Ecology

Quantifying Feral Pig Interactions to Inform Disease Transmission Networks

1. Tatiana Proboste
2. Abigail Turnlund
3. Andrew Bengsen
4. Matthew Gentle
5. Cameron Wilson
6. Lana Harriott
7. Richard A Fuller
8. Darren Marshall
9. Ricardo J Soares Magalhães

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors aimed to quantify feral pig interactions in eastern Australia to inform disease transmission networks. They used GPS tracking data from 146 feral pigs across multiple locations to construct proximity-based social networks and analyze contact rates within and between pig social units. This fundamental study shows that targeting adult males in feral pig control programs could help global efforts to contain disease. The methods are compelling and the paper should be of interest to the fields of veterinary medicine, public health, and epidemiology.

Reviewed by eLife

Mineral fertilization reduces the drought resistance of soil multifunctionality in a mountain grassland system through plant-soil interactions

1. Gabin Piton
2. Arnaud Foulquier
3. Lionel Bernard
4. Aurelie Bonin
5. Thomas Pommier
6. Sandra Lavorel
7. Roberto Geremia
8. Jean Christophe Clement

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Pesticide-induced resurgence in brown planthopper is mediated by action on a suite of genes that promote juvenile hormone biosynthesis and female fecundity

1. Yang Gao
2. Shao-Cong Su
3. Ji-Yang Xing
4. Zhao-Yu Liu
5. Dick R Nässel
6. Chris Bass
7. Cong-Fen Gao
8. Shun-Fan Wu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful manuscript reports mechanisms behind the increase in fecundity in response to sub-lethal doses of pesticides in the crop pest, the brown plant hopper. The authors hypothesize that the pesticide works by inducing the JH titer, which through the JH signaling pathway induces egg development. Evidence for this is, however, incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Drivers of plant-associated invertebrate community structure in West-European coastal dunes

1. Ruben Van De Walle
2. Maxime Dahirel
3. Ward Langeraert
4. Dries Benoit
5. Pieter Vantieghem
6. Martijn L. Vandegehuchte
7. François Massol
8. Dries Bonte

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Multidimensionality of tree communities structure host-parasitoid networks and their phylogenetic composition

1. Ming-Qiang Wang
2. Shi-Kun Guo
3. Peng-Fei Guo
4. Juan-Juan Yang
5. Guo-Ai Chen
6. Douglas Chesters
7. Michael C Orr
8. Ze-Qing Niu
9. Michael Staab
10. Jing-Ting Chen
11. Yi Li
12. Qing-Song Zhou
13. Felix Fornoff
14. Xiaoyu Shi
15. Shan Li
16. Massimo Martini
17. Alexandra-Maria Klein
18. Andreas Schuldt
19. Xiaojuan Liu
20. Keping Ma
21. Helge Bruelheide
22. Arong Luo
23. Chao-Dong Zhu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study uses a massive and long-term experimental data set to provide solid evidence on how tree diversity affects host-parasitoid communities of insects in forests. The work will be of interest to ecologists working on biodiversity conservation, community ecology, and food webs.

Reviewed by eLife

Global risk mapping of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 and H5Nx in the light of epidemic episodes occurring from 2020 onward

1. Marie-Cécile Dupas
2. Maria F Vincenti-Gonzalez
3. Madhur Dhingra
4. Claire Guinat
5. Timothée Vergne
6. William Wint
7. Guy Hendrickx
8. Cedric Marsboom
9. Marius Gilbert
10. Simon Dellicour

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors have undertaken a useful study to update an existing niche model of highly pathogenic avian influenza. However, there are issues regarding the conceptualisation of the ecological niche of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmission that the modelling aims to capture, raising concerns about the strength of evidence used to support the findings. There are a number of modelling assumptions that are incompletely justified. Combined with shortcomings in the communication, this dilutes the strength of the key findings of this work.

Reviewed by eLife

The Neuropeptide Sulfakinin, a peripheral regulator of insect behavioral switch between mating and foraging

1. Hong-Fei Li
2. Bao Dong
3. Yuan-Yuan Peng
4. Hao-Yue Luo
5. Xiao-Lan Ou
6. Zheng-Lin Ren
7. Yoonseong Park
8. Jin-Jun Wang
9. Hong-Bo Jiang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work investigates the mechanism that underlies the switch between feeding and mating behaviors in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Using a variety of approaches, the authors show that this switch is mediated by the neuropeptide, sulfakinin, acting peripherally through the sulfakinin receptor 1 to regulate the expression of antennal odorant receptors. The evidence is solid in support of the hypothesis that sulfakinin signaling mediates changes in the periphery, although additional sites of action may also contribute to these changes.

Reviewed by eLife

Interpreting prediction intervals and distributions for decoding biological generality in meta-analyses

1. Yefeng Yang
2. Daniel WA Noble
3. Alistair M Senior
4. Malgorzata Lagisz
5. Shinichi Nakagawa

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study provides a novel perspective on assessing the generalizability of meta-analytic findings by introducing prediction intervals (and distributions) as tools to evaluate whether future studies will likely yield non-zero effects. The methodology is generally solid, with a thorough exploration of a large set of published meta-analyses that broadens our understanding of between-study heterogeneity. However, some critical details are incomplete, requiring refinement to ensure statistical rigor.

Reviewed by eLife

Genetic diversity affects ecosystem functions across trophic levels as much as species diversity, but in an opposite direction

1. Laura Fargeot
2. Camille Poesy
3. Maxim Lefort
4. Jérôme G Prunier
5. Madoka Krick
6. Rik Verdonck
7. Charlotte Veyssière
8. Murielle Richard
9. Delphine Legrand
10. Géraldine Loot
11. Simon Blanchet

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study uses a comprehensive observational dataset to provide solid evidence on how genetic diversity and species diversity differentially affect multiple ecosystem functions within and across multi-trophic levels in an aquatic ecosystem. The work will be of interest to ecologists working on multi-trophic relationships and biodiversity.

Reviewed by eLife

Planktonic oyster larvae optimize settlement decisions in complex sensory landscapes

1. Sarah Schmidlin
2. Yliam Treherne
3. Jan Mees
4. Pascal I. Hablützel

Reviewed by Arcadia Science