Characterizing ecosystem phenological diversity and its macroecology with snow cover phenology

Periconnection: A novel macroecological effect in snow cover phenology modulating ecosystem productivity over upper Northern Hemisphere

Snow cover plays an important role in maintaining ecosystems. However, knowledge on how snow cover phenology (SP) modulates ecosystem productivity (EP), especially for the lower- and higher-productivity ecosystems, is limited yet. The situation becomes more embarrassed when asking a more in-depth question as to the macroecological pattern of SP modulating EP - does this process act with the neighborhood effect common in ecology or any other? To answer this question, we proposed a new concept of "periconnection", by following the way of defining "teleconnection" but also exploring the potential effect from the surrounding sites. In the case study of two published data of plant dynamics (1999-2013) and SP (2001-2014), we made a series of new findings as follows. Over upper Northern Hemisphere, the lower- and higher-productivity ecosystems presented weaker trends of productivity increasing than the entire ecosystems did. But for the ecosystems of all these three types, their productivity was all more sensitive to the snow-onset than -end SP. Further, the interannual variations of their productivity was all more modulated by the SP around - the neighborhood effect, in principle, was detected but also with other novel traits. Such modulations occurred more to north in North America while more to south in North Eurasia - termed directional effect. The first two inferences added the common knowledge of SP modulating EP, while the in-depth question was solved with the last two coherent effects, which compose a new macroecological beyond-neighborhood effect - periconnection. As a creative theoretical term and its principle framework in macroecology, this basic concept is of referencing implication on extensively advancing various sphere-interaction fields at other scales.

Human-mediated impacts on biodiversity and the consequences for zoonotic disease spillover

Human-mediated changes to natural ecosystems have consequences for both ecosystem and human health. Historically, efforts to preserve or restore 'biodiversity' can seem to be in opposition to human interests. However, the integration of biodiversity conservation and public health has gained significant traction in recent years, and new efforts to identify solutions that benefit both environmental and human health are ongoing. At the forefront of these efforts is an attempt to clarify ways in which biodiversity conservation can help reduce the risk of zoonotic spillover of pathogens from wild animals, sparking epidemics and pandemics in humans and livestock. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which biodiversity change influences the spillover process is incomplete, limiting the application of integrated strategies aimed at achieving positive outcomes for both conservation and disease management. Here, we review the literature, considering a broad scope of biodiversity dimensions, to identify cases where zoonotic pathogen spillover is mechanistically linked to changes in biodiversity. By reframing the discussion around biodiversity and disease using mechanistic evidence - while encompassing multiple aspects of biodiversity including functional diversity, landscape diversity, phenological diversity, and interaction diversity - we work toward general principles that can guide future research and more effectively integrate the related goals of biodiversity conservation and spillover prevention. We conclude by summarizing how these principles could be used to integrate the goal of spillover prevention into ongoing biodiversity conservation initiatives.