Beyond the Tree-Line: The C3-C4 “Grass-Line” Can Track Global Change in the World’s Grassy Mountain Systems

von Humboldt’s tree-line concept has dominated mountain ecology for almost two hundred years, and is considered a key indicator for monitoring change in biome boundaries and biodiversity shifts under climate change. Even though the concept of life zones and elevation gradients are a globally observed phenomenon, they have not been thoroughly explored for many contexts. One such example is the tree-line ecotone, a widely used conceptual tool to track climate change in many regions, which has limited application in the widespread tree-sparse, grassy systems that comprise a third of the world’s mountain systems. Among grasses (Poaceae), temperature is linked to variation in photosynthetic performance and community dominance for C3 and C4 metabolic groups, due to its role in limiting photorespiration in the C3 photosynthesis process. Here, we investigate this community shift in grassland-dominated mountains to demonstrate the role of climate in driving this transition and discuss the potential applications of this tool to mountain ecosystem conservation worldwide. For identifying grass-dominated mountains worldwide, we measured the grass-cover using satellite data. We then compiled Poaceae distribution data for ten grass-dominated mountains spanning from 42°S to 41°N and determined the temperature intervals and elevation ranges at which each genus was found, testing for effects of temperature, precipitation, and latitudinal gradients on the dominance of C3-C4 grasses. Temperature was the main driver of C3 dominance, with the richness of C3 genera tending to surpass the taxonomic dominance of C4 plants along mountain temperature gradients where the annual mean temperature was colder than ca. 14.6°C. Similar patterns were observed in eight out of ten mountains, suggesting that this may constitute an isotherm-driven ecotone. Consequently, this C3-C4 transition offers a promising tool for monitoring climate change impacts in grassy mountains. C3-C4 grass community shifts in response to environmental change will likely have major implications for fire frequency and severity, rangeland productivity and livelihoods, food security, and water budgets in mountain systems. Given the severity of the implications of global change on these social-ecological systems, we propose that a “grass-line” monitoring protocol be developed for global application

Reparo percutâneo da insuficiência mitral: uma revisão integrativa

Introdução:  A insuficiência mitral (IM) é um distúrbio valvar que, em sua forma crônica, tem duas etiologias principais: as anormalidades do aparelho valvar, por exemplo folhetos e cordas tendíneas; ou secundária a uma cardiopatia de base, como doença arterial coronariana e  cardiomiopatias. Embora casos leves sejam assintomáticos, a IM pode progredir e apresentar-se com dispnéia aos esforços e sinais de insuficiência cardíaca (IC) em estágios avançados, como congestão pulmonar e baixo débito cardíaco. Além do exame clínico, o diagnóstico requer um ecocardiograma e a indicação do manejo intervencionista varia entre casos moderados a graves. Nesse sentido, considerando a evolução dos procedimentos minimamente invasivos, destaca-se o reparo percutâneo da valva mitral (PMVR) como alternativa ao reparo cirúrgico da valva mitral (SMVR). Objetivos: Analisar as evidências atuais acerca do PMVR em termos de eficácia e segurança, além de comparar os desfechos clínicos desse procedimento, do SMVR e da terapia clínica isolada. Métodos: Revisão integrativa de 26 artigos encontrados na base de dados PubMed e Google Scholar, a partir dos descritores "Mitral regurgitation”, “Percutaneous mitral valve repair” e "Clinical outcomes", utilizando os filtros idioma inglês, publicação nos últimos 15 anos e estudos dos tipos ensaio clínico, meta-análise e revisão sistemática.  Resultados: Os estudos mostraram que há maior refluxo residual em pacientes submetidos ao PMVR, bem como maior necessidade de reintervenção para corrigir a IM em comparação com o SMVR. Contudo, notou-se redução no grau da IM e melhora da classe funcional NYHA, o que se manteve no seguimento de 2 anos. Ademais, não houve diferenças significativas na mortalidade em até 5 anos. Em relação à terapia médica isolada, apesar de alguns resultados distintos, notou-se superioridade do PMVR na redução dos sintomas e das taxas de hospitalização por IC e de mortalidade. Conclusão: Foi possível compreender que o PMVR é eficaz e seguro já que melhora a classe NYHA e a função valvar de maneira semelhante à cirurgia, além de apresentar baixa mortalidade associada. Contudo, salienta-se a necessidade de novas pesquisas avaliando a eficácia do procedimento a longo prazo a fim de vislumbrar com mais precisão seus desfechos

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Weighted endemism of Cerrado woody plants and related species distribution models

This raster provides an overview of endemism of species of woody plants for the Brazilian domain of Cerrado. We compiled information for 174 species and calculated weighted endemism per cel (30 arc seconds) using a function developed by Guerin et al. (2015)

Biogeography of the genus Rauvolfia L. (Apocynaceae, Rauvolfioideae)

Rauvolfia L. is a pantropical genus with 70 species distributed throughout America, Africa and Asia, also being present in several remote islands like Hawaii and French Polynesia. Although having an estimated age of 34 million years, the genus has a wide distribution as a result of its remarkable dispersal capacity, given its distribution associated with water bodies and the fact that its fruits are a food source for many bird species, placing Rauvolfia as a highly interesting group for biogeographical studies. Based on this, we produced distribution maps for the 70 species of the genus from occurrence data obtained from herbarium sheets and revision articles, which were digitalized and georeferenced. Species with similar distribution patterns were grouped and their maps were produced and compared with maps of topography and hydrography. We analyzed this distribution together with the most recent phylogenetic hypothesis for the group to infer the distribution of ancestral nodes and to identify barriers in the distribution among sister groups. The phylogeny used was based on chloroplast markers, while divergence timing was estimated by molecular clock, calculated for the whole tribe Vinceae Duby in a parallel study. Softwares S-DIVA and VIP were used for biogeographical reconstructions, which were interpreted within the context of current biogeographical hypotheses. The genus Rauvolfia is mainly limited by climatic and geographic factors. Moreover, while some vicariance episodes were identified, much of the patterns observed for Rauvolfia present distribution were attributed to long-distance dispersal events, reinforcing the role of dispersal in current discussions about angiosperm biogeography.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Rauvolfia L. é um gênero pantropical, composto por 70 espécies distribuídas ao longo de América, África e Ásia, além de estar presente em diversas ilhas remotas como Havaí e Polinésia Francesa. Apesar de possuir uma idade estimada em 34 milhões de anos, o gênero apresenta uma distribuição ampla resultante de uma notável capacidade de dispersão, atribuída a sua distribuição associada a corpos d’água e ao fato de seus frutos serem uma fonte de alimentos para muitas espécies de pássaros, situando Rauvolfia como um grupo altamente interessante para estudos biogeográficos. Partindo deste princípio, nós produzimos mapas de distribuição para as 70 espécies do gênero a partir de dados de ocorrência obtidos de etiquetas de pranchas de herbários e de trabalhos de revisão, que foram digitalizados e georreferenciados. As espécies com padrões similares de distribuição foram agrupadas e seus mapas foram produzidos e comparados com mapas de relevo e hidrografia. Analisou-se então esta distribuição em conjunto com a mais recente hipótese filogenética para o grupo para se inferir a distribuição dos ramos ancestrais e localizar barreiras na distribuição de táxons irmãos. A filogenia utilizada foi baseada em marcadores cloroplastidiais, enquanto a datação foi estimada através de relógio molecular, inferida para toda a tribo Vinceae Duby em um estudo paralelo. Foram utilizados os softwares S-DIVA e VIP para as reconstruções biogeográficas, que foram interpretadas dentro do contexto de hipóteses biogeográficas atuais. O gênero Rauvolfia se apresentou delimitado principalmente por fatores climáticos e geográficos. Além disso, apesar da identificação de alguns episódios de vicariância, grande parte dos padrões observados para a distribuição atual de Rauvolfia foi atribuído a eventos de dispersão a longas distâncias, reforçando o papel desses eventos nas atuais discussões sobre biogeografia de Angiospermas

Occurrence data

A table containing the occurrence data used for the endemism analysis. Contains filtered GBIF registries for 311 plant species of the Cerrado