Changes In Biodiversity Research Articles

On the Importance of Contextualizing an Educational Escape Room Activity

This paper describes the design and evaluation of "Enigma Bio", an educational escape room activity that aims to convey the abstract concept of biodiversity to children between 11 and 13 years of age, making them aware of the importance of climate change and its impact on biodiversity. The design of Enigma Bio is closely linked to the Biodiversity exhibition at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, designed for a visit in groups of between 20 and 30 children, with an approximate duration of one hour, running on mobile devices and including augmented reality technology. The purpose of this research is to determine whether, in the case of educational escape room activities in museums with a limited time duration, it is more effective to have a pre-session introducing the topic. Our hypothesis is that without the context of the pre-explanation, the playful component of the game may be too powerful and may cause children not to pay enough attention to the message that the game intends to communicate, and even more so when dealing with a complex message such as the effect of climate change on biodiversity. To answer this research question, we follow an A/B testing experimental design involving two groups of children, one of which received an introductory talk on biodiversity and climate change before going to the museum and the other did not. The experimental design is completed with a pre-post evaluation of the children's environmental awareness by means of a previously validated questionnaire. The results of the experiment provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the pre-session introduction in enhancing the learning outcomes of short educational escape room activities. Significant differences were observed between pre- and post-activity tests, indicating a moderate overall increase in awareness scores within both individual groups (A and B) as well as across the combined results. The findings suggest that the pre-session introduction indeed plays a role in enhancing students' awareness of the targeted message. These results represent a breakthrough in the e-learning practice that will be of value to other designers of educational escape rooms with a limited time duration.

An annotated catalogue of the type specimens of Phasmatodea deposited at the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH)

We here present an updated and annotated catalogue of the stick and leaf insect (Phasmatodea) types currently housed in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH), part of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). We found a total of 305 type specimens, belonging to 130 species. This includes 110 primary types (45 holotypes, 13 lectotypes, 52 syntypes) and 195 paratypes and paralectotypes. Most of the species were described by Redtenbacher, others come from Zompro, Brunner von Wattenwyl, Weidner and others. We provide updated information on the taxonomy of all species. This catalogue will represent an important resource for future taxonomic work on the group.

Beyond BiCIKL: Towards Building an AI-Assisted “Biodiversity Supergraph”

BiCIKL (Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library) is a European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 project (2021–2024) building a new community of research infrastructures (RIs), researchers and other stakeholders, through improved access to interlinked, open and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) biodiversity data along the biodiversity research cycle (specimens, sequences, taxon names, publications) (Penev et al. 2022). The project’s 14 partners developed or substantially improved 16 tools and services currently in process of onboarding to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), presented in the FAIR Data Place (FDP) of BiCIKL’s flagship product, the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub (BKH). The tools and data were used in Open Call projects, performed by research groups worldwide. A key achievement of BiCIKL is the establishment of several new bi-directional links between the participating RIs through shared and interoperable data standards and web services. The sustainability of the BiCIKL services and especially of the strong collaborative spirit developed through the project will be ensured by a membership agreement for the BKH maintenance and further development. The results of BiCIKL are diverse and tackle various aspects of the implementation of open science practices in biodiversity research. The project partners and external collaborators from the Open Call projects published more than 80 papers and conference abstracts (see the article collections in Penev et al. 2022a and Thessen et al. 2023), two policy briefs (Penev et al. 2024, Agosti et al. 2024), three Biodiversity Information Science (TDWG) symposia (2021, 2023, 2024), several videos and factsheets and other training materials, guidelines and best practice recommendations, and so on. In the special focus of BiCIKL was the extraction and liberation of data from the PDFs of several thousands of published biodiversity articles making it accessible and re-usable. The new BiCIKL community proved to be successful in both technological innovation and long-lasting spirit of collaboration between biodiversity and genomics researchers, data repositories, RIs, publishers and other stakeholders. Beyond BiCIKL, we envisage our work towards further integration and interoperability between data domains by embracing human-in-the-loop collaborations, enhanced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The implementation of AI and Large Language Models (LLM) should be possible when considering an important condition: to understand the complexity of past, recent and future changes in biodiversity and natural environments the use of AI tools should be based on аdequately curated, semantically structured and interlinked biodiversity data. We see this radical new step as a concerted community effort towards building a “Biodiversity Supergraph” (Fig. 1), understood here as a two-component ecosystem consisting of: centrally orchestrated system of tools and services, and distributed sources of transformed, semantically enhanced FAIR Linked Open Data, supplied by the partnering RIs. centrally orchestrated system of tools and services, and distributed sources of transformed, semantically enhanced FAIR Linked Open Data, supplied by the partnering RIs. The “Biodiversity Supergraph'' will provide integration of the biodiversity data on a scale and operational level that has never been attempted before. It is key for the next decade, to enable a baseline of global, biodiversity-related information serving organisations, academia, industry and society.

Recovering plant-associated arthropod communities by eDNA metabarcoding historical herbarium specimens

Natural history collections are a priceless resource for understanding patterns and processes of biodiversity change in the Anthropocene.1 Herbaria, which house millions of historical plant records from all over the globe, are particularly valuable to study population genetics of the plants themselves and to understand the assembly of plant-associated microbial communities.2 Here we test if herbaria can serve yet another essential purpose, namely to provide information on the historical assembly of plant-arthropod interactions. The specificity and temporal stability of these associations are poorly known.3 Considering their pivotal role in the assembly of terrestrial food webs,4 this knowledge is paramount to understanding the consequences of global change. We use environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to characterize communities of plant-associated arthropods from archived herbarium specimens of different ages and origins. The herbarium specimens yield arthropod DNA across various ecological guilds and trophic levels over multiple decades. In an experiment, we also show that the typical dry storage of plants in herbaria does not alter the recovered arthropod diversity and community composition. By analyzing a time series of leaf samples from a forest monitoring project, we then characterize changes in arthropod biodiversity over two decades, showing that archived plants can also provide the time series data that are urgently needed to understand arthropod declines.5 This use of herbaria and plant archives promises unprecedented insights into plant-arthropod interactions and revolutionizes our ability to monitor spatiotemporal changes in interaction diversity.

Taxonomic and abundance biases affect the record of marine eukaryotic plankton communities in sediment DNA archives.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) preserved in marine sediments is increasingly being used to study past ecosystems. However, little is known about how accurately marine biodiversity is recorded in sediment eDNA archives, especially planktonic taxa. Here, we address this question by comparing eukaryotic diversity in 273 eDNA samples from three water depths and the surface sediments of 24 stations in the Nordic Seas. Analysis of 18S-V9 metabarcoding data reveals distinct eukaryotic assemblages between water and sediment eDNA. Only 40% of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) detected in water were also found in sediment eDNA. Remarkably, the ASVs shared between water and sediment accounted for 80% of total sequence reads suggesting that a large amount of plankton DNA is transported to the seafloor, predominantly from abundant phytoplankton taxa. However, not all plankton taxa were equally archived on the seafloor. The plankton DNA deposited in the sediments was dominated by diatoms and showed an underrepresentation of certain nano- and picoplankton taxa (Picozoa or Prymnesiophyceae). Our study offers the first insights into the patterns of plankton diversity recorded in sediment in relation to seasonality and spatial variability of environmental conditions in the Nordic Seas. Our results suggest that the genetic composition and structure of the plankton community vary considerably throughout the water column and differ from what accumulates in the sediment. Hence, the interpretation of sedimentary eDNA archives should take into account potential taxonomic and abundance biases when reconstructing past changes in marine biodiversity.

Lizards and Snakes (Reptiles: Squamata) in Gunung Palung National Park as Biology Learning Resources

This research aims to analyze the Squamata order in Gunung Palung National Park as a learning resource. The study was condicted through 2 stages. First to identify the diversity of squamata in SRCP TNGP with observation Visual Encounter Survey. Second to analyze the potiend of squamata diversity as biology learning resource using questionnaire to analyze the potential data as biology learning resource. The research findings revealed 15 individuals from 10 species and 6 families of the Squamata order. Based on the results and feedback from 8 respondents, squamata order is considered suitable as a learning resource. The requirements for a learning resource include clear potential, clear learning objectives, alignment with learning goals, clarity of information provided, clear exploration guidelines, and clear expected outcomes. The results of the lizard and snake inventory study in TNGP, as a biology learning resource, align with the attainment of basic competencies in the field of biology, encompassing various levels of biodiversity, ecology, and environmental change, specifically in the subtopic of environmental conservation, suitable for class X high school.

Implications of landscape changes for ecosystem services and biodiversity: A national assessment in Ecuador

Ecuadorian ecosystems experience high pressure due to anthropogenic activities and climate change. Despite the need of regular monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES), attempts to assess the current and future interdependencies of BES and landscape changes are still lacking. This study suggests a spatial assessment of the capacity of ecosystems/land use types to provide BES as status quo and its future development under scenarios of deforestation and climate change. To address data scarcity and improve legitimacy, spatial modeling was combined with participatory approaches. Specifically, changes in landscape pattern were simulated using a modeling platform that combines Geographic Information System (GIS) and Cellular Automaton (CA) modules. Experts in ecosystem conservation and management participated through surveys and workshops. Food, drinking water, service water, soil erosion control, water flow regulation, pollination/seed dispersal, regulation of macro climate, and landscape aesthetic/amenity were identified as the most relevant ES. Among the forest ecosystems, Páramo-related ecosystems were regarded to provide multiple ES with high capacities. Compared to the current status, the deforestation scenario showed to decrease most BES by 20–25 %, while increasing food provision by 5 %, as a trade-off. Regarding the climate change scenarios, the “Representative Concentration Pathways” (RCP) by 2070 were simulated with an increase in temperature of 2 °C (RCP 2.6) and of 4 °C (RCP 6.0). RCP 6.0 showed more noticeable impact than RCP 2.6, which caused a decrease in most BES whereas an increase in food provision due to the possible expansion of arable land into higher altitudes. The results of the spatial assessment also indicated high and low potential areas for BES provision. Such information can support decision-making for BES management e.g., priority areas for actions. Furthermore, the applied spatially explicit assessment could be a starting point for a regular assessment of BES, which has not yet been implemented in Ecuador.

Rhetorical strategies in the climate change disclosures of Bangladeshi banking companies

PurposeThe main objective of this article is to explore the rhetorical persuasive strategies in the climate change-related disclosures of the annual reports of Bangladeshi banking companies.Design/methodology/approachTo fulfil this objective, content and rhetorical analyses are conducted on the climate change-related disclosures in the annual reports of Bangladeshi banks. The analysis is interpreted with the help of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos and pathos).FindingsEvidence suggests that Bangladeshi banks disclose climate change-related issues in annual reports. These issues include demonstrating a genuine concern for climate change and exhibiting commitment to green finance and investment, paper and energy conservation, tree plantation, biodiversity and climate change risk funds. They also underscore challenges linked to carbon emissions, air pollution, and natural disasters. These disclosures are persuasive, and rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, and pathos are evident. However, the disclosures lacked consistency and comparability because of the absence of reporting regulations and a prescribed framework.Practical implicationsThis study informs managers and policymakers about climate change disclosures in Bangladesh, particularly within the banking industry. The research suggests the need for improved reporting consistency and comparability, potentially achieved through standardised climate change reporting guidelines and mandatory requirements.Originality/valueThis paper’s uniqueness lies in its application of Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle to enhance our understanding of how banking companies in a developing economy strategically employ climate change-related disclosures to influence readers. Rhetorical analysis is limitedly used by accounting scholars in analysing corporate climate-change disclosures.

Integrative approach to monitoring metazoan diversity and distribution in two Mediterranean coastal sites through morphology and organismal eDNA

Marine and coastal ecosystems respond to climate change in various ways, such as the type of ecosystem, the species composition, interactions, and distribution, and the effect of local stressors. Metazoan organisms, particularly zooplankton, are important indicators for monitoring the effects climate-driven warming in marine coastal ecosystems over the long term. In this study, the diversity and distribution of zooplankton communities in the Mediterranean Sea (Canyon Dohrn and LTER-MareChiara, Gulf of Naples), a known biodiversity and climate changes hotspot, have been assessed using the integration of morphological-based identification and organismal eDNA. Our findings showed that the multi-locus strategy including the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene and the hypervariable region V9 of the 18S rDNA (18S V9) as targets, improved the taxonomic overview, with the COI gene being more effective than the 18S V9 region for metazoans at the species level. However, appendicularians were detected only with the 18S V9 region. Overall, organismal eDNA is a powerful approach for revealing hidden biodiversity, especially for gelatinous and meroplankton components, and provided new insights into biodiversity patterns. The ecological importance of calanoid copepods in coastal ecosystems has been confirmed. In contrast, the discovery of 13 new metazoan records in the Mediterranean Sea, including two non-indigenous copepod species, suggested that local stressors affect zooplankton community structure and resilience, highlighting the importance of biomonitoring and protecting marine coastal ecosystems.

Rare component of biota in the Data Centre "Biodiversity of Ukraine" and its possible use to identify hotspot areas and evaluation of biodiversity

The problem of assessing the diversity of biotic complexes is extremely important and relevant and has been covered in numerous publications, mostly for certain taxonomic groups. The use of information retrieval systems with large databases opens up new opportunities and approaches to automated biodiversity assessment. All the data used in this article are taken from the web resource of the Data Centre “Biodiversity of Ukraine” and include data from museum collections, literature and human observation. To evaluate species diversity included in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, we developed a scoring scale for each protected category based on a ranking system according to its protected category. For the assessment, we used Disappearing species, Vulnerable species, and Rare species only. To highlight hotspot areas we used the aggregation maps with 20 × 20 km squares. Species diversity of the species included in the Red Data Book of Ukraine of the western region of Ukraine in the CDBU is represented by 498 species (fungi 41, plants 191, animals 266). By oblasts of the western region of Ukraine: Volyn oblast 139 species (fungi 3, plants 51, animals 85), Rivne oblast 85 (fungi 5, plants 32, animals 48), Lviv oblast 260 (fungi 17, plants 90, animals 153), Ternopil oblast 182 (fungi 9, plants 48, animals 125), Ivano-Frankivsk oblast 219 (fungi 28, plants 59, animals 132), Chernivtsi oblast 105 (fungi 6, plants 49, animals 50), Zakarpattia oblast 190 (fungi 26, plants 70, animals 94). Most of the defined hotspots coincide with the territories of the nature reserve fund of Ukraine, and some hotspots are located in large cities (scientific centers) with vicinities. We have also identified hotspots outside of existing nature reserves, including the territories of large water reservoirs, river valleys, and historical biodiversity hotspots. Thus, Data сentre “Biodiversity of Ukraine” tools can be used to assess rare biodiversity and its restoration in the post-war period, as well as to identify hotspots and locations for creating new protected territories, identifying ecological corridors and developing ecological networks and monitor changes in biodiversity caused by climate change.

Revisiting 150 years of coral studies to assess changes in species records, distribution, and functional structure of corals in the Brazilian Province

Historical information serves as a crucial foundation for understanding past natural ecosystems, enabling us to track changes in biodiversity. It plays an indispensable role in both biodiversity conservation and restoration ecology. In the Brazilian Province, there is still an absence of historical accounts relative to the coral assemblage diversity. We compiled historical and modern information on coral species and mapped coral diversity in the Brazilian Province over the past 150 years. Using abundance data, we contrasted the functional structure of coral assemblages sampled 40 years apart (1960–2000) in the Abrolhos Bank, the largest reef complex of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The number of species records increased over time, especially after the 1960's, with the Abrolhos region amassing numerous historical accounts and harboring the greatest coral richness. This increase in species records reflects the recent accumulation of knowledge about these marginal reefs. Historical declines of two major reef building species, Millepora alcicornis and Mussismilia braziliensis, resulted in temporal changes in their relative contributions to the functional structure of coral assemblages in the Abrolhos Bank. The erosion of such assemblages within the past 40 years highlights the importance of considering historical information to adjust environmental baselines, setting proper conservation and restoration targets.

What evidence exists on the effect of the main European lowland crop and grassland management practices on biodiversity indicator species groups? a systematic map

BackgroundThe intensification of the agricultural practices in Europe over the last decades has drastically transformed the agroecosystems. The simplification of the landscape, the loss of semi-natural habitats and the application of chemicals on crops led to biodiversity decline in agricultural landscapes, raising substantial concerns about the loss of essential ecosystem services, such as pollination or pest control. Depending on the location, the scale and the regional context, different indicator species groups (ISGs) are regularly surveyed to assess the state and trend of biodiversity changes in agroecosystems. Although the high diversity of these ISGs allows assessing different biodiversity aspects (e.g., trophic levels, bio-physical compartments, scale of indication), it complicates the interpretation of the results and thus their practical application. In addition, species diversity metrics are various, from simple species counts to more complex measurements of diversity indices, sometimes with antagonistic responses. Here, to meet the pressing need for synthesis in this complex topic, we follow a standardized systematic map protocol to collect and summarize the literature reporting field evidence of the effects of the main agricultural management practices (AMPs) in arable crops, grasslands and ecological infrastructures on a set of ISGs in European lowland farming areas.MethodsSearches of literature were made using online publication databases, search engine and specialist websites in English. Gathered publications were screened for relevance following inclusion/exclusion criteria published in a prior protocol. We extracted and mapped information about experimental design, monitoring methods, ISGs and AMPs studied and the diversity measures presented in each included publication. These parameters are structured in available data coding sheets.ResultsThe search gathered 20,162 references from which 1208 remained after full text eligibility screening. Main areas studied are in Western Europe, and the number of studies increased exponentially from 1984 to 2022. Most publications are experimental and on-farm studies which assess AMPs effects at the field scale. Main studied AMPs are fertilization, grazing, organic farming, tillage, mowing and herbicide application. Most ISGs used to study their impacts are flora, carabids, spiders, birds, bees and annelids, often combined with other ISGs. The combinations between AMPs and ISGs studied are detailed as well as monitoring methods. The most used diversity measures are abundance, species richness, Shannon index, evenness, and community composition.ConclusionsWe identified several knowledge clusters: (1) organic farming, fertilization, tillage, grazing and mowing impact on a wide range of ISGs, (2) flora response to agricultural practices, (3) annelids response to agronomic interventions that impact soil structure (e.g., tillage, fertilization, crop rotation, crop residue management), (4) butterflies and orthopterans response to mowing and grazing effects in grasslands, (5) the use of bird monitoring for the impact for assessing the efficiency of AES implementation at the landscape scale. We highlight that further research should be conducted on ISGs that are until now poorly studied regarding agricultural practices, such as amphibians, reptiles, gastropods, millipedes and centipedes. More field evidence of the effects of diversification practices such as intercropping, undersowing, intermediate cropping, and agroforestry are needed to draw conclusions on their benefits on biodiversity.

The Christoph Schubart Decapod Collections

Abstract Christoph D. Schubart is remembered as an outstanding carcinologist who left behind an enormous scientific legacy and a huge collaborative network with scientists from all over the world. Throughout his career, Christoph was also able to compile an extremely valuable crustacean collection, including physical specimens, DNA extracts, and tissues of many thousands of specimens. After his sudden death in early 2023, these valuable collections have been transferred from the University of Regensburg to the Leibniz Institute of Biodiversity Change (LIB). Molecular samples are now housed at the LIB Biobank in Bonn (ZFMK), and the physical specimens are deposited at the LIB Crustacea Collection in Hamburg (ZMH). The collections include marine (70%), freshwater (25%) and terrestrial (5%) material from all over the world. A preliminary list of the taxa potentially included in the collections is provided herein, which includes approximately 375 genera, 104 families, nine orders, and two crustacean classes. This note aims to provide the first insights into the Schubart collections and to encourage the scientific community to use this resource extensively, preserving the scientific legacy of Christoph Schubart, thus inspiring new emerging questions on decapod research.

The path to scientifically sound biodiversity valuation in the context of the Global Biodiversity Framework

Successful implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires identifying a process for measuring and valuing changes in biodiversity that build on the recognition that economics and valuation must play a key role in “halting and reversing” biodiversity loss. Here, we discuss considerations for a practical path to valuing changes in biodiversity. Framing changes in the value of biodiversity as a summary of changes in certain natural assets enables leveraging existing approaches and international standards associated with environmental-economic accounting. We discuss why an approach that builds from individual species, evolutionary groups, or functional groups into a practical, hierarchical statistical classification system is better than the development of any one biodiversity index. We merge techniques from ecology and other natural sciences, national and environmental-economic accounting, and economics, which are all on the cusp of making measurement of the change in the value of biodiversity possible. The focus should be on scaling and integrating these approaches. The path forward appears to begin with imperfect but useful measures, grounded in robust concepts, while establishing ambition to further scale-up measurements—just like the past evolution of many other official statistical series.

Phytoplankton in Deep Lakes of the Dinaric Karst: Functional Biodiversity and Main Ecological Features.

Phytoplankton is a polyphyletic group of organisms that responds rapidly to environmental conditions and provides a reliable response to changes, making it a good ecological indicator for water quality monitoring. However, a gradient is almost essential for a reliable relationship between pressure and impact. In a low-gradient environment, ingenuity is required to outsmart the limitations of the commonly used linear relationship. Here, we examine changes in biomass and functional biodiversity by analysing larger data sets (2013-2022) in six ecologically diverse, natural, deep Croatian karst lakes with low nutrient gradients using nonlinear correlation coefficients and multivariate analyses in 209 samples. We found that phytoplankton biomass was most strongly influenced by nutrients, salinity and alkalinity, while light availability and total nitrogen strongly influenced phytoplankton functional biodiversity. An additional analysis of the TN:TP ratio revealed that the oligotrophic Lake Vransko is nitrogen-limited, and lakes Kozjak and Prošće are phosphorus-limited. This further clarified the relationship of phytoplankton to nutrients despite the low gradient. The complex analysis in this study provides a new perspective for predicting changes in the structure and succession of phytoplankton in deep karst lakes for successful management under apparent anthropogenic pressure and climate change.

Land use history and landscape forest cover determine tropical forest recovery

Abstract To conserve biodiversity and combat climate change it is vital to restore forest ecosystems. Natural forest regrowth is a nature‐based solution to restore forests, but it has rarely been evaluated how this is affected by the combination of previous land use intensity and surrounding forest cover, and how this varies between the two main tropical forest types; dry and wet forests. Thirty‐three plots were established on abandoned agricultural fields in a dry (13 plots) and wet (20 plots) tropical forest in Mexico and monitored 3 years for the following tree community attributes: structure, diversity, regeneration mode, potential symbioses with N fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Previous land use intensity was described using interviews, and landscape forest cover and fragmentation within a 1000 m radius surrounding the plots were quantified using satellite images. Variable importance analyses indicated that land use intensity was more important than forest cover and fragmentation for the state of the tree community attributes after 3 years. This suggests that previous land use impacts the start of succession and leaves important legacies on the vegetation. Land use intensity, forest cover and fragmentation were equally important in determining the change in tree community attributes over time, indicating that both management practices and dispersal shape subsequently community assembly. A higher land use intensity decreases tree richness recovery, while size of the largest forest patch decreases tree density and connectivity of these patches increases tree density. The dry forest had a faster increase in tree density recovery compared to the wet forest through a high initial resprouting capacity and abiotically dispersed trees. Synthesis and applications: Both a higher land use intensity and fragmented forest landscape decreases the speed of forest recovery, indicating that human actions and landscape transformation shape the course of succession. Restoration in fragmented forest landscapes through natural regeneration is more suitable in areas with low previous land use intensity, higher forest connectivity and abiotically dispersed species. Effective restoration should therefore consider both land use history and landscape forest cover and be tailored to local socio‐ecological conditions.

Cross-referencing unidentified fish sound data sets to unravel sound sources: a case study from the Temperate Northern Atlantic

There is growing evidence that studying aquatic acoustic communities can provide ecologically relevant information. Understanding these communities may offer unique insights into species behaviour and ecology, while consolidating passive acoustic monitoring as a tool for mapping the presence of target species or estimating changes in aquatic biodiversity. Fish can be significant soundscape contributors, but most soniferous fish species are yet to be identified. Here, we crossed information of three key fish acoustic communities in the Lusitanian Province of the Temperate Northern Atlantic (the Madeira archipelago, the Azores archipelago and Arrábida in mainland Portugal) to unveil potential sources of unidentified fish sounds. We found that the three communities shared various sound types and we were able to narrow down the list of possible fish sound sources. Several sound types were suggested to be produced by species of the Pomacentridae, Scorpaenidae and Serranidae families. We also observed that the sound type /kwa/, associated with Scorpaena spp., exhibited more variations in the geographic area where more species of this genus are known to be present. This study showcases that, as databases of unidentified fish sounds continue to grow, future comparisons of multiple acoustic communities may provide insights into unknown fish sound sources and sound types.

Temperature and biodiversity influence community stability differently in birds and fishes.

Determining the factors that affect community stability is crucial to understanding the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the face of global warming. We investigated how four temperature components (that is, median, variability, trend and extremes) affected diversity-synchrony-stability relationships for 1,246 bird and 580 fish communities from temperate regions. We hypothesized a stabilizing effect on the community if the variation in species' response to changing median temperature decreases overall community synchrony (hypothesis H1) and if temperature extremes reduce interspecific synchrony at extreme abundances due to variation in species' thermal tolerance limits (hypothesis H2). We found support for H1 in fish and for H2 in bird communities. Here we showed that the abiotic components (that is, the median, variability, trend and extremes of temperature) had more indirect effects on community stability, predominantly by affecting the biotic components (that is, diversity, synchrony). Considering various temperature components' direct as well as indirect impacts on stability for terrestrial versus aquatic communities will improve our mechanistic understanding of biodiversity change in response to global climatic stressors.

Scale dependence and mechanisms of grazing‐induced biodiversity changes depend on herbivore type in semiarid grasslands

Abstract Grasslands support a variety of herbivores that profoundly impact biodiversity and ecosystem functioning at local and regional scales. Understanding how different herbivores influence plant diversity across multiple scales is crucial for effective biodiversity conservation. However, most studies have focussed on the effects of grazing intensity on plant diversity, neglecting the impacts and associated mechanisms of different herbivores across scales. Based on a 7‐year grazing experiment with 16 plots in Inner Mongolia's typical steppe, we compared the scale‐dependent effects of different herbivores (cattle, sheep and goats) on plant diversity at moderate grazing intensity. We used the species–area relationship (SAR) and linear mixed models to analyse the changes in species richness across multiple scales (1, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 m2). To understand SAR slope changes, we examined four potential mechanisms: overall species richness, total number of individuals, species abundance distribution and species aggregation. We found that grazing had scale effects on plant diversity, as indicated by a significant decrease in the SAR slope. This decrease in slope suggests that the negative impacts of grazing were more pronounced at larger scales. Additionally, the scale effects of different herbivores on plant diversity varied. Cattle had stronger positive impacts on diversity than sheep and goats at both small (1 m2) and large (1024 m2) scales. Conversely, sheep and goats had stronger negative effects on diversity than did the control at the large scale (1024 m2). The decrease in the SAR slope was mainly caused by changes in overall species richness and species abundance distribution. This was primarily because cattle had a stronger impact on dominant species, whereas sheep and goats had a stronger impact on rare species. Synthesis: Our results demonstrate that even at the same intensity, the grazing effects on species diversity vary with the study scale, herbivore type and their interaction. This finding has important implications for the conservation of grassland biodiversity given that grazing typically occurs at larger scales than in studies with quadrats and involves various herbivores with distinct effects on plant diversity.

Intensifying aridity induces tradeoffs among biodiversity and ecosystem services supported by trees

AbstractAimChanges in climate are likely to have major impacts on benefits (i.e., biodiversity and ecosystem services) supported by trees. Here we explore the extent to which trees can support multiple benefits, and the potential tradeoffs among them, under increasing dryness.LocationEastern Australia.Time period2018–2019.Major taxa studiedTrees.MethodsWe evaluated changes in biodiversity and services supported by trees and the nature of potential tradeoffs in response to increasing aridity, our proxy of drying regional climates. We assessed six benefits (biodiversity and five ecosystem services) supported by trees at 126 sites across a gradient from Australia's mesic coast to the arid interior.ResultsThe value of average benefits did not vary with aridity, with winners and losers in biodiversity and ecosystem services as aridity intensified. Tradeoffs between biodiversity and soil stability declined with increasing aridity, but only in mesic environments, whereas tradeoffs between wood production potential and carbon storage intensified under greater aridity levels, but only in mesic environments. Aridity and tree structure were the major regulators of these tradeoffs, particularly under dry environments. Increasing aridity affected tradeoffs directly or indirectly by either suppressing the positive effect of tree height or exacerbating the negative effect of tree canopy size.Main conclusionsOur results indicate that biodiversity and most ecosystem services supported by trees are likely to decline under future climate change scenarios and demonstrate the importance of targeting afforestation programs to specific services in particular climatic areas rather than attempting to improve multiple services.