Biology subjects

Hernandez-Garcia, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Hernandez-Garcia, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Morphological routes to extinction: A mechanistic assessment of habitat loss

Habitat loss driven by climate and anthropogenic pressures alters patch morphology, with critical consequences for population persistence. Geometric and mechanistic metrics are commonly used to quantify degradation, yet their respective limitations remain poorly understood. Here, we address this gap using a reaction-diffusion framework for population growth and dispersal in a viable patch embedded in a hostile environment. We compare geometric descriptors of patch shape with a mechanistic metric derived from population growth near the extinction threshold. Along degradation trajectories, we find that geometric metrics systematically overestimate persistence, suggesting moderate and decelerating impacts, whereas mechanistic indicators reveal rapid, accelerating approaches to extinction. These results highlight fundamental limitations of geometric approaches and underscore the need for mechanistic assessments when evaluating biodiversity loss in complex landscapes.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

BATF3 controls the homeostatic maintenance and function of innate-like γδ T cells

{gamma}{delta} T cells compose an evolutionarily conserved lineage of lymphocytes, with both adaptive- and innate-like characteristics, contributing to tissue homeostasis, immune surveillance, and rapid responses to stress and infection. While their functional diversity and tissue-specific roles are tightly regulated by transcriptional networks, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. The transcription factor basic leucine zipper ATF-like transcription factor 3 (BATF3) plays a central role in the development of conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s). Here, we unveil BATF3 as a critical cell-intrinsic regulator of the homeostasis, functional specialization, and tissue distribution of {gamma}{delta} T cells. Batf3-deficient mice display an altered composition of {gamma}{delta} T cell subsets, with a marked decrease in the numbers of innate-like {gamma}{delta} T cells across multiple organs when compared to their wild-type counterparts, independently of cDC1s. Loss of BATF3 impacts not only cell survival but also IL-17 production after {gamma}{delta} T cells complete their thymic development. Mechanistically, Batf3-deficient innate-like {gamma}{delta} T cells exhibit transcriptional changes that disrupt pathways governing actin cytoskeleton remodelling, immunological synapse organization and cellular identity. Notably, Batf3-deficient mice present decreased survival in a viral infection model highly dependent on innate-like {gamma}{delta} T cells. Together, our findings uncover a previously unrecognized BATF3-dependent pathway that controls {gamma}{delta} T cell morphology and function, profoundly impacting their biology.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2019

Spatial eco-evolutionary feedbacks mediate coexistence inprey-predator systems

Eco-evolutionary frameworks can explain certain features of communities in which ecological and evolutionary processes occur over comparable timescales. In the particular case of prey-predator systems, a combination of empirical and theoretical studies have explored this possibility, showing that the evolution of prey traits, predator traits or the coevolution of both can contribute to the stability of the community, as well as to the emergence of various types of population cycles. However, these studies overlook that interactions are spatially constrained, a crucial ingredient known to foster species coexistence per se. Here, we investigate whether evolutionary dynamics interacts with the spatial structure of a prey-predator community in which both species show limited mobility and predators perceptual ranges are subject to natural selection. In these conditions, our results unveil an eco-evolutionary feedback between species spatial mixing and predators perceptual range: different levels of species mixing select for different perceptual ranges, which in turn reshape the spatial distribution of preys and their interaction with predators. This emergent pattern of interspecific interactions feeds back to the efficiency of the various perceptual ranges, thus selecting for new ones. Finally, since prey-predator mixing is the key factor that regulates the intensity of predation, we explore the community-level implications of such feedback and show that it controls both coexistence times and species extinction probabilities. Author summaryEvolutionary processes occurring on temporal scales that are comparable to those of ecological change can result in reciprocal interactions between ecology and evolution termed eco-evolutionary feedbacks. Such interplay is clear in prey-predator systems, in which predation alters the distribution of resources (preys). In turn, changes in the abundance and spatial distribution of preys may lead to the evolution of new predation strategies, which may change again the properties of the prey population. Here, we investigate the interplay between limited mobility, species mixing, and finite perception in a prey-predator system. We focus on the case in which predator perceptual ranges are subject to natural selection and examine, via coexistence times and species extinction probabilities, whether the resulting eco-evolutionary dynamics mediates the stability of the community. Our results confirm the existence of such eco-evolutionary feedback and reveal its potential impact on community-level processes.

ecology↗