Ecology

Message in a Bottle – Metabarcoding Enables Biodiversity Comparisons Across Ecoregions

1. D Steinke
2. SL deWaard
3. JE Sones
4. NV Ivanova
5. SWJ Prosser
6. K Perez
7. TWA Braukmann
8. M Milton
9. EV Zakharov
10. JR deWaard
11. S Ratnasingham
12. PDN Hebert

Reviewed by GigaScience

Novel pathogen introduction triggers rapid evolution in animal social movement strategies

1. Pratik Rajan Gupte
2. Gregory F Albery
3. Jakob Gismann
4. Amy Sweeny
5. Franz J Weissing

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors present a rich investigation of the evolution of social-movement rules in animal societies under pathogen pressure. The study should be of interest to a broad readership.

Reviewed by eLife

Environmental DNA from archived leaves reveals widespread temporal turnover and biotic homogenization in forest arthropod communities

1. Henrik Krehenwinkel
2. Sven Weber
3. Rieke Broekmann
4. Anja Melcher
5. Julian Hans
6. Rüdiger Wolf
7. Axel Hochkirch
8. Susan Rachel Kennedy
9. Jan Koschorreck
10. Sven Künzel
11. Christoph Müller
12. Rebecca Retzlaff
13. Diana Teubner
14. Sonja Schanzer
15. Roland Klein
16. Martin Paulus
17. Thomas Udelhoven
18. Michael Veith

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  We admired the study by Krehenwinkel and colleagues for its novelty, depth, and ecological breadth, but have questions regarding the laboratory, bioinformatic and statistical methodologies that require clarification. It is likely to make a substantial impact in the field of plant-based arthropod metabarcoding, revealing ecological insights that can be derived from existing bio-banked material. The work, which creatively exploits herbarium material to track arthropod communities, will be interesting to a general audience in addition to ecologists, foresters, phytopathologists, and industry.

Reviewed by eLife

Latent functional diversity may accelerate microbial community responses to temperature fluctuations

1. Thomas P Smith
2. Shorok Mombrikotb
3. Emma Ransome
4. Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos
5. Samraat Pawar
6. Thomas Bell

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment:

  This manuscript will be of interest to microbial ecologists and biogeochemists working on soil carbon cycling and responses to climate warming. This study uses an elegant experiment to show that standing variation, both phylogenetic and phenotypic, enables microbial community adaptation to higher temperatures. The authors' conclusions are supported by the data, and this work lays a foundation for future experimental and modeling studies.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Ocean acidification increases susceptibility to sub-zero air temperatures in ecosystem engineers and limits poleward range shifts

1. Jakob Thyrring
2. Colin D Macleod
3. Katie E Marshall
4. Jessica Kennedy
5. Réjean Tremblay
6. Christopher DG Harley

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is of broad interest to biologists and climate modelers that study the impact of environmental stress (especially multiple stressors) on marine life. The authors show that exposure to low pH (ocean acidification) decreases the ability of two mussel species to survive freezing stress. The authors measure multiple biochemical parameters to try and identify the mechanisms underlying the change in freeze tolerance, but future work will be needed to resolve the underlying mechanism in detail.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Efficient decision-makers evaluate relative reward per effort

1. Jan Kubanek

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The paper describes an interesting, but very abstract extension of normative choice theories. By linking economic and foraging theory, the paper would potentially be of interest to a broad audience in behavioral economics and neuroscience. However, the results in their current form have several important limitations: the lack of a significant validation, such as an account for well-known behavioral or neural effects that would not be explained by alternative theories, a quantitative performance comparison between the proposed EDM and other models in realistic behavioral situations, and a specific link between the actual processes and limitations of real brains and the EDM.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Wide-ranging consequences of priority effects governed by an overarching factor

1. Callie R Chappell
2. Manpreet K Dhami
3. Mark C Bitter
4. Lucas Czech
5. Sur Herrera Paredes
6. Fatoumata Binta Barrie
7. Yadira Calderón
8. Katherine Eritano
9. Lexi-Ann Golden
10. Daria Hekmat-Scafe
11. Veronica Hsu
12. Clara Kieschnick
13. Shyamala Malladi
14. Nicole Rush
15. Tadashi Fukami

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript identifies pH as a common factor that underlies eco-evolutionary dynamics related to priority effects, which play an important role in community assembly. Using multiple lines of evidence, the data support the overall conclusions of the manuscript that pH-mediated priority effects in the nectar microbiome are the drivers of alternative community states. This manuscript will be of broad interest to readers in ecology and evolutionary biology.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Green fluorescent protein-like pigments optimise the internal light environment in symbiotic reef-building corals

1. Elena Bollati
2. Niclas H Lyndby
3. Cecilia D'Angelo
4. Michael Kühl
5. Jörg Wiedenmann
6. Daniel Wangpraseurt

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to marine biologists, and has particular relevance to those studying symbiotic corals. The use of compelling experimental optical measurements performed in situ allows testing of previous predictions on protein-based pigments that are found in many coral species. Specifically, the study analyzes the role of two classes of pigments, the Red Fluorescent Proteins (RFPs) and the Chromo proteins. It provides direct measurement data that suggest that RFPs can indeed provide additional light to the symbionts by converting the prevalent blue-green light at depth in orange-red light that penetrates more in the tissues of the polyps, thus increasing the number of photons available for photosynthesis. The authors also provide evidence based on light measurement for a possible photoprotective role of Chromoproteins, although the study does not yet provide any direct evidence for an ecological benefit of such light conversion/light protective functions.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Linking spatial self-organization to community assembly and biodiversity

1. Bidesh K Bera
2. Omer Tzuk
3. Jamie JR Bennett
4. Ehud Meron

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  In this paper, the authors use a mathematical model of plant and water dynamics in drylands to show that drylands adaptive capacity to respond to changes, via spatial self-organization in space, has also beneficial effects in preserving its biodiversity and ecosystem functions. The current study extends previous work by considering a trait diversity gradient that ranges from stress-tolerant to fast-growing plant species.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Effects of an IgE receptor polymorphism acting on immunity, susceptibility to infection, and reproduction in a wild rodent

1. Klara M Wanelik
2. Mike Begon
3. Janette E Bradley
4. Ida M Friberg
5. Joseph A Jackson
6. Christopher H Taylor
7. Steve Paterson

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of polymorphism in an immune gene (the immunoglobulin E receptor Fcer1a) on immune responses, resistance to infection, and reproductive fitness in a wild rodent population. The authors claim to have found evidence for sex-specific effects of Fcer1a polymorphism, a result that would have broad implications for our understanding of the maintenance of genetic variation. The support for this claim is currently rather weak.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife