2021 February - 64 articles
Trait matching between interacting species may foster diversity. Thus, high epiphyte diversity in tropical forests may be partly due to the high diversity of trees and some degree of host specificity. However, possible trait matching between epiphyte...
We review the variety of morphological, physiological and behavioral modifications that annelids have acquired to cope with environments either unsuitable for, or on the limits of, survival for most animals. We focus on polychaetes (excluding sipuncu...
The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) is an imperiled migratory songbird that breeds in and near the boreal wetlands of North America. Our objective was to investigate factors associated with Rusty Blackbird wetland use, including aquatic inverteb...
The inselbergs of the Central Highlands of Madagascar are one of many ‘micro-hotspots’ of biodiversity on the island, particularly for Orchidaceae. In this region are several genera that have a large number of endemic species that are in serious decl...
Predation and scavenging are pervasive ecological interactions in both terrestrial and aquatic environments [...]
Many ungulates are spotted as neonates. This trait is unique to individuals, making their identification feasible from remote cameras. Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) are an endangered subspecies of white-tailed deer endemic to the lower Fl...
Clinostomum metacercariae are common endoparasites of fish and frogs. In this study, we examine taxonomic identity and developmental strategy of Clinostomum metacercariae infesting reed frogs Hyperolius kivuensis and H. viridiflavus in Rwanda. Moreov...
Species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly used with climate only to predict animal distribution changes. This approach however neglects the evolution of other components of the niche, like food resource availability. SDMs are also commonly used...
The fossil record of birds in South America is still very patchy. One of the most remarkable birds found in Miocene deposits from Patagonia is Brontornis burmeisteri Moreno and Mercerat, 1891. This giant flightless bird is known by multiple incomplet...
We investigated population parameters using the capture-mark-recapture method (Ituglanis passensis and I. bambui) and visual censuses (I. epikasrticus and I. ramiroi). The four species are regionally threatened (Brazilian Red List) and occur in caves...
Ants are highly diverse in the Iberian Peninsula (IP), both in species richness (299 cited species) and in number of endemic species (72). The Iberian ant fauna is one of the richest in the broader Mediterranean region, it is similar to the Balkan Pe...
Currently, there is a demand for more energy-efficient lighting sources, however, light emitted by different lighting systems differs in primary properties such as intensity, propagation direction, and wavelength spectrum, among others, and these pro...
Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are urban-adapted, generalist mesocarnivores widely distributed throughout North America. Although striped skunks have been studied extensively at small scales, knowledge of habitat influences on striped skunks at l...
Land use influences the composition of near-surface airborne bacterial communities, and bacteria can be transported through the atmosphere at global scales. The atmosphere mixes vertically, but rigorously assessing whether the effects of land use on...
Spatial hierarchical approaches to classify freshwater systems can add to our understanding of biogeographical patterns and can be used for biodiversity conservation planning. The Strawberry River is located primarily in the Ozark Highlands Central P...
Soil microbial composition and diversity are widely recognized for their role in ecological functioning. This study examined the differences of soil microbial communities between two seasonally grazed grasslands. The study area was in the Gansu red d...
In this paper we review the systematics, diversity, and ecology of two related annelid families: Opheliidae Malmgren, 1867 and Scalibregmatidae Malmgren, 1867. Opheliids are deposit-feeders and that are mainly found as burrowers in sandy sediments. M...
Microzooplankton communities are fundamental components of marine food webs and have the potential to impact the functioning of carbon pumps. The identification of common responses of microzooplankton to global change has been challenging due to thei...
In recent decades, the transplantation of corals has been a primary focus of restoration strategies in areas where coral populations have declined [...]
Nature is a highly complex, intricate system constructed of a network of interdependencies between individual species, their communities and their habitats [...]
The leafy liverwort Nowellia curvifolia is a widespread Holarctic species belonging to the family Cephaloziaceae. It is made up of a newly sequenced, assembled and annotated organellar genomes of two European specimens, which revealed the structure t...
Understanding temporal changes in the distribution and abundance of various species is one of the key goals of conservation biology. During recent decades, the abundance and distribution of many species of plants and animals have declined dramaticall...
The majority of plant diversity in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada is comprised of native understory plant species that are continuously facing competition from other species, including both undesirable native and weedy species. In oil...
Members of the following marine annelid families are found almost exclusively in the interstitial environment and are highly adapted to move between sand grains, relying mostly on ciliary locomotion: Apharyngtidae n. fam., Dinophilidae, Diurodrilidae...
The Western Palearctic is one of the most investigated regions for avian haemosporidian parasites (Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon), yet geographic gaps in our regional knowledge remain. Here, we report the first haemosporidian screening o...
Biomonitoring of phytoplankton communities in freshwater ecosystems is imperative for efficient water quality management. In the present study, we present the seasonal diversity of phytoplankton from the non-reservoir area of the Han River (Korea), a...
The effects of human disturbance spread over virtually all ecosystems and ecological communities on Earth. In this review, we focus on the effects of human disturbance on terrestrial apex predators. We summarize their ecological role in nature and ho...
Numerous amphibian species are declining because of habitat loss and fragmentation due to urbanization of landscapes and the construction of roads. This is a mounting threat to species restricted to habitats close to urban areas, such as agricultural...
Landraces are an agri-food and historical-cultural heritage but are undergoing losses worldwide. Italy is taking action to counteract this problem by following European guidelines. One of the most important measures is the Agrobiodiversity National R...
Understanding the interactions among invasive species, native species and marine protected areas (MPAs), and the long-term regime shifts in MPAs is receiving increased attention, since biological invasions can alter the structure and functioning of t...
Within the genus Centaurea L., polyploidy is very common, and it is believed that, as to all angiosperms, it was key in the history of its diversification and evolution. Centaurea tentudaica is a hexaploid from subsect. Chamaecyanus of unknown origin...
In this study, we analyze the current state of knowledge on extant Eunicida systematics, morphology, feeding, life history, habitat, ecology, distribution patterns, local diversity and exploitation. Eunicida is an order of Errantia annelids character...
Refugia play an important role in contributing to the conservation of species and communities by buffering environmental conditions over time. As large natural landscapes worldwide are declining and are increasingly threatened by extreme events, crit...
In order to better understand the seasonal variations in the phytoplankton community structure in the Bohai Sea (BS) and the North Yellow Sea (NYS), we carried out three cruises during 12 to 24 April 2019, 8 to 18 June 2019, and 12 to 22 October 2019...
Many corals and reef-dwelling organisms are susceptible to the impacts of storm events, which are typically characterized by large inputs of freshwater, sediment, and nutrients. The majority of storm effects are focused on shallow, nearshore reef fla...
This is the first review of the helminth fauna of the moor frog Rana arvalis Nilsson, 1842 from the Volga river basin (Russia). The article summarizes the authors’ and literature data on the helminthic fauna of this species. The method of complete he...
Once exceptionally abundant, the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) has declined precipitously over at least the last century. The species breeds across the Boreal forest, where it is so thinly distributed across such remote areas that it is extrem...
Extinction risk is increasing for a range of species due to a variety of threats, including disease. Emerging infectious diseases can cause severe declines in wild animal populations, increasing population fragmentation and reducing gene flow. Small,...
The analysis of the functional diversity of soil nematodes requires detailed knowledge on theoretical aspects of the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems. Basic approaches applied are reviewed,...
During the autumn of 2017, a study was conducted to assess the zooplankton community composition in three sections (two latitudinal, going from Japan to the equator, and one longitudinal on the equator) of the Western Pacific Ocean. A total of 384 sp...
We investigated vegetation in ravine habitats of Serbia, in order to classify hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia Scop.) forests in syntaxonomic terms, assess the effects of environmental factors on their floristic differentiation, and detect the biodi...
Terebelliformia comprises a large group of sedentary polychaetes which live from the intertidal to the deep sea. The majority live in tubes and are selective deposit feeders. This study synthesises the current knowledge of this group, including their...
Global change has led to manifold changes of marine ecosystems and biodiversity world-wide. While it has been shown that certain jellyfish and comb jelly species have increased regionally, it remains to be investigated if this is a general trend or l...
An early-branched moss Polytrichum commune is a widely accepted model object for ecological, environmental, physiological, and genetic studies. Its mitochondrial genome has been sequenced and annotated. The genome contains 67 genes in total and has a...
Resource partitioning, the division of limited resources by species to help avoid competition, has been observed in freshwater turtle assemblages in several natural systems but has rarely been studied in tropical African ecosystems. Here, we investig...
Recent studies on genetic variability have revealed different patterns of genetic structure among populations of marine decapod species with wide geographical distribution. The hermit crab Clibanarius antillensis has a broad distribution along the we...
Marchica Lagoon, a Ramsar site on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, is experiencing the impacts of watershed pollution, which includes pollutants from the domestic, agricultural, industrial, and mining sectors. Restoration actions were undertaken a...
Soil fauna is generally understudied compared to above-ground arthropods, and ants are no exception. Here, we compared a primary and a secondary forest each on two continents using four different sampling methods. Winkler sampling, pitfalls, and four...
Landscape is an important element in outdoor sports recreation. Cyclists’ perception of an environment reflects their interaction with the actual environment; they become aware of the recreation site through their primary receptive senses. As o...
The effects of forest degradation, fragmentation, and climate change occur over long time periods, yet relatively few data are available to evaluate the long-term effects of these disturbances on tropical species occurrence. Here, we quantified chang...
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