Elemental signatures of Australopithecus africanus teeth reveal seasonal dietary stress.

Reconstructing the detailed dietary behaviour of extinct hominins is challenging1-particularly for a species such as Australopithecus africanus, which has a highly variable dental morphology that suggests a broad diet2,3. The dietary responses of extinct hominins to seasonal fluctuations in food availability are poorly understood, and nursing behaviours even less so; most of the direct information currently available has been obtained from high-resolution trace-element geochemical analysis of Homo sapiens (both modern and fossil), Homo neanderthalensis4 and living apes5. Here we apply high-resolution trace-element analysis to two A. africanus specimens from Sterkfontein Member 4 (South Africa), dated to 2.6-2.1 million years ago. Elemental signals indicate that A. africanus infants predominantly consumed breast milk for the first year after birth. A cyclical elemental pattern observed following the nursing sequence-comparable to the seasonal dietary signal that is seen in contemporary wild primates and other mammals-indicates irregular food availability. These results are supported by isotopic evidence for a geographical range that was dominated by nutritionally depauperate areas. Cyclical accumulation of lithium in A. africanus teeth also corroborates the idea that their range was characterized by fluctuating resources, and that they possessed physiological adaptations to this instability. This study provides insights into the dietary cycles and ecological behaviours of A. africanus in response to food availability, including the potential cyclical resurgence of milk intake during times of nutritional challenge (as observed in modern wild orangutans5). The geochemical findings for these teeth reinforce the unique place of A. africanus in the fossil record, and indicate dietary stress in specimens that date to shortly before the extinction of Australopithecus in South Africa about two million years ago.

Fungi increases kelp (Ecklonia radiata) remineralisation and dissolved organic carbon, alkalinity, and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) production.

Fungi are key players in terrestrial organic matter (OM) degradation, but little is known about their role in marine environments. Here we compared the degradation of kelp (Ecklonia radiata) in mesocosms with and without fungicides over 45 days. The aim was to improve our understanding of the vital role of fungal OM degradation and remineralisation and its relevance to marine biogeochemical cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, or volatile sulfur). In the presence of fungi, 68 % of the kelp detritus degraded over 45 days, resulting in the production of 0.6 mol of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), 0.16 mol of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), 0.23 mol of total alkalinity (TA), and 0.076 mol of CO2, which was subsequently emitted to the atmosphere. Conversely, when fungi were inhibited, the bacterial community diversity was reduced, and only 25 % of the kelp detritus degraded over 45 days. The application of fungicides resulted in the generation of an excess amount of 1.5 mol of DOC, but we observed only 0.02 mol of DIC, and 0.04 mol of TA per one mole of kelp detritus, accompanied by a CO2 emission of 0.081 mol. In contrast, without fungi, remineralisation of kelp detritus to DIC, TA, dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and methanethiol (MeSH) was significantly reduced. Fungal kelp remineralisation led to a remarkable 100,000 % increase in DMSP production. The observed substantial changes in sediment chemistry when fungi are inhibited highlight the important biogeochemical role of fungal remineralisation, which likely plays a crucial role in defining coastal biogeochemical cycling, blue carbon sequestration, and thus climate regulation.