Harnessing remote sensing and machine learning techniques for detecting and monitoring the invasion of goldenrod invasive species.

Invasive alien species, such as goldenrods (Solidago spp.), pose significant threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe. Effective monitoring of these species is essential for early intervention and informed management, yet traditional ground surveys are often labor-intensive and limited in scale.

The impact of weather conditions on avian breeding performance: insights from a long-term study.

Understanding how weather conditions during early development influence reproductive success is essential for predicting avian responses to climate change. We used a 40-year dataset from a nest-box population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) to examine how temperature and precipitation during the incubation and nestling periods affected three key components of reproductive performance: hatchling number, fledgling production, and local offspring recruitment. We found that higher ambient temperatures during the nestling period were associated with a decreased probability of brood failure and a higher number of recruits.

Cyanobacterial bloom causes expansion of isotopic niche areas and overlap in crustacean zooplankton.

We aimed to study how cyanobacterial blooms affect the use of the basal resources by three groups of crustacean zooplankton (calanoid and cyclopoid copepods, Daphnia spp.). We used measurements of naturally occurring stable isotopes of carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) to quantify the areas of isotopic niches (sample size-corrected standard ellipse areas; SEA) of planktonic crustaceans during the pre-bloom and cyanobacterial bloom phases.

Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) profiles of carabid beetle communities exposed to acetamiprid, chlorpyrifos or λ-cyhalothrin.

Many carabid species are essential for pest management in agricultural areas, but at the same time can be exposed to pesticides. To understand how pesticides may affect ecosystem services provided by carabids, it is crucial to assess the effects of exposure not only for individual species but for whole communities. The objective of our study was thus to assess the distribution of sensitivity in carabid communities inhabiting agricultural landscapes toward three insecticides representing three major groups: neonicotinoid acetamiprid, organophosphate chlorpyrifos, and pyrethroid λ-cyhalothrin.

Global scale assessment of the human-induced extinction crisis of terrestrial carnivores.

Human impacts on carnivores are a persistent conservation challenge worldwide. We present a global analysis showing the overlap of conservation lands and the cumulative impact of humans on the distribution ranges of 257 terrestrial carnivore species. Our findings reveal that 64% of carnivore ranges overlap with areas characterized by high human pressures.

Life history traits explain the intra-seasonal abundance pattern of rare land snail species Vertigo moulinsiana: bridging the theory-application gap.

Vertigo moulinsiana, a rare and vulnerable land snail species, faces increasing threats from climate change, particularly due to the loss of snow cover and its associated thermal buffering effects. In this study, we develop a population dynamics model to explore how life history traits, including overwintering strategies and seasonal reproduction, shape the intra-seasonal abundance patterns of V. moulinsiana.

A curated dataset on the distribution of West Palaearctic freshwater bivalves.

Freshwater bivalves (FWB) are attracting scientific and societal attention given their essential ecosystem services, ecological functions, and poor conservation status. Current knowledge of the spatial distribution of West Palearctic FWB is poor preventing the understanding of biogeography and conservation planning. One of the priorities of the pan-European networking project "CONFREMU - Conservation of freshwater mussels: a pan-European approach" funded by the European Union, was to fill the knowledge gap on the distribution of FWB in Europe and adjacent regions.

Cold tolerance strategies of freshwater mussels across latitudes.

Freshwater mussels across Europe exhibit physiological and behavioural adaptations to survive winter conditions. Climate change projections, including more frequent extreme weather events, are expected to intensify pressures on these ecosystems. In this study, we tested the temperature-size hypothesis, which posits that larger body size in ectothermic organisms is an adaptation to colder climates.

Forest fragmentation and heterogeneity shape the occurrence of woodpecker species in Central Europe.

The study investigates the impact of fragmentation metrics and other forest characteristics on the occurrence and richness of woodpecker species in 163 forest patches in Southern Poland. Generalised linear mixed models were used to estimate the influence of fragmentation metrics (patch size, nearest-neighbour distance, proximity index, patch shape) and forest stand features (age, proportion of coniferous tree species, proportion of dominant tree species) on woodpecker presence and woodpecker species richness. Eight woodpecker species were identified during surveys, and the study found that forest patch size positively correlated with the probability of occurrence for the great spotted woodpecker and black woodpecker but negatively with the occurrence of wryneck.

Analysis of the response mechanism in lipid degradation of key gene LDH1 knockout strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under levulinic acid stress.

Levulinic acid (LA) is the main toxic by-product in the production of fuel ethanol, and its large-scale emission adversely affect the ecological environment. In order to effectively remove LA from the liquid waste, microbial degradation methods are adopted but the challenge is that microorganisms cannot fully tolerate LA in the waste. Therefore, it is particularly important to explore the tolerance mechanism of microorganisms to LA.

Impact of the wildland-urban interface on large carnivore damage in the Polish Carpathians.

Large carnivore populations are recovering across Europe, likely influencing human-wildlife interactions in the areas where both human and carnivore activity overlap, like wildland-urban interface (WUI). We analyzed over 3500 cases of damage caused by brown bears, wolves, and lynx in the Polish Carpathians (2010-2017) to identify spatial and temporal hot spots and their determinants. Wolf damage was associated with sheep density and historical WUI, while bear damage correlated with permanent bear occurrence and historical WUI.

Allocation of Resources to Growth and Spore Production in a Fern L.: Effects of Mowing and Simulated Herbivory.

Natural selection drives how organisms allocate resources among competing demands such as growth, reproduction, and survival. In ferns, where reproductive and vegetative organs share developmental pathways, these trade-offs may be particularly strong under environmental disturbance. This study investigates how the rare fern allocates resources between vegetative growth and reproduction in response to vegetation removal (mowing) and simulated herbivory (clipping).

Trophic Interactions Are Key to Understanding the Effects of Global Change on the Distribution and Functional Role of the Brown Bear.

Biotic interactions are expected to influence species' responses to global changes, but they are rarely considered across broad spatial extents. Abiotic factors are thought to operate at larger spatial scales, while biotic factors, such as species interactions, are considered more important at local scales within communities, in part because of the knowledge gap on species interactions at large spatial scales (i.e.

Resolving the climate-controlled hydrological regime in a model permafrost catchment for future management strategies.

Climate change influences worldwide freshwaters with the most prominent effects in the Arctic and Alpine regions. Environmental management in proglacial zones underlain by permafrost requires understanding of hydrological regimes and water retention patterns. However, there is limited long-term data on the catchment-scale freshwater flow and retention for ecosystems within the continuous permafrost zones.

Unraveling Omnivory and Community Interactions Between Primary Producers and an Apex Predator.

The effects of climate and plant phenological changes on herbivorous species are widely recognized, yet less research has focused on predatory species, even though vegetative components can account for large proportions of their diet. The historical focus on predation through the lens of simple interactions between obligate carnivores and their prey oversimplifies many species' roles within ecological communities and minimizes other, equally important community functions. We used a long-term, individual-based dataset on an omnivorous species, the brown bear (), to identify long-term diet patterns and factors contributing to annual variation in diet.

Positive Feedback on Climate Warming by Stream Microbial Decomposers Indicated by a Global Space-For-Time Substitution Study.

Decomposition of plant litter is a key ecological process in streams, whose contribution to the global carbon cycle is large relative to their extent on Earth. We examined the mechanisms underlying the temperature sensitivity (TS) of instream decomposition and forecast effects of climate warming on this process. Comparing data from 41 globally distributed sites, we assessed the TS of microbial and total decomposition using litter of nine plant species combined in six mixtures.

Reexamination of three North American Nipponentomon species (Protura, Acerentomidae, Nipponentominae) with updated key to identification.

Type material of three Nipponentomon species, N. andrei, N. aureitarsum and N.

Repeated colonisation of alpine habitats by Arabidopsis arenosa involved parallel adjustments of leaf cuticle traits.

Cuticle function can be pivotal to plant success in different environments. Yet, the occurrence of intraspecific adjustments in cuticle traits resulting from acclimation or adaptation to different habitats remains poorly understood. Here, we used genetically well-characterised populations of Arabidopsis arenosa to investigate whether cuticle traits were adjusted as part of the parallel evolution from a foothill to an alpine ecotype.

Maternal and social status affect hair cortisol concentrations in brown bears.

Hair cortisol concentration is affected by different biological factors, including age, sex, and reproductive status, and can provide important insights into fitness. Using cortisol concentrations of wild Scandinavian brown bears, Ursus arctos, the purpose of this study was to investigate cortisol variations among individuals in relation to age, sex, and reproductive status (solitary individuals vs individuals in a family group). Cortisol concentrations were measured in 448 hair samples of 303 brown bears (162 males and 141 females, from one to nine years of age) captured from 1990 to 2016.

ParAquaSeq, a Database of Ecologically Annotated rRNA Sequences Covering Zoosporic Parasites Infecting Aquatic Primary Producers in Natural and Industrial Systems.

Amplicon sequencing tools such as metabarcoding are commonly used for thorough characterisation of microbial diversity in natural samples. They mostly rely on the amplification of conserved universal markers, mainly ribosomal genes, allowing the taxonomic assignment of barcodes. However, linking taxonomic classification with functional traits is not straightforward and requires knowledge of each taxonomic group to confidently assign taxa to a given functional trait.

Spawning in a threatened freshwater mussel shifts to earlier dates as a result of increasing summer mortality.

Freshwater mussels are among the most imperilled groups of animals on the globe, however, the drivers of mussel declines are still poorly understood. Here we show that in a seasonal environment, Unio crassus females can initiate spawning from late winter to late summer, implying a very high phenotypic plasticity of their spawning date. However, they shift their reproductive effort to earlier dates and make greater investments in early broods in order to adapt to high spring temperatures and higher levels of summer mortality.

Impact of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) on Black-headed Gulls population in Poland in 2023.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) A(H5N1) has caused the most extensive and severe epizootic event affecting both poultry and wild birds globally. This study investigated the impact of HPAIV on the breeding population of the Black-headed Gull , the most abundant gull species in Poland. During the 2023 outbreak, this species was reported as the most frequently infected in the country.

Genomic investigations of successful invasions: the picture emerging from recent studies.

Invasion biology aims to identify traits and mechanisms that contribute to successful invasions, while also providing general insights into the mechanisms underlying population expansion and adaptation to rapid climate and habitat changes. Certain phenotypic attributes have been linked to successful invasions, and the role of genetics has been critical in understanding adaptation of invasive species. Nevertheless, a comprehensive summary evaluating the most common evolutionary mechanisms associated with successful invasions across species and environments is still lacking.

Winter Activity and Dormancy of Snails: Freezing and Food Shortage Avoidance Strategy Facing Snow-Cover Shortage.

Cold tolerance is a key factor shaping the survival and geographic distribution of terrestrial snails, especially in regions with harsh winters. Understanding how these organisms cope with freezing temperatures is crucial for predicting their responses to changing climates. This study focused on two microsnail species, and , to assess their winter activity, cold tolerance strategies, and whether their body size varies with latitude.