Trait‐mediated indirect interactions: Moose browsing increases sawfly fecundity through plant‐induced responses

1. Induced responses in plants, initiated by herbivory, create potential for trait‐mediated indirect interactions among herbivores. Responses to an initial herbivore may change a number of plant traits that subsequently alter ecological processes with additional herbivores. Although common, indirect interactions between taxonomically distant herbivores, such as mammals and insects, are less studied than between taxonomically related species (i.e., insect–insect). In terms of mammal– insect interactions, effects on insect numbers (e.g., density) are relatively well studied, whereas effects on performance (e.g., fecundity) are rarely explored. Moreover, few studies have explored mammal–insect interactions on coniferous plants. 2. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mammalian induced responses on insect performance. We specifically investigated the effect of moose (Alces alces) browsing on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and subsequent effects on sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer) performance. 3. Sawfly larvae were reared on browsed, clipped, and unbrowsed control pine trees in a controlled field experiment. Afterward, cocoon weight was measured. Needle C:N ratio and di‐terpene content were measured in response to browsing. 4. Sawfly performance was enhanced on trees browsed by moose. Cocoon weight (proxy for fecundity) was 9 and 13% higher on browsed and clipped trees compared to unbrowsed trees. Cocoon weight was weakly related to needle C:N ratio, and browsed trees had lower a C:N ratio compared to unbrowsed trees. Needle di‐terpene content, known to affect sawfly performance, was neither affected by the browsing treatments nor did it correlate with sawfly weight. 5. We conclude that mammalian herbivory can affect insect herbivore performance, with potential consequences for ecological communities and with particular importance for insect population dynamics. The measured plant variables could not fully explain the effect on sawfly performance providing a starting point for the consideration of additional plant responses induced by mammalian browsing affecting insect performance

A phase 2 trial investigating the efficacy and safety of the mPGES-1 inhibitor vipoglanstat in systemic sclerosis-related Raynaud's

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to test the hypothesis, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that vipoglanstat, an inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) which decreases prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and increases prostacyclin biosynthesis, improves RP.METHODS: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and ≥7 RP attacks during the last screening week prior to a baseline visit were randomised to four weeks treatment with vipoglanstat 120 mg or placebo. A daily electronic diary captured RP attacks (duration and pain) and Raynaud's Condition Score, with change in RP attacks/week as primary end point. Cold challenge assessments were performed at baseline and end of treatment. Exploratory endpoints included patients' and physicians' global impression of change, Assessment of Scleroderma-associated Raynaud's Phenomenon questionnaire, mPGES-1 activity, and urinary excretion of arachidonic acid metabolites.RESULTS: Sixty-nine subjects received vipoglanstat (n = 33) or placebo (n = 36). Mean weekly number of RP attacks (baseline; vipoglanstat 14.4[SD 6.7], placebo 18.2[12.6]) decreased by 3.4[95% CI -5.8;-1.0] and 4.2[-6.5;-2.0] attacks per week (p= 0.628) respectively. All patient reported outcomes improved, with no difference between the groups. Mean change in recovery of peripheral blood flow after cold challenge did not differ between the study groups. Vipoglanstat fully inhibited mPGES-1, resulting in 57% reduction of PGE2 and 50% increase of prostacyclin metabolites in urine. Vipoglanstat was safe and well tolerated.CONCLUSION: Although vipoglanstat was safe, and well tolerated in a dose achieving full inhibition of mPGES-1, it was ineffective in SSc-related RP. Further development and evaluation of vipoglanstat will therefore be in other diseases where mPGES-1 plays a pathogenetic role.</p

A phase 2 trial investigating the efficacy and safety of the mPGES-1 inhibitor vipoglanstat in systemic sclerosis-related Raynaud's

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to test the hypothesis, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that vipoglanstat, an inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) which decreases prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and increases prostacyclin biosynthesis, improves RP.METHODS: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and ≥7 RP attacks during the last screening week prior to a baseline visit were randomised to four weeks treatment with vipoglanstat 120 mg or placebo. A daily electronic diary captured RP attacks (duration and pain) and Raynaud's Condition Score, with change in RP attacks/week as primary end point. Cold challenge assessments were performed at baseline and end of treatment. Exploratory endpoints included patients' and physicians' global impression of change, Assessment of Scleroderma-associated Raynaud's Phenomenon questionnaire, mPGES-1 activity, and urinary excretion of arachidonic acid metabolites.RESULTS: Sixty-nine subjects received vipoglanstat (n = 33) or placebo (n = 36). Mean weekly number of RP attacks (baseline; vipoglanstat 14.4[SD 6.7], placebo 18.2[12.6]) decreased by 3.4[95% CI -5.8;-1.0] and 4.2[-6.5;-2.0] attacks per week (p= 0.628) respectively. All patient reported outcomes improved, with no difference between the groups. Mean change in recovery of peripheral blood flow after cold challenge did not differ between the study groups. Vipoglanstat fully inhibited mPGES-1, resulting in 57% reduction of PGE2 and 50% increase of prostacyclin metabolites in urine. Vipoglanstat was safe and well tolerated.CONCLUSION: Although vipoglanstat was safe, and well tolerated in a dose achieving full inhibition of mPGES-1, it was ineffective in SSc-related RP. Further development and evaluation of vipoglanstat will therefore be in other diseases where mPGES-1 plays a pathogenetic role.</p

So What Do You Do? Experimenting with Space for Social Creativity

This chapter investigates the relationship between physical space and processes of creative thinking and action. The authors build on organizational and sociological literature about social space and aesthetics, then illustrate how the latter two aspects influenced each other in five action experiments. Small mixed groups explored how they would use a studio to facilitate social innovation and to strengthen the link between the Max Stern Jezreel Valley College in Israel and the surrounding communities. Analysis of the video recordings identified seven configurations of social space that changed over time as the participants engaged in the task. The authors suggest that the undifferentiated and unencrusted nature of the space was both a source of uncertainty and potential for the participants. Some groups generated more innovative processes and products than others. The study also offers insights into the importance of embodied action and verbal discourse in innovative processes

Evaluation of the potential index model to predict habitat suitability of forest species: the potential distribution of mountain pine (Pinus uncinata) in the Iberian peninsula

Characterization of the suitability or potentiality of a territory for forest tree species is an important source of information for forest planning and managing. In this study, we compared a relatively simple methodology to generate potential habitat distribution areas that has been traditionally used in Spain (the potential index model) with a statistical modelling approach (generalized linear model). We modelled the potential distribution of mountain pine (Pinus uncinata) in the Iberian peninsula as a working example. The potential index model generated a map of habitat suitability according to the values of an index of potentiality, whose distribution has usually divided into four categories based on quartiles (from optimum to low suitability). Considering all values of the index of potentiality as presences of mountain pine resulted in a low to moderate degree of agreement between the potential index model and the generalized linear model according to the kappa coefficient. Using the cut-off value of the index of potentiality that maximized the degree of agreement between both modelling approaches resulted in a substantial similarity between the maps of the predicted distribution of mountain pine. This cut-off value did lie in the upper-third quartile of the potential index distribution (high suitability category), and roughly coincided with the upper 30th percentile. The use of statistical techniques, which have proved to be powerful and versatile for species distribution modelling, is recommended. However, the potential index model, together with the adjustments proposed here, could be a reasonably simple methodology to predict the potential distribution of forest tree species that forest managers should take into account when evaluating forestation and afforestation projects

Up-Regulation of Annexin-A1 and Lipoxin A4 in Individuals with Ulcerative Colitis May Promote Mucosal Homeostasis

PubMed ID: 22723974This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Plant Responses to Extreme Climatic Events: A Field Test of Resilience Capacity at the Southern Range Edge

The expected and already observed increment in frequency of extreme climatic events may result in severe vegetation shifts. However, stabilizing mechanisms promoting community resilience can buffer the lasting impact of extreme events. The present work analyzes the resilience of a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem after an extreme drought in 2005, examining shoot-growth and needle-length resistance and resilience of dominant tree and shrub species (Pinus sylvestris vs Juniperus communis, and P. nigra vs J. oxycedrus) in two contrasting altitudinal ranges. Recorded high vegetative-resilience values indicate great tolerance to extreme droughts for the dominant species of pine-juniper woodlands. Observed tolerance could act as a stabilizing mechanism in rear range edges, such as the Mediterranean basin, where extreme events are predicted to be more detrimental and recurrent. However, resistance and resilience components vary across species, sites, and ontogenetic states: adult Pinus showed higher growth resistance than did adult Juniperus; saplings displayed higher recovery rates than did conspecific adults; and P. nigra saplings displayed higher resilience than did P. sylvestris saplings where the two species coexist. P. nigra and J. oxycedrus saplings at high and low elevations, respectively, were the most resilient at all the locations studied. Under recurrent extreme droughts, these species-specific differences in resistance and resilience could promote changes in vegetation structure and composition, even in areas with high tolerance to dry conditions.This study was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spanish Government) Projects CGL2008-04794 and CGL2011-29910 to R.Z., and by grant FPU-MEC (AP2005-1561) to A. H

The PREDICTS database: A global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

© 2014 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015. The collation of biodiversity datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents is necessary to understand historical declines and to project - and hopefully avert - future declines. We describe a newly collated database of more than 1.6 million biodiversity measurements from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world

Inflammatory resolution: New opportunities for drug discovery

Treatment of inflammatory diseases today is largely based on interrupting the synthesis or action of mediators that drive the host’s response to injury. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, steroids and antihistamines, for instance, were developed on this basis. Although such small-molecule inhibitors have provided the main treatment for inflammatory arthropathies and asthma, they are not without their shortcomings. This review offers an alternative approach to the development of novel therapeutics based on the endogenous mediators and mechanisms that switch off acute inflammation and bring about its resolution. It is thought that this strategy will open up new avenues for the future management of inflammation-based diseases