The intersections of identity and persistence for retention in ecology and environmental biology with personal narratives from Black women

Natasha N. Woods, Zakiya H. Leggett, and Maria N. Miriti. 2023.  Journal of Geoscience Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2154935

Abstract

Ecology and environmental (EE) biology has low representation of Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Degree completion and career placement in EE often fail due to poor consideration of the intersections among student lived experiences and the academic support, peer community support, mentoring, and leadership development that they receive. The demographic composition of these disciplines, which are situated within the geosciences, differs from the composition of the broader society and will continue to do so until biases associated with the dominant culture are remedied. Lack of diverse representation leaves young people of color unable to visualize themselves in EE careers, which contributes to their not pursuing EE programs, majors, and career placement.

As Black ecologists, we share narratives that include lessons gained from our individual journeys through undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral positions emphasizing experiences that supported our successful recruitment into our current academic positions. Throughout, we emphasize intersections of identity and persistence in EE. We assert that colorblind interventions to promote diverse participation in EE will be inadequate to affect meaningful increases in BIPOC participation. We highlight the value of diverse mentors, institutional support, and institutional commitment to diversity across multiple institutions. Additionally, we offer recommendations in support of BIPOC student retention in EE and the geosciences. Increasing diversity in EE will involve reassessment of how ecologists and environmental biologists are defined, interventions that support BIPOC retention at all career stages, and critical assessment of cultural biases in EE education and field experiences.

Molecular Mechanisms of Winter Survival

Nicholas M. Teets, Katie E. Marshall, and Julie A. Reynolds. 2023. Annual Review of Entomology, 68:319-339. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-120120-095233

Abstract

Winter provides many challenges for insects, including direct injury to tissues and energy drain due to low food availability. As a result, the geographic distribution of many species is tightly coupled to their ability to survive winter. In this review, we summarize molecular processes associated with winter survival, with a particular focus on coping with cold injury and energetic challenges. Anticipatory processes such as cold acclimation and diapause cause wholesale transcriptional reorganization that increases cold resistance and promotes cryoprotectant production and energy storage. Molecular responses to low temperature are also dynamic and include signaling events during and after a cold stressor to prevent and repair cold injury. In addition, we highlight mechanisms that are subject to selection as insects evolve to variable winter conditions. Based on current knowledge, despite common threads, molecular mechanisms of winter survival vary considerably across species, and taxonomic biases must be addressed to fully appreciate the mechanistic basis of winter survival across the insect phylogeny.

Editorial: Endocrine Regulation of Insect Diapause

Julie A Reynolds, Wen Liu, Kunihiro Shiomi. 2022. Frontiers in Physiology 13:962604.    DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.962604

Stress Physiology, Foraging, and Ecophysiology of Bats in Urban Environments

Carmi Korine, Phillip J. Oelbaum & Agustí Muñoz-Garcia. 2023. In: Moretto, L., Coleman, J.L., Davy, C.M., Fenton, M.B., Korine, C., Patriquin, K.J. (eds) Urban Bats. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13173-8_1

Abstract

Urban environments alter various physiological responses of sympatric animals. In this chapter, we provide an overview of stress physiology and the responses of bats to different urban stressors, such as light and noise pollution. We suggest future directions of research connecting urbanisation and stress responses of bats, whose life history traits determine an idiosyncratic response to urbanisation. We review how foraging behaviour and the physiological ecology of bats vary with the urban environment and present data on the effect of roost microclimate on metabolism and water balance of bats. We discuss these findings under an evolutionary lens and conclude that synanthropic species of bats possess preadaptations. These adaptations include resilience to urban stressors, fast flight, use of sheltered roosts, and relatively low metabolic rates to survive and thrive in urban habitats.

Trends in Lake Erie phytoplankton biomass and community structure during a 20-year period of rapid environmental change

Daniel R.O'Donnell, Ruth Briland, Richard R.Budnik, Stuart A.Ludsin, James M.Hood. 2023. Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.12.011

Abstract

Since the 1990s, Lake Erie has experienced resurgent eutrophication due in part to climate change-driven increases in precipitation, which have combined with increasingly intensive agricultural practices in the region to produce excessive nutrient runoff into the lake. Harmful blooms of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (“Microcystis”) in Lake Erie’s western and central basins (WB and CB, respectively) have been a highly visible consequence of this eutrophication, however few studies have characterized intra- or interannual trends in less abundant, though likely more edible, phytoplankton taxa over the last 25 years. Here, we used the 20-year Lake Erie Plankton Abundance Study (LEPAS) dataset to quantify intra- and interannual trends in the dynamics of six major phytoplankton groups in the WB and CB during 1995–2015. Cyanobacteria biomass in the WB increased >1000-fold during this period, while biomass of all other major taxa groups increased between 10- and 100-fold. Early summer (June–July) and spring (May) communities saw more modest directional change in the biomass of both edible and less-edible taxa as well as community structure. Around 2008, the CB also began to experience Microcystis blooms concurrent with those in the WB, with similar, though less dramatic consequences for phytoplankton community structure and edible biomass. The biomass of several phytoplankton groups exhibited intra-annual oscillations with a ∼5-year period. The mechanisms underlying changes in the phytoplankton community structure and their consequences for higher trophic levels are not well understood, however increases in edible phytoplankton may be sustaining long-term upward trends in many zooplankton taxa.

Effects of phylogenetic variation on prioritization of species for conservation

Kristina Wicke, Md Rejuan Haque, and Laura Kubatko. 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.21.525012

Abstract

Conservation planning often involves difficult choices about which species to protect. One way to pri- oritize species for conservation is to consider their relative evolutionary isolation on a phylogeny. Several evolutionary isolation metrics have been discussed in the literature, all of which require a phylogenetic tree as input. The recent widespread recognition of the ubiquity of incongruence between gene trees and species trees thus leads to the natural question of which should be used as the phylogenetic basis for assessing conservation priorities. To address this, we explored the variability in species rankings based on gene trees as compared to the species tree for several empirical data sets. We used the Fair Propor- tion (FP) index, also known as the evolutionary distinctiveness score, as the measure of evolutionary isolation. The FP index apportions the total diversity of a phylogenetic tree among all leaves in such a way that each species receives a “fair proportion” of its ancestry. Our results indicate that prioritization rankings among species vary greatly depending on the underlying phylogeny, suggesting that the choice of phylogeny is crucial in assessing phylogenetic diversity in a conservation setting. Our aim is to raise awareness of this issue and inspire new research on which evolutionary information (species trees, gene trees, or a combination of both) should form the basis for conservation decisions.

The Status of Molecular Analyses of Isolates of Acanthamoeba Maintained by International Culture Collections

Paul A. Fuerst. Microorganisms 2023, 11, 295. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11020295

Abstract

Acanthamoeba is among the most ubiquitous protistan groups in nature. Knowledge of the biological diversity of Acanthamoeba comes in part from the use of strains maintained by the major microbial culture collections, ATCC and CCAP. Standard strains are vital to ensure the comparability of research. The diversity of standard strains of Acanthamoeba in the culture collections is reviewed, emphasizing the extent of genotypic studies based on DNA sequencing of the small subunit ribosomal RNA from the nucleus (18S rRNA gene; Rns) or the mitochondria (16S‐like rRNA gene; rns). Over 170 different strains have been maintained at some time by culture centers. DNA sequence information is available for more than 70% of these strains. Determination of the genotypic classification of standard strains within the genus indicates that frequencies of types within culture collections only roughly mirror that from clinical or environmental studies, with significant differences in the frequency of some genotypes. Culture collections include the type of isolate from almost all named species of Acanthamoeba, allowing an evaluation of the validity of species designations. Multiple species are found to share the same Sequence Type, while multiple Sequence Types have been identified for different strains that share the same species name. Issues of sequence reliability and the possibility that a small number of standard strains have been mislabeled when studied are also examined, leading to potential problems for comparative analyses. It is important that all species have reliable genotype designations. The culture collections should be encouraged to assist in completing the molecular inventory of standard strains, while workers in the Acanthamoeba research community should endeavor to ensure that strains representative of genotypes that are missing from the culture collection are provided to the culture centers for preservation.