Seed dispersers help plants to escape global warming

Plants are shifting their ranges towards higher elevations in response to global warming, yet such shifts are occurring at a rate slower than is needed to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate. There is, however, an almost complete lack of knowledge on seed dispersal across altitude, a key process to understand what constrains climate-driven range shifts. Here, we report the first direct empirical evidence on altitudinal seed dispersal mediated by two common frugivorous mammals: the red fox Vulpes vulpes and the pine marten Martes martes. We conducted a three-year (bait-marking) experiment in a mountainous region of Spain. We offered experimental fruits containing colour-coded seed mimics at feeding stations that simulated source trees. The colour codes allowed us to identify the exact origin of seed mimics found later in mammal scats. Nearly half (47%) of the dispersal events occurred towards higher elevations, despite only ca 25% of the study area being above the average altitude of the feeding stations (1344 m). Seeds dispersed uphill gained an average of 106 m (median = 111 m) and a maximum of 288 m, greatly exceeding the estimated requirements to escape warming (35.4 m per decade). Yet, foxes mediated much more uphill seed dispersal than martens (57% and 26% of dispersal events, respectively), which can be explained by between-disperser differences in home range size and habitat specificity. Dispersers with larger home ranges move farther and potentially disperse more seeds to higher altitudes, while habitat generalism is necessary to transport seeds above vegetation belts delimiting contrasting habitat types. We discuss how both traits (home range size and habitat specificity) can be used to infer altitudinal seed dispersal across disperser species and mountainous landscapes.This study was funded by the Galician Regional Government (project PGIDIT 05RFO 20001 PR). JPGV 310 was supported by an Individual Fellowship from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-656572: MOBILELINKS). JVLB was supported by a ‘Juan de la 312 Cierva’ research contract (JCI-2012-13066) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Whiskers of Al2O3 as reinforcement of a powder metallurgical 6061 aluminium matrix composite

An Al–Mg–Si alloy matrixcomposite reinforced with 10 vol.% of alumina whiskers (Al2O3w) has been processed by powder metallurgy and investigated. The Al2O3w were produced as single crystal c-axis alpha-alumina fibres at pre-pilot scale via vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) deposition in a cold-wall air-tight furnace with alumina linings. As far as we know, this is the first report of the utilization of whiskers of Al2O3 as reinforcing elements for Al alloys. Tensile tests have been performed on the composite at room and high temperatures. Results show that the AA6061 alloy reinforced with the as-produced Al2O3whiskers has remarkably high mechanical properties at room temperature. This is attributed to the high quality of the Al2O3 single crystals and to the strong bonding attained between them and the 6061 alloy matrixFinancial support of Spanish MEC, project MAT2006-01251, and regional government, Xunta de Galicia, PGIDT05TMT23902CTPeer reviewe

Elementos escasos y mineralizaciones metálicas en neises de la provincia de Pontevedra

[Resumen] Se estudió el contenido total, y en minerales no silicatédos, de Ni, Cu, Co, 2P y Ti en doce muestras representativas de los neises existentes en la provincia de Pontevedra. Se estableció la mineralogía y composición de Ios compuestos metálicos demostrándose la existencia de minerales de Ti en todas las muestras, en la mayoría rutilo con pequeñas cantidades de Fe en solucién sólida En otras apaecren cristales de ilmenita con Mn y Mg en solucién sólida al alguna de ellas. Se ha detectado la aparición de cristales de tumalina en la nuestra de neis glandular. Se han establecido las f ómuIas mineralógicas de todas las mineralizaciones metálicas localizada

PlayNet: real-time handball play classification with Kalman embeddings and neural networks

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature[Abstract] Real-time play recognition and classification algorithms are crucial for automating video production and live broadcasts of sporting events. However, current methods relying on human pose estimation and deep neural networks introduce high latency on commodity hardware, limiting their usability in low-cost real-time applications. We present PlayNet, a novel approach toreal-time handball play classification. Our method is based on Kalman embeddings, a new low-dimensional representation for game states that enables efficient operation on commodity hardware and customized camera layouts. Firstly, we leverage Kalman filtering to detect and track the main agents in the playing field, allowing us to represent them in a single normalized coordinate space. Secondly,weutilize a neural network trained in nonlinear dimensionality reduction through fuzzy topological data structure analysis. As a result, PlayNet achieves real-time play classification with under 55 ms of latency on commodity hardware, making it a promising addition to automated live broadcasting and game analysis pipelines.This work has been developed under the European Innovation Council Pilot No 954040. This work was supported also by ED431F 2021/11 and ED431G 2019/01 funded by Xunta de Galicia. Emilio J. Padrón’s work was also partially supported through the research projects PID2019-104184RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and ED431C 2021/30. Jose A. Iglesias-Guitian also acknowledges the UDC-Inditex InTalent programme and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (AEI/RYC2018-025385-I).Xunta de Galicia; ED431F 2021/11Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2021/3

Decreasing Atmospheric CO2 During the Late Miocene Cooling

A pronounced late Miocene cooling (LMC) from ~7 to 5.7 Ma has been documented in extratropical and tropical sea surface temperature records, but to date, available proxy evidence has not revealed a significant pCO2 decline over this event. Here, we provide a new, high‐resolution pCO2 proxy record over the LMC based on alkenone carbon isotopic fractionation (εp) measured in sediments from the South Atlantic at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1088. We apply a recent proxy calibration derived from a compilation of laboratory cultures, which more accurately reflects the proxy sensitivity to pCO2 changes during late Quaternary glacial‐interglacial cycles, together with new micropaleontological proxies to reconstruct past variations in algal growth rate, an important secondary influence on the εp. Our resulting pCO2 record suggests an approximately twofold to threefold decline over the LMC and confirms a strong coupling between climate and pCO2 through the late Miocene. Within this long‐term trend are pCO2 variations on sub‐myr timescales that may reflect 400‐kyr long‐eccentricity cycles, in which pCO2 minima coincide with several orbital‐scale maxima in published high‐resolution benthic δ18O records. These may correspond to ephemeral glaciations, potentially in the Northern Hemisphere. Our temperature and planktonic δ18O records from Site 1088 are consistent with substantial equatorward movement of Southern Ocean frontal systems during the LMC. This suggests that potential feedbacks between cooling, ocean circulation and deep ocean CO2 storage may warrant further investigation during the LMC

A comprehensive handball dynamics dataset for game situation classification

[Abstract] This article presents a comprehensive dataset of labeled game situations obtained from multiple professional handball matches, which corresponds to the research paper entitled “PlayNet: Real-time Handball Play Classification with Kalman Embeddings and Neural Networks” [1]. The dataset encompasses approximately 11 hours of footage from five handball games played in two different arenas, resulting in around 1 million data frames. Each frame has been meticulously labeled using seven distinct game situation classes (left and right attacks, left and right transitions, left and right penalties, and timeouts). Notably, the dataset does not contain video frames, but provides a synthetic normalized representation of each frame. This representation includes information about player, referee, and ball positions, as well as player and referee velocities, for every labeled game situation. We obtained said details automatically by using an object detector to infer the positions of players, referees, and the ball in each frame. After tracking the detected agent positions across frames, the extracted coordinates underwent normalization through a “bird's eye” perspective transform, ensuring that the data remained unaffected by variations in camera configurations across different arenas. Finally, a Kalman filter was applied to improve the robustness of player positions and derive their velocities. The labeling process was performed by domain experts employing a custom system designed to annotate game situations, considering the play type and its contextual setting. In conclusion, researchers can utilize this dataset for several purposes: game analysis, automated broadcasting, or game summarization. Furthermore, this dataset can contribute to a broader understanding of the relationship between player dynamics and game situations, shedding light on the level of granularity required for accurately classifying them.This work has been developed under the European Innovation Council [Pilot No 954040], Xunta de Galicia [ED431F 2021/11, ED431G 2019/01, ED431C 2021/30], Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, AEI/RYC2018-025385-I, PID2019- 104184RB-I00], and Jose A. Iglesias-Guitian also acknowledges the UDC-Inditex InTalent programme. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG.Xunta de Galicia; ED431F 2021/11Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2021/3

Frugivoría y dispersión de semillas por mamíferos carnívoros: rasgos funcionales

Muchas especies de mamíferos carnívoros (Orden Carnivora) consumen frutos carnosos, transportan semillas en sus tractos digestivos y las defecan sin dañarlas en condiciones apropiadas para la germinación. En este artículo, revisamos el conocimiento adquirido sobre este mutualismo en las últimas tres décadas, desde que tres trabajos pioneros revelaron la importancia de los carnívoros como dispersores de semillas en ecosistemas templados. Nos centramos en los rasgos funcionales de los carnívoros consumiendo frutos y diseminando semillas, haciendo especial énfasis en sus diferencias con las aves, el principal grupo de vertebrados frugívoros en ecosistemas templados. Los carnívoros no están sujetos a las restricciones fenológicas o morfológicas que típicamente limitan el consumo de determinados frutos en muchas especies de aves. Consumen preferentemente frutos cuyos atributos son compartidos con muchas especies de frutos cultivados por el hombre, lo que explica el consumo frecuente de éstos en paisajes antrópicos. Sus amplios requerimientos espaciales favorecen la dispersión de semillas a larga distancia, mientras que su generalismo en relación al hábitat favorece el flujo de semillas entre hábitats contrastados. De este modo, los carnívoros promueven la conectividad entre poblaciones vegetales y la colonización. Estas funciones ecológicas son clave para las comunidades vegetales nativas, especialmente en escenarios de cambios de uso de suelo. Sin embargo, estos patrones de dispersión de semillas pueden contribuir a la invasión de plantas exóticas. Aún ignoramos en gran medida el papel de los carnívoros en términos cuantitativos de la dispersión de semillas y las diferencias funcionales entre especies dentro del gremio. La integración de muestreos clásicos e innovadoras técnicas moleculares y de análisis espacial promete aportar conocimiento inédito en estas cuestiones[EN ] Many species of carnivorous mammals (Order Carnivora) consume fleshy fruits, transport seeds in their digestive tracts, and defecate them without damage in conditions that are suitable for germination. In this article, we review the state of the art on this mutualism in the past three decades, since three pioneering studies revealed the importance of carnivores as seed dispersers in temperate ecosystems. We focus on the functional traits of carnivores consuming fruits and disseminating seeds, with particular emphasis on their differences with birds, the main group of vertebrate frugivores in temperate ecosystems. Carnivores are not subject to the phenological or morphological constraints that typically limit the consumption of certain fruit species in many bird species. They preferably consume fruits whose traits are shared with many fruit species cultivated by man, which explains the frequent consumption of cultivated fruits in anthropogenic landscapes. The large spatial requirements of carnivores promote long-distance seed dispersal, while their habitat generalism promotes seed flows between contrasting habitats. Thus, carnivores promote connectivity between plant populations and colonization. These are key ecological functions for native plant communities, especially in scenarios of land-use changes. However, these seed dispersal patterns can contribute to the invasion of exotic plants. We still largely ignore the role of carnivores in quantitative terms of seed dispersal and the functional differences between species within the guild. Integrating traditional fieldwork and innovative molecular techniques and spatial analysis promises to provide unprecedented knowledge on these issuesPeer reviewe

Midlatitude Temperature Variations in the Oligocene to Early Miocene

[EN]Antarctic ice sheet margin extent and the sensitivity of benthic δ18O to orbital forcing have varied on million-year timescales during the Oligocene to Early Miocene. However, few sea surface temperature (SST) records for this time interval exist to evaluate links between polar processes and mean temperature outside polar regions. Here, we present a new record of SST for the time interval 30 to 17 Ma derived from the long-chain alkenone unsaturation ratio ( urn:x-wiley:25724517:media:palo20775:palo20775-math-0001) at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site 1406A in the midlatitude North Atlantic. Results confirm that warm temperatures from 24°C to over 30°C prevailed in midlatitudes in this time and suggest a transition from colder early-middle Oligocene to warmer average conditions after 24.5 Ma. The global significance of this transition is highlighted by the coincidence with changes in the dominance from marine- to terrestrial-terminating ice sheets in the Ross Sea around Antarctica. The longest continuous section of the record (20.6 to 26.6 Ma) contains multiple 2 million-year cycles in SST, potentially paced by long obliquity modulation. Complex and temporally varying relationships are observed between North Atlantic SST and benthic δ18O in paired samples; significant covariation is only observed around the Oligocene-Miocene transition, coincident with a lower average marine ice extent. These North Atlantic urn:x-wiley:25724517:media:palo20775:palo20775-math-0002 temperature records provide a new context in which to examine the stability of climate and the Antarctic ice sheet during the Oligocene and early Miocene

Infección por Theileria annae en un perro esplenectomizado

La babesiosis canina es una enfermedad infecciosa de distribución mundial debida a la proliferación en los hematíes del perro de unas babesias específicas transmitidas por garrapatas. Si bien ha sido tradicionalmente asumido que las únicas especies que causan enfermedad en la especie canina son Babesia canis y Babesia gibsoni, publicaciones recientes demuestran que una tercera especie (Theileria annae) también puede causar una enfermedad muy severa. Este trabajo presenta el segundo caso publicado de esta forma de Theileria annae en un perro de 14 años, de raza Basset Hound, esplenectomizado cinco meses antes, que se presentó en la clínica veterinaria con signos de hipertermia, hemoglobinuria, temblores y apatía. El estudio de laboratorio constató una acusada anemia hemolítica regenerativa y una intensa trombocitopenia como datos más característicos. En la extensión de sangre periférica se visualizaron múltiples merozoítos intra (22%) y extraeritrocitarios de pequeño tamaño (1-2 micras), forma anular y presentación única en la mayoría de hematíes. La prontitud del diagnóstico y del tratamiento específico con dipropionato de imidocarb hizo que el cuadro clínico evolucionase con rapidez hacia la curación, en contra de lo que es habitual en los animales esplenectomizados.

Chemical Modification of a Dehydratase Enzyme Involved in Bacterial Virulence by an Ammonium Derivative: Evidence of its Active Site Covalent Adduct

The first example of an ammonium derivative that causes a specific modification of the active site of type I dehydroquinase (DHQ1), a dehydratase enzyme that is a promising target for antivirulence drug discovery, is described. The resolution at 1.35 Å of the crystal structure of DHQ1 from Salmonella typhi chemically modified by this ammonium derivative revealed that the ligand is covalently attached to the essential Lys170 through the formation of an amine. The detection by mass spectroscopy of the reaction intermediates, in conjunction with the results of molecular dynamics simulations, allowed us to explain the inhibition mechanism and the experimentally observed differences between S. typhi and Staphylococcus aureus enzymes. The results presented here reveal that the replacement of Phe225 in St-DHQ1 by Tyr214 in Sa-DHQ1 and its hydrogen bonding interaction with the conserved water molecule observed in several crystal structures protects the amino adduct against further dehydration/aromatization reactions. In contrast, for the St-DHQ1 enzyme, the carboxylate group of Asp114, with the assistance of this water molecule, would trigger the formation of a Schiff base that can undergo further dehydration reactions until full aromatization of the cyclohexane ring is achieved. Moreover, in vitro antivirulence studies showed that the reported compound is able to reduce the ability of Salmonella Enteritidis to kill A459 respiratory cells. These studies have identified a good scaffold for the design of irreversible inhibitors that can be used as drugs and has opened up new opportunities for the development of novel antivirulence agents by targeting the DHQ1 enzymeFinancial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (SAF2013-42899-R), Xunta de Galicia (GRC2013-041), and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is gratefully acknowledged. E.L. thanks the Xunta de Galicia for his postdoctoral fellowship. A.B. thanks the Miguel Servet Programme ISCIII-FEDER (CP13/00226) and the ISCIIIGeneral Subdirection of Assesment and Promotion of the Research (PI14/00059) for financial supportS