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We experimentally tested whether the presence of a free benthic predator (Odonata naiads) alters the displacement time, the position occupied in the water column, and the proportion of food consumed by benthic and nektonic tadpoles. The presence of predators did not influence the displacement time or the proportion of food consumed by any of the two species. In the presence of predators, benthic tadpoles avoided the benthic microhabitat, increasing their time in the middle of the water column. This behavior was unexpected since the previous studies indicate that the morphology of benthic tadpoles restricts them to the bottom of water bodies. We, thus, hypothesize that such a drastic behavior change was a consequence of the real risk of predation to which the tadpoles were exposed. Our results are in accordance with the threat-sensitivity hypothesis, in which prey behave flexibly when exposed to different degrees of predation threats. Nektonic tadpoles, however, slightly increased their permanence in the water column in the presence of the same benthic predators. Therefore, we provide support for the hypothesis that predators induce greater behavioral changes in prey that exhibit patterns of microhabitat use similar to theirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential immortality is observed in several species (e.g. prickly pear cactus, hydra and flatworms) and is indicative of their negligible or even negative senescence rates. Unlike in senescent species, which experience reduced individual performance with age due to physiological degradation, species with negligible or negative senescence display mortality rates that remain constant or decline with age, respectively. These rates vary across taxa and are correlated with life history traits. Yet, the extent to which variable resource availability, a key driver of variation in life history traits, impacts species that show negligible or negative senescence is currently unknown.Here, we examine whether and how variation in the quantity, quality and feeding interval of resources impact population structure, population performance and life history trait trade‐offs in two long‐lived planaria that do not senesce: Schmidtea mediterranea and Dugesia tahitiensis. In a full factorial design, different combinations of resource quantity (reduced intake, standard intake and high intake) and quality (high and low quality) were provided in two different feeding intervals (7‐day and 14‐day intervals) for 19 weeks.We show that variability in resource availability, via decreases in quantity, quality and frequency of resources, does not diminish population viability in either species but does result in suboptimal conditions of stress in S. mediterranea.The high population viability we report can be attributed to two different mechanisms: increased reproduction or increased investment into maintenance at the expense of reproduction. Moreover, which mechanism was responsible for said high population viability was context‐dependent and modulated by the specific life history strategy of the two planaria species.We show that suboptimal conditions can cause stress responses that have significant impacts on non‐senescent species. The context‐dependent response we observe suggests that species that do not senesce but are subject to suboptimal conditions of stress may ultimately exhibit declines in performance and ultimately die. A clearer understanding of the impact of suboptimal conditions of resource availability on non‐senescent species is needed to determine the extent of stress experienced and ultimately whether a species can truly be immortal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underwater imaging environment is very different from land, and some common land image enhancement methods are often not applicable to the underwater environment. This paper proposes a two-step underwater image enhancement method. White balance is a commonly used color correction method. In underwater environments, the traditional white balance method has certain limitations and results in severe color bias. This is caused by the faster attenuation of red light in underwater environments. We develop a new white balance method based on the assumption of the gray world method. A red correction module is embedded in the method, which is more suitable for underwater environments. For contrast correction, we design an illuminance correction method based on the Retinex model. The method significantly reduces the computational burden compared to traditional methods, while enhancing the brightness and contrast of the images. In addition, most of the current underwater image enhancement methods deal with color and contrast issues separately. However, these two factors influence each other, and processing them separately may lead to suboptimal results. Therefore, we investigate the relationship between color and contrast and propose a trade-off method. Our method integrates color and contrast within a histogram framework, achieving a balanced enhancement of both aspects. To avoid chance, we utilized four datasets, each containing 800 randomly selected images for metric testing. On the five non-referential metrics, three firsts and two seconds were ranked. Our method ranked second on two referenced metrics. Superior results were also achieved in runtime comparisons. Finally, we further demonstrate the superiority of our method through detailed demonstrations and ablation experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although quasi-internal resources—such as strategic alliances, long-term partnerships, and collaborative networks—typically enhance a firm's adaptability, their effectiveness can be compromised in crisis situations due to supply chain disruptions, strained partnerships, and volatile market conditions. This research explores how quasi-internal resources influence firm performance through the trade-off between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business innovation, with a particular focus on the moderating role of market environmental uncertainty. We developed a theoretical model grounded in resource dependence theory and tested our hypotheses using PLS-SEM analysis on data from 397 valid questionnaires collected from various companies. The findings reveal that quasi-internal resources do not directly enhance firm performance during large-scale emergencies. However, they play a critical role in strengthening the trade-off between CSR and business innovation, particularly through strategic adjustments and decision-making processes, which mediate their impact on performance. Conversely, the trade-off in incentive mechanisms does not significantly mediate this relationship. Additionally, market environmental uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between quasi-internal resources and the trade-offs in incentive mechanisms and decision-making processes, but it does not significantly affect strategic adjustments. These insights underscore the importance of strategic resource management in sustaining firm performance amidst uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing trend toward more frequent and multiple crises. While there is a clear need for behaviors to become more sustainable to address the climate crisis, how to achieve this against the backdrop of other crises is unknown. Using a sample of 18,805 participants from the UK, we performed a survey experiment to investigate if communication messages provide a useful tool in nudging intentions toward improved sustainability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that, despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, media messaging resulted in increases in sustainability-related intentions for all our communication messaging conditions. Specifically, after our communication was presented, (i) almost 80% of people who were not currently recycling their surgical masks reported their intention to do so; there was a > 70% increase in both (ii) the number of people likely to pick up face mask litter and (iii) the number of people willing to disinfect and reuse their filtering facepiece (FFP) masks 4–6 times, while (iv) there was an increase by 165% in those who would wash cloth masks at 60 °C. Our results highlight that communication messaging can play a useful role in minimizing the trade-offs between multiple crises, as well as maximizing any synergies. To support this, decision-makers and practitioners should encourage the delivery of sustainability advice via multiple sources and across different types of media, while taking steps to address potential misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predator–prey interactions are crucial components of populations and communities. Their dynamics depend on the covariation of traits of the interacting organisms, and there is increasing evidence that intraspecific trade‐off relationships between defense and competitive traits are important drivers of trophic interactions. However, quantifying the relevant traits forming defense–competitiveness trade‐offs and how these traits determine prey and predator fitness remains a major challenge. Here, we conducted feeding and growth experiments to assess multiple traits related to defense and competitiveness in six different strains of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exposed to predation by the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. We found large differences in defense and competitive traits among prey strains and negative relationships between these traits for multiple trait combinations. Because we compared trait differences among strains whose ancestors evolved previously in controlled environments where selection favored either defense or competitiveness, these negative correlations suggest the presence of a trade‐off between defense and competitiveness. These differences in traits and trade‐offs translated into differences in prey and predator fitness, demonstrating the importance of intraspecific trade‐offs in predicting the outcome of predator–prey interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish resilience can be understood as the capacity of fish to successfully respond to a challenge so that they are able to function and flourish in much the same way as they did prior to the occurrence of the challenge. Resilience is a function not only of individual fish, but also of a whole fish population. Enhancing the resilience of fish requires both adapting the robustness of the animals and adapting the (production) environment to the specific needs of the fish. Rather than a mere biological capacity of fish, resilience also comes with ethical questions. These questions occur at four levels. First, in practice resilience often comes with a “rhetoric” of optimalization. The view that aquaculture that strives for resilient fish is good for both fish welfare and production is inherently normative. It assumes a ‘win–win situation’, but thereby makes certain normative assumptions. Second, especially when the win–win situation is not achievable, resilience means making trade‐offs between preferred responses to challenges from the perspective of individual animals and groups or between individual housing and larger aquaculture systems. Third, the discussions on resilience and fish demonstrate the need to move beyond an animal welfare framework when discussing the treatment of fish in aquaculture. Recently, animal ethics has seen a turn towards centering animals' own agency. This means that we should not only focus on improving animal welfare, but also on asking what the animals themselves want and how they can be given more control over their situation. This may also impact the definition of resilience and how it is made operational. Finally, the use of the concept of resilience may reveal a certain moral outlook with regard to fish. On the one hand, resilience is portrayed as a positive characteristic of animals that enables improvement of the quality of life of fish. At the same time, it raises the question of how far we should stretch the “manufacturability” of fish. When we physically adapt animals so that they can cope with difficult circumstances we may be stretching moral boundaries. For example, this raises the objection that we are instrumentalizing animals. In this article, we reflect on these types of ethical issues and aim to show that the ethical dimensions of resilience need to be taken into account by professionals in aquaculture in order to make resilience operational and to contribute to a responsible interaction with fish in aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In theory, there is a trade‐off between hydraulic efficiency and safety. However, the strength and direction of this trade‐off at the leaf level are not consistent across studies, and habitat climate may impact this trade‐off. We compiled a leaf hydraulic efficiency and safety dataset for 362 species from 81 sites world‐wide, with 280 paired observations of both traits, and tested whether climate was associated with departure from the proposed trade‐off. The leaf hydraulic efficiency–safety trade‐off was weak (R2 = 0.144) at the global scale. Mean annual precipitation and solar radiation (SR) modified the trade‐off. Species from dry and high SR habitats (e.g. desert and tropical savanna) were generally located above the trade‐off line, indicating that these species tended to have higher leaf hydraulic safety and efficiency than species from wet habitats with low SR (e.g. subtropical monsoon forest and montane rainforest), which were located below the trade‐off line. Leaves with high vein density, dry leaf mass per area, and osmotic regulation enhanced safety without compromising hydraulic efficiency. Variation in the hydraulic efficiency–safety trade‐off at the leaf level likely facilitates plant survival in specific habitats and allows for a more nuanced view of leaf hydraulic adaption strategies at the global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aim Location Taxon Methods Results Main Conclusions The evolutionary history of European alpine plant species with medium to large geographical ranges is relatively well explored. Here, we investigate the genetic structure and diversity of an extremely narrow endemic and one of the world's rarest plants.Eastern Carpathians, Romania.Andryala laevitomentosa (Asteraceae), an evolutionarily isolated herb species with a worldwide range limited to five micropopulations distributed along a 1.8 km long mountain ridge.We used three plastid loci, nuclear ribosomal ITS and genome‐wide, mostly nuclear 26,272 Single‐Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) obtained from RAD‐seq data. We assessed haplotype and genotype diversity, dated the resulting phylogeographic structure, quantified seed production and inferred vegetative propagation.Maternally inherited plastid markers and nuclear genomic data revealed a concordant pattern: (i) limited genetic diversity, with seven cpDNA haplotypes and 11 RAD‐seq multilocus genotypes; (ii) a strong geographic structure corresponding to spatially isolated genets (clones). The species is likely of early Pleistocene origin (c. 2 Mya), and the estimated age of individual clones varied from c. 24 to 64 Kya. The average seed set assessed over 3 years was only 0.4%. However, the species reproduces veg by axillary and adventitious rosettes formed on rhizomes and roots, respectively.The strong trade‐off between sexual and vegetative reproduction explains not only a deep and ancient phylogeographic structure but also the rarity of the species. Its survival depends almost entirely on vegetative reproduction. The genets of A. laevitomentosa are amongst the oldest clones ever documented in angiosperms. The persistence of these clones in situ for tens of thousands of years suggests an exceptional ability of this species to adapt to major climatic oscillations throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene and challenge our perception of the extent of resilience in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: By monitoring a field experiment over nine years, we investigated the impacts of the two main pathogen species Erysiphe quercicola S. Takam. and U. Braun and Erysiphe alphitoides (Griffon and Maubl.) U. Braun and S. Takam causing powdery mildew on a young cohort of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.), both from a demographic and genetic point of view using SNP markers. We show that survival rate is affected by mean disease severity. But while the growth-related tolerance to infection of the oak individual seems to be more determinant than resistance against infection, no equalizing effect of the disease could be detected. Context: Studies on the effects of pathogens on the survival and population dynamics of forest trees are scarce. Yet a better understanding of these interactions could prove strategic in the challenging context of climate change. Aims: Our general objective was to characterize the demographic and genetic impact of the two main pathogen species Erysiphe quercicola S. Takam. and U. Braun and Erysiphe alphitoides (Griffon and Maubl.) U. Braun and S. Takam causing powdery mildew in the early stages of a Quercus robur L. population. Methods: An ad hoc field design with two disease exposures, natural and protected, was surveyed over nine years. This enabled a detailed phenotypic monitoring of 1733 emerging individuals from 15 progenies, and the genotyping of 68% of them. Results: The pathogen induced high levels of seedling mortality several years after sowing, associated with reduced growth and capacity to overwinter. Fast-growing families showed the highest survival rate under both natural and protected disease exposure. Contrary to a possible trade-off hypothesis between growth and defense, family height potential was not negatively related to disease resistance across the studied oak mother trees. While supporting a deleterious effect of very low individual heterozygosity on the probability of survival, average genomic diversity was not significantly affected by mortality associated with powdery mildew. Our study also points to a few candidate genes for several fitness-related traits. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest that in oak natural populations, infection levels (related to resistance sensu stricto) may be less determinant than growth-related tolerance to infection for the fate of seedlings. However, an equalizing effect of powdery mildew on relative oak genotype performances cannot be excluded at later stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Epistasis refers to nonallelic interaction between genes that cause bias in estimates of genetic parameters for a phenotype with interactions of two or more genes affecting the same trait. Partitioning of epistatic effects allows true estimation of the genetic parameters affecting phenotypes. Multigenic variation plays a central role in the evolution of complex characteristics, among which pleiotropy, where a single gene affects several phenotypic characters, has a large influence. While pleiotropic interactions provide functional specificity, they increase the challenge of gene discovery and functional analysis. Overcoming pleiotropy‐based phenotypic trade‐offs offers potential for assisting breeding for complex traits. Modelling higher order nonallelic epistatic interaction, pleiotropy and non‐pleiotropy‐induced variation, and genotype × environment interaction in genomic selection may provide new paths to increase the productivity and stress tolerance for next generation of crop cultivars. Advances in statistical models, software and algorithm developments, and genomic research have facilitated dissecting the nature and extent of pleiotropy and epistasis. We overview emerging approaches to exploit positive (and avoid negative) epistatic and pleiotropic interactions in a plant breeding context, including developing avenues of artificial intelligence, novel exploitation of large‐scale genomics and phenomics data, and involvement of genes with minor effects to analyse epistatic interactions and pleiotropic quantitative trait loci, including missing heritability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phally polymorphism in snails offers an excellent opportunity to study the evolutionary basis of sexual polymorphism in animals. Phally polymorphism occurs when two or three sexual morphs co-occur in populations of hermaphroditic organisms. Euphallics have a fully developed and functional penis, hemiphallics have a reduced and non-functional penis, while aphallics have no penis. All morphs can self-fertilize, but only euphallics can donate sperm during copulation. In this study, we investigated the geographical pattern of phally polymorphism in minute Vertigo species by testing snails from Polish and Swedish populations. Considering the principle of resource allocation, we checked whether sexual morph reflects the size of the shell. Although the Swedish Vertigo snails tend to be smaller than the Polish ones, our results show no clear geographical pattern of sexual morph balance in the studied populations. Aphallics of V. angustior were bigger than the euphallics; conversely to V. substriata , where euphallics were bigger than aphallics. Such a result suggests a species-specific resource allocation towards the given sexual function. Since hemiphallics of V. antivertigo were smaller than euphallics, we discuss the possible trade-off when faced with resource depletion and the failure of attaining sexual maturity of euphallics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AI systems for decision‐making have become increasingly popular in several areas. However, it is possible to identify biased decisions in many applications, which have become a concern for the computer science, artificial intelligence, and law communities. Therefore, researchers are proposing solutions to mitigate bias and discrimination among decision‐makers. Some explored strategies are based on GANs to generate fair data. Others are based on adversarial learning to achieve fairness by encoding fairness constraints through an adversarial model. Moreover, it is usual for each proposal to assess its model with a specific metric, making comparing current approaches a complex task. Therefore, this work proposes a systematical benchmark procedure to assess the fair machine learning models. The proposed procedure comprises a fairness‐utility trade‐off metric (FU‐score$$ FU\hbox{-} score $$), the utility and fairness metrics to compose this assessment, the used datasets and preparation, and the statistical test. A previous work presents some of these definitions. The present work enriches the procedure by increasing the applied datasets and statistical guarantees when comparing the models' results. We performed this benchmark evaluation for the non‐generative adversarial models, analyzing the literature models from the same metric perspective. This assessment could not indicate a single model which better performs for all datasets. However, we built an understanding of how each model performs on each dataset with statistical confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off policy framing has been a central feature of green growth since the 1980s, employed to frame the countervailing spheres of social, environmental, and economic policies purported to ensure the sustainable development of the global economy. This article argues that so central has this framing become that IPE scholars have tended to focus on different types of 'greenable' growth observable within capitalism, rather than question the prospect of greening growth itself. Far from value-free, the trade-off framing is ultimately determined by the structural imperative for economic growth, veiling the disciplines anthropocentric ontology in a normative or objective guise. To account for the tacit prioritization, the trade-in policy framing – the compromising of environmental objectives to accommodate the growth imperative – is advanced as an alternative framing. The trading-in of environmental policies is legitimized through political-industrial narratives, of which three, the (i) consequential, (ii) allay, and (iii) finance are outlined in this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security and privacy have become major issues. Although no one seriously claims that privacy and security are identical, most sources treat them as if they are. Differentiating between privacy and security is essential, for example, in those situations where there is a trade-off between the two concepts, or when a regulator imposes rules concerning privacy or security or both. Moreover, differentiation can support the selection of proper means of defence. Therefore, there is a gap between the need to differentiate and the availability of an appropriate methodology to do so. This article introduces a robust methodology for differentiating between privacy and security, based on four basic components: the target of the attack, the nature of the cost, the presence of a trade-off, and the existence of consent. Since many situations involve both privacy and security, the methodology ranks their level independently. The research addresses several goals: alignment with the prevalent definitions and concepts in the literature; achieving objectivity; and a non-dichotomous classification. The application of this methodology was demonstrated in an empirical study with $n = 155$ n = 155 valid participants. The empirical study indicated significant differences between intuitive classification and methodology-based classification, thereby emphasising the need for this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police forces around the world are adapting to optimize their current practices through intelligence‐led and evidence‐based policing. This trend towards increasingly data‐driven policing also affects daily police routines. Police patrol is a complex routing problem because of the combination of reactive and proactive tasks. Moreover, a trade‐off exists between these two patrol tasks. In this article, a police patrol algorithm that combines both policing strategies into one strategy and is applicable to everyday policing, is developed. To this end, a discrete event simulation model is built that compares a p‐median redeployment strategy with several benchmark strategies, that is, p‐median deployment, hotspot (re)deployment, and random redeployment. This p‐median redeployment strategy considers the continuous alternation of idle and non‐idle vehicles. The mean response time was lowest for the p‐median deployment strategy, but the redeployment strategy results in better coverage of the area and low mean response times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Corporate real estate management (CREM) is complex due to an increasing number of real estate (RE) added values and the tensions between them. RE managers are faced with trade-offs: to choose a higher performance for one added value at the cost of another. CREM research mainly deals with trade-offs in a hypothetical sense, without looking at the characteristics of the RE portfolio nor the specific context in which trade-offs are made. The purpose of this paper is to further develop the concept of real estate value (REV) optimisation with regard to tensions between decreasing CO2 emissions and supporting user activities. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed method study. REV optimisation between user activities and energy efficiency for police stations in the Netherlands built between 2000 and 2020 is analysed. This is complemented by interviews with an RE manager and senior user of police stations and analysis of policy documents. Findings: The characteristics of the police station portfolio indicate no correlation between user activities and energy efficiency for the case studied. This is complemented by interviews, from which it becomes clear that there was in fact little tension between supporting user activities and energy efficiency. The performances of these two different added values were optimised separately. Originality/value: This study combines different scales (building and portfolio level) with different types of data: portfolio analysis, document analysis and interviews. This creates a comprehensive image of whether and how the Netherlands police optimised the two RE values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, urban scaling theory has proven that urban area, infrastructure, and economic output have a scaling relation with population. But if we consider ecological space as a part of urban infrastructure, would the same scaling characteristics exist? What is the scaling relationship between ecological spaces and economic social development in different stages of urbanization? This paper is based on this question and explores the trade-off between social economic system and ecosystem in 370 cities of China. The results show that the relationship between population and urban ecological space generally follows the scaling theory in terms of different types of ecological spaces and ecosystem services. For every 10-fold increase in population size, the total area of ecological space and ecosystem services increase by approximately 4 times. The manifestation of ecological space following the scaling laws is the aggregation behavior of better network connectivity. There is a trade-off between urban ecological space and socioeconomic development, with flow equilibrium reached at a population of 2 million and efficiency equilibrium reached at a population of 1 million. Starting from type I and type II megapolis, urban development gradually tends to stabilize, and there may even be a trend of slow decline in urban development potential. In the absence of ecological space, virtual network space can serve as a substitute for ecological space. The driving factors affect scaling behavior of ecological space, including connectivity of ecological space, spatial heterogeneity of natural conditions, and disturbance of economic and social activities. This research can help city to expand ecological space, promoting the added value of urban ecological assets and keeping the urban development potential within the optimal threshold range continuously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During parasite infections, the liver may prioritise immune-related pathways over its metabolic functions. Intestinal infections caused by Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum impair feed intake, nutrient absorption, and weight gain. Histomonas meleagridis, vectored by H. gallinarum, can also damage liver tissues, potentially impairing liver functions. This study examined the hepatic gene expression in three strains of chickens: Ross-308 (R), Lohmann Brown Plus (LB), and Lohmann Dual (LD), 2 weeks after an experimental infection (n = 18) with both A. galli and H. gallinarum or kept as uninfected control (n = 12). Furthermore, H. gallinarum infection led to a co-infection with H. meleagridis. The mixed infections reduced feed intake and the average daily weight gain (P < 0.001). The infections also increased the plasma concentrations of alpha (1)-acid glycoprotein and the antibody titre against H. meleagridis (P = 0.049), with no strain differences (P > 0.05). For host molecular response, 1887 genes were differentially expressed in LD, while 275 and 25 genes were differentially expressed in R and LB, respectively. The up-regulated genes in R and LD were mostly related to inflammatory and adaptive immune responses, while down-regulated genes in LD were involved in metabolic pathways, including gluconeogenesis. Despite performance differences among the strains, worm burdens were similar, but hepatic molecular responses differed significantly. Moreover, there was an indication of a shift in hepatic functions towards immune-related pathways. We, therefore, conclude that the liver shifts its functions from metabolic to immune-related activities in chickens when challenged with mixed parasite species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological Ecosystem Services (HES) are crucial components of environmental sustainability and provide indispensable benefits. The present study identifies critical hot and cold spots areas of HES in the Aglar watershed of the Indian Himalayan Region using six HES descriptors, namely water yield (WYLD), crop yield factor (CYF), sediment yield (SYLD), base flow (LATQ), surface runoff (SURFQ), and total water retention (TWR). The analysis was conducted using weightage-based approaches under two methods: (1) evaluating six HES descriptors individually and (2) grouping them into broad ecosystem service categories. Furthermore, the study assessed pixel-level uncertainties that arose because of the distinctive methods used in the identification of hot and cold spots. The associated synergies and trade-offs among HES descriptors were examined too. From method 1, 0.26% area of the watershed was classified as cold spots and 3.18% as hot spots, whereas method 2 classified 2.42% area as cold spots and 2.36% as hot spots. Pixel-level uncertainties showed that 0.57 km2 and 6.86 km2 of the watershed were consistently under cold and hot spots, respectively, using method 1, whereas method 2 identified 2.30 km2 and 6.97 km2 as cold spots and hot spots, respectively. The spatial analysis of hot spots showed consistent patterns in certain parts of the watershed, primarily in the south to southwest region, while cold spots were mainly found on the eastern side. Upon analyzing HES descriptors within broad ecosystem service categories, hot spots were mainly in the southern part, and cold spots were scattered throughout the watershed, especially in agricultural and scrubland areas. The significant synergistic relation between LATQ and WYLD, and sediment retention and WYLD and trade-offs between SURFQ and HES descriptors like WYLD, LATQ, sediment retention, and TWR was attributed to varying factors such as land use and topography impacting the water balance components in the watershed. The findings underscore the critical need for targeted conservation efforts to maintain the ecologically sensitive regions at watershed scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosquitoes transmit viruses that affect public health in tropical regions. Identifying factors that influence their fitness can help control mosquito-borne diseases. We investigated the impacts of predation risk effects, from a fish predator, and food availability on the oviposition behavior of Aedes aegypti. We hypothesize that predation risk and food availability interactively affect Ae. aegypti oviposition. Gravid Ae. aegypti females were offered oviposition sites with all possible combinations of predation risk (with vs. without predator cues) and food availability (low vs. high). We found a significant interaction between predation risk and food availability. The magnitude of oviposition and the probability of egg laying in high food availability treatments exceeded the values of low food availability treatments, but only in treatments without predation risk. Predation risk critically modulated the effects of food availability on the oviposition of Ae. aegypti. This study demonstrates the interplay between predation risk and food availability in controlling mosquito-borne diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to provide a reference for the implementation of fine ecological environment management and differentiated management and control of ecological governance in the Yellow River Basin, the value of 11 ecosystem services (ESVS) in 4 categories in the Yellow River Basin from 1995 to 2020 was calculated by using the "equivalent factor method of value per unit area", the trade-offs and synergies be- tween various ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin in six periods were measured by Pearson correlation analysis, and the spatial autocorrelation was used to delineate the ecological management zones of the Yellow River Basin in 2020. The results show that: during the study period, the ESV in the Yellow River Basin show an increasing trend. However, in terms of land types, the proportion of ESV in farm- land, wetlands, and deserts decrease, while the trend of ESV changes in forests, grasslands, and water bodies is opposite. The proportion of supply services, support services and cultural services all show a downward trend, while regulatory services and support services constitute the main body of regional ecosystem service value. Spatially, the unit ecosystem service value is concave in the east-west direction and convex in the north-south direction. Correlation analysis shows that there is a significant positive correlation between the various ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin, and the strong synergistic relationship accounted for 47.27%, indicating that there is a synergistic relationship be- tween ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin during the study period. The 410 research units of the Yellow River Basin in 2020 are di- vided into 4 first level divisions and 13 second level divisions, and the corresponding ecological management measures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTARCTFiscal policy allocation is not purely determined by the labour-capital conflict, but increasingly around cross-class housing coalitions. Although rising house prices are conventionally understood as drivers of fiscal austerity, this view has been challenged. Alternatively, governments may use fiscal policies to support house price growth to meet the primary economic interests of homeowners and compensate non-homeowners through the welfare system. Using an econometric analysis of 19 advanced economies between 1980 and 2018, we show house prices have positive effects on taxation revenue as well as fiscal spending on public investment, welfare and education. A second multi-level analysis provides a political explanation of this observed outcome by demonstrating parties respond to rising house prices by proposing more welfare and public investment spending in their manifestos. Conterminously rising house prices and rents also lead to greater welfare spending, suggesting governments use fiscal policy to protect those excluded from homeownership from labour market risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates various opportunities and risks. Our study explores the trade-off of AI technology, including existential risks. We develop a theory and a Bayesian simulation model in order to explore what is at stake. The study reveals four tangible outcomes: (i) regulating existential risks has a boundary solution of either prohibiting the technology or allowing a laissez-faire regulation. (ii) the degree of 'normal' risks follows a trade-off and is dependent on AI-intensity. (iii) we estimate the probability of 'normal' risks to be between 0.002% to 0.006% over a century. (iv) regulating AI requires a balanced and international approach due to the dynamic risks and its global nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life history trade‐offs are one of the central tenets of evolutionary demography. Trade‐offs, depicting negative covariances between individuals' life history traits, can arise from genetic constraints, or from a finite amount of resources that each individual has to allocate in a zero‐sum game between somatic and reproductive functions. While theory predicts that trade‐offs are ubiquitous, empirical studies have often failed to detect such negative covariances in wild populations. One way to improve the detection of trade‐offs is by accounting for the environmental context, as trade‐off expression may depend on environmental conditions. However, current methodologies usually search for fixed covariances between traits, thereby ignoring their context dependence. Here, we present a hierarchical multivariate ‘covariance reaction norm’ model, adapted from Martin (2023), to help detect context dependence in the expression of life‐history trade‐offs using demographic data. The method allows continuous variation in the phenotypic correlation between traits. We validate the model on simulated data for both intraindividual and intergenerational trade‐offs. We then apply it to empirical datasets of yellow‐bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) and Soay sheep (Ovis aries) as a proof‐of‐concept showing that new insights can be gained by applying our methodology, such as detecting trade‐offs only in specific environments. We discuss its potential for application to many of the existing long‐term demographic datasets and how it could improve our understanding of trade‐off expression in particular, and life history theory in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant biomass allocation is mainly affected by the environment where each individual grows. In this sense, through the rapid global expansion of impermeable areas, urbanization has strong, albeit poorly understood, consequences on the biomass allocation of plants found in this environment. Nevertheless, the comprehension of biomass allocation processes in urban shrubs remains unclear, because most studies of urban ecology focus on tree species. This is an important gap of knowledge because a great part of urban vegetation is composed of shrubs and their association with trees have positive impacts in urban ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the ecological and potential selective pressure effects of an urbanization gradient on the biomass allocation patterns of aboveground organs of Turnera subulata, a widely distributed tropical shrub. We have demonstrated that, for certain reproductive organs, biomass allocation decreases in locations with higher urbanization. Unlike expected, the biomass of vegetative organs was not affected by urbanization, and we did not observe any effect of urbanization intensity on the variance in biomass allocation to vegetative and reproductive organs. We did not record urbanization-mediated trade-offs in biomass allocation for reproductive and vegetative organs. Instead, the biomass of these structures showed a positive relationship. Our data suggest that urbanization does not result in radical changes in biomass allocation of T. subulata, and neither in the variation of these traits. They indicate that the ability of T. subulata to thrive in urban environments may be associated with life history and morphological mechanisms. Our findings contribute to the understanding of shrub plant responses to urbanization and highlight urbanization as a potential factor in resource allocation differences for different structures and functions in plants living in these environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Securing agricultural supplies for the increasing population without negative impacts on environment demands new crop varieties with higher yields, better quality, and stronger stress resilience. But breeding such super crop varieties is restrained by growth–defense (G–D) trade‐off. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are versatile regulators of plant growth and immune responses, with several being demonstrated to simultaneously regulate crop growth and defense against biotic stresses and to balance G–D trade‐off. Increasing evidence also links miRNAs to the metabolism and signaling of phytohormones, another type of master regulator of plant growth and defense. Here, we synthesize the reported functions of miRNAs in crop growth, development, and responses to bio‐stressors, summarize the regulatory scenarios of miRNAs based on their relationship with target(s), and discuss how miRNAs, particularly those involved in crosstalk with phytohormones, can be applied in balancing G–D trade‐off in crops. We also propose several open questions to be addressed for adopting miRNAs in balancing crop G–D trade‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regeneration, regrowing lost and injured body parts, is an ability that generally declines with age or developmental transitions (i.e. metamorphosis, sexual maturation). Regeneration is also an energetically costly process, and trade-offs occur between regeneration and other costly processes such as growth, or sexual reproduction. Here we investigate the interplay of regeneration, reproduction, and developmental stage in the segmented worm Platynereis dumerilii. P. dumerilii can regenerate its whole posterior body axis, along with its reproductive cells, thereby having to carry out the two costly processes (somatic and germ cell regeneration) after injury. We specifically examine how developmental stage affects the success of germ cell regeneration and sexual maturation in developmentally young versus developmentally old organisms. We hypothesized that developmentally younger individuals (i.e. with gametes in early mitotic stages) will have higher regeneration success than the individuals at developmentally older stages (i.e. with gametes undergoing meiosis and maturation). Surprisingly, older amputated worms grew faster and matured earlier than younger amputees. To analyze germ cell regeneration during and after posterior regeneration, we used Hybridization Chain Reaction for the germline marker vasa. We found that regenerated worms start repopulating new segments with germ cell clusters as early as 14 days post amputation. In addition, vasa expression is observed in a wide region of newly-regenerated segments, which appears different from expression patterns during normal growth or regeneration in worms before gonial cluster expansion. [Display omitted] • Platynereis dumerilii regenerates germ cells during posterior body axis regeneration. • Worms amputated at three developmental stages were tested for fecundity. • Time to reach sexual maturation after regeneration depends on the developmental stage. • Development, regeneration, and reproduction involve stage-specific trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Agroecological farming is widely considered to reconcile improved working and living conditions of farmers while promoting social, economic, and ecological sustainability. However, most existing research primarily focuses on relatively narrow trade-offs between workload, economic and ecological outcomes at farm level and overlooks the critical role of contextual factors. This article conducts a critical literature review on the complex nature of agroecological farm work and proposes the holistic concept of sustainable farm work (SFW) in agroecology together with a heuristic evaluation framework. The latter was applied to ten case studies to test its relevance, affirming positive outcomes of agroecology on SFW, such as improved food sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, and social inclusiveness, but also showing trade-offs, including increased workload and potential yield reductions. Further, results show that contextual factors, such as policy support, market regulation, and access to resources, heavily influence the impact of agroecological practices on SFW. This article strongly argues for the importance of a holistic understanding of SFW and its contextualization within multiple socio-ecological system levels. The proposed framework establishes clear relationships between agroecology and SFW. An explicit recognition of these multidimensional relationships is essential for maximizing positive outcomes of agroecology in different contexts and fostering SFW. On a theoretical level, this research concludes that, from a holistic perspective, work is an entry point to studying the potential of agroecology to drive a sustainable agroecological transition in economic, social, and ecological terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide many different ecosystem services (ESs) to society. We divide these services into three main groups: provisioning, regulating and cultural. The services themselves are usually interrelated, so changes in the level of one of these services can affect the others. Depending on the nature of the mutual relationship, a distinction is made between trade-off and synergy. Understanding the relationships between services in a given area, time period and scale can support conscious management of forest resources, taking into account the concept of ES. This article aims to systematically review the literature with the aim of identifying the relationships between the services and the factors that influence these relationships. Particular attention was paid to the provisioning service, i.e., timber harvesting, and its relationships with other services, taking into account different variants of forest management. The literature search was conducted using the SCOPUS database, which was searched for scientific articles published between 2005 and December 2023 containing the following terms: "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "bundle" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "synergy" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "trade-off". The query resulted in 825 records, of which 55 articles were subjected to a detailed content analysis using a standardised procedure. The results show that most studies analysed the relationships between timber harvesting and biodiversity, carbon storage/sequestration and water erosion. Cultural Ecosystem Services were only examined in a few studies. In most cases, timber harvesting is at trade-off with cultural and regulating services. Many factors influence the supply of services and the relationship between them: climate change, forest management scenarios, temporal and spatial scale of the simulation, species composition and age class or more generally the structure of the forest stand, the history of the study area, its location, habitat productivity and geomorphology. The results show that further work is needed in the area of ES in order to apply this concept in forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Key message By monitoring a field experiment over nine years, we investigated the impacts of the two main pathogen species Erysiphe quercicola S. Takam. and U. Braun and Erysiphe alphitoides (Griffon and Maubl.) U. Braun and S. Takam causing powdery mildew on a young cohort of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.), both from a demographic and genetic point of view using SNP markers. We show that survival rate is affected by mean disease severity. But while the growth-related tolerance to infection of the oak individual seems to be more determinant than resistance against infection, no equalizing effect of the disease could be detected. Context Studies on the effects of pathogens on the survival and population dynamics of forest trees are scarce. Yet a better understanding of these interactions could prove strategic in the challenging context of climate change. Aims Our general objective was to characterize the demographic and genetic impact of the two main pathogen species Erysiphe quercicola S. Takam. and U. Braun and Erysiphe alphitoides (Griffon and Maubl.) U. Braun and S. Takam causing powdery mildew in the early stages of a Quercus robur L. population. Methods An ad hoc field design with two disease exposures, natural and protected, was surveyed over nine years. This enabled a detailed phenotypic monitoring of 1733 emerging individuals from 15 progenies, and the genotyping of 68% of them. Results The pathogen induced high levels of seedling mortality several years after sowing, associated with reduced growth and capacity to overwinter. Fast-growing families showed the highest survival rate under both natural and protected disease exposure. Contrary to a possible trade-off hypothesis between growth and defense, family height potential was not negatively related to disease resistance across the studied oak mother trees. While supporting a deleterious effect of very low individual heterozygosity on the probability of survival, average genomic diversity was not significantly affected by mortality associated with powdery mildew. Our study also points to a few candidate genes for several fitness-related traits. Conclusion Overall, our results suggest that in oak natural populations, infection levels (related to resistance sensu stricto) may be less determinant than growth-related tolerance to infection for the fate of seedlings. However, an equalizing effect of powdery mildew on relative oak genotype performances cannot be excluded at later stages.

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates various opportunities and risks. Our study explores the trade-off of AI technology, including existential risks. We develop a theory and a Bayesian simulation model in order to explore what is at stake. The study reveals four tangible outcomes: (i) regulating existential risks has a boundary solution of either prohibiting the technology or allowing a laissez-faire regulation. (ii) the degree of ‘normal’ risks follows a trade-off and is dependent on AI-intensity. (iii) we estimate the probability of ‘normal’ risks to be between 0.002% to 0.006% over a century. (iv) regulating AI requires a balanced and international approach due to the dynamic risks and its global nature.

Abstract Background Energy allocation between growth and reproduction determines puberty onset and fertility. In mammals, peripheral hormones such as leptin, insulin and ghrelin signal metabolic information to the higher centres controlling gonadotrophin-releasing hormone neurone activity. However, these observations could not be confirmed in lower vertebrates, suggesting that other factors may mediate the energetic trade-off between growth and reproduction. A bioinformatic and experimental study suggested co-regulation of the circadian clock, reproductive axis and growth-regulating genes in zebrafish. While loss-of-function of most of the identified co-regulated genes had no effect or only had mild effects on reproduction, no such information existed about the co-regulated somatostatin, well-known for its actions on growth and metabolism. Results We show that somatostatin signalling is pivotal in regulating fecundity and metabolism. Knock-out of zebrafish somatostatin 1.1 (sst1.1) and somatostatin 1.2 (sst1.2) caused a 20–30% increase in embryonic primordial germ cells, and sst1.2 −/− adults laid 40% more eggs than their wild-type siblings. The sst1.1 −/− and sst1.2 −/− mutants had divergent metabolic phenotypes: the former had 25% more pancreatic α-cells, were hyperglycaemic and glucose intolerant, and had increased adipocyte mass; the latter had 25% more pancreatic β-cells, improved glucose clearance and reduced adipocyte mass. Conclusions We conclude that somatostatin signalling regulates energy metabolism and fecundity through anti-proliferative and modulatory actions on primordial germ cells, pancreatic insulin and glucagon cells and the hypothalamus. The ancient origin of the somatostatin system suggests it could act as a switch linking metabolism and reproduction across vertebrates. The results raise the possibility of applications in human and animal fertility.

Introduction: Sessile plants engage in trade-offs between growth and defense capacity in response to fluctuating environmental cues. MYB is an important transcription factor that plays many important roles in controlling plant growth and defense. However, the mechanism behind how it keeps a balance between these two physiological processes is still largely unknown. Objectives: Our work focuses on the dissection of the molecular mechanism by which GhMYB33 regulates plant growth and defense. Methods: The CRISPR/Cas9 technique was used to generate mutants for deciphering GhMYB33 functions. Yeast two-hybrid, luciferase complementary imaging, and co-immunoprecipitation assays were used to prove that proteins interact with each other. We used the electrophoretic mobility shift assay, yeast one-hybrid, and luciferase activity assays to analyze GhMYB33 acting as a promoter. A β-glucuronidase fusion reporter and 5′ RNA ligase mediated amplification of cDNA ends analysis showed that ghr-miR319c directedly cleaved the GhMYB33 mRNA. Results: Overexpressing miR319c-resistant GhMYB33 (rGhMYB33) promoted plant growth, accompanied by a significant decline in resistance against Verticillium dahliae. Conversely, its knockout mutant, ghmyb33, demonstrated growth restriction and concomitant augmentation of V. dahliae resistance. GhMYB33 was found to couple with the DELLA protein GhGAI1 and bind to the specific cis-elements of GhSPL9 and GhDFR1 promoters, thereby modulating internode elongation and plant resistance in V. dahliae infection. The ghr-miR319c was discovered to target and suppress GhMYB33 expression. The overexpression of ghr-miR319c led to enhanced plant resistance and a simultaneous reduction in plant height. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that GhMYB33 encodes a hub protein and controls the expression of GhSPL9 and GhDFR1, implicating a pivotal role for the miR319c-MYB33 module to regulate the trade-offs between plant growth and defense.

China’s Grain to Green Program (GTGP), which is one of the largest payments for ecosystem services (PES) in the world, has made significant ecological improvements to the environment. However, current understanding of its outcomes on the social-ecological system (SES) remains limited. Therefore, taking the South China Karst as an example, a SES resilience evaluation index system was constructed followed by an exploratory spatial analysis, root mean square error, and Self-Organizing Feature Map to clarify the spatiotemporal changes and relationship of SES resilience, achieve the zoning of SES resilience and provide restoration measures. The results showed an upward trend in social resilience from 2000 to 2020, especially its subsystem of social development. Regional ecological resilience was stable, owing to a slightly declined ecosystem services and increased landscape pattern. Spatially, nearly half of the counties exhibited a distribution mismatch in SES resilience. There was an obvious inverted U-shaped relationship of SES resilience, indicating a clear threshold effect, and the constraint relationship of SES resilience eased over time, demonstrating the effectiveness of the ecological restoration program. GTGP played a positive role in reducing regional SES trade-off, but this positive effect was limited, reflecting the limitations of overemphasizing the conversion from farmland to forest and grassland. Regional SES resilience can be divided into four clusters, which were the key optimization zone for social system, the SES resilience safety zone, the key restoration zone for SES resilience, and the key optimization zone for ecological system. Adaptive adjustments for the GTGP in these zones should be taken to achieve maximum SES benefits in the future.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a food-borne pathogen, which is often isolated from various seafood products. In this study, two kinds of bacteriophages was isolated from the offshore sediments samples. The anti-phage mutant strain were obtained after seventeen rounds of co-culture of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and mixed bacteriophage, multigroup sequencing was carried out on spontaneous the anti-phage mutant strain and the wild-type strain. We used the Sanger sequencing to verify the accuracy of the mutation sites. Biolog GEN III MicroPlates were used to evaluate the metabolic capacity of wild-type strains and the anti-phage mutant strain. In this study, we found that with flaG gene (slight homology to N terminus of multiple flagellins) mutated, making the bacteriophage unable to absorb to the cell surface of the host. And, the growth competitiveness of the anti-phage mutant strain is lower than the wild-type strain. These results indicated that the fitness cost, including loss of the growth competitiveness, constitutes a barrier to the prevalence of these defense mechanisms. And the selection pressure on different anti-phage strategies depends on the trade-off between mortality imposed by bacteriophages and fitness cost of the defense strategy under the given environmental conditions. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the phagehost interaction and phage resistance in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Our study provided knowledge for the evolutionary adaption of bacteria against the bacteriophage, which could add more information to understand the phage resistance mechanism before applying in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global land-use changes impact soil's ability to perform essential functions. This study investigates whether soil organic carbon (SOC) can be conserved without altering land use in traditional farming systems and degraded natural forests, focusing on 'disturbed' agricultural soils and 'undisturbed' forest soils. We also examine the influence of dominant crops on SOC within the top 30 cm of soil in data-deficient regions of Nepal. Using a multi-stage cluster sampling design, we tested 12 regression models to identify the best relationships among variables such as SOC, soil bulk density (BD), pH, dominant crops, climate, topography, and management practices. Our analysis revealed similar SOC levels in both disturbed and undisturbed soils, indicating significant degradation in forested areas, whereas traditional farming systems could support SOC and preserve farm-based indigenous knowledge alongside food security. Further, SOC stocks varied significantly (p < 0.05) across different cropping systems, suggesting that managing dominant crops could be a strategy to optimize SOC, with these crops serving as indicators. Additionally, our results show that the weak linear correlation between SOC and BD in regularly disturbed soils, such as farmlands, where anthropogenic activities frequently alter soil bulk density, may be misleading when estimating bulk density-dependent SOC. This finding suggests the need for further research into varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance in soil to confirm these results. While the site-specific nature of the findings warrants caution with respect to generalization, they provide valuable insights for carbon monitoring, climate actions, ecosystem health, and land-use management in similar traditional farming systems and degraded forests, particularly in data-poor regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogen infection and conspecific density may considerably affect key life‐history traits of organisms. For naturally aggregating species, even low concentrations of pathogens or high larval densities may have detrimental effects. However, the detailed influence of these factors, particularly their interaction effect, is often overlooked in ecological and life‐history studies. To investigate the effects of conspecific density and pathogen infection on life‐history traits, we explored the influence of larval density (1 and 5 larvae cm−2, i.e., low and high density, respectively) on phenoloxidase (PO) activity, body mass, and development time of Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larvae in the presence of two strains of the entomopathogenic fungus (EPF) Beauveria bassiana (Bals.‐Criv.) Vuill. We observed higher PO activity in EPF‐treated larvae than in the untreated control and a pronounced difference in PO activity between the two EPF‐strain treatments. Larvae reared at high density and treated with EPF showed higher PO activity than untreated larvae at low density. The EPF‐treated larvae and larvae reared at high density had longer larval periods than untreated larvae and larvae reared at low density, respectively. Larvae reared at high density also achieved reduced prepupal and pupal masses compared to conspecifics at low density. Interestingly, untreated larvae only achieved higher prepupal and pupal masses at low density, whereas at high density, the pattern was reversed (treated individuals had higher pupal masses). Overall, our results demonstrate that high density and fungal pathogens both induce a higher immune response compared to low density and pathogen‐free environments, but this comes with a cost of a longer larval period and reduced body mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Soybean is a typical short‐day crop, and most commercial soybean cultivars are restricted to a relatively narrow range of latitudes due to photoperiod sensitivity. Photoperiod sensitivity hinders the utilization of soybean germplasms across geographical regions. When grown in temperate regions, tropical soybean responds to prolonged day length by increasing the vegetative growth phase and delaying flowering and maturity, which often pushes the harvest window past the first frost date. In this study, we used CRISPR/LbCas12a to edit a North American subtropical soybean cultivar named 06KG218440 that belongs to maturity group 5.5. By designing one gRNA to edit the nuclear localization signal (NLS) regions of both E1 and E1Lb, we created a series of new germplasms with shortened flowering time and time to maturity and determined their favourable latitudinal zone for cultivation. The novel partial function alleles successfully achieve yield and early maturity trade‐offs and exhibit good agronomic traits and high yields in temperate regions. This work offers a straightforward editing strategy to modify subtropical and tropical soybean cultivars for temperate growing regions, a strategy that could be used to enrich genetic diversity in temperate breeding programmes and facilitate the introduction of important crop traits such as disease tolerance or high yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is fundamental to high-capacity data hiding schemes due to its ability to condense signals into a few significant coefficients while leaving many high-frequency coefficients relatively insignificant. These high-frequency coefficients are often replaced with secret data, allowing for the embedding of many secret bits while maintaining acceptable stego signal quality. However, because high-frequency components still affect the stego signal's quality, preserving their structure is beneficial. This work introduces a method that maintains the structure of high-frequency DCT components during embedding through polynomial modeling. A scaled-down version of the secret signal is added to or subtracted from the polynomial-generated signal to minimize the error between the cover signal and the polynomial-generated signal. As a result, the stego image retains a structure similar to the original cover image. Experimental results demonstrate that this scheme improves the quality and security of the stego image compared to current methods. Notably, the technique's robustness is confirmed by its resistance to detection by deep learning methods, as a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) could not distinguish between the cover and stego images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development and maintenance of neural architecture supporting learning and memory, as well as active storage of learnt information, are predicted to carry significant energetic costs. Here we explored whether the demands of learning about fitness-relevant stimuli come at a cost to the reproductive success of an insect model. Bumble bee (Bombus spp.) queens found nests alone, and early in the colony cycle must invest simultaneously in learning about rewarding floral resources and colony founding. We exposed queens of Bombus terrestris audax emerging from diapause to a 6-day reversal learning task and compared colony founding success of these individuals to two control groups that did not learn but received equal food. Additionally, we limited carbohydrate intake in half of queens across all treatments. Nutritionally stressed queens had a lower probability of egg laying, delayed nest initiation and lower offspring production compared with nutritionally unrestricted queens, suggesting resource availability at this life cycle stage is crucial to founding successful colonies and population growth. Nevertheless, potential energetic demands of learning did not reduce colony founding success in a laboratory set-up, even in nutritionally stressed groups. Our findings provide a rare real-world test of the costs associated with learning and suggest they do not affect reproductive potential in bumble bee queens. • Development and use of neural architecture carries potential energetic costs. • We test whether such costs compromise reproductive success in bumble bee queens. • The demands of learning did not affect colony founding success, even under stress. • Nutritional stress negatively affected egg laying and offspring production. • Resource-poor environments may affect bumble bee population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Today, the sustainability and outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are crucial to the success of microfinance and the sector's potential to make a lasting impact. The ability of MFIs to operate financially well without sacrificing their social goals has come under scrutiny. This study aims to identify the kind of relationships between the two objectives of MFIs in Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach: This study investigated the association between the outreach and financial sustainability of Ethiopian MFIs from the years 2012 to 2021 using a balanced set of panel data. The study used secondary data and employed a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. To this end, random and fixed effects estimation models, as well as three-stage least squares, with the model of seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) are used. Findings: According to the study, outreach performance enables MFIs to achieve sustainability/financial performance. On the other side, MFI that are financially sound improve social performance. There was therefore no trade-off between the two objectives. Originality/value: As Ethiopia's microfinance sector shifts away from government and non-government backing and toward commercialization, such research is crucial. This aspect of the Ethiopian microfinance industry has gotten little consideration in research. The SUR model was used in the study together with random and fixed effect estimators, and the most reliable estimation result was chosen based on the necessary tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wire-electrical discharge machining (wire-EDM) is increasingly recommended for the machining of complex-shaped components with high surface finish and geometrical accuracy, specifically for difficult-to-machine advanced materials like Al-matrix composite (Al-MCs). The related research is primarily restricted to ex-situ Al-MCs, although in-situ ordered intermetallics reinforced Al-MCs are receiving growing attention due to their superior comprehensive mechanical properties. The present work deals with an Al-2Mg/20 vol.% in-situ Al3Fe composite manufactured by the reactive stir-casting method and focuses on its machining by wire-EDM via experimental and computational approaches. Experiments have been conducted following the response surface method (RSM) considering four process variables, namely, pulse-on time (TON), servo voltage (SV), peak current (IP) and wire feed rate (WFR). The integrity of the machined surfaces has been characterized by evaluating the change in surface chemistry (CSC) and surface roughness (SR), while the material removal rate (MRR) has been determined as the machining performance index. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and RSM-based mathematical models reveal that TON is the most influencing parameter, and it raises MRR and SR but reduces CSC considerably. The optimization of machining conditions has been performed by metaheuristic approaches, namely, Teaching and Learning-based optimization (TLBO) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) apart from multi-objective RSM (MORSM) based on the trade-off analysis. The performances of TLBO and ABC techniques are found to be identical and provide much greater MRR at the cost of diminished surface integrity, i.e., higher SR and CSC, when compared with the MORSM technique. The robustness of the developed models has been validated by confirmatory experiments with a calculated overall error of ≤ ± 8%. Finally, the surface integrity aspects are reaffirmed and correlated with input variables through detailed characterizations of the machining surfaces by FESEM-EDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Energy allocation between growth and reproduction determines puberty onset and fertility. In mammals, peripheral hormones such as leptin, insulin and ghrelin signal metabolic information to the higher centres controlling gonadotrophin-releasing hormone neurone activity. However, these observations could not be confirmed in lower vertebrates, suggesting that other factors may mediate the energetic trade-off between growth and reproduction. A bioinformatic and experimental study suggested co-regulation of the circadian clock, reproductive axis and growth-regulating genes in zebrafish. While loss-of-function of most of the identified co-regulated genes had no effect or only had mild effects on reproduction, no such information existed about the co-regulated somatostatin, well-known for its actions on growth and metabolism. Results: We show that somatostatin signalling is pivotal in regulating fecundity and metabolism. Knock-out of zebrafish somatostatin 1.1 (sst1.1) and somatostatin 1.2 (sst1.2) caused a 20–30% increase in embryonic primordial germ cells, and sst1.2−/− adults laid 40% more eggs than their wild-type siblings. The sst1.1−/− and sst1.2−/− mutants had divergent metabolic phenotypes: the former had 25% more pancreatic α-cells, were hyperglycaemic and glucose intolerant, and had increased adipocyte mass; the latter had 25% more pancreatic β-cells, improved glucose clearance and reduced adipocyte mass. Conclusions: We conclude that somatostatin signalling regulates energy metabolism and fecundity through anti-proliferative and modulatory actions on primordial germ cells, pancreatic insulin and glucagon cells and the hypothalamus. The ancient origin of the somatostatin system suggests it could act as a switch linking metabolism and reproduction across vertebrates. The results raise the possibility of applications in human and animal fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linking reproductive fitness with adaptive traits at the genomic level can shed light on the mechanisms that produce and maintain sex‐specific selection. Here, we construct a multigenerational pedigree to investigate sex‐specific selection on a maturation gene, vgll3, in a wild Atlantic salmon population. The vgll3 locus is responsible for ~40% of the variation in maturation (sea age at first reproduction). Genetic parentage analysis was conducted on 18,265 juveniles (parr) and 685 adults collected at the same spawning ground over eight consecutive years. A high proportion of females (26%) were iteroparous and reproduced two to four times in their lifetime. A smaller proportion of males (9%) spawned at least twice in their lifetime. Sex‐specific patterns of reproductive fitness were related to vgll3 genotype. Females showed a pattern of overdominance where vgll3*EL genotypes had three‐fold more total offspring than homozygous females. In contrast, males demonstrated that late‐maturing vgll3*LL individuals had two‐fold more offspring than either vgll3*EE or vgll3*EL males. Taken together, these data suggest that balancing selection in females contributes to the maintenance of variation at this locus via increased fitness of iteroparous vgll3*EL females. This study demonstrates the utility of multigenerational pedigrees for uncovering complex patterns of reproduction, sex‐specific selection and the maintenance of genetic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life‐history theory predicts that investment in reproduction should decrease survival (the 'cost of reproduction'). It is often assumed that energy allocation drives such trade‐offs, with limited energy available for both reproduction and survival. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, maybe because survival costs of reproduction are only apparent when resources are limited. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment created by fluctuating environmental conditions to compare energy expenditure of a seabird, the pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus), between contrasting population‐scale scenarios of survival costs of reproduction. We used multi‐state capture–recapture modelling across 16 years to identify which breeding seasons induced high survival costs (survival ratebreeders < survival ratenon/failed breeders) and we concomitantly estimated energy expenditure of chick‐rearing males using time‐energy budget models across 4 years. Daily energy expenditure (DEE) of chick‐rearing pelagic cormorants varied significantly among years. However, survival costs of reproduction were observed in only 1 year, and contrary to our expectations, variation in DEE was not associated with population‐level survival costs. Similarly, at the individual level, DEE in 1 year did not predict the probability of being observed again at the colony in following years (apparent survival). Finally, DEE was independent of brood size and brood age, but older individuals tended to expend less energy than younger ones. Given the lack of an apparent energetic 'cost of reproduction', lower DEE in older birds could be due to improved efficiency rather than avoidance of costs in old birds. Although future studies should account for potential sex‐specific energetic constraints by including data on female energy expenditure, we conclude that a direct link between the rate of energy expenditure during breeding and subsequent survival is unlikely in this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a natural context, many avian species exhibit the ability to assess and balance factors such as food availability, food quality, and energy expenditure when making foraging decisions. However, avian behaviours can also diverge from the predictions, influenced by a range of variables, including social behaviours, predation pressures, and individual personalities. Chilean flamingos, popular social birds native to South America, remain relatively underexplored in terms of their foraging ecology and the interplay between environmental conditions and foraging behaviours, especially within the context of conservation. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a comprehensive study, collecting monthly physical and biological data from foraging flocks of Chilean flamingos at Lagoa do Peixe National Park, a vital contra-nuptial site located in southern Brazil, spanning from October 2021 to September 2022. We employed Generalized Linear Mixed Models to establish correlations between this dataset and the relative frequency and duration of four identified foraging behaviours: Pecking up, Head-dipping, Feet-trembling, and Dredging. Our findings substantiate that the foraging patterns exhibited by Chilean flamingos in this region are intricately linked to the trade-off between energy expenditure and the rewards obtained, primarily influenced by factors such as lagoon depth and the availability of food resources. Moreover, our results unveil a parabolic pattern in the distances maintained between individual flamingos in the flock, potentially attributed to facilitate foraging dynamics within larger groups, despite the concurrent increase in aggressive interactions. In summary, our study underscores the multifaceted variables that influence the foraging strategies of Chilean flamingos in a significant contra-nuptial area in southern Brazil. It sheds light on the behavioural adaptability of these birds and underscores the potential repercussions of this dynamic on individual and population performance and fitness. • Water depth, food type and food availability are the main variables influencing the foraging behaviors of Chilean flamingo in a natural environment; • There are a trade-off between energetic reward and energetic expenditure while performing different foraging behaviors; • The intra-flock distance also influence the foraging behaviors characteristics, with a balance between intraspecific competition and foraging facilitation; [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Cross Society of China played a crucial role in distributing medical donations, but the initial efforts were inefficient and neglected medical personnel’s welfare. This study proposes a time-sensitive humanitarian distribution model that optimizes the social costs by integrating logistics and deprivation costs that cares about human suffering. We ues the Gini coefficient to evaluate delays in distribution, aiding trade-off analysis between logistics efforts and social welfare. Our findings show that the proposed model improves the Gini coefficient by an average of 33.96% across 500 scenarios. Additionally, investing 23.7% more in logistics costs reduces the Gini coefficient by 0.1, enhancing the social welfare of medical supplies distribution. Sensitivity analysis examines the impact of time delay and cost investment on the Gini coefficient, offering insights into balancing logistics investments and social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]