Journals
2026 EN
Yu Kimberly · Vendlinski Siena · Beck Hannah
+4 more
ABSTRACT Objective This study explored the experiences of lower‐income adults in accessing and engaging with an adapted digital guided self‐help cognitive behavioral intervention for binge and/or purge‐type eating disorders. This study sought to inform future adaptation of evidence‐based eating disorder interventions to improve accessibility, acceptability, and engagement among this population. Method Participants ( N = 9) were adults with public insurance or no insurance coverage who endorsed ≥ 6 binge eating episodes, ≥ 6 vomiting episodes, and/or ≥ 6 laxative/diuretic episodes in the past 3 months, had a BMI ≥ 18.5 kg/m 2 , with annual household income ≤ 200% of the federal poverty level. Participants completed 4 weeks of intervention usability testing, followed by a semi‐structured interview examining barriers and facilitators to intervention engagement. Interviews were analyzed using inductive qualitative thematic analysis. Results Participants identified barriers and facilitators related to intervention accessibility, acceptability, and engagement. Barriers included psychosocial and structural stressors, treatment readiness, and concerns about representation and intervention fit. Facilitators included feeling understood and supported, perceived symptom improvement, and hopefulness. Participants emphasized the importance of tailoring interventions to individual identity and lived experience. Discussion Findings highlighted the need for continued adaptation of digital interventions to better meet the specific needs of lower‐income individuals with eating disorders. Incorporating flexibility, representation, and personalization may enhance engagement and support more equitable access to care. This study increased representation of the lived experiences of this underrepresented population and contributed to ongoing efforts to reduce disparities in eating disorder treatment through expanded access to evidence‐based care.
Journals
2026 EN
Walker D. Catherine · Tran Mai P. N. · Bizer George Y.
+1 more
ABSTRACT Objective Although screening for bots and/or using costly panel services for recruiting participants online has become increasingly necessary, such efforts may no longer ensure the validity of data collected online. Newly released agentic AI models, such as the ChatGPT agent, have the ability to complete surveys relatively indistinguishably from humans. Methods The current paper outlines efforts that the body image, weight, and eating disorders (BIWED) lab has undergone to screen for and detect AI data completion reliably and validly. Results There are some tasks that ChatGPT agents do not perform identically to human responders (e.g., video tasks, online games, open‐ended responses, and reCAPTCHA). We present the methods that have been the most successful at identifying AI agent survey completion. Discussion We discuss potential solutions, field‐wide concerns, and future directions for the field more broadly.
Journals
2026 EN
Morris Vanessa · Chariton Anthony · Harcourt Robert
+7 more
ABSTRACT Marine environments are experiencing rapid warming, substantially altering ecosystems. Populations at the edge of a species' range are more vulnerable to environmental change as they are first affected and may have limited dispersal opportunities. This vulnerability may be exacerbated in species with specialised foraging and breeding strategies. The Australian sea lion ( Neophoca cinerea ) is an endangered otariid species that breeds across a ~3000 km range in southern Australia. At the most north‐westerly edge of the species' distribution, Australian sea lions breed across multiple islands within the Houtman Abrolhos Archipelago, Western Australia, a tropical‐temperate location affected by marine heatwaves. This study aimed to examine the genetic structure and diversity of the Australian sea lions from the Houtman Abrolhos Archipelago compared to other populations in the species' range. One hundred and twenty‐five individuals, 19 from Houtman Abrolhos, were genotyped from 19 sample sites across Western Australia and South Australia. Our findings showed that individuals from the Houtman Abrolhos grouped into a single population, which was highly differentiated and had extremely low genetic diversity. The isolation and limited genetic variation of the Houtman Abrolhos Australian sea lion population suggest that it is extremely vulnerable to extirpation. Our study highlights the vulnerability of isolated populations of a species to rapid environmental change and stochastic events.
Journals
2026 EN
Agoe Catherine · Kwikiriza Gerald · Akoll Peter
+11 more
ABSTRACT Oreochromis species are of economic importance in fisheries and aquaculture but threatened by human‐mediated activities. Effective conservation and their sustainable management require genetic monitoring tools that can assess genetic variation across species. Various neutral markers have been used to monitor biodiversity in organisms, but they are limited in cross‐amplification among various taxa. Non‐neutral markers such as Exon‐Primed Intron Crossing (EPIC) not only cross amplify various taxa but also target gene regions that are likely to be involved in adaptive responses to selective pressure. This study therefore developed 50 EPIC markers from Oreochromis niloticus reference genome targeting immune related genes to assess their potential to cross‐amplify Oreochromis species. Genetic diversity, population structure, and differentiation was measured among Oreochromis niloticus , O. jipe , O. esculentus and O. leucostictius species and their respective populations from eleven African water bodies and two aquaculture farms. 45 EPIC markers successfully amplified target regions across the four Oreochromis species. O. niloticus exhibited the highest diversity (He = 0.50), followed by O. jipe (He = 0.29), O. leucostictus (He =0.28) and O. esculentus with the lowest (He = 0.25). The highest differentiation values were observed among populations of different species while the lowest was among farmed O. niloticus . This was supported by AMOVA results that showed highest genetic differentiation among species. Population structure analyses were concordant with species boundaries while showing detailed intraspecific clustering patterns among the O. niloticus populations that reflected geographical origin. The observed genetic diversity, gene flow, and population differentiation confirms the applicability of EPIC markers as molecular tools for monitoring biodiversity and guiding the conservation of Oreochromis species under increasing anthropogenic and environmental pressures.
Journals
2026 EN
McClure Catherine M. · Hammill Edd
Abstract Ecological communities are structured by inter‐ and intraspecific interactions. The stability of communities is governed by the strength and number of species interactions. Therefore, mechanisms that act to decrease the interaction strength between species are thought to stabilize communities. One proposed stabilizing mechanism is the inducible defenses of prey. Inducible defenses are morphological and behavioral traits only expressed in the presence of a predator or under perceived predation threat. By creating a population of prey that is less susceptible to predation, inducible defenses reduce interaction strength between predators and prey. In this study, we evaluated the expression of an inducible defense in the protozoan, Paramecium aurelia , along two environmental gradients (perceived predation threat and basal nutrients) and for three clonal populations of P. aurelia . The three clonal populations display a range in expression of one morphological defense (i.e., increase in body width), with one population expected to display an inducible defense, one expected to remain in a permanently defended state, and one expected to remain in a permanently undefended state. We found that for the clone that displays an inducible defense, there was a trade‐off in energy expenditure that occurred at around 30 predators in which protists in high nutrient concentrations were narrower than protists in low nutrient conditions despite additional resources. These results indicate either that there are potential costs to inducible defenses or that energy gained from increased nutrients was being diverted elsewhere, such as for reproduction or maintenance. Additionally, for all three clonal populations, protist width approached an asymptote of max width at the highest nutrient concentrations, suggesting a diminishing or maximal benefit of protist width even if a trade‐off did not occur. In all, the results from our study provide information on the potential limits to the benefits of inducible defenses along two environmental gradients, and that both bottom‐up and top‐down pressures interact to significantly affect the response of prey in predator–prey interactions. With an increased understanding of how bottom‐up and top‐down pressures are affecting species' interactions, we can better predict changes in community composition and stability under changing environmental conditions.
Journals
2026 EN
Hulshof Catherine M. · Tejero Ibarra Pablo · Rajakaruishanta
+1 more
Abstract Extreme environments, whether defined by climate, soils, or disturbance, at landscape or micro‐scales, are prevalent across Earth's surface and have long served as crucibles for ecological and evolutionary insights. Many foundational theories were developed in deserts, cliffs, ultramafic soils, and other harsh systems. Yet, these environments are usually studied in siloed, discipline‐ or ecosystem‐specific contexts, rather than as part of a generalizable macroecological model. Here, we propose reframing extreme environments as a unifying framework for ecology, one that can explore the boundaries of ecological processes, detect the limits of functional trait strategies, and improve predictions of ecosystem responses to emerging global extremes. We also revisit key ecological concepts, including species coexistence, succession, spatial ecology, and functional trait theory, through the lens of extreme environments, and identify emerging research opportunities that arise when these systems are treated as central to, rather than siloed in, ecological theory. Rather than exceptions or outliers, these systems should be recognized as central to understanding the resilience, adaptability, and future trajectories of life on Earth.
Journals
2026 EN
Alston Jesse M. · Fleming Christen H. · Noonan Michael J.
+41 more
Abstract Quantifying animal movements is necessary for answering a wide array of research questions in ecology and conservation biology. Consequently, ecologists have made considerable efforts to identify the best way to estimate an animal's home range, and many methods of estimating home ranges have arisen over the past half a century. Most of these methods fall into two distinct categories of estimators that have only recently been described in statistical detail: those that measure range distributions (methods such as kernel density estimation that quantify the long‐run behavior of a movement process that features restricted space use) and those that measure occurrence distributions (methods such as Brownian bridge movement models and the Correlated Random Walk Library that quantify uncertainty in an animal movement path during a specific period of observation). In this paper, we use theory, simulations, and empirical analysis to demonstrate the importance of appropriately using these two categories of distributions and their estimators. Conflating range and occurrence distributions can have serious consequences for ecological inference and conservation practice. For example, in most situations, home ranges estimated using estimators of occurrence distributions are too small, and this problem is exacerbated by ongoing improvements in tracking technology that enable more frequent and more accurate data on animal movements. We encourage researchers to use estimators of range distributions to quantify home ranges and estimators of occurrence distributions to answer other questions in movement ecology, such as when and where an animal crossed a linear feature, visited a location of interest, or interacted with other animals.
Journals
2026 EN
Cazelles Catherine · Linares Jorge · Dahoo PierreRichard
+1 more
Spin‐crossover (SCO) molecular solids are a class of coordination compounds exhibiting hysteretic thermal transitions between low‐spin (LS) and high‐spin (HS) states, making them capable of collective switching between these two states in response to external stimuli such as temperature, pressure, and electric fields. This bistable behavior directly paves the way for breakthrough technological applications in the field of molecular sensors, molecular switches, and actuators. For thermally induced spin transitions, the transition temperature ( T up ) on heating, at which the system switches from the LS to the HS, is strongly influenced by the ligands coordinating the metal center. In this study, we investigate the effect of the substrate on T up in SCO nanostructures, focusing on how subtle substrate‐induced interactions can modulate the transition temperature. To this end, we model substrate effects through an extended Ising‐like Hamiltonian, solved using Monte Carlo simulations. The results show that substrate interactions can be used to significantly fine‐tune the thermal transition temperature, modify the width of the hysteresis, and induce either abrupt or gradual switching as needed. This groundbreaking control offers a radical new perspective for the design and optimization of next‐generation SCO devices, enabling the creation, among other applications, of precision‐engineered temperature sensors for complex systems.
Journals
2026 EN
Halit Merzouk · Pittala Narsimhulu · Hobballah Ahmad
+5 more
A new 1D iron(II) spin crossover (SCO) coordination polymer, [Fe(but‐trz) 3 ][Pt(CN) 4 ]•H 2 O (1), based on 4‐butyl‐1,2,4‐triazole (but‐trz), has been synthesized and structurally and magnetically characterized. Compound 1 exhibits an abrupt and reversible high‐spin ( HS ) to low‐spin ( LS ) transition at T 1/2 = 272 K without significant hysteresis, as confirmed by magnetic susceptibility and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. Single crystal X‐ray diffraction studies at 296 K ( HS ) and 150 K ( LS ) reveal significant anisotropic structural changes and a reversible symmetry‐breaking transition involving a shift of the cationic chains. These changes are accommodated without crystal degradation, indicating exceptional mechanical resilience upon cycling. In contrast to its parent compound [Fe(bn‐trz) 3 ][Pt(CN) 4 ]•H 2 O, compound 1 features additional direct interchain interactions at room temperature, likely arising from the flexible butyl side groups. These interactions may enhance elastic cooperativity within the lattice and could also have a limited influence on the higher transition temperature, offering new insights into structure–property relationships in triazole‐based SCO systems.
Journals
2026 EN
Berthomieu Catherine · Martin Ma · Aupiais Jean
+9 more
Lanthanide‐binding tag (LBT) optimized for protein labeling was engineered into calmodulin by inserting a variant sequence (W 7 Y 8 → Y 7 I 8 ) at Site 1 of the N‐terminal domain while inactivating Site 2, and the resulting CaMLBT was examined for its Ln‐binding properties. CaMLBT forms 1:1 complexes with all lanthanides. Fluorescence spectroscopy and CE‐ICP‐MS revealed dissociation constants ranging from sub‐nanomolar for La (Kd = 437 ± 259 pM) to the low picomolar range for Tb–Lu, reaching Kd = 1.1 ± 0.4 pM for Lu at pH 6. This corresponds to a ∼1000‐fold affinity increase over the original LBT, approaching the stabilities of lanmodulins. In contrast to lanmodulins, however, Ln–CaMLBT complex stability increases with decreasing Ln(III) ionic radius, consistent with trends reported for LBT. ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy indicates that the enhanced stability arises from changes in coordination number and ligand properties: Glu 9 would evolve from tight bidentate (La to Pr) to more asymmetric or weaker (Yb and Lu) coordination, while Asp 3 and Asp 5 evolve from pseudo‐bridging to strong monodentate ligands. Notably, no evidence for water ligation was found for early lanthanides. CaMLBT emerges as a highly stable and versatile scaffold to investigate structural factors underlying lanthanide selectivity and complex stability.