Urbanisation is rapidly expanding worldwide, posing a significant threat to biodiversity through habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. To counter these negative effects, restoring sufficient interconnected green spaces is crucial. One promising solution is an urban green infrastructure network including green roofs. Despite being promoted for their ecosystem services and habitat connectivity, the actual contribution of green roofs to biodiversity, especially for insects, is debatable. This review challenges current thinking in green roof design through an ecological perspective on green roof development, highlighting the importance of insects. Our approach encompasses: (1) an overview of the different roof types and how they influence insect diversity, (2) a summary of the impact of green roof factors on insect diversity, and (3) an application of neutral and niche theory to understand the ecological processes – both stochastic and deterministic – that shape insect communities on green roofs over time. We highlight how these processes drive the development towards increasingly complex green roof communities, which are crucial for resilient, biodiverse and low‐maintenance green roofs. Finally, (4) we discuss the application of network analysis and other techniques to assess patterns in ecosystem development. This review aims to inform landscape planning, design, management, and policy on how to build towards a more biodiverse green roof landscape in cities. This approach aligns with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, advocating for the strategic use of blue and green infrastructure to enhance urban biodiversity.
The spread of a new highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV‐H5N1) has, since 2021, triggered one of the most severe wildlife panzootic ever reported, with suspected population crashes in hundreds of bird and mammal species. However, to date no studies have evaluated the demographic mechanisms underlying these declines. We used Integrated Population Modelling (IPM) along with Bayesian population forecasting and resilience analysis, to evaluate the impact of HPAIV‐H5N1 on age‐structured survival, productivity, stage‐specific population dynamics and demographic resilience in a long‐lived bird, the peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ), in the Netherlands. Our analyses revealed drastic declines in adult survival—the key driver of population dynamics in a long‐lived species—in 2022 and 2023, coinciding with a ~25% decline in breeding pairs. This suggests a shift in HPAIV dynamics compared to previous epizootics, with recurrent outbreaks during consecutive seasons and years, resulting in potentially stronger population impacts. Resilience analysis revealed that HPAIV outbreaks could cause long‐lasting demographic impacts in the population. The breeding population could take a decade to recover to pre‐panzootic levels and may ultimately stabilize at ~21% below its former size. Recovery could take longer if HPAIV outbreaks become more frequent in the future, which is likely under current epidemiological predictions. Synthesis and applications . Our findings demonstrate that the HPAIV panzootic can cause rapid and long‐lasting impacts on the dynamics of long‐lived species. This raises major concerns for the conservation and long‐term viability of the many severely affected long‐lived species worldwide. As wildlife disease is predicted to become a leading cause of biodiversity loss, a global‐scale conservation strategy is urgently needed, which includes improved management, surveillance and applied research efforts. Our combined use of IPMs, forecasts and resilience analyses also serves as a benchmark for evaluating the effects not only of zoonotics, but also of any other type of disturbance in wild populations.
Arctic ecosystems are facing increases in heavy summer rainfall events and increased year-to-year hydrological variability. However, the evidence base of impacts of heavy rainfall on Arctic vegetation is limited. The role of seasonal timing in determining heavy rainfall impacts on plant growth and the legacy impacts of such effects have not been quantified. We set up an irrigation experiment in several sites on the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, in which we simulated a doubling of average summer rainfall (50 mm) in individual additions of 10 mm at different timings throughout the season (early or late summer). Plant growth and phenology indicators (normalized difference vegetation index, vegetation height, specific leaf area, and senescence) of key plant species were monitored under irrigation and in the years after to capture legacy effects. Late-summer irrigation delayed end-of-summer declines in NDVI compared with control and early-summer irrigation treatments. We found subtle positive legacy effects of early as well as late-summer irrigation on NDVI in the following growing season. Irrigation only delayed senescence in Salix polaris at sites and moments where rainfall treatment compensated for low soil moisture levels prior to senescence. Other vegetation parameters did not show significant responses. Positive associations of plant growth variables with local soil moisture were strongest in late summer. Synthesis. Our findings indicate that the impact of heavy rainfall events on plant growth in the High Arctic is mediated by seasonal timing and local moisture regimes. Late-summer rainfall can extend the growing season for plants experiencing end-of-season water-limitation by delaying onset of senescence. Local soil moisture retention capacity appears to regulate this potential for growing season extension, implying that outcomes may be scalable across (micro)topographical and pedological gradients. The existence of subtle legacy effects suggests that previous years' hydrological conditions may marginally affect following years' plant growth.
Saccharomycotina is a subphylum of ascomycete fungi with diverse asexual growth morphologies. Filamentous growth can comprise linear and branched budding cells that do not undergo cell separation, termed pseudohyphae, or tubular filaments with septa that perforate allowing movement of organelles, termed true hyphae. We integrated phenotypic, genomic, metabolic, and environmental data on isolation sources from 1051 species to examine the variation and evolutionary history of filamentation across Saccharomycotina and determine whether these data could predict filamentation types. We found that 63.37% of strains can form filaments; 6.56% true hyphae, 42.40% pseudohyphae, and 14.39% both true hyphae and pseudohyphae. The distributions of species that can produce true hyphae or filament were more strongly correlated with the yeast phylogeny than the distribution of species with pseudohyphae. Ancestral state reconstruction suggested that true hyphal and pseudohyphal morphologies evolved several times, that most yeast ancestors likely produced pseudohyphae or lacked filaments, and that the Saccharomycotina last common ancestor likely produced pseudohyphae but not true hyphae. Machine learning models trained on genomic and metabolic features predicted filament morphologies with ∼70% accuracy. Connecting the evolution of morphologies to their genomic, physiological, and ecological characteristics will enrich our understanding of how the diversity of lifestyles evolved in Saccharomycotina.
Rangelands are crucial to human well-being, but their ability to provide ecosystem services is threatened. We (1) quantified key ecosystem services provided by rangelands, (2) assessed short- and long-term impacts of fertilization (nutrient addition) and the exclusion of large grazing herbivores with fences (herbivore exclusion) on services, and (3) identified synergies and trade-offs among services. We measured indicators of ecosystem services and plant diversity at 79 sites across six continents in the global Nutrient Network. Short-term herbivore exclusion increased forage quantity and soil fertility, but longer-term herbivore exclusion decreased both along with plant richness and pollination. Nutrient addition improved forage provisioning, soil stability, climate regulation, and control of soil erosion but lowered plant diversity and impeded delivery of related services, especially after prolonged application. We found synergies between plant diversity and pollination, as well as between soil fertility, soil stability, and climate regulation. Trade-offs between forage stability and quality persisted after nutrient addition but disappeared with herbivore exclusion. Our results suggest that alternative management actions may sustain livestock production while maintaining rangeland ecosystem services.
