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Natural vegetation in and around crops effectively increases predators. Semi‐natural habitats (SNHs; non‐crop vegetation) surrounding crops provide refuge and resources. However, the function of SNHs may depend on several factors, and the response of natural predators may vary among crops and regions. Here, we examined the spider community in a SNH and at an adjacent vineyard in a semi‐arid region of Argentina. We collected spiders in a gradient from an adjacent SNH, towards the vineyard at three distances from the SNH using two techniques: beating and pit‐fall traps. We collected spiders in December and February during two consecutive years at two strata: in vegetation and on the ground. In vegetation, spider abundance significantly decreased from SNH towards the interior of the vineyard at 80 m. On the ground, spider abundance was also significantly higher in SNH. However, after decreasing at the 5 and 20 m sites inside the vineyard, the abundance increased at 80 m. For foliage spiders, species richness followed the same pattern as abundance, whereas ground spider richness significantly increased from SNH to the interior of the vineyard. Species composition also showed different tendencies between foliage and ground spiders. The foliage spider community differed between SNH vs. all the vineyard sites. Contrarily, at the ground stratum, SNH was similar in composition to the edge of the vineyard, and they both differed from the other vineyard sites. We found that the adjacent SNH influenced the spider community in the vineyard and that this effect depended on the distance from that habitat and the association of the community to various strata. These results highlight the importance of studying the whole community of spiders when aiming to increase predator abundance to enhance biological control in this kind of crop. In addition, we found species that may act as indicators of native vegetation which has important implications for the management of natural habitats in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shallow coastal and estuarine habitats play an essential role in the life cycles of many fish species, providing spawning, nursery, feeding, and migration areas. However, these ecologically valuable habitats are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities, causing substantial changes in both habitat availability and quality. Fish species use these shallow coastal habitats and estuaries during various life stages, leading to their categorization into guilds based on how and when they rely on these areas. This differential functional use of estuaries means that changes to these habitats may affect each guild differently. To understand the impact of estuarine habitat degradation on fish populations, it is therefore necessary to consider the full life cycle of fish and when they rely on these coastal habitats. Here, we use conceptual size‐structured population models to study how estuarine habitat degradation affects two functionally different guilds. We use these models to predict how reduced food productivity in the estuary affects the demographic rates and population dynamics of these groups. Specifically, we model estuarine residents, which complete their entire life cycle in estuaries, and marine estuarine–dependent species, which inhabit estuaries during early life before transitioning offshore. We find that total fish biomass for both guilds decreases with decreasing food productivity. However, the density of juveniles of the marine estuarine–dependent guild can, under certain conditions, increase in the estuary. This occurs due to a shift in the population biomass distribution over different life stages and a simultaneous shift in which life stage is most limited by food. At the individual level, somatic growth of juveniles belonging to the estuarine‐dependent guild decreased with lower food supply in the estuary, due to increased competition for food. The somatic growth rates of fish belonging to the resident guild were largely unaffected by low food supply, as the total fish density decreased at the same time and therefore the per‐capita food availability was similar. These outcomes challenge the assumption that responses to habitat degradation are similar between fish guilds. Our study highlights the need to assess not only fish biomass but also size distributions, survival, and somatic growth rates for a comprehensive understanding of the effects of habitat degradation on fish populations. This understanding is crucial not only for estuary fish communities but also for successful conservation and management of commercially harvested offshore population components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paleopathological literature notably lacks the description and analysis of distal humeral fractures and their associated complications. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate a distal humerus fracture associated with cubitus valgus observed in the articulated right elbow of an adult male buried in the Santa Caterina Friary site in Barcelona, dating back to the modern period (15th to early 16th century), and (2) to contribute to the valorization of bioarcheological heritage. Employing macroscopic and radiographic studies, the injury was assessed. The results indicated a healed antemortem fracture, probably associated with a fall. In the AO/OTA classification, it corresponds to type 13C1.1 (complete articular fracture, articular simple, metaphyseal simple, above the transcondylar axis), accompanied by a coronoid process fracture due to anterior trochlear dislocation impact (O'Driscoll type 1 classification: transverse fracture of the distal apophysis with involvement of the sublime tubercle). This fracture, resulting in a 28° cubitus valgus and significant elbow changes, infers community support in healing and highlights the socio-economic dynamics of guilds and adaptive strategies to physical adversities. This study is one of the first to describe cubitus valgus in a historical Spanish population, offering a comprehensive view of the complexities, physical adversities, and adaptive strategies employed by individuals following an elbow fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroecosystem simplification for greater food production has led to the loss of ecosystem services such as pest control by predators. Plant diversification has shown excellent potential to improve the diversity of crop predators such as spiders.However, in agroecosystems with frequent disturbances such as annual crops, it is unknown whether the effect of plant diversification on spiders depends on the surrounding landscape and the stages of the agricultural cycle (i.e., periods with differences in vegetation, weather and agricultural practices).Here, we evaluated the effect and interaction of local management (plant diversification), landscape (forest areas) and agricultural cycle on the richness and abundance from the main spider guilds of a maize polyculture in Mexico.We found that greater crop diversification (i.e., addition of legumes and leafy plants) caused a greater abundance of ground‐hunting spiders. We also show that a larger area of forest around the crop favours a greater richness and abundance of ground‐ and vegetation‐hunting spiders.We found that each stage of the agricultural cycle had a different spider richness and abundance, ground hunters were more common at the beginning of the agricultural cycle, while vegetation hunters and web‐builders were more common during the peak developmental stages of the crops.Our findings support the idea that to foster functionally diverse spider communities that potentially enhance natural pest control, we must jointly manage plant elements within the crop, in the surrounding landscape, considering the high dynamics of spider communities throughout the agricultural cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Global communication, an integral part of modern life, increases the risk of transmitting infectious diseases to individuals. Based on the transtheoretical model (TTM), this study aimed to identify the most effective factors in adherence to health protocols among marketers and guilds. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 market sellers and guilds of Ardabil City, Iran, in 2023. The TTM questionnaire was distributed among the participants which included four sub-constructs: (1) stages of change, (2) process of change, (3) self-efficacy, and (4) decisional balance. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. One-way ANOVA and linear regression tests were employed to evaluate the prediction of effective factors of the stage transition. Results: Most participants (63.5%) were between 21 and 40. Most participants (65.5%) were in the passive stages of change (precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation). Pros (β = 0.133, P < 0.001) and behavioral processes of change (β = 0.058, P < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of the stage of change or improvement of stages of participants' willingness to follow health protocols. Conclusion: A correct understanding of the stages of behavior change can strengthen strategies for promoting healthy behaviors. Also, understanding the benefits of healthy behavior means compliance with health protocols and behavioral processes such as stimulus control, reinforcement management, counterconditioning, and self-liberation, along with high self-efficacy, have an impact on improving the stages of behavior change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historiographical debate about the influence of guilds on economic development and innovation lacks consensus. Scholars are divided: some argue that guilds fostered a positive environment for technological innovation through privileges that ensured profits for inventors, while others underline the guilds' role in stifling innovation to protect their interests. This article undertakes a comparative analysis of ribbon manufacturing in early modern Italy, a sector known for its technology transfer across Europe. It finds that the nature of the guild and its specific privileges crucially determined technology transfer and innovation acceptance. In addition, the redistribution of profits within guilds was vital to the innovative process. The article concludes that the key to technology transfer and innovation lay in preserving the guilds' profit monopolies and internal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mercury (Hg) endangers human and wildlife health globally, primarily due to its release from artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM). During gold extraction, Hg is emitted into the environment and converted to highly toxic methylmercury by microorganisms. In Madre de Dios (MDD), Peru, ASGM dominates the economy and has transformed rainforests into expansive deforested areas punctuated by abandoned mining ponds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of bats as bioindicators for mercury pollution intensity in tropical terrestrial ecosystems impacted by ASGM. We collected 290 bat fur samples from three post-ASGM sites and one control site in Madre de Dios. Our results showed a wide Hg distribution in bats (0.001 to 117.71 mg/kg) strongly influenced by feeding habits. Insectivorous and piscivorous bats from ASGM sites presented elevated levels of Hg surpassing the mercury small mammal threshold for small mammals (10 mg/kg). We observed the highest reported fur mercury concentrations for insectivorous Neotropical bats reported to date (Rhynchonycteris naso, 117 mg/kg). Our findings further confirm that Hg emissions from ASGM are entering local food webs and exposing wildlife species at several trophic levels to higher levels of Hg than in areas not impacted by mining. We also found that three bat genera consistently showed increased Hg levels in ASGM sites relative to controls indicating potential usefulness as bioindicators of mercury loading in terrestrial ecosystems impacted by artisanal and small-scale gold mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paleopathological literature notably lacks the description and analysis of distal humeral fractures and their associated complications. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate a distal humerus fracture associated with cubitus valgus observed in the articulated right elbow of an adult male buried in the Santa Caterina Friary site in Barcelona, dating back to the modern period (15th to early 16th century), and (2) to contribute to the valorization of bioarcheological heritage. Employing macroscopic and radiographic studies, the injury was assessed. The results indicated a healed antemortem fracture, probably associated with a fall. In the AO/OTA classification, it corresponds to type 13C1.1 (complete articular fracture, articular simple, metaphyseal simple, above the transcondylar axis), accompanied by a coronoid process fracture due to anterior trochlear dislocation impact (O’Driscoll type 1 classification: transverse fracture of the distal apophysis with involvement of the sublime tubercle). This fracture, resulting in a 28° cubitus valgus and significant elbow changes, infers community support in healing and highlights the socio-economic dynamics of guilds and adaptive strategies to physical adversities. This study is one of the first to describe cubitus valgus in a historical Spanish population, offering a comprehensive view of the complexities, physical adversities, and adaptive strategies employed by individuals following an elbow fracture.

Obligate mutualisms, reciprocally obligate beneficial interactions, are some of the most important mutualisms on the planet, providing the basis for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, the formation and persistence of terrestrial ecosystems and the establishment and expansion of coral reefs. In addition, these mutualisms can also lead to the diversification of interacting partner species. Accompanying this diversification is a general pattern of a high degree of specificity among interacting partner species. A survey of obligate mutualisms demonstrates that greater than half of these systems have only one or two mutualist species on each side of the interaction. This is in stark contrast to facultative mutualisms that can have dozens of interacting mutualist species. We posit that the high degree of specificity in obligate mutualisms is driven by competition within obligate mutualist guilds that limits species richness. Competition may be particularly potent in these mutualisms because mutualistic partners are totally dependent on each other's fitness gains, which may fuel interspecific competition. Theory and the limited number of empirical studies testing for the role of competition in determining specificity suggest that competition may be an important force that fuels the high degree of specificity. Further empirical research is needed to dissect the relative roles of trait complementarity, mutualism regulation, and competition among mutualist guild members in determining mutualism specificity at local scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guilds have been used to assess how vegetation or environmental perturbations influence the community structure of animal communities. Spiders use a variety of hunting strategies. In arid environments they are the main predators of arthropods. Despite this, spider guilds have not been studied in desert ecosystems. Our study was carried out in one area of the Chihuahuan Desert. We used ramp-type traps and manual collection to capture the spiders. After identifying the specimens caught, we used a classification based on 20 and 23 traits to group the species into guilds. We used new traits for classification (eg horizontal web, triangular web, vertical web, threads coming out of the retreat). As a result, we obtained 11 guilds. Some species of the same family (e.g Gnaphosidae, Oxyopidae, Philodromidae, Theridiidae, Thomisidae) were positioned in different guilds. In addition to the classification, we provide information on the natural history of the species found. This information can be used to understand the differences between spider communities in desert vegetation types and those in other biomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megaherbivore carcasses represent sporadic but energetically rewarding resources for carnivores, offering a unique opportunity to study coexistence dynamics between facultative scavengers. South African fenced protected areas, such as Madikwe Game Reserve (Madikwe hereafter), host viable populations of large carnivores and high densities of elephants, Loxodonta africana. However, high carnivore densities can lead to potentially fatal interspecific encounters and increased competition, particularly around high‐quality trophic resources. This study explores the temporal partitioning and co‐detection strategies of carnivores at six elephant carcasses in Madikwe, aiming to understand how the increased carrion biomass available at elephant carcasses influences coexistence dynamics. Camera traps were deployed to monitor carcasses during two periods (2019 and 2020), revealing occurrences of six carnivore species. Carnivores, particularly black‐backed jackals, Lupulella mesomelas, (hereafter jackal), lions, Panthera leo, and spotted hyaenas, Crocuta crocuta, comprised 56.7% of carcass observations, highlighting their pivotal roles in scavenging dynamics. Pairwise co‐detection analysis demonstrated consistent association and shared peak activity periods between jackals and spotted hyaenas, indicating potential resource sharing. However, the minimal co‐detection rates between lions and other carnivores highlight their resource domination. There was some evidence of temporal partitioning between carnivores, with most species exhibiting earlier peaks in nocturnal activity to avoid temporal overlap with lions. This study emphasises the importance of elephant carcasses in the diet of multiple species and coexistence techniques utilised to exploit this ephemeral resource. As fenced protected areas become crucial for conserving intact carnivore guilds globally, further research into carnivore behavioural adaptations at carcasses is recommended to shed light on their coexistence strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether trees and palms scattered in pastures contribute to the maintenance of bat assemblages in landscapes highly fragmented by livestock farming activities, we evaluated the bat assemblages and foraging guilds between wooded pastures and riparian vegetation. Using mist nets, we captured 1013 bats from 29 species and four taxonomic families. We found that the abundance, richness, and composition of bat species were not significantly different between vegetation types. Frugivores were the most abundant guild, and their abundance did not differ between vegetation types, indicating that wood-pastures allow the presence of these bats in the landscape. On the other hand, insectivores were more abundant in riparian vegetation and, interestingly, nectarivores were more abundant in pastures, likely due to the great plasticity of species of the genus Glossophaga. Our results are encouraging, since they demonstrate that a rustic pasture management that promoting the presence of scattered trees and palms along with belts of riparian vegetation, allows the maintenance of bat assemblages in a highly fragmented landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the mobility of skilled labour within small and specialised guilds in peripheral Europe during the mid-seventeenth century. Based on archival records for passementerie makers and embroiderers in Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, the paper highlights conflicts brought on by labour mobility. What can these conflicts tell us about the situation within two small and specialised trades in Scandinavia, and how were they handled? The study examines examples of the actual implementation of both regulations and traditions associated with the crafts. This illuminates historical strategies for human resource management as well as economic relations between Scandinavia and the Continent. The results suggest a balancing act of negotiations between the needs of journeymen and masters respectively, paired with a pronounced need to align with their German counterparts. It also becomes clear that conditions differed between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Not only was the number of native artisans higher within the Danish guilds concerned, there was also substantial re-growth by apprenticeship. In contrast, Sweden was heavily dependent on immigration of skilled labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because spiders have a great variety of strategies to capture their prey they have been grouped into ecological guilds. The objective of this study was to determine the composition and structure of spider communities in coffee plantations with different management systems (monoculture and polyculture shade), through their classification into ecological guilds and their graphic categorization. Polyculture was the site with the highest species richness. In general, the abundance of spiders was significantly lower in the polyculture. The guild of diurnal space web-weavers spiders was the most abundant in both coffee sites. Abundance of the guilds of nocturnal aerial runners and nocturnal aerial ambushers were significantly lower in the polyculture, while the guild of diurnal ambushers was significantly lower in the monoculture. Abundance dif ferences were observed between guild hierarchies across sites and seasons. This first analysis of guilds allows us to understand the competition for resources and the ecological niche requirements of spiders in coffee plantations in Oaxaca, Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ant assemblages have been used as bioindicators of biodiversity response to different types of anthropogenic disturbances. However, usual diversity metrics (e.g., ant species richness and composition) sometimes seem limited in showing an overall panorama of human impacts. Thus, we checked habitat-use guilds of ants as a complementary predictable parameter, based on the ant fauna reported in thirteen forest fragments and pastures in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, we hypothesized that forest specialist, open-habitat specialist, and generalist ants would have distinct responses to forest-pasture shifting. We expected that forest-pasture shifting would cause a decrease in species richness of forest specialists and an increase in open-habitat specialists, while the generalists would have few changes in their richness because they can live in both habitats. As expected, the species richness of forest specialist ants decreased, and open-habitat ants increased with forest-pasture shifting, while generalists had little change. This indicates that human-induced open habitats (e.g., pastures) are essentially comprised of generalist ants and open-habitat ant specialists, which replace forest specialists. Additionally, considering the plasticity of generalist ants, they can be considered as primary elements of ant assemblages. Therefore, a future step is to quantify the limit of forest-cover clearing in human-induced land uses, which might ensure a higher species richness of forest-specialist ants than other habitat-use guilds. Implications for insect conservation: Habitat-use ant guilds (forest specialists, open-habitat specialists, and generalists) have been used as a complementary parameter on bioindication. Here, we provided a standard protocol to classify the ant fauna in these habitat-use guilds, which allows for objective, reproducible and broad use in monitoring programs that consider ant assemblages as bioindicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine sponges host diverse microbial communities. Although we know many of its ecological patterns, a deeper understanding of the polar sponge holobiont is still needed. We combine high-throughput sequencing of ribosomal genes, including the largest taxonomic repertoire of Antarctic sponge species analyzed to date, functional metagenomics, and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Our findings show that sponges harbor more exclusive bacterial and archaeal communities than seawater, while microbial eukaryotes are mostly shared. Furthermore, bacteria in Antarctic sponge holobionts establish more cooperative interactions than in sponge holobionts from other environments. The bacterial classes that established more positive relations were Bacteroidia, Gamma- and Alphaproteobacteria. Antarctic sponge microbiomes contain microbial guilds that encompass ammonia-oxidizing archaea, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. The retrieved MAGs showed a high level of novelty and streamlining signals and belong to the most abundant members of the main microbial guilds in the Antarctic sponge holobiont. Moreover, the genomes of these symbiotic bacteria contain highly abundant functions related to their adaptation to the cold environment, vitamin production, and symbiotic lifestyle, helping the holobiont survive in this extreme environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the decline of the fraternity of St. George in Nottingham between 1459 and 1546. It uses the guild's accounts in conjunction with Nottingham's rich surviving documentary materials to investigate the financial management of the fraternity by its officers. It argues that the officers were adept at negotiating shifting economic conditions by switching between various revenue streams. However, this adroit management did not stem the tide of membership decline. It discusses the role of religious reform in the guild's ultimate demise. It investigates why the decline in membership started long before any moves towards state-sponsored religious reform in the 1540s. It examines the impact of key individuals upon the guild's history. It argues that, for a more nuanced view of the decline of fraternal organizations in this period, a recognition of individuals' impact upon institutions needs to be incorporated into our understanding of institutions' influences upon the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about "agency" in history are generally misplaced. Agency is pervasive in human interaction, not, as is often assumed, a relatively rare or heroic achievement. We live within social structures that are reproduced by social practices—but that are also constantly bent or reinterpreted in action, sometimes in minor ways but sometimes transforming the animating structures. I illustrate how this conceptualization works by recounting how French workers, previously divided into rivalrous single-trade organizations, arrived at a form of proto-socialist class consciousness in the years after the Revolution of 1830—by adopting, adapting, and repurposing the new regime's liberal language and organizational forms. But "agency," I argue, was equally present in the daily efforts of the pre-1830 workers' organizations, many of whose modes of action were officially illegal. Agency should be understood as a pervasive feature of human social life, not as a badge of heroism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note starts from Hodgson's (2023) thorough review and critique of Guild Socialism and argues that his proposed way forward—a decentralised producer cooperative sector embedded in a competitive market economy—is likely to be a political impossibility. A political economy model of a system of labour-managed firms is outlined which shows that laissez-faire on investment decisions is likely to be outvoted by a capital tax/subsidy scheme that redistributes income from rich coops to poor coops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second half of the 16th century the musicians of Medina del Campo came together to form a company in order to provide the music for all the celebrations taking place in their town. This initiative offers the possibility of broadening our knowledge about the functioning of municipal companies of musicians in the Spanish urban centres of the 16th century. The rich corpus of documents found in the regional archive of Valladolid permits the activity of this company to be traced in detail: how it was created, which musicians were involved, the regulations they followed, the patrons they worked for, the instruments they used, and how they taught their pupils. As will become apparent, the company of Medina del Campo functioned much like the guilds supporting many other trades, in which hierarchy, duties and communal good in both professional and social matters were carefully prescribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asphondylia borrichiae induces galls at the apical meristems of its host plant, Borrichia frutescens, and the larvae develop and pupate within the gall.During development, immature stages of the midge are attacked by four species of parasitic wasps; two of these parasitoids, Galeopsomyia haemon and Torymus umbilicatus, are the most common members of the guild, and both are hyperparasitic.In the current study, plots of B. frutescens were randomly assigned to control (unmanipulated), salted or fertilised in a long‐term press experiment. Although plots initially exhibited no differences in stem length, gall and flower densities, after 3 months, they began to exhibit significant differences, suggesting stress (salted plots) and vigour (fertilised plots).Galls produced on plants from fertilised plots were approximately 20% and 31% larger than those from control and salted plots, respectively.Larger gall diameter in fertilised plots resulted in a shift of the parasitoid community towards the largest parasitoid, T. umgbilicatus, whereas smaller galls produced in salted plots became biased towards the smallest, but gregarious, G. haemon; interestingly, this pattern held for T. umbilicatus across treatments, and the effect for G. haemon was not significant when all treatments were combined.This study suggests that abiotic factors that alter host plant characteristics, such as gall diameter, affect the composition of the parasitoid guild that attacks A. borrichiae, which has implications for the acquisition of enemy‐free space during host range expansion of the midge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generating large-scale field-based guild data for assessing tree species sorting and distribution over tropical covers is difficult. In this study, we combined field, and the Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) datasets of tropical covers across a climate gradient to develop precision maps of abundant tree species. This assisted in the extraction of a large dataset of guilds with tree species assortment and occupancy. We observed parity in the distribution of local and regional species with an increase in the proportionate presence of local species over the climate gradient. We saw greater distribution of Fabaceae members in sites with relatively lesser rainfall. To address the impact of species sorting on the functional aspects of guilds, available R codes (Ackerly and Cornwell, 2007), and three vegetation indices (VIs) as functional traits (Photochemical Reflectance Index, PRI, Chlorophyll/Carotenoid Index, CCI, and Normalized Difference Water Index, NDWI) were tested. Species assortment and spread affected the guild's functional diversity, as noticed in the abundance weighted guild means of VIs. We also observed a consistent increase in the mean CCI of all species across the climate gradient correlating positively with rainfall and negatively with vapour pressure deficit (VPD). This shows that CCI could be an adequate measure for large-scale ecological observations of these tropical regions. Wider amplitudes in the measured VIs of deciduous species demonstrated their adaptability to the climate gradient. Gradient-driven species assembly dynamics and functional traits variability indicates of tropical tree biodiversity feedback to the climate dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carnivora species present specialisations for carnivorous diet, although their dietary spectrum is variable: some are strictly carnivorous, others feed mostly on plants. Knowledge about Carnivora feeding habits and resource use patterns is the basis for understanding ecological dynamics, including their role in ecosystems, trophic interactions and conservation.We aimed to contribute to the identification and description of the trophic guild structure of Carnivora species throughout the Neotropical Region and explore the main drivers behind their structuring.We compiled Carnivora dietary studies and evaluated trophic guild formation through network analysis, diet dissimilarity and overlapping. We investigated whether there is spatial variation in diet parameters and the role of phylogeny in trophic guild structuring.We found dietary studies for 32 species from six Carnivora families. We observed two important biases: most studies focus on large‐bodied felids and canids and were predominantly conducted in South and South‐eastern regions of South America. Additionally, it has been noted that biomes such as the Amazon and Caatinga require further research on dietary studies.The network patterns evidenced that central items in carnivorans' diet are small mammals, plants, arthropods and crustaceans. Modularity suggests grouping generalists/opportunists, marine‐based, plant‐based and two mammal‐based diets. Most opportunistic and generalist species were found within the families Canidae and Procyonidae, while felids were strictly carnivorous.Dietary parameters reveal carnivorans tend to maintain niche breadth regardless of the ecoregion, possibly by substitution of items in their diet. Finally, we observed that phylogeny is an important driver of dietary patterns, indicating that evolutionary history explains part of the habits of carnivores. Our review provides insights to identify broad‐scale patterns and guidelines for new studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: How community composition varies in space and what governs the variation has been extensively investigated in macroorganisms. However, we have only limited knowledge of microorganisms, especially fungi, despite their ecological and economic significance. Based on previous research, we define and test a series of hypotheses regarding the composition of fungal communities, their most influential drivers and their spatial scale dependence. Location: Czech Republic. Time period: Present. Taxa studied: Fungi. Methods: We analysed the distance decay relationships, community composition and its drivers (physical distance, litter and soil chemistry, tree composition and climate) in fungi using multivariate analyses. We compared the results across three fungal ecological guilds (ectomycorrhizal fungi, saprotrophs and yeasts), two forest microhabitats (litter and bulk soil) and six spatial scales (from 5 m to 80 km) that comprehensively cover the Czech Republic. Results: We found that, similar to macroorganisms, the ectomycorrhizal fungi and saprotrophs showed marked distance–decay relationships, and their community composition was driven mainly by vegetation and dispersal at local scales but, at regional scales, by environmental effects. In contrast, the third fungal guild, the unicellular yeasts, showed little distance decay, suggesting extraordinary spatial homogeneity, as often seen in microorganisms, such as bacteria. Main conclusions: Our results underscore the remarkable variation in the community ecology of fungi, which seems to range well‐known patterns both from the macro‐ and the microworld. Knowledge of these patterns advances our understanding of the ecology of fungi, rather understudied organisms of significant ecological and economic importance, which our findings identify as a potentially suitable model for bridging the gaps between the biogeography of micro‐ and macroorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Investigaciones Historicas is the property of Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Obligate mutualisms, reciprocally obligate beneficial interactions, are some of the most important mutualisms on the planet, providing the basis for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, the formation and persistence of terrestrial ecosystems and the establishment and expansion of coral reefs. In addition, these mutualisms can also lead to the diversification of interacting partner species. Accompanying this diversification is a general pattern of a high degree of specificity among interacting partner species. A survey of obligate mutualisms demonstrates that greater than half of these systems have only one or two mutualist species on each side of the interaction. This is in stark contrast to facultative mutualisms that can have dozens of interacting mutualist species. We posit that the high degree of specificity in obligate mutualisms is driven by competition within obligate mutualist guilds that limits species richness. Competition may be particularly potent in these mutualisms because mutualistic partners are totally dependent on each other's fitness gains, which may fuel interspecific competition. Theory and the limited number of empirical studies testing for the role of competition in determining specificity suggest that competition may be an important force that fuels the high degree of specificity. Further empirical research is needed to dissect the relative roles of trait complementarity, mutualism regulation, and competition among mutualist guild members in determining mutualism specificity at local scales.

Across the globe, unprecedented declines have been reported across a range of taxa. Among the most well documented are declines in bird populations, with most declines attributable to human activities such as deforestation and other alterations to habitats. There is increasing evidence that bird populations also have declined at sites within large expanses of relatively undisturbed lowland tropical forest, such as in Amazonia. Causes of such declines likely are varied and may be related to direct or indirect effects of climate change. Here, we use mist-net data and direct observations to examine changes in bird numbers over a 22-yr period on two 100-ha study plots in an Amazonian lowland forest of eastern Ecuador. As previously reported, capture rates experienced large declines from 2009 on; observation rates also showed large declines through 2013 but subsequently have shown no consistent trend up or down. Overall capture rates and observation rates are now approximately half the rates during the first decade. Most foraging guilds also declined over time, with declines particularly pronounced among insectivorous groups. With few exceptions, patterns of change were similar between plots suggesting a more general response rather than responses to local factors on each plot. Capture rates and observation rates of ∼90% of the most common species in both understory and canopy were lower during the latter part of the study, with only a few species (∼10%) showing increases. Similarly, large declines were seen in both canopy and understory mixed-species flocks. Large declines in bird numbers have been noted in other tropical sites that have conducted long-term population studies, including Panama and Brazil, suggesting a response to large-scale factors, such as climate change. While not yet documented, the consequences of losing approximately 50% of population abundance are likely substantial and could result in local extinction of rare species, altered species interactions and social organization, as well as declining ecological function and biotic integrity of these tropical forest ecosystems.

Functional trait-based approaches have undergone an extraordinary expansion in phytoplankton ecology. Morpho-functional traits have been shown to vary both within and between populations and species, potentially affecting individual fitness and the network of inter-individual relationships. Here we integrate six fully harmonized phytoplankton morpho-functional trait datasets, characterized by a fine data grain, reporting individual-level data over a large biogeographical area. Datasets refer to transitional water ecosystems, from five biogeographical areas: Northern Atlantic Ocean (Scotland), South-Western Atlantic Ocean (Brazil), South-Western Pacific Ocean (Australia), Indo Pacific Ocean (Maldives) and Mediterranean Sea (Greece and Turkey). The integrated dataset includes 127311 individual phytoplankton records with sampling locations, taxonomic and morphometric information according to Darwin Core standards and semantic annotations. The six FAIR datasets are openly available in the LifeWatch Italy data portal. The datasets have already been used for morpho-functional analyses and hypothesis testing on phytoplankton guilds at different levels of data aggregation and scale, from local to global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid to late 1920s, the Chinese film industry experienced a severe setback. Driven by the Ming Xing Film Company and the 'Merchant Movement', the Shanghai Film Guild was established in September 1927. It was the first filmmaking industry guild in the history of China. It was relatively outgoing in safeguarding the interests of the industry. It played an important role in maintaining the image of the industry, forcing the film censorship authority to revise its policies, and resisting those foreign films that insulted China. However, it did not form effective industry regulations to address industry autonomy. It did not change the vicious competition in the industry significantly, either. The establishment and operation of the guild was obviously affected by the wave of nationalism at the time, which caused it to perform more intensely in some situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Craft guilds have been at the core of important historiographical debates on the economic, social and political history of medieval cities for twenty years. The aim of this article is to examine the seamen's guilds in the town ports of the Northern Peninsula in the Late Middle Ages. This study analyzes fundamental aspects of the social assistance, labor organization and social identity of the town ports, which were located on the maritime border of the Kingdom of Castile. In contrast to the more classic view of the craft guilds as protectionist institutions, which only served the interests of a privileged group of masters, this analysis highlights the contribution of the seamen's craft guilds to the organization of labor at sea, the training of sea workers, the ability to negotiate with merchants and avoid labor exploitation, the provision of social assistance to the most vulnerable population, and the ability to lead the social protest for the guilders' representation in the urban government. In summary, it is concluded that the seafarers' guilds were constituted as networks of mutual help between individuals in the labor, welfare and political spheres of the population of the town ports of northern Iberia in the Late Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In temperate and tropical rivers, macroinvertebrates are commonly utilised for biological monitoring. Therefore, it is important to understand their functional feeding guilds and assemblage structure. However, there have been few studies in high‐altitude rivers in East Africa aimed at assessing macroinvertebrate functional guilds. In this study, we examined the macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics using abundance/diversity metrics and the functional feeding groups (FFGs). We collected physicochemical data and macroinvertebrate samples at seven sites along the Gura River and three sites on the Sagana River. Dissolved oxygen concentration, water temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, turbidity, ammonia, and soluble reactive phosphorus showed significant differences among the sites (p < 0.05). A total of 32 families belonging to 11 orders of macroinvertebrates were collected during the study period. Overall, scrapers were the most abundant FFG, dominated by Heptageniidae (Afronurus). Collector filters and collector gatherers were the second most abundant, while shredders and predators exhibited the least relative abundance. Across all the dominant orders, macroinvertebrate abundance decreased from upstream to downstream sites, with upstream sites exhibiting high diversity and abundance of Ephemeroptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Trichoptera taxa. Furthermore, the FFGs in this study differed widely from the River Continuum Concept predictions. Our findings provide crucial understanding of macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics in high‐altitude rivers. Thus, this study provides additional evidence on the high abundance and diversity of Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera taxa in tropical rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical studies on the subject of Central American design are scarce. This article attempts to fill the gap as well as to overcome the exclusive correlation of design with industrialization. It highlights the relationship in a space and time other than those studied customarily: in the present case, 18th-century Sonsonate, El Salvador. With this purpose, it analyzes crafts, based primarily on an unpublished census of 1787 housed in the Archivo Municipal de Sonsonate. Considering design as a practice inherent to human life, this paper argues that design was present in craft activity through the creation of products, becoming a key factor for survival in a colonial periphery and overcoming guild barriers. Research findings indicate the limitations of conceiving design in industrial societies as a construction of coloniality, positing also the need to advance a concept of design that addresses the cultural and historical realities of peripheral regions like Sonsonate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, based on an exceptional source (a judicial record of 1549, published here for the first time) aims at the restitution of the biography and the distinctive character and personality of an early Renaissance painter from Transylvania, Gregorius Pictor, while making recurrent references to the artistic milieu of the sixteenth century Cluj – the town where he was mainly active. The study reveals, undoubtedly, one of the most comprehensive painters’ biographies of Transylvania in early modern times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Okkarai area of Pachamalai hills, Eastern Ghats, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India, was studied for spider diversity in the current study. In total, 178 spiders were recorded, belonging to 12 distinct families (Araneidae, Desidae, Linyphiidae, Nephilidae, Oxyopidae, Pholcidae, Pisauridae, Salticidae, Sparassidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae and Thomisidae), and 17 and 20 different genera and species, respectively. Araneidae family dominated the spider population, and the family dominance curve was in the ascending order of Araneidae (25.28%) > Oxyopidae (14.04%) > Pholcidae (14.04%) > Thomisidae (10.11%) > Tetragnathidae (7.86%) > Linyphiidae (6.74%) > Nephilidae (6.17%) > Sparassidae (5.05%) > Theridiidae (4.49%) > Pisauridae (3.37) > Salticidae (2.24%) > Desidae (0.56%). Araneidae (17.64%) had the most genera per family, and Araneidae and Oxyopidae (20.00%) had the most species per family; and about species composition, Pholcus phalangioides dominated with 14.04%. Spider guilds were represented by web patterns as well as hunting patterns. Web pattern comprised orb web (60.86%), cobweb (34.78%) and sheet web (4.34%). Orb web was represented by families Araneidae, Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae; cobweb by Desidae, Pholcidae, Pisauridae and Theridiidae; while Linyphiidae for sheet web. Ambushers (53.22%) and stalkers (46.77%) represented the hunting pattern wherein Pisauridae, Sparassidae and Thomisidae represented ambushers, and Oxyopidae and Salticidae represented stalkers. Araneidae and Oxyopidae had high species richness indicated by Hill's (4), Margalef's (1.33), and Menhinick's (0.299) indices. Salticidae had high species evenness denoted by Alatalo's (0.578), Pielou's (0.488), Shannon's (1.471) and Sheldon's (1.413) indices; while Linyphiidae represented Heip's index (1.347). Araneidae scored high on other indices, viz., Berger-Parker dominance (25.28%), community dominance (1.24), and relative dominance (20.00%); while Salticidae had a high Hill's number abundance (1.413%), and Pholcidae had a high relative frequency (0.55). This study will contribute to the data on spider biodiversity, taxonomy, it's abundance, distribution, and community organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuaries are extremely productive ecosystems, providing habitats for numerous aquatic species and crucial ecological services. The Tejo estuary, one of the largest European estuaries, has been thoroughly studied, and its important functional role as a nursery for several commercially important fish species is already established. In the present work, a trait-based approach was applied to functionally describe the fish community structure of the Tejo estuary and to enlighten potential changes in the ecosystem functioning at this level, following environmental changes expected to occur. To predict the distribution of species from the two most representative ecological guilds of the Tejo estuary, estuarine residents and marine migrants, species distribution models were built using an ensemble technique (combining forecasts of single models). The predictions obtained were more accurate for the marine migrants and the species distribution was strongly related with salinity, whereas estuarine species, were also influenced by depth, habitat type and river flow. The potential distributions of these ecological guilds showed that marine migrants will tend to use upstream areas in the estuary, where salinity is lower. Nonetheless, salinity is expected to increase as extreme weather events such as droughts tend to occur more frequently, decreasing favorable habitat availability for these species, and thus threatening the crucial role this ecosystem plays for these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in species' interactions are implicated as an important proximate cause underpinning climate-change-related extinction. However, there is little empirical evidence on the pathways through which climate conditions, such as ambient temperature, impact community dynamics. The timing of activities is a widespread behavioural adaptation to environmental variability, and temporal partitioning is a key mechanism that facilitates coexistence, especially within large carnivore communities. We investigated temperature impacts on community dynamics through its influence on the diel activity of, and temporal partitioning amongst, four sympatric species of African large carnivores: lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Activity of all species was shaped by a combination of light availability and temperature, with most species becoming more nocturnal and decreasing activity levels with increasing temperatures. A nocturnal shift was most pronounced in cheetahs, the most diurnal species during median temperatures. This shift increased temporal overlap between cheetahs and other carnivore species by up to 15.92%, highlighting the importance of considering the responses of interacting sympatric species when inferring climate impacts on ecosystems. Our study provides evidence that temperature can significantly affect temporal partitioning within a carnivore guild by generating asymmetrical behavioural responses amongst functionally similar species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain species are at the forefront of climate change disruption, and montane saproxylic Coleoptera are facing large‐ and small‐scale changes in their surroundings. Saproxylic Coleoptera are both functionally and taxonomically diverse and are the representatives of an imperilled fauna confronted with the realities of a changing landscape. Understanding the effects of elevation and other forest characteristics on saproxylic and non‐saproxylic Coleoptera is a step towards predicting the future of taxonomic and functional group biodiversity at the tree‐line and on mountains.The objective of this study was to examine the effect of elevation and other forest characteristics on the biodiversity of montane Coleoptera at the tree‐line using both taxonomic and functional feeding guild classifications.Our results suggest that abundance of saprotrophs is closely linked to the density of large trees rather than the volume of wood. Edge effects and elevation seem to drive abundance patterns of some species and also influence taxonomic and functional guild community patterns differently. Finally, we discuss the implications of climate change and land abandonment to future Coleoptera community structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of saproxylic beetles landing and climbing stems of 12 grown and healthy Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.) was examined in detail during a 3‐year trial. The beetles were sampled using sticky traps attached to the tree trunk at three tree parts (i.e., the trunk base, middle part of the trunk, and trunk in crown). Each tree part was sampled using two sticky traps facing opposite cardinal directions (north and south).In total, 4063 individuals representing 169 taxa of saproxylic beetles were yielded in the 1405 obtained samples.Remarkable interstrata diversification of saproxylic beetle assemblages reflecting distribution of breeding substrates in the forest stand was observed. Overall, species richness decreased considerably from the trunk base to the crown, with intermediate values for the middle part of the trunk. However, the abundance of mycetophages and saproxylophages decreased from the trunk base to the crown, with xylophages being the most abundant in the tree crown.The cardinal direction exhibited overall weak effects on abundance, species richness, and composition, but the occurrence of a few particular species was significantly associated with the south (13 species) or north (3 species) facing part of the trunk.Our results suggest that primary attraction and random landing strategies are combined during the substrate selection by many species.High variability in the importance of the studied explanatory variables was observed among taxa, which shows how the species composition recorded in any study might alter its general outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates how innovations propagate through two professional networks (guilds): the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) and the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE). Previous research has demonstrated that the adoption of pedagogical innovations is supported by the socialization of the innovation among potential adopters. In this work, we use social network analysis to explore the impact of professional connections on innovation adoption. Our research questions are: (1) How does overall social structure differ between guilds? (2) How do measures of social network structures relate to innovation adoption? A survey was distributed to members of KEEN and CPREE to capture the interactions respondents had while adopting the guild's innovation. Social networks were generated for each guild and each respondent. These networks were analyzed to identify relationships between social network measures and the frequency of use of the innovation. Responses to open-ended questions were analyzed using thematic coding. The guilds' overall structures impacted the formation and structure of distinct clusters/cliques, but these differing structures did not appear to affect sustained adoption. Individuals' ego networks demonstrated a weak negative correlation between the frequency of adoption and the individual's ego network density. Our results imply that having a diverse network exposes instructors to more ideas or allows them to see one idea from many perspectives leading to a higher likelihood of adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of community diversity, which can be measured at the level of metabolic guilds, on community function is a central question in ecology. Particularly, the long-term temporal dynamic between a community's function and its diversity remains unclear. We investigated the influence of metabolic guild diversity on associated community function by propagating natural microbial communities from a traditionally fermented milk beverage diluted to various levels. Specifically, we assessed the influence of less abundant microbial types, such as yeast, on community functionality and bacterial community compositions over repeated propagation cycles amounting to ∼100 generations. The starting richness of metabolic guilds had a repeatable effect on bacterial community compositions, metabolic profiles, and acidity. The influence of a single metabolic guild, yeast in our study, played a dramatic role on function, but interestingly not on long-term species sorting trajectories of the remaining bacterial community. Our results together suggest an unexpected niche division between yeast and bacterial communities and evidence ecological selection on the microbial communities in our system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasitoids are an important group of insects because their species number is among the highest. Multiple studies have addressed the relationships between forest successional age and insect diversity by focusing on herbivorous organisms, but changes in diversity of parasitoids are still poorly known. This work analyses the diversity of parasitoids in tropical forests representing three successional stages. A total of 30 traps were placed, ten in each forest successional stages. We estimated true diversity of Ichneumonidae species and guilds and explored the relationship between their diversity and the abundance of plant species using an Indicator Species Analysis; the relationship between parasitoid species and plant richness and abundance was tested using a Redundancy Analysis. A total of 1522 individuals and 168 morpho-species were captured in four months. Species richness showed no differences; however, parasitoid abundance was higher in young forest, while intermediate forest had the highest true diversity values (1 D) with 71.6 effective species. According to insect guilds, richness, abundance, and diversity were similar in the three vegetation successional stages. This finding may be explained based on the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which postulates that moderate disturbance levels favor the highest diversity. In conclusion, successional age matters, i.e., diversity is the highest in intermediate stages, while the old forests harbors guilds unique to that successional stage, such as parasitoids of melitophagous larvae of bees. Other successional stages were characterized by a single species of parasitoid, belonging to the genera Eiphosoma and Anomalon, which may indicate altered and preserved forests, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, developed from an oral presentation of the Presidential Address offered at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Religious Education Association, invites the guild to repurpose its governance and discourse practices around Indigenous feminist kitchen table methodology. It names the process of this methodology, and invites the guild to participate in the actualization of its own anti-colonial future through the practices of reciprocity and mutual recognition that shape this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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