As a pivotal component of the global carbon cycle, the spatial variation in soil respiration (Rs) is crucial for forecasting climate change trajectories. Despite extensive research on the spatial patterns of total Rs, the distinct drivers of its two components, heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and autotrophic respiration (Ra), are still not well defined. We compiled a global dataset from studies published between 2007 and 2023 to investigate the drivers of spatial variations in Rs, Ra, and Rh. This dataset comprises 308 annual flux measurements from 172 sites. The results showed that Rh contributed 63% and 60% to Rs in forest and grassland ecosystems, respectively. Further analyses using structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that the spatial variation in Rh and Ra exhibited divergent responses to climatic factors and plant community structure (mostly driven by gross primary production, GPP). Rh was more affected by mean annual temperature (MAT) than by mean annual precipitation (MAP), with standardized total effects of 0.17 (forests) and 0.57 (grasslands) for MAT versus 0.10 and 0.07 for MAP, respectively. In contrast, Ra exhibited greater sensitivity to MAP (0.08 and 0.18) than to MAT (−0.01 and 0.04). GPP exerted biome-specific effects: in forests, high GPP enhanced Rh (0.18) more substantially than Ra (0.08), while in grasslands, elevated GPP significantly increased Ra (0.34) but suppressed Rh (−0.30). Moreover, these variables incorporated into the SEMs accounted for a greater proportion of the variation in Rh and Ra in grasslands (R2 = 0.73 for Rh, 0.48 for Ra) as compared to forests (R2 = 0.21 for Rh, 0.22 for Ra), suggesting the greater complexity in forest soil C dynamics. By using the whole yearly measured soil respiration data around the world, this study highlights the differential environmental regulation of Rh and Ra, providing critical insights into the mechanisms governing Rs variations under climate change.

Understanding how terrestrial plant functional strategies (competitive, stress-tolerant, ruderal; CSR) respond to environmental conditions is crucial for predicting ecosystem dynamics under global climate change, yet remains unexplored at the global community level. Leveraging a machine learning approach, and utilizing multi-source satellite remote-sensing and field-collected sPlotOpen measurements data, we generated the first global community-level map of CSR functional strategy variations. Results show that S-selected strategies are globally dominant (C:S:R = 23.66:62.40:13.94%), with substantial spatial variations across biomes. This variability is strongly influenced by climatic variables (e.g. mean annual precipitation, diurnal temperature range) and soil properties (e.g. cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen). Future projections show that climate change favours S- (+0.33%) and R- (+0.31%) at the expense of C-selected strategy (-0.64%), alongside marked biome-specific shifts. Despite potential underestimation of localized climate uncertainties, these findings provide critical insights into global plant community dynamics under challenging abiotic conditions.

Although competition and facilitation both influence tree diversity1-5, their relative importance and variation with latitude remain poorly understood. Using data from 17 large forest plots, including around 2.7 million trees and over 5,400 species spanning 5° S to 47° N, we quantified the latitudinal trends of the relative importance of negative (competitive) and positive (facilitative) interactions among neighbouring tree species, accounting for three biotic and eight environmental factors. We examined whether the average neighbourhood species diversity around individuals of each focal species was larger or smaller than expected under null models. The results show that negative interspecific interactions prevailed across most plots. Near the equator, the relative proportions of species surrounded by a lower or higher than expected number of neighbours were roughly equal, but at higher latitudes, the proportions of species with a relatively higher number of neighbours declined, and those with fewer neighbours increased significantly. This latitudinal pattern can be attributed in part to reduced abundance of legumes, non-arbuscular mycorrhizal associations, and the weaker canopy nursing effect towards higher latitudes, but it was mediated by mean annual temperature. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized relative decline in facilitative interactions and increase in competitive interactions with latitude and suggest that rising temperatures could enhance facilitative effects and promote tree community diversity at higher latitudes.

Soil carbon sequestration is crucial for terrestrial ecosystem function and global climate mitigation. Estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions accurately and cost-effectively is essential for carbon management but remains challenging given the high spatial heterogeneity in subtropical forests. This study collected soil samples (0-100 cm) from 80 plots across a typical subtropical forest landscape in southeastern China. We assessed the current vertical and horizontal distribution of particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) and identified the dominant factors affecting SOC, POC, and MAOC. Further, using visible nearinfrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy and the combined environmental variables, we predicted the contents of SOC, POC, and MAOC across the entire soil profile. The results indicated that the mean contents of SOC, POC, and MAOC were 19.89, 11.53, and 7.01 g kg-1 in 0-100 cm soil depth across the study area, with a high CV of 92.41%, 124.16%, and 64.05%, respectively. The SOC, POC, and MAOC contents generally decrease with soil depth, with POC dominating in the topsoil and MAOC in deep layers. Horizontally, the spatial distribution of POC aligns with that of SOC and corresponds to the elevational gradient, whereas MAOC is uniformly distributed across the study area. Soil depth, pH, and silt + clay content were the most important controls for the variability of SOC, POC, and MAOC at a landscape scale in the subtropical forest, while elevation only affected SOC and POC. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) showed that the prediction accuracy for SOC, POC, and MAOC improved from R2 = 0.67, 0.58, and 0.73 with the environmental dataset (or R2 = 0.48, 0.80, and 0.83 with the Vis-NIR spectral dataset) to 0.71, 0.85, and 0.84 for both with the combined dataset. The findings reveal a contrast in the horizontal spatial distribution of POC and MAOC. The integration of Vis-NIR spectroscopy with environmental data enables the precise assessment of soil organic carbon fractions in subtropical forests.

Abstract Combating the effects of global change and biodiversity loss requires a deeper understanding of species coexistence across variable environments. Little is known, however, about how drivers of coexistence respond to environmental change. Using a greenhouse competition experiment, we examine how interannual rainfall variation influences competitive dynamics in an old‐field annual plant community in southern China. We parameterize a competition model for eight species to assess coexistence outcomes under constant and variable rainfall conditions, partitioning variation‐independent and variation‐dependent mechanisms of coexistence. We show that species are more likely to coexist under variable rainfall conditions. Of the coexistence mechanisms examined, relative nonlinearity of the interaction strength most strongly promotes coexistence, followed by a lesser positive contribution from relative nonlinearity of the vital rates, while the interaction effect between these nonlinearities tends to destabilize coexistence. Synthesis . Our study provides novel evidence that rainfall variability promotes pairwise species coexistence in a multispecies plant community, driven primarily by the relative nonlinearity in interaction strength. These findings highlight the necessity of incorporating environmental variability into coexistence studies to better predict and manage biodiversity in a changing world.

Forest vulnerability to drought depends not only on climate and traits, but also on bedrock controls on water dynamics, which remain poorly resolved. Here we integrate satellite-derived regolith water loss rate, a proxy for near-surface water retention capacity, with tree-ring records from 849 trees across 40 sites, carbon isotope measurements and mortality observations to examine forest demographic drought responses across karst and non-karst forests in southwest China. Bedrock lithology emerged as a key structural constraint on spatial variation in drought vulnerability, alongside climate, soil and trait variables. Notably, we identify a lithology-mediated inversion of demographic vulnerability: in karst forests, younger and smaller trees showed lower resistance and recovery than older and larger trees, especially under prolonged drought, whereas non-karst forests showed contrasting patterns. Site-level isotope and mortality evidence indicated physiological stress and growth decline consistent with this contrast, highlighting bedrock lithology as a geophysical constraint on forest demographic drought vulnerability.

Spatial patterning and synchronization are pervasive features of plankton communities, yet the mechanisms that allow such patterns to persist coherently under environmental noise remain unresolved. In vertically structured aquatic ecosystems, plankton populations are often organized into distinct layers, raising the question of how interactions between layers shape both spatial self-organization and robustness. Here, we develop a spatiotemporal ecosystem model of a two-layer plankton community to examine the role of passive diffusive coupling under stochastic environmental fluctuations. We show that interlayer diffusion induces a sharp transition from independent, layer-specific Turing patterns to fully synchronized spatial patterns once the coupling strength exceeds a critical threshold. Importantly, the same coupling mechanism markedly enhances the stability of spatial patterns against environmental noise, extending their persistence far beyond that of non-coupled layers. Moreover, we uncover a trophic hierarchy in noise sensitivity, with zooplankton exhibiting substantially greater vulnerability than phytoplankton. Together, these results identify passive diffusive coupling as a unifying mechanism that simultaneously promotes spatial synchronization and robustness, providing a mechanistic explanation for the persistence of coherent plankton patterns in fluctuating aquatic environments.

Seeking universal rules that govern leaf size variation is a long-standing aspiration in ecology. Early studies propose that the inverse of the product of leaf tissue density and thickness, termed the Hughes constant, is approximately conserved within species, which renders the ratio of leaf area (An) to fresh mass (m) invariant. We tested this proposition with an unprecedented dataset encompassing c. 157 000 leaves from 335 woody species across China. Using the allometric model A n = c · m α , we assessed for each species whether α  = 1, as required for a constant An : m. We further examined whether and how α and An : m varied across plant habits and climate regimes. The grand mean (0.923) of α across species was significantly lower than unity, and 69% of species exhibited α  < 1, indicating diminishing returns of leaf area on increasing fresh-mass investments. Notably, evergreen species exhibited lower An : m ratios (higher construction costs per unit area) but higher α values (greater returns to scale) than deciduous species. Climatic factors explained little variation of α, but higher temperatures were associated with lower An : m ratios. Altogether, the Hughes constant represents an approximate tendency rather than a universal rule. Yet, An : m ratios are highly species-specific, bearing a functional significance in discriminating plant habits and thermal niches.

Biological pump regulation of contaminant bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in size-fractionated planktonic food webs remains poorly understood in eutrophic estuaries. Herein, this work quantified bioconcentration and bioaccumulation factors (BCFs and BAFs) of 14 antibiotics in phytoplankton and size-fractionated micro- (<200 μm), small-meso- (200-500 μm), and large-meso-zooplankton (>500 μm) across spring, summer, and winter in the Pearl River Estuary, China. Field observations showed consistently negative relationships between phytoplankton biomass and antibiotic BCFs/BAFs, with slope magnitude varying systematically among compounds according to hydrophobicity. Hierarchical random forest analyses further indicated that phytoplankton biomass explained more variation in antibiotic bioaccumulation than environmental chemistry or community composition, while community structure contributed additional but limited explanatory information. To test whether these field patterns could arise under controlled conditions, microcosm experiments were conducted by using mixed phytoplankton assemblages across a continuous biomass gradient. Under controlled exposure, biomass-BCF slopes were consistently negative across all 14 antibiotics, and dissolved-phase concentrations declined with increasing biomass, supporting biological pump regulation through biomass-mediated dilution and biomass-associated partitioning. These results identify phytoplankton biomass as the primary correlate of antibiotic bioaccumulation in eutrophic estuarine plankton, while demonstrating that the magnitude of biomass effects is compound-dependent and modulated by exposure partitioning.

Biodiversity generally enhances ecosystem productivity, but whether such effects persist or intensify during climate extremes is unclear. Here we synthesized data from 75 biodiversity experiments across grasslands and forests to assess how aridity and soil nutrients modulate plant diversity effects under drought and heat extremes. Biodiversity most strongly enhanced productivity under extreme drought in more arid grasslands but had limited effects in forests under such conditions. More arid grasslands showed enhanced complementarity effects under extreme drought, whereas less arid grasslands favoured selection effects driven by productive species. Heat extremes did not produce comparable context-dependent changes in plant diversity effects across ecosystem types or aridity gradients. Soil nutrients did not have any detectable influence under either drought or heat extremes, suggesting that as climatic stress intensifies, hydric limitations override edaphic constraints. Our synthesis identifies when and where plant diversity most strongly enhances productivity, showing that its effects are the greatest under extreme drought in more arid grasslands.

Understanding the vast biodiversity observed in nature remains a fundamental issue in ecology. While classical theories have long assumed that species interact in simple pairs, real ecosystems are shaped by more complex, higher-order interactions (HOIs) involving multiple species simultaneously. Here, we show that incorporating these HOIs into ecological models not only prevents ecosystem collapse but actively stabilizes communities and maintains self-organized biodiversity. Our approach reveals how such interactions give rise to self-sustaining oscillations, quasi-periodic dynamics, and intermittent chaos, mirroring the rich variability seen in natural systems. Crucially, the model successfully reproduces real-world species abundance patterns, providing a quantitative explanation for how complex interactions maintain ecological diversity. These findings establish HOIs as a key mechanism organizing biodiversity and offer a transformative perspective for understanding ecosystem complexity.

Deadwood stores ~8% of global forest carbon, and termites and fungi are its primary decomposers-organisms whose activities are likely to intensify under global warming. Yet it remains unclear how their site-scale spatial self-organization-whether clustered or overdispersed-varies with global change stressors and shapes global wood decomposition patterns. Leveraging a global experiment, we find that increasing termite spatial occupancy is associated with more clustered patterns of decomposition rates, whereas higher fungal spatial occupancy is associated with more overdispersed patterns. Notably, temperature more strongly increases termite occupancy and thus indirectly contributes to clustered patterns, while anthropogenic pressure more strongly and directly promotes overdispersed patterns by reducing termite occupancy. Termite-driven clustering is positively associated with site-scale decomposition rates, contributing as much to global variation as termite occupancy and temperature. In contrast, fungi-driven overdispersion slightly decelerates site-scale decomposition rates via weakening the positive effects of fungal occupancy. Our study highlights that the within-site spatial patterns of decomposer activities are important drivers of global wood decomposition. Under global warming, termite clustering and range expansion may contribute to accelerating deadwood decomposition. However, human disturbances slow decomposition by disrupting termites' self-organization, adding uncertainty to the fate of deadwood carbon pools.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an essential role in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation in forest ecosystems. While experimental studies have shown that plant diversity usually increases SOC, it remains unclear whether this positive relationship holds in natural ecosystems across varying climatic conditions. Using a global dataset of 15 large and long-term monitored natural forest sites spanning a wide latitudinal range, we assess the relationship between tree diversity and SOC within and across sites in temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions. We found an overall positive relationship between tree taxonomic diversity and SOC. The relationships between tree taxonomic or functional diversity and SOC became stronger under colder and more arid conditions. Additionally, tree functional composition was linked to SOC only within a subset of sites in more arid climates. These findings suggest that warmer and more humid conditions increase decomposition, offsetting diversity-driven carbon inputs, while colder and more arid conditions enhance SOC through low decomposition and increased inputs through abiotic facilitation and biotic interactions in high-diversity communities. Our findings indicate that conserving plant diversity is critical for enhancing carbon sequestration and mitigating the effects of climatic conditions, particularly in cold climates and regions facing an increase in arid conditions.

Increasing tree species diversity is an effective practice for forest restoration. It enhances multitrophic diversity and multifunctionality. Soil nematodes play a vital role in enhancing soil health, yet it has not been fully addressed about how tree species diversity affects the multitrophic diversity and interspecific interactions of soil nematodes. We investigated soil nematode communities in a planted forest ecosystem converted from agricultural lands. Soil nematodes were sampled across four tree species richness levels, and classified into four trophic groups (i.e., herbivores, bacterivores, fungivores and predators-omnivores) based on feeding guilds. We analyzed the effects of tree species richness, tree productivity, soil properties and trophic interactions on soil nematode communities. Results showed that total nematode diversity was not affected by tree species richness. The Shannon index of predators-omnivores decreased with tree species richness, while abundance and genus richness of herbivores declined with tree productivity. Structural equation models revealed that soil pH reduced the abundance and genus richness of herbivores and bacterivores through abiotic stress. Conversely, predators-omnivores increased the abundance and genus richness of herbivores and bacterivores via top-down trophic regulation. Notably, tree species richness intensified the complexity of nematode co-occurrence networks. These findings demonstrate that tree species richness, productivity, soil pH and trophic interactions collectively shape soil nematode communities, and that network complexity rather than taxonomic diversity is strongly affected by the plant-soil biota interactions. Our study provides an empirical basis for designing forest restoration schemes that prioritize belowground ecosystem functions.

Small carnivores fulfill important ecological roles in forest ecosystems, yet their diel activity patterns and habitat requirements in subtropical forests remain insufficiently documented. Using 116,800 camera-trap days (2021–2024) at the Chebaling National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, China, we characterized the diel activity rhythms and habitat selection of four sympatric small carnivore species: the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), crab-eating mongoose (Urva urva), spotted linsang (Prionodon pardicolor), and masked palm civet (Paguma larvata). Kernel density estimation revealed distinct diel strategies among the four species. The crab-eating mongoose was strictly diurnal, while the leopard cat, spotted linsang, and masked palm civet were all nocturnal. Temporal overlap was high among nocturnal species (Δ = 0.695–0.899) but low between the diurnal mongoose and each nocturnal species (Δ = 0.074–0.371). Seasonal comparisons showed that all species except the crab-eating mongoose maintained highly consistent activity rhythms between the growing and non-growing seasons. MaxEnt modelling indicated that all four species preferred gently sloping terrain with high vegetation cover (NDVI > 0.43) near water sources. However, they differed in aspect preference, habitat breadth, and sensitivity to anthropogenic disturbance. The leopard cat occupied the largest area of suitable habitat (29.08 km²) and favored shaded slopes; the spotted linsang showed notable avoidance of roads; and the masked palm civet exhibited the broadest ecological tolerance. These results suggest that diel activity divergence between the diurnal and nocturnal guilds, together with species-specific differences in microhabitat selection among the nocturnal species, may contribute to reducing interspecific competition within this assemblage. Our findings provide baseline ecological data for the conservation management of small carnivore communities in subtropical forest ecosystems of southern China.

Root traits are fundamental to plant survival, growth and adaptation to environmental changes. Despite increasing attention to the root economics space, a quantitative understanding of global patterns and key drivers of root trait variation remains elusive. By combining metabolic theory with global trait datasets, we reveal universal nonlinear relationships of five key root traits with root water content regardless of plant growth form or climate zone. Root water content emerges as a stronger predictor of growth-related root traits and shows a closer association with the conservation gradient than the widely considered root nitrogen, thereby better defining 'fast' resource acquisition strategies. Moreover, replacing nitrogen with tissue water content in analyses reveals a closer alignment of leaf and fine-root traits than expected. Our findings highlight general quantitative biotic and abiotic controls on plant trait variation, offering broader insights into plant economics strategies, community dynamics and ecosystem functioning under changing climate and resource availability.

The global decrease in species diversity from low to high latitudes is among the most robust biogeographic patterns1,2. There is continuing debate on the contribution of conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) to the latitudinal diversity gradient evident for trees3,4. Theory suggests that CNDD based on pairwise interactions alone is not sufficient to explain the intricacies of diverse communities, because higher-order interactions (HOIs) may greatly modify these interactions5,6. However, there has been a lack of empirical studies investigating how HOIs intertwine with pairwise interactions and how they may contribute to the latitudinal tree diversity gradient. Here we examined both pairwise interactions and HOIs across 32 large permanent forest plots, most in the northern hemisphere. We detected evidence of HOIs in 40% of the 1,543 species-plot combinations for tree growth, and 23% of the 1,340 such combinations for tree survival, with the strength of these interactions declining with latitude. HOIs were found to benefit rare species but disadvantage common species, suggesting a potential mechanism promoting species diversity. This stabilizing effect weakened towards higher latitudes, consistent with the latitudinal tree diversity gradient. Our findings reveal an important interplay between pairwise interactions and HOIs in promoting the latitudinal tree diversity gradient and help to clarify the contribution of CNDD to this biogeographic pattern.

1. Functional traits control plant detritus decomposition via so called 'afterlife effects'. While plant traits vary between species due to different growth strategies, it remains poorly understood how tree growth strategies and wood decomposition rates are directly related. We hypothesize that species with a fast growth strategy (i.e. fast-growing, light-demanding and high-mortality) decompose faster than species with a slow growth strategy, due to lower wood density which is preferred by major decomposers like termites. 2. We carried out wood decay experiments of 120 tree species (44 families including Lauraceae, Fagaceae, Symplocaceae and Theaceae) in a 50-ha forest plot in subtropical China. Species-specific mean of percentage wood mass loss after 8 or 16 months was based on three replicates deployed at the valley, ridge, and hilltop, to obtain representative estimates of overall wood decomposability across the topographic gradients. Sample-level termite colonization was documented to indicate the activities of major decomposers. Six functional traits (e.g. wood density) and four population-level demographic metrics (e.g. 95th quantile of stem growth rate) were measured based on samples and trees across the landscapes. 3. We found that deadwood of fast-growing species had lower wood density, higher decomposition rates and higher probability of termite colonization than slow-growing species. Notably, the 95th quantile of stem growth rate accounted for higher variations of 8-month decomposition rates than wood traits (especially wood density), and had comparable effects as wood traits on 16-month decomposition rates. This is because demographic metrics, like stem growth rate, are comprehensive indicators for how tree species differ in intrinsic growth and response to environmental fluctuation. In turn, this shapes a complex suite of traits that collectively and inter-dependently alter the preference of decomposers and weakens the predictive power of single or few traits, especially in species-diverse forests. 4. Synthesis. Our study highlights the intrinsic coordination between tree growth and wood decay. This coordination seems to be mediated by the growth-driven change of wood traits and, thus, the trait-driven activities of major decomposers like termites. In addition, the positive growth-decay relationship reveals that increased forest productivity may be accompanied by accelerated carbon emissions from deadwood pools, that is, a continuous balance between the inputs and outputs of C from the system. As deadwood stores similar to 8% of global forest carbon with termites being major decomposers, our study sheds important light on the understanding of forest carbon fluxes, especially in tropical and subtropical regions.

Spatial aggregation patterns represent snapshots of ecological processes that occurred over an extensive period. Such processes can shape both the conspecific and the heterospecific spatial structure of plants across woody habitats. We questioned here the degree to which conspecific and unspecific spatial aggregation varies with mycorrhizal type across 10 medium-sized forest plots at a nature reserve in a hotspot of plant diversity, subtropical China. We observed weaker conspecific spatial aggregation of ectomycorrhiza-associating plant species, but also a higher unspecific spatial aggregation across stands dominated by ectomycorrhizal species. Synthesis. We shed light on an underexplored structuring mechanism across woody stands. We link our results to ongoing debates on to how conspecific negative dependencies vary with mycorrhizal type across subtropical habitats.Read the free for this article on the Journal blog. (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic). (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)10(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic). (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic). (sic)(sic). (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).