TY - JOUR A1 - Raffeiner, Margot A1 - Üstün, Suayib A1 - Guerra, Tiziana A1 - Spinti, Daniela A1 - Fitzner, Maria A1 - Sonnewald, Sophia A1 - Baldermann, Susanne A1 - Börnke, Frederik T1 - The Xanthomonas type-III effector XopS stabilizes CaWRKY40a to regulate defense responses and stomatal immunity in pepper (Capsicum annuum) JF - The plant cell N2 - As a critical part of plant immunity, cells that are attacked by pathogens undergo rapid transcriptional reprogramming to minimize virulence. Many bacterial phytopathogens use type III effector (T3E) proteins to interfere with plant defense responses, including this transcriptional reprogramming. Here, we show that Xanthomonas outer protein S (XopS), a T3E of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv), interacts with and inhibits proteasomal degradation of WRKY40, a transcriptional regulator of defense gene expression. Virus-induced gene silencing of WRKY40 in pepper (Capsicum annuum) enhanced plant tolerance to Xcv infection, indicating that WRKY40 represses immunity. Stabilization of WRKY40 by XopS reduces the expression of its targets, which include salicylic acid-responsive genes and the jasmonic acid signaling repressor JAZ8. Xcv bacteria lacking XopS display significantly reduced virulence when surface inoculated onto susceptible pepper leaves. XopS delivery by Xcv, as well as ectopic expression of XopS in Arabidopsis thaliana or Nicotiana benthamiana, prevented stomatal closure in response to bacteria and biotic elicitors. Silencing WRKY40 in pepper or N. benthamiana abolished XopS's ability to prevent stomatal closure. This suggests that XopS interferes with both preinvasion and apoplastic defense by manipulating WRKY40 stability and downstream gene expression, eventually altering phytohormone crosstalk to promote pathogen proliferation. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac032 SN - 1040-4651 SN - 1532-298X VL - 34 IS - 5 SP - 1684 EP - 1708 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Cary ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ralevski, Alexandra A1 - Apelt, Federico A1 - Olas, Justyna Jadwiga A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Rugarli, Elena I. A1 - Kragler, Friedrich A1 - Horvath, Tamas L. T1 - Plant mitochondrial FMT and its mammalian homolog CLUH controls development and behavior in Arabidopsis and locomotion in mice JF - Cellular and molecular life sciences N2 - Mitochondria in animals are associated with development, as well as physiological and pathological behaviors. Several conserved mitochondrial genes exist between plants and higher eukaryotes. Yet, the similarities in mitochondrial function between plant and animal species is poorly understood. Here, we show that FMT (FRIENDLY MITOCHONDRIA) from Arabidopsis thaliana, a highly conserved homolog of the mammalian CLUH (CLUSTERED MITOCHONDRIA) gene family encoding mitochondrial proteins associated with developmental alterations and adult physiological and pathological behaviors, affects whole plant morphology and development under both stressed and normal growth conditions. FMT was found to regulate mitochondrial morphology and dynamics, germination, and flowering time. It also affects leaf expansion growth, salt stress responses and hyponastic behavior, including changes in speed of hyponastic movements. Strikingly, Cluh(+/-) heterozygous knockout mice also displayed altered locomotive movements, traveling for shorter distances and had slower average and maximum speeds in the open field test. These observations indicate that homologous mitochondrial genes may play similar roles and affect homologous functions in both plants and animals. KW - Arabidopsis thaliana KW - Mitochondria KW - FMT KW - Hyponasty KW - Mice KW - CLUH; KW - Locomotion Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04382-3 SN - 1420-682X SN - 1420-9071 VL - 79 IS - 6 PB - Springer International Publishing AG CY - Cham (ZG) ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reeg, Jette A1 - Strigl, Lea A1 - Jeltsch, Florian T1 - Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity BT - Insights from a community modeling approach JF - Ecology and Evolution N2 - Wild bee species are important pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, population decline was reported over the last decades and is still ongoing. While agricultural intensification is a major driver of the rapid loss of pollinating species, transition zones between arable fields and forest or grassland patches, i.e., agricultural buffer zones, are frequently mentioned as suitable mitigation measures to support wild bee populations and other pollinator species. Despite the reported general positive effect, it remains unclear which amount of buffer zones is needed to ensure a sustainable and permanent impact for enhancing bee diversity and abundance. To address this question at a pollinator community level, we implemented a process-based, spatially explicit simulation model of functional bee diversity dynamics in an agricultural landscape. More specifically, we introduced a variable amount of agricultural buffer zones (ABZs) at the transition of arable to grassland, or arable to forest patches to analyze the impact on bee functional diversity and functional richness. We focused our study on solitary bees in a typical agricultural area in the Northeast of Germany. Our results showed positive effects with at least 25% of virtually implemented agricultural buffer zones. However, higher amounts of ABZs of at least 75% should be considered to ensure a sufficient increase in Shannon diversity and decrease in quasi-extinction risks. These high amounts of ABZs represent effective conservation measures to safeguard the stability of pollination services provided by solitary bee species. As the model structure can be easily adapted to other mobile species in agricultural landscapes, our community approach offers the chance to compare the effectiveness of conservation measures also for other pollinator communities in future. KW - agricultural landscape KW - buffer zones KW - community model KW - functional traits KW - solitary bees KW - spatially explicit Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8748 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Wiley Online Library CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reeve, Holly A. A1 - Nicholson, Jake A1 - Altaf, Farieha A1 - Lonsdale, Thomas H. A1 - Preissler, Janina A1 - Lauterbach, Lars A1 - Lenz, Oliver A1 - Leimkühler, Silke A1 - Hollmann, Frank A1 - Paul, Caroline E. A1 - Vincent, Kylie A. T1 - A hydrogen-driven biocatalytic approach to recycling synthetic analogues of NAD(P)H JF - Chemical communications : ChemComm N2 - We demonstrate a recycling system for synthetic nicotinamide cofactor analogues using a soluble hydrogenase with turnover number of >1000 for reduction of the cofactor analogues by H-2. Coupling this system to an ene reductase, we show quantitative conversion of N-ethylmaleimide to N-ethylsuccinimide. The biocatalyst system retained >50% activity after 7 h. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cc02411j SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548X VL - 58 IS - 75 SP - 10540 EP - 10543 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reinhard, Johanna E. A1 - Geißler, Katja A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Grass and ground dwelling beetle community responses to holistic and wildlife grazing management using a cross-fence comparison in Western Kalahari rangeland, Namibia JF - Journal of insect conservation : an international journal devoted to the conservation of insects and related invertebrates N2 - Savannahs are often branded by livestock grazing with resulting land degradation. Holistic management of livestock was proposed to contribute to biodiversity conservation by simulating native wildlife grazing behaviour. This study attempts the comparison of the impact of a holistic management regime to a wildlife grazing management regime on grass and ground-dwelling beetle species diversity on neighboring farms in Namibian rangeland. Results show that the response of biodiversity in species richness and composition to holistic management of livestock differs substantially from wildlife grazing with a positive impact. From a total of 39 identified species of ground-dwelling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae, Carabidae) from 29 genera, eight species were found to be indicators for holistic management of livestock and three were found to be indicators for wildlife grazed rangeland. Observations suggest that holistic management of livestock may contribute to biodiversity conservation, but the differential effect of grazing management on species assemblages suggests that livestock grazing cannot replace native wildlife herbivory. Implications for insect conservation An adaptive management strategy such as holistic management used in this study shows the potential to support high beetle biodiversity. Holistic management of livestock thus aspects in favour for a sustainable form of grazing management for insect conservation even though it does not functionally replace grazing by native wildlife. KW - Beetle conservation KW - Land use management KW - Biodiversity KW - Insect conservation KW - Wildlife management Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-022-00410-6 SN - 1366-638X SN - 1572-9753 VL - 26 SP - 711 EP - 720 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Riemann, Lasse A1 - Rahav, Eyal A1 - Passow, Uta A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - de Beer, Dirk A1 - Klawonn, Isabell A1 - Eichner, Meri A1 - Benavides, Mar A1 - Bar-Zeev, Edo T1 - Planktonic aggregates as hotspots for heterotrophic diazotrophy: the plot thickens JF - Frontiers in microbiology N2 - Biological dinitrogen (N-2) fixation is performed solely by specialized bacteria and archaea termed diazotrophs, introducing new reactive nitrogen into aquatic environments. Conventionally, phototrophic cyanobacteria are considered the major diazotrophs in aquatic environments. However, accumulating evidence indicates that diverse non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs (NCDs) inhabit a wide range of aquatic ecosystems, including temperate and polar latitudes, coastal environments and the deep ocean. NCDs are thus suspected to impact global nitrogen cycling decisively, yet their ecological and quantitative importance remain unknown. Here we review recent molecular and biogeochemical evidence demonstrating that pelagic NCDs inhabit and thrive especially on aggregates in diverse aquatic ecosystems. Aggregates are characterized by reduced-oxygen microzones, high C:N ratio (above Redfield) and high availability of labile carbon as compared to the ambient water. We argue that planktonic aggregates are important loci for energetically-expensive N-2 fixation by NCDs and propose a conceptual framework for aggregate-associated N-2 fixation. Future studies on aggregate-associated diazotrophy, using novel methodological approaches, are encouraged to address the ecological relevance of NCDs for nitrogen cycling in aquatic environments. KW - aggregates KW - nitrogen fixation KW - heterotrophic bacteria KW - marine KW - aquatic KW - NCDs Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.875050 SN - 1664-302X VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ristow, Michael A1 - Panitsa, Maria A1 - Meyer, Stefan A1 - Bergmeier, Erwin T1 - Factors of detection deficits in vascular plant inventories - an island case study JF - Diversity N2 - The degree of completeness of large-scale floristic inventories is often difficult to judge. We compared prior vascular plant species inventories of the Mediterranean island of Limnos (North Aegean, Greece) with 231 recent records from 2016-2021. Together with the recent records, the known number of vascular plant species on the island is 960 native taxa, 63 established neophytes, and 27 species of as yet casual status for a total of 1050 taxa. We looked at a number of traits (plant family, size, flower color, perceptibility, habitat, reproduction period, rarity, and status) to investigate whether they were overrepresented in the dataset of the newly found taxa. Overrepresentation was found in some plant families (e.g., Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae) and for traits such as hydrophytic life form, unobtrusive flower color, coastal as well as agricultural and ruderal habitats, and late (summer/autumn) reproduction period. Apart from the well-known fact of esthetic bias, we found evidence for ecological and perceptibility biases. Plant species inventories based on prior piecemeal collated data should focus on regionally specific species groups and underrepresented and rare habitats. KW - Aegean flora KW - floristic survey KW - Mediterranean island KW - perceptibility KW - habitat KW - plant traits KW - rarity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/d14040303 SN - 1424-2818 VL - 14 IS - 4 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rosso, Pablo A1 - Nendel, Claas A1 - Gilardi, Nicolas A1 - Udroiu, Cosmin A1 - Chlebowski, Florent T1 - Processing of remote sensing information to retrieve leaf area index in barley BT - a comparison of methods JF - Precision agriculture N2 - Leaf area index (LAI) is a key variable in understanding and modeling crop-environment interactions. With the advent of increasingly higher spatial resolution satellites and sensors mounted on remotely piloted aircrafts (RPAs), the use of remote sensing in precision agriculture is becoming more common. Since also the availability of methods to retrieve LAI from image data have also drastically expanded, it is necessary to test simultaneously as many methods as possible to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Ground-based LAI data from three years of barley experiments were related to remote sensing information using vegetation indices (VI), machine learning (ML) and radiative transfer models (RTM), to assess the relative accuracy and efficacy of these methods. The optimized soil adjusted vegetation index and a modified version of the Weighted Difference Vegetation Index performed slightly better than any other retrieval method. However, all methods yielded coefficients of determination of around 0.7 to 0.9. The best performing machine learning algorithms achieved higher accuracies when four Sentinel-2 bands instead of 12 were used. Also, the good performance of VIs and the satisfactory performance of the 4-band RTM, strongly support the synergistic use of satellites and RPAs in precision agriculture. One of the methods used, Sen2-Agri, an open source ML-RTM-based operational system, was also able to accurately retrieve LAI, although it is restricted to Sentinel-2 and Landsat data. This study shows the benefits of testing simultaneously a broad range of retrieval methods to monitor crops for precision agriculture. KW - leaf area index KW - vegetation indices KW - machine learning KW - radiative transfer models Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-022-09893-4 SN - 1385-2256 SN - 1573-1618 VL - 23 IS - 4 SP - 1449 EP - 1472 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rösler, Antonia A1 - Gasparatos, Nikolaos A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Practicability and user-friendliness of height measurements by proof of concept APP using Augmented Reality, in 22 healthy children JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Child growth is a dynamic process. When measured at short intervals, children’s growth shows characteristic patterns that can be of great importance for clinical purposes. Objective: To study whether measuring height on a daily basis using an APP is practicable and user-friendly. Methods: Recruitment took place via Snowball Sampling. Thirteen out of 14 contacted families signed up for a study period of 12 weeks with altogether 22 healthy children aged 3 to 13 years (response rate 93%). The study started with a visit to the family home for the setup of the measurement site, conventional height measuring and initial training of the new measurement process. Follow-up appointments were made at four, eight and 12 weeks. The children’s height was measured at daily intervals at their family homes over a period of three months. Results: The parents altogether recorded 1704 height measurements and meticulously documented practicability and problems when using the device. A 93% response rate in recruitment was achieved by maintaining a high motivation within the families. Contact with the principal investigator was permanently available, including open communication, personal training and attendance during the appointments at the family homes. Conclusion: Measuring height by photographic display is interesting for children and parents and can be used for height measurements at home. A positive response rate of 13 out of 14 families with altogether 22 children highlights feasible recruitment and the high convenience and user-friendliness of daily APP-supported height measurements. Daily APP measurements appear to be a promising new tool for longitudinal growth studies. KW - body height KW - guideline KW - augmented reality KW - daily home-made measurements KW - iPhone KW - APP Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2022.2.48 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2022 IS - 2 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sabrowski, Wiebke A1 - Dreymann, Nico A1 - Möller, Anja A1 - Czepluch, Denise A1 - Albani, Patricia P. A1 - Theodoridis, Dimitrios A1 - Menger, Marcus M. T1 - The use of high-affinity polyhistidine binders as masking probes for the selection of an NDM-1 specific aptamer JF - Scientific reports N2 - The emergence of carbapenemase-producing multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae poses a dramatic, world-wide health risk. Limited treatment options and a lack of easy-to-use methods for the detection of infections with multi-drug resistant bacteria leave the health-care system with a fast-growing challenge. Aptamers are single stranded DNA or RNA molecules that bind to their targets with high affinity and specificity and can therefore serve as outstanding detection probes. However, an effective aptamer selection process is often hampered by non-specific binding. When selections are carried out against recombinant proteins, purification tags (e.g. polyhistidine) serve as attractive side targets, which may impede protein target binding. In this study, aptamer selection was carried out against N-terminally hexa-histidine tagged New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1. After 14 selection rounds binding to polyhistidine was detected rather than to New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1. Hence, the selection strategy was changed. As one aptamer candidate showed remarkable binding affinity to polyhistidine, it was used as a masking probe and selection was restarted from selection round 10. Finally, after three consecutive selection rounds, an aptamer with specific binding properties to New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1 was identified. This aptamer may serve as a much-needed detection probe for New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1 expressing Enterobacteriaceae. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12062-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sauter, Tilman A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Farhan, Muhammad A1 - Heuchel, Matthias A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Design and fabrication of fiber mesh actuators JF - Applied materials today N2 - Soft actuator performance can be tuned by chemistry or mechanical manipulation, but this adjustability is limited especially in view of their growing technological relevance. Inspired from textile engineering, we designed and fabricated fiber mesh actuators and introduced new features like anisotropic behavior and soft-tissue like elastic deformability. Design criteria for the meshes are the formation of fiber bundles, the angle between fiber bundles in different stacked layers and covalent crosslinks forming within and between fibers at their interfacial contact areas. Through crosslinking the interfiber bond strength increased from a bond transmitting neither axial nor rotational loads (pin joint) to a bond strength capable of both (welded joint). For non-linear elastic stiffening, stacked fiber bundles with four embracing fibers were created forming microstructural rhombus shapes. Loading the rhombus diagonally allowed generation of “soft tissue”-like mechanics. By adjustment of stacking angles, the point of strong increase in stress is tuned. While the highest stresses are observed in aligned and crosslinked fiber mats along the direction of the fiber, the strongest shape-memory actuation behavior is found in randomly oriented fiber mats. Fiber mesh actuators controlled by temperature are of high significance as soft robot skins and as for active patches supporting tissue regeneration. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2022.101562 SN - 2352-9407 VL - 29 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scharf, Christina A1 - Weinelt, Ferdinand Anton A1 - Schroeder, Ines A1 - Paal, Michael A1 - Weigand, Michael A1 - Zoller, Michael A1 - Irlbeck, Michael A1 - Kloft, Charlotte A1 - Briegel, Josef A1 - Liebchen, Uwe T1 - Does the cytokine adsorber CytoSorb (R) reduce vancomycin exposure in critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock? BT - a prospective observational study JF - Annals of intensive care N2 - Background: Hemadsorption of cytokines is used in critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock. Concerns have been raised that the cytokine adsorber CytoSorb (R) unintentionally adsorbs vancomycin. This study aimed to quantify vancomycin elimination by CytoSorb (R) . Methods: Critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock receiving continuous renal replacement therapy and CytoSorb (R) treatment during a prospective observational study were included in the analysis. Vancomycin pharmacokinetics was characterized using population pharmacokinetic modeling. Adsorption of vancomycin by the CytoSorb (R) was investigated as linear or saturable process. The final model was used to derive dosing recommendations based on stochastic simulations. Results: 20 CytoSorb (R) treatments in 7 patients (160 serum samples/24 during CytoSorb (R)-treatment, all continuous infusion) were included in the study. A classical one-compartment model, including effluent flow rate of the continuous hemodialysis as linear covariate on clearance, best described the measured concentrations (without CytoSorb (R)). Significant adsorption with a linear decrease during CytoSorb (R) treatment was identified (p <0.0001) and revealed a maximum increase in vancomycin clearance of 291% (initially after CytoSorb (R) installation) and a maximum adsorption capacity of 572 mg. For a representative patient of our cohort a reduction of the area under the curve (AUC) by 93 mg/L*24 h during CytoSorb (R) treatment was observed. The additional administration of 500 mg vancomycin over 2 h during CytoSorb (R) attenuated the effect and revealed a negligible reduction of the AUC by 4 mg/L*24h. Conclusion: We recommend the infusion of 500 mg vancomycin over 2 h during CytoSorb (R) treatment to avoid subtherapeutic concentrations. KW - Vancomycin KW - Critically ill patients KW - CytoSorb (R) KW - Sepsis; KW - Pharmacokinetics KW - Adsorption Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-022-01017-5 SN - 2110-5820 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Reply to the letter titled: "Pathologizing normal height or identifying chronic malnutrition: Public health concerns of calling stunting normal" / by Nafis Faizi, Mohd Yasir Zubair and Fazeelah Tasleem'. - New York, NY [u.a.] : Wiley Interscience. - 2022. - (American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council, 16 Feb 2022. - 34(2022) 5 ). - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23735 JF - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Association Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23741 SN - 1520-6300 VL - 34 IS - 5 PB - Wiley Interscience CY - New York, NY [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schittko, Conrad A1 - Onandia, Gabriela A1 - Bernard-Verdier, Maud A1 - Heger, Tina A1 - Jeschke, Jonathan M. A1 - Kowarik, Ingo A1 - Maaß, Stefanie A1 - Joshi, Jasmin T1 - Biodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems JF - Journal of ecology N2 - Biodiversity in urban ecosystems has the potential to increase ecosystem functions and support a suite of services valued by society, including services provided by soils. Specifically, the sequestration of carbon in soils has often been advocated as a solution to mitigate the steady increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere as a key driver of climate change. However, urban ecosystems are also characterized by an often high level of ecological novelty due to profound human-mediated changes, such as the presence of high numbers of non-native species, impervious surfaces or other disturbances. Yet it is poorly understood whether and how biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning and services of urban soils under these novel conditions. In this study, we assessed the influence of above- and below-ground diversity, as well as urbanization and plant invasions, on multifunctionality and organic carbon stocks of soils in non-manipulated grasslands along an urbanization gradient in Berlin, Germany. We focused on plant diversity (measured as species richness and functional trait diversity) and, in addition, on soil organism diversity as a potential mediator for the relationship of plant species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Our results showed positive effects of plant diversity on soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon stocks along the entire gradient. Structural equation models revealed that plant diversity enhanced soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon by increasing the diversity of below-ground organisms. These positive effects of plant diversity on soil multifunctionality and soil fauna were not restricted to native plant species only, but were also exerted by non-native species, although to a lesser degree. Synthesis. We conclude that enhancing diversity in plants and soil fauna of urban grasslands can increase the multifunctionality of urban soils and also add to their often underestimated but very valuable role in mitigating effects of climate change. KW - Anthropocene KW - biological invasions KW - ecosystem function and services; KW - functional diversity KW - global change KW - non-native species KW - novel KW - ecosystems KW - urbanization Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13852 SN - 0022-0477 SN - 1365-2745 VL - 110 IS - 4 SP - 916 EP - 934 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlägel, Ulrike E. A1 - Mädlow, Wolfgang T1 - All-season space use by non-native resident Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in northeastern Germany JF - Journal of ornithology / publ. by Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft N2 - Patterns of space use are often subject to large temporal and individual-level variation, due to seasonality in behaviour and environmental conditions as well as age- or sex-specific needs. Especially in temperate regions, seasonality likely influences space use even in non-migratory birds. In waterfowl of the family Anatidae, however, few studies have analyzed space use of the same individuals across the full annual cycle. We used a resident population of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in northeast Germany to study their year-round space use in relation to season, sex, and age. We marked 172 birds with colour rings and surveyed relevant water bodies for re-encounters for several years. As space-use patterns we derived home ranges from minimum convex polygons and the number of water bodies used by individual birds. Our analysis revealed that individuals shifted their space use between seasons, in particular extending their home ranges during the non-breeding season. Between years, in contrast, birds tended to show season-specific site fidelity. Sex differences were apparent during both breeding and non-breeding season, males consistently having larger home ranges and using slightly more water bodies. No difference was found between first-year and adult birds. Our study demonstrates that mark-resighting can provide valuable information about space use in species with suitable behaviour and readily accessible habitat. In such cases, it may be a valid alternative to more expensive GPS-tracking or short-term manual radio telemetry, particularly within citizen-science projects. N2 - Raumnutzungsmuster von Vögeln zeigen häufig große zeitliche und individuelle Variationen in Abhängigkeit vom saisonalen Verhalten und von Umweltbedingungen, aber auch alters- und geschlechtsspezifischen Ansprüchen. In gemäßigten Klimazonen können jahreszeitliche Einflussfaktoren die Raumnutzung auch von nicht ziehenden Arten bestimmen. Für Entenvögel (Anatidae) liegen bisher jedoch nur wenige Studien vor, die die Raumnutzung von Individuen über den gesamten Jahresverlauf hinweg betrachten. Wir untersuchten die ganzjährige Raumnutzung einer Standvogel-Population der Mandarinente (Aix galericulata) in Abhängigkeit von Jahreszeit, Geschlecht und Alter der Vögel. Wir markierten 172 Vögel mit Farbringen und kontrollierten mehrere Jahre lang die relevanten Gewässer, um Ringablesungen zu erzielen. Zur Analyse der Raumnutzung ermittelten wir Minimum-Convex-Polygone und die Anzahl der von den einzelnen Individuen genutzten Gewässer. Unsere Auswertung zeigte, dass die von den Vögeln genutzten Aktionsräume sich mit den Jahreszeiten veränderten. Insbesondere vergrößerte sich das besuchte Gebiet außerhalb der Brutzeit. Beim Vergleich mehrerer Jahre tendierten die Vögel zu einer saisonspezifischen Gebietstreue. Geschlechterunterschiede zeigten sich sowohl innerhalb als auch außerhalb der Brutzeit, wobei die Männchen stets größere Gebiete und eine größere Zahl an Gewässern nutzten. Zwischen Vögeln im ersten Lebensjahr und Adulten wurden keine Unterschiede gefunden. Unsere Untersuchung zeigt, dass Farbberingungsprogramme wertvolle Informationen zur Raumnutzung bei Arten liefern können, deren Verhalten dafür geeignet ist und die in gut zugänglichen Lebensräumen vorkommen. In diesen Fällen kann die Farbberingung eine geeignete Alternative zur teureren GPS- oder manuellen Telemetrie sein, vor allem wenn die vereinte Kraft von Amateurornithologen in die Untersuchungen einbezogen werden kann. KW - Anatidae KW - Aix galericulata KW - Home range KW - Site fidelity KW - Movement KW - Seasonality Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-021-01932-7 SN - 2193-7192 SN - 2193-7206 VL - 163 IS - 1 SP - 71 EP - 82 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlör, Anja A1 - Hirschberg, Stefan A1 - Ben Amor, Ghada A1 - Meister, Toni Luise A1 - Arora, Prerna A1 - Pöhlmann, Stefan A1 - Hoffmann, Markus A1 - Pfänder, Stephanie A1 - Eddin, Omar Kamal A1 - Kamhieh-Milz, Julian A1 - Hanack, Katja T1 - SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies as powerful tools for diagnostic and therapeutic applications JF - Frontiers in Immunology N2 - Introduction: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation caused by SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern such as B.1.617.2 (Delta) and recently, B.1.1.529 (Omicron) is posing multiple challenges to humanity. The rapid evolution of the virus requires adaptation of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Objectives: In this study, we describe camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies (hcAb) as useful tools for novel in vitro diagnostic assays and for therapeutic applications due to their neutralizing capacity. Methods: Five antibody candidates were selected out of a naïve camelid library by phage display and expressed as full length IgG2 antibodies. The antibodies were characterized by Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, surface plasmon resonance with regard to their specificity to the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and to SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles. Neutralization assays were performed with authentic SARS-CoV-2 and pseudotyped viruses (wildtype and Omicron). Results: All antibodies efficiently detect recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles in different ELISA setups. The best combination was shown with hcAb B10 as catcher antibody and HRP-conjugated hcAb A7.2 as the detection antibody. Further, four out of five antibodies potently neutralized authentic wildtype SARS-CoV-2 and particles pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins of the wildtype and Omicron variant, sublineage BA.1 at concentrations between 0.1 and 0.35 ng/mL (ND50). Conclusion: Collectively, we report novel camelid hcAbs suitable for diagnostics and potential therapy. KW - camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies KW - single domain antibodies KW - nanobodies KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - neutralization KW - Omicron Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.930975 SN - 1664-3224 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Frontiers Media SA CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulte, Luise A1 - Li, Chenzhi A1 - Lisovski, Simeon A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Forest-permafrost feedbacks and glacial refugia help explain the unequal distribution of larch across continents JF - Journal of biogeography N2 - Aim: The continental-scale distribution of plant functional types, such as evergreen and summergreen needle-leaf forest, is assumed to be determined by contemporary climate. However, the distribution of summergreen needle-leaf forest of larch (Larix Mill.) differs markedly between the continents, despite relatively similar climatic conditions. The reasons for these differences are little understood. Our aim is to identify potential triggers and drivers of the current distribution patterns by comparing species' bioclimatic niches, glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization patterns. Location: Northern hemisphere. Taxon: Species of the genus Larix (Mill.). Methods: We compare species distribution and dominance using species ranges and sites of dominance, as well as their occurrence on modelled permafrost extent, and active layer thickness (ALT). We compare the bioclimatic niches and calculate the niche overlap between species, using the same data in addition to modern climate data. We synthesize pollen, macrofossil and ancient DNA palaeo-evidence of past Larix occurrences of the last 60,000 years and track differences in distribution patterns through time. Results: Bioclimatic niches show large overlaps between Asian larch species and American Larix laricina. The distribution across various degrees of permafrost extent is distinctly different for Asian L. gmelinii and L. cajanderi compared to the other species, whereas the distribution on different depths of ALT is more similar among Asian and American species. Northern glacial refugia for Larix are only present in eastern Asia and Alaska. Main Conclusion: The dominance of summergreen larches in Asia, where evergreen conifers dominate most of the rest of the boreal forests, is dependent on the interaction of several factors which allows Asian L. gmelinii and L. cajanderi to dominate where these factors coincide. These factors include the early postglacial spread out of northern glacial refugia in the absence of competitors as well as a positive feedback mechanism between frozen ground and forest. KW - bioclimatic niche KW - glacial refugia KW - larch KW - Larix KW - permafrost KW - phylogeography KW - postglacial recolonization Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14456 SN - 0305-0270 SN - 1365-2699 VL - 49 IS - 10 SP - 1825 EP - 1838 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulte, Luise A1 - Meucci, Stefano A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. A1 - Heitkam, Tony A1 - Schmidt, Nicola A1 - von Hippel, Barbara A1 - Andreev, Andrei A. A1 - Diekmann, Bernhard A1 - Biskaborn, Boris A1 - Wagner, Bernd A1 - Melles, Martin A1 - Pestryakova, Lyudmila A. A1 - Alsos, Inger G. A1 - Clarke, Charlotte A1 - Krutovsky, Konstantin A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Larix species range dynamics in Siberia since the Last Glacial captured from sedimentary ancient DNA JF - Communications biology N2 - Climate change is expected to cause major shifts in boreal forests which are in vast areas of Siberia dominated by two species of the deciduous needle tree larch (Larix). The species differ markedly in their ecosystem functions, thus shifts in their respective ranges are of global relevance. However, drivers of species distribution are not well understood, in part because paleoecological data at species level are lacking. This study tracks Larix species distribution in time and space using target enrichment on sedimentary ancient DNA extracts from eight lakes across Siberia. We discovered that Larix sibirica, presently dominating in western Siberia, likely migrated to its northern distribution area only in the Holocene at around 10,000 years before present (ka BP), and had a much wider eastern distribution around 33 ka BP. Samples dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (around 21 ka BP), consistently show genotypes of L. gmelinii. Our results suggest climate as a strong determinant of species distribution in Larix and provide temporal and spatial data for species projection in a changing climate. Using ancient sedimentary DNA from up to 50 kya, dramatic distributional shifts are documented in two dominant boreal larch species, likely guided by environmental changes suggesting climate as a strong determinant of species distribution. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03455-0 SN - 2399-3642 VL - 5 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schweigel, Ulrike A1 - Batsios, Petros A1 - Müller-Taubenberger, Annette A1 - Gräf, Ralph A1 - Grafe, Marianne T1 - Dictyostelium spastin is involved in nuclear envelope dynamics during semi-closed mitosis JF - Nucleus N2 - Dictyostelium amoebae perform a semi-closed mitosis, in which the nuclear envelope is fenestrated at the insertion sites of the mitotic centrosomes and around the central spindle during karyokinesis. During late telophase the centrosome relocates to the cytoplasmic side of the nucleus, the central spindle disassembles and the nuclear fenestrae become closed. Our data indicate that Dictyostelium spastin (DdSpastin) is a microtubule-binding and severing type I membrane protein that plays a role in this process. Its mitotic localization is in agreement with a requirement for the removal of microtubules that would hinder closure of the fenestrae. Furthermore, DdSpastin interacts with the HeH/ LEM-family protein Src1 in BioID analyses as well as the inner nuclear membrane protein Sun1, and shows subcellular co-localizations with Src1, Sun1, the ESCRT component CHMP7 and the IST1-like protein filactin, suggesting that the principal pathway of mitotic nuclear envelope remodeling is conserved between animals and Dictyostelium amoebae. KW - Spastin KW - LEM-domain KW - ESCRT KW - sun1 KW - dictyostelium KW - nuclear envelope KW - mitosis Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/19491034.2022.2047289 SN - 1949-1034 SN - 1949-1042 VL - 13 IS - 1 SP - 144 EP - 154 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwieder, Marcel A1 - Wesemeyer, Maximilian A1 - Frantz, David A1 - Pfoch, Kira A1 - Erasmi, Stefan A1 - Pickert, Jürgen A1 - Nendel, Claas A1 - Hostert, Patrick T1 - Mapping grassland mowing events across Germany based on combined Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 time series JF - Remote sensing of environment N2 - Spatially explicit knowledge on grassland extent and management is critical to understand and monitor the impact of grassland use intensity on ecosystem services and biodiversity. While regional studies allow detailed insights into land use and ecosystem service interactions, information on a national scale can aid biodiversity assessments. However, for most European countries this information is not yet widely available. We used an analysis-ready-data cube that contains dense time series of co-registered Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data, covering the extent of Germany. We propose an algorithm that detects mowing events in the time series based on residuals from an assumed undisturbed phenology, as an indicator of grassland use intensity. A self-adaptive ruleset enabled to account for regional variations in land surface phenology and non-stationary time series on a pixelbasis. We mapped mowing events for the years from 2017 to 2020 for permanent grassland areas in Germany. The results were validated on a pixel level in four of the main natural regions in Germany based on reported mowing events for a total of 92 (2018) and 78 (2019) grassland parcels. Results for 2020 were evaluated with combined time series of Landsat, Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope data. The mean absolute percentage error between detected and reported mowing events was on average 40% (2018), 36% (2019) and 35% (2020). Mowing events were on average detected 11 days (2018), 7 days (2019) and 6 days (2020) after the reported mowing. Performance measures varied between the different regions of Germany, and lower accuracies were found in areas that are revisited less frequently by Sentinel-2. Thus, we assessed the influence of data availability and found that the detection of mowing events was less influenced by data availability when at least 16 cloud-free observations were available in the grassland season. Still, the distribution of available observations throughout the season appeared to be critical. On a national scale our results revealed overall higher shares of less intensively mown grasslands and smaller shares of highly intensively managed grasslands. Hotspots of the latter were identified in the alpine foreland in Southern Germany as well as in the lowlands in the Northwest of Germany. While these patterns were stable throughout the years, the results revealed a tendency to lower management intensity in the extremely dry year 2018. Our results emphasize the ability of the approach to map the intensity of grassland management throughout large areas despite variations in data availability and environmental conditions. KW - Analysis-ready data KW - Big data KW - Large-area mapping KW - Germany KW - Common agricultural policy KW - Time series KW - Land use intensity KW - Optical remote sensing KW - Multi-spectral data KW - PlanetScope Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112795 SN - 0034-4257 SN - 1879-0704 VL - 269 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Singh, Aakanksha A1 - Compart, Julia A1 - AL-Rawi, Shadha Abduljaleel A1 - Mahto, Harendra A1 - Ahmad, Abubakar Musa A1 - Fettke, Jörg T1 - LIKE EARLY STARVATION 1 alters the glucan structures at the starch granule surface and thereby influences the action of both starch-synthesizing and starch-degrading enzymes JF - The plant journal N2 - For starch metabolism to take place correctly, various enzymes and proteins acting on the starch granule surface are crucial. Recently, two non-catalytic starch-binding proteins, pivotal for normal starch turnover in Arabidopsis leaves, namely, EARLY STARVATION 1 (ESV1) and its homolog LIKE EARLY STARVATION 1 (LESV), have been identified. Both share nearly 38% sequence homology. As ESV1 has been found to influence glucan phosphorylation via two starch-related dikinases, alpha-glucan, water dikinase (GWD) and phosphoglucan, water dikinase (PWD), through modulating the surface glucan structures of the starch granules and thus affecting starch degradation, we assess the impact of its homolog LESV on starch metabolism. Thus, the 65-kDa recombinant protein LESV and the 50-kDa ESV1 were analyzed regarding their influence on the action of GWD and PWD on the surface of the starch granules. We included starches from various sources and additionally assessed the effect of these non-enzymatic proteins on other starch-related enzymes, such as starch synthases (SSI and SSIII), starch phosphorylases (PHS1), isoamylase and beta-amylase. The data obtained indicate that starch phosphorylation, hydrolyses and synthesis were affected by LESV and ESV1. Furthermore, incubation with LESV and ESV1 together exerted an additive effect on starch phosphorylation. In addition, a stable alteration of the glucan structures at the starch granule surface following treatment with LESV and ESV1 was observed. Here, we discuss all the observed changes that point to modifications in the glucan structures at the surface of the native starch granules and present a model to explain the existing processes. KW - starch KW - starch metabolism KW - starch surface structure KW - Arabidopsis KW - thaliana Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15855 SN - 0960-7412 SN - 1365-313X VL - 111 IS - 3 SP - 819 EP - 835 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Souto-Veiga, Rodrigo A1 - Groeneveld, Juergen A1 - Enright, Neal J. A1 - Fontaine, Joseph B. A1 - Jeltsch, Florian T1 - Declining pollination success reinforces negative climate and fire change impacts in a serotinous, fire-killed plant JF - Plant ecology : an international journal N2 - Climate change projections predict that Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) are becoming hotter and drier and that fires will become more frequent and severe. While most plant species in these important biodiversity hotspots are adapted to hot, dry summers and recurrent fire, the Interval Squeeze framework suggests that reduced seed production (demographic shift), reduced seedling establishment after fire (post fire recruitment shift), and reduction in the time between successive fires (fire interval shift) will threaten fire killed species under climate change. One additional potential driver of accelerated species decline, however, has not been considered so far: the decrease in pollination success observed in many ecosystems worldwide has the potential to further reduce seed accumulation and thus population persistence also in these already threatened systems. Using the well-studied fire-killed and serotinous shrub species Banksia hookeriana as an example, we apply a new spatially implicit population simulation model to explore population dynamics under past (1988-2002) and current (2003-2017) climate conditions, deterministic and stochastic fire regimes, and alternative scenarios of pollination decline. Overall, model results suggest that while B. hookeriana populations were stable under past climate conditions, they will not continue to persist under current (and prospective future) climate. Negative effects of climatic changes and more frequent fires are reinforced by the measured decline in seed set leading to further reduction in the mean persistence time by 12-17%. These findings clearly indicate that declining pollination rates can be a critical factor that increases further the pressure on the persistence of fire-killed plants. Future research needs to investigate whether other fire-killed species are similarly threatened, and if local population extinction may be compensated by recolonization events, facilitating persistence in spatially structured meta-communities. KW - climate change KW - fire frequency KW - interval squeeze KW - pollination KW - process-based simulation model KW - mediterranean-type ecosystem Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-022-01244-7 SN - 1385-0237 SN - 1573-5052 VL - 223 IS - 7 SP - 863 EP - 881 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sporbert, Maria A1 - Jakubka, Desiree A1 - Bucher, Solveig Franziska A1 - Hensen, Isabell A1 - Freiberg, Martin A1 - Heubach, Katja A1 - König, Andreas A1 - Nordt, Birgit A1 - Plos, Carolin A1 - Blinova, Ilona A1 - Bonn, Aletta A1 - Knickmann, Barbara A1 - Koubek, Tomáš A1 - Linstädter, Anja A1 - Mašková, Tereza A1 - Primack, Richard B. A1 - Rosche, Christoph A1 - Shah, Manzoor A. A1 - Stevens, Albert-Dieter A1 - Tielbörger, Katja A1 - Träger, Sabrina A1 - Wirth, Christian A1 - Römermann, Christine T1 - Functional traits influence patterns in vegetative and reproductive plant phenology - a multi-botanical garden study JF - New phytologist N2 - Phenology has emerged as key indicator of the biological impacts of climate change, yet the role of functional traits constraining variation in herbaceous species' phenology has received little attention. Botanical gardens are ideal places in which to investigate large numbers of species growing under common climate conditions. We ask whether interspecific variation in plant phenology is influenced by differences in functional traits. We recorded onset, end, duration and intensity of initial growth, leafing out, leaf senescence, flowering and fruiting for 212 species across five botanical gardens in Germany. We measured functional traits, including plant height, absolute and specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf carbon and nitrogen content and seed mass and accounted for species' relatedness. Closely related species showed greater similarities in timing of phenological events than expected by chance, but species' traits had a high degree of explanatory power, pointing to paramount importance of species' life-history strategies. Taller plants showed later timing of initial growth, and flowered, fruited and underwent leaf senescence later. Large-leaved species had shorter flowering and fruiting durations. Taller, large-leaved species differ in their phenology and are more competitive than smaller, small-leaved species. We assume climate warming will change plant communities' competitive hierarchies with consequences for biodiversity. KW - botanical gardens KW - first flowering day KW - growing season length KW - leaf KW - traits KW - PhenObs phenological network KW - phylogeny Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18345 SN - 0028-646X SN - 1469-8137 VL - 235 IS - 6 SP - 2199 EP - 2210 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stanke, Sandra A1 - Wenger, Christian A1 - Bier, Frank Fabian A1 - Hölzel, Ralph T1 - AC electrokinetic immobilization of influenza virus JF - Electrophoresis : microfluids & proteomics N2 - The use of alternating current (AC) electrokinetic forces, like dielectrophoresis and AC electroosmosis, as a simple and fast method to immobilize sub-micrometer objects onto nanoelectrode arrays is presented. Due to its medical relevance, the influenza virus is chosen as a model organism. One of the outstanding features is that the immobilization of viral material to the electrodes can be achieved permanently, allowing subsequent handling independently from the electrical setup. Thus, by using merely electric fields, we demonstrate that the need of prior chemical surface modification could become obsolete. The accumulation of viral material over time is observed by fluorescence microscopy. The influences of side effects like electrothermal fluid flow, causing a fluid motion above the electrodes and causing an intensity gradient within the electrode array, are discussed. Due to the improved resolution by combining fluorescence microscopy with deconvolution, it is shown that the viral material is mainly drawn to the electrode edge and to a lesser extent to the electrode surface. Finally, areas of application for this functionalization technique are presented. KW - AC electrokinetics KW - AC electroosmosis KW - dielectrophoresis KW - influenza virus KW - nanoelectrodes Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.202100324 SN - 0173-0835 SN - 1522-2683 VL - 43 IS - 12 SP - 1309 EP - 1321 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stelbrink, Björn A1 - von Rintelen, Thomas A1 - Richter, Kirsten A1 - Finstermeier, Knut A1 - Frahnert, Sylke A1 - Cracraft, Joel A1 - Hofreiter, Michael T1 - Insights into the geographical origin and phylogeographical patterns of Paradisaea birds-of-paradise JF - Zoological journal of the Linnean Society N2 - Birds-of-paradise represent a textbook example for geographical speciation and sexual selection. Perhaps the most iconic genus is Paradisaea, which is restricted to New Guinea and a few surrounding islands. Although several species concepts have been applied in the past to disentangle the different entities within this genus, no attempt has been made so far to uncover phylogeographical patterns based on a genetic dataset that includes multiple individuals per species. Here, we applied amplicon sequencing for the mitochondrial fragment Cytb for a total of 69 museum specimens representing all seven Paradisaea species described and inferred both phylogenetic relationships and colonization pathways across the island. Our analyses show that the most recent common ancestor of the diverging lineages within Paradisaea probably originated in the Late Miocene in the eastern part of the Central Range and suggest that tectonic processes played a key role in shaping the diversification and distribution of species. All species were recovered as monophyletic, except for those within the apoda-minor-raggiana clade, which comprises the allopatric and parapatric species P. apoda, P. minor and P. raggiana. The comparatively young divergence times, together with possible instances of mitochondrial introgression and incomplete lineage sorting, suggest recent speciation in this clade. KW - amplicon sequencing KW - Cytb KW - historical DNA KW - molecular clock KW - molecular phylogeny KW - museomics KW - New Guinea KW - Paradisaeidae Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac010 SN - 0024-4082 SN - 1096-3642 VL - 196 IS - 4 SP - 1394 EP - 1407 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Lins, Alisa A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie A1 - Ortmann, Sylvia A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Personality drives activity and space use in a mammalian herbivore JF - Movement Ecology N2 - Background Animal personality has emerged as a key concept in behavioral ecology. While many studies have demonstrated the influence of personality traits on behavioral patterns, its quantification, especially in wild animal populations, remains a challenge. Only a few studies have established a link between personality and recurring movements within home ranges, although these small-scale movements are of key importance for identifying ecological interactions and forming individual niches. In this regard, differences in space use among individuals might reflect different exploration styles between behavioral types along the shy-bold continuum. Methods We assessed among-individual differences in behavior in the European hare (Lepus europaeus), a characteristic mammalian herbivore in agricultural landscapes using a standardized box emergence test for captive and wild hares. We determined an individuals’ degree of boldness by measuring the latencies of behavioral responses in repeated emergence tests in captivity. During capture events of wild hares, we conducted a single emergence test and recorded behavioral responses proven to be stable over time in captive hares. Applying repeated novel environment tests in a near-natural enclosure, we further quantified aspects of exploration and activity in captive hares. Finally, we investigated whether and how this among-individual behavioral variation is related to general activity and space use in a wild hare population. Wild and captive hares were treated similarly and GPS-collared with internal accelerometers prior to release to the wild or the outdoor enclosure, respectively. General activity was quantified as overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) obtained from accelerometers. Finally, we tested whether boldness explained variation in (i) ODBA in both settings and (ii) variation in home ranges and core areas across different time scales of GPS-collared hares in a wild population. Results We found three behavioral responses to be consistent over time in captive hares. ODBA was positively related to boldness (i.e., short latencies to make first contact with the new environment) in both captive and wild hares. Space use in wild hares also varied with boldness, with shy individuals having smaller core areas and larger home ranges than bold conspecifics (yet in some of the parameter space, this association was just marginally significant). Conclusions Against our prediction, shy individuals occupied relatively large home ranges but with small core areas. We suggest that this space use pattern is due to them avoiding risky, and energy-demanding competition for valuable resources. Carefully validated, activity measurements (ODBA) from accelerometers provide a valuable tool to quantify aspects of animal personality along the shy-bold continuum remotely. Without directly observing—and possibly disturbing—focal individuals, this approach allows measuring variability in animal personality, especially in species that are difficult to assess with experiments. Considering that accelerometers are often already built into GPS units, we recommend activating them at least during the initial days of tracking to estimate individual variation in general activity and, if possible, match them with a simple novelty experiment. Furthermore, information on individual behavioral types will help to facilitate mechanistic understanding of processes that drive spatial and ecological dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes. KW - Animal personality KW - Movement ecology KW - Inter-individual differences KW - ODBA KW - Energy expenditure KW - European hare Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-022-00333-6 SN - 2051-3933 VL - 10 PB - BioMed Central (BMC), Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. A1 - Huang, Sichao A1 - Liu, Sisi A1 - Jia, Weihan A1 - Li, Kai A1 - Liu, Xingqi A1 - Pestryakova, Luidmila A. A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Sedimentary DNA identifies modern and past macrophyte diversity and its environmental drivers in high-latitude and high-elevation lakes in Siberia and China JF - Limnology and oceanography N2 - Arctic and alpine aquatic ecosystems are changing rapidly under recent global warming, threatening water resources by diminishing trophic status and changing biotic composition. Macrophytes play a key role in the ecology of freshwaters and we need to improve our understanding of long-term macrophytes diversity and environmental change so far limited by the sporadic presence of macrofossils in sediments. In our study, we applied metabarcoding using the trnL P6 loop marker to retrieve macrophyte richness and composition from 179 surface-sediment samples from arctic Siberian and alpine Chinese lakes and three representative lake cores. The surface-sediment dataset suggests that macrophyte richness and composition are mostly affected by temperature and conductivity, with highest richness when mean July temperatures are higher than 12 degrees C and conductivity ranges between 40 and 400 mu S cm(-1). Compositional turnover during the Late Pleistocene/Holocene is minor in Siberian cores and characterized by a less rich, but stable emergent macrophyte community. Richness decreases during the Last Glacial Maximum and rises during wetter and warmer climate in the Late-glacial and Mid-Holocene. In contrast, we detect a pronounced change from emergent to submerged taxa at 14 ka in the Tibetan alpine core, which can be explained by increasing temperature and conductivity due to glacial runoff and evaporation. Our study provides evidence for the suitability of the trnL marker to recover modern and past macrophyte diversity and its applicability for the response of macrophyte diversity to lake-hydrochemical and climate variability predicting contrasting macrophyte changes in arctic and alpine lakes under intensified warming and human impact. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12061 SN - 0024-3590 SN - 1939-5590 VL - 67 IS - 5 SP - 1126 EP - 1141 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stripp, Sven T. A1 - Duffus, Benjamin R. A1 - Fourmond, Vincent A1 - Leger, Christophe A1 - Leimkühler, Silke A1 - Hirota, Shun A1 - Hu, Yilin A1 - Jasniewski, Andrew A1 - Ogata, Hideaki A1 - Ribbe, Markus W. T1 - Second and outer coordination sphere effects in nitrogenase, hydrogenase, formate dehydrogenase, and CO dehydrogenase JF - Chemical reviews : CR N2 - Gases like H-2, N-2, CO2, and CO are increasingly recognized as critical feedstock in "green" energy conversion and as sources of nitrogen and carbon for the agricultural and chemical sectors. However, the industrial transformation of N-2, CO2, and CO and the production of H-2 require significant energy input, which renders processes like steam reforming and the Haber-Bosch reaction economically and environmentally unviable. Nature, on the other hand, performs similar tasks efficiently at ambient temperature and pressure, exploiting gas-processing metalloenzymes (GPMs) that bind low-valent metal cofactors based on iron, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, and sulfur. Such systems are studied to understand the biocatalytic principles of gas conversion including N-2 fixation by nitrogenase and H-2 production by hydrogenase as well as CO2 and CO conversion by formate dehydrogenase, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, and nitrogenase. In this review, we emphasize the importance of the cofactor/protein interface, discussing how second and outer coordination sphere effects determine, modulate, and optimize the catalytic activity of GPMs. These may comprise ionic interactions in the second coordination sphere that shape the electron density distribution across the cofactor, hydrogen bonding changes, and allosteric effects. In the outer coordination sphere, proton transfer and electron transfer are discussed, alongside the role of hydrophobic substrate channels and protein structural changes. Combining the information gained from structural biology, enzyme kinetics, and various spectroscopic techniques, we aim toward a comprehensive understanding of catalysis beyond the first coordination sphere. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00914 SN - 0009-2665 SN - 1520-6890 VL - 122 IS - 14 SP - 11900 EP - 11973 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stuenzi, Simone Maria A1 - Kruse, Stefan A1 - Boike, Julia A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Oehme, Alexander A1 - Pestryakova, Luidmila A. A1 - Westermann, Sebastian A1 - Langer, Moritz T1 - Thermohydrological impact of forest disturbances on ecosystem-protected permafrost JF - Journal of geophysical research : Biogeosciences N2 - Boreal forests cover over half of the global permafrost area and protect underlying permafrost. Boreal forest development, therefore, has an impact on permafrost evolution, especially under a warming climate. Forest disturbances and changing climate conditions cause vegetation shifts and potentially destabilize the carbon stored within the vegetation and permafrost. Disturbed permafrost-forest ecosystems can develop into a dry or swampy bush- or grasslands, shift toward broadleaf- or evergreen needleleaf-dominated forests, or recover to the pre-disturbance state. An increase in the number and intensity of fires, as well as intensified logging activities, could lead to a partial or complete ecosystem and permafrost degradation. We study the impact of forest disturbances (logging, surface, and canopy fires) on the thermal and hydrological permafrost conditions and ecosystem resilience. We use a dynamic multilayer canopy-permafrost model to simulate different scenarios at a study site in eastern Siberia. We implement expected mortality, defoliation, and ground surface changes and analyze the interplay between forest recovery and permafrost. We find that forest loss induces soil drying of up to 44%, leading to lower active layer thicknesses and abrupt or steady decline of a larch forest, depending on disturbance intensity. Only after surface fires, the most common disturbances, inducing low mortality rates, forests can recover and overpass pre-disturbance leaf area index values. We find that the trajectory of larch forests after surface fires is dependent on the precipitation conditions in the years after the disturbance. Dryer years can drastically change the direction of the larch forest development within the studied period. KW - permafrost KW - boreal forest KW - periglacial process KW - Siberia KW - larch forest KW - disturbance Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006630 SN - 2169-8953 SN - 2169-8961 VL - 127 IS - 5 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tabatabaei, Iman A1 - Alseekh, Saleh A1 - Shahid, Mohammad A1 - Leniak, Ewa A1 - Wagner, Mateusz A1 - Mahmoudi, Henda A1 - Thushar, Sumitha A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Murphy, Kevin M. A1 - Schmöckel, Sandra M. A1 - Tester, Mark A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Skirycz, Aleksandra A1 - Balazadeh, Salma T1 - The diversity of quinoa morphological traits and seed metabolic composition JF - Scientific data N2 - Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an herbaceous annual crop of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). It is increasingly cultivated for its nutritious grains, which are rich in protein and essential amino acids, lipids, and minerals. Quinoa exhibits a high tolerance towards various abiotic stresses including drought and salinity, which supports its agricultural cultivation under climate change conditions. The use of quinoa grains is compromised by anti-nutritional saponins, a terpenoid class of secondary metabolites deposited in the seed coat; their removal before consumption requires extensive washing, an economically and environmentally unfavorable process; or their accumulation can be reduced through breeding. In this study, we analyzed the seed metabolomes, including amino acids, fatty acids, and saponins, from 471 quinoa cultivars, including two related species, by liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry. Additionally, we determined a large number of agronomic traits including biomass, flowering time, and seed yield. The results revealed considerable diversity between genotypes and provide a knowledge base for future breeding or genome editing of quinoa. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01399-y SN - 2052-4463 VL - 9 IS - 1 PB - Nature Research CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tebbe, Jonas A1 - Ottensmann, Meinolf A1 - Havenstein, Katja A1 - Efstratiou, Artemis A1 - Lenz, Tobias L. A1 - Caspers, Barbara A. A1 - Forcada, Jaume A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph A1 - Hoffman, Joseph T1 - Intronic primers reveal unexpectedly high major histocompatibility complex diversity in Antarctic fur seals JF - Scientific reports N2 - The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a group of genes comprising one of the most important components of the vertebrate immune system. Consequently, there has been much interest in characterising MHC variation and its relationship with fitness in a variety of species. Due to the exceptional polymorphism of MHC genes, careful PCR primer design is crucial for capturing all of the allelic variation present in a given species. We therefore developed intronic primers to amplify the full-length 267 bp protein-coding sequence of the MHC class II DQB exon 2 in the Antarctic fur seal. We then characterised patterns of MHC variation among mother-offspring pairs from two breeding colonies and detected 19 alleles among 771 clone sequences from 56 individuals. The distribution of alleles within and among individuals was consistent with a single-copy, classical DQB locus showing Mendelian inheritance. Amino acid similarity at the MHC was significantly associated with genome-wide relatedness, but no relationship was found between MHC heterozygosity and genome-wide heterozygosity. Finally, allelic diversity was several times higher than reported by a previous study based on partial exon sequences. This difference appears to be related to allele-specific amplification bias, implying that primer design can strongly impact the inference of MHC diversity. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21658-7 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tian, Fang A1 - Qin, Wen A1 - Zhang, Ran A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Ni, Jian A1 - Zhang, Chengjun A1 - Mischke, Steffen A1 - Cao, Xianyong T1 - Palynological evidence for the temporal stability of the plant community in the Yellow River Source Area over the last 7,400 years JF - Vegetation history and archaeobotany N2 - The terrestrial ecosystem in the Yellow River Source Area (YRSA) is sensitive to climate change and human impacts, although past vegetation change and the degree of human disturbance are still largely unknown. A 170-cm-long sediment core covering the last 7,400 years was collected from Lake Xingxinghai (XXH) in the YRSA. Pollen, together with a series of other environmental proxies (including grain size, total organic carbon (TOC) and carbonate content), were analysed to explore past vegetation and environmental changes for the YRSA. Dominant and common pollen components-Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae and Asteraceae-are stable throughout the last 7,400 years. Slight vegetation change is inferred from an increasing trend of Cyperaceae and decreasing trend of Poaceae, suggesting that alpine steppe was replaced by alpine meadow at ca. 3.5 ka cal bp. The vegetation transformation indicates a generally wetter climate during the middle and late Holocene, which is supported by increased amounts of TOC and Pediastrum (representing high water-level) and is consistent with previous past climate records from the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Our results find no evidence of human impact on the regional vegetation surrounding XXH, hence we conclude the vegetation change likely reflects the regional climate signal. KW - Pollen KW - Lake Xingxinghai KW - Tibetan Plateau KW - Holocene KW - Vegetation change KW - Regional climate Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-022-00870-5 SN - 0939-6314 SN - 1617-6278 VL - 31 IS - 6 SP - 549 EP - 558 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tiedemann, Kim A1 - Iobbi-Nivol, Chantal A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The Role of the Nucleotides in the Insertion of the bis-Molybdopterin Guanine Dinucleotide Cofactor into apo-Molybdoenzymes JF - Molecules N2 - The role of the GMP nucleotides of the bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (bis-MGD) cofactor of the DMSO reductase family has long been a subject of discussion. The recent characterization of the bis-molybdopterin (bis-Mo-MPT) cofactor present in the E. coli YdhV protein, which differs from bis-MGD solely by the absence of the nucleotides, now enables studying the role of the nucleotides of bis-MGD and bis-MPT cofactors in Moco insertion and the activity of molybdoenzymes in direct comparison. Using the well-known E. coli TMAO reductase TorA as a model enzyme for cofactor insertion, we were able to show that the GMP nucleotides of bis-MGD are crucial for the insertion of the bis-MGD cofactor into apo-TorA. KW - bis-MGD KW - chaperone KW - molybdenum cofactor KW - TMAO reductase Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27092993 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 27 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tolomeev, Aleksandr P. A1 - Dubovskaya, Olga P. A1 - Kirillin, Georgiy A1 - Buseva, Zhanna A1 - Kolmakova, Olesya A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Tang, Kam W. A1 - Gladyšev, Michail I. T1 - Degradation of dead cladoceran zooplankton and their contribution to organic carbon cycling in stratified lakes BT - field observation and model prediction JF - Journal of plankton research N2 - The contribution of dead zooplankton biomass to carbon cycle in aquatic ecosystems is practically unknown. Using abundance data of zooplankton in water column and dead zooplankton in sediment traps in Lake Stechlin, an ecological-mathematical model was developed to simulate the abundance and sinking of zooplankton carcasses and predict the related release of labile organic matter (LOM) into the water column. We found species-specific differences in mortality rate of the dominant zooplankton: Daphnia cucullata, Bosmina coregoni and Diaphanosoma brachyurum (0.008, 0.129 and 0.020 day(-1), respectively) and differences in their carcass sinking velocities in metalimnion (and hypolimnion): 2.1 (7.64), 14.0 (19.5) and 1.1 (5.9) m day(-1), respectively. Our model simulating formation and degradation processes of dead zooplankton predicted a bimodal distribution of the released LOM: epilimnic and metalimnic peaks of comparable intensity, ca. 1 mg DW m(-3) day(-1). Maximum degradation of carcasses up to ca. 1.7 mg DW m(-3) day(-1) occurred in the density gradient zone of metalimnion. LOM released from zooplankton carcasses into the surrounding water may stimulate microbial activity and facilitate microbial degradation of more refractory organic matter; therefore, dead zooplankton are expected to be an integral part of water column carbon source/sink dynamics in stratified lakes. KW - zooplankton carcasses KW - non-predatory mortality KW - sinking velocities KW - microbial degradation KW - Lake Stechlin KW - simulation modeling Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbac023 SN - 0142-7873 SN - 1464-3774 VL - 44 IS - 3 SP - 386 EP - 400 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tong, Hao A1 - Nankar, Amol N. A1 - Liu, Jintao A1 - Todorova, Velichka A1 - Ganeva, Daniela A1 - Grozeva, Stanislava A1 - Tringovska, Ivanka A1 - Pasev, Gancho A1 - Radeva-Ivanova, Vesela A1 - Gechev, Tsanko A1 - Kostova, Dimitrina A1 - Nikoloski, Zoran T1 - Genomic prediction of morphometric and colorimetric traits in Solanaceous fruits JF - Horticulture research N2 - Selection of high-performance lines with respect to traits of interest is a key step in plant breeding. Genomic prediction allows to determine the genomic estimated breeding values of unseen lines for trait of interest using genetic markers, e.g. single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and machine learning approaches, which can therefore shorten breeding cycles, referring to genomic selection (GS). Here, we applied GS approaches in two populations of Solanaceous crops, i.e. tomato and pepper, to predict morphometric and colorimetric traits. The traits were measured by using scoring-based conventional descriptors (CDs) as well as by Tomato Analyzer (TA) tool using the longitudinally and latitudinally cut fruit images. The GS performance was assessed in cross-validations of classification-based and regression-based machine learning models for CD and TA traits, respectively. The results showed the usage of TA traits and tag SNPs provide a powerful combination to predict morphology and color-related traits of Solanaceous fruits. The highest predictability of 0.89 was achieved for fruit width in pepper, with an average predictability of 0.69 over all traits. The multi-trait GS models are of slightly better predictability than single-trait models for some colorimetric traits in pepper. While model validation performs poorly on wild tomato accessions, the usage as many as one accession per wild species in the training set can increase the transferability of models to unseen populations for some traits (e.g. fruit shape for which predictability in unseen scenario increased from zero to 0.6). Overall, GS approaches can assist the selection of high-performance Solanaceous fruits in crop breeding. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac072 SN - 2052-7276 VL - 9 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Cary ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Van den Wyngaert, Silke A1 - Ganzert, Lars A1 - Seto, Kensuke A1 - Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor A1 - Agha, Ramsy A1 - Berger, Stella A. A1 - Woodhouse, Jason A1 - Padisak, Judit A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Kagami, Maiko A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter T1 - Seasonality of parasitic and saprotrophic zoosporic fungi: linking sequence data to ecological traits JF - ISME journal N2 - Zoosporic fungi of the phylum Chytridiomycota (chytrids) regularly dominate pelagic fungal communities in freshwater and marine environments. Their lifestyles range from obligate parasites to saprophytes. Yet, linking the scarce available sequence data to specific ecological traits or their host ranges constitutes currently a major challenge. We combined 28 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with targeted isolation and sequencing approaches, along with cross-infection assays and analysis of chytrid infection prevalence to obtain new insights into chytrid diversity, ecology, and seasonal dynamics in a temperate lake. Parasitic phytoplankton-chytrid and saprotrophic pollen-chytrid interactions made up the majority of zoosporic fungal reads. We explicitly demonstrate the recurrent dominance of parasitic chytrids during frequent diatom blooms and saprotrophic chytrids during pollen rains. Distinct temporal dynamics of diatom-specific parasitic clades suggest mechanisms of coexistence based on niche differentiation and competitive strategies. The molecular and ecological information on chytrids generated in this study will aid further exploration of their spatial and temporal distribution patterns worldwide. To fully exploit the power of environmental sequencing for studies on chytrid ecology and evolution, we emphasize the need to intensify current isolation efforts of chytrids and integrate taxonomic and autecological data into long-term studies and experiments. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01267-y SN - 1751-7362 SN - 1751-7370 VL - 16 IS - 9 SP - 2242 EP - 2254 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vatova, Mariyana A1 - Rubin, Conrad A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Goncalves, Susana C. A1 - Schmidt, Susanne I. A1 - Jarić, Ivan T1 - Aquatic fungi: largely neglected targets for conservation JF - Frontiers in ecology and the environment Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2495 SN - 1540-9295 SN - 1540-9309 VL - 20 IS - 4 SP - 207 EP - 209 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Velzen, Ellen van A1 - Gaedke, Ursula A1 - Klauschies, Toni T1 - Quantifying the capacity for contemporary trait changes to drive intermittent predator-prey cycles JF - Ecological monographs : a publication of the Ecological Society of America N2 - A large and growing body of theory has demonstrated how the presence of trait variation in prey or predator populations may affect the amplitude and phase of predator-prey cycles. Less attention has been given to so-called intermittent cycles, in which predator-prey oscillations recurrently disappear and re-appear, despite such dynamics being observed in empirical systems and modeling studies. A comprehensive understanding of the conditions under which trait changes may drive intermittent predator-prey dynamics, as well as their potential ecological implications, is therefore missing. Here we provide a first systematic analysis of the eco-evolutionary conditions that may give rise to intermittent predator-prey cycles, investigating 16 models that incorporate different types of trait variation within prey, predators, or both. Our results show that intermittent dynamics often arise through predator-prey coevolution, but only very rarely when only one trophic level can adapt. Additionally, the frequency of intermittent cycles depends on the source of trait variation (genetic variation or phenotypic plasticity) and the genetic architecture (Mendelian or quantitative traits), with intermittency occurring most commonly through Mendelian evolution, and very rarely through phenotypic plasticity. Further analysis identified three necessary conditions for when trait variation can drive intermittent cycles. First, the intrinsic stability of the predator-prey system must depend on the traits of prey, predators, or both. Second, there must be a mechanism causing the recurrent alternation between stable and unstable states, leading to a "trait" cycle superimposed on the population dynamics. Finally, these trait dynamics must be significantly slower than the predator-prey cycles. We show how these conditions explain all the abovementioned patterns. We further show an important unexpected consequence of these necessary conditions: they are most easily met when intraspecific trait variation is at high risk of being lost. As trait diversity is positively associated with ecosystem functioning, this can have potentially severe negative consequences. This novel result highlights the importance of identifying and understanding intermittent cycles in theoretical studies and natural systems. The new approach for detecting and quantifying intermittency we develop here will be instrumental in enabling future study. KW - eco-evolutionary feedbacks KW - ecosystem functioning KW - intraspecific trait KW - variation KW - population cycles KW - predator-prey dynamics KW - trait dynamics Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1505 SN - 1557-7015 SN - 0012-9615 VL - 92 IS - 2 PB - Wiley CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vences, Miguel A1 - Köhler, Jörn A1 - Crottini, Angelica A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Hutter, Carl R. A1 - du Preez, Louis A1 - Preick, Michaela A1 - Rakotoarison, Andolalao A1 - Rancilhac, Loïs A1 - Raselimanana, Achille P. A1 - Rosa, Gonçalo M. A1 - Scherz, Mark D. A1 - Glaw, Frank T1 - An integrative taxonomic revision and redefinition of Gephyromantis (Laurentomantis) malagasius based on archival DNA analysis reveals four new mantellid frog species from Madagascar JF - Vertebrate zoology N2 - The subgenus Laurentomantis in the genus Gephyromantis contains some of the least known amphibian species of Madagascar. The six currently valid nominal species are rainforest frogs known from few individuals, hampering a full understanding of the species diversity of the clade. We assembled data on specimens collected during field surveys over the past 30 years and integrated analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear-encoded genes of 88 individuals, a comprehensive bioacoustic analysis, and morphological comparisons to delimit a minimum of nine species-level lineages in the subgenus. To clarify the identity of the species Gephyromantis malagasius, we applied a target-enrichment approach to a sample of the 110 year old holotype of Microphryne malagasia Methuen and Hewitt, 1913 to assign this specimen to a lineage based on a mitochondrial DNA barcode. The holotype clustered unambiguously with specimens previously named G. ventrimaculatus. Consequently we propose to consider Trachymantis malagasia ventrimaculatus Angel, 1935 as a junior synonym of Gephyromantis malagasius. Due to this redefinition of G. malagasius, no scientific name is available for any of the four deep lineages of frogs previously subsumed under this name, all characterized by red color ventrally on the hindlimbs. These are here formally named as Gephyromantis fiharimpe sp. nov., G. matsilo sp. nov., G. oelkrugi sp. nov., and G. portonae sp. nov. The new species are distinguishable from each other by genetic divergences of >4% uncorrected pairwise distance in a fragment of the 16S rRNA marker and a combination of morphological and bioacoustic characters. Gephyromantis fiharimpe and G. matsilo occur, respectively, at mid-elevations and lower elevations along a wide stretch of Madagascar's eastern rainforest band, while G. oelkrugi and G. portonae appear to be more range-restricted in parts of Madagascar's North East and Northern Central East regions. Open taxonomic questions surround G. horridus, to which we here assign specimens from Montagne d'Ambre and the type locality Nosy Be; and G. ranjomavo, which contains genetically divergent populations from Marojejy, Tsaratanana, and Ampotsidy. KW - Amphibia KW - Anura KW - archival DNA KW - Mantellidae KW - new species KW - phylogeography Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.72.e78830 SN - 1864-5755 SN - 2625-8498 VL - 72 SP - 271 EP - 309 PB - Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung CY - Frankfurt am Main ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Villalba, Luis Alberto A1 - Karnatak, Rajat A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Wollrab, Sabine T1 - Flexible habitat choice of pelagic bacteria increases system stability and energy flow through the microbial loop JF - Limnology and oceanography : L & O N2 - Pelagic bacteria can be classified into free-living and particle-attached life modes, which either dwell in the water column or attach to suspended particles. Bacteria with a generalist life style, however, can actively shift between these two habitats. Globally increasing densities of natural and artificial particles enhance habitat heterogeneity, with potential consequences for system stability and trophic transfer through aquatic food webs. To better decipher the dynamics of microbial communities, we investigated the influence of adaptive vs. fixed habitat choice on species coexistence for a simplified bacterial community by analyzing a corresponding food web model, consisting of two specialist bacterial prey species (free and attached), a generalist bacterial prey species with the ability to shift between both habitats, and two protist predators, specialized on either water or particle compartment. For simplicity we assume a shared resource pool, considering particles only for colonization but not as a source for nutrients or carbon, that is, inert particles like microplastics or inorganic sediments. The model predicts coexistence on a cyclic attractor between fixed and flexible bacteria, if the costs for adaptive habitat choice can be balanced by adaptation speed. The presence of adaptive prey dampens predator-prey cycle amplitudes, contributing to system stabilization resulting in higher mean predator biomass compared to specialist prey only. Thus, in pelagic microbial systems, flexible habitat choice at the prey level has important implications for system stability and magnitude of energy flow through the microbial loop. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12091 SN - 0024-3590 SN - 1939-5590 VL - 67 IS - 6 SP - 1402 EP - 1415 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Voigt, Christian C. A1 - Kaiser, Klara A1 - Look, Samantha A1 - Scharnweber, Inga Kristin A1 - Scholz, Carolin T1 - Wind turbines without curtailment produce large numbers of bat fatalities throughout their lifetime BT - a call against ignorance and neglect JF - Global ecology and conservation N2 - Bats are protected by national and international legislation in European countries, yet many species, particularly migratory aerial insectivores, collide with wind turbines which counteracts conservation efforts. Within the European Union it is legally required to curtail the operation of wind turbines at periods of high bat activity, yet this is not practiced at old wind turbines. Based on data from the national carcass repository in Germany and from our own carcass searches at a wind park with three turbines west of Berlin, we evaluated the magnitude of bat casualties at old, potentially poor-sited wind turbines operating without curtailment. We report 88 documented bat carcasses collected by various searchers over the 20-year operation period of this wind park from 2001 to 2021. Common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) and common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) were most often found dead at these turbines. Our search campaign in August and September 2021 yielded a total of 18 carcasses. We estimated that at least 209 bats were likely killed during our field survey, yielding more than 70 casualties/wind turbine or 39 casualties/ MW in two months. Since our campaign covered only part of the migration season, we consider this value as an underestimate. The 20-year period of the wind park emphasises the substantial impact old turbines may have on bat individuals and populations when operating without curtailments. We call for reconsidering the operation procedures of old wind turbines to stop the continuous loss of bats in Germany and other countries where turbine curtailments are even less practiced than in Germany. KW - green-green dilemma KW - wind energy bat conflict KW - wildlife casualties Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02149 SN - 2351-9894 VL - 37 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Enli A1 - He, Di A1 - Wang, Jing A1 - Lilley, Julianne M. A1 - Christy, Brendan A1 - Hoffmann, Munir P. A1 - O'Leary, Garry A1 - Hatfield, Jerry L. A1 - Ledda, Luigi A1 - Deligios, Paola A. A1 - Grant, Brian A1 - Jing, Qi A1 - Nendel, Claas A1 - Kage, Henning A1 - Qian, Budong A1 - Rezaei, Ehsan Eyshi A1 - Smith, Ward A1 - Weymann, Wiebke A1 - Ewert, Frank T1 - How reliable are current crop models for simulating growth and seed yield of canola across global sites and under future climate change? JF - Climatic change N2 - To better understand how climate change might influence global canola production, scientists from six countries have completed the first inter-comparison of eight crop models for simulating growth and seed yield of canola, based on experimental data from six sites across five countries. A sensitivity analysis was conducted with a combination of five levels of atmospheric CO2 concentrations, seven temperature changes, five precipitation changes, together with five nitrogen application rates. Our results were in several aspects different from those of previous model inter-comparison studies for wheat, maize, rice, and potato crops. A partial model calibration only on phenology led to very poor simulation of aboveground biomass and seed yield of canola, even from the ensemble median or mean. A full calibration with additional data of leaf area index, biomass, and yield from one treatment at each site reduced simulation error of seed yield from 43.8 to 18.0%, but the uncertainty in simulation results remained large. Such calibration (with data from one treatment) was not able to constrain model parameters to reduce simulation uncertainty across the wide range of environments. Using a multi-model ensemble mean or median reduced the uncertainty of yield simulations, but the simulation error remained much larger than observation errors, indicating no guarantee that the ensemble mean/median would predict the correct responses. Using multi-model ensemble median, canola yield was projected to decline with rising temperature (2.5-5.7% per degrees C), but to increase with increasing CO2 concentration (4.6-8.3% per 100-ppm), rainfall (2.1-6.1% per 10% increase), and nitrogen rates (1.3-6.0% per 10% increase) depending on locations. Due to the large uncertainty, these results need to be treated with caution. We further discuss the need to collect new data to improve modelling of several key physiological processes of canola for increased confidence in future climate impact assessments. KW - AgMIP KW - Brassica napus L. KW - Model calibration KW - Model improvement; KW - Multimodel ensemble KW - Sensitivity analysis Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03375-2 SN - 0165-0009 SN - 1573-1480 VL - 172 IS - 1-2 PB - Springer Nature CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wassermann, Birgit A1 - Abdelfattah, Ahmed A1 - Wicaksono, Wisnu Adi A1 - Kusstatscher, Peter A1 - Müller, Henry A1 - Cernava, Tomislav A1 - Goertz, Simon A1 - Rietz, Steffen A1 - Abbadi, Amine A1 - Berg, Gabriele T1 - The Brassica napus seed microbiota is cultivar-specific and transmitted via paternal breeding lines JF - Microbial biotechnology N2 - Seed microbiota influence germination and plant health and have the potential to improve crop performance, but the factors that determine their structure and functions are still not fully understood. Here, we analysed the impact of plant-related and external factors on seed endophyte communities of 10 different oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) cultivars from 26 field sites across Europe. All seed lots harboured a high abundance and diversity of endophytes, which were dominated by six genera: Ralstonia, Serratia, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Pantoea, and Sphingomonas. The cultivar was the main factor explaining the variations in bacterial diversity, abundance and composition. In addition, the latter was significantly influenced by diverse biotic and abiotic factors, for example host germination rates and disease resistance against Plasmodiophora brassicae. A set of bacterial biomarkers was identified to discriminate between characteristics of the seeds, for example Sphingomonas for improved germination and Brevundimonas for disease resistance. Application of a Bayesian community approach suggested vertical transmission of seed endophytes, where the paternal parent plays a major role and might even determine the germination performance of the offspring. This study contributes to the understanding of seed microbiome assembly and underlines the potential of the microbiome to be implemented in crop breeding and biocontrol programmes. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14077 SN - 1751-7915 VL - 15 IS - 9 SP - 2379 EP - 2390 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weithoff, Guntram A1 - Bell, Elanor Margaret T1 - Complex Trophic Interactions in an Acidophilic Microbial Community JF - Microorganisms N2 - Extreme habitats often harbor specific communities that differ substantially from non-extreme habitats. In many cases, these communities are characterized by archaea, bacteria and protists, whereas the number of species of metazoa and higher plants is relatively low. In extremely acidic habitats, mostly prokaryotes and protists thrive, and only very few metazoa thrive, for example, rotifers. Since many studies have investigated the physiology and ecology of individual species, there is still a gap in research on direct, trophic interactions among extremophiles. To fill this gap, we experimentally studied the trophic interactions between a predatory protist (Actinophrys sol, Heliozoa) and its prey, the rotifers Elosa woralli and Cephalodella sp., the ciliate Urosomoida sp. and the mixotrophic protist Chlamydomonas acidophila (a green phytoflagellate, Chlorophyta). We found substantial predation pressure on all animal prey. High densities of Chlamydomonas acidophila reduced the predation impact on the rotifers by interfering with the feeding behaviour of A. sol. These trophic relations represent a natural case of intraguild predation, with Chlamydomonas acidophila being the common prey and the rotifers/ciliate and A. sol being the intraguild prey and predator, respectively. We further studied this intraguild predation along a resource gradient using Cephalodella sp. as the intraguild prey. The interactions among the three species led to an increase in relative rotifer abundance with increasing resource (Chlamydomonas) densities. By applying a series of laboratory experiments, we revealed the complexity of trophic interactions within a natural extremophilic community. KW - acid mine drainage KW - extremophiles KW - food web KW - heliozoa KW - intraguild predation KW - mining lakes KW - Rotifera Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071340 SN - 2076-2607 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Welke, Robert-William A1 - Sperber, Hannah Sabeth A1 - Bergmann, Ronny A1 - Koikkarah, Amit A1 - Menke, Laura A1 - Sieben, Christian A1 - Krüger, Detlev H. A1 - Chiantia, Salvatore A1 - Herrmann, Andreas A1 - Schwarzer, Roland T1 - Characterization of hantavirus N protein intracellular dynamics and localization JF - Viruses N2 - Hantaviruses are enveloped viruses that possess a tri-segmented, negative-sense RNA genome. The viral S-segment encodes the multifunctional nucleocapsid protein (N), which is involved in genome packaging, intracellular protein transport, immunoregulation, and several other crucial processes during hantavirus infection. In this study, we generated fluorescently tagged N protein constructs derived from Puumalavirus (PUUV), the dominant hantavirus species in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe. We comprehensively characterized this protein in the rodent cell line CHO-K1, monitoring the dynamics of N protein complex formation and investigating co-localization with host proteins as well as the viral glycoproteins Gc and Gn. We observed formation of large, fibrillar PUUV N protein aggregates, rapidly coalescing from early punctate and spike-like assemblies. Moreover, we found significant spatial correlation of N with vimentin, actin, and P-bodies but not with microtubules. N constructs also co-localized with Gn and Gc albeit not as strongly as the glycoproteins associated with each other. Finally, we assessed oligomerization of N constructs, observing efficient and concentration-dependent multimerization, with complexes comprising more than 10 individual proteins. KW - hantavirus KW - N protein KW - oligomerization KW - actin KW - P-bodies KW - vimentin KW - Number and Brightness KW - Puumalavirus KW - macromolecular assemblies Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/v14030457 SN - 1999-4915 VL - 14 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wendering, Philipp A1 - Nikoloski, Zoran T1 - COMMIT BT - Consideration of metabolite leakage and community composition improves microbial community reconstructions JF - PLoS Computational Biology : a new community journal / publ. by the Public Library of Science (PLoS) in association with the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) N2 - Composition and functions of microbial communities affect important traits in diverse hosts, from crops to humans. Yet, mechanistic understanding of how metabolism of individual microbes is affected by the community composition and metabolite leakage is lacking. Here, we first show that the consensus of automatically generated metabolic reconstructions improves the quality of the draft reconstructions, measured by comparison to reference models. We then devise an approach for gap filling, termed COMMIT, that considers metabolites for secretion based on their permeability and the composition of the community. By applying COMMIT with two soil communities from the Arabidopsis thaliana culture collection, we could significantly reduce the gap-filling solution in comparison to filling gaps in individual reconstructions without affecting the genomic support. Inspection of the metabolic interactions in the soil communities allows us to identify microbes with community roles of helpers and beneficiaries. Therefore, COMMIT offers a versatile fully automated solution for large-scale modelling of microbial communities for diverse biotechnological applications.
Author summaryMicrobial communities are important in ecology, human health, and crop productivity. However, detailed information on the interactions within natural microbial communities is hampered by the community size, lack of detailed information on the biochemistry of single organisms, and the complexity of interactions between community members. Metabolic models are comprised of biochemical reaction networks based on the genome annotation, and can provide mechanistic insights into community functions. Previous analyses of microbial community models have been performed with high-quality reference models or models generated using a single reconstruction pipeline. However, these models do not contain information on the composition of the community that determines the metabolites exchanged between the community members. In addition, the quality of metabolic models is affected by the reconstruction approach used, with direct consequences on the inferred interactions between community members. Here, we use fully automated consensus reconstructions from four approaches to arrive at functional models with improved genomic support while considering the community composition. We applied our pipeline to two soil communities from the Arabidopsis thaliana culture collection, providing only genome sequences. Finally, we show that the obtained models have 90% genomic support and demonstrate that the derived interactions are corroborated by independent computational predictions. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009906 SN - 1553-734X SN - 1553-7358 VL - 18 IS - 3 PB - Public Library of Science CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wendt, Martin A1 - Kulanek, Dustin A1 - Varga, Zoltan A1 - Rakosy, Laszlo A1 - Schmitt, Thomas T1 - Pronounced mito-nuclear discordance and various Wolbachia infections in the water ringlet Erebia pronoe have resulted in a complex phylogeographic structure JF - Scientific reports N2 - Several morphological and mitochondrial lineages of the alpine ringlet butterfly species Erebia pronoe have been described, indicating a complex phylogenetic structure. However, the existing data were insufficient and allow neither a reconstruction of the biogeographic history, nor an assessment of the genetic lineages. Therefore, we analysed mitochondrial (COI, NDI) and nuclear (EF1 alpha, RPS5) gene sequences and compared them with sequences from the sister species Erebia melas. Additionally, we combined this information with morphometric data of the male genitalia and the infection patterns with Wolbachia strains, based on a WSP analysis. We obtained a distinct phylogeographic structure within the E. pronoe-melas complex with eight well-distinguishable geographic groups, but also a remarkable mito-nuclear discordance. The mito-nuclear discordance in E. melas and E. pronoe glottis can be explained by different ages of Wolbachia infections with different Wolbachia strains, associated selective sweeps, and hybridisation inhibition. Additionally, we found indications for incipient speciation of E. pronoe glottis in the Pyrenees and a pronounced range dynamic within and among the other high mountain systems of Europe. Our results emphasize the importance of combined approaches in reconstructing biogeographic patterns and evaluating phylogeographic splits. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08885-8 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weyrich, Alexandra A1 - Guerrero-Altamirano, Tania P. A1 - Yasar, Selma A1 - Czirjak, Gábor-Árpád A1 - Wachter, Bettina A1 - Fickel, Jörns T1 - First Steps towards the development of epigenetic biomarkers in female cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) JF - Life : open access journal N2 - Free-ranging cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are generally healthy, whereas cheetahs under human care, such as those in zoological gardens, suffer from ill-defined infectious and degenerative pathologies. These differences are only partially explained by husbandry management programs because both groups share low genetic diversity. However, mounting evidence suggests that physiological differences between populations in different environments can be tracked down to differences in epigenetic signatures. Here, we identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between free-ranging cheetahs and conspecifics in zoological gardens and prospect putative links to pathways relevant to immunity, energy balance and homeostasis. Comparing epigenomic DNA methylation profiles obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from eight free-ranging female cheetahs from Namibia and seven female cheetahs living in zoological gardens within Europe, we identified DMRs of which 22 were hypermethylated and 23 hypomethylated. Hypermethylated regions in cheetahs under human care were located in the promoter region of a gene involved in host-pathogen interactions (KLC1) and in an intron of a transcription factor relevant for the development of pancreatic beta-cells, liver, and kidney (GLIS3). The most canonical mechanism of DNA methylation in promoter regions is assumed to repress gene transcription. Taken together, this could indicate that hypermethylation at the promoter region of KLC1 is involved in the reduced immunity in cheetahs under human care. This approach can be generalized to characterize DNA methylation profiles in larger cheetah populations under human care with a more granular longitudinal data collection, which, in the future, could be used to monitor the early onset of pathologies, and ultimately translate into the development of biomarkers with prophylactic and/or therapeutic potential. KW - animals under human care KW - captivity KW - carnivore KW - DNA methylation; KW - felidae KW - free-ranging KW - wildlife Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/life12060920 SN - 2075-1729 VL - 12 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wicaksono, Wisnu Adi A1 - Braun, Maria A1 - Bernhardt, Jörg A1 - Riedel, Katharina A1 - Cernava, Tomislav A1 - Berg, Gabriele T1 - Trade-off for survival BT - microbiome response to chemical exposure combines activation of intrinsic resistances and adapted metabolic activity JF - Environment international : a journal of science, technology, health, monitoring and policy N2 - The environmental micmbiota is increasingly exposed to chemical pollution. While the emergence of multi-resistant pathogens is recognized as a global challenge, our understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) development from native microbiomes and the risks associated with chemical exposure is limited. By implementing a lichen as a bioindicator organism and model for a native microbiome, we systematically examined responses towards antimicrobials (colistin, tetracycline, glyphosate, and alkylpyrazine). Despite an unexpectedly high resilience, we identified potential evolutionary consequences of chemical exposure in terms of composition and functioning of native bacterial communities. Major shifts in bacterial composition were observed due to replacement of naturally abundant taxa; e.g. Chthoniobacterales by Pseudomonadales. A general response, which comprised activation of intrinsic resistance and parallel reduction of metabolic activity at RNA and protein levels was deciphered by a multi-omics approach. Targeted analyses of key taxa based on metagenome-assembled genomes reflected these responses but also revealed diversified strategies of their players. Chemical-specific responses were also observed, e.g., glyphosate enriched bacterial r-strategists and activated distinct ARGs. Our work demonstrates that the high resilience of the native micmbiota toward antimicrobial exposure is not only explained by the presence of antibiotic resistance genes but also adapted metabolic activity as a trade-off for survival. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of native microbiomes as important but so far neglected AMR reservoirs. We expect that this phenomenon is representative for a wide range of environmental microbiota exposed to chemicals that potentially contribute to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from natural environments. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107474 SN - 1873-6750 VL - 168 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Liza A1 - Boeker, Sonja A1 - Mumm, Rebecca A1 - Groth, Detlef T1 - The Social status influences human growth BT - A summary and analysis of historical data from German school girls in 1914 with comparison to modern references JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: In the animal kingdom body size is often linked to dominance and subsequently the standing in social hierarchy. Similarly, human growth has been associated and linked to socioeconomic factors, including one’s social status. This has already been proposed in the early 1900s where data on young German school girls from different social strata have been compared. Objectives: This paper aims to summarize and analyze these results and make them accessible for non-German speakers. The full English translation of the historic work of Dikanski (Dikanski, 1914) is available as a supplement. Further, this work aims to compare the historical data with modern references, to test three hypotheses: (1) higher social class is positively associated with body height and weight, (2) affluent people from the used historical data match modern references in weight and height and (3) weight distributions are skewed in both modern and historical populations. Methods: Comparison of historical data from 1914 with WHO and 1980s German data. The data sets, for both body weight and height for 6.0- and 7.0-year-old girls, were fitted onto centile curves and quantile correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: In historical data social status is positively associated with body height and weight while both are also normally distributed, which marks a significant difference to modern references. Conclusion: Social status is positively associated with height, signaling social dominance, making children of affluent classes taller. Children from the historical data do not reach the average height of modern children, even under the best environmental conditions. The children of the upper social class were not skewed in weight distribution, although they had the means to become as obese as modern children. KW - Just so stories KW - Summer Schools KW - questioning solutions KW - repetition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.22 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 3, Summer School Supplement PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER -