Climate Change Alters Seedling Emergence and Establishment in an Old-Field Ecosystem

Background: Ecological succession drives large-scale changes in ecosystem composition over time, but the mechanisms whereby climatic change might alter succession remain unresolved. Here, we asked if the effects of atmospheric and climatic change would alter tree seedling emergence and establishment in an old-field ecosystem, recognizing that small shifts in rates of seedling emergence and establishment of different species may have long-term repercussions on the transition of fields to forests in the future. Methodology/Principal Findings: We introduced seeds from three early successional tree species into constructed old-field plant communities that had been subjected for 4 years to altered temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO 2 regimes in an experimental facility. Our experiment revealed that different combinations of atmospheric CO2 concentration, air temperature, and soil moisture altered seedling emergence and establishment. Treatments directly and indirectly affected soil moisture, which was the best predictor of seedling establishment, though treatment effects differed among species. Conclusions: The observed impacts, coupled with variations in the timing of seed arrival, are demonstrated as predictors o

Corrigendum: Whole genome analysis of a schistosomiasis-transmitting freshwater snail

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15451

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO measurement from the LOS-dependent power spectrum of DR12 BOSS galaxies

We present an anisotropic analysis of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale in the twelfth and final data release of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We independently analyse the LOWZ and CMASS galaxy samples: the LOWZ sample contains 361 762 galaxies with an effective redshift of zLOWZ = 0.32; the CMASS sample consists of 777 202 galaxies with an effective redshift of zCMASS = 0.57. We extract the BAO peak position from the monopole power-spectrum moment, α0, and from the μ2 moment, α2, where μ is the cosine of the angle to the line of sight. The μ2-moment provides equivalent information to that available in the quadrupole but is simpler to analyse. After applying a reconstruction algorithm to reduce the BAO suppression by bulk motions, we measure the BAO peak position in the monopole and μ2-moment, which are related to radial and angular shifts in scale. We report H(zLOWZ)rs(zd) = (11.60 ± 0.60) × 103 km s-1 and DA(zLOWZ)/rs(zd) = 6.66 ± 0.16 with a cross-correlation coefficient of rHDA = 0.41, for the LOWZ sample; and H(zCMASS)rs(zd) = (14.56 ± 0.37) × 103 km s-1 and DA(zCMASS)/rs(zd) = 9.42 ± 0.13 with a cross-correlation coefficient of rHDA = 0.47, for the CMASS sample. We demonstrate that our results are not affected by the fiducial cosmology assumed for the analysis. We combine these results with the measurements of the BAO peak position in the monopole and quadrupole correlation function of the same data set (Cuesta et al. 2016, companion paper) and report the consensus values: H(zLOWZ)rs(zd) = (11.63 ± 0.69) × 103 km s-1 and DA(zLOWZ)/rs(zd) = 6.67 ± 0.15 with rHDA = 0.35 for the LOWZ sample; H(zCMASS)rs(zd) = (14.67 ± 0.42) × 103 km s-1 and DA(zCMASS)/rs(zd) = 9.47 ± 0.12 with rHDA = 0.52 for the CMASS sample

The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Fourier space

We analyse the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal of the final Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data release (DR12). Our analysis is performed in the Fourier space, using the power spectrum monopole and quadrupole. The data set includes 1198 006 galaxies over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.75.We divide this data set into three (overlapping) redshift bins with the effective redshifts zeff = 0.38, 0.51 and 0.61. We demonstrate the reliability of our analysis pipeline using N-body simulations as well as ~1000 MultiDark- Patchy mock catalogues that mimic the BOSS-DR12 target selection. We apply density field reconstruction to enhance the BAO signal-to-noise ratio. By including the power spectrum quadrupole we can separate the line of sight and angular modes, which allows us to constrain the angular diameter distance DA(z) and the Hubble parameter H(z) separately. We obtain two independent 1.6 and 1.5 per cent constraints on DA(z) and 2.9 and 2.3 per cent constraints on H(z) for the low (zeff = 0.38) and high (zeff = 0.61) redshift bin, respectively. We obtain two independent 1 and 0.9 per cent constraints on the angular averaged distance DV(z), when ignoring the Alcock-Paczynski effect. The detection significance of the BAO signal is of the order of 8σ (post-reconstruction) for each of the three redshift bins. Our results are in good agreement with the Planck prediction within Λ cold dark matter. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS

In vitro antimicrobial assessment of Cuban propolis extracts

Propolis is a resinous mixture of different plant exudates collected by honeybees. Currently, propolis is widely used as a food supplement and in folk medicine. We have evaluated 20 Cuban propolis extracts of different chemical types, brown (BCP), red and yellow (YCP), with respect to their in vitro antibacterial, antifungal and antiprotozoal properties. The extracts inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Trichophyton rubrum at low µg/mL concentrations, whereas they were not active against Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The major activity of the extracts was found against the protozoa Leishmania, Trypanosoma and Plasmodium, although cytotoxicity against MRC-5 cells was also observed. The BCP-3, YCP-39 and YCP-60 extracts showed the highest activity against P. falciparum, with 50% of microbial growth (IC50) values of 0.2 µg/mL. A positive correlation between the biological activity and the chemical composition was observed for YCP extracts. The most promising antimicrobial activity corresponds to YCP subtype B, which contains acetyl triterpenes as the main constituents. The present in vitro study highlights the potential of propolis against protozoa, but further research is needed to increase selectivity towards the parasite. The observed chemical composition-activity relationship of propolis can contribute to the identification of the active principles and standardisation of this bee product

Nrf2-interacting nutrients and COVID-19 : time for research to develop adaptation strategies

There are large between- and within-country variations in COVID-19 death rates. Some very low death rate settings such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans and Africa have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods whose intake is associated with the activation of the Nrf2 (Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2) anti-oxidant transcription factor. There are many Nrf2-interacting nutrients (berberine, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, quercetin, resveratrol, sulforaphane) that all act similarly to reduce insulin resistance, endothelial damage, lung injury and cytokine storm. They also act on the same mechanisms (mTOR: Mammalian target of rapamycin, PPAR gamma:Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, NF kappa B: Nuclear factor kappa B, ERK: Extracellular signal-regulated kinases and eIF2 alpha:Elongation initiation factor 2 alpha). They may as a result be important in mitigating the severity of COVID-19, acting through the endoplasmic reticulum stress or ACE-Angiotensin-II-AT(1)R axis (AT(1)R) pathway. Many Nrf2-interacting nutrients are also interacting with TRPA1 and/or TRPV1. Interestingly, geographical areas with very low COVID-19 mortality are those with the lowest prevalence of obesity (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia). It is tempting to propose that Nrf2-interacting foods and nutrients can re-balance insulin resistance and have a significant effect on COVID-19 severity. It is therefore possible that the intake of these foods may restore an optimal natural balance for the Nrf2 pathway and may be of interest in the mitigation of COVID-19 severity.Peer reviewe