Comparative analysis of Rhipicephalus tick salivary gland and cement elementome

Funding Information: This work was supported by the Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes, JCCM , Spain, project CCM17-PIC-036 ( SBPLY/17/180501/000185 ), and partially funded by Fundação para a Ciênciae Tecnologia (FCT) under the project PTDC/CVT-CVT/29073/2017 ( UID/Multi/04413/2013 ). Margarita Villar was supported by the University of Castilla La 309 Mancha, UCLM, Spain, and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional , FEDER, EU. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Consejer?a de Educaci?n, Cultura y Deportes, JCCM, Spain, project CCM17-PIC-036 (SBPLY/17/180501/000185), and partially funded by Funda??o para a Ci?nciae Tecnologia (FCT) under the project PTDC/CVT-CVT/29073/2017 (UID/Multi/04413/2013). Margarita Villar was supported by the University of Castilla La 309 Mancha, UCLM, Spain, and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER, EU. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)Rhipicephalus spp. (Acari: Ixodidae) ticks are obligate hematophagous arthropods, which constitute a model for the study of vector-host interactions. The chemical composition or elementome of salivary glands (SG) and cement provides information relevant for the study of protein-based complex multifunctional tissues with a key role in tick biology. In this study, we characterized the elementome of cement cones in Rhipicephalus sanguineus collected from naturally infested dogs and in SG and cement of R. bursa collected from experimentally infested rabbits at different feeding stages. The elementome was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed the identification of up to 14 chemical elements in the cement, and suggested tick/host-driven differences in the cement elementome between tick species and between SG and cement within the same species. By still unknown mechanisms, ticks may regulate cement elementome during feeding to affect various biological processes. Although these analyses are preliminary, the results suggested that N is a key component of the cement elementome with a likely origin in SG/salivary proteins (i.e., Glycine (C2H5NO2)-rich superfamily member proteins; GRPs) and other tick/host-derived components (i.e. NAPDH). Future research should be focused on tick elementome and its functional implications to better understand cement structure and function.publishersversionpublishe

The bioelements, the elementome and the "biogeochemical niche"

Every living creature on Earth is made of atoms of the various bioelements that are harnessed in the construction of molecules, tissues, organisms, and communities, as we know them. Organisms need these bioelements in specific quantities and proportions to survive and grow. Distinct species have different functions and life strategies, and have therefore developed distinct structures and adopted a certain combination of metabolic and physiological processes. Each species is thus also expected to have different requirements for each bioelement. We therefore propose that a "biogeochemical niche" can be associated with the classical ecological niche of each species. We show from field data examples that a biogeochemical niche is characterized by a particular elementome defined as the content of all (or at least most) bioelements. The differences in elementome among species are a function of taxonomy and phylogenetic distance, sympatry (the bioelemental compositions should differ more among coexisting than among non-coexisting species to avoid competitive pressure), and homeostasis with a continuum between high homeostasis/low plasticity and low homeostasis/high plasticity. This proposed biogeochemical niche hypothesis has the advantage relative to other associated theoretical niche hypotheses that it can be easily characterized by actual quantification of a measurable trait: the elementome of a given organism or a community, being potentially applicable across taxa and habitats. The changes in bioelemental availability can determine genotypic selection and therefore have a feedback on ecosystem function and organization, and, at the end, become another driving factor of the evolution of life and the environment

Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world

Earth harbours an extraordinary plant phenotypic diversity that is at risk from ongoing global changes. However, it remains unknown how increasing aridity and livestock grazing pressure—two major drivers of global change—shape the trait covariation that underlies plant phenotypic diversity. Here we assessed how covariation among 20 chemical and morphological traits responds to aridity and grazing pressure within global drylands. Our analysis involved 133,769 trait measurements spanning 1,347 observations of 301 perennial plant species surveyed across 326 plots from 6 continents. Crossing an aridity threshold of approximately 0.7 (close to the transition between semi-arid and arid zones) led to an unexpected 88% increase in trait diversity. This threshold appeared in the presence of grazers, and moved toward lower aridity levels with increasing grazing pressure. Moreover, 57% of observed trait diversity occurred only in the most arid and grazed drylands, highlighting the phenotypic uniqueness of these extreme environments. Our work indicates that drylands act as a global reservoir of plant phenotypic diversity and challenge the pervasive view that harsh environmental conditions reduce plant trait diversity. They also highlight that many alternative strategies may enable plants to cope with increases in environmental stress induced by climate change and land-use intensification.This research was funded by the European Research Council (ERC Grant agreement 647038 1004 [BIODESERT]) and Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2018/041). N.G. was supported by CAP 20–25 (16-IDEX-0001) and the AgreenSkills+ fellowship programme which has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement FP7-609398 (AgreenSkills+ contract). F.T.M. acknowledges support from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the KAUST Climate and Livability Initiative, the University of Alicante (UADIF22-74 and VIGROB22-350), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-116578RB-I00), and the Synthesis Center (sDiv) of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle–Jena–Leipzig (iDiv). Y.L.B.-P. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship (MSCA-1018 IF) within the European Program Horizon 2020 (DRYFUN Project 656035). H.S. is supported by a María Zambrano fellowship funded by the Ministry of Universities and European Union-Next Generation plan. L.W. acknowledges support from the US National Science Foundation (EAR 1554894). G.M.W. acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP210102593) and TERN. M.B is supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC2021-031797-I). L.v.d.B. and K.T. were supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) Priority Program SPP-1803 (TI388/14-1). A.F. acknowledges the financial support from ANID PIA/BASAL FB210006 and Millenium Science Initiative Program NCN2021-050. A.J. was supported by the Bavarian Research Alliance for travel and field work (BayIntAn UBT 2017 61). A.L. and L.K. acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation, DFG (grant CRC TRR228) and German Federal Government for Science and Education, BMBF (grants 01LL1802C and 01LC1821A). B.B. and S.U. were supported by the Taylor Family-Asia Foundation Endowed Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology. P.J.R. and A.J.M. acknowledge support from Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional through the FEDER Andalucía operative programme, FEDER-UJA 1261180 project. E.M.-J. and C.P. acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-116578RB-I00). D.J.E. was supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation. J.D. and A.Rodríguez acknowledge support from the FCT (2020.03670.CEECIND and SFRH/BDP/108913/2015, respectively), as well as from the MCTES, FSE, UE and the CFE (UIDB/04004/2021) research unit financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). S.C.R. acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy (DE-SC-0008168), US Department of Defense (RC18-1322), and the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US government. E.H.-S. acknowledges support from Mexican National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT PN 5036 and 319059). A.N. and C. Branquinho. acknowledge the support from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (CEECIND/02453/2018/CP1534/CT0001, PTDC/ASP-SIL/7743/ 2020, UIDB/00329/2020), from AdaptForGrazing project (PRR-C05-i03-I-000035) and from LTsER Montado platform (LTER_EU_PT_001). Field work of G.P. and J.M.Z. was supported by UNRN (PI 40-C-873)

Optimal set of leaf and aboveground tree elements for predicting forest functioning

Altres ajuts: this paper is dedicated to those who conducted the Ecological and Forest Inventory of Catalonia (IEFC) displaying works in the field, office, and lab. The IEFC was financed by the "Departament d'Agricultura, Ramaderia i Pesca" and the "Departament de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat de Catalunya.The role played by environmental factors in the functioning of forest ecosystems is relatively well known. However, the potential of the elemental composition of trees (i.e., elementomes) as a predictor of forest functioning remains elusive. We assessed the predictive power of elemental composition from different perspectives: testing whether aboveground element stocks or concentrations explain forest production and productivity (i.e., production per unit of standing biomass) better than leaf elements or environmental factors, and identifying the optimal set (combination and quantity) of elements that best predicts forest functioning. To do so, we used a forest inventory of 2000 plots in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, containing in-site information about the elementomes (C, Ca, K, Mg, N, Na, P, and S) of leaves, branches, stems, and barks, in addition to annual biomass production per organ. We found that models using leaf element stocks as predictors achieve the highest explained variation in forest production. The optimal dimensionality was achieved by combining the foliar stocks of C, Ca, K, Mg, N, and P and interactions (C × N, C × P, and N × P). Forest biomass productivity was best predicted by forest age. Hence, our results indicate that leaf element stocks are better predictors of forest biomass production than aboveground element concentrations or stocks, thus hinting at leaf measurements as critical factors for predicting variations in forest biomass production

Leaf chemical variation of seven legumes from the hyper-diverse tropical semi-arid ecosystem of Zapotitlán-Salinas Valley

Background: It has been suggested that niche differentiation could explain species coexistence in hyper-diverse tropical plant communities. Questions: Can we identify a specific and differentiated leaf chemical variation of seven coexisting legume species within the hyper-diverse tropical semi-desert? Are these differences related to their phylogeny? Studied species: Vachellia constricta, Parkinsonia praecox, Mimosa luisana, Neltuma laevigata, Vachellia campechiana, Vachellia bilimekii, and Senna wislizeni. Study site and date: Zapotitlán Salinas Valley in Mexico (August 2020). Methods: For each species we assessed nine foliar elements (hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc). We constructed a phylogenetic tree from sequences of the GenBank database selecting the marker trnL chloroplast intron. Differences were assessed performing ANOVA, Principal Component Analysis and Spearman’s multiple correlation analyses. Results: Leaf chemical variation exhibited greater differentiation in phosphorus (associated to nucleic acids, protein construction and rapid growth rate), calcium and potassium (associated to structure and photosynthesis), and iron and zinc (associated to enzymes). Leaf chemical variation of more ancestral species displayed elevated concentrations of calcium and potassium, whereas most derived species exhibited higher carbon and iron concentrations. Species of the same genus showed less differences compared to more distant species. Conclusions: The foliar elemental composition may be a fingerprint trait of the ecological and evolutionary history of these legumes, in relation to nutrient assimilation and acquisition, and probably constitute a mechanism of coexistence

Sexual dimorphism in the multielemental stoichiometric phenotypes and stoichiometric niches of spiders

Nutritional limitations may shape populations and communities of organisms. This phenomenon is often studied by treating populations and communities as pools of homogenous individuals with average nutritional optima and experiencing average constraints and trade-offs that influence their fitness in a standardized way. However, populations and communities consist of individuals belonging to different sexes, each with specific nutritional demands and limitations. Taking this into account, we used the ecological stoichiometry framework to study sexual differences in the stoichiometric phenotypes, reflecting stoichiometric niches, of four spider taxa differing in the hunting mode. The species and sexes differed fundamentally in their elemental phenotypes, including elements beyond those most commonly studied (C, N and P). Both species and sexes were distinguished by the C:N ratio and concentrations of Cu, K and Zn. Species additionally differed in concentrations of Na, Mg and Mn. Phosphorous was not involved in this differentiation. Sexual dimorphism in spiders’ elemental phenotypes, related to differences in their stoichiometric niches, suggests different nutritional optima and differences in nutritional limitation experienced by different sexes and species. This may influence the structure and functioning of spider populations and communities

INSTRUMENTOS DE MEDICIÓN DE DIVERSAS CARACTERÍSTICAS PSICOSOCIALES PARA NIÑAS Y JÓVENES MEXICANAS EN SITUACIÓN DE DESAMPARO -Measuring instruments of several psychosocial characteristics in girls and young Mexican women in neglected situation

Las niñas y jóvenes en situación de desamparo presentan deficiencias de salud mental que deterioran gravemente su bienestar biopsicosocial. Mundialmente casi no hay instrumentos de evaluación para esta población. Consecuentemente, se carece de diagnósticos fiables. Propósito: se realizó este estudio preliminar para adaptar y validar escalas de medición de síntomas ansiosos y depresivos, asertividad y regulación emocional en 413 niñas y jóvenes mexicanas en situación de desamparo de entre 6 y 23 años de edad (M[DT]=11.75[2.78]). Metodología: se llevaron a cabo tres estudios piloto y la versión final de los cuestionarios se aplicó a 240 participantes del total. Hallazgos: los resultados alcanzados muestran estimados de validez y fiabilidad que determinan la veracidad de las características psicométricas de las escalas. Según el análisis factorial confirmatorio efectuado, se obtuvieron índices de ajuste y de validez discriminante y convergente apropiados constatando aún más que dichas pruebas pueden ser retomadas para futuras aplicaciones con poblaciones similares. Originalidad: la utilidad del estudio estriba en que se tienen, por primera vez en México, instrumentos preliminares para medir sintomatología ansiosa y depresiva, conductas asertivas y estrategias de regulación emocional en niñas y jóvenes en situación de desamparo

Nutrient scarcity as a selective pressure for mast seeding

Mast seeding is one of the most intriguing reproductive traits in nature. Despite its potential drawbacks in terms of fitness, the widespread existence of this phenomenon suggests that it should have evolutionary advantages under certain circumstances. Using a global dataset of seed production time series for 219 plant species from all the continents, we tested whether masting behaviour appears predominantly in species with low foliar N and P concentrations, when controlling for local climate and productivity. Here we show that masting intensity is higher in species with low foliar N and P concentrations and especially imbalanced N:P ratios, and that the evolutionary history of masting behaviour has been linked to that of nutrient economy. Our results support the hypothesis that masting is stronger in species growing under limiting conditions and suggest that this reproductive behaviour might have evolved as an adaptation to nutrient limitations and imbalances