Diversity, Volume 13, Issue 5

The bone microstructure of extinct animals provides a host of information about their biology. Although the giant flightless dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni, is reasonably well known from the Pleistocene of Australia (until its extinction about 50–40...

Aegilops tauschii Coss., the D genome donor of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is the most promising resource used to broaden the genetic diversity of wheat. Taxonomical studies have classified Ae. tauschii into two subspecies, ssp. tauschii...

We present here the result of phylogenetic analysis for Vietnamese Hipposideros gentilis specimens using 7 nuclear genes and one mitochondrial gene. The complex distribution of divergent mitochondrial DNA lineages contradicts, at least in part,...

Freshwater systems are among the most threatened habitats in the world and the biodiversity inhabiting them is disappearing quickly. The Hawaiian Archipelago has a small but highly endemic and threatened group of freshwater snails, with eight species...

Heretofore, the populations of the genus Sphaerotheca Günther, 1859 (Dicroglossidae) in their northern and western borders laying in Pakistan have been assigned to two species, S. breviceps (Schneider, 1799) and S. strachani (Murray, 1884). The genus...

Hotspots are priority marine or terrestrial areas with high biodiversity where delineation is essential for conservation, but equally important is their linkage to the environmental policies of the overall region. In this study, fish diversity presen...

The western Palaearctic species of the hawkmoth genus Hyles (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) have long been the subject of molecular phylogenetic research. However, much less attention has been paid to the taxa inhabiting the central and eastern Palaearctic...

The East Asian marginal seas are among the most productive fisheries grounds. However, in recent decades they experienced massive proliferations of jellyfish that pose vast challenges for the management of harvested fish stocks. In the Korean Peninsu...

The karstic cave Križna jama in the South Western part of Slovenia is one of the largest, well known and most beautiful Slovene water caves. The cave consists of more than 8 km of corridors with impressive halls, colossal dripstone formations, a subt...

As cities adopt mandates to protect, maintain and restore urban biodiversity, the need for urban ecology studies grows. Species-specific information on the effects of urbanization is often a limiting factor in designing and implementing effective bio...

Microbiota associated with bivalves have drawn considerable attention because studies have suggested their relevance to the fitness and growth of marine bivalves. Although the mussel Choromytilus chorus is a valuable resource for Chilean aquaculture...

The circumpolar boreal forest covers approximately 12,000,000 km² and is one of the world’s most extensive biomes [...]

The spurge hawkmoth Hyles euphorbiae L. (Sphingidae) comprises a remarkable species complex with still not fully resolved taxonomy. Its extensive natural distribution range covers diverse climatic zones. This predestinates particular populations to c...

Southeast Europe has played an important role in shaping the genetic diversity of sheep due to its proximity to the Danubian route of transport from the Near East into Europe, as well as its possible role as a post-domestication migration network and...

The aim of present study was to determine the role of secondary, serpentine forests in Poland in the protection of rare vascular plant species. On the basis of 95 phytosociological relevés collected between 2009 and 2020, we identified the main types...

The measurement of stable hydrogen isotope ratios (δ²H) in animal tissues is a popular means of inferring spatial origins and migratory connections. However, the use of this isotope to infer diet and potentially trophic position remains poorly unders...

The seed-containing pod is the defining structure of plants in the legume family, yet pods exhibit a wide range of morphological variation. Within a species pod characters are likely to be correlated with reproductive strategy, and within cultivated...

Understanding of ecosystem structure and functioning requires detailed knowledge about plant–animal interactions, especially when keystone species are involved. The recent consideration of parrots as legitimate seed dispersers has widened the range o...

Petrocoptis montsicciana and P. pardoi are two Iberian endemic taxa of Caryophyllaceae family with an unclear taxonomic delimitation, being variously treated as independent species, subspecies or even synonyms. In the present study, allozyme raw data...

Ectothermic animals living at high elevation often face interacting challenges, including temperature extremes, intense radiation, and hypoxia. While high-elevation specialists have developed strategies to withstand these constraints, the factors pre...

Brazil has the highest number of parrots in the world and the greatest number of threatened species. The Golden Conure is endemic to the Brazilian Amazon forest and it is currently considered as threatened by extinction, although it is fairly common...

Ojo Guareña Natural Monument in Burgos (Spain) is an important and large karstic system. It consists of more than 110 km of surveyed galleries, and it has rich sources of organic material from the surface and permanent water circulation. It is the fo...

Two sibling bare-backed bat species (Pteronotus fulvus and P. gymnonotus) have been traditionally differentiated by their size. However, intermediate specimens between the two species have been found in sympatric populations along southern Mexico and...

Presence of mollusk assemblages was studied within red coralligenous algae Corallina officinalis L. along the southern Istrian coast. C. officinalis turfs can be considered a biodiversity reservoir, as they shelter numerous invertebrate species. The...

Landraces are generally neglected by industrialized agriculture, regardless of their potential to provide valuable genetic material for breeding and to diversifying the available assortment for producers and markets. They may also excel in certain pl...

Root-associated endophytic fungi (RAF) are found asymptomatically in almost all plant groups. However, little is known about the compositions and potential functions of RAF communities associated with most Orchidaceae species. In this study, the dive...

Anguillid eels are widely acknowledged for their ecological and socio-economic value in many countries. Yet, knowledge regarding their biodiversity, distribution and abundance remains superficial—particularly in tropical countries such as Indonesia,...

We investigated the effect of varying storage time and storage temperature on fungal species’ isolation as part of a case study of Illinois cave sediment samples. A deeper understanding of cave fungal communities may influence eco-epidemiology studie...

Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) are threatened as a result of habitat degradation and overfishing. They have commercial value as traditional medicine, curio objects, and pets in the aquarium industry. There are 48 valid species, 27 of which are represen...

The order Psittaciformes is one of the most prevalent groups in the illegal wildlife trade. Efforts to understand this threat have focused on describing the elements of the trade itself: actors, extraction rates, and routes. However, the development...

Copepods are one of the most abundant and diverse live food sources for mesopelagic and bathypelagic fishes and crustaceans. They could contribute to the overlap of the transition period from live feed to an artificial weaning diet in marine larvae p...

Urban gardens are important for human well-being, biodiversity and other ecosystem functions. Biodiversity-promoting initiatives would benefit from their owners being aware of the state of biodiversity in their gardens. We examined whether garden own...

Sweet, grain, and dual-purpose sorghums differ in a number of important traits, including biomass production, total solutes in the stem juice, and sugar accumulation across the stem. Ten dual-purpose hybrids, two sweet genotypes, and two grain landra...

Ilex guayusa Loes. is a shrub native to the Neotropics, traditionally consumed as an infusion. Despite its cultural value and extensive use, genetic research remains scarce. This study examined the genetic and clonal diversity of guayusa in three dif...

Karstic landscapes are immense reservoirs of biodiversity and range-restricted endemism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world’s third-largest vertebrate genus Cyrtodactylus (Gekkonidae) which contains well over 300 species. A stochastic cha...

As the extent of hypoxia in coastal waters increases, the survivorship of jellyfish polyps relative to that of competing sessile organisms often increases, enabling them to reproduce more prolifically, leading to a medusa bloom in the following year....

Rear-edge populations are of significant scientific interest because they can contain allelic variation not found in core-range populations. However, such populations can differ in their level of genetic diversity and divergence reflecting variation...

One of the obstacles to detecting regional trends in jellyfish populations is the lack of a defined baseline. In the Adriatic Sea, the jellyfish fauna (Scyphozoa and Ctenophora) is poorly studied compared to other taxa. Therefore, our goal was to col...

Colonial seabirds use various methods to defend their nests from predators [...]

Caves share unique conditions that have led to convergent adaptations of cave-dwelling animals. In addition, local factors act as filters on regional species-pools to shape the assemblage composition of local caves. Surveys of 35 Levantine caves, dis...

The procedures and methodologies employed to study microbial eukaryotic plankton have been thoroughly discussed. Two main schools exist—one insisting on classic microscopy methodologies and the other supporting modern high-throughput sequencing (DNA...

Underground waters are still one of the most important sources of drinking water for the planet. Moreover, the fauna that inhabits these waters is still little known, even if it could be used as an effective bioindicator. Among cave invertebrates, pl...

Early detection of non-indigenous species is crucial to reduce, mitigate, and manage their impacts on the ecosystems into which they were introduced. However, assessment frameworks for identifying introduced species on the Pacific Coast of South Amer...

Angel sharks are distributed worldwide in tropical to subtropical waters. Across the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), two valid species are reported: The Pacific angelshark Squatina californica and the Chilean angelshark Squatina armata; however, there i...