Ecology

Knowledge of mammalian diversity is still surprisingly disparate, both regionally and taxonomically. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status and distribution of the world's mammals. Data, compiled by 1700+ experts, cover all 5487 species, including marine mammals. Global macroecological patterns are very different for land and marine species but suggest common mechanisms driving diversity and endemism across systems. Compared with land species, threat levels are higher among ...

The influence of functional group specific production and respiration patterns on a lake's metabolic balance remains poorly investigated to date compared to whole-system estimates of metabolism. We employed a summed component ecosystem approach for assessing lake-wide and functional group-specific metabolism (gross primary production (GPP) and respiration (R)) in shallow and eutrophic Lake Võrtsjärv in central Estonia during three years. Eleven functional groups were considered: piscivorous and benthivorous fish; phyto-, bacterio-, proto- and metazooplankton; benthic macroinvertebrates, bacteria and ciliates; macrophytes and their associated epiphytes. Metabolism of these groups was assessed by allometric equations coupled with daily records of temperature and hydrology of the lake and measurements of food web functional groups biomass. Results revealed that heterotrophy dominated most of the year, with a short autotrophic period observed in late spring. Most of the metabolism o...

The feeding of 0+ smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) was studied in Lake Peipsi (Estonia/Russia). Smelt fed mainly on zooplankton, especially on cladocerans and copepods, and not on rotifers. The dominant taxa in smelt food were Daphnia sp., Bosmina longirostris, Bosmina coregoni, Chydorus sphaericus, Eudiaptomus sp., Mesocyclops spp., and cyclopoid copepods. Copepods constituted a greater percentage of the food of smelt at

We present the EU LIFE PonDerat project, which is aimed at restoring the natural ecosystems of the Pontine Archipelago, a group of islands located off the western coast of Italy. The spread of invasive species is a major environmental threat on these islands, which are rich in rare habitats and endemic species and are important sites for the conservation of Mediterranean biodiversity. The project focuses on the conservation of species and habitats that are protected by EU laws but are currently threatened by introduced plants and animals. The main targets of the control measures are black rats, feral goats, mouflons and invasive plants of the genus Carpobrotus. Conservation measures focus on the shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan and Calonectris diomedea, which are endemic to the Mediterranean and are listed in Annex I of the European Bird Directive. Conservation measures also focus on island habitats of great biogeographical value, which are listed in Annex I of the European Habitats Directive and are seriously threatened by introduced herbivores and by invasive plants. The main outcome expected from this project is that the restoration of ecosystem functions will enhance the breeding success and population size of shearwaters and lead to the recovery of target habitats.

... Late Cretaceous formations exposed along the south coast of Born-holm Island, Denmark, contain well ... In comparison to the other globigerine-shaped taxa from Bornholm, H. portsdownensis is nearly ... 7D-F). Periphery of the test is broadly rounded in axial view and lobulate in ...

One of the few general patterns in ecology is the increase of species richness with area. However, factors driving species-area relationship (SAR) are under debate, and the role of human-induced changes has been overlooked so far. Furthermore, SAR studies in tropical regions, in particular in multilayered rain forests are scarce. On the other side, studies of global change-induced impacts on biodiversity have become increasingly important, particular in the tropics, where these impacts are especially pronounced. Here, we investigated if area modulates the effect of land use, elevation and canopy on plant species richness. For the first time we studied SAR in multilayered tropical forests considering all functional groups. We selected 13 natural and disturbed habitats on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, distributed over an elevational range of 3700 m. In each habitat type, we set up three to six modified Whittaker plots. We recorded all plant species in 64 plots and 640 subplots and describe...

ABSTRACT Aim Climate is widely recognized as a major predictor of species richness patterns along large-scale environmental gradients. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which climate influences species richness are still a matter of debate. We disentangle whether climate influences species richness of birds directly via physiological limi-tations or indirectly via vegetation structure or the availability of food resources. Location Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Methods We recorded bird species richness along an elevational gradient from 870 to 4550 m a.s.l. We quantified local climatic conditions, vegetation structure and the availability of food resources, and applied path analysis to disentangle their direct and indirect effects on species richness of all birds, frugivores and insectivores. Results Overall, we recorded 2945 individuals from 114 bird species. Species richness of all birds was closely correlated with temperature, vegetation structure and invertebrate biomass and both direct and indirect (via vegetation structure and availability of food resources) climatic effects were important for the diversity of the whole, trophically heterogeneous bird community. The species richness of insectivorous birds was linked to vegetation structure and invertebrate biomass, while the richness of frugivores was strongly associated with fruit abundance. Climatic factors influenced bird species richness of both avian feeding guilds exclu-sively indirectly via vegetation structure and availability of food resources. Main conclusions We reveal the importance of trophic interactions for gener-ating species richness patterns along large-scale environmental gradients. Our results challenge the general assumption that temperature and water availability influence species richness mostly directly, and underscore the importance of veg-etation structure and the availability of food resources as principal mediators of climatic effects on species richness patterns on macroecological scales.