Biotic interactions play a critical role in shaping patterns of global biodiversity. While several macroecological studies provide evidence for stronger predation in tropical regions compared with higher latitudes, results are variable even within the tropics, and the drivers of this variability are not well understood. We conducted two complementary standardized experiments on communities of sessile marine invertebrate prey and their associated predators to test for spatial and seasonal differences in predation across the tropical Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of Panama. We further tested the prediction that higher predator diversity contributes to stronger impacts of predation, using both direct observations of predators and data from extensive reef surveys. Our results revealed substantially higher predation rates and stronger effects of predators on prey in the Pacific than in the Atlantic, demonstrating striking variation within tropical regions. While regional predator diversity was high in the Atlantic, functional diversity at local scales was markedly low. Peak predation strength in the Pacific occurred during the wet, non-upwelling season when ocean temperatures were warmer and predator communities were more functionally diverse. Our results highlight the importance of regional biotic and abiotic drivers that shape interaction strength and the maintenance of tropical communities, which are experiencing rapid environmental change.

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In mesoscale eddies, the chemical properties and biological composition are different from those in the surrounding water due to their unique physical processes. The mechanism of physical-biological coupling in warm-core eddies is unclear, especially because no studies have examined the effects of environmental factors on bacteria and viruses. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of an anticyclonic warm eddy on the relationship between bacterial and viral abundances, as well as viral activity (viral production), at different depths. At the core of the warm eddy, the bacterial abundance (0.48 to 2.82 × 105 cells mL-1) fluctuated less than that outside the eddy (1.12 to 7.03 × 105 cells mL-1). In particular, there was a four-fold higher viral-bacterial abundance ratio (VBR) estimated within the eddy, below the layer of the deep chlorophyll maximum, than outside the eddy. An anticyclonic warm eddy with downwelling at its center may contribute to viruses being transmitted directly into the deep ocean through adsorption on particulate organic matter while sinking. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights into the interaction between bacterial and viral abundances and their ecological mechanisms within a warm eddy.

This study examined changes in the activity patterns of tropical dairy cows during the transition period to assess their potential for predicting calving days. This study used the AfiTag-II biosensor to monitor activity, rest time, rest per bout, and restlessness ratio in 298 prepartum and 347 postpartum Holstein Friesian cows across three lactation groups (1, 2, and ≥3). The data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models in SPSS, and five machine learning models, including random forest, decision tree, gradient boosting, Naïve Bayes, and neural networks, were used to predict the calving day, with their performance evaluated via ROC curves and AUC metrics. For all lactations, activity levels peak on the calving day, followed by a gradual return to prepartum levels within two weeks. First-lactation cows displayed the shortest rest duration, with a prepartum rest time of 568.8 ± 5.4 (mean ± SE), which is significantly lower than higher-lactation animals. The random forest and gradient boosting displayed an effective performance, achieving AUCs of 85% and 83%, respectively. These results indicate that temporal changes in activity behavior have the potential to be a useful indicator for calving day prediction, particularly in tropical climates where seasonal variations can obscure traditional prepartum indicators.

BACKGROUND: Febrile illnesses that persist despite initial treatment are common clinical challenges in (sub)tropical low-resource settings. Our aim is to review infectious etiologies of \"prolonged fevers\" (persistent febrile illnesses, PFI) and to quantify relative contributions of selected neglected target diseases with limited diagnostic options, often overlooked, causing inadequate antibiotic prescriptions, or requiring prolonged and potentially toxic treatments.
METHODS: We performed a systematic review of articles addressing the infectious etiologies of PFI in adults and children in sub-/tropical low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) using the PRISMA guidelines. A list of target diseases, including neglected parasites and zoonotic bacteria (e.g., Leishmania and Brucella), were identified by infectious diseases and tropical medicine specialists and prioritized in the search. Malaria and tuberculosis (TB) were not included as target diseases due to well-established epidemiology and diagnostic options. Four co-investigators independently extracted data from the identified articles while assessing for risk of bias.
RESULTS: 196 articles from 52 countries were included, 117 from Africa (33 countries), 71 from Asia (16 countries), and 8 from Central and -South America (3 countries). Target diseases were reported as the cause of PFI in almost half of the articles, most frequently rickettsioses (including scrub typhus), relapsing fever borreliosis (RF-borreliosis), brucellosis, enteric fever, leptospirosis, Q fever and leishmaniasis. Among those, RF-borreliosis was by far the most frequently reported disease in Africa, particularly in Eastern Africa. Rickettsioses (including scrub typhus) were often described in both Africa and Asia. Leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis and amoebiasis were the most frequent parasitic etiologies. Non-target diseases and non-tropical organisms (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp) were documented in a fifth of articles.
CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians faced with PFI in sub-/tropical LMICs should consider a wide differential diagnosis including enteric fever and zoonotic bacterial diseases (e.g., rickettsiosis, RF-borreliosis and brucellosis), or parasite infections (e.g., leishmaniasis) depending on geography and syndromes. In the absence of adequate diagnostic capacity, a trial of antibiotics targeting relevant intra-cellular bacteria, such as doxycycline or azithromycin, may be considered.

Simultaneous occurrences of heat and drought stresses have a detrimental effect on growth, development and yield of maize. Heat and drought is expected to worsen maize yield losses under climate change. Selecting CDHS tolerant maize hybrids creates great opportunity for sustainable maize improvement in the tropics. The objective of current investigation was to dissect the genetic basis of CDHS tolerance in tropical maize and to determine performance of single cross hybrids under CDHS. Ninety six single-cross hybrids resulted from crossing 12 tassel blast tolerant and 12 tassel blast susceptible lines along with two Striga resistant commercial hybrids, a heat tolerant and a heat susceptible check hybrids were evaluated under FIRR, MDRTS and CDHS using 25x4 alpha lattice design with two replications. The results showed significant genetic variation for FIRR, MDRTS and CDHS tolerance among maize hybrids. The majority of single crosses that showed improved grain yield over their respective standard checks under MDRTS also exhibited improved grain yield over the same checks under CHDS, indicating development of CHDS tolerance hybrids. Significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic correlation of grain yield under MDRTS and CDHS implicated common genetic mechanisms controlling yield under MDRTS and CDHS. Stress tolerance indices YI, GMP, MP, HM and STI were identified as best selecting indices under both stresses. GCA variances were larger than SCA variances in each testing environment for most studied traits indicating the impotence of additive gene action than non-additive gene action to control these traits. Majority of stress indices and SCA effects demonstrated that hybrids HB18, HB41, HB91 and HB95 were high yielder under MDRTS and CDHS. Hybrids HB41, HB91 and HB95 and their parents\' scored minimum tassel blast. Parents 19 and 7 were well general combiner for grain yield and early maturity under MDRTS and CDHS indicting their valuable source of genes for hybridization. The current findings revealed that CDHS tolerance hybrids can reduce expected yield losses and maintain maize productivity in CDHS prone areas. Promising hybrids should be tested further under various drought and CHDS for commercialization.

Eutrophication has become a recurrent concern in reservoirs worldwide. This problem is intensified in tropical semiarid regions, where the reservoirs have high seasonal and annual variability of water level and volume. Therefore, an extensive understanding of the diel variation of water quality key-parameters can help improve management of such reservoirs. This study focuses on Castanhão reservoir with the largest multipurpose dam in the Brazilian semiarid. Its main water uses are irrigation, fish farming, and human supply. The reservoir faced a decline in water quality due to a prolonged drought period. While previous research has predominantly emphasized the seasonal dynamics of thermal and chemical stratification, our investigation provides diel assessments of multiple water quality parameters, including nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton abundance. Our primary objective is to compare seasonal and diel variations in stratification and nutrient distribution within the reservoir. Key findings reveal a diel cycle of thermal stratification, primarily during dry season, driven by higher wind speeds. This is corroborated by a significant negative correlation between wind speed and the relative water column stability index. In contrast, during the rainy season, the reservoir experiences continuous thermal stratification due to inflowing water being warmer than the reservoir\'s water temperature. Notably, a significant negative correlation between total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a, along with a two-fold increase of this nutrient throughout the day during the rainy season, underscores the influence of the phytoplankton community dynamics on the diel nutrient variation. Chemical stratification of dissolved oxygen occurred during dry and rainy seasons, indicating that even during the dry season, where there is no significant inflow, the internal nutrient loading can also significantly impact the water quality of a reservoir. This study advances the understanding of diel water quality dynamics in tropical semiarid reservoirs, shedding light on both climatic and anthropogenic influences on water resources.

Amazonia contains the most extensive tropical forests on Earth, but Amazon carbon sinks of atmospheric CO2 are declining, as deforestation and climate-change-associated droughts1-4 threaten to push these forests past a tipping point towards collapse5-8. Forests exhibit complex drought responses, indicating both resilience (photosynthetic greening) and vulnerability (browning and tree mortality), that are difficult to explain by climate variation alone9-17. Here we combine remotely sensed photosynthetic indices with ground-measured tree demography to identify mechanisms underlying drought resilience/vulnerability in different intact forest ecotopes18,19 (defined by water-table depth, soil fertility and texture, and vegetation characteristics). In higher-fertility southern Amazonia, drought response was structured by water-table depth, with resilient greening in shallow-water-table forests (where greater water availability heightened response to excess sunlight), contrasting with vulnerability (browning and excess tree mortality) over deeper water tables. Notably, the resilience of shallow-water-table forest weakened as drought lengthened. By contrast, lower-fertility northern Amazonia, with slower-growing but hardier trees (or, alternatively, tall forests, with deep-rooted water access), supported more-drought-resilient forests independent of water-table depth. This functional biogeography of drought response provides a framework for conservation decisions and improved predictions of heterogeneous forest responses to future climate changes, warning that Amazonia\'s most productive forests are also at greatest risk, and that longer/more frequent droughts are undermining multiple ecohydrological strategies and capacities for Amazon forest resilience.

Species conservation assessments using the criteria outlined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List can be compromised by limited data availability. Species-rich tropical plant taxa with numerous microendemics are particularly problematic. This study focusses on the Begonia flora of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, comprised of 65 herbaceous species mainly found in rainforest habitats. Sixty-two species are Sulawesi endemics, including 20 species restricted to limestone karst landscapes. Forty-eight species are represented by fewer than 10 herbarium collections. Here, we outline and discuss an approach that, despite these data limitations, allows meaningful conservation assessments by integrating analyses of occurrences, data primarily based on remote sensing approaches, including forest landscape integrity, forest cover loss, and land cover, and extent of suitable habitat estimation. The results indicate that most Sulawesi Begonia species are narrow endemics whose rainforest habitats have substantially deteriorated in the last two decades: 27 species are assessed as Critically Endangered, 24 as Endangered, six as Vulnerable, five as Least Concern, and three species are Data Deficient. Conservation action, including extension of the protected area network in Sulawesi with emphasis on areas of old-growth forest and limestone karst landscapes, and strengthening of ex-situ living collections, is recommended.

The more insects there are, the more food there is for insectivores and the higher the likelihood for insect-associated ecosystem services. Yet, we lack insights into the drivers of insect biomass over space and seasons, for both tropical and temperate zones. We used 245 Malaise traps, managed by 191 volunteers and park guards, to characterize year-round flying insect biomass in a temperate (Sweden) and a tropical (Madagascar) country. Surprisingly, we found that local insect biomass was similar across zones. In Sweden, local insect biomass increased with accumulated heat and varied across habitats, while biomass in Madagascar was unrelated to the environmental predictors measured. Drivers behind seasonality partly converged: In both countries, the seasonality of insect biomass differed between warmer and colder sites, and wetter and drier sites. In Sweden, short-term deviations from expected season-specific biomass were explained by week-to-week fluctuations in accumulated heat, rainfall and soil moisture, whereas in Madagascar, weeks with higher soil moisture had higher insect biomass. Overall, our study identifies key drivers of the seasonal distribution of flying insect biomass in a temperate and a tropical climate. This knowledge is key to understanding the spatial and seasonal availability of insects-as well as predicting future scenarios of insect biomass change.