A 30-year update of the climbers and vascular epiphytes inventory of the Cerro Ñielol Natural Monument (La Araucanía, Chile): a database

Plant species diversity may be seriously threatened in ecotone zones under global climate change. Therefore, keeping updated inventories of indicator species seems to be a good strategy for monitoring wild areas located in these strips. The database comes from an inventory of climbers and vascular epiphytes conducted in the Cerro Ñielol Natural Monument, a small protected area (89 hectares) located in Chile's Mediterranean-temperate phytogeographic region, within the boundaries of the city of Temuco, La Araucaína Region. The data represent the update of the first inventory carried out between 1980 and 1984. In this current contribution, data collection was carried out in 27 quadrats using the trails as transects. The data provide the record of 45 species (16 climbers, 15 epiphytes and 10 trees), including two accidental epiphytes (Acer psudoplatanus L. and Gavilea odoratissima (L.) Endl. ex Griseb.), two species that can be found as epiphytes or terricolous (Hymenophyllum tunbrigense (L.) Sm. and Nertera granadensis (Mutis ex L.f.) Druce) and one species (Chusquea quila Kunth) that can be found as terricolous and climber. Species of interest were recorded on live trees (n = 51), snags (n = 9), stumps (n = 4), fallen log (n = 5) and on the forest soil (n = 17). The most abundant climbers were Hydrangea serratifolia (Hook. & Arn.) F. Phil. (n = 77 stems), Lapageria rosea Ruiz & Pav. (n = 70 stems), Raukaua valdiviensis (Gay) Frodin (n = 48 stems) and Cissus striata Ruiz & Pav. (n = 33 stems). In contrast, the most abundant epiphytes were Hymenophyllum plicatum Kaulf. (n = 1728 fronds) and Hymenophyllum tunbrigense (L.) Sm. (n = 2375 fronds). These latter two species represent the highest frequency and abundance in the whole inventory, respectively. Several ecosystem traits are, in fact, new reports since the first inventory was conducted in 1980-1984; for example, the presence of the filmy fern Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, the record of the climber Elytropus chilensis , fallen logs or the species-host relationship. Accordingly, the database is made available in this manuscript. This study updates the climbers and vascular epiphyte species list in the Cerro Ñielol Natural Monument, a small patch of forest under severe anthropogenic pressure. This protected area is characterised by floristic elements of the Mediterranean and temperate phytogeographic region of Chile, in a zone where forests have been severely deforested. The database includes the record of 45 species – including six species that were not recorded in the first inventory – in 211 records. The main novelty of this contribution is the systematic classification of species, on ten traits rarely reported in a floristic inventory: (i) species taxonomic identity (as usual), (ii) species abundance (number of stems and fronds), (iii) habit (herb, shrub, subshrub, tree), (iv) growth form (accidental epiphyte, epiphyte, vine, liana, terricolous), (v) climbing mechanism (tendrils, adhesive roots, twining, scrambling), (vi) microhabitat (fallen log, footpath slope, soil, stump, trunk), (vii) host species (where appropriate), (viii) host condition (live, woody debris, snag), (ix) host diameter at breast height (DBH) and (x) target species found over 2.3 m on trees. Thirty years after the first inventory conducted between 1980 and 1984, the climber assemblage has remained relatively stable over time, although there are some differences in species composition. Specifically, the climber Elytropus chilensis are recorded in the current inventory, but the Mitraria coccinea (recorded in the first inventory) is not present. On the other hand, the epiphyte assemblage showed an increase in the species richness of filmy ferns, with five previously unrecorded species: Hymenophyllum cuneatum, H. dicranotrichum, H. pectinatum, H. peltatum and H. tunbrigense. One of the novel features was the presence of Sarmienta scandens and Synammia feuillei on a Pinus radiata D. Don tree. Additionally, the introduced species Acer pseudoplatanus is included, which is new to the Chilean vascular plant catalogue. All these data are available in the present manuscript.

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Plant diversity of Ghorkhod Protected Area, NE Iran

Phytotaxa ◽

10.11646/phytotaxa.249.1.6 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 249 (1) ◽

pp. 118 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

FARSHID MEMARIANI ◽

MOHAMMAD REZA JOHARCHI ◽

HOSSEIN AKHANI

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Protected Area ◽

Life Form ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Floristic Composition ◽

Transitional Zone ◽

Plant Groups ◽

Wide Range ◽

Plant Families ◽

Ne Iran

Ghorkhod Protected Area (GPA) is located in a transitional zone among different biogeographical units in North Khorassan Province, NE Iran. The study area is mainly a mountainous region in western extensions of Khorassan-Kopet Dagh floristic province. We investigated the floristic composition, life form spectrum and phytogeography of the study area through several random collection efforts and 200 vegetation samples (reléves) in selected vegetation types during 2007–2012. A total of 663 vascular plant species belonging to 367 genera and 81 families are recorded as native and naturalized in GPA. Angiosperms and Dicots are among the most diverse plant groups. The richest plant families are Asteraceae (88 species), Poaceae (78), Lamiaceae (45), Brassicaceae (43), Fabaceae (38), and Caryophyllaceae (32). The genera Allium L. (17 species), Astragalus L. (15) and Cousinia Cass. (12) are the richest ones, however, the majority of the species belongs to oligotypic and monotypic genera. Life form spectrum of the study area is dominated by hemicryptophytes (38.9%) and therophytes (23.4%). Allium transvestiens Vved., Agropyron desertorum Schult., Helictotrichon turcomanicum Czopanov and Piptatherum latifolium (Roshev.) Nevski are recorded as new to Iran. The core flora of the area has the Irano-Turanian origin. However, the wide-range and widespread elements are also well represented in the study area. GPA is inhabited by several endemic, rare and narrow-range plant species, indicating the biodiversity importance of the study area in NE Iran.

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Trees, shrubs and herbs of the coastal Myrtaceae swamp forest (Región de La Araucanía, Chile): a dataset

Biodiversity Data Journal ◽

10.3897/bdj.9.e63634 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Jimmy Pincheira-Ulbrich ◽

Elías Andrade Mansilla ◽

Fernando Peña-Cortés ◽

Cristián Vergara Fernández

Keyword(s):

Introduced Species ◽

Vascular Plants ◽

Prunus Avium ◽

Woody Debris ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Swamp Forest ◽

Main Trunk ◽

Systematic Classification ◽

Tristerix Corymbosus ◽

Drimys Winteri

Species lists are fundamental for knowledge of species diversity in regions subject to intense anthropogenic pressure, especially in poorly-studied ecosystems. The dataset comes from an inventory conducted in 30 fragments of Myrtaceae swamp forest, located in an agroforestry matrix landscape of the coastal La Araucanía Region in Chile. The data collection was carried out using line transect sampling, which was traced through the core of each fragment orientated towards its longest axis. The dataset provides a record of 55 species (24 trees, 1 vine [as a host], 16 herbs and 15 shrubs) including accidental epiphytes (n = 7), hemiparasites (n = 4), host (n = 10) and additionally woody debris (n = 36). The most frequent trees in the landscape were Myrceugenia exsucca (n = 36 records) and Blepharocalyx cruckshanksii (n = 33 records), species that were also the most common hosts. Drimys winteri was a companion species, other trees and shrubs generally being rarely observed, as was the case of the introduced species (Prunus avium, Rubus constrictus and Ulex europaeus). Branches were the most common microhabitat for hemiparasites. Within this group, Lepidoceras chilense was the most frequent species. For accidental epiphytes, Drimys winteri, which commonly grows on the ground (soil), were the most common species found in the main trunk crotch. Some unusual observations were the climber Cissus striata as host of Tristerix corymbosus (hemiparasite) and Tristerix corymbosus as host of Lepidoceras chilense (hemiparasite). This study represents a landscape-scale sample of the swamp forest, which is distributed in a dispersed pattern over a large stretch of Chile. The data were collected from 30 forest patches (from 0.05 to 936 ha), located on the coast of the Araucanía. The database includes the presence of 55 species of vascular plants in 356 records. The main novelty of this contribution is the systematic classification of species under six traits, never before reported in the same database: (i) condition (coarse woody debris, fallen log, live, snag), (ii) habit (herb, shrub, tree), (iii) growth microhabitat (e.g. tree trunk, branch, main trunk crotch), (iv) growth form (accidental epiphyte, hemiparasite, terricolous, vegetative), (v) host species (as appropriate) and (vi) relative location of the species in the sampled patch and surrounding areas (core, border, matrix). Species not previously observed in these forests were: Gavilea spp., Hieracium spp., Lophosoria quadripinnata, Berberis actinacantha, Gaultheria phillyreifolia, Ovidia pillo-pillo, Amomyrtus meli and Caldcluvia paniculata. In addition, two introduced species are novelties for the catalogue of vascular plants of Chile (Cupressus macrocarpa and Prunus avium). Several of these ecosystem traits are indeed new reports for these types of forests (e.g. accidental epiphytes, fallen logs, species-host relationship); at the same time, more frequent data (i.e. species composition, habit) are found in different contributions, making the comprehensive process of analysis difficult. Accordingly, the database is made available in this manuscript.

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Estimation of the relative abundance of species in artificial mixtures of insects using low-coverage shotgun metagenomics

Metabarcoding and Metagenomics ◽

10.3897/mbmg.4.48281 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lidia Garrido-Sanz ◽

Miquel Àngel Senar ◽

Josep Piñol

Keyword(s):

Relative Abundance ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Single Species ◽

Insect Species ◽

Individual Species ◽

Advanced Degree ◽

Mixed Species ◽

Species List ◽

Shotgun Metagenomics ◽

Low Coverage

Amplicon metabarcoding is an established technique to analyse the taxonomic composition of communities of organisms using high-throughput DNA sequencing, but there are doubts about its ability to quantify the relative proportions of the species, as opposed to the species list. Here, we bypass the enrichment step and avoid the PCR-bias, by directly sequencing the extracted DNA using shotgun metagenomics. This approach is common practice in prokaryotes, but not in eukaryotes, because of the low number of sequenced genomes of eukaryotic species. We tested the metagenomics approach using insect species whose genome is already sequenced and assembled to an advanced degree. We shotgun-sequenced, at low-coverage, 18 species of insects in 22 single-species and 6 mixed-species libraries and mapped the reads against 110 reference genomes of insects. We used the single-species libraries to calibrate the process of assignation of reads to species and the libraries created from species mixtures to evaluate the ability of the method to quantify the relative species abundance. Our results showed that the shotgun metagenomic method is easily able to set apart closely-related insect species, like four species of Drosophila included in the artificial libraries. However, to avoid the counting of rare misclassified reads in samples, it was necessary to use a rather stringent detection limit of 0.001, so species with a lower relative abundance are ignored. We also identified that approximately half the raw reads were informative for taxonomic purposes. Finally, using the mixed-species libraries, we showed that it was feasible to quantify with confidence the relative abundance of individual species in the mixtures.

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7. The future of the world’s reptiles

Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction ◽

10.1093/actrade/9780198806417.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 117-124

Author(s):

T. S. Kemp

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Protected Area ◽

Global Climate ◽

Habitat Destruction ◽

Considerable Reduction ◽

Commercial Exploitation ◽

Number Of Species ◽

The Future ◽

Important Approach

The world’s reptile fauna is facing the threat of a considerable reduction in the number of species. One estimate is that by 2050 over 500 species, around 5 per cent, will have been lost. By 2080, the figure will have grown to 20 per cent, which is approximately 2,000 species. ‘The future of the world’s reptiles’ explains that the threats to reptiles are: commercial exploitation for food, medicines, and ornament; habitat destruction; global climate change; and pollution. Any comprehensive effort to conserve needs to address all of these. By far the most important way to conserve reptiles is setting up and regulating various kinds of protected area. Another important approach is legislation to control trade in reptiles.

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Zoantharia (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) of the Dutch Caribbean and One New Species of Parazoanthus

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d12050190 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 190

Author(s):

Javier Montenegro ◽

Bert W. Hoeksema ◽

Maria E. A. Santos ◽

Hiroki Kise ◽

James Davis Reimer

Keyword(s):

Coral Reefs ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Undescribed Species ◽

Species List ◽

History Of Research ◽

History Of ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Dutch Caribbean ◽

One New Species

Species of the anthozoan order Zoantharia (=Zoanthidea) are common components of subtropical and tropical shallow water coral reefs. Despite a long history of research on their species diversity in the Caribbean, many regions within this sea remain underexamined. One such region is the Dutch Caribbean, including the islands of St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Saba, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, as well as the Saba Bank, for which no definitive species list exists. Here, combining examinations of specimens housed in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center collection with new specimens and records from field expeditions, we provide a list of zoantharian species found within the Dutch Caribbean. Our results demonstrate the presence at least 16 described species, including the newly described Parazoanthus atlanticus, and the additional potential presence of up to four undescribed species. These records of new and undescribed species demonstrate that although the zoantharian research history of the Caribbean is long, further discoveries remain to be found. In light of biodiversity loss and increasing anthropogenic pressure on declining coral reefs, documenting the diversity of zoantharians and other coral reef species to provide baseline data takes on a new urgency.

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Moths and Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Boreal Mixedwood Forest near Lac La Biche, Alberta, Including New Provincial Records

The Canadian Field-Naturalist ◽

10.22621/cfn.v118i4.56 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 118 (4) ◽

pp. 530 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Greg R. Pohl ◽

David W. Langor ◽

Jean-François Landry ◽

John R. Spence

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

New Record ◽

New Records ◽

Uv Light ◽

Light Trap ◽

Species Abundance ◽

First Record ◽

Species List ◽

The Family ◽

Boreal Mixedwood Forest

Lepidoptera were collected, primarily via UV light trap, for three seasons in the boreal mixedwood forest near Lac La Biche, Alberta. A total of 11,111 specimens were collected, representing 41 families and 438 species. A species list with flight times is presented. The total Lepidoptera community was estimated to be 546 ± 23.34 species. Abundance and species richness peaked in late July. Thirty-five species constitute new records for Alberta, while one species, Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata, is a new record for Canada, and the first record of the family Acanthopteroctetidae in Canada.

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Vascular plant community dynamics following hexazinone site preparation in the lower Coastal Plain

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x93-275 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (10) ◽

pp. 2216-2229 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

R. Neal Wilkins ◽

Wayne R. Marion ◽

Daniel G. Neary ◽

George W. Tanner

Keyword(s):

Plant Community ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Woody Species ◽

Application Rate ◽

Site Preparation ◽

Herbaceous Vegetation ◽

Growing Seasons ◽

Species Abundance Distributions

Differential responses of vascular plant community compositions, diversities, and species-abundance distributions to hexazinone site preparation were evaluated on three 1-year-old clearcuts, each representing a point along a generalized edaphic gradient (xeric sandhill, mesic flatwoods, and hydric hammock). Foliar cover by species was sampled along four 20-m permanent line transects within each of three blocked replications of hexazinone treatments (0.0, 1.7, 3.4, and 6.8 kg/ha) at pretreatment and after the first and second growing seasons post-treatment. Cover by woody species decreased with increasing hexazinone rates on all sites (P < 0.05). Herbaceous vegetation recovered from first-season reductions to levels that did not vary with treatment (xeric sandhill and mesic flatwoods) or increased with increasing hexazinone rates (hydric hammock). Hexazinone tolerance by Gelsemiumsempervirens (L.) Ait.f. and Vaccinium spp. on the xeric sandhill and Ilexglabra (L.) Gray and G. sempervirens on the mesic flatwoods influenced diversity responses by woody and herbaceous vegetation. With increasing rates, herbaceous diversity decreased on the xeric sandhill, did not vary on the mesic flatwoods, and increased on the hydric hammock. Plant community responses to hexazinone were found to be functions of application rate, edaphic factors, adaptive strategies of resident species, and the presence or absence of hexazinone-tolerant species.

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Area-based conservation planning in Japan: protected area network effectiveness to the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

10.1101/2021.07.07.451416 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Takayuki Shiono ◽

Yasuhiro Kubota ◽

Buntarou Kusumoto

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Protected Area ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Critical Role ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Area Network ◽

Global Biodiversity

To reframe the imperfect review processes of nation-scale actions on area-based conservation through protected area (PA) networks, we first created novel infrastructure to visualize nation-level biodiversity information in Japan. We then assessed the performance of the existing PA network relative to land exploitation pressure and evaluated conservation effectiveness of PA expansion for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The Zonation algorithm was used to spatially prioritize conservation areas to minimize biodiversity loss and the extinction risk for 8,500 Japanese vascular plant and vertebrate species under constraints of the existing PA network and land use. The spatial pattern of the identified priority areas, which were considered candidate areas for expansion of the current PA network, was influenced by land-use types according to the mask layers of non-PAs, and low-, middle-, and high-ranked PAs. The current PA network reduced the aggregate extinction risk of multiple species by 36.6%. Indeed, the percentage of built-up areas in the existing PAs was in general smaller than that in the areas surrounding PAs. Notably, high-ranked PAs fully restrained built-up pressure (0.037% per 10 years), whereas low-ranked PAs in the national park and wild-life protection areas did not (1.845% per 10 years). Conservation effects were predicted to substantially improve by expansion of high-ranked (legally strict) PAs into remote non-PAs without population/socio-economic activities, or expansion of medium-ranked PAs into agriculture forestry satoyama and urban areas. A 30% land conservation target was predicted to decrease extinction risk by 74.1% when PA expansion was implemented across remote areas, satoyama, and urban areas; moreover, PA connectivity almost doubled compared with the existing PA network. In contrast, a conventional scenario showed that placing national parks in state-owned and non-populated areas would reduce extinction risk by only 4.0%. The conservation prioritization analyses demonstrated an effectiveness of using a comprehensive conservation approach that reconciles land-sparing protection and land-sharing conservation in other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) in satoyama and urban green spaces. Our results revealed that complementary inclusion of various PAs interventions related to their governance and land-use planning plays a critical role in effectively preventing biodiversity loss and makes it more feasible to achieve ambitious conservation targets.

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Multi-taxa spatial conservation planning reveals similar priorities between taxa and improved protected area representation with climate change

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-022-02357-1 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Rob Critchlow ◽

Charles A. Cunningham ◽

Humphrey Q. P. Crick ◽

Nicholas A. Macgregor ◽

Michael D. Morecroft ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Conservation Planning ◽

Protected Area ◽

Global Climate ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Indicator Taxa ◽

Network Effectiveness ◽

Spatial Conservation Planning ◽

Richness Patterns

AbstractProtected area (PA) networks have in the past been constructed to include all major habitats, but have often been developed through consideration of only a few indicator taxa or across restricted areas, and rarely account for global climate change. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) aims to improve the efficiency of biodiversity conservation, particularly when addressing internationally agreed protection targets. We apply SCP in Great Britain (GB) using the widest taxonomic coverage to date (4,447 species), compare spatial prioritisation results across 18 taxa and use projected future (2080) distributions to assess the potential impact of climate change on PA network effectiveness. Priority conservation areas were similar among multiple taxa, despite considerable differences in spatial species richness patterns; thus systematic prioritisations based on indicator taxa for which data are widely available are still useful for conservation planning. We found that increasing the number of protected hectads by 2% (to reach the 2020 17% Aichi target) could have a disproportionate positive effect on species protected, with an increase of up to 17% for some taxa. The PA network in GB currently under-represents priority species but, if the potential future distributions under climate change are realised, the proportion of species distributions protected by the current PA network may increase, because many PAs are in northern and higher altitude areas. Optimal locations for new PAs are particularly concentrated in southern and upland areas of GB. This application of SCP shows how a small addition to an existing PA network could have disproportionate benefits for species conservation.

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Phytorarity of Chernihiv region in M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine

NaUKMA Research Papers Biology and Ecology ◽

10.18523/2617-4529.2021.4.37-46 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 37-46

Author(s):

Alla Gnatiuk ◽

Rak Oleksandr ◽

Viktoriia Gritsenko ◽

Mykola Gaponenko

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Global Climate ◽

Botanical Garden ◽

Rare Plants ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Pteridium Aquilinum ◽

Rare Plant ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

National Academy Of Sciences ◽

Rare Plant Species

Increasing anthropogenic pressure, global climate change, and the lack of large introduction centers in the Chernihiv region makes it important to preserve rare species of flora ex situ outside this administrative region. The article presents the results of the study of taxonomic composition and evaluation of the success of the introduction of rare plant species of Chernihiv region in the M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The study of rare plant species and the development of methods for their effective reproduction was initiated in the NBG in 1970 in a separate section “Rare plants of the flora of Ukraine.” It is established that the collection grows and protects 57 phythorarites of Chernihiv region, of which 29 species are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine (III edition), and 28 species – in the “List of regionally rare plant species of Chernihiv region”. Most plants successfully recover ex situ with moderate care or without additional human intervention. The biomorphological spectrum of introduced plants is dominated by cryptophytes (50.88 %) and hemicryptophytes (42.11 %), the shares of phanerophytes, hamephytes and therophytes are insignificant. 17 species of phythorarites formed stable homeostatic populations. Of these: 5 species are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine (Allium ursinum, Crocus reticulatus, Epipactis helleborine, Galanthus nivalis, Pulsatilla pratensis) and 12 species – in the “List of regionally rare plant species of Chernihiv region” (Aster amellus, Corydalis intermedia, C. marschal, Daphne mesereum, Equisetum hyemale, Iris hungarica, Phlomis tuberosa, Primula veris, Pteridium aquilinum, Scilla bifolia, S. sibirica, Vinca minor). Thus, the cultivation of almost a third of the phythorarites of Chernihiv region in the M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden testifies to the effectiveness of their preservation ex situ.

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