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The sandstone uranium deposits in the Kelulun Depression are the first commercially viable uranium deposits discovered in the Hailar Basin and the ore-bearing strata corresponding to the Lower Cretaceous Yimin Formation. However, the source of sedimentary matter, uranium source conditions, and uranium mineralization processes in the region have not been characterized. Accordingly, we analyzed the lithology, whole-rock geochemistry, zircon U-Pb ages, and trace elements of the Yimin Formation sandstones. The Yimin Formation sandstones were primarily composed of detrital grains with low compositional maturity. A geochemical analysis indicated that the parent rocks are felsic igneous rocks formed at an active continental margin with a moderately high degree of weathering. The detrital zircon U-Pb ages of the Yimin Formation 215-287 Ma with a peak at 230-260 Ma. Based on chronological, geochemical, and lithological data, we conclude that the Yimin Formation matter is derived from the Adunchulu Uplift on the western side of the Kelulun Depression and its parent rocks are Triassic granites. The Adunchulu uplift since the late Early Cretaceous and weathering and denudation of its uranium-rich granites provided ample matter and uranium. Therefore, the Kelulun Depression is a promising area for the exploration of sandstone uranium deposits., Competing Interests: The author has declared that there are no competing interests., (Copyright: © 2024 Meng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The global increase in anthropogenic CO2 is leading to ocean warming and acidification, which is threatening corals. In Ischia, Italy, two species of Mediterranean scleractinian corals-the symbiotic Cladocora caespitosa and the asymbiotic Astroides calycularis-were collected from ambient pH sites (average pHT = 8.05) and adjacent CO2 vent sites (average pHT = 7.8) to evaluate their response to ocean acidification. Coral colonies from both sites were reared in a laboratory setting for six months at present day pH (pHT ~ 8.08) or low pH (pHT ~7.72). Previous work showed that these corals were tolerant of low pH and maintained positive calcification rates throughout the experiment. We hypothesized that these corals cope with low pH by increasing their heterotrophic capacity (i.e., feeding and/or proportion of heterotrophically derived compounds incorporated in their tissues), irrespective of site of origin, which was quantified indirectly by measuring δ13C, δ15N, and sterols. To further characterize coral health, we quantified energy reserves by measuring biomass, total lipids, and lipid classes. Additional analysis for C. caespitosa included carbohydrates (an energy reserve) and chlorophyll a (an indicator of photosynthetic capacity). Isotopic evidence shows that ambient-sourced Mediterranean corals, of both species, decreased heterotrophy in response to six months of low pH. Despite maintaining energy reserves, lower net photosynthesis (C. caespitosa) and a trend of declining calcification (A. calycularis) suggest a long-term cost to low heterotrophy under ocean acidification conditions. Conversely, vent-sourced corals maintained moderate (C. caespitosa) or high (A. calycularis) heterotrophic capacity and increased photosynthesis rates (C. caespitosa) in response to six months at low pH, allowing them to sustain themselves physiologically. Provided there is sufficient zooplankton and/or organic matter to meet their heterotrophic needs, vent-sourced corals are more likely to persist this century and potentially be a source for new corals in the Mediterranean., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hulver et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and elasticity modulus (E) of intact rock are two fundamental requirements in engineering applications. These parameters can be measured either directly from the uniaxial compressive strength test or indirectly by using soft computing predictive models. In the present research, the UCS and E of intact carbonate rocks have been predicted by introducing two stacking ensemble learning models from non-destructive simple laboratory test results. For this purpose, dry unit weight, porosity, P-wave velocity, Brinell surface harnesses, UCS, and static E were measured for 70 carbonate rock samples. Then, two stacking ensemble learning models were developed for estimating the UCS and E of the rocks. The applied stacking ensemble learning method integrates the advantages of two base models in the first level, where base models are multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and random forest (RF) for predicting UCS, and support vector regressor (SVR) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) for predicting E. Grid search integrating k-fold cross validation is applied to tune the parameters of both base models and meta-learner. The results demonstrate the generalization ability of the stacking ensemble method in the comparison of base models in the terms of common performance measures. The values of coefficient of determination (R2) obtained from the stacking ensemble are 0.909 and 0.831 for predicting UCS and E, respectively. Similarly, the stacking ensemble yielded Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values of 1.967 and 0.621 for the prediction of UCS and E, respectively. Accordingly, the proposed models have superiority in the comparison of SVR and MLP as single models and RF and XGBoost as two representative ensemble models. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the impact of input parameters., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright: © 2024 Fereidooni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The National Sustainable Development Agenda Innovation Demonstration Zones (NSDAIDZs) aim to spearhead green development through scientific and technological innovation, showcasing sustainable development to other regions in China and offering valuable insights for countries worldwide. Taking Chengde City, which is one of the cities in the second batch of NSDAIDZs, as a case study, we examine the quantitative impact of technological innovation on green development. Additionally, it investigates the threshold effect of Research and development investments (R&D investments) on the relationship between technological innovation and green development. The results indicate that: (1) technological innovation has a positive promoting effect on green development, with a 1.01% increase in green development for every one unit increase in technological innovation; (2) The positive effect of technological innovation on green development becomes fully realized only when R&D investments and the upgrading of industrial structure surpass a specific threshold value. We contribute to the existing research on the connection between technological innovation and green development in innovation demonstration zones. It also provides empirical insights to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between R&D investments, industrial structure upgrading, and technological innovation, ultimately maximizing the promoting role of technological innovation in green development., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Yuan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Giant ichthyosaurs with body length estimates exceeding 20 m were present in the latest Triassic of the UK. Here we report on the discovery of a second surangular from the lower jaw of a giant ichthyosaur from Somerset, UK. The new find is comparable in size and morphology to a specimen from Lilstock, Somerset, described in 2018, but it is more complete and better preserved. Both finds are from the uppermost Triassic Westbury Mudstone Formation (Rhaetian), but the new specimen comes from Blue Anchor, approximately 10 km west along the coast from Lilstock. The more complete surangular would have been >2 m long, from an individual with a body length estimated at ~25 m. The identification of two specimens with the same unique morphology and from the same geologic age and geographic location warrants the erection of a new genus and species, Ichthyotitan severnensis gen. et sp. nov. Thin sections of the new specimen revealed the same histological features already observed in similar giant ichthyosaurian specimens. Our data also supports the previous suggestion of an atypical osteogenesis in the lower jaws of giant ichthyosaurs. The geological age and giant size of the specimens suggest shastasaurid affinities, but the material is too incomplete for a definitive referral. Ichthyotitan severnensis gen. et sp. nov., is the first-named giant ichthyosaur from the Rhaetian and probably represents the largest marine reptile formally described., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lomax et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The plasticity of some coral-associated microbial communities under stressors like warming and ocean acidification suggests the microbiome has a role in the acclimatization of corals to future ocean conditions. Here, we evaluated the acclimatization potential of coral-associated microbial communities of four Hawaiian coral species (Porites compressa, Porites lobata, Montipora capitata, and Pocillopora acuta) over 22-month mesocosm experiment. The corals were exposed to one of four treatments: control, ocean acidification, ocean warming, or combined future ocean conditions. Over the 22-month study, 33-67% of corals died or experienced a loss of most live tissue coverage in the ocean warming and future ocean treatments while only 0-10% died in the ocean acidification and control. Among the survivors, coral-associated microbial communities responded to the chronic future ocean treatment in one of two ways: (1) microbial communities differed between the control and future ocean treatment, suggesting the potential capacity for acclimatization, or (2) microbial communities did not significantly differ between the control and future ocean treatment. The first strategy was observed in both Porites species and was associated with higher survivorship compared to M. capitata and P. acuta which exhibited the second strategy. Interestingly, the microbial community responses to chronic stressors were independent of coral physiology. These findings indicate acclimatization of microbial communities may confer resilience in some species of corals to chronic warming associated with climate change. However, M. capitata genets that survived the future ocean treatment hosted significantly different microbial communities from those that died, suggesting the microbial communities of the survivors conferred some resilience. Thus, even among coral species with inflexible microbial communities, some individuals may already be tolerant to future ocean conditions. These findings suggest that coral-associated microbial communities could play an important role in the persistence of some corals and underlie climate change-driven shifts in coral community composition., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Price et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In areas with large differences between day and night temperature, the freeze-thaw cycle and frost heaving force in rock mass generate cracks within the rock, which seriously threatens the stability and safety of geotechnical engineering structures and surrounding buildings. This problem can be solved by developing a reasonable model that accurately represents the rock creep behavior. In this study, we developed a nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic creep damage model by introducing material parameters and a damage factor while connecting an elastomer, a viscosity elastomer, a Kelvin element, and a viscoelastic-plastic element in series. One- and three-dimensional creep equations were derived, and triaxial creep data were used to determine the model parameters and to validate the model. The results showed that the nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic creep damage model can accurately describe rock deformation in three creep stages under freeze-thaw cycles. In addition, the model can describe the time-dependent strain in the third stage. Parameters G1, G2, and η20' decrease exponentially with the increase in the number of freeze-thaw cycles while parameter λ increases exponentially. These results provide a theoretical basis for studying the deformation behavior and long-term stability of geotechnical engineering structures in areas with large diurnal temperature differences., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

For a single species, human kinship organization is both remarkably diverse and strikingly organized. Kinship terminology is the structured vocabulary used to classify, refer to, and address relatives and family. Diversity in kinship terminology has been analyzed by anthropologists for over 150 years, although recurrent patterning across cultures remains incompletely explained. Despite the wealth of kinship data in the anthropological record, comparative studies of kinship terminology are hindered by data accessibility. Here we present Kinbank, a new database of 210,903 kinterms from a global sample of 1,229 spoken languages. Using open-access and transparent data provenance, Kinbank offers an extensible resource for kinship terminology, enabling researchers to explore the rich diversity of human family organization and to test longstanding hypotheses about the origins and drivers of recurrent patterns. We illustrate our contribution with two examples. We demonstrate strong gender bias in the phonological structure of parent terms across 1,022 languages, and we show that there is no evidence for a coevolutionary relationship between cross-cousin marriage and bifurcate-merging terminology in Bantu languages. Analysing kinship data is notoriously challenging; Kinbank aims to eliminate data accessibility issues from that challenge and provide a platform to build an interdisciplinary understanding of kinship., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Passmore et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

An accurate phylogeny of animals is needed to clarify their evolution, ecology, and impact on shaping the biosphere. Although datasets of several hundred thousand amino acids are nowadays routinely used to test phylogenetic hypotheses, key deep nodes in the metazoan tree remain unresolved: the root of animals, the root of Bilateria, and the monophyly of Deuterostomia. Instead of using the standard approach of amino acid datasets, we performed analyses of newly assembled genome gene content and morphological datasets to investigate these recalcitrant nodes in the phylogeny of animals. We explored extensively the choices for assembling the genome gene content dataset and model choices of morphological analyses. Our results are robust to these choices and provide additional insights into the early evolution of animals, they are consistent with sponges as the sister group of all the other animals, the worm-like bilaterian lineage Xenacoelomorpha as the sister group of the other Bilateria, and tentatively support monophyletic Deuterostomia., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Juravel et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

European Bronze Age societies are generally characterised by increased mobility and the application of isotopic methods to archaeology has allowed the rate and range of human travels to be quantified. However, little is known about the mobility of the people inhabiting East-Central Europe in the late Early and Middle Bronze Age (1950-1250 BC) whose primary subsistence strategy was herding supported by crop cultivation. This paper presents the results of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses in the enamel of people buried in collective graves at the cemeteries in Gustorzyn and Żerniki Górne. These sites are located in Kujawy and the Nida Basin, a lowland and an upland region with clearly different environmental conditions, respectively. Both sites are classified as belonging to the Trzciniec cultural circle and were used between 16th and 13th centuries BC. Among the 34 examined individuals only an adult female from Gustorzyn can be assessed as non-local based on both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O signatures in her first molar. This may indicate the practice of exogamy in the studied population but more generally corresponds with the hypothesis of limited mobility within these societies, as has previously been inferred from archaeological evidence, anthropological analysis, and stable isotope-based diet reconstruction. New and existing data evaluated in this paper show that the 87Sr/86Sr variability in the natural environment of both regions is relatively high, allowing the tracking of short-range human mobility. A series of oxygen isotope analyses (conducted for all but one individuals studied with strontium isotopes) indicates that δ18O ratios measured in phosphate are in agreement with the predicted modern oxygen isotope precipitation values, and that this method is useful in detecting travels over larger distances. The challenges of using both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O isotopic systems in provenance studies in the glacial landscapes of temperate Europe are also discussed., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Pospieszny et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Since the 1970s, monumental stone structures now called mustatil have been documented across Saudi Arabia. However, it was not until 2017 that the first intensive and systematic study of this structure type was undertaken, although this study could not determine the precise function of these features. Recent excavations in AlUla have now determined that these structures fulfilled a ritual purpose, with specifically selected elements of both wild and domestic taxa deposited around a betyl. This paper outlines the results of the University of Western Australia's work at site IDIHA-0008222, a 140 m long mustatil (IDIHA-F-0011081), located 55 km east of AlUla. Work at this site sheds new and important light on the cult, herding and 'pilgrimage' in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia, with the site revealing one of the earliest chronometrically dated betyls in the Arabian Peninsula and some of the earliest evidence for domestic cattle in northern Arabia., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Kennedy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In this study, the regional spatial-temporal variability of cadmium (Cd) in the topsoil of Guangxi, China from 2010 to 2016 was studied from data obtained from the China Geochemical Baseline Project (CGB Ⅰ and CGB Ⅱ). The driving forces of natural and anthropogenic variables were quantitatively analyzed using a geographically and temporally weighted regression model. The results showed that 1) soil Cd was highly enriched in 2010 and in soils of Hechi city in northwest Guangxi, a non-ferrous metal mining and metallurgy area, ~17% of the samples exceeded the soil contamination risk limit. In contrast, in 2016, the topsoil Cd content decreased significantly, with 7% of sites exceeding the soil risk limit. 2) Multiple factors jointly influenced the regional spatial variability of Cd. pH and organic carbon were found to be the main factors influencing Cd content and were strongly spatially correlated with Cd. Anthropogenic activities, including mining and industrial emissions, resulted in significant Cd enrichment in local areas, whereas agricultural and domestic pollutants were relatively weakly correlated with Cd. The weathering products of carbonates were significantly enriched in Cd; thus, the geological background played a significant role in the spatial variability of Cd. Soil-forming factors, including temperature, precipitation, and elevation influenced the spatial distribution of Cd, especially in the Cd background area. 3) Anthropogenic activities were the key factors influencing temporal changes in Cd. Mining caused significant enrichment of Cd in CGB Ⅰ, while industrial emissions were the primary factor for Cd enrichment in CGB Ⅱ. In addition, natural factors also played an important role; the increased Normalized Difference Vegetation Index suggested reduced desertification and reduction of soil erosion in the watershed and in pollutants transported from upstream., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Tian et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Despite Bangladesh being one of the leading countries in aquaculture food production worldwide, there is a considerable lack of updated scientific information about aquaculture activities in remote sites, making it difficult to manage sustainably. This study explored the use of geospatial and field data to monitor spatio-temporal changes in aquaculture production sites in the Satkhira district from 2017-2019. We used Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission digital elevation model (SRTM DEM) to locate aquaculture ponds based on the terrain elevation and slope. Radar backscatter information from the Sentinel-1 satellite, and different water indices derived from Sentinel-2 were used to assess the spatio-temporal extents of aquaculture areas. An image segmentation algorithm was applied to detect aquaculture ponds based on backscattering intensity, size and shape characteristics. Our results show that the highest number of aquaculture ponds were observed in January, with a size of more than 30,000 ha. Object-based image classification of Sentinel-1 data showed an overall accuracy above 80%. The key factors responsible for the variation in aquaculture were investigated using field surveys. We noticed that despite a significant number of aquaculture ponds in the study area, shrimp production and export are decreasing because of a lack of infrastructure, poor governance, and lack of awareness in the local communities. The result of this study can provide in-depth information about aquaculture areas, which is vital for policymakers and environmental administrators for successful aquaculture management in Satkhira, Bangladesh and other countries with similar issues., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Nujaira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Coastal benthic communities in temperate regions have been influenced by climate change, including increasing sea-surface temperature. Nevertheless, scleractinian coral Alveopora japonica Eguchi, 1968, is thriving in shallow subtidal hard bottoms around Jeju Island, off the southern coast of Korea. The presence of this corals has negatively impacted subtidal kelp populations in Jeju Island. However, there is no study to document how the presence or absence of this coral relates to other benthic communities. This study investigated the benthos in three shallow subtidal sites (Shinheung (SH), Bukchon (BC), and Seongsan (SS)) in northern Jeju using underwater photography. Macro-benthic organisms appearing on a 1 × 20 m line transect installed at depths of 5, 10, and 15 m at each site were analyzed. Results showed that of the three sites investigated, A. japonica colonies were most abundant at BC, accounting for 45.9% and 72.8% of the total transect area at 10 m and 15 m, respectively. At SS, A. japonica occupied 15.3% of the total area at 15 m and less than 1% at 5 m and 10 m. The same at SH accounted for 10% of the total area at 5 m, and less than 1% at 10 m and 15 m. Dead and bleached colonies accounted for 1.2-11.5% and 1.8-5.7%, respectively, at 5, 10, and 15 m at three sites. At SS, canopy-forming brown algae Ecklonia cava and Sargassum spp. accounted for 20.2 and 24.3% of the total transect area, respectively, at 5 m depth. In contrast, the percent cover of E. cava and Sargassum spp. at SH and BC ranged from 0.1 to 1.8%, respectively. Moreover, non-geniculate coralline algae dominated the subtidal substrate at SH, ranging between 60.2 and 69% at 15 and 10 m. The low cover of A. japonica in SS (at 5 m) coincided with a high percent cover of canopy-forming brown algae. However, canopy-forming brown algae were rare at all depths at SH and BC and were dominated instead by coralline algae and the scleractinian corals. This study, by utilizing a non-destructive method, provides a baseline qualitative and quantitative information for understanding the site and depth-dependent distribution of A. japonica and algal populations, which is important to understand climate change related changes in benthic communities in Jeju and elsewhere., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Lee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The usage of cladocerans as non-model organisms in ecotoxicological and risk assessment studies has intensified in recent years due to their ecological importance in aquatic ecosystems. The molecular assessment such as gene expression analysis has been introduced in ecotoxicological and risk assessment to link the expression of specific genes to a biological process in the cladocerans. The validity and accuracy of gene expression analysis depends on the quantity, quality and integrity of extracted ribonucleic acid (RNA) of the sample. However, the standard methods of RNA extraction from the cladocerans are still lacking. This study evaluates the extraction of RNA from tropical freshwater cladocerans Moina micrura using two methods: the phenol-chloroform extraction method (QIAzol) and a column-based kit (Qiagen Micro Kit). Glycogen was introduced in both approaches to enhance the recovery of extracted RNA and the extracted RNA was characterised using spectrophotometric analysis (NanoDrop), capillary electrophoresis (Bioanalyzer). Then, the extracted RNA was analysed with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to validate the RNA extraction method towards downstream gene expression analysis. The results indicate that the column-based kit is most suitable for the extraction of RNA from M. micrura, with the quantity (RNA concentration = 26.90 ± 6.89 ng/μl), quality (A260:230 = 1.95 ± 0.15, A280:230 = 1.85 ± 0.09) and integrity (RNA integrity number, RIN = 7.20 ± 0.16). The RT-PCR analysis shows that the method successfully amplified both alpha tubulin and actin gene at 33-35 cycles (i.e. Ct = 32.64 to 33.48). The results demonstrate that the addition of glycogen is only suitable for the phenol-chloroform extraction method. RNA extraction with high and comprehensive quality control assessment will increase the accuracy and reliability of downstream gene expression, thus providing more ecotoxicological data at the molecular biological level on other freshwater zooplankton species., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Cementum, the tissue attaching mammal tooth roots to the periodontal ligament, grows appositionally throughout life, displaying a series of circum-annual incremental features. These have been studied for decades as a direct record of chronological lifespan. The majority of previous studies on cementum have used traditional thin-section histological methods to image and analyse increments. However, several caveats have been raised in terms of studying cementum increments in thin-sections. Firstly, the limited number of thin-sections and the two-dimensional perspective they impart provide an incomplete interpretation of cementum structure, and studies often struggle or fail to overcome complications in increment patterns that complicate or inhibit increment counting. Increments have been repeatedly shown to both split and coalesce, creating accessory increments that can bias increment counts. Secondly, identification and counting of cementum increments using human vision is subjective, and it has led to inaccurate readings in several experiments studying individuals of known age. Here, we have attempted to optimise a recently introduced imaging modality for cementum imaging; X-ray propagation-based phase-contrast imaging (PPCI). X-ray PPCI was performed for a sample of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) lower first molars (n = 10) from a laboratory population of known age. PPCI allowed the qualitative identification of primary/annual versus intermittent secondary increments formed by splitting/coalescence. A new method for semi-automatic increment counting was then integrated into a purpose-built software package for studying cementum increments, to count increments in regions with minimal complications. Qualitative comparison with data from conventional cementochronology, based on histological examination of tissue thin-sections, confirmed that X-ray PPCI reliably and non-destructively records cementum increments (given the appropriate preparation of specimens prior to X-ray imaging). Validation of the increment counting algorithm suggests that it is robust and provides accurate estimates of increment counts. In summary, we show that our new increment counting method has the potential to overcome caveats of conventional cementochronology approaches, when used to analyse three-dimensional images provided by X-ray PPCI., Competing Interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: The authors received material support in the form of travel to the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron for our experiment, consisting of airfare, guesthouse reservations, and external hard drives. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Travel to the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron for our experiment, consisting of airfare, guesthouse reservations, and external hard drives.

Floodplains represent critical nursery habitats for a variety of fish species due to their highly productive food webs, yet few tools exist to quantify the extent to which these habitats contribute to ecosystem-level production. Here we conducted a large-scale field experiment to characterize differences in food web composition and stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ³⁴S) for salmon rearing on a large floodplain and adjacent river in the Central Valley, California, USA. The study covered variable hydrologic conditions including flooding (1999, 2017), average (2016), and drought (2012-2015). In addition, we determined incorporation rates and tissue fractionation between prey and muscle from fish held in enclosed locations (experimental fields, cages) at weekly intervals. Finally, we measured δ³⁴S in otoliths to test if these archival biominerals could be used to reconstruct floodplain use. Floodplain-reared salmon had a different diet composition and lower δ13C and δ³⁴S (δ¹³C = -33.02±2.66‰, δ³⁴S = -3.47±2.28‰; mean±1SD) compared to fish in the adjacent river (δ¹³C = -28.37±1.84‰, δ³⁴S = +2.23±2.25‰). These isotopic differences between habitats persisted across years of extreme droughts and floods. Despite the different diet composition, δ¹⁵N values from prey items on the floodplain (δ¹⁵N = 7.19±1.22‰) and river (δ¹⁵N = 7.25±1.46‰) were similar, suggesting similar trophic levels. The food web differences in δ13C and δ³⁴S between habitats were also reflected in salmon muscle tissue, reaching equilibrium between 24-30 days (2014, δ¹³C = -30.74±0.73‰, δ³⁴S = -4.6±0.68‰; 2016, δ¹³C = -34.74 ±0.49‰, δ³⁴S = -5.18±0.46‰). δ³⁴S measured in sequential growth bands in otoliths recorded a weekly time-series of shifting diet inputs, with the outermost layers recording time spent on the floodplain (δ³⁴S = -5.60±0.16‰) and river (δ³⁴S = 3.73±0.98‰). Our results suggest that δ¹³C and δ³⁴S can be used to differentiate floodplain and river rearing habitats used by native fishes, such as Chinook Salmon, across different hydrologic conditions and tissues. Together these stable isotope analyses provide a toolset to quantify the role of floodplains as fish habitats., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The purposes are to solve the isomorphism encountered while processing hyperspectral remote sensing data and improve the accuracy of hyperspectral remote sensing data in extracting and classifying lithological information. Taking rocks as the research object, Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN) is introduced. After the hyperspectral image data are normalized, the lithological spectrum and spatial information are the feature extraction targets to construct a deep learning-based lithological information extraction model. The performance of the model is analyzed using specific instance data. Results demonstrate that the overall accuracy and the Kappa coefficient of the lithological information extraction and classification model based on deep learning were 90.58% and 0.8676, respectively. This model can precisely distinguish the properties of rock masses and provide better performance compared with the state of other analysis models. After introducing deep learning, the recognition accuracy and the Kappa coefficient of the proposed BPNN model increased by 8.5% and 0.12, respectively, compared with the traditional BPNN. The proposed extraction and classification model can provide some research values and practical significances for the hyperspectral rock and mineral classification., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The tropics are naturally vulnerable to watershed erosion. This region is rapidly growing (projected to be 50% of the global population by 2050) which exacerbates erosional issues by the subsequent land use change. The issue is particularly of interest on the many (~45,000) small tropical (<5,000 km2) islands, and their >115M residents, where ecotourism and sediment intolerant ecosystems such as coral reefs are the main driver of their economies. However, vulnerability to erosion and deposition is poorly quantified in these regions due to the misclassification or exclusion of small islands in coarse global analyses. We use the only vulnerability assessment method that connects watershed erosion and coastal deposition to compare locally sourced, high-resolution datasets (5 x 5 m) to satellite-collected, remotely sensed low-resolution datasets (463 x 463 m). We find that on the island scale (~52 km2) the difference in vulnerability calculated by the two methods is minor. On the watershed scale however, low-resolution datasets fail to accurately demonstrate watershed and coastal deposition vulnerability when compared to high-resolution analysis. Specifically, we find that anthropogenic development (roads and buildings) is poorly constrained at a global scale. Structures and roads are difficult to identify in heavily forested regions using satellite algorithms and the rapid, ongoing rate of development aggravates the issue. We recommend that end-users of this method obtain locally sourced anthropogenic development datasets for the best results while using low resolution datasets for the other variables. Fortunately, anthropogenic development data can be easily collected using community-based research or identified using satellite imagery by any level of user. Using high-resolution results, we identify a development trend across St. John and regions that are both high risk and possible targets for future development. Previously published modeled and measured sedimentation rates demonstrate the method is accurate when using low-resolution or high-resolution data but, anthropogenic development, watershed slope, and earthquake probability datasets should be of the highest resolution depending on the region specified., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Saline lakes occupy 44% and 23% of the volume and area of all lakes that are tending to suffer from extended dryness, reduced hydro period, or complete desiccation by 2025. The current study is conducted on Sambhar Salt Lake, the largest inland saline Ramsar, site of India, contributing to 9.86% of total salt production. The lake is under threat due to illegal salt pan encroachment, losing brine worth 300 million USD. The objective was to identify the key drivers that affect the lake at a landscape level. Geospatial modelling was conducted for 96 years (1963-2059) at a decadal scale, integrating ground data (birds-soil-water). Land Use Land Cover (LULC) classification was conducted using CORONA aerial imagery of 1963, along with Landsat imageries, using supervised classification for 1972, 1981, 1992, 2009, and 2019, and future prediction for 2029, 2039, 2049, and 2059. Further, images were classified into 8 classes that include the Aravali hills, barren land, saline soil, salt crust, salt pans, wetland, settlement, and vegetation. Past trends show a reduction of wetland from 30.7 to 3.4% at a constant rate (4.23%) to saline soil, which subsequently seemed to increase by 9.3%, increasing thereby the barren land by 4.2%; salt pans by 6.6%, and settlement by 1.2% till 2019. Future predictions show loss of 40% wetland and 120% of saline soil and net increase in 30% vegetation, 40% settlement, 10% salt pan, 5% barren land, and a net loss of 20%, each by Aravali hills and salt crust. Additionally, the ground result shows its alteration and reduction of migratory birds from 3 million to 3000. In the light of UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), restoration strategies are suggested; if delayed, more restoration capital may be required than its revenue generation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

China became the country with the largest global carbon emissions in 2007. Cities are regional population and economic centers and are the main sources of carbon emissions. However, factors influencing carbon emissions from cities can vary with geographic location and the development history of the cities, rendering it difficult to explicitly quantify the influence of individual factors on carbon emissions. In this study, random forest (RF) machine learning algorithms were applied to analyze the relationships between factors and carbon emissions in cities using real-world data from Chinese cities. Seventy-three cities in three urban agglomerations within the Yangtze River Economic Belt were evaluated with respect to urban carbon emissions using data from regional energy balance tables for the years 2000, 2007, 2012, and 2017. The RF algorithm was then used to select 16 prototypical cities based on 10 influencing factors that affect urban carbon emissions while considering five primary factors: population, industry, technology levels, consumption, and openness to the outside world. Subsequently, 18 consecutive years of data from 2000 to 2017 were used to construct RFs to investigate the temporal predictability of carbon emission variation in the 16 cities based on regional differences. Results indicated that the RF approach is a practical tool to study the connection between various influencing factors and carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from different perspectives. Furthermore, regional differences among the primary carbon emission influencing factors for each city were clearly observed and were related to urban population characteristics, urbanization level, industrial structures, and degree of openness to the outside world. These factors variably affected different cities, but the results indicate that regional emission reductions have achieved positive results, with overall simulation trends shifting from underestimation to overestimation of emissions., Competing Interests: Authors declare no competing interests.

Lystrosaurus represents one of the most successful dicynodonts, a survivor of the end-Permian mass extinction that remained abundant in the Early Triassic, but many aspects of its paleobiology are still controversial. The bone histology of Lystrosaurus species from South Africa and India has provided important information on their growth strategy and lifestyle, but until recently no data was available on the bone histology of Lystrosaurus from China. Here, we report on the bone microstructure of seven Lystrosaurus individuals from the Lower Triassic of Xinjiang, providing the first such data for the Chinese Lystrosaurus species. Our samples indicate that the microstructure of Lystrosaurus limb bones from China is characterized by fibrolamellar bone tissue similar to those from South Africa and India. Three ontogenetic stages were identified: juvenile, early subadult, and late subadult based on lines of arrested growth (LAGs) and bone tissue changes. Bone histology supports a rapid growth strategy for Lystrosaurus during early ontogeny. Unlike Early Triassic Lystrosaurus from South Africa, lines of arrested growth are common in our specimens, suggesting that many individuals of Chinese Lystrosaurus had reached the subadult stage and were interrupted in growth. The differences in bone histology between Lystrosaurus from South Africa and China may indicate different environmental conditions in these two regions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The megalithic jar sites of Laos (often referred to as the Plain of Jars) remain one of Southeast Asia's most mysterious and least understood archaeological cultures. The sites, recently inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, host hollowed stone jars, up to three metres in height, which appear scattered across the landscape, alone or clustered in groups of up to more than 400. Until now, it has not been possible to estimate when the jars were first placed on the landscape or from where the stone was sourced. Geochronological analysis using the age of detrital zircons demonstrates a likely quarry source for one of the largest megalithic jar sites. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating suggests the jars were positioned at the sites potentially as early as the late second millennium BC. Radiocarbon dating of skeletal remains and charcoal samples places mortuary activity around the jars from the 9-13th century AD, suggesting the sites have maintained ritual significance from the period of their initial placement until historic times., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

It remains debatable whether slash-and-burn practices were adopted in rice cultivation by the Neolithic Kuahuqiao culture in the Ningshao Plain, one of the birthplaces of rice farming. Here, we established charcoal-based indices to reconstruct the history of fire and vegetation in the Ningshao Plain since the last glacial period. We collected representative modern vegetation and conducted combustion and fragmentation experiments to simulate fire and depositional processes, respectively. Charcoals from modern vegetation show clear morphological differences between herbaceous and woody plants. In particular, the length to width ratios (L/W) of herbaceous charcoals were systematically higher than those of woody charcoals, and the associated end-member values were 4.50 and 1.94, respectively. These values were then applied to sediment cores (KHQ-14/15) collected in proximity to the Kuahuqiao archaeological site. Results show that the amount of combusted herbaceous plants increased sharply after the Holocene, and the most remarkable rise occurred around 8550 yr B.P. This observation may reflect local environment (sedimentary and/or climatic) changes or small-scale early human activities. During the Kuahuqiao cultural period (8250-7450 yr B.P.), the relative abundance of woody charcoals increased, but the overall fire intensity decreased. This finding suggests that the Kuahuqiao farming was restricted to a small geographic area and large-scale slash-and-burn farming activities were not adopted., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

On 3 April 2020, the Director-General of the WHO stated: "[COVID-19] is much more than a health crisis. We are all aware of the profound social and economic consequences of the pandemic (WHO, 2020)". Such consequences are the result of counter-measures such as lockdowns, and world-wide reductions in production and consumption, amplified by cascading impacts through international supply chains. Using a global multi-regional macro-economic model, we capture direct and indirect spill-over effects in terms of social and economic losses, as well as environmental effects of the pandemic. Based on information as of May 2020, we show that global consumption losses amount to 3.8$tr, triggering significant job (147 million full-time equivalent) and income (2.1$tr) losses. Global atmospheric emissions are reduced by 2.5Gt of greenhouse gases, 0.6Mt of PM2.5, and 5.1Mt of SO2 and NOx. While Asia, Europe and the USA have been the most directly impacted regions, and transport and tourism the immediately hit sectors, the indirect effects transmitted along international supply chains are being felt across the entire world economy. These ripple effects highlight the intrinsic link between socio-economic and environmental dimensions, and emphasise the challenge of addressing unsustainable global patterns. How humanity reacts to this crisis will define the post-pandemic world., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This article reports Australia's first confirmed ancient underwater archaeological sites from the continental shelf, located off the Murujuga coastline in north-western Australia. Details on two underwater sites are reported: Cape Bruguieres, comprising > 260 recorded lithic artefacts at depths down to -2.4 m below sea level, and Flying Foam Passage where the find spot is associated with a submerged freshwater spring at -14 m. The sites were discovered through a purposeful research strategy designed to identify underwater targets, using an iterative process incorporating a variety of aerial and underwater remote sensing techniques and diver investigation within a predictive framework to map the submerged landscape within a depth range of 0-20 m. The condition and context of the lithic artefacts are analysed in order to unravel their depositional and taphonomic history and to corroborate their in situ position on a pre-inundation land surface, taking account of known geomorphological and climatic processes including cyclone activity that could have caused displacement and transportation from adjacent coasts. Geomorphological data and radiometric dates establish the chronological limits of the sites and demonstrate that they cannot be later than 7000 cal BP and 8500 cal BP respectively, based on the dates when they were finally submerged by sea-level rise. Comparison of underwater and onshore lithic assemblages shows differences that are consistent with this chronological interpretation. This article sets a foundation for the research strategies and technologies needed to identify archaeological targets at greater depth on the Australian continental shelf and elsewhere, building on the results presented. Emphasis is also placed on the need for legislation to better protect and manage underwater cultural heritage on the 2 million square kilometres of drowned landscapes that were once available for occupation in Australia, and where a major part of its human history must lie waiting to be discovered., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Reindeer is the only deer species in which both males and females regularly grow antlers, providing an excellent model for studying the rapid growth and annual regeneration of antlers. The study of genetic information from reindeer is the basis for revealing the unique mechanism of antler growth. In the present study, we obtained 18.86 GB of clean reads, which were assembled to obtain 94,575 unigenes (average length: 704.69). Among these reads, 30,980 sequences were identified by searching a database of known proteins and then annotated with Gene Ontology (GO) terms, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) classifications and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. All 7,480 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected. A total of 84,435 and 82,226 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in male and female reindeer, respectively. We identified 31 genes that were highly expressed in reindeer antlers. These genes regulate cell activities that are closely associated with the process of rapid tissue growth. Our results provide a basis for studying reindeer antlers and for further studying the molecular genetics, population genetics, and functional genomics of reindeer., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Research Purpose and Findings: Coralline algae are key biological substrates of many carbonate systems globally. Their capacity to build enduring crusts that underpin the formation of tropical reefs, rhodolith beds and other benthic substrate is dependent on the formation of a calcified thallus. However, this important process of skeletal carbonate formation is not well understood. We undertook a study of cellular carbonate features to develop a model for calcification. We describe two types of cell wall calcification; 1) calcified primary cell wall (PCW) in the thin-walled elongate cells such as central medullary cells in articulated corallines and hypothallial cells in crustose coralline algae (CCA), 2) calcified secondary cell wall (SCW) with radial Mg-calcite crystals in thicker-walled rounded cortical cells of articulated corallines and perithallial cells of CCA. The distinctive banding found in many rhodoliths is the regular transition from PCW-only cells to SCW cells. Within the cell walls there can be bands of elevated Mg with Mg content of a few mol% higher than radial Mg-calcite (M-type), ranging up to dolomite composition (D-type)., Model for Calcification: We propose the following three-step model for calcification. 1) A thin (< 0.5 μm) PCW forms and is filled with a mineralising fluid of organic compounds and seawater. Nanometer-scale Mg-calcite grains precipitate on the organic structures within the PCW. 2) Crystalline cellulose microfibrils (CMF) are extruded perpendicularly from the cellulose synthase complexes (CSC) in the plasmalemma to form the SCW. 3) The CMF soaks in the mineralising fluid as it extrudes and becomes calcified, retaining the perpendicular form, thus building the radial calcite. In Clathromorphum, SCW formation lags PCW creating a zone of weakness resulting in a split in the sub-surface crust. All calcification seems likely to be a bioinduced rather than controlled process. These findings are a substantial step forward in understanding how corallines calcify., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Despite the importance of microbial activity in mobilizing arsenic in groundwater aquifers, the phylogenetic distribution of contributing microbial metabolisms is understudied. Groundwater samples from Ohio aquifers were analyzed using metagenomic sequencing to identify functional potential that could drive arsenic cycling, and revealed mechanisms for direct (i.e., Ars system) and indirect (i.e., iron reduction) arsenic mobilization in all samples, despite differing geochemical conditions. Analyses of 194 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) revealed widespread functionality related to arsenic mobilization throughout the bacterial tree of life. While arsB and arsC genes (components of an arsenic resistance system) were found in diverse lineages with no apparent phylogenetic bias, putative aioA genes (aerobic arsenite oxidase) were predominantly identified in Methylocystaceae MAGs. Both previously described and undescribed respiratory arsenate reduction potential via arrA was detected in Betaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, and Nitrospirae MAGs, whereas sulfate reduction potential was primarily limited to members of the Deltaproteobacteria and Nitrospirae. Lastly, iron reduction potential was detected in the Ignavibacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, and Nitrospirae. These results expand the phylogenetic distribution of taxa that may play roles in arsenic mobilization in subsurface systems. Specifically, the Nitrospirae are a much more functionally diverse group than previously assumed and may play key biogeochemical roles in arsenic-contaminated ecosystems., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Soil organic carbon plays an important role in the stability and fertility of soil and is influenced by different management practice. We quantified active and passive carbon pools from total soil organic carbon (TOC) in seven different land use systems of northeast India. TOC was highest (2.75%) in natural forest and lowest in grassland (1.31%) and it decreased with increasing depth in different pools of lability. Very Labile Carbon (VLC) fraction ranged from 36.11 to 42.74% of TOC across different land use system. Active carbon (AC) pool was highest in Wet Rice Cultivation (61.64%) and lowest (58.71%) in natural forest. Higher AC pools (VLC and less labile) in most land use systems barring natural forests suggest that the land use systems in the region are vulnerable to land use change and must adopt suitable management practice to harness carbon sequestration., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Neanderthals had complex land use patterns, adapting to diversified landscapes and climates. Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made in reconstructing the chronology, land use and subsistence patterns, and occupation types of sites in the Rhône Valley, southeast France. In this study, Neanderthal mobility at the site of Payre is investigated by combining information from lithic procurement analysis ("chaîne evolutive" and "chaîne opératoire" concepts) and strontium isotope analysis of teeth (childhood foraging area), from two units (F and G). Both units date to the transition from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 to MIS 7, and show similar environmental conditions, but represent contrasting occupation durations. Level Gb (unit G) represents a long-term year-round use, in contrast to short-term seasonal use of the cave in level Fb (unit F). For both levels, lithic material and food were generally collected from a local to semi-local region. However, in level Gb, lithic materials were mainly collected from colluviums and food collected in the valley, whereas in level Fb, lithic procurement focused primarily on alluvial deposits and food was collected from higher elevation plateaus. These procurement or exchange patterns might be related to flint availability, knapping advantages of alluvial flint or occupation duration. The site of Payre is located in a flint rich circulation corridor and the movement of groups or exchanges between groups were organized along a north-south axis on the plateaus or towards the east following the river. The ridges were widely used as they are rich in flint, whereas the Rhône Valley is not an important source of lithic raw materials. Compared to other western European Middle Palaeolithic sites, these results indicate that procurement strategies have a moderate link with occupation types and duration, and with lithic technology. The Sr isotope ratios broadly match the proposed foraging areas, with the Rhône Valley being predominantly used in unit G and the ridges and limestone plateaus in unit F. While lithic reconstructions and childhood foraging are not directly related this suggests that the three analysed Neanderthals spend their childhood in the same general area and supports the idea of mobile Neanderthals in the Rhône Valley and neighbouring higher elevation plateaus. The combination of reconstructing lithic raw material sources, provisioning strategies, and strontium isotope analyses provides new details on how Neanderthals at Payre practised land use and mobility in the Early Middle Palaeolithic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Shark meat is consumed as a food source worldwide, especially in Asian countries. However, since sharks are apex predators in the ocean food chain, they are prone to bioaccumulation of heavy metals. More than 100 million sharks are caught annually for human consumption, and the safety of shark meat cannot be overemphasized. Here, we examined heavy metal concentration in the muscle tissue of 6 shark species including 3 migratory species (Carcharhinus brachyurus, Carcharhinus obscurus, and Isurus oxyrinchus) and 3 local species (Triakis scyllium, Mustelus manazo, and Cephaloscyllium umbratile) from fish markets in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. The concentrations of 11 heavy metals (Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sn, Sb, Pb, and Hg) and MeHg were analyzed. The result showed that the average concentrations of all metals, except for that of As, were below the regulatory maximum limits of many organizations, including the Codex standard. Hg and MeHg were significantly correlated with body length, body weight, and age, and the concentration of Hg was expected to exceed the limit in C. brachyurus with a body length or weight of over 130 cm or 25 kg, respectively. Our results indicate that shark meat can expose consumers to a high level of As and that copper sharks bigger than the predicted size should be avoided for excessive Hg. Considering these findings, a detailed guideline on consumption of meat of different shark species should be suggested based on further investigation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The Australian lungfish has been studied for more than a century without any knowledge of the longevity of the species. Traditional methods for ageing fish, such as analysis of otolith (ear stone) rings is complicated in that lungfish otoliths differ from teleost fish in composition. As otolith sampling is also lethal, this is not appropriate for a protected species listed under Australian legislation. Lungfish scales were removed from 500 fish from the Brisbane, Burnett and Mary rivers. A sub-sample of scales (85) were aged using bomb radiocarbon techniques and validated using scales marked previously with oxytetracycline. Lungfish ages ranged from 2.5-77 years of age. Estimated population age structures derived using an Age Length Key revealed different recruitment patterns between river systems. There were statistically significant von Bertalanffy growth model parameters estimated for each of the three rivers based on limited sample sizes. In addition, length frequency distributions between river systems were also significantly different. Further studies will be conducted to review drivers that may explain these inter-river differences., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist in considering their commercial partner. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Monitor lizards (genus Varanus) inhabited Europe at least from the early Miocene to the Pleistocene. Their fossil record is limited to about 40 localities that have provided mostly isolated vertebrae. Due to the poor diagnostic value of these fossils, it was recently claimed that all the European species described prior to the 21st century are not taxonomically valid and a new species, Varanus amnhophilis, was erected on the basis of fragmentary material including cranial elements, from the late Miocene of Samos (Greece). We re-examined the type material of Varanus marathonensis Weithofer, 1888, based on material from the late Miocene of Pikermi (Greece), and concluded that it is a valid, diagnosable species. Previously unpublished Iberian material from the Aragonian (middle Miocene) of Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Barcelona) and the Vallesian (late Miocene) of Batallones (Madrid Basin) is clearly referable to the same species on a morphological basis, further enabling to provide an emended diagnosis for this species. Varanus amnhophilis appears to be a junior subjective synonym of V. marathonensis. On the basis of the most complete fossil Varanus skeleton ever described, it has been possible to further resolve the internal phylogeny of this genus by cladistically analyzing 80 taxa coded for 495 morphological and 5729 molecular characters. Varanus marathonensis was a large-sized species distributed at relatively low latitudes in both southwestern and southeastern Europe from at least MN7+8 to MN12. Our cladistic analysis nests V. marathonensis into an eastern clade of Varanus instead of the African clade comprising Varanus griseus, to which it had been related in the past. At least two different Varanus lineages were present in Europe during the Neogene, represented by Varanus mokrensis (early Miocene) and V. marathonensis (middle to late Miocene), respectively., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The deep sea is the largest biome on earth, and microbes dominate in biomass and abundance. Anthropogenic litter is now almost ubiquitous in this biome, and its deposition creates new habitats and environments, including for microbial assemblages. With the ever increasing accumulation of this debris, it is timely to identify and describe the bacterial and archaeal communities that are able to form biofilms on macrodebris in the deep sea. Using 16S rRNA gene high throughput sequencing, we show for the first time the composition of bacteria and archaea on macrodebris collected from the deep sea. Our data suggest differences in the microbial assemblage composition across litter of different materials including metal, rubber, glass, fabric and plastic. These results imply that anthropogenic macrodebris provide diverse habitats for bacterial and archaeal biofilms and each may harbour distinct microbial communities., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The unique macroevolutionary dataset of Aze & others has been transferred onto the TimeScale Creator visualisation platform while, as much as practicable, preserving the original unrevised content of its morphospecies and lineage evolutionary trees. This is a "Corrected Version" (not a revision), which can serve as an on-going historical case example because it is now updatable with future time scales. Both macroevolutionary and biostratigraphic communities are now equipped with an enduring phylogenetic database of Cenozoic macroperforate planktonic foraminiferal morphospecies and lineages for which both graphics and content can be visualised together. Key to maintaining the currency of the trees has been specification of time scales for sources of stratigraphic ranges; these scales then locate the range dates within the calibration series. Some ranges or their sources have undergone mostly minor corrections or amendments. Links between lineage and morphospecies trees have been introduced to improve consistency and transparency in timing within the trees. Also, Aze & others' dual employment of morphospecies and lineage concepts is further elaborated here, given misunderstandings that have ensued. Features displayed on the trees include options for line styles for additional categories for range extensions or degrees of support for ancestor-descendant proposals; these have been applied to a small number of instances as an encouragement to capture more nuanced data in the future. In addition to labeling of eco- and morpho-groups on both trees, genus labels can be attached to the morphospecies tree to warn of polyphyletic morphogenera, and the lineage codes have been decoded to ease their recognition. However, it is the mouse-over pop-ups that provide the greatest opportunity to embed supporting information in the trees. They include details for stratigraphic ranges and their recalibration steps, positions relative to the standard planktonic-foraminiferal zonation, and applications as datums, as well as mutual listings between morphospecies and lineages which ease the tracing of their interrelated contents. The elaboration of the original dataset has been captured in a relational database, which can be considered a resource in itself, and, through queries and programming, serves to generate the TimeScale Creator datapacks., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Physiological processes and gross energy budget of the longline-cultured Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas were investigated in Geoje-Hansan Bay, Korea during two entire culturing periods. Based on physiological measurements of food consumption, feces production, ammonium excretion, and respiration from July 2008 to February 2009 and from July 2013 to February 2014, scope for growth appeared to be positive during most of the culturing period, except for one period with extremely high temperatures (up to 25°C). Estimates of physiological energy production matched well with tissue energy increment measured by gross biochemical composition during the culturing period, suggesting that the oysters might adjust their physiological performance to relatively low concentrations of suspended particulate matter in the bay to optimize energy acquisition. Such an adaptive adjustment includes an increased absorption of energy and a reduced loss of metabolic and excretory energy, resulting in positive production under high culturing density. Using physiological measurements, we further assessed the feedback effects of the longline aquaculture of oysters on the bay system. Ecological efficiency, estimated by a series of energetic efficiencies at the whole bay level, was low compared with Lindeman's law of trophic efficiency. Biodeposition and ammonia excretion rates in this study were relatively low compared with other intertidal plastic bag cultures. These results indicate that the cultured oysters might have only minor effects on benthic and pelagic environments of the bay. Overall, our results suggest that the adaptive physiological performance of oysters and consequently weak feedback effects on ambient habitats should facilitate sustainable longline aquaculture in the bay for a prolonged period without severe habitat deterioration., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Pollen analysis is widely used to verify the geographic origin of honeys, but has never been employed in Australia. In this study, we analysed the pollen content of 173 unblended honey samples sourced from most of the commercial honey producing regions in southern Australia. Southern Australian vegetation is dominated by Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) forests and, as expected, most Australian honeys are palynologically dominated by Eucalyptus, while other important components include Myrtaceae taxa such as Corymbia/Angophora and the tribe Leptospermeae; plus Brassicaceae, Echium, Macadamia, and Acacia. An important feature of the honeys is the number of Myrtaceae pollen morphotypes per sample, which is generally high (mean = 4.6) compared to honeys produced outside of Australia, including Eucalyptus honeys produced in the Mediterranean region, and honeys produced in South America, which has its own rich indigenous Myrtaceae flora. In the latter regions, the number of Myrtaceae morphotypes is apparently generally ≤2. A high number of Myrtaceae morphotypes may be a feasible criterion for authenticating the origin of Australian honeys, since most Australian honey is produced by honey bees mainly working indigenous floral resources. Myrtaceae morphotype diversity is a convenient melissopalynological measure that could be applied even where detailed knowledge of the pollen morphology of the many component genera and species is absent. Palynological criteria developed in Europe for authenticating Eucalyptus honeys should not be relied upon for Australian honeys, since those criteria are not based on samples of Australian honey.

We examine the seasonality of asthma-related hospital admissions in Melbourne, Australia, in particular the contribution and predictability of episodic thunderstorm asthma. Using a time-series ecological approach based on asthma admissions to Melbourne metropolitan hospitals, we identified seasonal peaks in asthma admissions that were centred in late February, June and mid-November. These peaks were most likely due to the return to school, winter viral infections and seasonal allergies, respectively. We performed non-linear statistical regression to predict daily admission rates as functions of the seasonal cycle, weather conditions, reported thunderstorms, pollen counts and air quality. Important predictor variables were the seasonal cycle and mean relative humidity in the preceding two weeks, with higher humidity associated with higher asthma admissions. Although various attempts were made to model asthma admissions, none of the models explained substantially more variation above that associated with the annual cycle. We also identified a list of high asthma admissions days (HAADs). Most HAADs fell in the late-February return-to-school peak and the November allergy peak, with the latter containing the greatest number of daily admissions. Many HAADs in the spring allergy peak may represent episodes of thunderstorm asthma, as they were associated with rainfall, thunderstorms, high ambient grass pollen levels and high humidity, a finding that suggests thunderstorm asthma is a recurrent phenomenon in Melbourne that occurs roughly once per five years. The rarity of thunderstorm asthma events makes prediction challenging, underscoring the importance of maintaining high standards of asthma management, both for patients and health professionals, especially during late spring and early summer.

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into 'Wallacea', the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other 'megafauna' in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi.

Side scan sonar in low-cost 'fishfinder' systems has become popular in aquatic ecology and sedimentology for imaging submerged riverbed sediment at coverages and resolutions sufficient to relate bed texture to grain-size. Traditional methods to map bed texture (i.e. physical samples) are relatively high-cost and low spatial coverage compared to sonar, which can continuously image several kilometers of channel in a few hours. Towards a goal of automating the classification of bed habitat features, we investigate relationships between substrates and statistical descriptors of bed textures in side scan sonar echograms of alluvial deposits. We develop a method for automated segmentation of bed textures into between two to five grain-size classes. Second-order texture statistics are used in conjunction with a Gaussian Mixture Model to classify the heterogeneous bed into small homogeneous patches of sand, gravel, and boulders with an average accuracy of 80%, 49%, and 61%, respectively. Reach-averaged proportions of these sediment types were within 3% compared to similar maps derived from multibeam sonar.

Wintertime convective mixing plays a pivotal role in the sub-polar North Atlantic spring phytoplankton blooms by favoring phytoplankton survival in the competition between light-dependent production and losses due to grazing and gravitational settling. We use satellite and ocean reanalyses to show that the area-averaged maximum winter mixed layer depth is positively correlated with April chlorophyll concentration in the northern Labrador Sea. A simple theoretical framework is developed to understand the relative roles of winter/spring convection and gravitational sedimentation in spring blooms in this region. Combining climate model simulations that project a weakening of wintertime Labrador Sea convection from Arctic sea ice melt with our framework suggests a potentially significant reduction in the initial fall phytoplankton population that survive the winter to seed the region's spring bloom by the end of the 21st century.

Rising seawater temperature and ocean acidification threaten the survival of coral reefs. The relationship between coral physiology and its microbiome may reveal why some corals are more resilient to these global change conditions. Here, we conducted the first experiment to simultaneously investigate changes in the coral microbiome and coral physiology in response to the dual stress of elevated seawater temperature and ocean acidification expected by the end of this century. Two species of corals, Acropora millepora containing the thermally sensitive endosymbiont C21a and Turbinaria reniformis containing the thermally tolerant endosymbiont Symbiodinium trenchi, were exposed to control (26.5°C and pCO2 of 364 μatm) and treatment (29.0°C and pCO2 of 750 μatm) conditions for 24 days, after which we measured the microbial community composition. These microbial findings were interpreted within the context of previously published physiological measurements from the exact same corals in this study (calcification, organic carbon flux, ratio of photosynthesis to respiration, photosystem II maximal efficiency, total lipids, soluble animal protein, soluble animal carbohydrates, soluble algal protein, soluble algal carbohydrate, biomass, endosymbiotic algal density, and chlorophyll a). Overall, dually stressed A. millepora had reduced microbial diversity, experienced large changes in microbial community composition, and experienced dramatic physiological declines in calcification, photosystem II maximal efficiency, and algal carbohydrates. In contrast, the dually stressed coral T. reniformis experienced a stable and more diverse microbiome community with minimal physiological decline, coupled with very high total energy reserves and particulate organic carbon release rates. Thus, the microbiome changed and microbial diversity decreased in the physiologically sensitive coral with the thermally sensitive endosymbiotic algae but not in the physiologically tolerant coral with the thermally tolerant endosymbiont. Our results confirm recent findings that temperature-stress tolerant corals have a more stable microbiome, and demonstrate for the first time that this is also the case under the dual stresses of ocean warming and acidification. We propose that coral with a stable microbiome are also more physiologically resilient and thus more likely to persist in the future, and shape the coral species diversity of future reef ecosystems.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the Pleistocene saber-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis had many forelimb adaptations for increased strength, presumably to grapple with and subdue prey. The Rancho La Brea tar pits yield large samples of juvenile limb bones forming a growth series that allow us to examine how Smilodon kittens grew up. Almost all available juvenile limb bones were measured, and reduced major axis fits were calculated to determine the allometric growth trends. Contrary to expectations based on their robust limbs, Smilodon kittens show the typical pattern of growth found in other large felids (such as the Ice Age lion, Panthera atrox, as well as living tigers, cougars, servals, and wildcats) where the limb grows longer and more slender faster than they grow thick. This adaptation is thought to give felids greater running speed. Smilodon kittens do not grow increasingly more robust with age. Instead, they start out robust and follow the ancestral felid growth pattern, while maintaining their robustness compared to other felids. Apparently, the growth of felid forelimbs is highly canalized and their ontogeny is tightly constrained.

Adopting successful climate change mitigation policies requires the public to choose how to balance the sometimes competing goals of managing CO2 emissions and achieving economic growth. It follows that collective action on climate change depends on members of the public to be knowledgeable of the causes and economic ramifications of climate change. The existing literature, however, shows that people often struggle to correctly reason about the fundamental accumulation dynamics that drive climate change. Previous research has focused on using analogy to improve people's reasoning about accumulation, which has been met with some success. However, these existing studies have neglected the role economic factors might play in shaping people's decisions in relation to climate change. Here, we introduce a novel iterated decision task in which people attempt to achieve a specific economic goal by interacting with a causal dynamic system in which human economic activities, CO2 emissions, and warming are all causally interrelated. We show that when the causal links between these factors are highlighted, people's ability to achieve the economic goal of the task is enhanced in a way that approaches optimal responding, and avoids dangerous levels of warming.

Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding 14C dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311±370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.

Phaeocystis antarctica is an abundant phytoplankton species in the Southern Ocean, where growth is frequently limited by iron and light. Being able to grow under low iron conditions is essential to the species' success, but there have been hints that this ability differs among clones. Here, we compare the growth, cell size and chlorophyll a concentrations of four P. antarctica clones cultured under different iron and light conditions. Iron was provided either as unchelated iron (Fe') or bound to the bacterial siderophore desferrioxamine B, representing, respectively, the most and least bioavailable forms of iron which phytoplankton encounter in the marine environment. The growth rate data demonstrate that the clones vary in their ability to grow using organically bound iron, and that this ability is not related to their ability to grow at low inorganic iron concentrations. These results are consistent at low and high light. Physiologically, only three of the four clones shrink or decrease the concentration of chlorophyll a in response to iron limitation, and only one clone decreases colony formation. Together, our data show that P. antarctica clones 1) respond to the same degree of iron limitation using different acclimation strategies, and 2) vary in their ability to grow under the same external iron and light conditions. This physiological diversity is surprisingly large for isolates of a single phytoplankton species.

Over the past decades, numerous studies have been carried out in understanding causes of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and their dynamics, yielding great knowledge in this field. Lake Erie, the fourth-largest lake of the five Great Lake, is among those highly vulnerable to the impacts of HABs and has received substantial attention from the public, water management sectors, and academic field. Building upon previous work, this study aims to characterize spatiotemporal variability of Chlorophyll a (Chl-a), which is an important indicator of HABs, and to explore relative importance of environmental factors associated with HABs in the west Lake Erie. Ten years of biweekly Chl-a information over western Lake Erie were derived from MERIS data at the pixel scale. Based on the MERIS-derived information high concentrations of Chl-a were observed in the south near shore area in spring and fall and in the west corner area of western Lake Erie in all three seasons except winter. Wavelet analysis suggested that the 0.5- and 1-year periods were dominant modes for the Chl-a series. The Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) analysis was performed to explore factors associated with the dynamics of Chl-a. The results suggested that overall both phenological (e.g. wind) and ecological (e.g. nutrient levels) factors exhibited significant correlations with the remotely-sensed imagery based observations of Chl-a despite spatial and temporal variations. The important phenological and ecological factors include solar radiation and wind speed in spring, water temperature, solar radiation, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen concentration in summer, wind speed in fall, and water temperature and streamflow in winter. Both consistency and differences of findings of the study with others in the region may suggest strengths and limitations of the remotely sensed imagery-based analysis, offering valuable information for future work.