Dholes (Cuon alpinus) are endangered large carnivores found in scattered populations in Asia. One of the main threats to dholes is the decreasing prey availability throughout their distribution range. In the present study, we used camera trap data collected over 6 years to investigate the temporal activity patterns of dholes and their putative prey species in Baluran National Park in Java, Indonesia. ...

A number of tourists visit churches on their holiday without being religious or having any religious motivation. If religion is not important for the visit, what is then central to the tourist experience, and how do tourists describe their church visit? In this article, I examine tourists’ church visits and the meaning it gives. In a setting characterized through tourism and religion, and with ...

The microbial diversity associated with terrestrial groundwater seepage through permafrost soils is tightly coupled to the geochemistry of these fluids. Terrestrial alkaline methane seeps from Lagoon Pingo, Central Spitsbergen (78°N) in Norway, with methane-saturated and oxygen-limited groundwater discharge providing a potential habitat for methanotrophy. Here, we report on the microbial community’s ...

Enzymatic degradation of algae cell wall carbohydrates by microorganisms is under increasing investigation as marine organic matter gains more value as a sustainable resource. The fate of carbon in the marine ecosystem is in part driven by these degradation processes. In this study, we observe the microbiome dynamics of the macroalga Fucus vesiculosus in 25-day-enrichment cultures resulting in ...

Egg quality in fishes is commonly determined by fertilisation success and cleavage patterns as a phenotypic outcome of underlying regulatory mechanisms. Although these phenotypic estimators of egg quality are useful in farming conditions, these “good quality” egg batches do not always translate to good larval growth and survival. The identification of genes involved in embryonic development may help ...

Coral reefs represent some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world but are currently undergoing large-scale degradation due to anthropogenic stressors. Such degradation usually begins with coral bleaching, and if the stress condition is inflicted for too long may eventually result in loss of structural complexity (or “flattening”) of the reef, dramatically changing habitat availability ...

Microalgae are the main source of the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), essential for the healthy development of most marine and terrestrial fauna including humans. Inverse correlations of algal EPA and DHA proportions (% of total fatty acids) with temperature have led to suggestions of a warming-induced decline in the global production of these biomolecules ...

The international and interdisciplinary sea-ice drift expedition “The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate” (MOSAiC) was conducted from October 2019 to September 2020. The aim of MOSAiC was to study the interconnected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and processes from the atmosphere to the deep sea of the central Arctic system. The ecosystem team ...

Climate change is triggering shifts in species distribution eventually altering communities’ biogeography. The composition of a community in terms of its species’ ecological niche informs of a community’s response to environmental conditions and impacts, which is central for a timely conservation. While the thermal niche has been widely explored, given it offers a direct link of warming effects ...

Marine mammals throughout the circumpolar Arctic are facing profound levels of environmental change due to climate warming. Among them is the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), an Arctic endemic cetacean that spends its entire life in Arctic waters and lives in tight association with sea ice habitats. The Spitsbergen bowhead whale population resides in the Northeast Atlantic, where they were hunted ...