At the global scale, species diversity is known to strongly increase towards the equator for most taxa. According to theory, a higher resource specificity of consumers facilitates the coexistence of a larger number of species and has been suggested as an explanation for the latitudinal diversity gradient. However, only few studies support the predicted increase in specialisation or even showed opposite results. Surprisingly, analyses for detritivores are still missing. Therefore, we performed an analysis on the degree of trophic specialisation of dung beetles. We summarised 45 studies, covering the resource preferences of a total of 994503 individuals, to calculate the dung specificity in each study region. Our results highlighted a significant (4.3-fold) increase in the diversity of beetles attracted to vertebrate dung towards the equator. However, their resource specificity was low, unrelated to diversity and revealed a highly generalistic use of dung resources that remained similar along the latitudinal gradient.

Dung beetles are increasingly used as a study taxon—both as bioindicators of environmental change, and as a model system for exploring ecosystem functioning. The advantages of this focal taxon approach are many; dung beetles are abundant in a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems, speciose, straightforward to sample, respond to environmental gradients and can be easily manipulated to explore species-functioning relationships. However, there remain large gaps in our understanding of the relationship between dung beetles and the mammals they rely on for dung. Here we review the literature, showing that despite an increase in the study of dung beetles linked to ecosystem functioning and to habitat and land use change, there has been little research into their associations with mammals. We summarize the methods and findings from dung beetle–mammal association studies to date, revealing that although empirical field studies of dung beetles rarely include mammal data, those that do, indicate mammal species presence and composition has a large impact on dung beetle species richness and abundance. We then review the methods used to carry out diet preference and ecosystem functioning studies, finding that despite the assumption that dung beetles are generalist feeders, there are few quantitative studies that directly address this. Together this suggests that conclusions about the effects of habitat change on dung beetles are based on incomplete knowledge. We provide recommendations for future work to identify the importance of considering mammal data for dung beetle distributions, composition and their contributions to ecosystem functioning; a critical step if dung beetles are to be used as a reliable bioindicator taxon.

Functional traits and functional diversity measures are increasingly being used to examine land use effects on biodiversity and community assembly rules. Morphological traits are often used directly as functional traits. However, behavioral characteristics are more difficult to measure. Establishing methods to derive behavioral traits from morphological measurements is necessary to facilitate their inclusion in functional diversity analyses. We collected morphometric data from over 1,700 individuals of 12 species of dung beetle to establish whether morphological measurements can be used as predictors of behavioral traits. We also compared morphology among individuals collected from different land uses (primary forest, logged forest, and oil palm plantation) to identify whether intraspecific differences in morphology vary among land use types. We show that leg and eye measurements can be used to predict dung beetle nesting behavior and period of activity and we used this information to confirm the previously unresolved nesting behavior for Synapsis ritsemae. We found intraspecific differences in morphological traits across different land use types. Phenotypic plasticity was found for traits associated with dispersal (wing aspect ratio and wing loading) and reproductive capacity (abdomen size). The ability to predict behavioral functional traits from morphology is useful where the behavior of individuals cannot be directly observed, especially in tropical environments where the ecology of many species is poorly understood. In addition, we provide evidence that land use change can cause phenotypic plasticity in tropical dung beetle species. Our results reinforce recent calls for intraspecific variation in traits to receive more attention within community ecology.

Loss of large‐bodied mammals across the globe through hunting, habitat degradation, and fragmentation is one of the most significant anthropogenic impacts on the environment. Cascading effects of these extinctions through ecosystems have been little studied, although correlative studies have revealed co‐extinctions in closely linked groups, with implications for ecosystem structure and function. Despite playing important roles in seed dispersal and hence seedling recruitment, mammals have been largely neglected in network studies. Similarly, the role of secondary seed dispersers, such as ants and dung beetles, has been largely unexplored. Most dung beetles rely on mammal feces for feeding and breeding and provide a suite of important ecosystem functions and services. While dung beetle community responses to environmental change have been widely investigated, studies quantifying the network of associations between dung beetle and mammal species are lacking. By developing the first quantitative mammal–dung beetle networks, we address several important knowledge gaps contributing to the understanding of how interactions in networks involving mammals and secondary insect seed dispersers are structured. We use the resulting quantitative interaction networks to model mammal species extinction scenarios to further explore the consequences for dung beetle populations, and the extent to which networks change the strength of interactions through resource switching. Dung beetle feeding and breeding networks did not differ significantly in structure and showed high nestedness and low levels of trophic specialization. Simulations suggested that mammal extinction scenarios based on mammal body mass and mammal dung volume will impact dung beetle populations to a greater extent than random scenarios of mammal loss. Thus, despite their generalist feeding preferences, realistic mammal extinction scenarios have the potential to negatively impact the dung beetle community, which may have consequences for ecosystem functioning.

Despite a variety of T1–T2 dual-modal contrast agents (DMCAs) reported for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), no tuning of local induced magnetic field strength of an DMCA, which is important to modulate the overall T1 and T2 responses for imaging delicate cells, tissues, and organs, is yet available. Here, we show that a spatial arrangement of T1 and T2 components within a “nano zone” in a single core–shell nanoparticle carrier (i.e., DMCA with core Fe3O4 and MnO clusters in a silica shell) to produce the necessary fine-tuning effect. It is demonstrated that this particle after the anti-CD133 antibody immobilization allows both T1 and T2 imaging at higher resolution for living ependynmal brain cells of rodents with no local damage under a strong MRI magnetic field. This study opens a route to rational engineering of DMCAs for accurate magnetic manipulations in a safe manner.

Incorporation of Zn atoms into a nanosize Cu lattice is known to alter the electronic properties of Cu, improving catalytic performance in a number of industrially important reactions. However the structural influence of Zn on the Cu phase is not well studied. Here, we show that Cu nano-clusters modified with increasing concentration of Zn, derived from ZnO support doped with Ga3+, can dramatically enhance their stability against metal sintering. As a result, the hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate (DMO) to ethylene glycol, an important reaction well known for deactivation from copper nanoparticle sintering, can show greatly enhanced activity and stability with the CuZn alloy catalysts due to no noticeable sintering. HRTEM, nano-diffraction and EXAFS characterization reveal the presence of a small beta-brass CuZn alloy phase (body-centred cubic, bcc) which appears to greatly stabilise Cu atoms from aggregation in accelerated deactivation tests. DFT calculations also indicate that the small bcc CuZn phase is more stable against Cu adatom migration than the fcc CuZn phase with the ability to maintain a higher Cu dispersion on its surface.

Current policy is driving renewed impetus to restore forests to return ecological function, protect species, sequester carbon and secure livelihoods. Here we assess the contribution of tree planting to ecosystem restoration in tropical and sub-tropical Asia; we synthesize evidence on mortality and growth of planted trees at 176 sites and assess structural and biodiversity recovery of co-located actively restored and naturally regenerating forest plots. Mean mortality of planted trees was 18% 1 year after planting, increasing to 44% after 5 years. Mortality varied strongly by site and was typically ca 20% higher in open areas than degraded forest, with height at planting positively affecting survival. Size-standardized growth rates were negatively related to species-level wood density in degraded forest and plantations enrichment settings. Based on community-level data from 11 landscapes, active restoration resulted in faster accumulation of tree basal area and structural properties were closer to old-growth reference sites, relative to natural regeneration, but tree species richness did not differ. High variability in outcomes across sites indicates that planting for restoration is potentially rewarding but risky and context-dependent. Restoration projects must prepare for and manage commonly occurring challenges and align with efforts to protect and reconnect remaining forest areas. The abstract of this article is available in Bahasa Indonesia in the electronic supplementary material. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’.

A series of surfactant-free nickel-core and silver-shell (Ni@Ag) nanoparticles encapsulated within the mesopores of SBA-15 were synthesized and tested as catalysts for direct propylene oxidation by molecular oxygen. The influences of temperature, Gas Hour Space Velocity (GHSV) and Ni/Ag ratio on catalytic activity were systematically investigated. Among the prepared samples, Ni1Ag0.4/SBA-15 exhibited the best catalytic performance with selectivity of 70.7% and PO production rate of 4.4 nmol/g/s under 1 bar at 220 o C with GHSV of 192 h-1. High selectivity was attributed to longer Ag-Ag interatomic distance obtained by careful engineering the thickness of Ag shell over preformed Ni nanoparticles. In addition, all prepared new Ni@Ag core-shell catalysts presented excellent stability, which could maintain the conversion and selectivity for at least 10 hours. These results suggest that new designs based on Ag surface atoms tailoring might pave the way to highly efficient and robust Ag catalysts for direct propylene oxidation using molecular oxygen as sole oxidant.