Notes

Microbe Development in Brines Formed from the Deliquescence involving Salts Highly relevant to Chilly Dry Planets.
the validation cohort. Among the four models, the clinical-pathological model had the lowest AIC of 332.53 and the best P value of 0.909 of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. We constructed a nomogram which was a simple calculator to predict the risk ratio of progression to ESRD for patients with DN within 3 years. The clinical-pathological model using routinely available clinical measurements was shown to be accurate and validated method for predicting disease progression in patients with DN. The risk model can be used in clinical practice to improve the quality of risk management and early intervention. ©2020 Sun et al.Background Insects form an established part of the diet in many parts of the world and insect food products are emerging into the European and North American marketplaces. Consumer confidence in product is key in developing this market, and accurate labelling of content identity is an important component of this. We used DNA barcoding to assess the accuracy of insect food products sold in the UK. see more Methods We purchased insects sold for human consumption from online retailers in the UK and compared the identity of the material ascertained from DNA barcoding to that stated on the product packaging. To this end, the COI sequence of mitochondrial DNA was amplified and sequenced, and compared the sequences produced to reference sequences in NCBI and the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). Results The barcode identity of all insects that were farmed was consistent with the packaging label. In contrast, disparity between barcode identity and package contents was revealed in two cases of foraged material (mopane worm and winged termites). One case of very broad family-level description was also highlighted, where material described as grasshopper was identified as Locusta migratoria from DNA barcode. Conclusion Overall these data indicate the need to establish tight protocols to validate product identity in this developing market. Maintaining biosafety and consumer confidence rely on accurate and consistent product labelling that provides a clear chain of information from producer to consumer. ©2020 Siozios et al.Biological traits are increasingly used in order to study aspects of ecology as they are related to the organisms' fitness. Here we analyze a dataset of 23 traits regarding the life cycle, distribution, ecology and behavior of 235 nektonic species of the Mediterranean Sea in order to evaluate the distribution of traits, identify rare ones, detect relationships between trait pairs and identify species functional groups. Trait relationships were tested using correlation and non-linear regression for continuous traits, parametric and non-parametric inference tests for pairs of continuous-categorical traits and cooccurrence testing for categorical traits. The findings have significant implications concerning the potential effects of climate change (e.g., through the relationships of the trait of optimal temperature), fisheries or habitat loss (from the relationships of traits related to tolerance ranges). Furthermore, some unexpected relationships are documented, like the inversely proportional relationship between longevity and age at maturity as a percentage of life span. Associations between functional traits show affinities derived from phylogenetic constraints or life strategies; however, relationships among functional and ecological traits can indicate the potential environmental filtering that acts on functional traits. In total, 18 functional groups were identified by Hill-Smith ordination and hierarchical clustering and were characterized by their dominant traits. For the assessment of the results, we first evaluate the importance of each trait at the level of population, community, ecosystem and landscape and then propose the traits that should be monitored for the regulation and resilience of ecosystem functioning and the management of the marine ecosystems. ©2020 Tzanatos et al.Claws may be the most common biological attachment devices in animals but relatively few studies have examined the ecological and evolutionary significance of their morphology. We performed the first geometric morphometric investigation of arthropod claws using 15 intertidal oribatid mite species from two different families living in three different habitat types to determine if claw shape is correlated with ecology. Our results show that species living on rocky shores show remarkably high and strongly curved claws while species from mangrove habitats show significantly lower and less curved claws. Euryoecious species are able to dwell in a wide range of habitats and show an intermediate claw type. These results indicate a strong relationship between claw shape and microhabitat and the best predictors of microhabitat use seem to be claw height and curvature. Claw length varied to some degree among the species but without any noticeable ecological pattern. A comparison with terrestrial and freshwater aquatic oribatid mite species, on the other hand, confirms that their claws are only half as long as that of intertidal mites and it is suggested that tidal flooding and wave action strongly selects for long claws. In this microarthropod group which occupies a vast array of microhabitats, claw morphology may play an important role in niche separation and hence demonstrate the importance of ecomorphological studies. ©2020 Pfingstl et al.The preservation of tropical forests is increasingly at risk, including forests located within human-modified landscapes that retain high conservation value. People modify and interact with these landscapes through a wide range of uses. However, our knowledge of how different forest uses affect biodiversity is limited. Here, we analyse the responses of different taxa to four distinct categories of forest management, namely old-growth forest, Brazil nut extraction areas, reduced impact logging areas, and eucalyptus plantations. Within six independent replicates of each category, we sampled three taxa (fruit-feeding butterflies, dung beetles, and trees) in eastern Amazonia. Forests under moderate use (Brazil nut extraction and reduced-impact logging) had similar, albeit slightly lower, diversity levels relative to old-growth forests, while communities in plantations were significantly less diverse. Only 4%, 20%, and 17%, of the sampled butterfly, dung beetle, and tree species, respectively, were restricted to old-growth forests.
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