There is a well documented relationship between parasitoid species assemblage size and host feeding niche. Parasitoid assemblage size peaks on hosts thought to have intermediate levels of physical refuge. We examined the influence of refuges on parasitoid coexistence using pairs of specialist parasitoids in a controlled laboratory environment. Using physical barriers we excluded parasitoids from 0, 25, 50 or 75% of the hosts to simulate host refuge. We found no evidence that host refuges can promote parasitoid coexistence in a simplified laboratory environment. Results were similar whether pairs of parasitoid species were competitively disparate or competitively similar. Our results suggest that spatial heterogeneity in parasitoid attack rate was not sufficient to maintain parasitoid coexistence regardless of host refuge, and we argue that the level of spatial heterogeneity necessary to promote coexistence is rare in nature. We conclude that in most systems the coexistence of specialist parasitoids cannot be explained by a host refuge effect.

Models of host-parasitoid dynamics often assume constant levels of spatial heterogeneity in parasitoid attack rate, which tends to stabilize the interactions. Recently, authors have questioned this assumption and shown that outcomes of simple host-parasitoid models change if spatial heterogeneity is allowed to vary with parasitoid density. Here, we allow spatial heterogeneity to vary with either parasitoid density or percent parasitism in a model designed to explain specialist parasitoid coexistence on insect hosts with various levels of refuge. By examining this model we can evaluate the effect of varying spatial heterogeneity on a more complex model in which spatial heterogeneity is not considered the primary determinant of persistence. By modeling communities with one host and two parasitoid species, we show that the probability of species persistence for the competitively inferior parasitoid depends on the assumed relationship between spatial heterogeneity and both parasitoid density and percent parasitism. The probability of parasitoid coexistence is generally lower when spatial heterogeneity varies with parasitoid demographics. We conclude that the conditions for which host refuge promote specialist parasitoid coexistence are less common that proposed by the original model. Finally, we compared a model in which spatial heterogeneity varies with percent parasitism to data from laboratory trials and find a reasonable fit. We conclude that the change in spatial heterogeneity strongly influenced the outcome of the laboratory trials, and we suggest more research is necessary before researchers can assume constant spatial heterogeneity in future models.

1. Using two sources of data to estimate butterfly species richness, the potential influences of 11 environmental variables on the richness gradient of butterflies in western/central Europe and northern Africa were examined with multiple regression and spatial autocorrelation analysis. A measure of water-energy balance, actual evapotranspiration, explained 79% of the variance in butterfly species richness using data derived from range maps, and 72% of the variance using data derived from grid-based distribution maps. All other variables explained less than 4% of the variance in the regression models and differed depending on the data source. 2. The spatial analysis indicated that actual evapotranspiration successfully removed most of the spatial autocorrelation in both richness data sets at all spatial scales, confirming the ability of the model to account for the spatial pattern in butterfly richness. 3. Plant species richness, a rarely tested variable hypothesised to be an important determinant of herbivore diversity, was weakly associated with butterfly richness, suggesting that it has little or no direct influence on butterfly richness. 4. A historical variable, the length of time that areas have been exposed for recolonisation after the retreat of the ice sheet following the last ice age, was also not associated with richness patterns, indicating that butterfly richness is in equilibrium with contemporary climate. 5. It was not possible to confirm a result reported for Canadian butterflies that land cover diversity is a strong predictor of butterfly richness, possibly because of methodological differences in the studies, differences in the range of climates found in Canada and the western Palearctic, or because of the highly modified landscape characteristic of Europe. 6. Water-energy balance offers a parsimonious explanation for the butterfly richness gradient in this region, operating partially indirectly via effects on plant productivity and partially directly via physiological effects on butterflies, and this conclusion is robust to differences in the types of distribution maps used to estimate richness patterns.

Aim To investigate the relative contributions of current vs. historical factors in explaining broad-scale diversity gradients using a combination of contemporary factors and a quantitative estimate of the temporal accessibility of areas for recolonization created by glacial retreat following the most recent Ice Age. Location The part of the Nearctic region of North America that was covered by ice sheets during the glacial maximum 20 000 BP. Methods We used range maps to estimate the species richness of mammals and terrestrial birds in 48 400 km(2) cells. Current conditions in each cell were quantified using seven climatic and topographical variables. Historical conditions were estimated using the number of years before present when an area became exposed as the ice sheets retreated during the post-Pleistocene climate warming. We attempted to tease apart contemporary and historical effects using multiple regression, partial regression and spatial autocorrelation analysis. Results A measure of current energy inputs, potential evapotranspiration, explained 76-82% of the variance in species richness, but time since deglaciation explained an additional 8-13% of the variance, primarily due to effects operating at large spatial scales. Because of spatial covariation between the historical climates influencing the melting of the ice sheet and current climates, it was not possible to partition their effects fully, but of the independent effects that could be identified, current climate explained two to seven times more variance in richness patterns than age. Main Conclusions Factors acting in the present appear to have the strongest influence on the diversity gradient, but an historical signal persisting at least 13 000 years is still detectable. This has implications for modelling changes in diversity patterns in response to future global warming.

The latitudinal diversity gradient is the largest scale, and longest known, pattern in ecology. We examined the applicability of three versions of the energy hypothesis, the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis, and historical contingency to the gradient of terrestrial birds. The productivity version of the energy hypothesis, tested using actual evapotranspiration, a water-energy variable closely associated with plant productivity, accounted for 72% of the variance in a model of global extent. An historical contingency model based on biogeographic region explained 58% of the variance. A combined climate-region model accounted for 78% of the variance, but 52% comprised the overlap between these effects. This suggests that further resolution of contemporary vs. historical processes at the global level will require the inclusion of phylogenetic information. Regional-extent regression models suggest a latitudinal shift in constraints on diversity; measures of ambient energy (potential evapotranspiration and mean annual temperature) best predicted the diversity gradient at high latitudes, whereas water-related variables (actual evapotranspiration and annual rainfall) best predicted richness in low-latitude, high-energy regions. Intraregional spatial autocorrelation analysis confirmed that climatic models adequately describe geographic richness patterns at all but the smallest spatial scales resolved by the analysis. We conclude that the "water-energy dynamics" hypothesis, originally developed for plant diversity gradients, offers a parsimonious explanation for bird diversity patterns as well, presumably operating via plant productivity. However, more refined tests of historical factors are needed to fully resolve their influences on the gradient.

The pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD), an idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease, is attributed, in part, to intestinal bacteria that may initiate and perpetuate mucosal inflammation in genetically susceptible individuals. Paneth cells (PC) are the major source of antimicrobial peptides in the small intestine, including human alpha-defensins HD5 and HD6. We tested the hypothesis that reduced expression of PC alpha-defensins compromises mucosal host defenses and predisposes patients to CD of the ileum. We report that patients with CID of the ileum have reduced antibacterial activity in their intestinal mucosal extracts. These specimens also showed decreased expression of PC alpha-defensins, whereas the expression of eight other PC products either remained unchanged or increased when compared with controls. The specific decrease of alpha-defensins was independent of the degree of inflammation in the specimens and was not observed in either CD of the colon, ulcerative colitis, or pouchitis. The functional consequence of alpha-defensin expression levels was examined by using a transgenic mouse model, where we found changes in HD5 expression levels, comparable to those observed in CD, had a pronounced impact on the luminal microbiota. Thus, the specific deficiency of PC defensins that characterizes ileal CD may compromise innate immune defenses of the ileal mucosa and initiate and/or perpetuate this disease.

It is often claimed that we do not understand the forces driving the global diversity gradient. However, an extensive literature suggests that contemporary climate constrains terrestrial taxonomic richness over broad geographic extents. Here, we review the empirical literature to examine the nature and form of the relationship between climate and richness. Our goals were to document the support for the climatically based energy hypothesis, and within the constraints imposed by correlative analyses, to evaluate two versions of the hypothesis: the productivity and ambient energy hypotheses. Focusing on studies extending over 800 km, we found that measures of energy, water, or water-energy balance explain spatial variation in richness better than other climatic and non-climatic variables in 82 of 85 cases. Even when considered individually and in isolation, water/energy variables explain on average over 60% of the variation in the richness of a wide range of plant and animal groups. Further, water variables usually represent the strongest. predictors in the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate zones, whereas energy variables (for animals) or water-energy variables (for plants) dominate in high latitudes. We conclude that the interaction between water and energy, either directly or indirectly (via plant productivity), provides a strong explanation for globally extensive plant and animal diversity gradients, but for animals there also is a latitudinal shift in the relative importance of ambient energy vs. water moving from the poles to the equator. Although contemporary climate is not the only factor influencing species richness and may not explain the diversity pattern for all taxonomic groups, it is clear that understanding water-energy dynamics is critical to future biodiversity research. Analyses that do not include water-energy variables are missing a key component for explaining broad-scale patterns of diversity.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal tract intestinal metaplasia (IM) is termed Barrett's oesophagus (BO) or gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM), depending on its location. BO and GIM are associated with chemical exposure resulting from gastro - oesophageal reflux and chronic Helicobacter pylori infection, respectively. Paneth cells (PCs), characterised by cytoplasmic eosinophilic granules, are found in a subset of IM at these sites, but histology may not accurately detect them. Aim: To determine human defensin 5 (HD5; an antimicrobial peptide produced by PCs) expression in BO and GIM, and to investigate its association with H pylori infection. Methods: Endoscopic biopsies from 33 patients with BO and 51 with GIM, and control tissues, were examined by routine histology and for H pylori infection and HD5 mRNA and protein expression. Results: In normal tissues, HD5 expression was specific for PCs in the small intestine. Five patients with BE and 42 with GIM expressed HD5, but few HD5 expressing cells in IM had the characteristic histological features of PCs. Most HD5 positive specimens were H pylori infected and most HD5 negative specimens were not infected. Conclusions: HD5 immunohistochemistry was often positive in IM when PCs were absent by conventional histology. Thus, HD5 immunohistochemistry may be superior to histology for identifying metaplastic PCs and distinguishing GIM from BO. The higher frequency of HD5 expression in GIM than in BO is associated with a higher frequency of H pylori infection, suggesting that in IM PCs may form part of the mucosal antibacterial response.