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Not 1 year has passed since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since its emergence, great uncertainty has surrounded the potential for COVID-19 to establish as a seasonally recurrent disease. Many infectious diseases, including endemic human coronaviruses, vary across the year. They show a wide range of seasonal waveforms, timing (phase), and amplitudes, which differ depending on the geographical region. Drivers of such patterns are predominantly studied from an epidemiological perspective with a focus on weather and behavior, but complementary insights emerge from physiological studies of seasonality in animals, including humans. Thus, we take a multidisciplinary approach to integrate knowledge from usually distinct fields. First, we review epidemiological evidence of environmental and behavioral drivers of infectious disease seasonality. Subsequently, we take a chronobiological perspective and discuss within-host changes that may affect susceptibility, morbidity, and mortality from infectious diseases. Based on photoperiodic, circannual, and comparative human data, we not only identify promising future avenues but also highlight the need for further studies in animal models. Our preliminary assessment is that host immune seasonality warrants evaluation alongside weather and human behavior as factors that may contribute to COVID-19 seasonality, and that the relative importance of these drivers requires further investigation. A major challenge to predicting seasonality of infectious diseases are rapid, human-induced changes in the hitherto predictable seasonality of our planet, whose influence we review in a final outlook section. We conclude that a proactive multidisciplinary approach is warranted to predict, mitigate, and prevent seasonal infectious diseases in our complex, changing human-earth system.

Populations at the warm edge of distribution are more genetically diverse, and at the same time are more susceptible to climate change. Between 1987-1996, we studied Tawny Owls in Israel, the species' global southern edge of distribution and a country undergoing a rapid land cover transformation for over a century. To assess the potential impacts of land cover transformation, we modelled the species' most suitable habitat and climate and analyzed how climate and habitat affected the nesting success and prey selection. Moreover, we monitored Tawny Owl juveniles' survival and ontogeny from eggs to dietary independent young, to find out whether the Israeli population is a sink. While the species distribution model correctly predicted the Tawny Owl's densest areas of occurrence, it failed to predict its occurrence in adjacent regions. The model also predicted that areas included in the species' historical range remained suitable habitats. The number of fledglings increased with precipitation and in rural settings but was adversely affected by extreme temperatures. While voles dominated the diet in all habitats, the Tawny Owl's diet is considerably more variable than other Israeli owls. Our results suggest that the Tawny Owl can adapt to rural-agricultural environments, but is susceptible to climate change.

While bioinvasion was an issue of low political salience in Europe, a new regulation addressing it was adopted in 2014 with strong support. This article analyzes the making of the regulation as an ...

Background In recent decades, a decrease of passerine densities was documented in Mediterranean shrublands. At the same time, a widespread encroachment of Aleppo pines (Pinus halepensis) to Mediterranean shrubland occurred. Such changes in vegetation structure may affect passerine predator assemblage and densities, and in turn impact passerine densities. Depredation during the nesting season is an important factor to influence passerine population size. Understanding the effects of changes in vegetation structure (pine encroachment) on passerine nesting success is the main objective of this study. We do so by assessing the effects of Aleppo pine encroachment on Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) nest depredation in Mediterranean shrublands. We examined direct and indirect predation pressures through a gradients of pine density, using four methods: (1) placing dummy nests; (2) acoustic monitoring of mobbing events; (3) direct observations on nest predation using cameras; and (4) observation of Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) behaviour as indirect evidence of predation risk. Results We found that Aleppo pine encroachment to Mediterranean shrublands increased nest predation by Eurasian jays. Nest predation was highest in mixed shrubland and pines. These areas are suitable for warblers but had high occurrence rate of Eurasian jays. Conclusions Encroaching pines directly increase activity of Eurasian jays in shrubland habitats, which reduced the nesting success of Sardinian warblers. These findings are supported by multiple methodologies, illustrating different predation pressures along a gradient of pine densities in natural shrublands. Management of Aleppo pine seedlings and removal of unwanted trees in natural shrubland might mitigate arrival and expansion of predators and decrease the predation pressure on passerine nests.

Landscape conversion to agriculture is the primary cause for habitat loss worldwide. As partial mitigation, agricultural landscapes may be designated as ecological corridors due to their presumed habitability and permeability to wildlife. Behavioral changes following anthropogenic disturbance can affect species' spatio-temporal activity patterns and modify interactions, and thus influence habitat preferences. Understanding how human activity affects wildlife behavior and how such behavioral changes scale up to the community may enhance the effectiveness of conservation schemes. We used camera traps to measure the activity of five mammal species along a disturbance gradient in an agricultural-natural mosaic landscape designated as a national ecological corridor. Wildlife diurnal activity was minimal around towns, where humans were active during the day. Nevertheless, predator activity increased near towns and at other sites of high disturbance. Although attracted to highly disturbed areas, predators avoided humans temporally by restricting activity to night-time, whereas prey activity relative to less disturbed areas was negligible. We conclude that perceived threat from humans during daytime combined with elevated nocturnal predation risk exclude prey species from large areas of an agricultural region designated as ecological corridor. Human activity may have triggered a cascading effect mediated by predators' diel activity shifts, which reduced landscape permeability to prey. Our study underlines the need to consider wildlife diel activity patterns for conservation and environmental management planning.

Many factors affect individual fitness, but while some factors, such as resource availability, have received strong experimental support, others including interspecific competition have rarely been quantified. Nevertheless, interspecific competition is commonly mentioned in the context of reproductive success and fitness. In general, when reproduction is likely to fail, reproductive suppression may occur. We studied the golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus) and the common spiny mouse (A. cahirinus; however, recent molecular analysis in spiny mice from Jordan and Sinai suggests this species is A. dimidiatus (Frynta et al., 2010), as a model for the effect of competition on reproduction in four field enclosures: two populated only by A. russatus individuals, and two populated by individuals of both species. In presence of A. cahirinus, fitness of A. russatus was lower: the number of A. rusatus offspring was significantly lower; more males had regressed testes (indicating reproductive depression); more A. russatus young had damaged tails. However, no clear effect was evident in A. russatus female vaginal smear cytology. We conclude that the presence of A. cahirinus impairs fitness and reproductive success of A. russatus. While various direct and/or indirect mechanisms may be responsible for the effect of competition on reproduction, a plausible mechanism is increased use of torpor induced by the presence of A. cahirinus previously documented in A. russatus.

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on micromammalian assemblages are a commonly used tool in paleoecology and zooarcheology. However, predator prey preferences may bias these assemblages to an unknown degree, thus leading to unreliable paleoenvironmental reconstructions. While attempts at taxonomically identifying micromammal predators through taphonomy has been conducted in the past, none has satisfactorily differentiated between owl taxa. Here we introduce the novel postcranial fracture index and revised versions of digestion indices for obtaining higher taxonomic resolution in taphonomic signatures. We taphonomically analyzed bone assemblages created by owls both in controlled feeding experiments and in the wild. We used blind experiment methodology involving multiple experimenters (each analyzing different bones) to test known and novel indices for reproducible taphonomic signatures within five species of owls (Tyto alba, Asio otus, Athene noctua, Bubo bubo and Strix aluco), Falco tinnunculus and Vulpes vulpes for comparison. We found that experimenter identity has a profound impact on the digestion indices. Nonetheless, the breakage indices and our novel fracture index found significant differences and subjective differences between owl species. Mandible breakage differentiated between Tyto alba and the other, more destructive owls. Postcranial breakage distinguished Strix aluco from the other owls. The postcranial fracture index differentiated between all species except between Athene noctua and Bubo bubo. We recommend a combination of taphonomic indices as a reliable tool for inferring owl species identity of micromammal assemblages.

Micromammal assemblages are often used in paleoecological reconstructions. However, in studies to date, the environmental variables reconstructed were not shown to drive micromammal community structure before the reconstruction was attempted. Furthermore, the relative abundance data is too often dismissed despite its potential paleoecological value. Here we chose to reconstruct the botanical succession stage known to impact micromammal communities in the Mediterranean zone of Israel. We used weighted averaging partial least squares (WAPLS) regression to model the connection between botanical succession phase and the micromammal faunas as reflected in Tyto alba pellets. In addition to cross-validation, we validated our model using historical T. alba pellet data and contemporary maps. Moreover, we tested the repercussions of misidentifying the owl species in archaeological micromammal assemblages by applying our model to Recent assemblages collected by other owl species. Our WAPLS model differentiated forested environments from garrigue or grassland dominated ones in both the cross-validation and in the reconstructed historical environments. However, urban environments were not well distinguished from grasslands and garrigues, and misidentifying the owl species severely compromised model performance. Our results stress the potential insight deducible from micromammal relative abundance data, given its reliance on empirically tested relationships between fauna, environment, and taphonomic agent (predator).

Ecological theory suggests that prey size should increase with predator size, but this trend may be masked by other factors affecting prey selection, such as environmental constraints or specific prey preferences of predator species. Owls are an ideal case study for exploring how predator body size affects prey selection in the presence of other factors due to the ease of analyzing their diets from owl pellets and their widespread distributions, allowing interspecific comparisons between variable habitats. Here, we analyze various dimensions of prey resource selection among owls, including prey size, taxonomy (i.e., whether or not particular taxa are favored regardless of their size), and prey traits (movement type, social structure, activity pattern, and diet). We collected pellets of five sympatric owl species (Athene noctua, Tyto alba, Asio otus, Strix aluco, and Bubo bubo) from 78 sites across the Mediterranean Levant. Prey intake was compared between sites, with various environmental variables and owl species as predictors of abundance. Despite significant environmental impacts on prey intake, some key patterns emerge among owl species studied. Owls select prey by predator body size: Larger owls tend to feed on wider ranges of prey sizes, leading to higher means. In addition, guild members show both specialization and generalism in terms of prey taxa, sometimes in contrast with the expectations of the predator–prey body size hypothesis. Our results suggest that while predator body size is an important factor in prey selection, taxon specialization by predator species also has considerable impact.

Frequently, Mediterranean natural and semi-natural areas will undergo cattle grazing as a form of fire fuel reduction management. We used a multi-species approach to understand effects of cattle grazing on mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) in relation to 2 potential predators of gazelle neonates: golden jackal (Canis aureus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and a fine-scale camera trap design (0.01-km2 grid) in Ramat Hanadiv Nature Park in the Mediterranean region of Israel to determine gazelle habitat and patch preferences in response to grazing using N-mixture models. Cattle grazing decreased female gazelle detectability and activity and attracted potential predators during the most sensitive time of the year for gazelle: parturition and the critical first 5 weeks of fawns' lives. Grazing management acts as a disturbance for gazelles and increases risk for neonates. Our results show the importance of understanding the broader mechanism behind predator–prey dynamics and how indirect human-mediated management actions and direct predation may have adverse effects on wild populations. We recommend that cattle be allowed to enter natural areas only after the spring birth peak. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Background In recent decates, a decrease of passerine densities was documented in Mediterenean shrublands. At the same time, a widspread encroachment of Aleppo pines (Pinus halepensis) to Mediterranean shrubland occurred. Such changes in vegetation structure may effect passerine predator assemblage and densities, and in turn impact passerine densities. Depredation during the nesting season is an important factor to influence passerine population size. Understanding the effects of changes in vegetation structure (pine encroachment) on passerine nesting success is the main objective of this study. We do so by assesing the effects of Aleppo pine encroachment on Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) nest depredation in Mediterranean shrublands. Methods We examined direct and indirect predation pressures throught a gradients of pine density, using four methods: (1) placing dummy nests; (2) acoustic monitoring of mobbing events; (3) direct observations on nest predation using cameras; and (4) observation of Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) behaviour as indirect evidence of predation risk. Results We found that Aleppo pine encroachment to Mediterranean shrublands increased nest predation by Eurasian jays. Nest predation was highest in with median encroaching pine. These areas are suitable for warblers, but had high occurrence rate of Eurasian jays. Conclusions Invasive pines directly increase activity of avian predators in shrubland habitats which impacted shrubland songbird nesting success. These findings are supported by multiple methodologies, illustrating different predation pressures along a gradient of pine densities in natural shrublands. Management of Aleppo pine seedlings and removal of unwanted trees in natural shrubland might mitigate arrival and expansion of native-invasive predators and decrease the predation pressure on passerine nests.

The structure of an ecological community is shaped by diverse factors and processes, including competition for resources between species with similar ecological niches. Species coexistence in the face of competition is achieved by various mechanisms, such as niche partitioning, e.g. division of resources in space and time. We studied the effect of environmental variables on activity-density of the four lycosid species found in a Mediterranean shrubland in Israel, in the spring of 2012. We tested if spatial and temporal niche partitioning enables coexistence among the four ecologically similar lycosid spiders, using multivariate analyses (RDA, Species Response Curves and Trait Analysis (RLQ)) of vegetation structure, habitat characteristics and land use, as well as time in the season. Activity-density was significantly affected by time in the season and the interaction of time and geophyte density. These findings provide first insights into the life cycles of lycosid species in Mediterranean shrublands in Israel, with spider species of the same size-group reaching their activity peaks at different times.

Although animals fine-tune their activity to avoid excess heat, we still lack a mechanistic understanding of such behaviors. As the global climate changes, such understanding is particularly important for projecting shifts in the activity patterns of populations and communities. We studied how foraging decisions vary with biotic and abiotic pressures. By tracking the foraging behavior of diurnal desert spiny mice in their natural habitat and estimating the energy and water costs and benefits of foraging, we asked how risk management and thermoregulatory requirements affect foraging decisions. We found that water requirements had the strongest effect on the observed foraging decisions. In their arid environment, mice often lose water while foraging for seeds and cease foraging even at high energetic returns when water loss is high. Mice also foraged more often when energy expenditure was high and for longer times under high seed densities and low predation risks. Gaining insight into both energy and water balance will be crucial to understanding the forces exerted by changing climatic conditions on animal energetics, behavior, and ecology.

This paper describes the micromammalian remains and paleoenvironment of the Upper Paleolithic sequence of Manot Cave (46-34 ka), southern Levant. Micromammal remains were identified from Ahmarian (46-42 ka), Levantine Aurignacian (38-34 ka) and post-Levantine Aurignacian (34-33 ka) layers. To identify taphonomic agents, molar digestion was modelled for seven local raptor species, and model predictions were compared with observed digestion scores in the Manot Cave material. Raptor species differed significantly in molar digestion patterns, allowing us to identify Tyto alba as the bone accumulator in the Ahmarian and Post-Levantine Aurignacian units. Data were insufficient for species-level identification of the taphonomic agent in the Levantine Aurignacian. Gunther's voles (Microtus guentheri) were dominant, though woodland species (Apodemus spp., Sciurus anomalus and Dryomys nitedula) also occurred through the entire sequence. Manot Cave furnished the first fossil record of the Eurasian snow vole (Chionomys nivalis) in the southern Levant during the Late Pleistocene and its first secure record of the water vole (Arvicola terrestris) outside the Hula Valley. Records of other taxa (Acomys dimidiatus and D. nitedula) provide the earliest occurrence datum in the region. Using counts of both identified specimens and distinct elements (lower first molars) we modelled paleoenvironmental conditions through both Weighted Averaging Partial Least Squares regression and a qualitative analysis considering niche preferences of species. Model predictions indicate the unexpectedly pronounced dominance of open habitats compared to present conditions near the cave, though the occurrence and abundance of woodland species also indicate some woodland expansion relative to the preceding Middle Paleolithic period. Combining statistical models and species niche considerations we show that the time span between the Ahmarian, Levantine Aurignacian and post-Levantine Aurignacian was marked by a clear-cut climatic oscillation to cooler and likely wetter conditions.

Fox (1987, p. 201) suggested a new assembly rule for ecological communities: “There is a much higher probability that each species entering a community will be drawn from a different genus (or other taxonomically related group of species with similar diets) until each group is represented, before the rule repeats.” The rule was inspired by a desire to mimic the workings of interspecific competition between similar species. The only input required is an a priori knowledge of how the species are divided into functional groups (Fox 1989, 1999). Finding rules that govern the composition of complex ecological communities is a formidable task, so a rule that requires us to know so little about the species in question is attractive indeed. It means ecologists need not identify habitat preferences, relative abundances, relative dispersal abilities, geographic ranges, and so forth; all species in a functional group are taken as equivalents. In the quest for general rules governing community composition (“assembly rules”), this has the makings of a breakthrough. Desert rodents of southwestern North America are an excellent group on which to test this model because they have been studied intensively and because experimental research shows that at least some species compete (reviewed by Brown and Harney 1993). Fox and Brown (1993) tested this model with two data sets (Nevada Test Site and Chihuahuan Desert) and found these desert rodent communities accorded with Fox’s (1987) rule, with “favored states” found significantly more frequently than would be expected if different species colonized independently. However, when reanalyzing the same data, we (Stone

In this study, we seek to explain a growing divergence between the US and EU regulatory policies over nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety risks. Faced with significant scientific and regulatory uncertainties, incremental approaches have been taken in both regulatory systems, but substantial differences are evident in terms of both policy processes and stringency. While the EU exhibits a regulatory integration process with stringent adjustments of existing legislative frameworks, the US is far less engaged in regulatory adaptations. We have carried out a comparative analysis of the EU and US regulatory policies. We suggest that literature perspectives that focus on differing public attitudes, economic interests, and advocacy pressure groups do not suffice to explain the regulatory policy divergence. We argue that a combined effect of domestic politics and policy styles provides the most powerful explanation of why the US and EU currently differ with respect to their regulatory responses to nanotechnology risks and uncertainties.

This paper explores political drivers and policy processes of the emerging EU’s regulatory policy for nanotechnology risks. Since 2004 the EU has been developing a regulatory policy to tighten control and to improve regulatory adequacy and knowledge of nanotechnology risks. This regulatory evolution is of theoretical interest as well as of policy relevance, addressing the links between risk governance and technological innovation policy in Europe. Although nanotechnology is among the largest EU-regulated industries and a policy domain in which EU regulatory activities continue to grow, political perspective (actors, institutions and processes) remain underexplored. We explored the emergent policy at the EU-level from three theoretical perspectives and a set of derived testable hypotheses concerning the co-evolution of global economic competition, policymakers' preferences and institutional structure. We thus pave the way for developing grounded analytical accounts of this newly-created governance domain. We argue that all three are key drivers shaping the technology regulation policy and each explains some aspect of the policy process: motivation, agenda-setting and decision-making.

Analysis of ca. 17,000 fish remains recovered from the late Upper Paleolithic/early Epi-Paleolithic (LGM; 23,000 BP) waterlogged site of Ohalo II (Rift Valley, Israel) provides new insights into the role of wetland habitats and the fish inhabiting them during the evolution of economic strategies prior to the agricultural evolution. Of the current 19 native fish species in Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), eight species were identified at Ohalo II, belonging to two freshwater families: Cyprinidae (carps) and Cichlidae (St. Peter fish). Employing a large set of quantitative and qualitative criteria (NISP, species richness, diversity, skeletal element representation, fragmentation, color, spatial distribution, etc.), we demonstrate that the inhabitants of Ohalo II used their knowledge of the breeding behavior of different species of fish, for year-round intensive exploitation.

This chapter discusses the importance of museum specimens and samples. Natural history collections are archives of biodiversity, snapshots that provide a way to physically retrieve an individual specimen and through it track changes in populations and species across repeatable surveys in time and space. Growing international awareness of the potential effects on humanity due to the loss of biodiversity and the ensuing erosion of ecosystem services has reinforced the value of natural history collections, museums, and herbaria worldwide. The chapter summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of natural history collections for repeated surveys and other historical studies that require replication. Through a case study of the historical surveys and resurveys of the taxonomic exploration of the marine biota of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, it highlights the relevance of collections for ecology and conservation. Finally, it discusses prospects for future uses of natural history collections in the context of replicated research.

Many Mediterranean ecosystems are human-dominated landscapes comprising a mosaic of agricultural, natural and semi-natural habitats alongside urban areas. The size, spatial pattern and connectivity of these “mosaic landscapes” promote changes in wildlife behavior, movement patterns and habitat use. Study how spatiotemporal landscape changes impact the spatial dynamics of a mammalian carnivore guild. We quantified multi-season activity rates/density from camera trap encounters using N-mixture models. One hundred cameras were located at 25 sites, divided into five categories: nature reserve; large natural area; vineyards within natural area; vineyards near settlements; vineyards within the core agricultural matrix. Golden jackals (Canis aureus) were active in anthropogenic modified landscapes. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) avoided the core activity areas of jackal during summer and restricted their activity to their peripheries. European badgers (Meles meles) were active in natural patches during winter, but shifted their activity during summer to agricultural fields embedded within natural patches. Feral and wilds cats (Felis silvestris) were highly active in the natural patches during winter and shifted their activity to the agricultural matrix during summer. Intra-guild spatio-temporal activity patterns of carnivores in mosaic landscapes are distinct and unique to each species. The patterns were affected by season, land-use, and jackal activity rates, reflecting inter-specific resource-dependent competitive interactions. The findings highlight the complexity of intra-guild space-use patterns, and shed doubt on the effectiveness of simple solutions to landscape conservation problems.

Most modern mammals, including strictly diurnal species, exhibit sensory adaptations to nocturnal activity that are thought to be the result of a prolonged nocturnal phase or ‘bottleneck’ during early mammalian evolution. Nocturnality may have allowed mammals to avoid antagonistic interactions with diurnal dinosaurs during the Mesozoic. However, understanding the evolution of mammalian activity patterns is hindered by scant and ambiguous fossil evidence. While ancestral reconstructions of behavioural traits from extant species have the potential to elucidate these patterns, existing studies have been limited in taxonomic scope. Here, we use an extensive behavioural dataset for 2,415 species from all extant orders to reconstruct ancestral activity patterns across Mammalia. We find strong support for the nocturnal origin of mammals and the Cenozoic appearance of diurnality, although cathemerality (mixed diel periodicity) may have appeared in the late Cretaceous. Simian primates are among the earliest mammals to exhibit strict diurnal activity, some 52–33 million years ago. Our study is consistent with the hypothesis that temporal partitioning between early mammals and dinosaurs during the Mesozoic led to a mammalian nocturnal bottleneck, but also demonstrates the need for improved phylogenetic estimates for Mammalia. Phylogenetic analysis of behavioural data across all living mammalian orders suggests the earliest mammals were nocturnal, and other modes such as cathemerality and strict diurnality did not arise until the end of the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic.

Two rodent species of the genus Acomys coexist on rocky terrain in the southern deserts of Israel. The common spiny mouse (A. cahirinus) is nocturnally active whereas the golden spiny mouse (A. russatus) is diurnally active. An early removal study suggested that competition accounts for this pattern of temporal partitioning: the golden spiny mouse is forced into diurnal activity by its congener. Theoretically, temporal segregation should facilitate coexistence if the shared limiting resources differ at different times (primarily among predators whose prey populations have activity rhythms), or if they are renewed within the period of the temporal segregation. We studied food preferences of the two Acomys species in a controlled cafeteria experiment in order to assess resource overlap and the potential for competition for food between the two species. We found no significant difference in food preferences between species. The dietary items preferred by both were arthropods. We also carried out a seasonal study of the percentage and identity of arthropods taken in the field by individuals of the two species. Individuals of both species took on annual average a high percentage of arthropods in their diets. Seasonal diet shifts reflect seasonal abundance of arthropods at Ein Gedi during day and night. Diurnal activity may also reduce interspecific interference competition between A. russatus and A. cahirinus. However, the strong interspecific dietary overlap in food preference, the heavy reliance on arthropods in spiny mouse diets, and the seasonal and circadian differences in arthropod consumption suggest that prey partitioning may be a viable mechanism of coexistence in this system.

The soil biota, including soil microorganisms and free-living nematodes, was investigated in the nesting and roosting habitats of the following piscivorous and omnivorous colonial birds: black kite (Milvus migrans), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and little egret (Egretta garzetta), in Israel’s Mediterranean region. Abiotic variables, abundance, trophic structure, sex ratio and genus diversity of soil free-living nematodes, and total abundance of bacteria and fungi, were measured during the hottest period of 2016. The impact of the birds’ activity on the soil biota was most notable in the upper soil layer and weaker in the lower soil layer. Soil properties such as alkalinity (pH) and conductivity, along with contents of ammonium, nitrate and phosphorus were found to be among the main drivers influencing prey–predator relationships in the observed soil habitat by altering the predation success of soil free-living nematodes. The observed nematode species were affected by the birds’ nesting and roosting activity, as reflected by an increasing proportion of common nematodes and the disappearance of rare species in the colonial birds’ habitats. The applied ecological indices showed that the different species of colonial birds can have different (stimulatory or inhibitory) impacts on the abundance and diversity of the soil biota, affecting the structure of soil free-living nematodes at the generic, trophic and sexual levels. Moreover, the soil ecosystem in the area of bird activity had a less complex food web, but with higher concentrations of nutrients than the uninhabited control area.

Global demand for freshwater is increasing as human population grows, climate changes and water resources are being overexploited. Consequently, many freshwater ecosystems, particularly in water-stressed regions, are severely degraded. Here we present a unique case of an Interbasin Water Transfer (IWT) project aiming at ecosystem rehabilitation and recreation enhancement of an intermittent transboundary stream (Ayun, Israel). For the past century, water diversion at the Lebanese side had led to flow secession in the Israeli Ayun Nature Reserve during the dry season (May–November). To restore flow continuum, a sum of 0.5 million cubic meters of high quality freshwaters have been allocated annually during the dry months. The aim of this study is to evaluate the IWT project by: (1) examining the correlation between water flow in the Ayun and recreational visitation, and (2) performing a cost-benefit analysis of the IWT scheme, including non-market benefits. A time-series regression (Adj. R 2 = 0.688, n = 125) shows that a 10% increase in water flow corresponds to a 2.1% increase in monthly visitors. An estimated 18.8% of the visitation rate between 2009 and 2015 can be attributed to the water reallocation project. Through a single-site travel cost model, we estimate the visitor's willingness to pay in US$ 37.8 per person per trip. When non-market benefits for recreation are included, the total benefits of the IWT project substantially exceed its costs. Our results suggest that IWT can be applied to restore water flow and enhance ecosystem services also in water-stressed regions.

Several projects aimed at identifying priority issues for conservation with high relevance to policy have recently been completed in several countries. Two major types of projects have been undertaken, aimed at identifying (i) policy-relevant questions most imperative to conservation and (ii) horizon scanning topics, defined as emerging issues that are expected to have substantial implications for biodiversity conservation and policy in the future. Here, we provide the first overview of the outcomes of biodiversity and conservation-oriented projects recently completed around the world using this framework. We also include the results of the first questions and horizon scanning project completed for a Mediterranean country. Overall, the outcomes of the different projects undertaken (at the global scale, in the UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and in Israel) were strongly correlated in terms of the proportion of questions and/or horizon scanning topics selected when comparing different topic areas. However, some major differences were found across regions. There was large variation among regions in the percentage of proactive (i.e. action and response oriented) versus descriptive (non-response oriented) priority questions and in the emphasis given to socio-political issues. Substantial differences were also found when comparing outcomes of priority questions versus horizon scanning projects undertaken for the same region. For example, issues related to climate change, human demography and marine ecosystems received higher priority as horizon scanning topics, while ecosystem services were more emphasized as current priority questions. We suggest that future initiatives aimed at identifying priority conservation questions and horizon scanning topics should allow simultaneous identification of both current and future priority issues, as presented here for the first time. We propose that further emphasis on social-political issues should be explicitly integrated into future related projects.