Biology subjects

Montgomery, R. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Montgomery, R. A..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Abundance and trends of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) in Alaska, 1996-2023

Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) were surveyed throughout their range along Alaska coasts over a 28-year period. Twelve management stocks, delineated on the basis of evidence for demographic independence, were monitored for abundance and trends. We employed a two-stage Bayesian hierarchical analysis that integrated aerial survey counts with satellite-linked bio-logger haul-out timelines to account for the proportion of seals in the water and not visible to survey observers and cameras. Overall, harbor seals were abundant (201,122 seals in 2023) but, during the span of our study the population (stock) trends varied. The first half of our study was characterised primarily by growth, with a peak abundance of approximately 225,000 seals in 2015. Since then trends have been variable, with some stocks (e.g., Bristol Bay) showing continued growth while others (e.g. Prince William Sound, South Kodiak) declined. The recent regional declines coincided with observed climate anomalies (e.g., marine heatwaves) and the rapid retreat of tidewater glaciers. Our results provide a basis for managing this species in Alaska, which is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; a vital nutritional and cultural resource for Alaska Native communities; and an important sentinel of change in the Northeast Pacific marine ecosystem.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Warming makes 20 boreal species grow earlier but not always taller

Climate warming is altering the timing of seasonal growth in cold-temperate and boreal ecosystems, with potential consequences for forests on multiple continents. It has been hypothesized that in a warming climate, earlier growth in spring might lead to a longer growing season and thus higher annual total growth. However, whether the period of active growth is longer in a warming climate is unclear, as is whether changes in growth rate might reinforce or offset the effect of changing growing season length in modulating annual total growth. Understanding responses in growth to warming is crucial to projecting forest dynamics under future climate change. To address this, we experimentally warmed (by +1.62 and 3.26 {degrees}C on average) open-air southern boreal forest plots for 14 years (2010 to 2023) and measured juvenile height growth from spring until fall for 20 tree and shrub species, with a total of 11,565 individual-year growth trajectories. Across all species and in various canopy (open, closed) and rainfall (ambient, reduced) contexts, experimental warming consistently advanced the timing of height growth (4.32 days per 3 {degrees}C warming). However, species differed in their annual total growth responses. Evergreen gymnosperms such as spruce, fir, and pine tended to exhibit suppressed annual total growth under warming (-15.8% per 3 {degrees}C warming), driven by a shorter duration of active growth, despite an earlier start, with little change in relative growth rate. In contrast, deciduous angiosperms and non-native shrubs often show enhanced annual total growth under warming (19.3 and 37.4% per 3 {degrees}C warming), driven by faster rate, longer duration, or a combination of both. More broadly, species with a more conservative lifestyle responded less positively in the duration and rate of growth, thus placing them at a disadvantage under warming. These contrasting responses challenge assumptions that an earlier start of the growing season universally enhances growth and highlight how warming may shift both the timing and pace of growth and thus alter community composition within mixed-species forests.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Coordinated circulating and tissue-based T cell responses precede xenograft rejection

Despite the life-saving successes of solid organ transplantation, the number of individuals needing organ transplant far exceeds the number of organs available for use each year. Porcine xenotransplantation, or the use of pig organs for transplantation in people, holds substantial promise but xenograft rejection in humans is poorly understood. T cell rejection by the host immune system is a major challenge for human allografts and may limit the longevity of porcine xenografts. To study the xenograft rejection, we evaluated T cell responses and repertoire dynamics across tissues following porcine thymokidney transplantation in a decedent model over 61 days after bilateral native kidney nephrectomy. Despite induction with anti-thymocyte globulin and ongoing immune suppression consisting of rituximab, corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibition, and mycophenolate mofetil, human T cell infiltration of the xenograft was observed and was associated with xenograft dysfunction. Longitudinal analysis of T cell clonotypes in biopsies of thymokidney revealed accumulation of clonal human CD4 and CD8 T cell responses. Moreover, circulating activated T cells, including circulating T follicular helper (cTfh), were xeno-reactive and increased in frequency around rejection events. We confirmed clonal dominance of a single CD8 clonotype - identified as donor-reactive in a mixed lymphocyte reaction - in the circulation leading up to the acute cellular rejection event. Following re-treatment with anti-thymocyte globulin and intensification of corticosteroids, the T cell clonotypes were dramatically diminished in frequency in thymokidney and lymph nodes, though not eliminated. Over time of observation, the T cell clonotypes were shared across multiple compartments, including xenograft, circulation and lymph nodes and formed clonal families with known xeno-reactive clonotypes, suggesting a coordinated immune response against a limited pool of antigenic targets. Together, these data demonstrate T cell repertoire dynamics across tissues in the setting of xenograft rejection and highlight opportunities for early surveillance, prediction and potential intervention. One-sentence summaryAfter pig-to-human kidney xenotransplantation, xenoreactive T cells form clonotypic families across blood, graft, and lymphoid tissues, indicating a coordinated and targeted response.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Integrative Multi-omic Profiling of Two Human Decedents Receiving Pig Heart Xenografts Reveals Strong Perturbations in Early Immune-Cell and Cellular Metabolism Responses.

BackgroundRecent advances in xenotransplantation in living and decedent humans using pig xenografts have laid promising groundwork towards future emergency use and first in human trials. Major obstacles remain though, including a lack of knowledge of the genetic incompatibilities between pig donors and human recipients which may led to harmful immune responses against the xenograft or dysregulation of normal physiology. In 2022 two pig heart xenografts were transplanted into two brain-dead human decedents with a minimized immunosuppression regime, primarily to evaluate onset of hyper-acute antibody mediated rejection and sustained xenograft function over 3 days. MethodsWe performed multi-omic profiling to assess the dynamic interactions between the pig and human genomes in the first two pig heart-xenografts transplants into human decedents. To assess global and specific biological changes that may correlate with immune-related outcomes and xenograft function, we generated transcriptomic, lipidomic, proteomic and metabolomics datasets, across blood and tissue samples collected every 6 hours over the 3-day procedures. ResultsSingle-cell datasets in the 3-day pig xenograft-decedent models show dynamic immune activation processes. We observe specific scRNA-seq, snRNA-seq and geospatial transcriptomic changes of early immune-activation leading to pronounced downstream T-cell activity and hallmarks of early antibody mediated rejection (AbMR) and/or ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) in the first xenograft recipient. Using longitudinal multiomic integrative analyses from blood in addition to antigen presentation pathway enrichment, we also observe in the first xeno-heart recipient significant cellular metabolism and liver damage pathway changes that correlate with profound physiological dysfunction whereas, these signals are not present in the other xenograft recipient. ConclusionsSingle-cell and multiomics approaches reveal fundamental insights into early molecular immune responses indicative of IRI and/or early AbMR in the first human decedent, which was not evident in the conventional histological evaluations.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Density dependent environments can select for extremes of body size

Body size variation is an enigma. We do not understand why species achieve the sizes they do, and this means we also do not understand the circumstances under which gigantism or dwarfism is selected. We develop size-structured integral projection models to explore evolution of body size and life history speed. We make few assumptions and keep models simple: all functions remain constant across models except for the one that describes development of body size with age. We set sexual maturity to occur when size attains 80% of the asymptotic size, which is typical of a large mammal, and allow negative density dependence to only affect either reproduction or juvenile survival. Fitness - the quantity that is maximized by adaptive evolution - is carrying capacity in our models, and we are consequently interested in how it changes with size at sexual maturity, and how this association varies with development rate. The simple models generate complex dynamics while providing insight into the circumstances when extremes of body size evolve. The direction of selection leading to either gigantism or dwarfism crucially depends on the proportion of the population that is sexually mature, which in turn depends on how the development function determines the survivorship schedule. The developmental trajectories consequently interact with size-specific survival or reproductive rates to determine the best life history and the optimal body size emerges from that interaction. These dynamics result in trade-offs between different components of the life history, with the form of the trade-off that emerges depending upon where in the life history density dependence operates most strongly. Empirical application of the approach we develop has potential to help explain the enigma of body size variation across the tree of life.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Throwing shade: Physiological responses to light explain competition and facilitation in a tree diversity experiment

O_LIEcologists often invoke interspecific facilitation to help explain positive biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships in plant communities, but seldom test how it occurs. One mechanism through which one species may facilitate another is by ameliorating abiotic stress. Physiological experiments show that a chronic excess of light can cause stress that depresses carbon assimilation. If shading by a plants neighbors reduces light stress enough, it may facilitate that plants growth. If light is instead most often a limiting factor for photosynthesis, shading may have an adverse, competitive effect. C_LIO_LIIn a temperate tree diversity experiment, we measured stem growth rates and photosynthetic physiology in broadleaf trees across a gradient of light availability imposed by their neighbors. At the extremes, trees experienced nearly full sun (monoculture), or were shaded by nearby fast-growing conifers (shaded biculture). C_LIO_LIMost species had slower growth rates with larger neighbors, implying a net competitive effect. On the other hand, the two most shade-tolerant species (Tilia americana and Acer negundo) and the most shade-intolerant one (Betula papyrifera) had faster stem growth rates with larger neighbors. The two most shade-tolerant species had large increases in photoinhibition (reduced dark-acclimated Fv/Fm) across the gradient of increasing light availability, which suggests they are more vulnerable to chronic light stress. While most species had lower carbon assimilation rates in the shaded biculture treatment, T. americana had rates up to 25% higher. T. americana also dropped its leaves 3-4 weeks earlier in monocultures, curtailing its growing season. We conclude that although large neighbors can cause light limitation in shade-intolerant species, they can also increase growth through abiotic stress amelioration in shade-tolerant species. Finally, in shade-intolerant B. papyrifera, we find a pattern of stem elongation in trees with larger neighbors, which may suggest that a shade avoidance response accounts for the apparent positive trend in stem volume. C_LIO_LISynthesis: Both positive and negative species interactions in our experiment can be explained in large part by the photosynthetic responses of trees to the light environment created by their neighbors. We show that photosynthetic physiology can help explain the species interactions that underlie biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. The insights that ecologists gain by searching for such physiological mechanisms may help us forecast species interactions under environmental change. C_LI

ecology↗