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This article investigates the contesting views on the causes and prevention of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Guji society. The study opted for a qualitative approach, descriptive research design, and data collection methods such as interviews (both in-depth and key informant interviews), focus group discussions, and observation. The findings show that local views take violations of social standards, the myth of the plague pit, and the omen of the ruling Gadaa party (Luba) as the main causes that contradict medical science's etiological notions. Similarly, with their complete focus on rituals, the prevention mechanisms widely used in society compete with the medical science prevention system. Despite the fact that local perspectives on medical etiology are contested, Gadaa leaders and community elders have collaborated with local health professionals and stakeholders in a public awareness program to enhance the medically supported prevention system for better life. As a result, even though local community views disagree with medical etiological notions, the collaboration of Gadaa leaders and community elders with healthcare professionals in preventing and controlling the virus is an exemplary mutual approach that should be strengthened in the future to maintain people's better lives.

Considering that the vast majority of the objects constituting Indigenous Peoples’ cultural heritage are now located outside their source communities, the restitution of cultural property has become a pressing issue among Indigenous Peoples worldwide and should be understood as part of Indigenous Peoples’ historical (as well as current) encounter with colonization and its consequences. As such, this article investigates whether international cultural heritage law offers any possibilities for successful repatriation and to what extent the shortcomings of the framework in place could be complemented by alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms and the new mandate of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Expert Mechanism). First, crucial concepts in the repatriation debates are explained. Next the factual background of the case studies of the G’psgolox Totem Pole and Maaso Kova are presented. This is followed by a discussion of the most pertinent mechanisms of international cultural heritage law and the place of Indigenous Peoples’ rights within such a framework. Subsequently, the concept of ADR is introduced, and the details of the negotiation processes between the Haisla First Nation (Canada) and the Yaqui People (Mexico, the United States) – both with the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm (Sweden) – are presented. Finally, the article evaluates to what extent ADR could be an appropriate mechanism for the settlement of disputes concerningIndigenous Peoples’ cultural property, andwhether the Expert Mechanism is a well-suited body for facilitating the process of repatriating Indigenous Peoples’ cultural heritage.

Aim: Higher-elevation areas on islands and continental mountains tend to be separated by longer distances, predicting higher endemism at higher elevations; our study is the first to test the generality of the predicted pattern. We also compare it empirically with contrasting expectations from hypotheses invoking higher speciation with area, temperature and species richness. Location: Thirty-two insular and 18 continental elevational gradients from around the world. Methods: We compiled entire floras with elevation-specific occurrence information, and calculated the proportion of native species that are endemic ('percent endemism') in 100-m bands, for each of the 50 elevational gradients. Using generalized linear models, we tested the relationships between percent endemism and elevation, isolation, temperature, area and species richness. Results: Percent endemism consistently increased monotonically with elevation, globally. This was independent of richness—elevation relationships, which had varying shapes but decreased with elevation at high elevations. The endemism—elevation relationships were consistent with isolation-related predictions, but inconsistent with hypotheses related to area, richness and temperature. Main conclusions: Higher per-species speciation rates caused by increasing isolation with elevation are the most plausible and parsimonious explanation for the globally consistent pattern of higher endemism at higher elevations that we identify. We suggest that topography-driven isolation increases speciation rates in mountainous areas, across all elevations and increasingly towards the equator. If so, it represents a mechanism that may contribute to generating latitudinal diversity gradients in a way that is consistent with both present-day and palaeontological evidence.

We present, test, and extend a theoretical framework that connects disgust, a powerful basic human emotion, to political attitudes through psychological mechanisms designed to protect humans from disease. These mechanisms work outside of conscious awareness, and in modern environments, they can motivate individuals to avoid intergroup contact by opposing immigration. We report a meta-analysis of previous tests in the psychological sciences and conduct, for the first time, a series of tests in nationally representative samples collected in the United States and Denmark that integrate the role of disgust and the behavioral immune system into established models of emotional processing and political attitude formation. In doing so, we offer an explanation for why peaceful integration and interaction between ethnic majority and minorities is so hard to achieve.

Determining the characteristics of non-native plants that can successfully establish and spread is central to pressing questions in invasion ecology. Evidence suggests that some non-native species establish and spread in new environments because they possess characteristics (functional traits) that allow them to either successfully compete with native residents or fill previously unfilled niches. However, the relative importance of out-competing native species vs. filling empty niche space as potential mechanisms of invasion may depend on environmental characteristics. Here, we measured plant functional traits, proxies indicative of competitive and establishment strategies, to determine if these traits vary among native and invasive species and if their prevalence is dependent on environmental conditions. Using a natural environmental gradient in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, we evaluated how functional traits differ between native and non-native plant communities and if these differences change along an environmental gradient from hot, dry to cool, wet conditions. Functional trait differences suggested that both competition and open niche space may be important for invasion. Non-native communities tended to have traits associated with faster growth strategies such as higher specific leaf area and lower leaf thickness. However, native and non-native community traits became more dissimilar along the gradient, suggesting that non-native species may be occupying previously unfilled niche space at the hot, dry end of the gradient. We also found that most of the variation in functional trait values amongst plots was due to species turnover rather than intraspecific variation. These results highlight the role of environmental context when considering invasion mechanisms.

The invasion of non-native plant species presents a significant ecological challenge worldwide, impacting native ecosystems and biodiversity. These invasive plant species significantly affect the native ecosystem. The threat of invasive plant species having harmful effects on the natural ecosystem is a serious concern. Invasive plant species produce secondary metabolites, which not only help in growth and development but are also essential for the spread of these plant species. This review highlights the important functions of secondary metabolites in plant invasion, particularly their effect on allelopathy, defense system, interaction with micro soil biota, and competitive advantages. Secondary metabolites produced by invasive plant species play an important role by affecting allelopathic interactions and herbivory. They sometimes change the soil chemistry to make a viable condition for their proliferation. The secondary metabolites of invasive plant species inhibit the growth of native plant species by changing the resources available to them. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this complicated interaction between secondary metabolites and plant invasion. This review mainly summarizes all the known secondary metabolites of non-native plant species, emphasizing their significance for integrated weed management and research.

Fungal communities are essential to the maintenance of soil multifunctionality. Plant invasion represents a growing challenge for the conservation of soil biodiversity across the globe, but the impact of non-native species invasion on fungal diversity, community structure, and assembly processes remains largely unknown. Here, we examined the diversity, community composition, functional guilds, and assembly process of fungi at three soil depths underneath a native species, three non-native species, and a bare tidal flat from a coastal wetland. Plant species was more important than soil depth in regulating the diversity, community structure, and functional groups of fungi. Non-native species, especially Spartina alterniflora, increased fungal diversity, altered fungal community structure, and increased the relative abundance of saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi in coastal wetland soils. Stochastic processes played a predominant role in driving fungal community assembly, explaining more than 70% of the relative contributions. However, compared to a native species, non-native species, especially S. alterniflora, reduced the relative influence of stochastic processes in fungal community assembly. Collectively, our results provide novel evidence that non-native species can increase fungal diversity, the relative abundance of saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi, and deterministic processes in the assembly of fungi in coastal wetlands, which can expand our knowledge of the dynamics of fungal communities in subtropical coastal wetlands.

Capparis masaikai Lévl is a Chinese native plant that ripe seeds are often used as a traditional Chinese medicine for their heat antidotes properties. The locals like to chew the seeds for their distinctive flavor “sweet water taste”. In this study, enzymatic hydrolysis, gel filtration chromatography, and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were used to extract, isolate and purify flavor peptides from the seed kernels of Capparis masaikai Lévl. Nano-LC−MS/MS was used to identify 219 peptides in total. Five new bitter peptides (HIGP, FHP, CFR, LYR and SFR) were screened by molecular docking. The results of molecular docking indicated that hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic bonds played essential roles in the binding of the five bitter peptides to T1R2-T1R3, T2R1 and T2R34. Phe75 and Glu74 on T2R1 and Arg373 on T1R2-T1R3 might be the critical amino acids in the binding site. The taste properties of the synthesized peptides were confirmed by sensory evaluation, and it was found that five peptides exhibited a specific sweetness inhibition. Not only do these results shed light on the interaction between flavor peptides and taste receptors, but they also help explain the “sweet water taste” of the seed kernels of Capparis masaikai Lévl. The results of this study help to explore the potential of flavor peptides in an enzymatic hydrolysate of Capparis masaikai Lévl seed kernels and broaden the diversity of flavor sources for the “sweet water taste”.

1. For plant invaders, being different is often equated with being successful, yet the mechanistic connection remains unclear. 2. Classic niche theory predicts that invaders with niches distinct from the native flora should coexist with little interaction with native species, yet such invaders often have substantial impacts. Meanwhile, invaders that overlap in niche space with native species should either be repelled or dominate, yet these invaders often naturalize with little effect. Such discrepancies between theory and observation raise questions about how species differences influence invader establishment and impact. 3. Here, we review these issues in light of recent work on coexistence theory, which shows how niche and fitness differences between natives and invaders interact to determine invasion outcomes. We show how successful invader establishment depends on either a fitness advantage or niche difference from resident species, but that only the former allows invaders to become dominant. 4. By identifying the role of niche and fitness differences in leading invasion hypotheses, we unify their predictions for invasion success while highlighting new approaches for evaluating the importance of species differences for invasion. 5. Synthesis. Situating the invasion process within a recent coexistence framework broadens our understanding of invasion mechanisms and more tightly links problems in invasion ecology with our more general understanding of community dynamics.

Traditional medicine is used across the world and is deeply rooted in culture, history and local practices. The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to enhance the contribution of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine to achieving universal health coverage by strengthening the integration of evidence-based traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into national health systems. The strategy prioritizes research to build robust evidence; establishes regulatory mechanisms to ensure safety and quality; promotes integration into health-care services; and fosters cross-sectoral collaboration to utilize traditional, complementary and integrative medicine's broader health benefits. Despite progress in integrating traditional medicine, challenges persist. For example, lack of robust research methods suited to traditional, complementary and integrative medicine hinders the generation of evidence; variations in regulatory approaches affect safety and quality; and the misappropriation of traditional knowledge raises concerns over the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Additionally, the lack of standardized models for integration of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into health systems is an impediment. Drawing on the experience of WHO's previous strategy on traditional medicine and responding to increased international engagement, the new strategy addresses these challenges and aligns with wider global initiatives on culture, innovation, intellectual property and health governance. The strategy fosters coherence across multilateral agendas and provides a clear path to maximize the contribution of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine while ensuring its safety, quality and accessibility within health-care systems.