Ecology

21 February 2017

Intersexual differences of heat shock response between two amphipods (Eulimnogammarus verrucosus and Eulimnogammarus cyaneus) in Lake Baikal

Daria Bedulina, Michael F. Meyer, Anton Gurkov, Ekaterina Kondratjeva, Boris Baduev, Roman Gusdorf, Maxim A. Timofeyev

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Alex Ford –– The research of thermal tolerance and thermal stress between and within species is an important field in the study of changing climates and the ability of organisms to adapt. This manuscript provides some interesting new data on the inter & intra species differences in heat shock protein responses of temperature stress.

16 February 2017

High richness of insect herbivory from the early Miocene Hindon Maar crater, Otago, New Zealand

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Kenneth De Baets –– Present new data on insect herbivore - plant interaction in southern latitudes and their potential relationship with changes in environmental parameters (e.g., climate).

9 February 2017

Phylogenetic factorization of compositional data yields lineage-level associations in microbiome datasets

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Ugo Bastolla –– The method presented in this paper may be very useful to identify which taxonomic groups are driving the differences in the composition of microbial communities detected in different environmental samples with varying properties, thus facilitating the analysis of metagenomic experiments and large microbial communities.

8 February 2017

Will you swim into my parlour? In situ observations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) interactions with baited pots, with implications for gear design

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Magnus Johnson –– The development of effective fishtraps that allow for diversification of inshore potting fleets would be important for many inshore fishing communities.

7 February 2017

Vascular plant biodiversity of the lower Coppermine River valley and vicinity (Nunavut, Canada): an annotated checklist of an Arctic flora

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Richard Cowling –– The paper represents a comprehensive inventory in a remote area vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It will form the basis for a monitoring programme that will likely reveal important trends in biotic change.

2 February 2017

A new glimpse on Mesozoic zooplankton—150 million-year-old lobster larvae

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Kenneth De Baets –– Despite the high importance and diversity of modern zooplankton, still comparatively little is known about plankton in the distant of the geological past. The authors report some of the oldest known fossil "clawed lobster" larvae. Mostly their presence is mostly inferred based on the phylogeny and fossil record of adult stages.

2 February 2017

Demographic, ecological, and physiological responses of ringed seals to an abrupt decline in sea ice availability

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Seabird McKeon –– The article measures the physiological and ecological responses of an ice-dependent animal to a changing climate (through ice-loss). As such, it is at the leading edge of how climate change will impact species and ecological relationships.

26 January 2017

Metagenomic identification of active methanogens and methanotrophs in serpentinite springs of the Voltri Massif, Italy

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Marina Kalyuzhnaya –– The article provides first insides into microbial communities of an unusual sub-terrestrial ecosystem.

11 January 2017

Rhea: a transparent and modular R pipeline for microbial profiling based on 16S rRNA gene amplicons

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Blanca Landa –– The new pipeline will be a valuable tool for people woorking in NGS of 16S amplicons

10 January 2017

Comprehensive transcriptome analysis provides new insights into nutritional strategies and phylogenetic relationships of chrysophytes

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Konstantinos Kormas –– A very insightful piece of work for the ecophysiology of chrysophytes.