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Long-term analyses of biodiversity data highlight a ‘biodiversity conservation paradox’: biological communities show substantial species turnover over the past century 1 , 2 , but changes in species richness are marginal 1 , 3 – 5 . Most studies, however, have focused only on the incidence of species, and have not considered changes in local abundance. Here we asked whether analysing changes in the cover of plant species could reveal previously unrecognized patterns of biodiversity change and provide insights into the underlying mechanisms. We compiled and analysed a dataset of 7,738 permanent and semi-permanent vegetation plots from Germany that were surveyed between 2 and 54 times from 1927 to 2020, in total comprising 1,794 species of vascular plants. We found that decrements in cover, averaged across all species and plots, occurred more often than increments; that the number of species that decreased in cover was higher than the number of species that increased; and that decrements were more equally distributed among losers than were gains among winners. Null model simulations confirmed that these trends do not emerge by chance, but are the consequence of species-specific negative effects of environmental changes. In the long run, these trends might result in substantial losses of species at both local and regional scales. Summarizing the changes by decade shows that the inequality in the mean change in species cover of losers and winners diverged as early as the 1960s. We conclude that changes in species cover in communities represent an important but understudied dimension of biodiversity change that should more routinely be considered in time-series analyses. Time-series data including 1,794 plant species from 7,738 vegetation plots in Germany between 1927 and 2020 reveal patterns of change in biodiversity, and suggest that more species declined than increased in abundance during this period.

Vegetation-plot resurvey data are a main source of information on terrestrial biodiversity change, with records reaching back more than one century. Although more and more data from re-sampled plots have been published, there is not yet a comprehensive open-access dataset available for analysis. Here, we compiled and harmonised vegetation-plot resurvey data from Germany covering almost 100 years. We show the distribution of the plot data in space, time and across habitat types of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS). In addition, we include metadata on geographic location, plot size and vegetation structure. The data allow temporal biodiversity change to be assessed at the community scale, reaching back further into the past than most comparable data yet available. They also enable tracking changes in the incidence and distribution of individual species across Germany. In summary, the data come at a level of detail that holds promise for broadening our understanding of the mechanisms and drivers behind plant diversity change over the last century. Measurement(s) vegetation-plot resurvey data of vascular plant species Technology Type(s) vegetation-plot records Factor Type(s) Cover of species in plots Sample Characteristic - Organism Vascular plant species Sample Characteristic - Environment Terrestrial habitats Sample Characteristic - Location Germany

Nitrogen (N) fluxes of a slope mire in the German Harz Mountains were monitored to study the effect of increased N deposition on the N retention of the mire. In addition, the N content of mire pore water beneath different plant species was analyzed to assess N retention ability of plants. Atmospheric N deposition at the study site was 4.9 ± 0.4 g N m⁻² year⁻¹ averaged for the study period of 2002 and 2003, with forest stand deposition being the largest share. Discharge was the main output pathway of N with a rate of 1.9 ± 0.3 g N m⁻² year⁻¹. The mire showed a high N retention rate of 67%. Short-term N accumulation rate was 3.9 g N m⁻² year⁻¹. Differences in mire pore water N concentration under different vegetation cover indicate a lower N retention ability for ombrotrophic Sphagnum plants.

Vegetation-plot resurvey data are a main source of information on terrestrial biodiversity change, with records reaching back more than one century. Although more and more data from re-sampled plots have been published, there is not yet a comprehensive open-access dataset available for analysis. Here, we compiled and harmonised vegetation-plot resurvey data from Germany covering almost 100 years. We show the distribution of the plot data in space, time and across habitat types of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS). In addition, we include metadata on geographic location, plot size and vegetation structure. The data allow calculating temporal biodiversity change at the community scale and reach back further into the past than most comparable data yet available. They also enable tracking changes in the incidence and distribution of individual species across Germany. In summary, the data come at a level of detail that holds promise for broadening our understanding of the mechanisms and drivers behind plant diversity change over the last century. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

The methane-rich, hydrothermally heated sediments of the Guaymas Basin are inhabited by thermophilic microorganisms, including anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea (mainly ANME-1) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (e.g., HotSeep-1 cluster). We studied the microbial carbon flow in ANME-1/ HotSeep-1 enrichments in stable-isotope–probing experiments with and without methane. The relative incorporation of ¹³C from either dissolved inorganic carbon or methane into lipids revealed that methane-oxidizing archaea assimilated primarily inorganic carbon. This assimilation is strongly accelerated in the presence of methane. Experiments with simultaneous amendments of both ¹³C-labeled dissolved inorganic carbon and deuterated water provided further insights into production rates of individual lipids derived from members of the methane-oxidizing community as well as their carbon sources used for lipid biosynthesis. In the presence of methane, all prominent lipids carried a dual isotopic signal indicative of their origin from primarily autotrophic microbes. In the absence of methane, archaeal lipid production ceased and bacterial lipid production dropped by 90%; the lipids produced by the residual fraction of the metabolically active bacterial community predominantly carried a heterotrophic signal. Collectively our results strongly suggest that the studied ANME-1 archaea oxidize methane but assimilate inorganic carbon and should thus be classified as methane-oxidizing chemoorganoautotrophs.

The flux of methane from the sea bed to the overlying water column is mitigated by the sulphate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane by marine microbes. Laboratory experiments point to the equilibration of stable carbon isotopes during the anaerobic oxidation of methane under sulphate-limited conditions. Collectively, marine sediments comprise the largest reservoir of methane on Earth. The flux of methane from the sea bed to the overlying water column is mitigated by the sulphate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane by marine microbes within a discrete sedimentary horizon termed the sulphate–methane transition zone. According to conventional isotope systematics, the biological consumption of methane leaves a residue of methane enriched in 13 C (refs  1 , 2 , 3 ). However, in many instances the methane within sulphate–methane transition zones is depleted in 13 C, consistent with the production of methane, and interpreted as evidence for the intertwined anaerobic oxidation and production of methane 4 , 5 , 6 . Here, we report results from experiments in which we incubated cultures of microbial methane consumers with methane and low levels of sulphate, and monitored the stable isotope composition of the methane and dissolved inorganic carbon pools over time. Residual methane became progressively enriched in 13 C at sulphate concentrations above 0.5 mM, and progressively depleted in 13 C below this threshold. We attribute the shift to 13 C depletion during the anaerobic oxidation of methane at low sulphate concentrations to the microbially mediated carbon isotope equilibration between methane and carbon dioxide. We suggest that this isotopic effect could help to explain the 13 C-depletion of methane in subseafloor sulphate–methane transition zones.

The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) with sulfate controls the emission of the greenhouse gas methane from the ocean floor. AOM is performed by microbial consortia of archaea (ANME) associated with partners related to sulfate-reducing bacteria. In vitro enrichments of AOM were so far only successful at temperatures ⩽25 °C; however, energy gain for growth by AOM with sulfate is in principle also possible at higher temperatures. Sequences of 16S rRNA genes and core lipids characteristic for ANME as well as hints of in situ AOM activity were indeed reported for geothermally heated marine environments, yet no direct evidence for thermophilic growth of marine ANME consortia was obtained to date. To study possible thermophilic AOM, we investigated hydrothermally influenced sediment from the Guaymas Basin. In vitro incubations showed activity of sulfate-dependent methane oxidation between 5 and 70 °C with an apparent optimum between 45 and 60 °C. AOM was absent at temperatures ⩾75 °C. Long-term enrichment of AOM was fastest at 50 °C, yielding a 13-fold increase of methane-dependent sulfate reduction within 250 days, equivalent to an apparent doubling time of 68 days. The enrichments were dominated by novel ANME-1 consortia, mostly associated with bacterial partners of the deltaproteobacterial HotSeep-1 cluster, a deeply branching phylogenetic group previously found in a butane-amended 60 °C-enrichment culture of Guaymas sediments. The closest relatives ( Desulfurella spp.; Hippea maritima ) are moderately thermophilic sulfur reducers. Results indicate that AOM and ANME archaea could be of biogeochemical relevance not only in cold to moderate but also in hot marine habitats.

Deep subseafloor sediments host a microbial biosphere with unknown impact on global biogeochemical cycles. This study tests previous evidence based on microbial intact polar lipids (IPLs) as proxies of live biomass, suggesting that Archaea dominate the marine sedimentary biosphere. We devised a sensitive radiotracer assay to measure the decay rate of ([¹⁴C]glucosyl)-diphytanylglyceroldiether (GlcDGD) as an analog of archaeal IPLs in continental margin sediments. The degradation kinetics were incorporated in model simulations that constrained the fossil fraction of subseafloor IPLs and rates of archaeal turnover. Simulating the top 1 km in a generic continental margin sediment column, we estimated degradation rate constants of GlcDGD being one to two orders of magnitude lower than those of bacterial IPLs, with half-lives of GlcDGD increasing with depth to 310 ky. Given estimated microbial community turnover times of 1.6-73 ky in sediments deeper than 1 m, 50-96% of archaeal IPLs represent fossil signals. Consequently, previous lipid-based estimates of global subseafloor biomass probably are too high, and the widely observed dominance of archaeal IPLs does not rule out a deep biosphere dominated by Bacteria. Reverse modeling of existing concentration profiles suggest that archaeal IPL synthesis rates decline from around 1,000 pg.mL⁻¹ sedimenty⁻¹ at the surface to 0.2 pg.mL⁻¹.y⁻¹ at 1 km depth, equivalent to production of 7 × 10⁵ to 140 archaeal cellsmL⁻¹ sediment.y⁻¹, respectively. These constraints on microbial growth are an important step toward understanding the relationship between the deep biosphere and the carbon cycle.

BackgroundInsecticides are applied on a large scale in the environment to control the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea) for the protection of human health. Drift of the insecticides to non-target areas is a risk for the surrounding biodiversity. Since the habitats of the caterpillars are usually restricted to the treetops, the sprayers used to apply biocidal products must be able to transport the droplets over longer distances. Therefore, cannon sprayers are often used. In this study, spray drift in an oak avenue from a cannon sprayer with hydraulic atomisation was measured with two different nozzles. The aim of this study is to compare spray drift when using a cannon sprayer with different drift-reducing nozzles with cannon sprayers with pneumatic atomisation to find options to reduce drift to non-target areas.ResultsThe results show that compared to the basic drift values for biocidal products using a cannon sprayer with pneumatic atomisation, a cannon sprayer with ID-120-05 POM nozzles achieves a drift reduction of 75% and a classification in this reduction class. No drift reduction could be determined with a cannon sprayer with AirMix 110-05 nozzles.ConclusionsBetter knowledge of drift of biocidal products is of utmost urgency in order to be able to compare and classify the currently used technologies. When using a cannon sprayer, this study shows that specific drift values are recommended based on the type of atomisation, as droplet size is an important factor in reducing drift. By choosing the technology with the highest drift reduction, the drift of biocidal products into the environment can be minimised by 75%, thus ensuring a much better protection of the environment.

Introduction The release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in critically ill patients with sepsis leads to endothelial dysfunction resulting in cardiocirculatory insufficiency. Their extracorporeal elimination using the cytokine adsorber CytoSorb ® (CS) (adsorption of especially hydrophobic molecules < 60 kDa) might be promising, but data about the adsorption capacity as well as a potential harmful adsorption of anti-inflammatory cytokines are missing so far. Methods The prospective Cyto-SOLVE-study included 15 patients with sepsis or other hyperinflammatory conditions (interleukin 6 > 500 pg/ml), continuous kidney replacement therapy, and the application of CS. Various cytokines and chemokines were measured pre- and post-CS as well as in patients’ blood at predefined timepoints. Significant changes in the concentrations were detected with the Wilcoxon test with associated samples. Clearance of the adsorber (ml/min) was calculated with: b l o o d f l o w ∗ c o n c e n t r a t i o n p r e - p o s t c o n c e n t r a t i o n pre . Results Most of the inflammatory mediators showed a high initial extracorporeal clearance of 70–100 ml/min after CS installation, which dropped quickly to 10-30 ml/min after 6 h of treatment. No difference in clearance was observed between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Despite extracorporeal adsorption, a significant ( p  < 0.05) decrease in the blood concentration after 6 h was only observed for the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factorα (TNF-α) (median 284 vs. 230 pg/ml), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (median 294 vs. 252 pg/ml), macrophage inflammatory protein 1a (MIP-1a) (median 11.1 vs. 9.0 pg/ml), and regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) (median 811 vs. 487 pg/ml) as well as the anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin 4 (median 9.3 vs. 6.4 pg/ml), interleukin 10 (median 88 vs. 56 pg/ml), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) (median 177 vs. 104 pg/ml). A significant ( p  < 0.05) decrease in patients’ blood after 12 h was only detected for interleukin 10. Conclusions CS can adsorb pro- as well as anti-inflammatory mediators with no relevant difference regarding the adsorption rate. A fast saturation of the adsorber resulted in a rapid decrease of the clearance. The potential clinical benefit or harm of this unspecific cytokine adsorption needs to be evaluated in the future. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04913298, registration date June 4, 2021.