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1. Understanding individual-level variation in response to the environment is fundamental to understanding life-history evolution and population dynamics. Telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, shorten in response to oxidative stress, and telomere shortening is correlated with reduced survival and life span. Investigating telomere dynamics may help us quantify individual variation in the costs experienced from social and ecological factors, and enhance our understanding of the dynamics of natural populations. 2. Here, we study spatio-temporal variation in lifelong telomere dynamics in the Seychelles warbler, Acrocephalus sechellensis. We combine long-term life history and ecological data with a large longitudinal dataset of mean telomere lengths, consisting of 1,808 samples from 22 cohorts born between 1993 and 2014. We provide a detailed analysis of how telomere dynamics vary over individual life spans and cohorts, and with spatio-temporal variation in the social and ecological environment. 3. We found that telomere length decreases with cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of age, and most rapidly very early in life. However, both cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggested that against this overall pattern of shortening, bouts of telomere length increase occur in some individuals. Using a large number of repeated measurements we show statistically that these increases are unlikely to be explained solely by qPCR measurement error. 4. Telomere length varied markedly among cohorts. Telomere length was positively associated with temporal variation in island-wide insect abundance—a key resource for the insectivorous Seychelles warbler—suggesting that the costs associated with living in harsher environments can be studied by investigating telomere dynamics. We also found evidence for sex-specific relationships between telomeres and tarsus length, potentially reflecting differential costs of growth. 5. Our long-term data show that in a natural population, telomere dynamics vary in a complex manner over individual life spans, and across space and time. Variance in telomere dynamics among individuals is the product of a wide array of genetic, parental and environmental factors. Explaining this variation more fully will require the integration of comprehensive long-term ecological and genetic data from multiple populations and species.

Mercury (Hg) is a chemical of health concern worldwide that is now being acted upon through the Minamata Convention. Operationalizing the Convention and tracking its effectiveness requires empathy of the diversity and variation of mercury exposure and risk in populations worldwide. As part of the health plenary for the 15th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP), this review paper details how scientific understandings have evolved over time, from tragic poisoning events in the mid-twentieth century to important epidemiological studies in the late-twentieth century in the Seychelles and Faroe Islands, the Arctic and Amazon. Entering the twenty-first century, studies on diverse source-exposure scenarios (e.g., ASGM, amalgams, contaminated sites, cosmetics, electronic waste) from across global regions have expanded understandings and exemplified the need to consider socio-environmental variables and local contexts when conducting health studies. We conclude with perspectives on next steps for mercury health research in the post-Minamata Convention era.

Removal of invasive exotic shrubs from mountaintop communities increased the number of pollinators and positively altered pollinator behaviour, which enhanced native fruit production, indicating that the degradation of ecosystem functions is partly reversible. Restoring plant communities boosts pollination Human activities often have damaging effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functions, but whether the targeted manipulation of ecological communities can successfully mitigate and reverse these impacts is the subject of much debate. Here, Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury et al . assess the effect of one form of restoration—the removal of all alien plant species—on the structure and function of plant–pollinator networks in mountain-top communities in the Seychelles. Vegetation restoration leads to a marked increase in the number of pollinator species and pollinator visits to flowers. There is also an increase in the diversity of pollinator interactions and, importantly, the pollination of fruit crops and native plants. The findings suggest that the degradation of ecosystem functions, in this case pollination, is at least partly reversible. Land degradation results in declining biodiversity and the disruption of ecosystem functioning worldwide, particularly in the tropics 1 . Vegetation restoration is a common tool used to mitigate these impacts and increasingly aims to restore ecosystem functions rather than species diversity 2 . However, evidence from community experiments on the effect of restoration practices on ecosystem functions is scarce 3 . Pollination is an important ecosystem function and the global decline in pollinators attenuates the resistance of natural areas and agro-environments to disturbances 4 . Thus, the ability of pollination functions to resist or recover from disturbance (that is, the functional resilience) 5 , 6 may be critical for ensuring a successful restoration process 7 . Here we report the use of a community field experiment to investigate the effects of vegetation restoration, specifically the removal of exotic shrubs, on pollination. We analyse 64 plant–pollinator networks and the reproductive performance of the ten most abundant plant species across four restored and four unrestored, disturbed mountaintop communities. Ecosystem restoration resulted in a marked increase in pollinator species, visits to flowers and interaction diversity. Interactions in restored networks were more generalized than in unrestored networks, indicating a higher functional redundancy in restored communities. Shifts in interaction patterns had direct and positive effects on pollination, especially on the relative and total fruit production of native plants. Pollinator limitation was prevalent at unrestored sites only, where the proportion of flowers producing fruit increased with pollinator visitation, approaching the higher levels seen in restored plant communities. Our results show that vegetation restoration can improve pollination, suggesting that the degradation of ecosystem functions is at least partially reversible. The degree of recovery may depend on the state of degradation before restoration intervention and the proximity to pollinator source populations in the surrounding landscape 5 , 8 . We demonstrate that network structure is a suitable indicator for pollination quality, highlighting the usefulness of interaction networks in environmental management 6 , 9 .

An analysis of 21 coral reefs in the Indian Ocean using data across 17 years that spanned a major climatic disturbance reveals factors that predispose a coral reef to recovery or regime shift from hard corals to macroalgae; these results could foreshadow the likely outcomes of tropical coral reefs to the effects of climate change, informing management and adaptation plans. Coral reef adaptation to change When coral reefs are damaged, their ecosystem can change so radically that a new stable state is reached. This process, known as regime shift, is occurring globally: previously super-diverse reefs are becoming dominated by macroalgae instead of coral, losing animal biodiversity and potentially ecosystem services as a result. Regime shift is not ubiquitous however, and perturbed reefs can also recover to their coral-dominated state. Nicholas Graham and colleagues used long-term data from 21 perturbed reefs in the Indo-Pacific region to examine the factors predisposing a reef to recovery or regime shift. By way of this natural experiment, they identify thresholds for characteristics such as structural complexity, water depth and fish density that predict reef responses to an extreme weather event. These results improve our understanding of one of the greatest threats to marine biodiversity and could enable pre-emptive action to mitigate climate change effects on tropical coral reefs. Climate-induced coral bleaching is among the greatest current threats to coral reefs, causing widespread loss of live coral cover 1 . Conditions under which reefs bounce back from bleaching events or shift from coral to algal dominance are unknown, making it difficult to predict and plan for differing reef responses under climate change 2 . Here we document and predict long-term reef responses to a major climate-induced coral bleaching event that caused unprecedented region-wide mortality of Indo-Pacific corals. Following loss of >90% live coral cover, 12 of 21 reefs recovered towards pre-disturbance live coral states, while nine reefs underwent regime shifts to fleshy macroalgae. Functional diversity of associated reef fish communities shifted substantially following bleaching, returning towards pre-disturbance structure on recovering reefs, while becoming progressively altered on regime shifting reefs. We identified threshold values for a range of factors that accurately predicted ecosystem response to the bleaching event. Recovery was favoured when reefs were structurally complex and in deeper water, when density of juvenile corals and herbivorous fishes was relatively high and when nutrient loads were low. Whether reefs were inside no-take marine reserves had no bearing on ecosystem trajectory. Although conditions governing regime shift or recovery dynamics were diverse, pre-disturbance quantification of simple factors such as structural complexity and water depth accurately predicted ecosystem trajectories. These findings foreshadow the likely divergent but predictable outcomes for reef ecosystems in response to climate change, thus guiding improved management and adaptation.

Planet Mauritius, Reunion & Seychelles is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Hike through the wild and remote Cirque de Mafate on Reunion, relax amid tropical waters on the coral island of Denis Island on Seychelles, and dive to the underwater rock formations and schools of fish off the west coast of Mauritius - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Mauritius, Reunion & Seychelles and begin your journey now!

Environmental education is frequently undertaken as a conservation intervention designed to change the attitudes and behaviour of recipients. Much conservation education is aimed at children, with the rationale that children influence the attitudes of their parents, who will consequently change their behaviour. Empirical evidence to substantiate this suggestion is very limited, however. For the first time, we use a controlled trial to assess the influence of wetland-related environmental education on the knowledge of children and their parents and household behaviour. We demonstrate adults exhibiting greater knowledge of wetlands and improved reported household water management behaviour when their child has received wetland-based education at Seychelles wildlife clubs. We distinguish between 'folk' knowledge of wetland environments and knowledge obtained from formal education, with intergenerational transmission of each depending on different factors. Our study provides the first strong support for the suggestion that environmental education can be transferred between generations and indirectly induce targeted behavioural changes.