Identification of terrestrial gastropods families found in district Swat, Pakistan

Very little is known about the malacofauna in district Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, situated in the Northern part of Pakistan. The Swat valley possesses a variety of suitable environmental conditions, providing different types of habitats for both flora and fauna. Taken into consideration these points, the present study was conducted to explore the terrestrial snails diversity in agricultural and non-agricultural fields in the lower Swat valley. A total of 417 shells were collected from three sites: Kokarai, Kanju Township, and Deolai. Based on conchological features, three families: Bradybaenidae, Hygromiidae, and Zonitidae were identified using different terrestrial snail keys. In Kokarai and Deolai, shells of members of all the above-mentioned families were found from agricultural fields. In Kanju Township, shells of members of the family Bradybaenidae and Zonitidae were found. From these findings, it was concluded that district Swat possesses a significant malacofauna which was unexplored before and aided more to the existing literature on malacofauna. It also supports the idea that the agroecosystem is rich in species diversity. Further in-depth and extensive study is recommended to be carried out for a detailed taxonomy of the described terrestrial gastropod families.

Tree regeneration characteristics in limestone forests of the Cat Ba National Park, Vietnam

Background The ability of overstory tree species to regenerate successfully is important for the preservation of tree species diversity and its associated flora and fauna. This study investigated forest regeneration dynamics in the Cat Ba National Park, a biodiversity hotspot in Vietnam. Data was collected from 90 sample plots (500 m2) and 450 sub-sample plots (25 m2) in regional limestone forests. We evaluated the regeneration status of tree species by developing five ratios relating overstory and regeneration richness and diversity. By examining the effect of environmental factors on these ratios, we aimed to identify the main drivers for maintaining tree species diversity or for potential diversity gaps between the regeneration and the overstory layer. Our results can help to increase the understanding of regeneration patterns in tropical forests of Southeast Asia and to develop successful conservation strategies. Results We found 97 tree species in the regeneration layer compared to 136 species in the overstory layer. The average regeneration density was 3764 ± 1601 per ha. Around 70% of the overstory tree species generated offspring. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, only 36% of threatened tree species were found in the regeneration layer. A principal component analysis provided evidence that the regeneration of tree species was slightly negatively correlated to terrain factors (percentage of rock surface, slope) and soil properties (cation exchange capacity, pH, humus content, soil moisture, soil depth). Contrary to our expectations, traces of human impact and the prevailing light conditions (total site factor, gap fraction, openness, indirect site factor, direct site factor) had no influence on regeneration density and composition, probably due to the small gradient in light availability. Conclusion We conclude that the tree species richness in Cat Ba National Park appears to be declining at present. We suggest similar investigations in other biodiversity hotspots to learn whether the observed trend is a global phenomenon. In any case, a conservation strategy for the threatened tree species in the Cat Ba National Park needs to be developed if tree species diversity is to be maintained.

Cryptic Species Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationship in the Rust Genus Chrysomyxa from China

Chrysomyxa rusts are fungal pathogens widely distributed in the Northern hemisphere, causing spruce needle and cone rust diseases, and they are responsible for significant economic losses in China. Taxonomic delimitation and precise species identification are difficult within this genus because some characters often overlap in several species. Adequate species delimitation, enhanced by the use of DNA-based methodologies, will help to establish well-supported species boundaries and enable the identification of cryptic species. Here, we explore the cryptic species diversity in the rust genus Chrysomyxa from China. Species delimitation analyses are conducted using a distance-based method (ABGD) and three tree-based methods (GMYC, bPTP, and mPTP) based on combined LSU and ITS sequences of over 60 specimens. Although there is some incongruence among species delimitation methods, two new species and three putative cryptic species are identified. The key to 20 Chrysomyxa species distributed in China is presented. These results suggest that a significant level of undiscovered cryptic diversity is likely to be found in Chrysomyxa from China. Future studies should consider multiple analytical methods when dealing with multi-locus datasets.

First record of the genus Beris Latreille (Diptera, Stratiomyidae) from Korea, with description of a new species

The subfamily Beridinae of the family Stratiomyidae contains about 280 known species globally, and distributed all over the biogeographical areas except polar region. In the Korean peninsula, the species diversity of this subfamily has been poorly known so far, in accordance with National species list of Korea by National Institue of Biological Resources. In this paper, the soldier fly genus Beris Latreille is reported for the first time from Korea based on following three species: B. fuscipes Meigen, B. hirotui Ôuchi, and B. tigris Lee and Suh, sp. nov. Among them, B. tigris Lee and Suh, sp. nov. was confirmed to be newly discovered. Consequently, three species within this genus have been identified from the Korean peninsula. The identification key, description, external photographs, and taxonomic notes of these Korean species are presented herein.

Discovery of Kerivoula kachinensis and a validity of K. titania (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in China

In April 2019, 15 (10♂, 5♀) Kerivoula bats were collected by harp traps from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China. External and craniodental examination, multivariate statistical analyses and molecular phylogenetic inference (CoI, Cytb and Rag2 gene markers) indicated they are Kerivoula kachinensis and Kerivoula titania, respectively. Former represents a new chiropteran record from China, while the latter is a valid occurrence of K. titania in this region because recent study indicate a misidentification of “K. titania” in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, China. All specimens are presently preserved at Key Laboratory of Conservation and Application in Biodiversity of South China in Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China. Nowadays, four woolly bats occur in China including, Kerivoula furva, K. kachinensis, Kerivoula picta and K. titania, whilst there is a risk of underestimation the actual species diversity in China region when comparing those of neighboring region such as Vietnam. Supports for field survey need to be continued in future.

Relationship between Diversity and Stability of a Karst Plant Community

The relationships among species diversity, functional diversity, functional redundancy, and community stability are central to community and ecosystem ecology. This paper examines plant communities at different stages of vegetation restoration in the Guizhou karst plateau to study the relationship among functional diversity, functional redundancy, and stability of plant communities. The most important results include the following. (1) Species diversity (SD), functional redundancy (FR), and stability (STB) gradually increased with restoration, and there were significant differences among the different stages; functional diversity (FD) increased at first and then decreased, and reached the highest level at the tree irrigation stage. (2) Plant height (PLH) and specific leaf area (SLA) were functional traits that affected the diversity and stability of the plant community, and PLH was positively correlated with plant community diversity and stability, while SLA was negatively correlated with plant community diversity and stability. (3) During the community recovery, FD and FR interacted to maintain stability. In the early and late stages of recovery, the effect of functional redundancy on stability was greater than that of functional diversity, but it was the opposite in the middle stages. (4) The tree irrigation stage is the likely point at which the species diversity of plant communities in karst areas reached saturation, and the growth rate of functional redundancy after species diversity saturation was greater than that before saturation.