Urbanisation and land-cover change affect functional, but not compositional turnover of bird communities
Land-use and land-cover change strongly affect biodiversity patterns and are assumed to be growing threats in the future. Particularly increasing urbanisation may affect species turnover and functional composition of biological communities. This study aimed to assess the characteristics of land-cove…
Potential distributions of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and its vector Dipetalogaster maxima highlight areas at risk of Chagas disease transmission …
Dipetalogaster maxima is a primary vector of Chagas disease in the Cape region of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The geographic distribution of D. maxima is limited to this small region of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. Our study aimed to construct the ecological niche models (ENMs) of this …
Chronology of invasion and establishment of Pterygoplichthys ambrosettii (Holmberg 1893), in the upper Paraná River basin
Invasions of non‐native fish species are generally associated with human activities that violate historically insurmountable barriers to species on local and global scales. For Pterygoplichthys ambrosettii (Holmberg 1893), invasive to the upper Paraná River basin, informations about introduction and…
Distribution Expansion of Dengue Vectors and Climate Change in India
India has witnessed a five‐fold increase in dengue incidence in the past decade. However, the nation‐wide distribution of dengue vectors, and the impacts of climate change are not known. In this study, species distribution modeling was used to predict the baseline and future distribution of Aedine v…
To freeze or to scoop? Dealing with the turbid waters of California′s coastal lagoons
Coastal lagoons are an important habitat for endemic and threatened species in California that have suffered impacts from urbanization and increased drought. Environmental DNA has been promoted as a way to aid in the monitoring of biological communities, but much remains to be understood on the bias…
Choice of climate data affects the performance and interpretation of species distribution models.
Climate is a core aspect of a species’ niche that is frequently incorporated into species distribution models (SDMs). The proliferation of readily accessible climate data is stimulating the increasing use of climate-based species distribution models (CSDMs) in conservation planning and management. H…
Advances in Fig Research and Sustainable Production
The common fig (Ficus carica L.) is one of the oldest fruits domesticated by humans, and is native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean. Figs have been associated with health and prosperity since ancient times. They are rich in fibre, potassium, calcium, and iron, as well as being an important so…
DASCO: A workflow to downscale alien species checklists using occurrence records and to re-allocate species distributions across realms
AbstractInformation about occurrences of alien species is often provided in so-called checklists, which represents lists of reported alien species in a region. In many cases, available checklists cover whole countries, which is too coarse for many analyses and limits capabilities of assessing status…
Wild canids and ecological traps, facing deforestation and climate change in the Amazon Rainforest
Ecological traps occur when species choose to settle in lower quality habitats, even if this reduces their survival or productivity. This normally occurs in situations of drastic environmental changes, resulting, for example, from anthropogenic pressures. In the medium and long term, this could mean…
Ecological correlates of extinction risk and persistence of direct-developing stream-dwelling frogs in Mesoamerica
Understanding the threats to wildlife across space and time is essential for developing effective conservation strategies. In Mesoamerica (i.e., the region that extends from Central Mexico to the most southern point in Panama) at least 40% of amphibian species declined between the late 1970s and the…
The Ecology of Palm Genomes: Repeat‐associated genome size expansion is constrained by aridity
Genome size varies 2,400-fold across plants, influencing their evolution through changes in cell size and cell division rates which impact plants’ environmental stress tolerance. Repetitive element expansion explains much genome size diversity, and the processes structuring repeat ‘communities’ are …
An Evaluation of Landscape, Climate, and Management Impacts on Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in Agroecosystems
Bumble bees (Bombus) are integral pollinators of wild and cultivated plant communities, but are undergoing drastic population changes worldwide. Climate change and the alteration of landscape structure are key drivers in pollinator declines; however, little research has evaluated their cumulative ef…
Global biogeography of estuary-associated fishes
This study examines global zoogeographic patterns of estuary-associated fishes using meta-assemblages compiled at the marine ecoregion scale. The classification of biogeographic regions based on estuary-associated fish species is assessed in relation to marine and freshwater zoogeographic patterns. …
High exposure of global tree diversity to human pressure
Safeguarding Earth’s tree diversity is a conservation priority due to the importance of trees for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services such as carbon sequestration. Here, we improve the foundation for effective conservation of global tree diversity by analyzing a recently developed data…
Expected contraction in the distribution ranges of demersal fish of high economic value in the Mediterranean and European Seas
Fisheries and aquaculture are facing many challenges worldwide, especially adaptation to climate change. Investigating future distributional changes of largely harvested species has become an extensive research topic, aiming at providing realistic ecological scenarios on which to build management me…
Extreme environments filter functionally rich communities of Atlantic Forest treefrogs along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients
Understanding how environmental filtering and biotic interactions structure communities across elevational and latitudinal gradients is still a matter of debate. To provide insight into their relative importance, we explore the mismatch between three dimensions of biodiversity (taxonomic, functional…
Changes in the climate suitability and growth rates of trees in eastern North America
According to the ‘fitness‐suitability' hypothesis, ongoing changes in climate are expected to affect habitat suitability and hence species' fitness. In trees, differences in fitness may manifest as changes in growth rates, which will alter carbon uptake. Using tree‐ring data, we calculated > 1.5 mil…
Updated geographical distribution of the Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias: Eurypigidae)
The Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias), despite having a wide distribution, is poorly studied and with few records in its area of distribution. Updating the distributions of species allows us to understand distributional patterns which are useful in ecology and conservation, especially for rare or threate…
Potential global distribution of a temperate marine coastal predator: The role of barriers and dispersal corridors on subpopulation connectivity
Predicting the potential distribution of species and possible dispersal corridors at a global scale can contribute to better understanding the availability of suitable habitat to move between, and the potential connectivity between regional distributions. Such information increases knowledge of ecol…
Predicting the Risk of Exotic Plant Invasions in the Orinoco Region: Importance of Distribution Models, Climatic Niche and Functional Richness
The process of biological invasions resulting from the introduction of exotic species is one of the most critical components of global environmental change. Although many hypotheses try to explain the processes underlying biological invasions, changes in land use are essential drivers mediating the …
Winter flowers for bees: reproductive biology of Trixis praestans (Asteraceae)
The shrub Trixis praestans (Asteraceae) is widely distributed in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. It has great potential as a melliferous resource, since its abundant flowering occurs in winter (when flower offer is scarce) and spring, and it is intensely visited by honey bees. This study pr…
Spatial conservation prioritization on the endemic-rich island of Príncipe
Area-based conservation is a key strategy for halting biodiversity loss, and spatial prioritization enables the identification of critical sites for biodiversity to ensure strategic and effective conservation action. Príncipe is a small island of high relevance for conservation due to its endemic-ri…
Projecting Podocarpaceae response to climate change: we are not out of the woods yet
Abstract Under the changing climate, the persistence of Afrotemperate taxa may be threatened as suitable habitat availability decreases. The unique disjunct ranges of podocarps in southern Africa raise questions about the persistence of these species under climate change. Here, we identified likely …
Murder Hornet Mayhem: The Impact of the 2020 Giant Hornet Panic and COVID-19 Pandemic on Arthropod Identification Laboratories
(no abstract available)
Distribution and habitat use of the Madagascar Peregrine Falcon: first estimates for area of habitat and population size
Summary Accurately demarcating distributions of biological taxa has long been at the core of ecology. Yet our understanding of the factors defining species range limits is incomplete, especially for tropical species in the Global South. Human-driven threats to the survival of many taxa are increa…