Invertebrate dispersal by waterbird species in neotropical wetlands

Endozoochory by waterbirds is particularly relevant to the dispersal of non-flying aquatic invertebrates. This ecological function exercised by birds has been demonstrated in different biogeographical regions, but there are no studies for the neotropical region. In this work, we identified propagules of invertebrates in faeces of 14 syntopic South American waterbird species representing six families, and hatched additional invertebrates from cultured faeces. We tested whether propagule abundance, species richness and composition varied among bird species, and between the cold and warm seasons. We found 164 invertebrate propagules in faecal samples from seven different waterbirds species, including eggs of the Temnocephalida and Notonectidae, statoblasts of bryozoans (Plumatella sp.) and ephippia of Cladocera. Ciliates (including Paramecium sp. and Litostomatea), nematodes and rotifers (Adineta sp. and Nottomatidae) hatched from cultured samples. Potential for endozoochory was confirmed for 12 of 14 waterbird species. Our statistical models suggest that richness and abundance of propagules are associated with bird species and not affected by seasonality. Dispersal by endozoochory is potentially important to a broad variety of invertebrates, being promoted by waterbirds with different ecological and morphological traits, which are likely to drive the dispersal of invertebrates in neotropical wetlands.

Three new species of Oxyethira Eaton, 1873 (Trichoptera: Hydroptilidae) from New Caledonia

Oxyethira Eaton, 1873 is one of the most diverse genera of Hydroptilidae, comprising over 240 species distributed in all biogeographical regions. Here three new species of Oxyethira (Trichoglene) Neboiss, 1977 are described and illustrated from male specimens collected in New Caledonia: O. (Trichoglene) hamus sp. nov., recognized by the hook-shaped apex of the long inferior appendages in lateral view and by the posterior margin of segment IX with a trilobed appearance in ventral view; O. (Trichoglene) rectangulata sp. nov., recognized by the rectangular shape of the inferior appendages, which are totally fused and with two pairs of small setae on the inner face; and O. (Trichoglene) spiralis sp. nov., recognized by the strongly curvilinear shape of the subgenital process in dorsal and lateral views and by the long process spiralling around the ejaculatory duct at the phallus apex.

Molecular data attest to the occurrence of autochthonous Daphnia pulex (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) populations in Sicily, Italy

Biological invasions are known to be among the most important threats to the long-term conservation of native biota, and their effects might be even more difficult to contrast when they are cryptic, i.e., when the non-native invaders cannot be easily recognised based on morphology, and can thus be confused with native taxa. Such cryptic invasions are known to widely occur in the cladoceran genus Daphnia O.F. Müller, 1785, so that the actual distribution and status of most species and lineages need to be checked with a genetic approach. In the frame of this work, we investigated if the Sicilian populations of D. (Daphnia) pulex Leydig, 1860 belonged to the allochthonous North American lineage, which is known to occur in several regions of the Palearctic and Afrotropical biogeographical regions, or rather to the autochthonous European lineage of the species. The molecular results obtained, based on a fragment of the mitochondrial gene encoding for NADH subunit dehydrogenase 5 (ND5), allowed us to rule out the allochthonous status of the species, confirming the presence of autochthonous relictual lineages of D. pulex in Sicily. The native status of these populations is in agreement with their local distribution, limited to natural and poorly-impacted water bodies mostly located in wooded areas at medium and high altitudes. The current local distribution of D. pulex in Sicily is possibly linked to the end of the last glacial maximum and the onset of warmer climatic conditions in the early Holocene, which led the species to take refuge in colder microthermal refugia located at high altitudes, determining their current relictual distribution.

European primary forest database v2.0

Primary forests, defined here as forests where the signs of human impacts, if any, are strongly blurred due to decades without forest management, are scarce in Europe and continue to disappear. Despite these losses, we know little about where these forests occur. Here, we present a comprehensive geodatabase and map of Europe’s known primary forests. Our geodatabase harmonizes 48 different, mostly field-based datasets of primary forests, and contains 18,411 individual patches (41.1 Mha) spread across 33 countries. When available, we provide information on each patch (name, location, naturalness, extent and dominant tree species) and the surrounding landscape (biogeographical regions, protection status, potential natural vegetation, current forest extent). Using Landsat satellite-image time series (1985–2018) we checked each patch for possible disturbance events since primary forests were identified, resulting in 94% of patches free of significant disturbances in the last 30 years. Although knowledge gaps remain, ours is the most comprehensive dataset on primary forests in Europe, and will be useful for ecological studies, and conservation planning to safeguard these unique forests.

Hortus Indicus Malabaricus: An Enquiry Into Alien Plants:II

Rheede’s Magnum Opus (1678-1693) – Horti Indici Malabarici – reflects the indigenous medical knowledge of the people of Malabar region (India) in the 17th century. It invited attention of researchers from different walks of life. It dovetailed the science of medicine and culture of indigenous people of India. The present author extended investigation on it from the standpoint of plant invasion prior to this period. This accounts sheds light on additional 32 alien plant species pertaining to 32 genera and 23 angiospermic families. As many as 20 biogeographical regions have been divulged for their floral contribution to India. The American and African continents share maximum contribution. Nearly all parts of the Old and New Worlds showed contacts with the then India. The author is inclined to state that such ancient botanical annals should be re-investigated on various grounds to disclose past biological invasion which help manage our present biodiversity.

Co-occurrences of tropical trees in eastern South America: disentangling abiotic and biotic forces

Species co-occurrences in local communities can arise independent or dependent on species’ niches. However, the role of niche-dependent processes has not been thoroughly deciphered when generalized to biogeographical scales, probably due to combined shortcomings of data and methodology. Here, we explored the influence of environmental filtering and limiting similarity, as well as biogeographical processes that relate to the assembly of species’ communities and co-occurrences. We modelled jointly the occurrences and co-occurrences of 1016 tropical tree species with abundance data from inventories of 574 localities in eastern South America. We estimated species co-occurrences as raw and residual associations with models that excluded and included the environmental effects on the species’ co-occurrences, respectively. Raw associations indicate co-occurrence of species, whereas residual associations indicate co-occurrence of species after accounting for shared responses to environment. Generally, the influence of environmental filtering exceeded that of limiting similarity in shaping species’ co-occurrences. The number of raw associations was generally higher than that of the residual associations due to the shared responses of tree species to the environmental covariates. Contrary to what was expected from assuming limiting similarity, phylogenetic relatedness or functional similarity did not limit tree co-occurrences. The proportions of positive and negative residual associations varied greatly across the study area, and we found a significant tendency of some biogeographical regions having higher proportions of negative associations between them, suggesting that large-scale biogeographical processes limit the establishment of trees and consequently their co-occurrences.

Multiple Mammarenaviruses Circulating in Angolan Rodents

Rodents are a speciose group of mammals with strong zoonotic potential. Some parts of Africa are still underexplored for the occurrence of rodent-borne pathogens, despite this high potential. Angola is at the convergence of three major biogeographical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, each harbouring a specific rodent community. This rodent-rich area is, therefore, strategic for studying the diversity and evolution of rodent-borne viruses. In this study we examined 290 small mammals, almost all rodents, for the presence of mammarenavirus and hantavirus RNA. While no hantavirus was detected, we found three rodent species positive for distinct mammarenaviruses with a particularly high prevalence in Namaqua rock rats (Micaelamys namaquensis). We characterised four complete virus genomes, which showed typical mammarenavirus organisation. Phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses revealed: (i) the presence of a significantly divergent strain of Luna virus in Angolan representatives of the ubiquitous Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis), (ii) a novel Okahandja-related virus associated with the Angolan lineage of Micaelamys namaquensis for which we propose the name Bitu virus (BITV) and (iii) the occurrence of a novel Mobala-like mammarenavirus in the grey-bellied pygmy mouse (Mus triton) for which we propose the name Kwanza virus (KWAV). This high virus diversity in a limited host sample size and in a relatively small geographical area supports the idea that Angola is a hotspot for mammarenavirus diversity.

Testing the potential of pollen assemblages to capture composition, diversity and ecological gradients of surrounding vegetation in two biogeographical regions of southeastern Europe

Due to the complex relationship between pollen and vegetation, it is not yet clear how pollen diagrams may be interpreted with respect to changes in floristic diversity and only a few studies have hitherto investigated this problem. We compare pollen assemblages from moss samples in two southeastern European forests with the surrounding vegetation to investigate (a) their compositional similarity, (b) the association between their diversity characteristics in both terms of richness and evenness, and (c) the correspondence of the main ecological gradients that can be revealed by them. Two biogeographical regions with different vegetation characteristics, the Pieria mountains (north central Greece) and the slopes of Ciomadul volcano (eastern Romania), were chosen as divergent examples of floristic regions, vegetation structure and landscape openness. Pollen assemblages are efficient in capturing the presence or absence, rather than the abundance in distribution of plants in the surrounding area and this bias increases along with landscape openness and vegetation diversity, which is higher in the Pieria mountains. Pollen assemblages and vegetation correlate better in terms of richness, that is, low order diversity indices. Relatively high correlation, in terms of evenness, could be potentially found in homogenous and species poor ecosystems as for Ciomadul. Composition and diversity of woody, rather than herb, vegetation is better reflected in pollen assemblages of both areas, especially for Pieria where a direct comparison of the two components was feasible, although this depends on the species-specific pollen production and dispersal, the openness of landscape and the overall diversity of vegetation. Gradients revealed by pollen assemblages are highly and significantly correlated with those existing in vegetation. Pollen assemblages may represent the vegetation well in terms of composition, diversity (mainly richness) and ecological gradients, but this potential depends on land use, vegetation structure, biogeographical factors and plant life forms.