Space use by two arboreal rodent species in a Neotropical cloud forest

Studying animal space use patterns can help increase our understating of ecological processes such as competition and community dynamics. To quantify space and habitat use in an isolated and patchy cloud forest community in Mexico, we evaluate the vertical stratification, home range and habitat selection of two arboreal rodents: Habromys schmidlyi and Reithrodontomys microdon. Using live-traps at ground level and different forest strata, we radio-equipped nine individuals of H. schmidlyi and seven of R. microdon, and evaluated fine-scale space use and broad-scale habitat selection between cloud forest and oak forest. We found an average home range of 0.24 ha for R. microdon males and 0.72 ha for females, with a preference for higher canopy in the cloud forest. For H. schmidlyi the home range was 0.83 ha for males and 0.29 ha for females, with a preference for the understory level in the cloud forest. Home range is three-dimensional for these rodents, so we estimate that on average, individuals of both species used eight trees in the time they were tracked. We characterised the vegetation at the trap sites, and used recursive partitioning to relate the presence of different plants with the probability of finding these two species and Peromyscus aztecus, a third rodent species also present in the area and considered in our analysis of habitat use. The highest probability of finding R. microdon (96%) was related to the presence of Brachythecium occidentale and Renauldia mexicana, while H. schmidlyi (95%) was found in close proximity to Fabronia ciliaris and Everniastrum. We highlight the importance of arboreal trapping in biodiversity assessments, and the role of arboreal rodents in maintaining tropical forest ecosystems. We suggest that these rodent species could avoid or reduce competition by using the vertical strata differentially, and that H. schmidlyi and R. microdon can be biological indicators for cloud forest management and conservation.     

Feeding ecology of the common sun skink,Eutropis multifasciata (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae), in the plains of central Vietnam

We studied the feeding ecology of Eutropis multifasciata in the tropical plains of central Vietnam to understand better the foraging mode, spatiotemporal and sexual variation in dietary composition, and rarefaction curves of prey-taxon richness for males and females. Stomach contents (n = 161) were collected from October 2013 to May 2014 using a nonlethal stomach-flushing technique. A total of 680 food items (624 animal items and 56 plant items) was found in 161 stomachs of skinks, representing 19 unique animal categories. We found that the diet of E. multifasciata is composed mainly of small, sedentary and clumped prey and that this skink specialises on spiders, insect larvae, snails, grasshoppers and crickets (with a combined importance index of 60%). Dietary composition, prey size and total prey volume in E. multifasciata changed between dry and rainy seasons and among regions. The total volume of food items consumed by males was larger than that of females, and the diversity and evenness index of prey categories were larger in males than in females. However, using rarefaction curves revealed that females have the higher prey-taxon richness after points between 130 and 140 prey items for frequency, and between 160 and 170 prey items for number of items, and the differences were not statistically significant. The foraging behaviour of E. multifasciata best fits a ‘widely foraging’ model.     

Parasite fauna of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus L. 1758, and its relationship with some ecological factors in Lower Kızılırmak Delta located by the Black Sea,Turkey

Parasites of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus collected from Lower K?z?l?rmak Delta in Turkey were investigated. Trichodina puytoraci, Trichodina lepsii, Ligophorus mediterraneus, Ligophorus cephali, Gyrodactylus sp., Microcotyle mugilis, Ascocotyle (Phagicola) longa, Haplosplanchnus pachysomus, Diplostomum spathaceum, Tylodelphys clavata, Posthodiplostomum sp., Neoechinorhyncus agilis and Ergasilus lizae were identified. Overall infection prevalence (%), mean intensity and mean abundance values were 99.61%, 458.10 ± 75.72 and 456.30 ± 75.44, respectively. Infection indices of parasite species in relation to season, lakes/lagoons and some physicochemical parameters of water such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and nitrate are determined and discussed. Posthodiplostomum sp. is a new parasite record for mugilids and Diplostomum spathaceum is the first record in M. cephalus, in the present study. Moreover, Ligophorus mediterraneus, Ligophorus cephali and Ergasilus lizae are new records for Turkish parasite fauna of fish and Mugil cephalus is a new host record for Neoechinorhyncus agilis in Turkey.     

Priority and privilege in scientific discovery

The priority rule in science has been interpreted as a behavior regulator for the scientific community, which benefits society by adequately structuring the distribution of intellectual labor across pre-existing research programs. Further, it has been lauded as an intuitively fair way to reward scientists for their contributions, as a special case of society’s “grand reward scheme”. However, we will argue that the current formal framework utilized to model the priority rule idealizes away important aspects of credit attribution, and does so in a way that impacts the conclusions drawn regarding its function in scientific communities. In particular, we consider the social dynamics of credit attribution in order to show that the priority rule can foster structural disadvantages in socially diverse science, as well as drive the distribution of intellectual labor away from optimal.     

Robust model rankings of forecasting performance

This paper investigates robust model rankings in out‐of‐sample, short‐horizon forecasting. We provide strong evidence that rolling window averaging consistently produces robust model rankings while improving the forecasting performance of both individual models and model averaging. The rolling window averaging outperforms the (ex post) “optimal” window forecasts in more than 50% of the times across all rolling windows.     

Bridging the molecular and biological functions of the oxysterol-binding protein family

Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) and OSBP-related proteins (ORPs) constitute a large eukaryotic gene family that transports and regulates the metabolism of sterols and phospholipids. The original classification of the family based on oxysterol-binding activity belies the complex dual lipid-binding specificity of the conserved OSBP homology domain (OHD). Additional protein- and membrane-interacting modules mediate the targeting of select OSBP/ORPs to membrane contact sites between organelles, thus positioning the OHD between opposing membranes for lipid transfer and metabolic regulation. This unique subcellular location, coupled with diverse ligand preferences and tissue distribution, has identified OSBP/ORPs as key arbiters of membrane composition and function. Here, we will review how molecular models of OSBP/ORP-mediated intracellular lipid transport and regulation at membrane contact sites relate to their emerging roles in cellular and organismal functions.     

Mechanisms regulating immune surveillance of cellular stress in cancer

The purpose of this review is to explore immune-mediated mechanisms of stress surveillance in cancer, with particular emphasis on the idea that all cancers have classical hallmarks (Hanahan and Weinberg in Cell 100:57–70, 67; Cell 144:646–674, 68) that could be interrelated. We postulate that hallmarks of cancer associated with cellular stress pathways (Luo et al. in Cell 136:823–837, 101) including oxidative stress, proteotoxic stress, mitotic stress, DNA damage, and metabolic stress could define and modulate the inflammatory component of cancer. As such, the overarching goal of this review is to define the types of cellular stress that cancer cells undergo, and then to explore mechanisms by which immune cells recognize, respond to, and are affected by each stress response.     

Selective effect of burn injury on splenic CD11c+ dendritic cells and CD8α+CD4−CD11c+ dendritic cell subsets

Burn injury causes an immunosuppression associated with suppressed adaptive immune function. Dendritic cells (DCs) are APCs for which signaling via their Toll-like receptors (TLRs) induces their maturation and activation, which is essential for the adaptive immune response. In this study, we examined if burn injury alters the TLR activity of splenic DCs. After injury, we noticed that DC functions were impaired, characterized by a suppressed capacity to prime naive T cells when triggering the TLR4 signaling cascade using specific ligands (LPS or rHSP60). The observed perturbations on LPS-primed DCs isolated from burned mice exhibited significantly diminished IL-12p40 production and enhanced IL-10 secretion-associated impairment in mitogen-activated protein kinase activation. Interestingly, we observed a decrease of TLR4/MD-2 expression on the CD8α⁺ DC subset that persisted following LPS stimulation. The altered TLR4 expression on LPS-stimulated CD8α⁺ DCs was associated with reduced capacity to produce IL-12 after stimulation. Our results suggested that TLR4 reactivity on DCs, especially CD8α⁺ DCs, is disturbed after burn injury.