Animal Communities Research Articles

Climatic shifts threaten alpine mycorrhizal communities above the treeline

The European Alps are experiencing more than twice the increase in air temperature observed in the rest of the world. Thus, the treeline ecotone, and the unique habitats above it, offer a preview of drastic changes in plant and animal communities. However, our knowledge about climate change impacts on microbial diversity belowground is scarce. Here we investigate how upslope shift of the treeline ecotone, associated with changes in soil nutrient content, temperature and precipitation, will influence alpine ectomycorrhizal (EM) communities of Dryas octopetala, Bistorta vivipara and Salix herbacea across different habitat types in the Alps. We also assessed the degree of EM community taxonomic composition turnover in these habitats across three different climatic projections for 2040 and 2070. Our results indicate that the specialized EM fungal communities from snowbed habitats will be mostly negatively influenced under the current trajectory of environmental shifting predicted for the region. In contrast, fungi from the treeline ecotone, having wider niches, will be positively influenced by future climate and extend upwards. In addition, our predictions of EM community turnover for putative future climatic scenarios revealed high rates of turnover across the entire alpine region. This, together with glacier retreats, will aid colonization of alpine snowbed habitats by new EM plants and associated fungi, bringing additional pressures on local mycorrhizas and likely leading to fungal species extinctions.

72 The AG2pi Vision for Resources in Agricultural Genomics and Phenomics: How Asas Can Contribute

Abstract To meet the challenges of an increasing global population and multiple environmental stressors on agricultural production, it is essential to better understand how genotype (G) and environment (E) influence phenotype for traits of economic importance in agriculture. To accomplish this requires interdisciplinary teams consisting of researchers from crop and livestock sciences, genetics, genomics, computational and data sciences, and engineering. Towards this end, in 2020, Congress established the Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI). An important objective of this presentation is to encourage strong participation of animal science researchers and industry in ongoing AG2PI activities. The purpose of the initial AG2PI project, awarded to Iowa State University and the Universities of Arizona, Idaho and Nebraska, was to assemble and prepare a community to conduct AG2P research across the plant and animal kingdoms. The AG2PI project aims to: a) identify research gaps and opportunities, b) foster community solutions to these challenges, and c) rapidly disseminate findings for community use. Training workshops, field days, conferences, community surveys, and seed grants have all contributed to these goals. Opinions and ideas from the crop and livestock genetics communities are key to advancing AG2P science and related work. AG2PI has used online community surveys and in-person conferences to gather these and to facilitate transdisciplinary communications. In September 2022, AG2PI held a conference titled “Thinking Big: Visualizing the Future of AG2PI”, in which attendees participated in focused small group discussions to identify which agricultural G2P-related topics are most critical for future R&D funding and which may be the most difficult to achieve. These discussions are summarized in a concept paper for the community, shared with USDA-NIFA, and submitted for publication. A follow-up conference was held June 14-15, 2023, in Kansas City, where people working in both the animal and plant genetics research communities and industry stakeholders attended. Outcomes from this conference will be summarized in this presentation, and requests for animal scientists to provide further input will be made. The future of agricultural genomics will be shaped by both the participants in AG2PI and the solutions developed by the AG2PI community. Funding for this work comes from USDA NIFA awards 2022-70412-38454, 2021-70412-35233, and 2020-70412-32615.

Different gut microbial types were found in captive striped hamsters.

Typing analysis has become a popular approach to categorize individual differences in studies of animal gut microbial communities. However, previous definitions of gut microbial types were more understood as a passive reaction process to different external interferences, as most studies involve diverse environmental variables. We wondered whether distinct gut microbial types can also occur in animals under the same external environment. Moreover, the role of host sex in shaping gut microbiota has been widely reported; thus, the current study preliminarily explores the effects of sex on potential different microbial types. Here, adult striped hamsters Cricetulus barabensis of different sexes were housed under the same controlled laboratory conditions, and their fecal samples were collected after two months to assess the gut microbiota by 16S rRNA sequencing. The gut microbiota of captive striped hamsters naturally separated into two types at the amplicon sequence variant (ASV) level. There was a significant difference in the Shannon index among these two types. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that the top 30 ASVs could effectively distinguish each type. Linear discriminant analysis of effect size (LEfSe) showed enrichment of the genera Lactobacillus, Treponema and Pygmaiobacter in one gut microbial type and enrichment of the genera Turicibacter and Ruminiclostridium in the other. The former type had higher carbohydrate metabolism ability, while the latter harbored a more complex co-occurrence network and higher amino acid metabolism ability. The gut microbial types were not associated with sex; however, we did find sex differences in the relative abundances of certain bacterial taxa, including some type-specific sex variations. Although captive animals live in a unified environment, their gut bacteria can still differentiate into distinct types, but the sex of the hosts may not play an important role in the typing process of small-scale captive animal communities. The relevant driving factors as well as other potential types need to be further investigated to better understand host-microbe interactions.

Estimating relative species abundance using fossil data identified to different taxonomic levels

Site‐occupancy modelling is widely used in ecology for understanding species distribution, habitat‐use and community changes but its application is still limited in paleoecology, where incomplete detection is also routine. Here, we make extensive expansions to an earlier multispecies occupancy model used to estimate the dynamics of relative species abundance in fossil communities. These expansions include incorporating counts of individuals at sites, explicitly allowing for the inclusion of specimens assignable to genus – but not species‐level, a situation common in paleontology, and modelling regional presence/absence. We provide simulations to check the performance of this new model, as well as simulations to quantify the benefits of using individual count data versus subsample occupancy data, and model estimates versus face‐value (raw) estimates, respectively. We also provide an empirical case study using occupancy data from a community of marine benthic colonial animals preserved in the Pleistocene of New Zealand. We find that the new model performs well, especially when it comes to recovering relative abundance dynamics and that it is well worth the effort to both collect individual count data and to include individuals unidentified to species‐level in the site‐occupancy modelling framework. This extended model can be widely applied in paleoecological settings and is necessary when both the average and uncertainty values of relative abundance dynamics need to be robustly estimated.

Forest structure has stronger effects than cattle occurrence on the occupancy of a carnivore guild

Anthropogenic activities can profoundly affect ecological communities. This is true of the most ubiquitous type of anthropogenic land-use, livestock grazing. While livestock grazing is known to impact vegetation structure, soil, and hydrological features, the effects of livestock occurrence on animal communities are often more complex. Herein, we estimated the relative effects of cattle occurrence and vegetation structure on the occupancy of a carnivore guild in northern California and southern Oregon, USA. We used remote cameras to non-invasively collect detection and non-detection data of cattle and nine carnivore species. We incorporated detection data into a Bayesian hierarchical occupancy model to estimate the effects of livestock occurrence and vegetation structure on carnivore occupancy. We found varied effects of cattle occurrence on carnivore occupancy, with most species showing no clear response to cattle occurrence. Vegetation structure, including structural diversity and vegetation productivity, had stronger effects on carnivore occupancy than cattle occurrence. This work provides an exploration of the effects of cattle occurrence and forest structure on carnivore space-use in a grazed forest system, and suggests vegetation structure may have stronger effects than cattle occurrence on carnivore occupancy in grazed forest systems. Future work to clarify the direct and indirect effects of livestock occurrence can inform conservation and management strategies in forested ecosystems.

Human-beaver cohabitation in the Early and Mid-Holocene of Northern Europe: Re-visiting Mesolithic material culture and ecology through a multispecies lens

The Eurasian beaver ( Castor fiber) was an important member of Early and Mid-Holocene landscapes and animal communities in Northern Europe. Previous zooarchaeological research has established the alimentary roles of beavers for Mesolithic societies and their importance for fur procurement. In this paper, we develop an integrated biocultural approach to human-beaver interactions, examining the position of humans and beavers in Mesolithic and Early Neolithic multispecies systems. We contextualize beaver landscape agency in hydroactive environments with human behaviour, synthesizing currently available data on mammalian assemblages, ichtyofauna and beaver-related material culture across Northern Europe. This cross-cultural, diachronic analysis reveals previously overlooked facilitations of human behaviour by beaver practices and ecological legacies. We show that long-term trajectories of human-beaver cohabitation differed between northern European regions. While in Southern Scandinavia, human-beaver intersections witnessed major re-organizations during the Mid-Holocene, beavers retained a key role for human societies across Northeastern Europe throughout much of the Holocene and played an important part at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Dutch wetlands. Divergent pathways are also evidenced by Mesolithic beaver-related material culture, highlighting the cultural keystone status of Castor fiber in higher latitude European landscapes. We argue that this keystone status is grounded in the supply of human hunting, fishing, and gathering affordances by the animals, pointing to the generative commensality between Mesolithic foragers and their beaver neighbours. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the importance of the beaver in the making of Early and Mid-Holocene forager societies in Northern Europe and illustrate the fruitfulness of deploying an integrated multispecies approach.

Downed deadwood habitat heterogeneity drives trophic niche diversity of soil-dwelling animals

Habitat heterogeneity is one of the important drivers of biodiversity, but the underlying mechanisms are still vague. Increasing habitat heterogeneity often coincides with greater habitat space and/or greater food availability for organisms, but it is unclear whether and how these components are related to habitat selection. Downed dead wood (i.e., dead wood laying on the ground) is an important but understudied component of dead plant matter that creates spatial habitat heterogeneity for soil fauna on the ground. To unravel the role of dead wood for providing niche dimensionality for soil fauna via variance in resource use, we sampled Collembola communities from moss growing on bark and from bark on the logs of two tree species (pedunculate oak and Norway spruce) and from soil next to the logs. We assessed habitat selection of Collembola species combining abundance data with trophic position data using stable isotope ratios (i.e., δ13C and δ15N). Based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, Collembola community composition differed significantly among the three habitats (i.e., moss, bark and soil). Collembola community-weighted mean δ13C and δ15N values also differed among the three habitats (average δ13C values of moss: −25.94‰, bark: −25.30‰, soil: −25.60‰; average δ15N values of moss: −4.80‰, bark: −3.83‰, soil: −5.11‰), partly reflecting isotopic differences of the habitats themselves (δ13C of moss: −29.83‰, bark: −28.26‰, soil: −29.04‰; δ15N of moss: −7.59‰, bark: −4.18‰, soil: −7.84‰). These findings indicate that Collembola depend on food sources derived from the habitats they inhabit at least at the community level. Collembola community-weighted variance of both δ13C and δ15N values ranked as bark > moss > soil. Species-level data suggested that the bark community included both bark-specific food specialists as well as species which likely use bark only as a temporary habitat based on their morphological traits supporting high mobility. These findings together indicate that the trophic niche variation of the Collembola community is larger in bark than in soil. Our results stress the importance of downed dead wood as a source of habitat heterogeneity, which in turn promotes soil animal diversity, likely via heterogeneity in food sources. Furthermore, the presence of dead wood on the ground could have consequences for organic matter processing by the soil animal community through sustaining a larger trophic niche variation even at a small spatial scale.

Using high-throughput sequencing to investigate summer truffle consumption by chipmunks in relation to retention forestry

Intensive management of forests for wood modifies forest biodiversity, affecting the composition of plant and animal communities as well as microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) form mutualistic relationships with trees, but there is evidence that the abundance and diversity of EMF declines under intensive forest management. The dispersal of some EMF, including that of truffles, depends on small mammals consuming their fruiting bodies and dispersing spores through feces. To better understand provisioning of this ecosystem service within intensively managed forests, we applied high-throughput, DNA amplicon sequencing to scat collected from Townsend’s chipmunks (Neotamias townsendii) inhabiting retention patches in recently clearcut-conifer stands. Across two summers, we collected 165 chipmunk scat samples from 43 clearcut-conifer stands in the Pacific Northwest (USA). We identified 81 truffle species representing 16 families, which included many rare and uncommon taxa. Retention patch sizes varied from 9 to 222 trees (0.002–0.83 ha) but we did not detect an effect of retention patch size on the richness of truffles in chipmunk scat samples. However, truffle richness was slightly higher in scat samples collected from chipmunks in retention patches compared to individuals sampled in adjacent clearcuts. Furthermore, the abundance of certain truffle species in chipmunk scat varied in relation to retention patch size and location (riparian or upland), suggesting retention forestry practices may influence truffle community composition. Throughout the sampling season, we detected a 44% decline in truffle species richness and a significant reduction in abundance (i.e., sequence reads) for > 50% of common truffle taxa. Our application of high-throughput sequencing of scat effectively captured variation in truffle species consumption by chipmunks. Our results confirm that common small mammals play an important role in the dispersal of EMF across recently logged forests (<8 years since harvest) and indicate that retaining relatively small (∼10 tree) green-tree patches may promote truffle dispersal by providing small mammal habitat.

Influence of Some Abiotic Factors on the Diatom Densities in the Mezam River (Bamenda, North-West Cameroon)

Wetlands of the city of Bamenda are characterized by intense agricultural activities. The resulting consequences are aquatic pollution. The management of these wetlands requires the study of the animal and plant communities found there. Diatoms are known to be good markers of environmental change. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of some abiotic parameters on the diatom densities of the Mezam river. The study was conducted from January to December 2022. Some physicochemical parameters were measured in situ. Water samples were collected and transported to the laboratory for the measurement of nitrates, total phosphorus, carbon dioxide and biological oxygen demand. The diatoms were sampled and analyzed in the laboratory. Factorial axis 2 (0.47%) of correspondence factor analysis opposed the positive variables (conductivity, total dissolved solids and salinity) to the negative variables (water temperature, pH, nitrates, total phosphorus, oxidability, carbon dioxide and alkalinity). Study sites showed a mineralization gradient going from upstream (Site 1) to downstream (Site 3). Total species richness amounted to 4 classes divided in 18 families, 21 genera and 43 species. The most dominating family was Naviculaceae with 10 species. Multiple component analysis showed, in different study sites, the correlation between chemical parameters and density of different genera. The more the site was polluted, the more the density of Navicula, Tabellaria, Melosira and Coscinodiscus increased. On the contrary, the less the site was polluted, the more the density of Cyclotella, Gomphonema, Cocconeis, Gyrosigma, Synedra increased. These results showed that the distribution of diatoms in the different study sites was influenced by a set of conditions related to physicochemical parameters, but more on their densities.

Shifting taxonomic and functional community composition of rivers under land use change.

Land use intensification has led to conspicuous changes in plant and animal communities across the world. Shifts in trait-based functional composition have recently been hypothesized to manifest at lower levels of environmental change when compared to species-based taxonomic composition; however, little is known about commonality in these responses across taxonomic groups and geographic regions. We investigated this hypothesis by testing for taxonomic and geographic similarities in the composition of riverine fish and insect communities across gradients of land use in major hydrologic regions of the conterminous United States. We analyzed an extensive dataset representing 556 species and 33 functional trait modalities from 8,023 fish communities, and 1,434 taxa and 50 trait modalities from 5,197 aquatic insect communities. Our results demonstrate abrupt threshold changes in both taxonomic and functional community composition due to land use conversion. Functional composition consistently demonstrated lower threshold responses compared to taxonomic composition for both fish (urban p = 0.069; agriculture p = 0.029) and insects (urban p = 0.095; agriculture p = 0.043) communities according to gradient forest models. We found significantly lower thresholds for urban versus agricultural land use for fish (taxonomic and functional p < 0.001) and insects (taxonomic p = 0.001; functional p = 0.033). We further revealed that threshold responses of functional composition were more geographically consistent than those of taxonomic composition to both urban and agricultural land use change. Traits contributing the most to overall functional composition change differed along urban and agricultural land gradients, and conformed to predicted ecological mechanisms underpinning community change. This study points to reliable early-warning thresholds that accurately forecast compositional shifts in riverine communities to land use conversion, and highlight the importance of considering trait-based indicators of community change to inform large scale land use management strategies and policies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Situating defaunation in an operational framework to advance biodiversity conservation.

Anthropogenic pressures are causing the widespread loss of wildlife species and populations, with adverse consequences for ecosystem functioning. This phenomenon has been widely but inconsistently referred to as defaunation. A cohesive, quantitative framework for defining and evaluating defaunation is necessary for advancing biodiversity conservation. Likening defaunation to deforestation, we propose an operational framework for defaunation that defines it and related terms, situates defaunation relative to intact communities and faunal degradation, and encourages quantitative, ecologically reasonable, and equitable measurements. We distinguish between defaunation, the conversion of an ecosystem from having wild animals to not having wild animals, and faunal degradation, the process of losing animals or species from an animal community. The quantification of context-relevant defaunation boundaries or baselines is necessary to compare faunal communities over space and time. Situating a faunal community on the degradation curve can promote Global Biodiversity Framework targets, advancing the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

Controllable factors affecting accuracy and precision of human identification of animals from drone imagery

AbstractSurveying animal populations using drones (unoccupied aircraft systems [UAS]) provides numerous advantages; however, few best practices exist to survey animal communities with drones. Among myriad factors that can affect human identification and counts of animals from drone images, we focused on three factors typically controlled in the study design or by the drone pilot: flight altitude, camera angle, and time of day. Identifying interactions and patterns among these three variables represents an important first step to determining best survey practices. We used a drone to survey known numbers of eight animal decoy species, representing a range of body sizes and colors, at four ground sampling distance (GSD) values (0.35, 0.70, 1.06, and 1.41 cm/pixel) representing equivalent flight altitudes (15.2, 30.5, 45.7, and 61.0 m) at two camera angles (45° and 90°) and across a range of times of day (morning to late afternoon). Expert human observers identified and counted animals from drone images to determine how the three controllable factors affected accuracy and precision. Observer precision was high and unaffected by tested factors. However, results for observer accuracy revealed an interaction among all three controllable factors. Increasing flight altitude resulted in decreased accuracy in animal counts overall; however, accuracy was best at midday than during the morning and afternoon, when decoy and structure shadows were present or more pronounced. Surprisingly, the 45° camera enhanced accuracy more than the 90° camera, but only when animals were most difficult to identify and count, such as at higher flight altitudes or during the early morning and late afternoon. We provide recommendations for improving human accuracy in identifying and counting animals from drone images used in monitoring animal populations and communities. These results should be incorporated into drone survey design in addition to considering funding, logistical, and animal behavior constraints.

Facilitation of animals is stronger during summer marine heatwaves and around morphologically complex foundation species.

Foundation species create biogenic habitats, modify environmental conditions, augment biodiversity, and control animal community structures. In recent decades, marine heatwaves (MHWs) have affected the ecology of foundation species worldwide, and perhaps also their associated animal communities. However, no realistic field experiment has tested how MHWs affect animals that live in and around these foundation species. We therefore tested, in a four-factorial field experiment, if colonisation by small mobile marine animals (epifauna) onto plates with attached single versus co-occurring foundation species of different morphological complexities, were affected by 3-5°C heating (that mirrored a recent extreme MHW in the study area) and if the heating effect on the epifauna varied within and between seasons. For this experiment mimics of turf seaweed represented the single foundation species and holdfasts of seven common canopy-forming seaweed represented the co-occurring foundation species with different morphological complexities. We found that the taxonomic richness and total abundance of epifauna, dominated by copepods, generally were higher on heated plates with complex seaweed holdfasts in warmer summer trials. Furthermore, several interactions between test-factors were significant, e.g., epifaunal abundances, were, across taxonomic groups, generally higher in warmer than colder summer trials. These results suggest that, in temperate ecosystems, small, mobile, short-lived, and fast-growing marine epifauna can be facilitated by warmer oceans and morphologically complex foundation species, implying that future MHWs may increase secondary production and trophic transfers between primary producers and fish. Future studies should test whether these results can be scaled to other ecological species-interactions, across latitudes and biogeographical regions, and if similar results are found after longer MHWs or within live foundation species under real MHW conditions.

Compact vs. Linear: Effects of Forest Structure, Patch Shape and Landscape Configuration on Black Alder Macromoth Communities

Landscape configuration and forest structure assume an increasing importance as determinants of animal communities. This paper focused on nocturnal Lepidoptera inhabiting alder patches in the Sila National Park, Italy. According to their shapes, patches were divided into linear and compact ones to disentangle the roles of forest structure and landscape configuration in determining the composition of nocturnal Lepidopteran communities at different observation scales. We used the Mann–Whitney test for medians and Shannon diversity, equitability, Fisher’s alpha, and nestedness to test differences among moth communities. We found that compact patches inhabited richer and more abundant communities. The abundance-based Correspondence Analysis showed moth communities clustered according to woodlot shape, except a compact woodlot with a linear-like moth community because it was entirely surrounded by grasslands. Percentage of forested area and abundance and composition of communities were positively correlated at 50 and 200 m buffers, while correlations were absent at smaller and larger buffers. Our results demonstrated that a width of 50 m may not be sufficient to give proper functionality to the wooded area, at least for moths. As a consequence, planning of forest restorations should consider the importance of increasing the structural habitat continuity at larger scales.

Molecular typing of Leptospira spp. in farmed and wild mammals reveals new host-serovar associations in New Zealand

ABSTRACTAimsTo apply molecular typing to DNA isolated from historical samples to determine Leptospira spp. infecting farmed and wild mammals in New Zealand.Materials and methodsDNA samples used in this study were extracted from urine, serum or kidney samples (or Leptospira spp. cultures isolated from them) collected between 2007 and 2017 from a range of domestic and wildlife mammalian species as part of different research projects at Massey University. Samples were included in the study if they met one of three criteria: samples that tested positive with a lipL32 PCR for pathogenic Leptospira; samples that tested negative by lipL32 PCR but were recorded as positive to PCR for pathogenic Leptospira in the previous studies; or samples that were PCR-negative in all studies but were from animals with positive agglutination titres against serogroup Tarassovi. DNA samples were typed using PCR that targeted either the glmU or gyrB genetic loci. The resulting amplicons were sequenced and typed relative to reference sequences.ResultsWe identified several associations between mammalian hosts and Leptospira strains/serovars that had not been previously reported in New Zealand. Leptospira borgpetersenii strain Pacifica was found in farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) samples, L. borgpetersenii serovars Balcanica and Ballum were found in wild red deer samples, Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni was found in stoats (Mustela erminea) and brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), and L. borgpetersenii was found in a ferret (Mustela putorius furo). Furthermore, we reconfirmed previously described associations including dairy cattle with L. interrogans serovars Copenhageni and Pomona and L. borgpetersenii serovars Ballum, Hardjo type bovis and strain Pacifica, sheep with L. interrogans serovar Pomona and L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo type bovis, brushtail possum with L. borgpetersenii serovar Balcanica, farmed deer with L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo type bovis and hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) with L. borgpetersenii serovar Ballum.ConclusionsThis study provides an updated summary of host–Leptospira associations in New Zealand and highlights the importance of molecular typing. Furthermore, strain Pacifica, which was first identified as Tarassovi using serological methods in dairy cattle in 2016, has circulated in animal communities since at least 2007 but remained undetected as serology is unable to distinguish the different genotypes.Clinical relevanceTo date, leptospirosis in New Zealand has been diagnosed with serological typing, which is deficient in typing all strains in circulation. Molecular methods are necessary to accurately type strains of Leptospira spp. infecting mammals in New Zealand.

The grassy ecosystems of Madagascar in context: Ecology, evolution, and conservation

Societal Impact StatementMadagascar is famous for its unique forests and their fauna. Most of the island is covered by flammable grassy ecosystems long considered to be of human origin and threatening the remaining forests. Yet new studies show that many plants and animals of the grassy systems are unique to Madagascar and restricted to these open habitats. Open grassy ecosystems have markedly different management requirements from forests and bring different contributions to society. We argue that the grassy ecosystems can benefit Madagascar if understood and managed wisely using expanded knowledge bases that also include collaboration with locals.SummaryUntil recently, nearly all research and interests in Madagascar focused on forested habitats. To help place Madagascar's grassy ecosystems in context, we provide a summary of the origin, development, and evolution of open tropical, C4 grassy ecosystems elsewhere, especially those from Africa; we summarize similarities and differences with the distribution of C3 and C4 grasses in the Malagasy landscape, their plant traits, and inferences on the evolutionary legacy of grasses. We also discuss the animal communities that use and have coevolved in these grassy systems; to help resolve controversies over the pre‐settlement extent of grassy ecosystems, we suggest a variety of complementary geochemical, palaeobotanical, and molecular genetic tools that have been effectively used elsewhere to untangle forest/grassy ecosystem mosaics and the ecological and evolutionary processes that influence them. Many of these tools can and should be employed in Madagascar to fully understand the spatio‐temporal dynamics of open, grassy, and closed forest systems across the island; as regards conservation, we discuss the ecosystem services provided by grassy systems, which are too often ignored in general, not only as a biome, vis‐à‐vis forests, but also for their global importance as a carbon sink and role they play in water management and providing goods to local villagers. We conclude by outlining the necessary research to better manage open ecosystems across Madagascar without threatening endangered forest ecosystems.

A New Species of Demodex (Acariformes: Prostigmata) Observed in the Mouflon, Ovis aries musimon (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) with Data on the Parasitism and Occurrence of Other Ectoparasites.

A greater understanding of mite biodiversity and ecology can explain their preference for microhabitats within host bodies, i.e., as ecto-, meso-, and endoparasites. Similarly, learning about the patterns formed by mite communities in wild animals can shed light on the mechanisms of parasitosis development in their domesticated counterparts. Hence, the present study examined the acarofauna of the mouflon, introduced to Poland in the early 20th century from a region of endemic occurrence. Forty-one individuals were examined for the presence of ectoparasites between 2010 and 2013; later, skin fragments were analysed for the presence of skin mites. A new species of Demodecidae, Demodex musimonis sp. nov., was discovered in the skin of the pasterns of 14.6% mouflons, as well as the ectoparasitic tick Ixodes ricinus (prevalence 29.3%) and ungulate-typical fly Lipoptena cervi (34.1%). However, no mites typical for ovine Ovis (Psorergatidae, Psoroptidae) were noted, nor any colonisation of microhabitats by species from local ungulates, resulting from the loss of original parasites during the introduction. A comparison of the acarofauna of the mouflon and domestic sheep Ovis aries aries suggests that a mite community with a complex structure and the co-occurrence of different families may be formed. However, it is not known whether the acarofauna of domestic sheep is derived from wild ancestors or the process of domestication. Even so, the peculiar Demodecidae must have been part of the natural parasitofauna of wild sheep, of which only D. musimonis sp. nov. has been recognised so far.

Ecological convergence in phytochemistry and flower-insect visitor interactions along an Andean elevation gradient.

The diversity of specialized molecules produced by plants radiating along ecological gradients is thought to arise from plants' adaptations to local conditions. Therefore, closely related species growing in similar habitats should phylogenetically converge, or diverge, in response to similar climates, or similar interacting animal communities. We here asked whether closely related species in the genus Haplopappus (Asteraceae) growing within the same elevation bands in the Andes, converged to produce similar floral odors. To do so, we combine untargeted analysis of floral volatile organic compounds with insect olfactory bioassay in congeneric Haplopappus (Asteraceae) species growing within the same elevation bands along the Andean elevational gradient. We then asked whether the outcome of biotic interactions (i.e., pollination vs. seed predation) would also converge across species within the same elevation. We found that flower odors grouped according to their elevational band and that the main floral visitor preferred floral heads from low-elevation band species. Furthermore, the cost-benefit ratio of predated versus fertilized seeds was consistent within elevation bands, but increased with elevation, from 6:1 at low to 8:1 at high elevations. In the light of our findings, we propose that climate and insect community changes along elevation molded a common floral odor blend, best adapted for the local conditions. Moreover, we suggest that at low elevation where floral resources are abundant, the per capita cost of attracting seed predators is diluted, while at high elevation, sparse plants incur a higher herbivory cost per capita. Together, our results suggest that phytochemical convergence may be an important factor driving plant-insect interactions and their ecological outcomes along ecological gradients.

Non-native ants drive dramatic declines in animal community diversity: A meta-analysis.

Non-native ants can cause ecosystem-wide ecological change, and these changes are generally assumed to be negative. Despite this, the evidence base has never been holistically synthesised to quantify whether and to what degree non-native ants impact native species diversity.In this study, we performed a meta-analysis of the effects of ant invasion on animal communities. We extracted data from 46 published articles investigating abundance (156 effect sizes) and richness (53 effect sizes) responses of animal taxa to ant invasion in locations relatively unimpacted by other stressors (e.g. human disturbance, other non-native species) to help isolate the effects of invasion.Overall, local animal diversity declined severely, with species abundance and richness lower by 42.79% and 53.56%, respectively, in areas with non-native ants compared with intact uninvaded sites. We then combined responses of individual animal taxa extracted from an article into a singleresponse to represent the 'community' abundance (40 effect sizes) or richness (28 effect sizes) response to non-native ants represented in each article. Local communities decreased substantially in total abundance (52.67%) and species richness (53.47%) in invaded sites.These results highlight non-native ants as the drivers, rather than passengers, of large net-negative reductions to animal community diversity in relatively undisturbed systems around the world, approximately halving local species abundance and richness in invaded areas. Improved international prevention processes, early detection systems harnessing emerging technologies, and well-designed control measures deployable by conservation practitioners are urgently needed if these effects are to be mitigated, prevented or reversed.

Health based animal and meat safety cooperative communities

The purposes of meat inspection have been formulated for more than 100 years as (a) protecting health of consumers, (b) maintain the reputation of the meats in home and export markets, and (c) detecting communicable diseases of animals before they have spread beyond easy control. Today, one would add to protect animal welfare, clarify that protecting consumer health includes both chemical and biological hazards, and add food fraud to the issues of reputation. To transform the scientific knowledge into modern meat safety assurance systems (MSAS), the risk managers need to understand the social capital in the meat value chain to align the behaviors of farmers, food business operators and competent authorities with technical knowledge. The meat value chain could be perceived as a commons – a material or immaterial property held jointly by the members of a community, whom may govern access to and use of the property through social structures, traditions, and/or formal rules i.e. social capital. The social capital and food safety culture amongst farmers and food business operators is a key driver for successful meat safety while information asymmetry increases risks for a tragedy of commons scenario. Ostrom's core design principles for stable commons could inform the design of MSASs. Tools for reducing the information asymmetry and building trust and social capital between all stakeholders within the meat value chain include the food safety culture, food chain information, use of health epidemiological indicators, sensors and block chains, industry/private standards, and the applying system approach from farm to fork.