Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zi-Xuan Zhao, Mei-Ling Shao, Chris Newman, Yi Luo, Zhao-Min Zhou
Summary: The illegal poaching of vertebrate species in China poses a major threat to biodiversity, ecosystem functionality, and public health. Recent wildlife protection measures have helped recover threatened flagship species from the brink of extinction. Understanding the socio-economic and regional factors influencing poaching is crucial for effective conservation interventions.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Corey T. Callaghan, Shinichi Nakagawa, William K. Cornwell
Summary: Quantifying the abundance of species is crucial in various fields, and the global distribution of species abundances shows a log left skewed pattern. By integrating data from well-studied species with a global dataset of bird occurrences, researchers estimated that there are approximately 50 billion individual birds in the world. This method provides a blueprint for quantifying species-specific abundance worldwide with uncertainty, allowing for a more accurate tracking of temporal changes in global biodiversity.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Arne Mertens, Rony Swennen, Nina Ronsted, Filip Vandelook, Bart Panis, Gabriel Sachter-Smith, Dang Toan Vu, Steven B. Janssens
Summary: This study examines the distribution, risk, and conservation status of wild banana species, finding that 11 out of 59 assessed species are vulnerable and nine are endangered. The northern Indo-Burmese region is identified as having the highest environmental suitability for most wild banana species. Assessments show that the conservation of the banana CWR is currently insufficient both in and ex situ.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alice C. Hughes, Michael C. Orr, Fumin Lei, Qinmin Yang, Huijie Qiao
Summary: Most ecological studies focus on developed countries, but the rapid urbanisation in developing regions has significant implications for biodiversity. This global analysis reveals that city size and environmental characteristics have varied impacts on bird diversity, but access to green space is a major driver worldwide.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE-HUMAN AND POLICY DIMENSIONS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Gabriele Casazza, Thomas Abeli, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Davide Dagnino, Giuseppe Fenu, Domenico Gargano, Luigi Minuto, Chiara Montagnani, Simone Orsenigo, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Lucia Varaldo, Graziano Rossi
Summary: The study combined species distribution models and red listing thresholds under Criterion A to strategically plan assisted colonization for multiple species, minimizing the effort required in terms of creating new populations and maximizing conservation benefits in terms of range loss compensation.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michael C. Orr, Alice C. Hughes, Douglas Chesters, John Pickering, Chao-Dong Zhu, John S. Ascher
Summary: The study shows that publicly accessible records are sparse, especially from developing countries, and are frequently inaccurate, suggesting different biodiversity patterns from checklist data. Global analysis reveals hotspots of species richness that generate a rare bimodal latitudinal richness gradient. Xeric areas, solar radiation, and non-forest plant productivity are among the most important global drivers of bee biodiversity.
Article
Mycology
Pedro Talhinhas, Riccardo Baroncelli
Summary: The taxonomy of the genus Colletotrichum has undergone significant changes in the past decade, with over 200 species currently recognized. Some of these species are important plant pathogens, while others are rarely found and may even be ecologically endangered. A review in this study lists 257 species grouped into 15 complexes, providing insight into their occurrence, geographical distribution, and host spectrum.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zander S. Venter, Ruben E. Roos, Megan S. Nowell, Graciela M. Rusch, Gunnar M. Kvifte, Markus A. K. Sydenham
Summary: Comparing three land cover maps, it was found that DW performed best in predicting wild bee species richness, followed by ELC10 and WC. These satellite-derived maps can provide support in species distribution modeling and contribute to biodiversity conservation.
Review
Ecology
Scott R. Loss, Binbin Li, Lisa C. Horn, Michael R. Mesure, Lei Zhu, Timothy G. Brys, Adriaan M. Dokter, Jared A. Elmore, Richard E. Gibbons, Tania Z. Homayoun, Kyle G. Horton, Patsy Inglet, Benjamin J. Jones, Taylor Keys, Sirena Lao, Sara S. Loss, Kaitlyn L. Parkins, Heather L. Prestridge, Georgia J. Riggs, Corey S. Riding, Katherine R. Sweezey, Anna C. Vallery, Benjamin M. Van Doren, Julia Wang, Caley Zuzula, Andrew Farnsworth
Summary: Bird-window collisions (BWCs) pose a major threat to bird populations worldwide, causing billions of bird deaths annually. Citizen-science campaigns have played a crucial role in generating scientific information, raising public awareness, and advocating for policies to reduce collisions. Overcoming constraints such as funding limitations and engaging stakeholders at scale are essential for further success in addressing BWCs.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Letter
Biodiversity Conservation
Friederike C. Bolam, Louise Mair, Marco Angelico, Thomas M. Brooks, Mark Burgman, Claudia Hermes, Michael Hoffmann, Rob W. Martin, Philip J. K. McGowan, Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Carlo Rondinini, James R. S. Westrip, Hannah Wheatley, Yuliana Bedolla-Guzman, Javier Calzada, Matthew F. Child, Peter A. Cranswick, Christopher R. Dickman, Birgit Fessl, Diana O. Fisher, Stephen T. Garnett, Jim J. Groombridge, Christopher N. Johnson, Rosalind J. Kennerley, Sarah R. B. King, John F. Lamoreux, Alexander C. Lees, Luc Lens, Simon P. Mahood, David P. Mallon, Erik Meijaard, Federico Mendez-Sanchez, Alexandre Reis Percequillo, Tracey J. Regan, Luis Miguel Renjifo, Malin C. Rivers, Nicolette S. Roach, Lizanne Roxburgh, Roger J. Safford, Paul Salaman, Tom Squires, Ella Vazquez-Dominguez, Piero Visconti, John C. Z. Woinarski, Richard P. Young, Stuart H. M. Butchart
Summary: Conservation actions have prevented multiple extinctions of bird and mammal species since 1993, but many species remain highly threatened and efforts need to be scaled up to prevent further extinctions in the future.
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Samuel Ayebare, Jeffrey W. Doser, Andrew J. Plumptre, Isaiah Owiunji, Hamlet Mugabe, Elise F. Zipkin
Summary: This study evaluated the potential mechanisms of coexistence of ecologically similar bird species in a biodiversity-rich transboundary montane forest in east-central Africa. The researchers found that 55% of species pairs had separate elevation niches, indicating the importance of abiotic environmental habitat niche partitioning in facilitating coexistence. For species pairs with similar elevation niches, within-habitat segregation across horizontal space and vertical forest strata were identified as the most likely mechanisms of species coexistence. Overall, partitioning across multiple levels of spatial organization was found to be a key mechanism of coexistence in diverse communities.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Manuel Mendoza, Miguel B. Araujo
Summary: This study investigates whether climate determines the trophic organization of communities globally, examining both terrestrial mammals and birds. The results show that the previously identified community-trophic structures in large mammals are largely maintained when all mammals and birds are considered. Climate, particularly bioclimatic variables, is strongly related to the geographical boundaries of these structures, suggesting that it acts as the main control parameter for energy flows. The study highlights the importance of complex systems theory and calls for further research to explore the generality of these findings.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Uttara Mendiratta, Anand M. Osuri, Sarthak J. Shetty, Abishek Harihar
Summary: Armed conflicts have significant impacts on wildlife conservation, with conflicts occurring within ranges of threatened species leading to declining population trends, emphasizing the need for greater understanding and assessment of conflict threats in species conservation.
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Paul D. Waters, Hardip R. Patel, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera, Lucia Alvarez-Gonzalez, Nicholas C. Lister, Oleg Simakov, Tariq Ezaz, Parwinder Kaur, Celine Frere, Frank Gruetzner, Arthur Georges, Jennifer A. Marshall Graves
Summary: The study found that microchromosomes, as elements of an ancient animal genome, are highly conserved in birds and share synteny with certain small chromosomes in the chordate amphioxus. Turtles and squamates have independently lost microchromosomes through fusion events, resulting in different fusion patterns in different lineages. Microchromosomes are spatially separated into a central compartment in cells, showing higher interaction between microchromosomes compared to macrochromosomes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Justin P. Suraci, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Maximilian L. Allen, Peter Alexander, Justin S. Brashares, Sara Cendejas-Zarelli, Kevin Crooks, L. Mark Elbroch, Tavis Forrester, Austin M. Green, Jeffrey Haight, Nyeema C. Harris, Mark Hebblewhite, Forest Isbell, Barbara Johnston, Roland Kays, Patrick E. Lendrum, Jesse S. Lewis, Alex McInturff, William McShea, Thomas W. Murphy, Meredith S. Palmer, Arielle Parsons, Mitchell A. Parsons, Mary E. Pendergast, Charles Pekins, Laura R. Prugh, Kimberly A. Sager-Fradkin, Stephanie Schuttler, Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Brenda Shepherd, Laura Whipple, Jesse Whittington, George Wittemyer, Christopher C. Wilmers
Summary: A study on 24 mammal species in North America found that 33% of species showed reduced occurrence or activity in response to increasing human presence and footprint, while 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. The study also revealed that species traits such as size, diet, and reproductive rate were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with smaller, less carnivorous, and faster-reproducing species being favored. Differential responses to human presence and footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Ecology
Matthias Grenie, Emilio Berti, Juan Carvajal-Quintero, Gala Mona Louise Daedlow, Alban Sagouis, Marten Winter
Summary: Translation: Taxonomic name harmonization is necessary for merging data in ecological studies, but there are various challenges. This review categorizes major taxonomic databases and related R packages and presents the findings in a web application. It also provides general guidelines, best practices, and practical solutions.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marie Charlotte Grange, Francois Munoz, Marco Moretti, Sylvain Varona-Y-Varona, Julien Renaud, Marie-Pascale Colace, Maya Gueguen, Cindy Arnoldi, Lionel Bernard, Laure Gallien
Summary: Biological invasions pose a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, yet little is known about the impacts of invaders on native organisms and their response. In this study, we investigated the resistance strategies of native forbs and graminoids facing invasion by Solidago canadensis. We found that different functional groups respond differently to the invasion-induced constraints, with avoidance, tolerance, and escape strategies being employed.
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Matthias Grenie, Hugo Gruson
Summary: This article introduces fundiversity, an R package that facilitates the computation of classical functional diversity indices. Leveraging parallelization and memoization, fundiversity maximizes efficiency with large datasets. In addition to being more flexible, it outperforms alternative packages in terms of speed. Fundiversity aims to be a lightweight and efficient tool for computing functional diversity indices, adaptable to various contexts. The authors hope for broader adoption and welcome contributions.
Article
Ecology
Francois Munoz, Christopher A. Klausmeier, Pierre Gauzere, Gaurav Kandlikar, Elena Litchman, Nicolas Mouquet, Annette Ostling, Wilfried Thuiller, Adam C. Algar, Arnaud Auber, Marc W. Cadotte, Leo Delalandre, Pierre Denelle, Brian J. Enquist, Claire Fortunel, Matthias Grenie, Nicolas Loiseau, Lucie Mahaut, Anthony Maire, David Mouillot, Catalina Pimiento, Cyrille Violle, Nathan J. B. Kraft
Summary: Recent work has demonstrated that evaluating the distinctiveness of functional traits, which is the average trait distance of a species to other species in a community, can provide valuable insights into the dynamics of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, the underlying ecological mechanisms that drive the emergence and persistence of functionally distinct species are not well understood. In this study, we address this issue by considering a heterogeneous fitness landscape, where functional dimensions encompass peaks that represent trait combinations resulting in positive population growth rates in a community. We identify four ecological cases that contribute to the emergence and persistence of functionally distinct species and provide examples and guidelines to distinguish between them. Additionally, we explore how stochastic dispersal limitation can lead to functional distinctiveness. Our framework offers a novel perspective on the relationship between fitness landscape heterogeneity and the functional composition of ecological assemblages.
Article
Ecology
Billur Bektas, Wilfried Thuiller, Julien Renaud, Maya Gueguen, Irene Calderon-Sanou, Jean-Gabriel Valay, Marie-Pascale Colace, Tamara Munkemueller
Summary: We propose a novel framework that combines spatially explicit sampling, plant trait information, and a warming experiment to study plant community re-assembly during climate warming. Our framework separates the signals of environmental filtering and competition by considering spatial distance between individuals. In an elevational transplant experiment in the French Alps, we found common signals of environmental filtering and competition in all communities, with stronger environmental filtering in alpine communities and dominance of symmetrical competition in control and warmed alpine communities.
Article
Ecology
Vanessa Cutts, Dagmar M. Hanz, Martha Paola Barajas-Barbosa, Franziska Schrodt, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Pierre Denelle, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Pierre Gauzere, Matthias Grenie, Severin D. H. Irl, Nathan Kraft, Holger Kreft, Brian Maitner, Francois Munoz, Wilfried Thuiller, Cyrille Violle, Patrick Weigelt, Richard Field, Adam C. Algar
Summary: Current models of island biogeography treat endemic and non-endemic species as if they were functionally equivalent, focussing primarily on species richness. Thus, the functional composition of island biotas in relation to island biogeographical variables remains largely unknown.
Article
Ecology
Zdenka Lososova, Irena Axmanova, Milan Chytry, Gabriele Midolo, Sylvain Abdulhak, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Julien Renaud, Jeremie Van Es, Pascal Vittoz, Wilfried Thuiller
Summary: This study compiled a comprehensive dataset of seed dispersal distance classes and predominant dispersal modes for most European vascular plants. The seed dispersal dataset can be used in functional biogeography, dynamic vegetation modelling, and ecological studies at local to continental scales.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Lucie Mahaut, Philippe Choler, Pierre Denelle, Eric Garnier, Wilfried Thuiller, Jens Kattge, Servane Lemauviel-Lavenant, Sandra Lavorel, Francois Munoz, Delphine Renard, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Nicolas Viovy, Cyrille Violle
Summary: The productivity of grasslands is influenced by both environmental factors and biodiversity, while the temporal stability of grasslands can display both positive and negative covariations with productivity. It is crucial to consider the multiple components of stability and the interaction between environment and biodiversity for sustainable grassland management.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Marc Ohlmann, Catherine Matias, Giovanni Poggiato, Stephane Dray, Wilfried Thuiller, Vincent Miele
Summary: Separating the effects of environmental factors and interspecific interactions on species distributions has been a major challenge in community ecology. A new statistical model called ELGRIN has been developed to address this challenge by combining knowledge on interspecific interactions, environmental data, and species occurrences. The model has been successfully tested on simulated and empirical data, and applied to vertebrate trophic networks in the European Alps. It has been found that factors such as altitude, species richness, and connectance significantly influence the overall effect of biotic interactions on species distributions.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicolas Le Guillarme, Wilfried Thuiller
Summary: This paper presents a practical approach to constructing a biodiversity knowledge graph from heterogeneous and distributed data sources, and shows how information can be retrieved from the graph to support multi-trophic studies.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Charlotte Rault, Fabien Leprieur, Luc Barbaro, Holger Kreft, Nicolas Mouquet, Julien Papaix, Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Cyrille Violle, Jean-Yves Barnagaud
Summary: This study investigates the spatial variations in ecological traits of breeding bird assemblages on oceanic islands. It tests the hypothesis that native and naturalized alien bird species are filtered by different processes, leading to diverging associations between traits and environmental gradients. The study assesses the composition of breeding bird assemblages on oceanic islands and quantifies their ecological trait structures with respect to diet, mobility, and body mass.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Simone Giachello, Isabel Cantera, Alexis Carteron, Silvio Marta, Cristina Cipriano, Alessia Guerrieri, Wilfried Thuiller, Gentile Francesco Ficetola
Summary: Protists are important in soil communities but their functional diversity is not well understood. This study proposes a functional framework for soil protists and applies it to a global dataset. The results reveal different nutritional and habitat preferences among soil protists. The framework can be used to estimate functional diversity and analyze food webs.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)