2024 August - 78 articles
Chytridiomycosis is one of the greatest threats to the diversity of amphibians worldwide. Caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), it plays a decisive role in species declines. Bsal is particularly harmful to the Europea...
The western black-crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor) is a rare and endangered primate that inhabits southern China and northern Vietnam, and has become a key conservation target due to its distinctive call and highly endangered status, making its ide...
The Croatian Natural History Museum (CNHM) houses rich fossil collections from the Neogene deposits of Northern Croatia, comprising numerous scallops (Bivalvia: Pectinidae). During the Middle Miocene (Badenian = Langhian and early Serravallian), this...
Recent technological advancements in conservation genetics and genomics have resulted in diverse tools for aiding the conservation of species. The precision and resolution of high throughput sequencing technologies provide valuable insights to aid co...
This study focused on understanding biodiversity variability in response to climate change as an environmental stressor from a carbon cycle perspective. As the frequency and magnitude of environmental stresses are expected to increase due to rising c...
Halimium, Cistaceae, is a genus of shrubs restricted to the western part of the Mediterranean basin, where it thrives in diverse habitats. Despite this ecological adaptability, little attention has been devoted to understanding the mycorrhizal biolog...
Urbanization profoundly alters environmental conditions for organisms, particularly through the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which elevates temperatures in city centers. This study examines the influence of urban environmental variables on rove an...
In February 2023, a severe cold snap took place in Atlantic Canada and was followed by the mass loss of mussels at mid-to-high intertidal elevations on the southeastern Nova Scotia coast. This loss was concerning because mussels sustain upper trophic...
The ocean floor, which spans approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface, stretches from sunlit shallow waters to the profound depths of ocean trenches around 11,000 m deep, encompassing regions from the polar ice to tropical seas [...]
The Matsu Islands Tern Refuge comprises eight reefs located at a relay station on the East Asian bird migration route, and it attracts many transiting, wintering, or breeding birds to inhabit and live on the reefs every year. In order to understand t...
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) populations have been increasing in Europe in the last decades. Without reliable methods, game managers frequently underestimate the population size, leading to underharvesting. The aim of this research was to identify...
Plant community stability and diversity play crucial roles in maintaining the stable performance of grassland ecosystem functions. In this study, we selected 55 representative grassland community sample plots in the Habahe Forest region of the Altai...
Many gaps in our theoretical understanding of the variations in the diversity and structure of intertidal communities exist for the Eastern Pacific. In order to fill some of these gaps, we censused intertidal communities and compared patterns of dive...
Streams constitute the water supply of the watersheds and provide the transfer of energy along the course of water, ensuring water biodiversity. Due to the different uses of the earth, the benthic community is being suppressed. The objective of this...
The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region lies between the Mongolia-Xinjiang Zoogeographic Region and the Central China Zoogeographic Region in China, harboring relatively rich biodiversity. This study specifically examined the species diversity,...
The backwater lowland habitats of large rivers, like the Mississippi River in North America, present complex and often inaccessible environments for traditional capture-based fish biodiversity sampling. Our knowledge of the assemblages of the fishes...
The inconsistency between traditional morphological taxonomy and molecular phylogenetic data is a major issue that puzzles the study of fish classification and evolution. Although mitochondrial genes are commonly used in phylogenetic analyses to comp...
A single specimen of a new genus and species of marine palaemonid shrimp was collected from the outer slope of the barrier reef of Koumac, northwest New Caledonia. The new shrimp is remarkable due to its unique series of diagnostic characters, i.e.,...
A partial ichthyosaur skeleton from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) bituminous shales of the ‘Schistes Carton’ unit of southern Luxembourg is described and illustrated. In addition, associated remnant soft tissues are analyzed using a combi...
Carabidae, or carabids, commonly known as “ground beetles”, are found in numerous natural and cultivated habitats and are recognized for their beneficial role in controlling phytophagous pests in various temperate agroecosystems. However,...
Wildlife trafficking and human–wildlife conflict are major causes of species decline. The illegal nature of wildlife trafficking makes it hard, and sometimes dangerous, to study. ‘Mansión Mascota’ is a veterinary clinic in Gu...
Drought stress is one of the biggest hardships in wheat cultivation because of the strong negative relationship between water deficit and crop yields owing to a lower grain weight, a shorter grain-filling period, a slower grain-filling rate, and redu...
We present a dated and calibrated molecular phylogeny for one of the most characteristic genera of Neotropical savannas, Byrsonima (Malpighiaceae), based on the ETS, ITS, and psbA-trnH markers. We sampled 33 species of Byrsonima and four species of t...
Softwater ponds with Lobelia dortmanna (EU habitat type 3110) represent the rarest aquatic habitat in Belgium. As in many other European countries, its unfavourable conservation status necessitates restoration according to the EU Habitats Directive,...
In many European countries over the last few decades, arable fields dominate agricultural landscapes, leading to very intensive land-use practices. This seems to be the main cause of population declines for numerous farmland species, including the Eu...
In recent decades, studies on animal coloration have expanded significantly, from understanding color production and perception mechanisms to exploring the selective pressures driving these patterns. Conservation biology has begun leveraging these st...
A foundational concept in ecology is the positive relationship between habitat heterogeneity and species diversity. Epiphytes demonstrate microhabitat specialization to particular areas within a tree; thus, epiphyte communities are potentially influe...
The genus Eurytemora is a diverse group of copepods found in coastal, estuarine, brackish, and freshwater environments. The main research has focused on Eurytemora affinis (Poppe, 1880) and revealed it to be a species complex. Eurytemora velox (Lilje...
Balanomorph (acorn) barnacles are found throughout the world’s coastal oceans, and their success is dependent on a hard, mineralized, outer shell. Although macro-scale morphology of barnacle shells has been studied extensively, relatively littl...
The Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) is a worldwide phytopathogenic fungus of small grain cereals. Genetics and bioinformatics tools have been providing an efficient strategy for identifying FGSC. However, the potential reliability of tef1...
The natricine snake genus Smithophis Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, and Deepak, 2019, is represented by four species, three of which are distributed in northeast India and Bangladesh, and a single species in Yunnan and Myanmar. I...
Deepwater survey data and specimens collected from the Grand Banks to Baffin Bay in the Northwest Atlantic were used to examine the distribution, morphometrics, meristics and maturity of two siblings, Amblyraja hyperborea and A. jenseni. Our study co...
Herbaria phycological collections have approximately one million 700 thousand specimens preserved in European herbaria, a significantly lower number when compared to vascular plants, due to factors such as greater sampling difficulty and fewer specia...
Sulfidic caves support diverse and abundant subterranean communities, including numerous endemic species and complex food webs, though the full extent of species diversity and resource utilization in these ecosystems remains largely unexplored. This...
This paper introduces a new method for identifying museum pests through the analysis of DNA present in settled dust. Traditionally, the identification of pests in cultural institutions such as museums and depositories has relied on insect trapping (m...
The future of marine ecosystems is at risk due to climate change and other human impacts. Specifically, due to ocean warming, some tropical species are expanding their populations while populations of temperate species are in regression, making the e...
Studies performed in North America, Africa, and South America have led to the isolation of four new species of Kastovskya, a filamentous cyanobacterial genus that before this manuscript had only one species, Kastovskya adunca from Chile. Kastovskya n...
Freshwater red algae from Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park previously identified as Virescentia vogesiaca are described as Hoefkenia hunsrueckensis gen. et sp. nov. They cluster in the phylogenetic tree together with Kumanoa and form its sister c...
Species of the Rhodnius genus have a complex taxonomy because the events of phenotypic plasticity and cryptic speciation make it difficult to correctly classify these vectors. During the taxonomic history of the genus, five synonymization events occu...
Ailanthus altissima is an invasive tree threatening the biodiversity in natural and disturbed habitats of temperate regions, primarily because of its high resprouting vigor. To test the effect of light exclusion on stem and root sprouting, black cove...
The present work provides an updated and corrected list of hosts for the five European species of pinnotherid crabs, taking into consideration all recent published works as well as new data obtained in the present study. In relation to the number of...
Floral nectar is mainly a reward in the form of food for pollinators. In early spring, when snow can still be present, pollinators have trouble finding food. The composition and productivity of nectar in flowers play an important role in a pollinator...
In a two-year field study across 58 isolated wetlands in Texas (USA), we examined whether odonate (Insecta: Odonata) assemblages were structured by local environmental filters or instead simply reflected the use of any available water in this semi-ar...
The impacts of anthropogenic activities are increasing at alarming rates, leading to biodiversity loss and the displacement of native habitats. One of the main contributors to human disturbances is livestock farming, which degrades native habitats th...
The phenological and morphological variation studies among forms of Laggera Sch. Bip. Ex. Benth. and Hook species are limited, despite the medicinal use of the genus. Therefore, this study aimed to document phenology and morphological variation in cu...
Hymenocallis henryae is a rare, charismatic spider lily endemic to the Florida panhandle. Currently under review to determine if listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted, this species has undescribed genetic diversity, information crucia...
Human influence on Antarctic marine ecosystems is a growing concern, despite limited information being available. This study investigated the coastal meiofauna and environmental parameters of 10 locations, 4 of which served as reference points (OB1,...
The northeastern Red Sea (Saudi Arabia) is currently being transformed to become a global hub of economic activity and tourism. This transformation requires the development of pristine coastal areas into populated and dynamic settlements. At the same...
Dung beetles are important ecosystem engineers as they bury manure produced by animals and contribute to nutrient cycling. This study assessed the impact of four dung beetle species, a roller (Gymnopleurus sturmi) and three tunnelers (Onthophagus vac...
Urban protected biodiversity areas conserve some of the world’s critically endangered and isolated biodiversity while providing essential ecosystem services. However, these urban habitats are threatened by the presence of alien and invasive pla...
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