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Except for latitudinal and elevational extremes, lizards range across a vast variety of biotopes worldwide, including environments as disparate as deserts, prairies, temperate woodlands, rainforests, or anthropic habitats. Although most species thrive on the ground, numerous lizards are fossorial, arboreal, and even aquatic, found in either fresh- or seawater. With lizards being ectotherms, accurate thermoregulation and other physiological adaptations are in most cases fundamental for their survival in such a variety of habitats. Moreover, lizard coloration may mediate thermoregulation, reproduction, and social status, among others. Lizards have also evolved some unusual antipredator adaptations, such as tail autotomy. Consequently, the astonishing morphological, ecological, and functional diversity of lizards results from extremely intense selective pressures, oftentimes opposing, many of whose interrelationships have yet to be disentangled. This Special Issue provides the international scientific community with an integrative meeting point to discuss and synthesize the current knowledge on the evolutionary pathways and mechanisms that led to today’s lizards.

Research & information: general --- Biology, life sciences --- Animals & society --- enhanced vegetation index --- Lacerta --- Mediterranean --- niche partitioning --- Sauria --- Timon --- colouration --- social signals --- Psammodromus algirus --- lizards --- altitudinal gradient --- Indochina --- Southeast Asia --- phylogeny --- Indo-Australian Archipelago --- Bent-toed geckos --- karst --- conservation --- high elevation --- hyperoxia --- sprint performance --- thermal performance curve --- thermal preference --- lizard --- autotomy --- tail --- locomotion --- performance --- temperature --- predation --- n/a

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Except for latitudinal and elevational extremes, lizards range across a vast variety of biotopes worldwide, including environments as disparate as deserts, prairies, temperate woodlands, rainforests, or anthropic habitats. Although most species thrive on the ground, numerous lizards are fossorial, arboreal, and even aquatic, found in either fresh- or seawater. With lizards being ectotherms, accurate thermoregulation and other physiological adaptations are in most cases fundamental for their survival in such a variety of habitats. Moreover, lizard coloration may mediate thermoregulation, reproduction, and social status, among others. Lizards have also evolved some unusual antipredator adaptations, such as tail autotomy. Consequently, the astonishing morphological, ecological, and functional diversity of lizards results from extremely intense selective pressures, oftentimes opposing, many of whose interrelationships have yet to be disentangled. This Special Issue provides the international scientific community with an integrative meeting point to discuss and synthesize the current knowledge on the evolutionary pathways and mechanisms that led to today’s lizards.

enhanced vegetation index --- Lacerta --- Mediterranean --- niche partitioning --- Sauria --- Timon --- colouration --- social signals --- Psammodromus algirus --- lizards --- altitudinal gradient --- Indochina --- Southeast Asia --- phylogeny --- Indo-Australian Archipelago --- Bent-toed geckos --- karst --- conservation --- high elevation --- hyperoxia --- sprint performance --- thermal performance curve --- thermal preference --- lizard --- autotomy --- tail --- locomotion --- performance --- temperature --- predation --- n/a

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African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.

Research & information: general --- Biology, life sciences --- ecotone --- fire --- forest core --- habitat preference --- Ngel Nyaki --- niche partitioning --- savannah --- species sorting --- torus translation --- vegetation --- aridification in NW Africa --- Macaronesian islands --- distribution patterns --- West African Monsoon (WAM) --- vascular flora --- African potato --- conservation --- commercialization --- cultivation --- Hypoxidaceae --- medicinal plant --- unsustainable harvesting --- wild harvesting --- woodland --- miombo --- savanna --- diversity --- disturbance --- Baikiaea --- biogeographic vicariance --- extinction --- phylogenomics --- gene shopping --- gene capture --- molecular dating --- Africa --- biome --- RADseq --- Monechma --- Justicia --- phylogeny --- plant diversity --- Bia Tano Forest Reserve --- gap --- regeneration --- species composition --- species diversity --- wildfires --- MODIS burnt area product --- WWF ecoregions --- land cover --- Miombo woodlands --- biodiversity conservation --- sub-Saharan Africa --- flora --- tropical biodiversity

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The application of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses brings new dimensions to our understanding of the biology of phototrophic bacteria. Comparing gene sequences of photosynthetic reaction center proteins and a key enzyme of bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis from more than 150 genomes demonstrates the ancient roots of phototrophic bacteria. The presence and phylogeny of biosynthetic pathways of the compatible solutes ectoine and glycine betaine define groups of marine and halophilic phototrophic bacteria. The wide range of ecological niches conquered during evolution is demonstrated by the adaptation of cyanobacterial genera Scytonema, Tolypothrix, and Nostoc to different temperature ranges and the adaptation of Heliorestis species to alkaline habitats. Differences between phototrophic purple bacteria from marine and freshwater habitats are reflected in the preference for sulfidic and non-sulfidic niches. Also, a high proportion of siderophore producers was found among isolates from freshwater sources opposed to those from salty habitats . The primary colonization of carbonate rocks by a group of novel endolithic cyanobacteria and the following successions were studied over 9 months. The genomic characterization of the aerobic Dinoroseobacter strain AAP5, the strictly anaerobic and syntrophic Prosthecochloris ethylica, and the strictly anaerobic Heliorestis convoluta is reported. Significant differences in relation to oxygen are reflected in oxygen production by some species, oxygen tolerance over a wide range of concentrations, and the use of oxygen for energy generation or a strictly anaerobic lifestyle. Relations to oxygen are highlighted in papers on photooxidative stress, regulation of iron–sulfur cluster formation, and interactions of redox regulators. In situ metatranscriptomic and proteomic studies demonstrate the high metabolic flexibility of Chloroflexus aggregans in a hot spring microbial mat and show its adaptation to the changing conditions over day and night periods by a well-coordinated regulation of key metabolic processes for both phototrophic and chemotrophic growth.

Research & information: general --- phylogeny --- photosynthetic reaction center proteins --- bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis --- phototrophic purple bacteria --- evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis --- iron-sulfur cluster --- isc genes --- suf genes --- antisense promoters --- OxyR --- IscR --- Irr --- anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria --- purple nonsulfur bacteria --- massive blooms --- pufM gene --- Rhodovulum --- phylogenomics --- bioerosion --- anoxygenic phototroph --- microbiome --- euendolith --- Rhodobacter capsulatus --- Rhodobacter sphaeroides --- photooxidative stress --- transcriptomics --- proteomics --- stress defense --- heliobacteria --- Heliorestis convoluta --- alkaliphilic bacteria --- soda lake --- bacteriochlorophyll g --- biological soil crust --- drylands --- niche partitioning --- nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria --- Alphaproteobacteria --- Rhodobacteraceae --- nitric oxide --- quorum sensing --- gene transfer agent --- motility --- Crp/Fnr --- Dnr --- RegA --- ChpT --- green sulfur bacteria --- syntrophy --- e-pili --- adhesion protein --- photosynthetic symbionts --- large multiheme cytochrome --- metagenomic binning --- genomes of photosynthetic bacteria --- glycine betaine biosynthesis --- ectoine biosynthesis --- osmotic adaptation --- phylogeny of osmolyte biosynthesis --- filamentous anoxygenic phototroph --- microbial mats --- hot springs --- metatranscriptomics --- energy metabolism --- carbon fixation --- aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria --- bacteriochlorophyll a --- photosynthesis genes --- rhodopsin --- Sphingomonadaceae --- aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs --- siderophore --- metallophore --- CAS assay --- Chromocurvus halotolerans strain EG19 --- n/a

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The application of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses brings new dimensions to our understanding of the biology of phototrophic bacteria. Comparing gene sequences of photosynthetic reaction center proteins and a key enzyme of bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis from more than 150 genomes demonstrates the ancient roots of phototrophic bacteria. The presence and phylogeny of biosynthetic pathways of the compatible solutes ectoine and glycine betaine define groups of marine and halophilic phototrophic bacteria. The wide range of ecological niches conquered during evolution is demonstrated by the adaptation of cyanobacterial genera Scytonema, Tolypothrix, and Nostoc to different temperature ranges and the adaptation of Heliorestis species to alkaline habitats. Differences between phototrophic purple bacteria from marine and freshwater habitats are reflected in the preference for sulfidic and non-sulfidic niches. Also, a high proportion of siderophore producers was found among isolates from freshwater sources opposed to those from salty habitats . The primary colonization of carbonate rocks by a group of novel endolithic cyanobacteria and the following successions were studied over 9 months. The genomic characterization of the aerobic Dinoroseobacter strain AAP5, the strictly anaerobic and syntrophic Prosthecochloris ethylica, and the strictly anaerobic Heliorestis convoluta is reported. Significant differences in relation to oxygen are reflected in oxygen production by some species, oxygen tolerance over a wide range of concentrations, and the use of oxygen for energy generation or a strictly anaerobic lifestyle. Relations to oxygen are highlighted in papers on photooxidative stress, regulation of iron–sulfur cluster formation, and interactions of redox regulators. In situ metatranscriptomic and proteomic studies demonstrate the high metabolic flexibility of Chloroflexus aggregans in a hot spring microbial mat and show its adaptation to the changing conditions over day and night periods by a well-coordinated regulation of key metabolic processes for both phototrophic and chemotrophic growth.

phylogeny --- photosynthetic reaction center proteins --- bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis --- phototrophic purple bacteria --- evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis --- iron-sulfur cluster --- isc genes --- suf genes --- antisense promoters --- OxyR --- IscR --- Irr --- anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria --- purple nonsulfur bacteria --- massive blooms --- pufM gene --- Rhodovulum --- phylogenomics --- bioerosion --- anoxygenic phototroph --- microbiome --- euendolith --- Rhodobacter capsulatus --- Rhodobacter sphaeroides --- photooxidative stress --- transcriptomics --- proteomics --- stress defense --- heliobacteria --- Heliorestis convoluta --- alkaliphilic bacteria --- soda lake --- bacteriochlorophyll g --- biological soil crust --- drylands --- niche partitioning --- nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria --- Alphaproteobacteria --- Rhodobacteraceae --- nitric oxide --- quorum sensing --- gene transfer agent --- motility --- Crp/Fnr --- Dnr --- RegA --- ChpT --- green sulfur bacteria --- syntrophy --- e-pili --- adhesion protein --- photosynthetic symbionts --- large multiheme cytochrome --- metagenomic binning --- genomes of photosynthetic bacteria --- glycine betaine biosynthesis --- ectoine biosynthesis --- osmotic adaptation --- phylogeny of osmolyte biosynthesis --- filamentous anoxygenic phototroph --- microbial mats --- hot springs --- metatranscriptomics --- energy metabolism --- carbon fixation --- aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria --- bacteriochlorophyll a --- photosynthesis genes --- rhodopsin --- Sphingomonadaceae --- aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs --- siderophore --- metallophore --- CAS assay --- Chromocurvus halotolerans strain EG19 --- n/a