Ecology

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

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

  This global study compares environmental niche model outputs of avian influenza pathogen niche constructed for two distinct periods, and uses differences between those outputs to suggest that the changed case numbers and distribution relate to intensification of chicken and duck farming, and extensive cultivation. While a useful update to existing niche models of highly pathogenic avian influenza, the justification for the use of environmental niche models to explore land cover change as a driver of changed case epidemiology is incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Microbial consortia in salt marsh sediments are sequentially buried over millennia and genomic complementarity analysis indicates an important role in complex carbon decomposition

1. Joseph H Vineis
2. Ashley N Bulseco
3. Zoe G Cardon
4. Jennifer L Bowen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable genome-centric characterization of microbial communities across deep sediment cores from a Spartina patens salt marsh. The study provides claims on the metabolic capabilities of the deep sediment microbiome as well as on a burial microbial assembly process and functional complementarity at depth. However, some of these claims remain incomplete and would benefit from further supporting evidence. Overall, this work will be of interest to microbial ecologists working on wetlands.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatio-temporal dynamics of attacks around deaths of wolves: A statistical assessment of lethal control efficiency in France

1. Oksana Grente
2. Thomas Opitz
3. Christophe Duchamp
4. Nolwenn Drouet-Hoguet
5. Simon Chamaillé-Jammes
6. Olivier Gimenez

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Assessing plant phenological changes based on drivers of spring phenology

1. Yong Jiang
2. Stephen J Mayor
3. Xiuli Chu
4. Xiaoqi Ye
5. Rongzhou Man
6. Jing Tao
7. Qing-Lai Dang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study introduces a valuable new metric-phenological lag-to help partition the drivers of observed versus expected shifts in spring phenology under climate warming. The conceptual framework is clearly presented and supported by an extensive dataset, and the revisions have improved the manuscript, though some concerns-particularly regarding uncertainty quantification, spatial analysis, and modeling assumptions-remain only partially addressed. The strength of evidence is generally solid, but further analysis would help to validate the study's conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Climate change and reseeding shape richness-evenness relationships in a subalpine grassland experiment

1. Lina K. Mühlbauer
2. Andreas Klingler
3. Lukas Gaier
4. Andreas Schaumberger
5. Adam Thomas Clark

Reviewed by Peer Community in 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 predator-prey 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 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