Ecology

Unravelling the effects of heterogeneity in space use on estimates of connectivity and population size: Insights from spatial capture-recapture modelling

1. Maëlis Kervellec
2. Olivier Gimenez
3. Cécile Vanpé
4. Pierre-Yves Quenette
5. Jérôme Sentilles
6. Santiago Palazón
7. Ivan Afonso Jordana
8. Ramón Jato
9. Miguel Mari Elósegui Irurtia
10. Cyril Milleret

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Birds migrate longitudinally in response to the resultant Asian monsoons of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift

1. Wenyuan Zhang
2. Zhongru Gu
3. Yangkang Chen
4. Ran Zhang
5. Xiangjiang Zhan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important and creative study finds that the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau - via its resultant monsoon system rather than solely its high elevation - has shifted avian migratory directions from a latitudinal to a longitudinal orientation. The authors have expanded and clarified their lines of evidence (including an enlarged tracking set and explicit caveats on species-level eBird inference), such that the central claims are now solid. The conclusions - that monsoon dynamics, rather than elevation per se, are most consistent with observed longitudinal reorientation - illustrates how large, community-sourced and climate-model datasets can inform continent-scale shifts in migratory behavior over time that complement traditional approaches.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantifying a trait-mediated indirect effect of an environmental stressor on population dynamics

1. Shota Shibasaki
2. Masato Yamamichi

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Rift Valley fever virus dynamics in a transhumant cattle system in The Gambia

1. Essa Jarra
2. Divine Ekwem
3. Sarah Cleaveland
4. Daniel T Haydon

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This modelling study tests several hypotheses describing how seasonality and migration drive the epidemiology of Rift Valley Fever Virus among transhumant cattle in The Gambia. The work is methodologically solid, and findings offer valuable insights into how the movement of cattle in and out of the Gambia River and Sahel ecoregions could lead to source-sink transmission dynamics among cattle subpopulations, sustaining endemic transmission.

Reviewed by eLife

Range geography and temperature variability explain cross-continental convergence in range and phenology shifts in a model insect taxon

1. Catherine Sirois-Delisle
2. Susan CC Gordon
3. Jeremy T Kerr

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The article presents important findings on the impact of climate change on odonates, integrating phenological and range shifts to broaden our understanding of biodiversity change. The study leverages extensive natural history data, offering a convincing analysis of temporal trends in phenology and range limit and their potential drivers.

Reviewed by eLife

Pesticide-induced resurgence in brown planthoppers 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. Congfen 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, for which the evidence was judged to be solid.

Reviewed by eLife

Strip cropping shows promising increases in ground beetle community diversity compared to monocultures

1. Luuk Croijmans
2. Fogelina Cuperus
3. Dirk F van Apeldoorn
4. Felix JJA Bianchi
5. Walter AH Rossing
6. Erik H Poelman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents important findings on increased ground beetle diversity in strip cropping compared with crop monocultures. Solid methods are used to analyze data from multiple sites with heterogeneous systems of mixed crops, allowing broad conclusions, albeit at the expense of lacking taxonomic specificity. The work will be of interest to all those applying plant diversity treatments to improve the diversity of associated animals in agricultural fields.

Reviewed by eLife

Desmodium volatiles in ‘push-pull’ cropping systems and protection against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda

1. Daria M Odermatt
2. Frank Chidawanyika
3. Daniel M Mutyambai
4. Bernhard Schmid
5. Luiz A Domeignoz Horta
6. Collins O Onjura
7. Amanuel Tamiru
8. Meredith C Schuman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Research on push-pull systems has often focused on controlled environments, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of how these systems function under real-world conditions. This important and solid study makes a substantial contribution by investigating the volatile emissions and behavioral effects of Desmodium in natural and semi-field contexts which offer insights of broad interest for sustainable agriculture and pest management. While the authors rightly acknowledge some remaining limitations, the revised manuscript now provides a well-supported and transparent assessment of the ecological role of Desmodium volatiles in push-pull systems.

Reviewed by eLife

Developmental constraints mediate the summer solstice reversal of climate effects on European beech bud set

1. Dominic Rebindaine
2. Thomas W Crowther
3. Susanne S Renner
4. Zhaofei Wu
5. Yibiao Zou
6. Lidong Mo
7. Haozhi Ma
8. Raymo Bucher
9. Constantin M Zohner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This article presents valuable findings on how the timing of cooling affects the timing of autumn bud set in European beech saplings. The study leverages extensive experimental data and provides an interesting conceptual framework of the various ways in which warming can affect bud set timing. The support for the findings is incomplete, though extra justifications of the experimental settings, clarifications of the interpretation of the results, and alternative statistical analyses can make the conclusions more robust.

Reviewed by eLife

Long term trend and short-term dynamics of a willow ptarmigan population

1. Tomas Willebrand
2. Maria Hörnell-Willebrand
3. Rolf Brittas
4. Eivind Flittie Kleiven

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology