Taxonomic inflation, species concepts and global species lists

Cortinarius alpinus as an example for morphological and phylogenetic species concepts in ectomycorrhizal fungiExtensive morphological and molecular analyses of closely related species from alpine, subalpine and montane habitats should enable a comparison of ecological, morphological and phylogenetic species concepts in ectomycorrhizal mushrooms. One fundamental question of this study was whether alpine species really exist, and which criteria, besides the specific habitat, could reliably be used for the de-limitation of such taxa. For this reason, 56 rDNA ITS sequences were generated or downloaded from GenBank for 10 closely related species of Cortinarius subgenus Myxacium, section Myxacium. Several collections were sequenced for each of the following taxa: Cortinarius absarokensis, C. alpinus, C. favrei, C. fennoscandicus, C. grallipes, C. mucosus, C. muscigenus, C. septentrionalis, C. trivialis and C. vernicosus. Moreover, spore statistics were carried out for 38 collections of alpine and subalpine taxa. These data provide clear evidence for C. favrei being a synonym of C. alpinus. C. absarokensis and C. alpinus can clearly be delimited based on pileus diameter and average dry weight per basidiome, even in overlapping habitats, but spore size and shape is not a good distinguishing character. Phylograms have very short branches, and base differences between ITS sequences are generally very low in this group, and give no resolution for the included taxa of this section. Based on these results, species concepts of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms are discussed in detail.

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On the use of 10-minute point counts and 10-species lists for surveying birds in lowland Atlantic Forests in southeastern Brazil

Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia ◽

10.1590/s0031-10492012002800001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 52 (28) ◽

pp. 333-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Vagner Cavarzere ◽

Thiago Vernaschi Vieira da Costa ◽

Luís Fábio Silveira

Keyword(s):

Rapid Assessment ◽

Southeastern Brazil ◽

Point Counting ◽

Point Count ◽

Point Counts ◽

Time Period ◽

Minute Point ◽

Species Lists ◽

Point Count Method ◽

Breeding Seasons

Due to rapid and continuous deforestation, recent bird surveys in the Atlantic Forest are following rapid assessment programs to accumulate significant amounts of data during short periods of time. During this study, two surveying methods were used to evaluate which technique rapidly accumulated most species (> 90% of the estimated empirical value) at lowland Atlantic Forests in the state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Birds were counted during the 2008-2010 breeding seasons using 10-minute point counts and 10-species lists. Overall, point counting detected as many species as lists (79 vs. 83, respectively), and 88 points (14.7 h) detected 90% of the estimated species richness. Forty-one lists were insufficient to detect 90% of all species. However, lists accumulated species faster in a shorter time period, probably due to the nature of the point count method in which species detected while moving between points are not considered. Rapid assessment programs in these forests will rapidly detect more species using 10-species lists. Both methods shared 63% of all forest species, but this may be due to spatial and temporal mismatch between samplings of each method.

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Species Concepts, Species Boundaries and Species Identification: A View from the Tropics

Systematic Biology ◽

10.1080/10635150590950308 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 689-693 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Rohini Balakrishnan

Keyword(s):

Species Identification ◽

Species Concepts ◽

Species Boundaries ◽

The Tropics

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Quantifying the use of species concepts

Current Biology ◽

10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.060 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (9) ◽

pp. R428-R429

Author(s):

Sean Stankowski ◽

Mark Ravinet

Keyword(s):

Species Concepts

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Actin type I introns offer potential for increasing phylogenetic resolution in Asterochloris (Chlorophyta: Trebouxiophyceae)

The Lichenologist ◽

10.1017/s0024282906005779 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 435-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Matthew P. NELSEN ◽

Andrea GARGAS

Keyword(s):

Population Genetics ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Species Concepts ◽

Its Rdna ◽

Type I ◽

Phylogenetic Resolution

Primers are presented to amplify an intron-containing portion of the actin type I locus from Asterochloris algae. The amount of variation and phylogenetic resolution provided by the ITS rDNA are compared with that from the actin locus. The number of variable and parsimony-informative sites within the actin locus was drastically higher than that of the ITS. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS resulted in poorly resolved trees with low support values. In contrast, phylogenetic analyses of the actin locus yielded trees with better support and resolution. It is concluded that the actin type I introns will be useful for studies investigating species concepts and population genetics.

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Old and new challenges in using species diversity for assessing biodiversity

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2011.0065 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 366 (1576) ◽

pp. 2426-2437 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

Alessandro Chiarucci ◽

Giovanni Bacaro ◽

Samuel M. Scheiner

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Quantitative Measurement ◽

Phylogenetic Distance ◽

Existing Problems ◽

Species Abundances ◽

Species Lists ◽

Assessment And Monitoring ◽

New Challenges ◽

Patterns And Processes ◽

Conservation And Management

Although the maintenance of diversity of living systems is critical for ecosystem functioning, the accelerating pace of global change is threatening its preservation. Standardized methods for biodiversity assessment and monitoring are needed. Species diversity is one of the most widely adopted metrics for assessing patterns and processes of biodiversity, at both ecological and biogeographic scales. However, those perspectives differ because of the types of data that can be feasibly collected, resulting in differences in the questions that can be addressed. Despite a theoretical consensus on diversity metrics, standardized methods for its measurement are lacking, especially at the scales needed to monitor biodiversity for conservation and management purposes. We review the conceptual framework for species diversity, examine common metrics, and explore their use for biodiversity conservation and management. Key differences in diversity measures at ecological and biogeographic scales are the completeness of species lists and the ability to include information on species abundances. We analyse the major pitfalls and problems with quantitative measurement of species diversity, look at the use of weighting measures by phylogenetic distance, discuss potential solutions and propose a research agenda to solve the major existing problems.

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