2020 June - 51 articles
Though mountain lakes are generally much less influenced by human activities than other habitats, global and local anthropogenic threats can alter their natural condition. The most alarming threats are climate change, water exploitation and abstracti...
The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. This species has been threatened since ancient times by human activities and currently amounts to approximately 700 individuals distributed in...
Pollination by wild pollinators is a key ecosystem service threatened by anthropogenic-induced land-use change. The proximity to natural habitat has previously been shown to positively affect pollinator communities and improve crop yield and quality...
Many North American boreal forest birds reach the southern periphery of their distribution in the montane spruce–fir forests of northeastern United States and the barren coastal forests of Maritime Canada. Because the southern periphery may be...
Background: The impact of selective thinning on forest diversity has been extensively studied in temperate and boreal regions. However, in the tropics, knowledge is still poor regarding the impacts of this silvicultural treatment on functional divers...
The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is globally known for its plant biodiversity, and its flora is commonly referred to as fynbos. At the same time, this area is under severe pressure from urbanization, agricultural expansion and the threat of invasive a...
Though mostly soil dwelling, oribatid mites are found in all kind of habitats, with several species exclusively living on trees. Using previously published DNA sequences and eco-morphological data available from the literature, we inferred the number...
The Special Issue entitled “Fungal Diversity in the Mediterranean Area” aimed at highlighting the role of various organisms in the Mediterranean habitat. The role of fungi at the root and phyllosphere level; the biodiversity in small isla...
Mixotrophic ciliate assemblages often prevail in summer in the surface layers of lakes. During this time, they are potentially exposed to damaging levels of incident solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and need efficient photoprotective mechanisms to m...
Meiofauna are a component of aquatic environments from polar to tropical regions. They may colonize all types of habitats and include very enigmatic and exclusive taxa. The biodiversity of this component in marine ecosystems is far from being accurat...
Acacia longifolia is a worldwide invader that cause damage in ecosystems, expanding largely after wildfires, which promote germination of a massive seed bank. As a legume, symbiosis is determinant for adaptation. Our study aims to isolate a wider con...
Extensive search for new endosymbiotic systems in ciliates occasionally reverts us to the endosymbiotic bacteria described in the pre-molecular biology era and, hence, lacking molecular characterization. A pool of these endosymbionts has been referre...
Biodiversity-rich tropical ultramafic areas are currently being impacted by land clearing and particularly by mine activities. The reclamation of ultramafic degraded areas requires a knowledge of pioneer plant species. The objective of this study is...
The Special Issue entitled “Biodiversity of Marine Microbes” aimed at highlighting the significance of marine microbes as primary producers, their participation in complex processes and interactions with both the biotic and the abiotic en...
Research on physical ecosystem engineering—i.e., the structural modification of environments by organisms—has flourished during the last two decades. At present, the importance of physical ecosystem engineers for the biodiversity and the...
Orchid abundance data collected over the past 30 years (1987–2016) from 440 sites within the National Orchid Monitoring Program were analyzed to quantify the population trends of orchids in Denmark, and the underlying reasons for the observed p...
To retain recreational uses and shoreline protection, a large proportion of ocean beaches have been, and continue to be, nourished. Adding sand from subtidal and terrestrial sources to nourish beaches rarely re-creates the original sediment structure...
Decapod crustaceans are ecologically and commercially important members of marine communities. Faunal surveys constitute essential tools for the understanding of local diversity, especially in areas subjected to significant alterations of community c...
In Norway, strawberry producers use cereal straw mulching to prevent berries from contacting the soil and to control weeds. We hypothesized that organic matter such as straw mulch also favors the maintenance of predatory mites which visit strawberry...
Recent research indicates that synchronicity of sexual reproduction in coral spawning events is breaking down, leading to aging populations and decreased recruitment success. In this perspective, we develop a hypothesis that this phenomenon could be...
We studied the distributional patterns of phoretic deutonymphs of the genera Oodinychus and Trichouropoda (Uropodina) on the longhorn beetles Monochamus sartor urussovii, Plagionotus detritus, Tetropium castaneum, and Te. fuscum, based on large sampl...
Paramecium bursaria is a single-celled model organism for studying endosymbiosis among ciliates and green algae. Most strains of P. bursaria bear either Chlorella variabilis or Micractinium conductrix as endosymbionts. Both algal genera are unicellul...
Bats are killed at wind energy facilities worldwide and we must improve our understanding of why this is happening and implement effective strategies to minimize impacts. To this end, we need accurate assessments of which individuals from which bat s...
Monechma Hochst. s.l. (Acanthaceae) is a diverse and ecologically important plant group in sub-Saharan Africa, well represented in the fire-prone savanna biome and with a striking radiation into the non-fire-prone succulent biome in the Namib Desert....
Tropical rainforests are suffering rapid habitat loss with large extensions of land transformed into agriculture. We wanted to know whether the type of agricultural activity in forest-agricultural landscapes affects how species composition as well as...
Zooplankton communities are useful bioindicators that can provide information on the changes occurring in marine ecosystems. Therefore, investigation of zooplankton communities in marine and coastal national parks is essential. However, the surveys o...
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are determinant for the performance of plant communities and for the functionality of terrestrial ecosystems. In natural ecosystems, grazing can have a major impact on mycorrhizal fungi and consequently on plant gro...
This study presents data on the oribatid mite fauna of the Subpolar Urals for the first time. Observations were made in the Lembekoyu River valley and 35 species of oribatid mites from 24 genera and 21 families were found. The analysis of taxonomic d...
Most evaluations of passive regeneration/natural succession or restoration have dealt with tropical rain forest or temperate ecosystems. Very few studies have examined the regeneration of tropical dry forests (TDF), one of the most damaged ecosystem...
Alluvial forests dominated by black alder (Alnus glutinosa) are widespread in Europe along river banks and watercourses forming a habitat of renowned ecological/conservation importance. Despite the considerable interest this habitat has attracted in...
Predicting and managing the potential economic, social, and ecological impacts of bioinvasions is a key goal of non-indigenous species (NIS) research worldwide. The marine fan worm, Sabella spallanzanii, is an ecosystem engineering NIS that forms den...
The paramo is a unique and severely threatened ecosystem scattered in the high northern Andes of South America. However, several further, extra-Andean paramos exist, of which a particular case is situated on the active volcano Sumaco, in the northwes...
Albino Grifola frondosa (Dicks.) Gray “maitake” mushrooms (described as G. albicans Imazeki and then placed in synonymy with G. frondosa) are particularly rare, and the few pertinent records are not treated in scientific publications. A f...
African rainforests (ARFs) are species rich and occur in two main rainforest blocks: West/Central and East Africa. This diversity is suggested to be the result of recent diversification, high extinction rates and multiple vicariance events between we...
Water mites form one of the most biodiverse groups within the aquatic arachnid class. These freshwater macroinvertebrates are predators and parasites of the equally diverse nematocerous Dipterans, such as mosquitoes, and water mites are believed to h...
Crustaceans are a key component of the fauna living in rhodoliths, but patterns in their distribution and abundance remain largely unknown. This paper assessed spatio-temporal variability of Brachyura associated with rhodoliths. A seasonal study was...
Epibiosis is a common phenomenon in marine systems. In marine environments, ciliates are among the most common organisms adopting an epibiotic habitus and nematodes have been frequently reported as their basibionts. In the present study, we report se...
Since their discovery, at least 15 diatom viruses have been isolated and characterised using a culture method with two cycles of extinction dilution. However, the method is time consuming and laborious, and it isolates only the most dominant virus in...
Rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) populations have declined dramatically since the 1970s and the cause of decline is still unclear. As is the case for many passerines, most research on rusty blackbirds occurs during the nesting period. Nest succes...
Glassfrogs (family: Centrolenidae) represent a fantastic radiation (~150 described species) of Neotropical anurans that originated in South America and dispersed into Central America. In this study, we review the systematics of Ecuadorian glassfrogs,...
The hypothesis that contrasting hydrology induces divergent intraspecific phenotypic plastic responses in non-migratory freshwater fish was investigated. Morphologies of wetland and stream Galaxias gollumoides from South Island, New Zealand, at diffe...
Body and head shape in fish responds to environmental factors such as water flow rate, food sources, and niche availability. However, the way in which fish respond to these environmental factors varies. In Central Chile, multiple river and lake syste...
Changes in plant assemblages can influence biotic and abiotic soil conditions. These changes can cause plant–soil feedbacks that can inhibit or facilitate plant germination and growth. Here, we contribute to a growing literature examining plant...
Among symbiotic associations, cases of pseudo-auto-epizoism, in which a species uses a resembling but not directly related species as substrate, are poorly documented in coral reef ecosystems. In the present study, we assessed the distribution of an...
Geological processes can strongly affect the distribution and diversification of freshwater-limited species. In particular, a combination of geological and biological data has suggested that Earth history processes can drive vicariant isolation and s...
The discovery of several giant amoeba viruses has opened up a novel area in the field of virology. Despite this, knowledge about ecology of these viruses remains patchy. In this study, we aimed to characterize the diversity of giant viruses in Algeri...
The estuarine nudibranch Tenellia adspersa (Nordmann, 1845) was recorded for the first time in Portugal, while sampling for fouling fauna of artificial structures along the salinity gradient of the Guadiana estuary (SW Iberian Peninsula). Two specime...
Mountain biodiversity is associated with rare and fragile biota that are highly sensitive to climate change. To estimate the vulnerability of biodiversity to temperature rise, long-term field data are crucial. Species distribution models are an essen...
Canopy-forming macroalgae are the main component in some of the most diverse and productive coastal habitats around the world. However, canopy-forming macroalgae are very sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances. In coastal urban areas, intertidal org...
Today, various grass species are important not only in animal feeding but, increasingly often, also in energetics and, due to esthetic and cultural values, in landscape architecture. Therefore, it is essential to establish the roles various grass spe...
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