Salt stress is a major limiting factor that severely affects the survival and growth of crops. It is important to understand the salt tolerance ability of Brassica napus and explore the underlying related genetic resources. We used a high-throughput phenotyping platform to quantify 2,111 image-based traits (i-traits) of a natural population under 3 different salt stress conditions and an intervarietal substitution line (ISL) population under 9 different stress conditions to monitor and evaluate the salt stress tolerance of B. napus over time. We finally identified 928 high-quality i-traits associated with the salt stress tolerance of B. napus. Moreover, we mapped the salt stress-related loci in the natural population via a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and performed a linkage analysis associated with the ISL population, respectively. The results revealed 234 candidate genes associated with salt stress response, and two novel candidate genes, BnCKX5 and BnERF3, were experimentally verified to regulate the salt stress tolerance of B. napus. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using high-throughput phenotyping-based QTL mapping to accurately and comprehensively quantify i-traits associated with B. napus. The mapped loci could be used for genomics-assisted breeding to genetically improve the salt stress tolerance of B. napus.

Climate change has the potential to alter plant reproductive success directly and indirectly through disruptions in animal pollination. Climate models project altered seasonal precipitation patterns and thus the effects of climate change on available resources and pollination services will depend on the season. Plants have evolved reproductive strategies to minimize pollen and resource limitations, and therefore we expect that the disruption of climate change might cause plants to be more pollen limited in seasons that become wetter than they were historically. In this study, we conducted a pollen supplementation experiment within the Global Change Experiment Facility (GCEF) in Central Germany. The GCEF experimentally manipulates future climate based on a realistic scenario of climate change for the region (drier summers and wetter springs and falls) in a native grassland ecosystem. We quantified seed production of two perennial species Dianthus carthusianorum and Scabiosa ochroleuca in response to pollination treatments (control, supplement), climate treatments (ambient and future) and season (summer and fall). Dianthus carthusianorum produced more seeds in future climate conditions independent of the season, but only when given supplemental pollen. Both species showed an increased reproduction in summer compared to the fall. We did not find any evidence for our expectation of higher pollen limitation in the future climate and fall season (i.e. no three-way interaction pollination x season x climate), which might be explained by the high drought tolerance and generalized pollination of our focal plant species. We conclude that plant reproductive success might be limited by the services of animal pollinators in future climates, and have many suggestions for future studies that are necessary to understand the context-dependence and underlying mechanisms of plant reproductive responses to climate.

The trade-off between within-host infection load and transmission to new hosts is predicted to constrain pathogen evolution, and to maintain polymorphism in pathogen populations. The life-history stages and their correlations that underpin infection development may change under coinfection with other parasites as they compete for the same limited host resources. Cross-kingdom interactions are common among pathogens in both natural and cultivated systems yet their impact on disease ecology and evolution are rarely studied. Host plant Plantago lanceolata is naturally infected by both Phompopsis subordinaria, a seed killing fungus, as well as Plantago lanceolata latent virus (PlLV) in the Åland Islands, SW Finland. We performed an inoculation assay to test whether coinfection with PlLV affects performance of two P. subordinaria strains, and the correlation between within-host infection load and transmission potential. The strains differed in the measured life-history traits and their correlations. Moreover, we found that under virus coinfection, within-host infection load of P. subordinaria was lower but transmission potential was higher compared to strains under single infection. The negative correlation between within-host infection load and transmission potential detected under single infection became positive under coinfection with PlLV. In wild populations, within-host infection load was positively associated with within-population disease prevalence. Jointly, our results suggest that the trade-off between within-host infection load and transmission may be strain specific, and that the pathogen life-history that underpin epidemics may change depending on the diversity of infection, generating variation in disease dynamics.

The characteristics of macroinvertebrate community structure can effectively reflect the health status of lake ecosystem and the quality of the lake ecological environment. It is of great significance to identify the limiting factors of macroinvertebrate community structure for the maintenance of lake ecosystem health. In this study, the community composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages and their relationships with environmental variables in 13 small lakes within Linhuan Lake was investigated. Self-organizing map, K-means clustering analysis, principal component analysis, pearson correlation analysis, and redundancy analysis were used to analyze the correlation and variability between macroinvertebrates community index and environmental factors. The results showed that the environmental variables (pH, total phosphorus, nitrate, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, chemical oxygen demand, and ammonium) had a significant effect on the classification of macroinvertebrate community. Molluscs were significantly negatively correlated with pH and chlorophyll a, while annelids and aquatic insects were significantly positively correlated with chlorophyll a and dissolved oxygen. Species richness and Shannon’s diversity of macroinvertebrates were significantly negatively correlated with total phosphorus while biomass of macroinvertebrates was significantly negatively correlated with pH. High alkalinity characteristics and eutrophication of the lake have a serious impact on the macroinvertebrate community. Human interference and unreasonable industrial and surface runoff from agricultural farms destroy the ecological environment and affect the community structure of macroinvertebrate. Thus, the improvement of the macroinvertebrate’s community structure should be carried out by improving the Lianhuan Lake watershed ecological environment and controlling watershed environmental pollution.

Investigating the determinants of reproductive biology of fishes is an essential component of biological research. Breeding pattern was investigated to determine the impact of exotic Oreochromis niloticus on the native congeneric Oreochromis macrochir in the upper Kabompo River. Gonado-somatic index and sex ratio was used to investigate the breeding pattern in both invaded (where O. niloticus is present) and uninvaded (where O. niloticus is absent) sections of the river. Oreochromis macrochir was the only native congeneric species found in both sections. Results showed that the overall gonado-somatic index means for both sexes of O. macrochir in both sections were similar. For O. niloticus in invaded section indicated all year reproduction though reduced spawning in cold season (May-June), but with increased spawning activity in wet season (February-March). In O. macrochir, males and females were found breeding in both dry and wet seasons only, as for cold season no reproduction was recorded. Sex ratio (females: males) was 1:1.3 and 1:1.7 for O. niloticus and O. macrochir respectively, and both significantly deviated from the sex ratio of 1:1 (ꭓ2=8.42 and 9.37; p<0.05). Oreochromis niloticus formed the most abundant fish caught 221(63.5%) than O. macrochir 127(36.5%). Our study has revealed that O. niloticus was able to spawn in all seasons with 23% higher breeding population than O. macrochir, which explains the suppression in the abundance. We expect O. niloticus to invade further downstream of the Kabompo River due to natural dispersion.

Abstract Predator/Parasitoid functional response is one of the main tools used to study predation behaviour, and in assessing the potential of biological control candidates. It is generally accepted that predator learning in prey searching and manipulation can produce the appearance of type III functional response. Holling proposed that in the presence of alternative prey, at some point the predator would shift the preferred prey, leading to the appearance of a sigmoid function that characterized that functional response. This is supported by the analogy between enzyme kinetics and functional response that Holling used as the basis for developing this theory. However, after several decades, sigmoidal functional responses appear in the absence of alternative prey in most of the biological taxa studied. Here, we propose modelling the effect of learning on the functional response by using the explicit incorporation of learning curves in the parameters of the Holling functional response, the attack rate (a), and the manipulation time (h). We then study how the variation in the parameters of the learning curves causes variations in the shape of the functional response curve. We found that the functional response product of learning can be either type I, II or III, depending on what parameters act on the organism, and how much it can learn throughout the length of the study. Therefore the presence of other types of curves should not be automatically associated with the absence of learning. These results are important from an ecological point of view because when type III functional response is associated with learning, it is generally accepted that it can operate as a stabilizing factor in population dynamics. Our results, to the contrary, suggest that depending on how it acts, it may even be destabilizing by generating the appearance of functional responses close to type I.

Movement and demographic rates are critical to the persistence of populations in space and time. Despite their importance, estimates of these processes are often derived from a limited number of populations spanning broad habitat or environmental gradients. With increasing appreciation of the role fine-scale environmental variation in microgeographic adaptation, there is need and value to assessing within-site variation in movement, growth, and demographic rates. In this study, we analyze three years of spatial capture-recapture data collected from a mixed-use deciduous forest site in central Ohio, USA. Study plots were situated in mature forest on a slope and in successional forest on a ridge but were separated by less than 100-m distance. Our data showed that the density of salamanders was less on ridges, which corresponded with greater distance between nearest neighbors, less overlap in core use areas, greater space-use, and greater shifts in activity centers when compared to salamander occupying the slope habitat. However, these differences were moderate. In contrast, we estimated growth rates of salamanders occupying the ridge to be significantly greater than salamander on the slope. These differences result in ridge salamanders reaching maturity more than one year earlier than slope salamanders, increasing their lifetime fecundity by as much as 43%. The patterns we observed in space use and growth are likely the result of density-dependent processes, reflecting differences in resource availability or quality. Our study highlights how fine-scale, within-site, variation can shape population demographics. As research into the demographic and population consequences of climate change and habitat loss and alteration continue, future research should take care to acknowledge the role that fine-scale variation may play, especially for organisms with small home ranges or limited vagility.

Research that has been conducted documenting species richness patterns on tropical mountains has resulted in conflicting observations: monotonic declines with increasing elevation, monotonic increase with increasing elevation, and a mid-elevation ‘bulge.’ Currently, it is unclear if these differences are due to environmental differences associated with the various study areas, the taxonomic groups or ecological groups (e.g., growth form) sampled, or the scale of the study area along an elevation gradient. Because of the difficulty in sampling and identifying canopy-dwelling plants, the number of inventories quantifying tropical epiphytes is relatively limited and recent. In this study, we provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of the vascular epiphyte flora and its spatial distribution on Volcán Maderas, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua, including weather and environmental measurements along the entire elevation gradient of the volcano. We sampled epiphytes in five distinct forest types associated with increasing elevation as follows: dry forest, humid forest, wet forest, cloud forest, and elfin forest Five weather stations were placed along the elevation gradient for us to relate observed patterns to environmental conditions. A hump-shaped species richness pattern was detected for all vascular epiphytes at approximately 1000 m in elevation (cloud forest), yet species abundance increased with increasing elevation. In total we obtained 206 unique species identifications of vascular epiphytes belonging to 26 families and 73 genera. The most species-rich family was the Orchidaceae with 55 species for the entire elevation gradient, followed by Bromeliaceae (29 species), Araceae (23), Polypodiaceae (25), Dryopteridaceae (16), and Piperaceae (11), with all other families respresented by fewer than 10 species each. We found that richness patterns differ phylogenetically within epiphytes, possibly due to different adaptive strategies, and species for the most part appear to be narrowly distributed within specific habitat zones along the elevation gradient.

A novel adaptive refined grid search strategy is developed for representative characterization of process feasible region boundaries and accurate estimation of its hypervolume. In particular, a linked list data structure adopted from the field of computer science is used to maintain the grid connectivity information. A uniform perturbation scheme is used to refine the search only near boundaries. The volumetric flexibility index FI_V is calculated directly from a summation of feasible hypercubes in the grid, without the need to apply shape reconstruction techniques. The proposed adaptive grid search strategy can capture complex region shapes with reduced sampling costs and without randomness for better reproducibility. Operational flexibility is optimized traditionally at a process scale. A case study on refrigerant selection is presented to demonstrated that the developed strategy could be combined within a computer-aided molecular design framework for operational flexibility optimization in molecular scale.

In this study, a CFD mathematical model has been developed for catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass. The multi-phase fluid flow, and the inter-phase momentum and energy transfer processes were modelled with Eulerian multi-phase formulas. The biomass catalyst fast pyrolysis reactions were described by using a two-stage, semi-global model. Specified secondary tar catalytic cracking process, which considers both intrinsic reaction rates and mass transfer process are embedded to the developed model by user-defined function (UDF). The developed model has then been employed to investigate the effects of structural properties of catalyst, such as specific internal area, average size of active sites, pore diameter, and tortuosity, on products yields and composition. The influences of adsorption capability of tar molecule on catalyst surface and external film mass transfer were also analyzed. The developed model can be employed for further research and engineering designs of the catalyst pyrolysis of carbonaceous materials.

A thermodynamically consistent model for the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption in aqueous alkanolamine system is of great importance in the research and development of a CO2 capture process. To facilitate the development of thermodynamic models, linear Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and heat capacity relationships using well-known amines as reference are used to correlate the standard reference state properties of ionic species with those of molecular species in the electrolyte system, which has been approved to provide a reliable and consistent way to estimate required parameters when there is minimal or no appropriate experimental data available. The proposed relationships have been applied to the development of an electrolyte Non-Random Two Liquid (NRTL) activity coefficient model for CO2 absorption in aqueous 1-amino-2-propanol (A2P) solution, as an example to demonstration the methodology. With limited vapor-liquid equilibrium data and other thermodynamic properties, the parameters in the electrolyte NRTL model are identified with good accuracy.

This work aims to study the gas phase hydrodynamics in a stirred tank with a surface-aerated long-short blades agitator by the Eulerian‒Eulerian approach coupled with population balance model. Predicted local gas holdup and bubble size distribution agree well with those measured by a conductivity probe technique. The predictions demonstrate that the pressure depression in the center is the main driving force for gas suction and the downward flow carries the bubbles down to redistribute in the whole tank. The gas phase has higher gas holdup with large bubble size in the upper part and lower gas holdup but with small bubble size in the lower part of the tank. The predicted gas-liquid mass transfer coefficients agree well with our previous experimental results and just depends on the power consumption per unit volume when the aspect ratio of the liquid height to the tank diameter varies from 1.1 to 2.0.

Aim. Cancer patients with reduced dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity are at increased risk of severe fluoropyrimidine (FP)-related adverse events (AE). Guidelines recommend FP dosing adjusted to genotype-predicted DPD activity based on four DPYD variants (rs3918290, rs55886062, rs67376798, rs56038477). We evaluated relationship between three further DPYD polymorphisms [c.496A>G (rs2297595), *6 c.2194G>A (rs1801160) and *9A c.85T>C (rs1801265)] and the risk of severe AEs. Methods. Consecutive FP-treated adult patients were genotyped for “standard” and tested DPYD variants, and for UGT1A1*28 if irinotecan was included, and were monitored for the occurrence of grade ≥3 (National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria) vs. grade 0-2 AEs. For each of the tested polymorphisms, variant allele carriers were matched to respective wild type controls (optimal full matching combined with exact matching, in respect to: age, sex, type of cancer, type of FP, DPYD activity score, use of irinotecan/UGT1A1, adjuvant therapy, radiotherapy, biological therapy and genotype on the remaining three tested polymorphisms). Results. Of the 503 included patients (82.3% colorectal cancer), 283 (56.3%) developed grade ≥3 AEs, mostly diarrhea and neutropenia. Odds of grade ≥3 AEs were higher in c.496A>G variant carriers (n=127) than in controls (n=376) [OR=5.20 (95%CI 1.88-14.3), Bayesian OR=5.24 (95% CrI 3.06-9.12)]. Odds tended to be higher in *6 c.2194G>A variant carries (n=58) than in controls (n=432) [OR=1.88 (0.95-3.73), Bayesian OR=1.90 (1.03-3.56)]. *9A c.85T>G did not appear associated with grade ≥3 AEs (206 variant carriers vs. 284 controls). Conclusion. DPYD c.496A>G variant might need to be considered for inclusion in the DPYD genotyping panel.

Hybridization plays an important and underappreciated role in shaping the evolutionary trajectories of species. Following the introduction of a non-native organism to a novel habitat, hybridization with a native congener may affect the probability of establishment of the introduced species. In most documented cases of hybridization between a native and a non-native species, a mosaic hybrid zone is formed, with hybridization occurring heterogeneously across the landscape. In contrast, most naturally occurring hybrid zones are clinal in structure. Here we report on a long-term microsatellite dataset that monitored hybridization between the invasive winter moth, Operophtera brumata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), and the native Bruce spanworm, O. bruceata, over a 12-year period. Our results document one of the first examples of the real-time formation and geographic settling of a clinal hybrid zone. In addition, by comparing one transect in Massachusetts where extreme winter cold temperatures have been hypothesized to restrict the distribution of winter moth, and one in coastal Connecticut, where winter temperatures are moderated by Long Island Sound, we find that the location of the hybrid zone appears to be independent of environmental variables and maintained under a tension model wherein the stability of the hybrid zone is constrained by population density, reduced hybrid fitness, and low dispersal rates. Documenting the formation of a contemporary clinal hybrid zone may provide important insights into the factors that shaped other well-established hybrid zones.

Plant pathogens often adapt to plant genetic resistance so characterization of the architecture under-lying such an adaptation is required to understand the adaptive potential of pathogen populations. Erosion of banana quantitative resistance to a major leaf disease caused by polygenic adaptation of the causal agent, the fungus Pseudocercospora fijiensis, was recently identified in the northern Caribbean region. Genome scan and quantitative genetics approaches were combined to investigate the adaptive architecture underlying this adaptation. Thirty-two genomic regions showing host se-lection footprints were identified by pool sequencing of isolates collected from seven plantation pairs of two cultivars with different levels of quantitative resistance. Individual sequencing and phenotyping of isolates from one pair revealed significant and variable levels of correlation be-tween haplotypes in 17 of these regions with a quantitative trait of pathogenicity (the diseased leaf area). The multilocus pattern of haplotypes detected in the 17 regions was found to be highly varia-ble across all the population pairs studied. These results suggest complex adaptive architecture un-derlying plant pathogen adaptation to quantitative resistance with a polygenic basis, redundancy, and a low level of parallel evolution between pathogen populations. Candidate genes involved in quantitative pathogenicity and host adaptation of P. fijiensis were highlighted in genomic regions combining annotation analysis with available biological data.

Objective: To assess the quality of life (QoL) of Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in West Bank, Palestine using the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R) form. Method: A cross-sectional study involving application of CFQ-R questionnaire in CF patients attending pediatric pulmonology clinic at Caritas Baby Hospital (CBH). Their health status was assessed by measuring different parameters including pulmonary function test (FEV1) and body mass index (BMI). Results: The sample consisted of 77 patients from 58 families: 46.75% were males. Mean age was 10.7 years. Patients were divided into three groups by age in years: group I (< 6), II (6-13), and III (≥ 14). The highest and lowest CFQ scores were for the eat domain in group III (55.56 ± 22.49) and the body domain in group II (14.48 ± 17.67), respectively. Illness severity as measured by FEV1 mean value 69.6. BMI mean value of 15.998. The overall mean age at time of diagnosis in our sample was 4.16 years (± 6.239). The study showed that 1.7% of families had four affected siblings and 21% had death cases related to CF. Finally, all parameters for CF patients in West Bank, Palestine appear to be noticeably lower than those reported in other countries. Conclusions: quality of life for patients with CF is poor relative to international standards, the medications used including hypertonic saline and Gentamycin IV form used as nebulizer solution are not first line therapies around the world. This study illustrates the need of new therapies for CF patients in Palestine.

The molecular characterisation of complex behaviours is a challenging task as a range of different factors are often involved to produce the observed phenotype. An established approach is to look at the overall levels of expression of brain genes – known as ‘neurogenomics’ – to select the best candidates that associate with patterns of interest. This approach has relied so far on a set of powerful statistical tools capable to provide a snapshot of the expression of many thousands of genes that are present in an organism’s genome. However, traditional neurogenomic analyses have some well-known limitations; above all, the limited number of biological replicates compared to the number of genes tested – often referred to as “curse of dimensionality”. Here we implemented a new Machine Learning (ML) approach that can be used as a complement to established methods of transcriptomic analyses. We tested three types of ML models for their performance in the identification of genes associated with honeybee waggle dance. We then intersected the results of these analyses with traditional outputs of differential gene expression analyses and identified two promising candidates for the neural regulation of the waggle dance: the G-protein coupled receptor boss and hnRNP A1, a gene involved in alternative splicing. Overall, our study demonstrates the application of Machine Learning to analyse transcriptomics data and identify genes underlying social behaviour. This approach has great potential for application to a wide range of different scenarios in evolutionary ecology, when investigating the genomic basis for complex phenotypic traits.

Sophorolipids (SLs) are regarded as one of the most promising biosurfactants. However, high production costs are the main obstacle to extended SLs application. Semi-continuous fermentation, which is based on in-situ separation, is a promising technology for achieving high SLs productivity. In this study, the sedimentation mechanism of SLs was analyzed. The formation of a hydrophobic mixture of SLs and rapeseed oil was a key factor in sedimentation. And the hydrophobicity and density of the mixture determined SLs sedimentation rate. On this basis, ultrasonic enhanced sedimentation technology (UEST) was introduced, by which the sedimentation rates were increased by 46.9% to 485.4% with different ratio of rapeseed oil to SLs. UEST-assisted real-time in-situ separation and semi-continuous fermentation were performed. SLs productivity and yield were 2.15 g/L/h and 0.58 g/g, respectively, simultaneously the loss ratio of cells, glucose, and rapeseed oil were significantly reduced. This study provides the new horizon for optimization of the SLs fermentation process.