Special Issue "Biodiversity Feature Papers"

Guest Editor
Dr. Kostas Triantis
Azorean Biodiversity Group, Universidade dos Açores, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias Terra-Chã, 9701-851 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal
Website: http://www.angra.uac.pt/gba/people_kt.html
E-Mail: konstantinos.triantis@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +351 295402234
Fax: +351 295402205
Interests: island biogeography and macroecology; scale in ecological and biogeographical analysis; environmental heterogeneity and conservation biogeography

Submission Information

All manuscripts should be submitted to diversity@mdpi.com with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

For the first two issues, to be published in 2009 and 2010, the Article Processing Charges (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Title: Extent and Evolutionary Pattern of Duplicate Genes in Ascomycetes
Author: James J. Cai
Affiliation: Department of Biology, 371 Serra st., Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA, Tel. +1-650-736-2249; E-mail: jamescai@stanford.edu
Abstract: Gene duplication is a major source of genetic innovation. Ascomycetous fungi display different life styles and phenotypic characteristics. Characterization of extent and evolutionary pattern of duplicate genes in fungal genomes may shed light on the role of gene duplication in organismal adaptation. In this study, we identify all duplicate genes appear in genomes of six fungal species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Candida albicans, Aspergillus nidulans, and Neurospora crassa. Tremendous diversity in number and size of multigene families exists among these fungal genomes. For example, 23.6% of S. cerevisiae genes, but only 8.0% of N. crassa genes, belong to multigene families. We estimate the age of duplication using the synonymous substitution rate between duplicate gene pairs and obtain the distribution of age of duplicate genes. Twin-peak distribution of duplication age suggests A. nidulans genome may have experienced large-scale gene duplication(s). We estimate the selective constraint using the ratio of nonsynonymous-to-synonymous substitution rate (Ka/Ks) between two copies of duplicate genes, as well as between a gene and its closed ortholog. We find divergence between two copies of duplicate genes in filamentous ascomycetes (A. nidulans and N. crassa) is less constrained than divergence between orthologs. Using a maximum likelihood approach, we compare the divergence rate of two copies of duplicate genes and find that 17.8% of gene pairs show asymmetric divergence. This study provides a systemic genome-wide comparison of gene duplication cross fungal species.

Title: Cultural Differences in Monitoring Biodiversity in Europe
Author: Dirk S. Schmeller
Affiliation: Station d'Ecologie Experimentale du CNRS (USR 2936), 09200 Moulis, Ariege, France; Tel.: +33 561 04 03 73; Fax: +33 561 96 08 51; E-mail: dirk.schmeller@EcoEx-Moulis.cnrs.fr
Abstract: Public involvement is a key element for nature conservation in Europe and a necessity to collect broad scale data on biodiversity and its dynamics. However, vast societal differences exist between eastern and western European countries, resulting in problems for public involvement in post-communistic as compared to western countries. Here, we compare differences in practices and public involvement in countries with different political histories. Our results indicate reasons why volunteer involvement - as an expression of a participatory culture - has a lower incidence in the post-communistic countries as compared to voluntarism in occidental democracies. We discuss our results in the context of the main social factors considered as a legacy of the Soviet regime: concentration on material needs rather then the public good, skepticism towards volunteering; as well as the positive changes in the attitudes of post-communistic public during the period of transition.

Title: Biorisks - Emerging Threats Related to Changes in Biodiversity and Climate
Authors: Carl Beierkuhnlein *, Stephanie Thomas and Dominik Fischer
Affiliation: Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Tel. +49 921552270; Fax: +49 921552315; E-Mail: carl.beierkuhnlein@uni-bayreuth.de
Abstract: Changes of regional biodiversity are expected to be reflected in ecosystem functioning. Thus, increases and losses will have consequences for human societies. Losses of functionality (e.g. in mountain forests) such as a decline in stability or resilience towards extreme events will face an increasing occurrence of such events due to climate change. The increasing connectivity of ecological systems via human vectors in combination with temperature increase will support the dispersal of organisms that can be harmful or are able to carry and transmit pathogens. In comparison to georisks, these biorisks are less understood and may bring about even more severe catastrophes. Here, we present an overview on spreading vectors for insect-borne diseases as a consequence of landuse change, regional biodiversity loss and climate change.

Title: From Randomness to Close Association: How Does Spatial Scale Confuse Diversity Patterns?
Authors: Duccio Rocchini^{1, 2,}*; Giovanni Bacaro^{1, 2}
Affiliations: ¹ Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali “G. Sarfatti”, Università di Siena, viaP.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy
² TerraData environmetrics, Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali “G. Sarfatti”, Università di Siena, via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy; * corresponding author, fax number: +390577232896, e-mail: rocchini@unisi
Abstract: The diversity at the species level represents a key information, since it allows to quantitatively assess ecosystems biodiversity. This is crucial for many environmental management and conservation purposes. Nonetheless, when aiming at disentangling drivers of species diversity patterns, the effect of spatial scale on both species variability and on ecological processes generating it should be accounted for. This paper aims at stimulating discussion about scale issues related to species diversity, particularly focusing on mono- and multi-scale sampling and analysis.

Title: Facilitative Interactions between Non-Indigenous Species: A Threat to Biodiversity?
Authors: Cristina Munari and Michele Mistri
Affiliation: Department of Biology and Evolution, Unversity of Ferrara,Via L. Borsari 46, I-44100 Ferrara, Italy; E-Mail: msm@unife.it (M.M.); mnc@unife.it (C.M.)
Abstract: Facilitative interactions among introduced, non-indigenous species (NIS) have been recently emphasized. The Manila clam, Tapes philippinarum, and the Asian date mussel, Musculista senhousia, are the most abundant NIS in the Sacca di Goro (Adriatic Sea, Italy). This study evaluates possible interactions between these two NIS by simulating alternatively a stressed/unstressed scenario, and considering the predation by the native crab Carcinus aestuarii, through field experiments. Under environmental normal conditions, crabs forage on mussels, which are easier to handle. Under reduced oxygen conditions, crabs prey predominantly on clams, which are exposed. This study supports the invasional meltdown theory in Adriatic aquatic ecosystems too.
Keywords: non-indigenous species; facilitation; Musculista senhousia; Tapes philippinarum; Carcinus aestuarii; Adriatic lagoons