New records of Funalia trogii, Perenniporia tenuis and Polyporus pseudobetulinus from Finland, with notes on their habitat requirements and conservation implications

Context Effective biodiversity conservation requires information about a species’ ecology and its relationship with the geographical context. To achieve this efficiently, species distribution models can be developed, also taking into account species associations. Aims I aimed to illustrate the habitat requirements of two threatened passerines of semi-open landscapes, i.e. the lesser grey shrike, Lanius minor, and the woodchat shrike, Lanius senator, in southern Italy. Further, I assessed whether there is heterospecific social attraction between them, by assessing how their habitat niches overlap. Methods Data were collected by territory mapping during the 2009–13 breeding seasons. The habitat requirements of the species were investigated with the help of ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA). In addition, the areas of sympatry between the two species were defined by indicator kriging and the habitat niche overlap was analysed using the generalised linear model (GLM). Key results The results showed that these two species inhabit open areas, with scattered vegetation such as shrubs and trees, while avoiding intensively cultivated permanent crops, such as vineyards and olive groves. Moreover, a little difference was observed in the percentage cover of shrublands, which were higher in the woodchat shrike territories than in the lesser grey ones. The strong overlap in their habitat niches suggests heterospecific social attraction between them, especially because of the species rarity. Conclusions The lesser grey and the woodchat shrike were found to occur in very similar environments, by evidencing the overlap of their macrohabitat niches. This suggests the presence of heterospecific social attraction, corroborating the understudied hypothesis that this phenomenon is valid for migrant birds as well. The lesser grey shrike, in particular, may use occurrences of the woodchat shrike as a cue for assessing habitat quality and, thus, to establish its territory. Implications Considering the high habitat niche overlap, habitat changes occurring in the landscape might affect them equally. Furthermore, the use of heterospecific social information in habitat selection potentially has many important conservation implications. Indeed, by reproducing the appropriate information, birds could be attracted to specific sites known to be high-quality habitat.

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Updated habitat suitability estimates and conservation implications for the short-tailed chinchilla Chinchilla chinchilla (Lichtenstein, 1830) (Rodentia: Chinchillidae)

Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Ciências Naturais ◽

10.46357/bcnaturais.v15i3.273 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 557-572

Author(s):

John Stuhler ◽

Daniela Arenas-Viveros ◽

Jorge Salazar-Bravo

Keyword(s):

New Records ◽

Management Plan ◽

Suitable Habitat ◽

Wild Populations ◽

Ecological Niche Models ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Historical Distribution ◽

Omission Rate ◽

Insight Into ◽

Historical Range

The short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla chinchilla) is a species classified as endangered throughout its distribution and for which neither a conservation nor management plan exists. Ecological niche models (ENMs) allow detection of potential areas of occurrence for species that are rare and/or of conservation interest. Here, we built and evaluated a suite of ENMs that incorporated new records for the species in Bolivia and removed those whose veracity could not be confirmed to provide an updated estimate of the extent of suitable habitat for C. chinchilla. Following model selection based on partial ROC, omission rate, and AICc, we then projected our top models across the historical distribution of C. chinchilla to identify locations of potentially suitable habitat. An ensemble of top models highlighted suitable habitat in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, with values of probability of suitable habitat up to 0.72. Together, these results demonstrate that suitable habitat still exists across the historical range of this species, provide insight into the climatic niche of this species, and highlight areas across the four countries for which future surveys of wild populations may be worthwhile.

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A new species of pygmy mole cricket (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae) from the Lake Wales ridge of Florida and new records of Ellipes eisneri from the northern Brooksville ridge

Journal of Orthoptera Research ◽

10.3897/jor.30.65603 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 131-143

Author(s):

Brandon Woo

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

New Records ◽

Geographic Ranges ◽

Mole Cricket ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Mole Crickets ◽

Lake Wales Ridge ◽

A New Species

Pygmy mole crickets (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae) are usually associated with the edges of ponds and streams, but in the sandy uplands of Florida, at least two lineages of these insects have evolved to live in xeric scrub and sandhill habitats. Very little work has been done with scrub tridactylids since they are tiny and often difficult to collect. In this paper, the pygmy mole cricket Ellipes deyrupisp. nov. is described from the northern Lake Wales Ridge of Florida. It is sympatric at all known locations with another scrub tridactylid, Neotridactylus archboldi Deyrup & Eisner, but has not been found co-occurring with the closely related Ellipes eisneri Deyrup. The habits of this new species are convergent with both N. archboldi and E. eisneri. In addition, new records of Ellipes eisneri are presented, extending this species’ known distribution to the Northern Brooksville Ridge. Both species of scrub Ellipes are found in restricted geographic ranges and suffer from a lack of study and recognition. Conservation implications for these two species are discussed.

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Porosty z rodzaju Porpidia Körb. występujące w Polsce [The lichen genus Porpidia Körb. in Poland]

Monographiae Botanicae ◽

10.5586/mb.2012.002 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 101 ◽

pp. 5-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Agnieszka Jabłońska

Keyword(s):

Reference Material ◽

Central Europe ◽

Rare Species ◽

New Records ◽

Habitat Requirements ◽

Public And Private ◽

Lichenicolous Fungi ◽

First Time ◽

Extensive Reference

For this revision of Porpidia species from Poland, 1400 specimens from public and private Polish herbaria, as well as other major European herbaria, were examined. The taxonomy, chemistry, habitat requirements and distribution of Porpidia albocaerulescens, P. cinereoatra, P. contraponenda, P. crustulata, P. flavocruenta, P. grisea, P. macrocarpa, P. melinodes, P. nigrocruenta, P. soredizodes, P. speirea, P. superba, P. thomsonii, P. tuberculosa and P. zeoroides in Poland are presented. Porpidia thomsonii is reported as new to Poland and Central Europe. New records of P. contraponenda very rare species in Poland, are given. The occurrence of P. flavicunda, P. hydrophila, P. rugosa and P. trullisata has not been confirmed during this study, therefore their status remain unknown. The lichenicolous fungi, Endococcus propinquus, E. aff. propinquus and Muellerella pygmaea on Porpidia were also noted during this study. As a result of examination of extensive reference material P. macrocarpa is recorded for the first time for Bulgaria and Ecuador, P. speirea − for Bulgaria, and P. soredizodes − for Ecuador and Mexico. A key to taxa in Poland, including those with unconfirmed occurrence there, is provided.

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Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of the vegetation layer of the Mkambati Nature Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Koedoe ◽

10.4102/koedoe.v53i1.1058 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anna S. Dippenaar-Schoeman ◽

Michelle Hamer ◽

Charles R. Haddad

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

New Records ◽

Eastern Cape ◽

Additional Species ◽

Biodiversity Survey ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Invertebrate Diversity ◽

Risk Of Extinction ◽

Vegetation Layer

The Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape province, South Africa is very poorly studied with regard to invertebrate diversity, particularly in the case of arachnids. Accordingly, and in view of proposed infrastructural and mining developments in this ecologically sensitive area of high plant endemism, baseline data are provided on spiders (Araneae) of the vegetation layer (i.e. excluding the ground-dwelling fauna) of the Mkambati Nature Reserve (MNR). Spiders were collected at 26 sites (six forest and 20 grassland sites) in the MNR over an eight-day period, using sweep sampling and active searching of flowers in grassland and tree beating in forests, as part of a broader biodiversity survey. Additional specimens were collected with Malaise and pan traps. A total of 1275 specimens were sampled, representing 132 species (6.6% of the total number recorded in South Africa) in 103 genera and 29 families. Theridiidae and Araneidae were the most diverse spider families in the reserve, represented by 22 species each (16.7% of the total), followed by Thomisidae with 19 species (14.4%) and Salticidae with 18 species (13.6%). Grassland and forest had distinct spider faunas, with only 24.2% of species being recorded from both biomes. The average number of species sampled per site in grassland and forest was 26 species for both habitats, although values for the two biomes are not directly comparable because different sampling methods were used. All 132 species are new records for the reserve, of which 20 were new records for the Eastern Cape and at least eight spider species may be new to science. The spider diversity captured despite temporal and methodological limits indicates that many additional species are likely to occur in the reserve. Conservation implications: If the MNR is not adequately conserved at least five new species, which may be confined to the area, would be at high risk of extinction and 15 other species endemic to the Pondoland and KwaZulu-Natal region would have their risk of extinction increased.

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Habitat alteration enables hybridisation between Lesser Spotted and Greater Spotted Eagles in north-east Poland

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270913000348 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 152-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

GRZEGORZ MACIOROWSKI ◽

PAWEŁ MIRSKI

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Habitat Preferences ◽

Arable Land ◽

Habitat Requirements ◽

Habitat Alteration ◽

Landscape Changes ◽

Human Settlements ◽

North East ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Several Variables

SummaryWetlands in the Biebrza Valley, north-east Poland, are inhabited by two closely related Aquila species: the more numerous Lesser Spotted Eagle A. pomarina prefers human-transformed landscapes, whereas the very rare Greater Spotted Eagle A. clanga is associated with natural marshy landscapes. At least since the last decade of the 20th century, these two species have been known to hybridise in the broad zone of their sympatric occurrence in Europe. The aim of the present study was to compare habitat preferences of both spotted eagle species in order to detect which environmental factors could increase the probability of hybridisation. We analysed nesting and hunting habitats for 148 breeding territories (61 of A. pomarina, 56 of A. clanga and 31 of mixed pairs). As expected, the presence of breeding Greater Spotted Eagles was associated with non-transformed marshy landscapes, whereas Lesser Spotted Eagles clearly preferred human-transformed areas. We hypothesised that mixed pairs should occur in intermediate habitat, confirming this assumption by analysing several variables: distance to human settlements, distance to open areas, and proportion of wetlands, shrublands, grasslands, agricultural mosaic and arable land. Results of this study suggest that some landscape changes can enable two species with different habitat requirements to inhabit the same area and hybridise. This scenario has potential conservation implications for the rarer species, Greater Spotted Eagle, which has narrower habitat preferences.

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LXXVI.—A list of the Siphonaptera recorded from Ceylon, together with a number of new records

Annals and Magazine of Natural History ◽

10.1080/00222933608655101 ◽

1936 ◽

Vol 17 (97) ◽

pp. 593-599

Author(s):

Gordon B. Thompson

Keyword(s):

New Records

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IPOMOEA LITTORALIS AND IPOMOEA CAPITELLATA VAR. MULTILOBATA : NEW RECORDS FOR UPPER GANGETIC PLAINS OF INDIA

FLORA AND FAUNA ◽

10.33451/florafauna.v24i1pp03-08 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

Author(s):

JASWINDER KAUR ◽

SATYA NARAIN

Keyword(s):

New Records ◽

Critical Examination ◽

Type Specimens ◽

Gangetic Plains

The floristic exploration and critical examination of specimens collected of family Convolvulaceae from Upper Gangetic Plains of India, resulted in addition of 2 new records for the flora viz. Ipomoea littoralis and Ipomoea capitellata var. multilobata. Detailed description, phenology, ecology, distribution, locality, field number, type specimens examined, illustrations and other relevant notes are provided.

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