Biology subjects

Chuang, P.-Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Chuang, P.-Y..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Enhancing structural heterogeneity in managed forest landscapes promotes gamma but not beta diversity in understorey plant communities

O_LIAlthough habitat heterogeneity is known to enhance local species diversity, the effects of management-driven structural heterogeneity on understorey plant communities across spatial scales remain poorly understood, despite their crucial role for forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. C_LIO_LITo analyse how forest understorey plant communities respond to an enhancement of structural heterogeneity in managed forests, we established 11 experimental sites consisting of two paired forest landscapes, an untreated homogenous control and a treatment district (ESBC). In treatment districts, structural heterogeneity was enhanced through different combinations of local patch-scale manipulations of light and deadwood features, leading to greater between-patch heterogeneity at the landscape scale. We performed a meta-analysis across these 11 sites using a Hill-Chao number and sample coverage standardisation framework. C_LIO_LIGamma diversity increased across taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic facets in structurally heterogeneous forests (ESBC districts) via higher alpha diversity. This effect was positively associated with heterogeneity in light availability between forest patches, but not with their mean light availability. In contrast, we found no support that species turnover among patches (i.e., beta diversity) significantly contributes on average to the observed increase in gamma diversity. However, both the direction and magnitude of beta diversity responses varied substantially among landscapes. C_LIO_LIOn average, structurally heterogeneous forests supported higher species richness for both open and closed forest habitat species. C_LIO_LISynthesis and applications: Our findings highlight the benefits of enhancing structural heterogeneity for understorey plant diversity in managed forest landscapes. Specifically, management strategies that create a spatial mosaic of interventions, such as combining single-tree removal with group felling, can increase the variety of light niches among forest patches, thereby supporting the conservation of a wide range of understorey plant species, including forest specialists. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Higher bat and bird γ-diversity in structurally complex forests is driven by distinct α- and β-diversity responses

Effective conservation management and habitat restoration rely on understanding how biodiversity responds to environmental change. Centuries of silviculture have homogenized forests and their species communities globally, reducing biodiversity. To test whether restoring forest structural complexity can promote biodiversity, we conducted a large-scale, spatially explicit landscape experiment. At 11 sites across Germany, we compared bat and bird diversity in forests with experimentally enhanced heterogeneity by increasing deadwood and canopy complexity to homogeneous production forests. Both taxa were investigated by autonomous acoustic recorders and automatic species identification. We quantified within-patch (-), between-patch ({beta}-), and landscape-level ({gamma}-) diversity, emphasizing infrequent to highly frequent species for taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity. The pairwise comparisons of the sites were synthesized using a newly developed meta-analysis of rarefaction-extrapolation curves. {gamma}-diversity increased significantly in structurally heterogeneous forests for both taxa, albeit through distinct taxon-specific mechanisms. Bat {gamma}-diversity gains were primarily driven by higher {beta}-diversity, indicating greater dissimilarity in species assemblages among patches, while bird {gamma}-diversity increased via higher -diversity within patches. Bat diversity increases were mainly taxonomic, suggesting functional similarity in the communities, whereas birds showed the highest gains in functional diversity, indicating that experimental treatments resulted in greater trait dissimilarity. Our results provide experimental evidence under real-world conditions that {gamma}-diversity can be shaped by different diversity mechanisms. These patterns likely originate from differences in activity ranges, such as the large-scale movements of foraging bats in contrast to the more spatially restricted, territorial behavior of birds. This highlights the need for taxon-specific restoration strategies in homogenized landscapes.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

A novel equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 inhibitor alleviates Tau-mediated neurodegeneration

Tau hyperphosphorylation favors the formation of neurofibrillary tangles and triggers the gradual loss of neuronal functions in tauopathies, including Alzheimers disease. Herein, we demonstrated that chronic treatment with an inhibitor (J4) of equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (ENT1), which plays a critical role in controlling adenosine homeostasis and purine metabolism in the brain, exerted beneficial effects in a mouse model of tauopathy (Thy-Tau22, Tau22). Chronic treatment with J4 improved spatial memory deficits, mitochondrial dysfunction, synaptic plasticity impairment, and gliosis. Immunofluorescence assays showed that J4 not only reduced Tau hyperphosphorylation but also normalized the reduction in mitochondrial mass and suppressed the abnormal activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a pathogenic feature that is also observed in the brains of patients with tauopathies. Given that AMPK is an important energy sensor, our findings suggest that energy dysfunction is associated with tauopathy and that J4 may exert its protective effect by improving energy homeostasis. Bulk RNA-seq analysis revealed that J4 also mitigated immune signature associated with Tau pathology including C1q upregulation and A1 astrocyte markers. Collectively, our findings suggest that identifying strategies for normalizing energy and neuroimmune dysfunctions in tauopathies through adenosinergic signaling modulation may pave the way for the development of treatments for Alzheimers disease.

neuroscience↗