The microbiome of mammals has profound effects on host fitness, but the process, which drives the assembly and shift of mammalian microbiome remains poorly understood. To explore the patterns of small mammal microbial communities across host species and geographical sites and measure the relative contributions of different processes in driving assembly patterns, 2 sympatric desert rodent species ( and ) were sampled from 2 geographically distant regions, which differed in the environment, followed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The microbiomes differed significantly between and , and linear mixed modeling (LMM) analysis revealed that microbial diversity was mostly affected by species rather than the environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study integrated non-targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics to investigate dynamic changes in pupae across five developmental stages. Metabolomic analysis identified 1246 metabolites, primarily organic acids, lipids, heterocyclic compounds, and oxygen-containing organics. Principal component analysis revealed stage-specific metabolic profiles: amino acid derivatives (pyruvate, proline, lysine) declined, while pyrimidines (cytidine, uridine, β-alanine) and monosaccharides (glucose, mannose) increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
May 2025
The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is the most notable global biodiversity pattern, but its underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. The evolutionary speed hypothesis (ESH) posits that molecular rates play a crucial role in shaping the LDG, suggesting that higher temperatures accelerate molecular rates, thereby facilitating rapid speciation and accumulation of biodiversity in the tropics. However, whether ESH can explain the LDG across diverse taxonomic groups remains debated, and systematic examinations of its two key predictions using consistent datasets and methodologies across vertebrates are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Zool
February 2025
How ecological and evolutionary factors affect small mammal diversity in arid regions remains largely unknown. Here, we combined the largest phylogeny and occurrence dataset of Gerbillinae desert rodents to explore the underlying factors shaping present-day distribution patterns. In particular, we analyzed the relative contributions of ecological and evolutionary factors on their species diversity using a variety of models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHousehold waste contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and waste classification is crucial for reducing emissions. This study focuses on Beijing and utilizes life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA) to calculate GHG emissions in waste management systems and quantify emission reduction potential of different measures. The results show that net emissions from the classification system in 2021 are 116.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOecologia
October 2023
There are many factors known to drive species turnover, although the mechanisms by which these operate are less clear. Based on comprehensive datasets from the largest tree diversity experiment worldwide (BEF-China), we used shared herbivore species (zeta diversity) and multi-site generalized dissimilarity modelling to investigate the patterns and determinants of species turnover of Lepidoptera herbivores among study plots across a gradient in tree species richness. We found that zeta diversity declined sharply with an increasing number of study plots, with complete changes in caterpillar species composition observed even at the fine spatial scale of our study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Environmental conditions vary among deserts across the world, spanning from hyper-arid to high-elevation deserts. However, prior genomic studies on desert adaptation have focused on desert and non-desert comparisons overlooking the complexity of conditions within deserts. Focusing on the adaptation mechanisms to diverse desert environments will advance our understanding of how species adapt to extreme desert environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
July 2023
Bills and legs are two vital appendages for birds, and they exhibit huge interspecific variation in form and function, yet no study has examined the global predictors of this variation. This study examined global gradients in the relative lengths of bird bills and tarsi (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhenotypes associated with metabolism and water retention are thought to be key to the adaptation of desert species. However, knowledge on the genetic changes and selective regimes on the similar and divergent ways to desert adaptation in sympatric and phylogenetically close desert organisms remains limited. Here, we generate a chromosome level genome assembly for Northern three-toed jerboa (Dipus sagitta) and three other high-quality genome assemblies for Siberian jerboa (Orientallactaga sibirica), Midday jird (Meriones meridianus), and Desert hamster (Phodopus roborovskii).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare and geographically restricted species may be vulnerable to genetic effects from inbreeding depression in small populations or from genetic swamping through hybridization with common species, but a third possibility is that selective gene flow can restore fitness (genetic rescue). Climate-sensitive pikas (Ochotona spp.) of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QHTP) and its vicinity have been reduced to residual populations through the movement of climatic zones during the Pleistocene and recent anthropogenic disturbance, whereas the plateau pika (O.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-altitude environments impose intense stresses on living organisms and drive striking phenotypic and genetic adaptations, such as hypoxia resistance, cold tolerance, and increases in metabolic capacity and body mass. As one of the most successful and dominant mammals on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QHTP), the plateau pika () has adapted to the extreme environments of the highest altitudes of this region and exhibits tolerance to cold and hypoxia, in contrast to closely related species that inhabit the peripheral alpine bush or forests. To explore the potential genetic mechanisms underlying the adaptation of to a high-altitude environment, we sequenced the heart tissue transcriptomes of adult plateau pikas (comparing specimens from sites at two different altitudes) and Gansu pikas (.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
December 2022
Asia's rich species diversity has been linked to its Cenozoic geodiversity, including active mountain building and dramatic climatic changes. However, prior studies on the diversification and assembly of Asian faunas have been derived mainly from analyses at taxonomic or geographic scales too limited to offer a comprehensive view of this complex region's biotic evolution. Here, using the class Mammalia, we built historical biogeographic models drawn on phylogenies of 1,543 species occurring across Asia to investigate how and when the mammal diversity in Asian regions and mountain hotspots was assembled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of tussah immunoreactive substances (TIS) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on microbial community and resistance against Vibrio splendidus of Yesso scallop Patinopecten yessoensis. Scallops were fed with the basal diets supplemented with TIS (T group), AMPs (A group), or both of the two (TA group). After the feeding trial, the microbial community changes were evaluated, and the challenge test with V.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe charismatic giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is an iconic species of wildlife conservation worldwide. As the most effective measure to protect giant pandas and their habitats, China has established 67 giant panda nature reserves (GPNR) during the last five decades, which also bring benefits to many sympatric medium- and large-bodied mammals (MLM). To better inform the planning of the GPNR network with the view of preserving regional MLM diversity, we investigated the zeta diversity (a novel index to measure species compositional turnover considering the contributions of both rare and common species) patterns (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Zool
August 2021
Strong correlations between species diversity and climate have been widely observed, but the mechanism underlying this relationship is unclear. Here, we explored the causes of the richness-climate relationships among passerine birds in China by integrating tropical conservatism and diversification rate hypotheses using path models. We found that assemblages with higher species richness southwest of the Salween-Mekong-Pearl River Divide are phylogenetically overdispersed and have shorter mean root distances (MRDs), while species-rich regions northeast of this divide (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDescribing the patterns and revealing the underlying mechanisms responsible for variations in community structure remain a central focus in ecology. However, important gaps remain, including our understanding of species abundance. Most studies on abundance-based relationships are from either temperate ecosystems or tropical ecosystems, and few have explicitly tested abundance-based relationships across a temperate to tropical ecotone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe observed patterns and underlying mechanisms of elevational beta-diversity have been explored intensively, but multi-dimensional comparative studies remain scarce. Herein, across distinct beta-diversity components, dimensions and species groups, we designed a multi-faceted comparative framework aiming to reveal the general rules in the observed patterns and underlying causes of elevational beta-diversity. We have found that: first, the turnover process dominated altitudinal patterns of species beta-diversity ( > ), whereas the nestedness process appeared relatively more important for elevational trait dissimilarity ( < ); second, the taxonomic turnover was relative higher than its phylogenetic and functional analogues ( > /), conversely, nestedness-resultant trait dissimilarity tended to be higher than the taxonomic and phylogenetic measures ( > /); and third, as elevational distance increased, the contradicting dynamics of environmental filtering and limiting similarity have jointly led the elevational patterns of beta-diversity, especially at taxonomic dimension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudying the genetic differentiation in a unique geographical area contributes to understanding the process of speciation. Here, we explore the spatial genetic structure and underlying formation mechanism of two congeneric small mammal species (Apodemus draco and A. chevrieri), which are mainly distributed in the mountains surrounding the lowland Sichuan Basin, southwest China.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShanghai Kou Qiang Yi Xue
December 2020
Purpose: To evaluate the clinical aesthetic effect of buccal alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) and connective tissue transplantation (CTG) in patients who received a single implant.
Methods: Forty-three patients with tooth loss admitted to the Department of Stomatology of Shunde Hospital of Southern Medical University from May 2014 to May 2016 were included in the study. Tooth extraction, ARP, implant implantation, CTG and permanent repair were performed respectively.
In this study, peptides were prepared from defatted Antheraea pernyi (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) pupa protein via hydrolysis with combined neutral proteases. Single-factor tests and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to determine the optimal hydrolysis condition suitable for industrial application. Optimal hydrolysis of the defatted pupa protein was found to occur at an enzyme concentration of 4.
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