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1. Is Citizen Science Dead?

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c07873  

   Lowry, Christopher S.; Stepenuck, Kristine F. (April 2021, Environmental Science & Technology)

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2. New beginnings for dead ends: polyploidy, -SSE models and the dead-end hypothesis

   https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae143  

   Hagen, Eric_R; Beaulieu, Jeremy_M (September 2024, Annals of Botany)

   Abstract BackgroundSince the mid-20th century, it has been argued by some that the transition from diploidy to polyploidy is an ‘evolutionary dead end’ in plants. Although this point has been debated ever since, multiple definitions of ‘dead end’ have been used in the polyploidy literature, without sufficient differentiation between alternative uses. ScopeHere, we focus on the two most common conceptions of the dead-end hypothesis currently discussed: the ‘lowering diversification’ hypothesis and the ‘rarely successful’ hypothesis. We discuss the evidence for both hypotheses, and we use a recently developed method of inferring tip diversification rates to demonstrate tests for the effect of ploidy on diversification in Solanaceae. ConclusionsWe find that diversification rates in the family are not strongly correlated with ploidy or with the closely related trait of breeding system. We also outline recent work in the field that moves beyond the relatively simple question of whether polyploidy increases, decreases or does not significantly affect diversification rates in plants. 

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3. Dead foundation species drive ecosystem dynamics

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.10.003  

   Saldaña, Patrick H; Angelini, Christine; Bertness, Mark D; Altieri, Andrew H (March 2024, Trends in Ecology & Evolution)
4. Fluid Mechanics of the Dead Sea

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-fluid-031424-101119  

   Meiburg, Eckart; Lensky, Nadav G (January 2025, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics)

   The environmental setting of the Dead Sea combines several aspects whose interplay creates flow phenomena and transport processes that cannot be observed anywhere else on Earth. As a terminal lake with a rapidly declining surface level, the Dead Sea has a salinity that is close to saturation, so that the buoyancy-driven flows common in lakes are coupled to precipitation and dissolution, and large amounts of salt are being deposited year-round. The Dead Sea is the only hypersaline lake deep enough to form a thermohaline stratification during the summer, which gives rise to descending supersaturated dissolved-salt fingers that precipitate halite particles. In contrast, during the winter the entire supersaturated, well-mixed water column produces halite. The rapid lake level decline ofO(1 m/year) exposes vast areas of newly formed beach every year, which exhibit deep incisions from streams. Taken together, these phenomena provide insight into the enigmatic salt giants observed in the Earth's geological record and offer lessons regarding the stability, erosion, and protection of arid coastlines under sea level change. 

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5. Friend of the dead: Zoanthids enhance the persistence of dead coral reef framework under high consumer pressure

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4940  

   Saldaña, Patrick H; Lang, Natalie L; Altieri, Andrew H (September 2024, Ecosphere)

   Abstract Consumers can play critical roles in ecosystem resilience by modifying community resistance and recovery rates. In coral reefs, grazers can increase reef resilience by controlling algae and maintaining open space for coral recruitment, but can also erode the reef framework critical for coral recovery. Here we examine the context‐dependent effects of herbivores on reef persistence in Caribbean Panamá. Using a series of lab and field experiments, we found that the erosional effects of the herbivorous reef urchin (Echinometra viridis) were 2 orders of magnitude greater on dead corals than live corals, and surveys across multiple similarly overfished reefs revealed a positive relationship between urchin densities and percent cover of bare dead coral with urchin densities exceeding 150 m⁻²in some reefs. However, we observed that a mat‐forming zoanthid (Zoanthus pulchellus), found exclusively on dead corals, had an inverse spatial relationship with urchins. Through a series of field experiments, we found that zoanthid overgrowth repelled urchins, increased dead coral persistence, and decreased erosion of dead corals making up the reef framework by more than 50% over a 22‐month period. Our findings reveal that zoanthids can provide associational refuge to dead corals by enhancing their persistence under high urchin grazing pressure. We suggest that secondary space‐holders, such as zoanthids, may play increasingly important functional roles in degraded reef systems by shielding coral skeletons from external bioeroders. Moreover, the Stress Gradient Hypothesis, which predicts that the importance of positive interactions such as associational refuges increases with consumer pressure, extends to dead foundation species such as coral skeletons crucial for ecosystem recovery. 

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