ALBERT

Description: Abstract Aim Phenology of a wide diversity of organisms has a dependency on climate, usually with reproductive periods beginning earlier in the year and lasting longer at lower latitudes. Temperature and day length are known environmental drivers of the reproductive timing of many species. Hence, reproductive phenology is sensitive to warming and is important to be considered for reliable predictions of species distributions. This is particularly relevant for rapidly spreading non‐indigenous species (NIS). In this study, we forecast the future ranges of a NIS, the seaweed Sargassum muticum, including its reproductive phenology. Location Coastal areas of the Northern Hemisphere (Pacific and Atlantic oceans). Methods We used ecological niche modelling to predict the distribution of S. muticum under two scenarios forecasting limited (RCP 2.6) and severe (RCP 8.5) future climate changes. We then refined our predictions with a hybrid model using sea surface temperature constraints on reproductive phenology. Results Under the most severe climate change scenario, we predicted northward expansions which may have significant ecological consequences for subarctic coastal ecosystems. However, in lower latitudes, habitats currently occupied by S. muticum will no longer be suitable, creating opportunities for substantial community changes. The temperature constraints imposed by the reproductive window were shown to restrict the modelled future species expansion strongly. Under the RCP 8.5 scenario, the total range area was expected to increase by 61.75% by 2100, but only by 1.63% when the reproductive temperature window was considered. Main conclusions Altogether these results exemplify the need to integrate phenology better to improve the prediction of future distributional shifts at local and regional scales.

Description: Microbes are dominant drivers of biogeochemical processes, yet drawing a global picture of functional diversity, microbial community structure, and their ecological determinants remains a grand challenge. We analyzed 7.2 terabases of metagenomic data from 243 Tara Oceans samples from 68 locations in epipelagic and mesopelagic waters across the globe to generate an ocean microbial reference gene catalog with 〉40 million nonredundant, mostly novel sequences from viruses, prokaryotes, and picoeukaryotes. Using 139 prokaryote-enriched samples, containing 〉35,000 species, we show vertical stratification with epipelagic community composition mostly driven by temperature rather than other environmental factors or geography. We identify ocean microbial core functionality and reveal that 〉73% of its abundance is shared with the human gut microbiome despite the physicochemical differences between these two ecosystems.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sunagawa, Shinichi -- Coelho, Luis Pedro -- Chaffron, Samuel -- Kultima, Jens Roat -- Labadie, Karine -- Salazar, Guillem -- Djahanschiri, Bardya -- Zeller, Georg -- Mende, Daniel R -- Alberti, Adriana -- Cornejo-Castillo, Francisco M -- Costea, Paul I -- Cruaud, Corinne -- d'Ovidio, Francesco -- Engelen, Stefan -- Ferrera, Isabel -- Gasol, Josep M -- Guidi, Lionel -- Hildebrand, Falk -- Kokoszka, Florian -- Lepoivre, Cyrille -- Lima-Mendez, Gipsi -- Poulain, Julie -- Poulos, Bonnie T -- Royo-Llonch, Marta -- Sarmento, Hugo -- Vieira-Silva, Sara -- Dimier, Celine -- Picheral, Marc -- Searson, Sarah -- Kandels-Lewis, Stefanie -- Tara Oceans coordinators -- Bowler, Chris -- de Vargas, Colomban -- Gorsky, Gabriel -- Grimsley, Nigel -- Hingamp, Pascal -- Iudicone, Daniele -- Jaillon, Olivier -- Not, Fabrice -- Ogata, Hiroyuki -- Pesant, Stephane -- Speich, Sabrina -- Stemmann, Lars -- Sullivan, Matthew B -- Weissenbach, Jean -- Wincker, Patrick -- Karsenti, Eric -- Raes, Jeroen -- Acinas, Silvia G -- Bork, Peer -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):1261359. doi: 10.1126/science.1261359.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. sunagawa@embl.de karsenti@embl.de jeroen.raes@vib-kuleuven.be sacinas@icm.csic.es bork@embl.de. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Center for the Biology of Disease, VIB, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. ; CEA-Institut de Genomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, 91057 Evry, France. ; Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM)-CSIC, Pg. Maritim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, Barcelona E08003, Spain. ; Sorbonne Universites, UPMC, Universite Paris 06, CNRS-IRD-MNHN, LOCEAN Laboratory, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris France. ; CNRS, UMR 7093, Laboratoire d'Oceanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer, Observatoire Oceanologique, F-06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Universite Paris 06, UMR 7093, LOV, Observatoire Oceanologique, F-06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France. ; Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, F-75005 Paris, France. Laboratoire de Physique des Oceans UBO-IUEM, Place Copernic 29820 Plouzane, France. ; Aix Marseille Universite CNRS IGS UMR 7256, 13288 Marseille, France. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 1007 East Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM)-CSIC, Pg. Maritim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, Barcelona E08003, Spain. Department of Hydrobiology, Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), Rodovia Washington Luiz, 13565-905 Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. ; Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, F-75005 Paris, France. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Universite Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Directors' Research, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, F-75005 Paris, France. ; CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Universite Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; CNRS UMR 7232, BIOM, Avenue du Fontaule, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. Sorbonne Universites Paris 06, OOB UPMC, Avenue du Fontaule, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. ; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy. ; CEA-Institut de Genomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, 91057 Evry, France. CNRS, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. Universite d'Evry, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. ; Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-001, Japan. ; PANGAEA, Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany. ; Department of Geosciences, Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD), Ecole Normale Superieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. Laboratoire de Physique des Oceans UBO-IUEM, Place Copernic, 29820 Plouzane, France. ; Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, F-75005 Paris, France. Directors' Research, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. sunagawa@embl.de karsenti@embl.de jeroen.raes@vib-kuleuven.be sacinas@icm.csic.es bork@embl.de. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Center for the Biology of Disease, VIB, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. sunagawa@embl.de karsenti@embl.de jeroen.raes@vib-kuleuven.be sacinas@icm.csic.es bork@embl.de. ; Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM)-CSIC, Pg. Maritim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, Barcelona E08003, Spain. sunagawa@embl.de karsenti@embl.de jeroen.raes@vib-kuleuven.be sacinas@icm.csic.es bork@embl.de. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Max-Delbruck-Centre for Molecular Medicine, 13092 Berlin, Germany. sunagawa@embl.de karsenti@embl.de jeroen.raes@vib-kuleuven.be sacinas@icm.csic.es bork@embl.de.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999513" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Marine plankton support global biological and geochemical processes. Surveys of their biodiversity have hitherto been geographically restricted and have not accounted for the full range of plankton size. We assessed eukaryotic diversity from 334 size-fractionated photic-zone plankton communities collected across tropical and temperate oceans during the circumglobal Tara Oceans expedition. We analyzed 18S ribosomal DNA sequences across the intermediate plankton-size spectrum from the smallest unicellular eukaryotes (protists, 〉0.8 micrometers) to small animals of a few millimeters. Eukaryotic ribosomal diversity saturated at ~150,000 operational taxonomic units, about one-third of which could not be assigned to known eukaryotic groups. Diversity emerged at all taxonomic levels, both within the groups comprising the ~11,200 cataloged morphospecies of eukaryotic plankton and among twice as many other deep-branching lineages of unappreciated importance in plankton ecology studies. Most eukaryotic plankton biodiversity belonged to heterotrophic protistan groups, particularly those known to be parasites or symbiotic hosts.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉de Vargas, Colomban -- Audic, Stephane -- Henry, Nicolas -- Decelle, Johan -- Mahe, Frederic -- Logares, Ramiro -- Lara, Enrique -- Berney, Cedric -- Le Bescot, Noan -- Probert, Ian -- Carmichael, Margaux -- Poulain, Julie -- Romac, Sarah -- Colin, Sebastien -- Aury, Jean-Marc -- Bittner, Lucie -- Chaffron, Samuel -- Dunthorn, Micah -- Engelen, Stefan -- Flegontova, Olga -- Guidi, Lionel -- Horak, Ales -- Jaillon, Olivier -- Lima-Mendez, Gipsi -- Lukes, Julius -- Malviya, Shruti -- Morard, Raphael -- Mulot, Matthieu -- Scalco, Eleonora -- Siano, Raffaele -- Vincent, Flora -- Zingone, Adriana -- Dimier, Celine -- Picheral, Marc -- Searson, Sarah -- Kandels-Lewis, Stefanie -- Tara Oceans Coordinators -- Acinas, Silvia G -- Bork, Peer -- Bowler, Chris -- Gorsky, Gabriel -- Grimsley, Nigel -- Hingamp, Pascal -- Iudicone, Daniele -- Not, Fabrice -- Ogata, Hiroyuki -- Pesant, Stephane -- Raes, Jeroen -- Sieracki, Michael E -- Speich, Sabrina -- Stemmann, Lars -- Sunagawa, Shinichi -- Weissenbach, Jean -- Wincker, Patrick -- Karsenti, Eric -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):1261605. doi: 10.1126/science.1261605.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. vargas@sb-roscoff.fr pwincker@genoscope.cns.fr karsenti@embl.de. ; CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger Street, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Science (ICM)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37-49, Barcelona E08003, Spain. ; Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland. ; CNRS, FR2424, Roscoff Culture Collection, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Paris 06, FR 2424, Roscoff Culture Collection, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France. ; Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Genomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, 91000 Evry, France. ; CNRS FR3631, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, F-75005, Paris, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Paris 06, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, F-75005, Paris, France. Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Center for the Biology of Disease, VIB, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. ; Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger Street, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany. ; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 37005 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 37005 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. ; CNRS, UMR 7093, Laboratoire d'Oceanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer (LOV), Observatoire Oceanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Paris 06, UMR 7093, LOV, Observatoire Oceanologique, F-06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. ; Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Genomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, 91000 Evry, France. CNRS, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. Universite d'Evry, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. ; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 37005 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 37005 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada. ; Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France. ; MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris 06, UMR 7144, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France. ; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy. ; Ifremer, Centre de Brest, DYNECO/Pelagos CS 10070, 29280 Plouzane, France. ; Center for the Biology of Disease, VIB, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Directors' Research, EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Max-Delbruck-Centre for Molecular Medicine, 13092 Berlin, Germany. ; CNRS UMR 7232, Biologie Integrative des Organismes Marins (BIOM), Avenue du Fontaule, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. Sorbonne Universites Paris 06, Observatoire Oceanologique de Banyuls (OOB) UPMC, Avenue du Fontaule, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. ; Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS IGS UMR 7256, 13288 Marseille, France. ; Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan. ; PANGAEA, Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany. ; Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME 04544, USA. National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230, USA. ; Department of Geosciences, Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD), Ecole Normale Superieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. Laboratoire de Physique des Oceans, Universite de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Europeen de la Mer (IUEM), Place Copernic, 29820 Plouzane, France. ; Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Genomique, GENOSCOPE, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, 91000 Evry, France. CNRS, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. Universite d'Evry, UMR 8030, CP5706, Evry, France. vargas@sb-roscoff.fr pwincker@genoscope.cns.fr karsenti@embl.de. ; Directors' Research, EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Ecole Normale Superieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), and Inserm U1024, and CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, F-75005 France. vargas@sb-roscoff.fr pwincker@genoscope.cns.fr karsenti@embl.de.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999516" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Latitudinal gradients in species interactions are widely cited as potential causes or consequences of global patterns of biodiversity. However, mechanistic studies documenting changes in interactions across broad geographic ranges are limited. We surveyed predation intensity on common prey (live amphipods and gastropods) in communities of eelgrass ( Zostera marina ) at 48 sites across its Northern Hemisphere range, encompassing over 37 0 of latitude and four continental coastlines. Predation on amphipods declined with latitude on all coasts but declined more strongly along western ocean margins where temperature gradients are steeper. Whereas in situ water temperature at the time of the experiments was uncorrelated with predation, mean annual temperature strongly positively predicted predation, suggesting a more complex mechanism than simple increased metabolic activity at the time of predation. This large-scale biogeographic pattern was modified by local habitat characteristics; predation declined with higher shoot density both among and within sites. Predation rates on gastropods, by contrast, were uniformly low and varied little among sites. The high replication and geographic extent of our study not only provides additional evidence to support biogeographic variation in intensity, but also insight into the mechanisms that relate temperature and biogeographic gradients in species interactions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: Abstract The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi‐)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scales at which this relationship has been investigated among studies. Comprehensive studies analysing this relationship across multiple animal groups and at multiple spatial scales are rare, hampering the assessment of how biodiversity generally responds to urbanization. We studied aquatic (cladocerans), limno‐terrestrial (bdelloid rotifers) and terrestrial (butterflies, ground beetles, ground‐ and web spiders, macro‐moths, orthopterans and snails) invertebrate groups using a hierarchical spatial design wherein three local‐scale (200 m × 200 m) urbanization levels were repeatedly sampled across three landscape‐scale (3 km × 3 km) urbanization levels. We tested for local and landscape urbanization effects on abundance and species richness of each group, whereby total richness was partitioned into the average richness of local communities and the richness due to variation among local communities. Abundances of the terrestrial active dispersers declined in response to local urbanization, with reductions up to 85% for butterflies, while passive dispersers did not show any clear trend. Species richness also declined with increasing levels of urbanization, but responses were highly heterogeneous among the different groups with respect to the richness component and the spatial scale at which urbanization impacts richness. Depending on the group, species richness declined due to biotic homogenization and/or local species loss. This resulted in an overall decrease in total richness across groups in urban areas. These results provide strong support to the general negative impact of urbanization on abundance and species richness within habitat patches and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales and taxa to assess the impacts of urbanization.

Description: Stable unbonded fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolators (SU-FREIs) exhibit a characteristic horizontal softening and stiffening response, similar to other adaptive devices such as the triple friction pendulum and sliding systems with variable curvature. The transition between the softening and stiffening occurs at a displacement corresponding to a unique deformation known as full rollover. In this paper, the full rollover displacement of SU-FREIs is altered by using modified support geometry (MSG), a geometric modification of the upper and lower supports applied to tailor the hysteresis loops of the isolator. Experimental results are used to calibrate a numerical model of a base-isolated structure. The model demonstrates that the stiffening regime provides minimal restraint against displacements during events that meet or exceed the maximum considered earthquake. A parametric study revealed that the level of stiffening required to restrain displacements during large events is significant. This increase in stiffness is reflected in an increase in the response of the structure and light nonstructural components. Full rollover and MSG is considered advantageous to maintain horizontal stability and provide control over the stiffening of SU-FREIs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.