Suchergebnisse

Heterogenität von Umweltbedingungen gilt als einer der wichtigsten Faktoren für die Verteilung von Artenreichtum weltweit. Laut der Habitatheterogenität-Hypothese bieten räumlich heterogenere Gebiete eine höhere Vielfalt an Umweltparametern und weisen mehr Refugien und Möglichkeiten zur Isolation und Radiation auf. Dadurch begünstigen sie Koexistenz, Persistenz und Diversifikation von Arten. Die Erforschung potentieller positiver Effekte von Heterogenität auf Artenreichtum fasziniert Ökologen und Evolutionsbiologen seit Jahrzehnten. Dementsprechend existieren zahlreiche Studien über die Bez...

Heterogenität von Umweltbedingungen gilt als einer der wichtigsten Faktoren für die Verteilung von Artenreichtum weltweit. Laut der Habitatheterogenität-Hypothese bieten räumlich heterogenere Gebiete eine höhere Vielfalt an Umweltparametern und weisen mehr Refugien und Möglichkeiten zur Isolation und Radiation auf. Dadurch begünstigen sie Koexistenz, Persistenz und Diversifikation von Arten. Die Erforschung potentieller positiver Effekte von Heterogenität auf Artenreichtum fasziniert Ökologen und Evolutionsbiologen seit Jahrzehnten. Dementsprechend existieren zahlreiche Studien über die Bez...

10 páginas, 5 figuras ; Sponges are important components of marine benthic communities. High microbial abundance sponges host a large diversity of associated microbial assemblages. However, the dynamics of such assemblages are still poorly known. In this study, we investigated whether bacterial assemblages present in Spongia lamella remained constant or changed as a function of the environment and life cycle. Sponges were collected in multiple locations and at different times of the year in the western Mediterranean Sea and in nearby Atlantic Ocean to cover heterogeneous environmental variability. Cooccurring adult sponges and offsprings were compared at two of the sites. To explore the composition and abundance of the main bacteria present in the sponge mesohyl, embryos, and larvae, we applied both 16S rRNA gene-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequencing of excised DGGE bands and quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR). On average, the overall core bacterial assemblage showed over 60 % similarity. The associated bacterial assemblage fingerprints varied both within and between sponge populations, and the abundance of specific bacterial taxa assessed by qPCR significantly differed among sponge populations and between adult sponge and offsprings (higher proportions of Actinobacteria in the latter). Sequences showed between 92 and 100%identity to sequences previously reported in GenBank, and allwere affiliatedwith uncultured invertebrate bacterial symbionts (mainly sponges). Sequences were mainly related to Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria and a fewto Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Additional populations may have been present under detection limits. Overall, these results support that both ecological and biological sponge features may shape the composition of endobiont bacterial communities in S. lamella. ; Financial support was provided by the European Union project BIOCAPITAL (MRTN-CT-2004-512301) and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche on Biodiversity (ECIMAR program ANR- 06-BDIV-001). EOC contribution was supported by grant DARKNESS CGL2012-32747 from the Spanish Office for Science (MINECO). ; Peer reviewed

Funding: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number MR/P014704/1] and the PreDiCT-TB consortium (IMI Joint undertaking grant agreement number 115337, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EF-PIA companies' in kind contribution. ; Progress in shortening the duration of tuberculosis (TB) treatment is hampered by the lack of a predictive model that accurately reflects the diverse environment within the lung. This is important as TB has been shown to produce distinct localisations to different areas of the lung during different disease stages, with the environmental heterogeneity within the lung of factors such as air ventilation, blood perfusion and oxygen tension believed to contribute to the apical localisation witnessed during the post-primary form of the disease. Building upon our previous model of environmental lung heterogeneity, we present a networked metapopulation model that simulates TB across the whole lung, incorporating these notions of environmental heterogeneity across the whole TB life-cycle to show how different stages of the disease are influenced by different environmental and immunological factors. The alveolar tissue in the lung is divided into distinct patches, with each patch representing a portion of the total tissue and containing environmental attributes that reflect the internal conditions at that location. We include populations of bacteria and immune cells in various states, and events are included which determine how the members of the model interact with each other and the environment. By allowing some of these events to be dependent on environmental attributes, we create a set of heterogeneous dynamics, whereby the location of the tissue within the lung determines the disease pathological events that occur there. Our results show that the environmental heterogeneity within the lung is a plausible driving force behind the apical localisation during post-primary ...

The use of Land use and Land cover (LULC) data is gradually becoming more widely spread in studies relating the environment to human health. However, little research has acknowledged the compositional nature of these data. The goal of the present study is to explore, for the first time, the independent effect of eight LULC categories (agricultural land, bare land, coniferous forest, broad-leaved forest, sclerophyll forest, grassland and shrubs, urban areas, and waterbodies) on three selected common health conditions: type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), asthma and anxiety, using a compositional methodological approach and leveraging observational health data of Catalonia (Spain) at area level. We fixed the risk exposure scenario using three covariates (socioeconomic status, age group, and sex). Then, we assessed the independent effect of the eight LULC categories on each health condition. Our results show that each LULC category has a distinctive effect on the three health conditions and that the three covariates clearly modify this effect. This compositional approach has yielded plausible results supported by the existing literature, highlighting the relevance of environmental heterogeneity in health studies. In this sense, we argue that different types of environment possess exclusive biotic and abiotic elements affecting distinctively on human health. We believe our contribution might help researchers approach the environment in a more multidimensional manner integrating environmental heterogeneity in the analysis. ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of 5.10.2018). Isabel Serra acknowledges support from FIS2015-71851-P and PGC-FIS2018-099629-B-I00 from Spanish MINECO and MICINN, and was partially funded by the grant RTI2018-096072-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Jordina Belmonte was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through the project CTM2017-86565-C2-1-O and by the Catalan Government AGAUR through 2017SGR1692. Pepus Daunis-i-Estadella acknowledges support from the project RTI2018-095518-B-C21 Methods for Compositional analysis of Data (CODAMET), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain. The funding sources did not participate in the design or conduct of the study, the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. We want to thank Marcel Bach-Pagès for his insights in the manuscript. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)

The use of Land use and Land cover (LULC) data is gradually becoming more widely spread in studies relating the environment to human health. However, little research has acknowledged the compositional nature of these data. The goal of the present study is to explore, for the first time, the independent effect of eight LULC categories (agricultural land, bare land, coniferous forest, broad-leaved forest, sclerophyll forest, grassland and shrubs urban areas, and waterbodies) on three selected common health conditions: type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), asthma and anxiety, using a compositional methodological approach and leveraging observational health data of Catalonia (Spain) at area level. We fixed the risk exposure scenario using three covariates (socioeconomic status, age group, and sex). Then, we assessed the independent effect of the eight LULC categories on each health condition. Our results show that each LULC category has a distinctive effect on the three health conditions and that the three covariates clearly modify this effect. ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of 5.10.2018). Isabel Serra acknowledges support from FIS2015-71851-P and PGC-FIS2018-099629-B-I00 from Spanish MINECO and MICINN, and was partially funded by the grant RTI2018- 096072-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Jordina Belmonte was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through the project CTM2017-86565-C2-1-O and by the Catalan Government AGAUR through 2017SGR1692. Pepus Daunis-i-Estadella acknowledges support from the project RTI2018- 095518-B-C21 Methods for Compositional analysis of Data (CODAMET), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain.