Can we predict which species win when new habitat becomes available?

Land cover change is a key component of anthropogenic global environmental change, contributing to changes in environmental conditions of habitats. Deforestation is globally the most widespread and anthropogenically driven land cover change leading to conversion from closed forest to open non-forest habitat. This study investigates the relative roles of geographic features, characteristics of species climatic niche and species traits in determining the ability of open-habitat plant species to take advantage of recently opened habitats. We use current occurrence records of 18 herbaceous, predominantly open-habitat species of the genus Acaena (Rosaceae) to determine their prevalence in recently opened habitat. We tested correlation of species prevalence in anthropogenically opened habitat with (i) geographic features of the spatial distribution of open habitat, (ii) characteristics of species climatic niche, and (iii) species traits related to dispersal. While primary open habitat (naturally open) was characterised by cold climates, secondary open habitat (naturally closed but anthropogenically opened) is characterised by warmer and wetter conditions. We found high levels of variation in the species prevalence in secondary open habitat indicating species differences in their ability to colonise newly opened habitat. For the species investigated, geographical features of habitat and climatic niche factors showed generally stronger relationships with species prevalence in secondary open habitat than functional traits. Therefore, for small herbaceous species, geographical features of habitat and environmental factors appear to be more important than species functional traits for facilitating expansion into secondary open habitats. Our results suggested that the land cover change might have triggered the shifts of factors controlling open-habitat plant distributions from the competition with forest trees to current environmental constraints.

Population Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Apixaban Linking Its Plasma Concentration to Intrinsic Activated Coagulation Factor X Activity in Japanese Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Apixaban is used in the prevention and treatment of patients with deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, and in the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). In this study, we aimed to elucidate intrinsic factors affecting efficacy of apixaban by conducting population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis using data from 81 Japanese AF patients. The intrinsic FXa activity was determined to assess the pharmacodynamic effect of apixaban. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles were described based on a one-compartment model with first-order absorption and a maximum inhibitory model, respectively. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis was conducted using a nonlinear mixed effect modeling program. The population pharmacokinetic parameters of apixaban were fixed at the reported values in our recent study. The population mean of half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of apixaban was estimated to be 45.3 ng/mL. The population mean IC50 decreased 27.7% for patients with heart failure, but increased 55% for patients with a medical history of cerebral infarction. In contrast, no covariates affected the population mean of baseline of intrinsic FXa activity (BASE) and maximum effect (Imax) value of apixaban. The population mean of BASE and Imax value were estimated to be 40.2 and 38.4 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively. The present study demonstrates for the first time that the co-morbidity of heart failure as well as the medical history of cerebral infarction are an intrinsic factor affecting the pharmacodynamics of apixaban.

Ecological and socio-economic functions across tropical land use systems after rainforest conversion.

Tropical lowland rainforests are increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture and the extraction of natural resources. In Jambi Province, Indonesia, the interdisciplinary EFForTS project focuses on the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of rainforest conversion to jungle rubber agroforests and monoculture plantations of rubber and oil palm. Our data confirm that rainforest transformation and land use intensification lead to substantial losses in biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, such as decreased above- and below-ground carbon stocks. Owing to rapid step-wise transformation from forests to agroforests to monoculture plantations and renewal of each plantation type every few decades, the converted land use systems are continuously dynamic, thus hampering the adaptation of animal and plant communities. On the other hand, agricultural rainforest transformation systems provide increased income and access to education, especially for migrant smallholders. Jungle rubber and rubber monocultures are associated with higher financial land productivity but lower financial labour productivity compared to oil palm, which influences crop choice: smallholders that are labour-scarce would prefer oil palm while land-scarce smallholders would prefer rubber. Collecting long-term data in an interdisciplinary context enables us to provide decision-makers and stakeholders with scientific insights to facilitate the reconciliation between economic interests and ecological sustainability in tropical agricultural landscapes.