{"title":"The complex interaction between plants and acoustic signals: friends or foes?","authors":"Vijay Kumar","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01995-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01995-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":"43"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Asmi Jezeera M, Kavya Mohan N, Sreyas Sreekumar, Almut Kelber, Hema Somanathan
{"title":"Influence of floral traits on visitation patterns in a miniature tropical stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis.","authors":"Asmi Jezeera M, Kavya Mohan N, Sreyas Sreekumar, Almut Kelber, Hema Somanathan","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01994-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01994-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Miniaturisation can influence the foraging behaviour of flower visitors by shaping their sensory systems, flight capabilities, and their compatibility with floral shapes and structures. For bees, vision is a primary sensory modality, and a reduction in eye size compromises the resolution and sensitivity of vision. In Tetragonula iridipennis, a diminutive tropical stingless bee common in South Asia, we addressed the following questions: (a) Since flight capabilities are correlated with body size, does it largely utilise resources from understorey plants? (b) Does their small body size permit the utilisation of flowers with diverse morphologies? Further, we explored floral colour in relation to bee colour vision by examining if: (c) the distribution of marker points of the community floral spectra (n = 182 species) corresponds with bee photoreceptor sensitivities and (d) the colours of flowers visited or not visited by T. iridipennis form separate clusters in the bee colour space. We found a high degree of resource generalisation, with T. iridipennis visiting ~ 46% of flowering plant species (n = 215). However, three plant species accounted for the highest visitation rates (90%). There was no correlation between plant functional groups and foraging preferences. Floral shape and the interaction between floral area and shape significantly predicted visitation by T. iridipennis. Further studies on other bee species that are sympatric, closely related, and varying in body size will help understand the role of miniaturisation in foraging ecology of pollinators.</p>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":"44"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A R Seiler, E J Schleff, O M Gamsky, A Y Stark, S P Yanoviak
{"title":"Effects of simulated squirrel branch landings on ants and other arboreal arthropods.","authors":"A R Seiler, E J Schleff, O M Gamsky, A Y Stark, S P Yanoviak","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01993-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01993-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wind, rain, and the activities of vertebrates frequently dislodge arthropods from tree surfaces, resulting in arthropod \"rain\" beneath trees. The probability of falling likely differs among taxa based on their adhesive capacities and ability to anticipate disturbance. We quantified the motion of red oak (Quercus rubra Linnaeus [Fagales: Fagaceae]) leaves, and the composition of arthropods dislodged from woody vegetation, following disturbance mimicking branch landings by eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin [Rodentia: Sciuridae]). Simulated squirrel landings caused terminal leaves on red oak branches to move rapidly (up to 100 cm s<sup>-1</sup>) upward and inward toward the tree trunk during the first 50 ms, and dislodged 30% of the arthropods present on a branch. The composition of fallen arthropods was similar to those that remained on the branches, but the proportion dislodged differed among taxa. We used a small catapult to test the effect of leaf movement on the adhesive capabilities of workers of the carpenter ant Camponotus pennsylvanicus DeGeer (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Arboreal ants presumably anticipate disturbance; thus, they were either \"warned\" or \"unwarned\" before each launch. Most ants (98%) were dislodged by the catapult. Warning did not affect the average (± SE) initial velocity (126.0 ± 72.0 cm s<sup>-1</sup>) or maximum height (22.8 ± 9.3 cm) of launched ants. However, both variables were positively associated with ant mass. The results illustrate the limited ability of many arboreal arthropods to avoid the consequences of a common natural hazard and improve our understanding of the challenges imposed by an arboreal lifestyle.</p>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":"42"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144155489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Snake scent gland secretions repel and induce contact toxicity in ants","authors":"Paul J. Weldon, Robert K. Vander Meer","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01990-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01990-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Embedded in the tail base of all snakes is a pair of scent glands from which typically foul-smelling secretions are expelled when snakes are disturbed. The tendency of predatory ants to avoid snake cloacal fluids, and the abundance and structural diversity of potentially insecticidal carboxylic acids identified in scent gland secretions (SGS), prompted speculation that SGS function to deter ants. We examined the deterrent properties of the SGS of the Middle American burrowing python (<i>Loxocemus bicolor</i>) in fumigation, repellency, and contact-toxicity behavioral assays against workers of the red imported fire ant (<i>Solenopsis invicta</i>) and a species of carpenter ant (<i>Camponotus floridanus</i>), thus representing the two major ant sub-families, Myrmicinae and Formicinae, respectively. We also examined responses by <i>S. invicta</i> to the SGS of representative booid, pythonid, colubrine, elapinine, and crotaline snakes. None of the SGS samples affected the two ant species in fumigation tests. However, in repellency bioassays, ants given a choice between a droplet of water or sugar water versus a diluted droplet of SGS overwhelmingly avoided the latter, typically exhibiting rapid antennation from within a few mm, then retreating. Pure or diluted SGS applied directly to ants induced a high percentage of paralysis and death. Some treated ants exhibited symptoms of contact toxicosis but recovered within a 4-h observational period. Our results and reports of the responses of predatory ants to the Texas blindsnake (<i>Rena dulcis</i>) point to the scent glands as an ancient and widespread source of ant deterrents.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-025-01990-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144100261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Taliê Dutra Lauro, Lucas Vieira Lima, Luiz Menini Neto, Rafael de Paiva Farias
{"title":"Post-fire phenology of the tree fern Cyathea mexiae at the edge of a semideciduous Forest in Brazil","authors":"Ana Taliê Dutra Lauro, Lucas Vieira Lima, Luiz Menini Neto, Rafael de Paiva Farias","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01987-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01987-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Phenology investigates the periodicity of biological events related to plant growth. There is limited phenological information on ferns, particularly under disturbance conditions such as forest edges and fire. This study aimed to identify phenological patterns and responses to environmental factors and post-accidental fire events, including leaf production and mortality, and the number of leaves of <i>Cyathea mexiae</i> Copel. at the edge of a semi-deciduous seasonal remnant of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Twenty-four plants were monitored for 22 months, with 10 of them affected by fire. We quantified and compared leaf number, production, and mortality, and evaluated their relationships with environmental factors (rainfall, temperature, and humidity), considering two groups: burned and unburned. Trunk height was measured and related to phenological events. Only one plant died post fire. Burned and unburned groups showed no significant differences in trunk height, leaf number, production, or mortality. Both groups exhibited discontinuous and irregular leaf production and mortality patterns. Both groups produced leaves immediately post fire, though with differences in peak timing. Burned plants displayed a rapid peak in leaf production (September), earlier than the peak in unburned plants (November). Only leaf mortality in unburned plants was positively correlated with rainfall and humidity. This study demonstrated a rapid recovery in leaf numbers following accidental fire for <i>C. mexiae</i>. The study revealed non-seasonal trends in the leaf production patterns of <i>C. mexiae</i>, with fire potentially inducing leaf mortality, reducing the sensitivity of this phenophase to environmental factors, and altering the timing of peak leaf production between the groups.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anna Y. Stepanova, Evgeny A. Gladkov, Olga V. Gladkova
{"title":"A methodology for creating collections of different focus of hairy roots","authors":"Anna Y. Stepanova, Evgeny A. Gladkov, Olga V. Gladkova","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01991-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01991-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Hairy roots can be used in various fields of biotechnology, environmental protection, and agriculture, as well as for basic research. One of the actively developing areas is the use of hairy roots in pharmacy industry. The creation of collections of genetically transformed roots is of great practical importance. The collection of general focus includes specimens of different taxonomy, biological status, and geographical origin, which can be maintained in natural or artificial conditions of given country or region. The greatest interest is given by using genetically transformed roots of rare plant species, as it may allow to reduce exploitation of such plants in the wild. A pharmacological collection is necessary for the conservation and study of medicinal plants. The use of a collection of genetically transformed roots allows us to conduct research with various plant species and select the most promising genetically transformed roots for use as promising raw materials for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, as well as in environmental protection, agriculture and for various studies in the field of biotechnology and plant physiology. The aim of the work was to methodology for the development of collections of hairy roots.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tiago Abreu da Silva, Adelly Cardoso de Araujo Fagundes, Gleice Quelle Silva dos Santos Nascimento, Lidyanne Yuriko Saleme Aona, Fernanda Vidigal Duarte Souza, Maria Angélica Pereira de Carvalho Costa, Everton Hilo de Souza
{"title":"Seasonal phenology and pollinator similarity of two species of Hohenbergia Schult. & Schult.f. (Bromelioideae: Bromeliaceae) in distinct Atlantic Forest fragments","authors":"Tiago Abreu da Silva, Adelly Cardoso de Araujo Fagundes, Gleice Quelle Silva dos Santos Nascimento, Lidyanne Yuriko Saleme Aona, Fernanda Vidigal Duarte Souza, Maria Angélica Pereira de Carvalho Costa, Everton Hilo de Souza","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01992-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01992-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Evaluations of vegetative and reproductive phenology have yielded significant insights into how biotic and abiotic factors affect the phenological rhythms of plants and the impact of climate change on ecosystems. The aim of this study was to characterize the phenological patterns of vegetative growth, flowering, and fruiting of <i>H. amargosensis</i> and <i>H. stellata</i> in Atlantic Forest fragments, analyzing their relationships with climatic variables and pollinators. Periodic visits were made to the forest fragments where <i>H. amargosensis</i> and <i>H. stellata</i> are found to observe the development of the plants at each development stage. <i>Hohenbergia amargosensis</i> flowered every two years (supra-annual flowering), while <i>H. stellata</i> did so annually. Both species reproduced both asexually and sexually, and their phenophases were seasonal, except for the emission of young leaves by <i>H. stellata</i>. Eight pollinator species and two robbers were recorded in <i>H. amargosensis</i>, while four pollinator species and one robber were recorded in <i>H. stellata</i>. The main pollinating agents were hummingbirds (Trochilidae) and bees (Apidae). The data obtained on the phenology aspects of <i>Hohenbergia</i> species and their pollinators are important to support studies aiming the conservation of these species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144073774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sedan Tan, Tianjiao Zhang, Zongyu Zou, Zhongkang Yang
{"title":"Vertical distribution characteristics and influencing factors of bacterial communities in a sediment profile of Bohai Sea","authors":"Sedan Tan, Tianjiao Zhang, Zongyu Zou, Zhongkang Yang","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01989-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01989-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Research on the diversity of bacterial communities and their influencing factors in the sediments of the Bohai Sea remains limited. This study used high-throughput sequencing technology to explore the vertical distribution characteristics and influencing factors (depth, heavy metals, and nutrients) of bacterial communities in sediment core B18 from the Bohai Sea. Our results indicated that the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Desulfobacterota, Acidobacteriota, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidota, and Actinobacteriota, with Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia, Anaerolineae, Thermoanaerobaculia, and Desulfobulbia as the dominant classes. Depth exerted a pronounced influence on bacterial community diversities, with bacterial communities (excluding Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Verrucomicrobiota) displaying a positive correlation with depth. Anaerobic bacteria like Desulfobacterota and Chloroflexi were more prevalent in the deeper sediment layers. In contrast, most bacterial communities exhibited a negative relationship with heavy metal concentrations. Notably, As, Pb, and Cd contents exhibited relatively high levels of pollution and had a considerably negative effect on bacterial diversity. Bacterial communities with adaptability to heavy metals (such as Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Verrucomicrobiota) demonstrated a competitive advantage in the Bohai Sea sediment bacterial community compositions. Meanwhile, bacterial communities related to nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycling (Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Verrucomicrobiota) were relatively abundant. This study offers valuable insights into the diversity and compositions of bacterial communities in the Bohai Sea sediment profile by elucidating the vertical distribution and influencing factors of sediment bacterial communities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143929891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Laura Doneda, Lívia Roese–Miron, Leonardo Kerber
{"title":"Bony injuries in a Late Triassic forerunner of mammals from Brazil","authors":"Ana Laura Doneda, Lívia Roese–Miron, Leonardo Kerber","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01984-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01984-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Traversodontidae is a clade of non-mammaliaform cynodonts within the Cynognathia lineage, representing the most successful herbivorous/omnivorous group of the Triassic period. Here, we describe bony injuries in the ribs of a ~ 228–million–year–old traversodontid from Brazil. The specimen, assigned to <i>Exaeretodon riograndensis</i>, was discovered in Upper Triassic strata of the Santa Maria Supersequence, Paraná Basin. Macroscopic analysis, supported by micro-computed tomography, revealed the presence of bony calluses in the ribs, indicative of a transverse traumatic fracture, likely caused by a fall or an interaction (either intra- or interspecific) during the individual’s lifetime. Such trauma would have likely hindered its locomotion, impacting foraging efficiency and predator evasion. However, this species was possibly gregarious, which may have helped mitigate the injury’s impact on survival through group behavior. This finding represents a rare documented case of paleopathology in non-mammaliaform cynodonts, contributing to discussions on their behavior and paleoecology during the Triassic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143908857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Peculiar structural features of midgut symbiotic organ in the early development of the stinkbug Plautia stali Scott, 1874 (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)","authors":"Toshiyuki Harumoto, Minoru Moriyama, Takema Fukatsu","doi":"10.1007/s00114-025-01986-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-025-01986-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Many insects have symbiotic microorganisms within their body. Such microbial symbiosis underpins the survival and prosperity of insects through multiple means. The brown-winged green stinkbug <i>Plautia stali</i>, which is notorious as an agricultural pest and utilized as an experimental model insect, harbors a bacterial symbiont <i>Pantoea</i> in a posterior part of the midgut, which is essential for the host’s development and reproduction. From both basic and applied research perspectives, it is important to investigate the mechanistic bases underpinning the insect-microbe symbiotic association. Here, we performed detailed electron and optical microscopic analyses of the early nymphal midguts to reveal the type of cellular structure and property that orchestrates the symbiont colonization in the restricted part of the midgut. We identified two peculiar structural features of the nymphal midgut that develop in a region-restricted manner: long and heterogenous cellular protrusions (microvilli) solely emerged in the midgut symbiotic region and highly developed circular muscle cell layers specifically observed in the junction of non-symbiotic and symbiotic regions of the midgut. We discuss the potential roles of these unique structures in the midgut bacterial symbiosis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"112 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143883615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}