Diversity, Volume 15, Issue 1

The ‘edge’ effect is considered one of the fundamental ecological phenomena essential for maintaining ecosystem integrity. The properties of plant outer tissues (root, tuber, bulb and fruit peel, tree and shrub bark, leaf and stem trichom...

During the last decades, the number of observations of the basket star Astrospartus mediterraneus (Risso, 1826) in the Mediterranean Sea has significantly grown, thanks to SCUBA diver and ROV sightings, citizen reports, as well as particularly large...

The Zoogonidae is the only digenean family where known cercariae lack the tail but actively search for the second intermediate host. However, the data on the zoogonid life cycles are scarce. In the present study, we elucidated and verified life cycle...

The combination of the high biodiversity and many ethnicities in Thailand results in extensive ethnobotanical studies, especially in the northern part of the country. Here we have assembled 7620 records from 60 references regarding how plants are use...

This study is devoted to the investigation of Azygia (Digenea: Azygiidae) species diversity using classical morphological, recent molecular tools (28S rRNA and cox1 mtDNA for genetic-based inference) and robust statistical techniques (Principal compo...

In this paper, we assess the environmental impact of urbanization in three freshwater biotopes, using the levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in 10 meristic morphological traits in the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771)). Two of the st...

Megabalanus coccopoma (Darwin, 1854) is a globally invasive species in Balanomorpha (Crustacea). This species is a model organism for studying marine pollution and ecology. However, its mitogenome remains unknown. The mitogenome sequencing of M. cocc...

Proper management and genetic monitoring of the modern European bison (Bison bonasus) population is one of the most important responsibilities for this species’ conservation. Up-to-date, complex genetic analysis performed using a consistent mol...

Microplastics are considered the most common waste in aquatic ecosystems, and studying them along with their interactions with biota are considered a priority. Here, results on the role of microplastics in the dispersion of microbes from terrestrial...

The contiguous grasslands of the Sandhills region in Nebraska, USA, provide habitat for two sympatric, grassland-obligate species of grouse, the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) and the plains sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus pha...

Shellfish reefs have been lost from bays and estuaries globally, including in the Swan-Canning Estuary in Western Australia. As part of a national program to restore the ecosystem services that such reefs once provided and return this habitat from ne...

Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) enhance plant growth, as well as protect plants from several biotic and abiotic stresses through a variety of mechanisms. Therefore, the exploitation of PGPB in agriculture is feasible as it offers sustainable a...

A molecular genetic approach was used to elucidate the phylogeographic relationships of the clover grass (Halophila baillonii Asch.) from three key regions within its current distributional range. Halophila baillonii is a small seagrass that has hist...

We analyzed the alpha and beta components of male Trichoptera diversity along an altitudinal gradient ranging from 136 to 2432 m a.s.l. by studying five assemblages of adult male caddisflies in five streams of the Sierra de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mex...

Sap sucking heteropteran cereal bugs—members of the Eurygaster and Aelia genus—are serious pests of wheat. Moreover, they feed on a variety of gramineous plant species, including rye, barley, oat, maize, and millet. They are widely distri...

(1) Background: Is variation among the communities of a metacommunity higher than within the communities? Community ecologists and population geneticists often characterize the structure of metacommunities by partitioning variation (diversity) into t...

Most alien plant species are usually discovered in new areas either immediately or within a relatively short period of time after their introduction. However, the introduction, spread, and invasion of some species go unnoticed for a long time. In Lit...

The first list of terrestrial enchytraeids of the north-western Caucasus includes 24 species belonging to seven genera. A new enchytraeid species of the genus Fridericia, Fridericia gongalskyi sp. nov., is described. It clearly differs from other spe...

We designed and tested species-specific PCR primers to detect Trichobilharzia species via environmental DNA (eDNA) barcoding in selected Austrian water bodies. Tests were performed with eDNA samples from the field as well as with artificial samples f...

Invasive alien plants have rapidly established and spread in nature reserves via roads and now pose a threat to biodiversity. To understand the mechanism and distribution patterns of invasive alien herbs, we compared the altitude patterns of native a...

Rhodolith seabeds are ‘ecosystem engineers’ composed of free-living calcareous red macroalgae, which create extensive marine habitats. This study addressed how depth influenced the structure (size and morphology) of rhodoliths and the abu...

Relationships were analyzed among the energy-related characteristics of feed consumption by caterpillars of the spongy moth (also known as gypsy moth) Lymantria dispar L., survival of individuals, and fecundity of females depending on the species of...

Posidonia oceanica is an endemic seagrass species from the Mediterranean Sea that provides critical ecological services to coastal environments. This species is distributed from the Turkish to the Spanish coast, where its westernmost record was docum...

Coryne hincksi Bonnevie, 1898 (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) is a rare corynid hydrozoan that was first found in the coastal Barents Sea on the surface of other hydrozoan species and on the body of spider crabs in 1913. After the introduction of red king crabs...

The aim of this study was to assess the taxonomic diversity and prevalence of shrew cestodes on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Paramushir Island on the basis of current understanding of cestode taxonomy. The diversity of shrew cestodes included 22 speci...

Three species of the genus Phyllopodopsyllus T. Scott, 1906 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Tetragonicipitidae) were reported from the intertidal sand of Jeju Island and Busan in Korea, Phyllopdopsyllus kitazimai Karanovic, 2017, Phyllopodopsyllus saywakim...

Biodiversity is considered one of the most significant parameters for characterizing aquatic environments. The value of species diversity is taken into account when assessing the ecological state and quality of the ecosystem. However, erroneous taxon...

Background. Volunteers’ participation in scientific research has increased in recent decades. Citizen science (CS) data have been used in quantitative ecology to analyse species ranges by means of species distribution models. We investigated th...

In addition to the compilation of biodiversity inventories, checklists, especially if combined with abundance data, are important tools to understand species distribution, habitat use, and community composition over time. Their importance is even hig...

Lake Baikal (LB) is the only freshwater ancient lake on Earth where animals inhabit all bathymetric zones down to the deepest sites (approximately 1640 m). However, there is very little data on the composition of their abyssal harpacticoid fauna. On...

Delineating genetically distinct population segments of threatened species and quantifying population connectivity are important steps in developing effective conservation and management strategies aimed at preventing extinction. The gopher frog (Ran...

During their feeding process, dung beetles perform a series of ecosystem functions that provide valuable ecosystem services, such as soil fertilization, improvement of soil properties, plant growth enhancement, and biological pest control. However, i...

Marine noise is an emerging pollutant inducing a variety of negative impacts on many animal taxa, including fish. Fish population persistence and dynamics rely on the supply of early life stages, which are often very sensitive to disturbance. Impacts...

The natural valleys of large rivers provide suitable nesting and foraging sites for many bird species. In this study, we assess the effects of water fluctuations during the breeding season on Common Sandpipers’ nest survival on a semi-natural s...

The analysis of phylogeographic patterns has often been based on mitochondrial DNA variation, but recent analyses dealing with nuclear DNA have in some instances revealed mito-nuclear discordances and complex evolutionary histories. These enigmatic s...

Cystoseira sensu lato marine forests, which are among the most productive and diverse systems in rocky intertidal and subtidal habitats of the Mediterranean Sea, are experiencing a widespread decline throughout the basin due to increasing human press...

Innovative technological approaches are crucial to enhance naturalistic museum collections and develop information repositories of relevant interest to science, such as threatened animal taxa. In this context, museomics is an emerging discipline that...

The genus Smeagol consists of five named species of air-breathing marine slugs (restricted to southern Australia and New Zealand) and three undescribed taxa from southern Japan. Only one species, S. hilaris, is known to be from New South Wales (NSW),...

Pathfinding elephants are moving through human dominated landscapes, often across international boundaries, thereby playing a vital role in connecting protected areas. Their movements are a call to action to not only understand their spatial requirem...

Kola Bay is the most developed coastal area in the Russian part of the Barents Sea, but despite a long history of research, information about the local shallow-water benthic communities is lacking. For this reason, in this fjord area, we investigated...

We analyzed the cranium dorsal projection and the mandible lateral projection in bone specimens from five Microtus guentheri and Microtus hartingi forms by geometric morphometrics (GM) methods (generalized Procrustes analysis, principal component ana...

During forest vegetation rehabilitation, changes in aboveground litter and underground root inputs affect soil microbial communities. Clarifying the effects of forest ecosystem carbon inputs on soil microbial community structure can provide a theoret...

To provide a baseline description of copepod assemblages in the Pechora Sea, an estuarine area with great economical and ecological importance, we conducted a survey during the summer season. A total of 24 copepod taxa were identified in the study, w...

The discovery of the Aleurocanthus cf. Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Tea spiny whitefly spiniferus morphotype; previously found in Tokyo) for the first time in Shizuoka Prefecture raised the possibility that this species had invaded Honshu Island, Japan....

A number of reports on sponge diseases, including from Lake Baikal, have increased dramatically all over the world in recent years. Herewith, there are various hypotheses for sponge mortality. Lubomirskia baikalensis (phylum Porifera, order Spon...

Studies of the effects of elevation and associated habitat changes on biodiversity have a rich history in conservation biology and have seen a resurgence of interest in recent decades. Mountainous regions are particularly important because they harbo...

During a field survey of Korean marine and brackish water ciliate diversity, we collected a tiny benthic ciliate (13–18 µm long in vivo) from the opening of a brackish water lagoon (10‰). At low magnification, it resembles members...

The long-term applications of different fertilizers (chicken manure, swine manure, and organic fertilizer) on the microorganisms of a corn field were investigated. The microbial communities during four periods (seedling, three-leaf, filling and matur...

Iason assingi n. sp. from the island of Crete (Greece) is described. A synopsis of the Anillini fauna of the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia is provided. Faunistic, phylogenetic, and zoogeographic implications are discussed. Prioniomus (21 species), Wi...

Information from extreme habitats of polymorphic populations is expected to answer questions related to evolutionary changes occurring at their niche border. Landlocked and resident/anadromous populations of the Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus (L.) s...