. These heterogeneities in the magnitude and direction of climate change effects under different grazing regimes suggest needs for a range of climate change adaptation strategies to maintain carbon-related ES in Alberta's grasslands. The modeling framework developed in this study can be used to improve the spatially explicit assessment of carbon-related ES in other geographically vast grassland areas and examine the effectiveness of alternative management scenarios to ensure the long-term provision of carbon-related ES in grassland systems.
Grassland plants, especially their root systems, are dynamic and can buffer changes resulting from exposure to multiple stressors; however, the interactive stressor effects on root dynamics and ...associated above‐ground growth are poorly understood.
Here, we examine the effects of changed precipitation and air temperature, and defoliation intensity on root length dynamics and above‐ground biomass using the third year data from a multifactor experiment conducted across three northern temperate grasslands.
We found that root length was more sensitive to the changes in environmental and management conditions than root mass, demonstrating the importance of root length as an indicator of rapid root system changes. Across all sites, warming, altered precipitation and defoliation intensity interacted to affect root length while above‐ground biomass was only affected by defoliation intensity, indicating that the root system was more responsive than above‐ground biomass when climatic conditions change. Overall, drought reduced root length, particularly under low defoliation intensity, as well as in combination with warming and heavy defoliation, highlighting the risk of additive effects of such environmental stresses. Across unclipped plots, above‐ground biomass was positively associated with total root length, the latter of which further interacted with precipitation, to affect above‐ground biomass. Compared to defoliated communities, non‐defoliated plant communities exhibited a greater ability to maintain above‐ground biomass under drought conditions via increases in root system efficiency (the amount of above‐ground biomass produced per unit of root length invested).
Our results highlight the rapid change of root length in the face of interactive stressors. We postulate that the degree of stability in above‐ground biomass is driven by the altered root system dynamics or species turnover. Future studies are warranted that more directly assess how root length responses under climate change impact other important plant traits in grasslands.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
It is well known that climate can influence plant community assembly via a multitude of indirect and direct pathways. However, interpretations of plant diversity responses to simulated climate change ...experiments, and subsequent predictions of plant communities under future climate scenarios, rarely address the importance of indirect effects. Networks of direct and indirect effects are also critical in understanding linkages between climate and grazing, a common land use of grasslands, and implications for plant diversity. We characterized the roles of indirect vs. direct effects in determining plant diversity responses to climate and grazing using data from three northern temperate grasslands in which we conducted factorial experiments manipulating precipitation, air temperature, and clipping intensity. Utilizing a structural equation modeling framework to address the multivariate networks, we found warming operated directly, causing species loss at all sites. We identified shoot biomass as the key indirect driver of diversity loss in response to both precipitation and clipping, regardless of site. However, site-specific contingencies in the network of interactions were important for understanding varied precipitation effects. At the driest site only, shoot biomass was resistant to reduced precipitation, and diversity was consequently unaltered. Similarly, disconnect between primary drivers and responses explained relatively idiosyncratic responses of evenness compared to richness. Importantly, the finding of widespread, directly controlled plant diversity loss with warming aligns with concerns about declining biodiversity under climate change. However, using a framework of network interactions also allowed us to pinpoint the source of variability in response across systems. Looking forward, we can use the identification of this key indirect pathway to guide an understanding of community assembly under factors likely to control shoot biomass. Viewing a multifactorial, multisite experimental approach through a framework of network interactions allowed us to both identify generalized responses and distill the complexity of contingent responses. This, along with the practical need to identify diversity responses to climate change and grazing, underscores the importance of understanding both indirect and direct drivers of ecosystem responses to global change factors.
Activating protein 2 alpha (AP-2α; encoded by
) functions as a tumor suppressor and influences response to therapy in several cancer types. We aimed to characterize regulation of the transcriptome by ...AP-2α in colon cancer. CRISPR-Cas9 and short hairpin RNA were used to eliminate
expression in HCT116 and a panel of colon cancer cell lines. AP-2α target genes were identified with RNA sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Effects on cell cycle were characterized in cells synchronized with aphidicolin and analyzed by FACS and Premo FUCCI. Effects on invasion and tumorigenesis were determined by invasion assay, growth of xenografts, and phosphorylated histone H3 (PHH3). Knockout of
induced significant alterations in the transcriptome including repression of
, identified as a primary gene target of AP-2α. Loss of AP-2α delayed progression through S-phase into G
-M and decreased phosphorylation of AKT, effects that were mediated through regulation of
. Buparlisib (BKM120) repressed
invasiveness of HCT116 and a panel of colon cancer cell lines; however, loss of AP-2α induced resistance to buparlisib. Similarly, buparlisib repressed PHH3 and growth of tumor xenografts and increased overall survival of tumor-bearing mice, whereas, loss of AP-2α induced resistance to the effect of PI3K inhibition. Loss of AP-2α in colon cancer leads to prolonged S-phase through altered activation of AKT leading to resistance to the PI3K inhibitor, Buparlisib. The findings demonstrate an important role for AP-2α in regulating progression through the cell cycle and indicates that AP-2α is a marker for response to PI3K inhibitors. IMPLICATIONS: AP-2α regulated cell cycle through the PI3K cascade and activation of AKT mediated through TGM2. AP-2α induced sensitivity to Buparlisib/BKM120, indicating that AP-2α is a biomarker predictive of response to PI3K inhibitors.
This article contains the findings of a content analysis on transgender-related scholarship in four counseling and counseling psychology journals from 2007 to 2020. A total of 94 publications were ...coded for analysis, and results from this analysis indicate an increase in the literature pertaining to transgender people and issues, though limitations still exist. Trends in the research are discussed, as well as gaps in the understanding of transgender communities in the counseling literature.
Background: Physical stressors can cause a physiological response that can contribute to an increase in mitochondrial dysfunction and Mitochondrial DNA damage (mtDNA damage). People living with HIV ...(PWH) are more likely to suffer from chronic pain and may be more susceptible to mitochondrial dysfunction following exposure to a stressor. We used Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) as an acute painful stressor in order to investigate whether PWH with/without chronic pain show differential mitochondrial physiological responses. Methods: The current study included PWH with (n = 26), and without (n = 29), chronic pain. Participants completed a single session that lasted approximately 180 min, including QST. Blood was taken prior to and following the QST battery for assays measuring mtDNA damage, mtDNA copy number, and mtDNA damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) levels (i.e., ND1 and ND6). Results: We examined differences between those with and without pain on various indicators of mitochondrial reactivity following exposure to QST. However, only ND6 and mtDNA damage were shown to be statistically significant between pain groups. Conclusion: PWH with chronic pain showed greater mitochondrial reactivity to laboratory stressors. Consequently, PWH and chronic pain may be more susceptible to conditions in which mitochondrial damage/dysfunction play a central role, such as cognitive decline.
Climate change, in terms of both warming and altered precipitation, has the potential to affect grassland systems, with subsequent ramifications for grazing resources. Although grazing is the ...dominant land use in grasslands, little research has assessed how changes in climate might affect herbage quantity and quality, and how grazing intensity might influence these responses. We performed a fully controlled and factorial 3‐yr, multisite experiment simulating climate change and grazing (via clipping). This experiment was conducted at three northern temperate grassland sites across the Canadian prairies. We increased air temperature by 2 to 4°C, reduced precipitation by 60%, and clipped plants at low and high intensities. At one site, we also applied added (+60%) precipitation. We monitored changes in herbage quantity (regrowth and accumulated herbage) and one aspect of herbage quality (protein content) for both graminoid and forb components. Both climatic factors (i.e., warming and reduced precipitation) and clipping decreased season‐long accumulated herbage, with similar magnitudes of response to precipitation and clipping and smaller responses to warming. Regrowth biomass following clipping declined with reduced precipitation but had a limited decline with warming. Reduced precipitation and warming both decreased herbage quality, and clipping increased quality. These results indicate that the potential for losses in herbage production under drought and warming may be exacerbated by decreased herbage quality. We also saw evidence that graminoids, rather than forbs, will be more sensitive to climate changes. Our results further support the idea that planning for altered grazing resources under future climate conditions will be necessary.
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