ABSTRACTThis article starts from the observation that whenever new concepts become popular, they are applied to more and more contexts until they have become so inclusive that they risk losing their analytical power. This tendency also shapes the relationship between the concepts of transnationality and translocality, which is discussed here with a focus on popular music. More precisely, this article draws on research on two musical actors who are both based in the French city of Marseilles and who both relate to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros: the internationally acclaimed rapper Soprano and the group Afropa, who play Afrofolk on the margins of the music scene in Marseilles. Besides the different levels of success they experience and the distinct musical genres they embody, these musicians represent different generations of a Franco-Comorian ‘diaspora’. Their musical oeuvre, motivations and ambitions, as well as the perception of their music by different audiences, will be discussed with respect to the notions of transnationalism and translocality that become apparent.

In the area around the archipelago of São Pedro e São Paulo (ASPSP), a set of small rocky islands in the Equatorial Atlantic, the thermocline begins at a more superficial depth than in the surrounding waters. This raises the question if there is any change in heterotrophic microplanktonic protists assemblages occurring in the surface mixed layer and in the subsurface layer. To answer this question, we sampled seawater in seven depths (between 1-100 m) with a 10L Niskin bottle and obtained temperature and salinity profiles with a CTD at eight sites around the ASPSP. The depth of the surface mixed layer varied between 18-63 meters. Dinoflagellates dominated in terms of abundance representing over 80% and 65% of the individuals found in the surface and subsurface layers, respectively. A PERMANOVA test revealed significant differences (p < 0.001) among the dinoflagellate and tintinnid assemblages occurring in both layers, but no evidence for difference in the radiolarian assemblage was detected. Good ecological indicators were found mainly within the dinoflagellate assemblage. The thermocline induced stratification allowed the development of different microplanktonic protists assemblages above and under the depth of the surface mixed layer in the upper 100 m of the water column.

ABSTRACTAimSpecies–area relationships (SARs) on oceanic archipelagos are shaped at least as much by speciation as by immigration–extinction dynamics. We examine three well‐studied Atlantic archipelagos to quantify the relative contributions of colonization and diversification to individual and whole‐archipelago floras.LocationThree Macaronesian archipelagos: the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands.MethodsWe assessed the floras of all three archipelagos in order to compare SARs and numbers of endemic species with respect to the physical characteristics of each archipelago (geological age, isolation, and environmental diversity). Utilizing a large number of available phylogenies, we partitioned each flora into putative colonist lineages. These were used to determine: (a) the number of original colonists of each archipelago, (b) degree of relatedness among these, and (c) the degree to which internal diversification contributes to species numbers for islands and archipelagos with different physical characteristics.ResultsArchipelagos varied in the parameters of the SARs in relation to their physical characteristics. The Canarian and Madeiran floras demonstrate remarkably similar SARs with z values (slopes) near 0.3, while the Azorean flora exhibits fewer species per given area and a modest z value of 0.15. The Canarian and Madeiran endemic species are concentrated in a small number of diversifying lineages, whereas the Azorean endemics were mostly in anagenetic lineages (indicating minimal internal diversification). Lineages that do not diversify within a given archipelago significantly tend not to diversify in others, whereas diversifying lineages tend to have more species in the Canarian flora when compared with related lineages in the others.Main conclusionsAlthough a strong independent effect of island area on species richness exists for the whole Macaronesian region, colonization and diversification are also influenced by geological age and environmental diversity of archipelagos, overriding characteristics of individual islands (“archipelago effect”). The “Azorean diversity enigma” likely results from a combination of geological youth, low environmental diversity and disproportionate human alteration.

The benthic fauna on reefs around the Glorieuses Islands, a small and protected Indian Ocean archipelago northwest of Madagascar, was surveyed in November 2015, focusing particularly on the orders Alcyonacea (soft corals and gorgonians) and Scleractinia (stony corals). The species richness of both groups was rather low for a protected, relatively pristine environment in the region. Though certain soft ‘fugitive’ alcyonacean species were noticeably abundant, other soft corals were rare. Sediment-tolerant faviid corals were abundant among the scleractinians. The sediment around the reefs was fine-grained and white, and appeared to be derived from abundant green macroalgae Halimeda and coralline seaweeds. The abundance of these, in turn, might have been attributable to nutrient enrichment from guano deposited on one of the islands by migratory seabirds, causing the aforementioned anomalies in coral biodiversity and abundance.

ABSTRACTParasitoid wasps of the subfamily Hyptiogastrinae (Gasteruptiidae) are known to lay eggs in the nests of solitary bees and wasps. Their larvae are considered predator-inquilines, consuming the host’s eggs and larvae and then the nest provisions. Pseudofoenus extraneus is endemic to Fiji, and the only member of the subfamily Hyptiogastrinae known to have colonised the archipelago. The host relationships and oviposition sequence of this species have not been previously reported. We show that the primary host is the halictine bee Homalictus fijiensis and describe P. extraneus behaviour around Homalictus nest aggregations and the entering of host nests. Wasps were observed entering Homalictus nests on nine occasions, as well as perching near nests and antennating nest entrances. The high abundance of H. fijiensis in Fiji may help to explain how a parasitoid was able to successfully invade such a remote oceanic archipelago as Fiji.

The complete list of Canarian marine decapods (last update by González Quiles 2003, popular book) currently comprises 374 species/subspecies, grouped in 198 genera and 82 families; whereas the Cape Verdean marine decapods (now fully listed for the first time) are represented by 343 species/subspecies with 201 genera and 80 families. Due to changing environmental conditions, in the last decades many subtropical/tropical taxa have reached the coasts of the Canary Islands. Comparing the carcinofaunal composition and their biogeographic components between the Canary and Cape Verde archipelagos would aid in: validating the appropriateness in separating both archipelagos into different ecoregions (Spalding et al. 2007), and understanding faunal movements between areas of benthic habitat. The consistency of both ecoregions is here compared and validated by assembling their decapod crustacean checklists, analysing their taxa composition, gathering their bathymetric data, and comparing their biogeographic patterns. Four main evidences (i.e. different taxa; divergent taxa composition; different composition of biogeographic patterns; different endemicity rates) support that separation, especially in coastal benthic decapods; and these parametres combined would be used as a valuable tool at comparing biotas from oceanic archipelagos. To understand/predict south-north faunal movements in a scenario of regional tropicalization, special attention is paid to species having at the Canaries their southernmost occurrence, and also to tropical African warm-affinity species.

Effects of marine protected areas on coastal fishes across the Azores archipelago, mid-North Atlantic

Poecilia vivipara, a small euryhaline guppy is reported at the Maceió River micro-basin in the Fernando de Noronha oceanic archipelago, northeast Brazil. However, the origin (human-mediated or natural dispersal) of this insular population is still controversial. The present study investigates how this population is phylogenetically related to the surrounding continental populations using the cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial gene from eleven river basins in South America. Our phylogenetic reconstruction showed a clear geographical distribution arrangement of P. vivipara lineages. The Fernando de Noronha haplotype fell within the 'north' clade, closely related to a shared haplotype between the Paraíba do Norte and Potengi basins; the geographically closest continental drainages. Our phylogenetic reconstruction also showed highly divergent lineages, suggesting that P. vivipara may represent a species complex along its wide distribution. Regarding to the insular population, P. vivipara may have been intentionally introduced to the archipelago for the purpose of mosquito larvae control during the occupation of a U.S. military base following World War II. However, given the euryhaline capacity of P. vivipara, a potential scenario of natural (passive or active) dispersal cannot be ruled out.

Colonization and diversification of the white-browed shortwing (Aves: Muscicapidae: Brachypteryx montana) in the Philippines

Adaptive radiation is a common evolutionary phenomenon in oceanic islands. From one successful immigrant population, dispersal into different island environments and directional selection can rapidly yield a series of morphologically distinct species, each adapted to its own particular environment. Not all island immigrants, however, follow this evolutionary pathway. Others successfully arrive and establish viable populations, but they remain in the same ecological zone and only slowly diverge over millions of years. This transformational speciation, or anagenesis, is also common in oceanic archipelagos. The critical question is why do some groups radiate adaptively and others not? The Juan Fernández Islands contain 105 endemic taxa of angiosperms, 49% of which have originated by adaptive radiation (cladogenesis) and 51% by anagenesis, hence providing an opportunity to examine characteristics of taxa that have undergone both types of speciation in the same general island environment. Life form, dispersal mode, and total number of species in progenitors (genera) of endemic angiosperms in the archipelago were investigated from literature sources and compared with modes of speciation (cladogenesis vs. anagenesis). It is suggested that immigrants tending to undergo adaptive radiation are herbaceous perennial herbs, with leaky self-incompatible breeding systems, good intra-island dispersal capabilities, and flexible structural and physiological systems. Perhaps more importantly, the progenitors of adaptively radiated groups in islands are those that have already been successful in adaptations to different environments in source areas, and which have also undergone eco-geographic speciation. Evolutionary success via adaptive radiation in oceanic islands, therefore, is less a novel feature of island lineages but rather a continuation of tendency for successful adaptive speciation in lineages of continental source regions.

The Canary Islands hold an exceptional number of endemic taxa including six endemic bird species. Over the last few decades, a plethora of information has emerged about colonisation, diversification and extinction of birds in the Canary Islands demonstrating certain evolutionary processes occurring on this oceanic archipelago. However, advances in studies of the biology and ecology of these taxa have been very limited. To discriminate male and female individuals is an important issue in many studies of avian ecology such as dispersal and parental care. Here I provide a rapid, low-cost and robust method for sex determination in the endemic Canary Island Chiffchaff Phylloscopus canariensis. This method was built using eight morphological traits, and sex determination is based on molecular markers from 207 individuals. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) correctly classified 98.1% of the grouped cases. The most explanatory variables obtained in the DFA were the tarsus, wing, and tail lengths. In addition, a MANOVA analysis showed that males were significantly larger than females in all measured traits. Overall, the method proposed is highly efficient and accurate for sexing this endemic bird species in the hand.

Bryozoan records from the shores and upper shelf (≤50 m depth) of the remote Azores Archipelago (central North Atlantic) have been analyzed, along with unpublished data and data from recent surveys. A checklist of 67 shallow-water species is hereby compiled for the region, of which more than one third represent records from campaigns conducted during the last 20 years. A classification on the origin of the species indicates that the majority (62%) are cryptogenic while 27% (n = 18) are considered native. Given the natural limitations for genetic exchange between the archipelago’s bryozoan populations and those from neighboring shores, the taxa presently considered as cryptogenic may yield a considerable amount of endemic species after taxonomic revision. The remaining 11% are confirmed as non-indigenous species, highlighting the importance of human-mediated transport in considerably enhancing the diversity of bryozoans in remote oceanic archipelagos, which would otherwise be off-limits to their natural dispersal capacity. In view of the need to quantitatively evaluate the certainty of species-level identification when assembling such biodiversity inventories, we have developed a method to attribute a degree of certainty to species records. The application of this method to the current checklist highlights the importance of further studies to ascertain the identification of many species recorded for the Azores, and to be able to categorize them confidently as either native, cryptogenic or non-indigenous.

The evolutionary biogeography of the Arctic Ocean islands is a relatively little-known topic. The Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, a severe mountain land of glaciers, rocks, Arctic deserts and tundra, is among the most enigmatic places in the world because it was a closed area for more than half a century. Here, we report the results of an integrative study of Bombus glacialis Friese, 1902, which has been described from the archipelago. We found that this island lineage has a high level of mtDNA COI gene divergence and a unique nucleotide substitution in the nDNA EF-1α gene but is a sister taxon of B. lapponicus and B. sylvicola. A redescription of the species using Friese’s syntype and newly collected topotypes from Novaya Zemlya is presented. Our results confirm the species status of B. glacialis from Novaya Zemlya, although its relationships with morphologically similar lineages inhabiting other High Arctic areas (Kolguev Island, Kanin Peninsula and Wrangel Island) should be determined in the future. Overall, new findings highlight that the Arctic Ocean archipelagos could preserve cold-tolerant Quaternary relict lineages of invertebrates, which currently may be on the brink of extinction due to climate warming.

Studies across large oceanic archipelagos often provide an opportunity for testing different processes driving patterns of species richness. Frogs are among the most abundant vertebrates in the Solomon Islands but little is known of the factors influencing their richness patterns. This study used modelling to determine important ecological and biogeographic factors affecting the species richness of frogs at multiple locations on major islands across the archipelago. Between March 2009 and August 2012, 16 frog species were recorded along 109 transects placed in coastal, lowland, ridge and montane forests across 13 islands. Mean species richness was higher in the North Solomon Islands arc (6.2 species) and decreased eastwards towards the New Georgia islands (4.7 species), and Malaita (3.2 species). A plausible explanation is that the North Solomon Islands arc is closest to New Guinea, a major centre of dispersal in the south-west Pacific. Coastal (4.6 species) and freshwater (4.8 species) forests had lower predicted species richness than lowland, ridge, and montane forest types (all with 6.2 species). In addition, more frogs were predicted in areas with thin leaf litter (6.2 species), dense shrub cover (7.7 species), and moist soils (7.7 species), which are characteristic of undisturbed forests. These results suggest that frog conservation activities in the Solomon Islands should target islands in the west with intact lowland, ridge, and montane forests. Specific knowledge of this nature is vital for amphibian conservation on tropical islands experiencing extensive habitat loss, habitat modification and widespread predicted climate change impacts.

In order to investigate biogeographic influences on xeric biota in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF), a biodiversity hotspot, we used a monophyletic group including three cactus taxa as a model to perform a phylogeographic study: Cereus fernambucensis subsp. fernambucensis, C. fernambucensis subsp. sericifer, and C. insularis. These cacti are allopatric and grow in xeric habitats along BAF, including isolated granite and gneiss rock outcrops (Inselbergs), sand dune vegetation (Restinga forest), and the rocky shore of an oceanic archipelago (islands of Fernando de Noronha). The nucleotide information from nuclear gene phytochrome C and plastid intergenic spacer trnS‐trnG was used to perform different approaches and statistical analyses, comprising population structure, demographic changes, phylogenetic relationships, and biogeographic reconstruction in both spatial and temporal scales. We recovered four allopatric population groups with highly supported branches in the phylogenetic tree with divergence initiated in the middle Pleistocene: southern distribution of C. fernambucensis subsp. fernambucensis, northern distribution of C. fernambucensis subsp. fernambucensis together with C. insularis, southern distribution of C. fernambucensis subsp. sericifer, and northern distribution of C. fernambucensis subsp. sericifer. Further, the results suggest that genetic diversity of population groups was strongly shaped by an initial colonization event from south to north followed by fragmentation. The phylogenetic pattern found for C. insularis is plausible with peripatric speciation in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. To explain the phylogeographic patterns, the putative effects of both climatic and sea level changes as well as neotectonic activity during the Pleistocene are discussed.

Alien species, one of the biggest threats to natural ecosystems worldwide, are of particular concern for oceanic archipelagos such as Galápagos. To enable more effective management of alien species, we reviewed, collated and analysed all available records of alien species for Galápagos. We also assembled a comprehensive dataset on pathways to and among the Galápagos Islands, including tourist and resident numbers, tourist vessels, their itineraries and visitation sites, aircraft capacity and occupancy, air and sea cargo and biosecurity interceptions. So far, 1,579 alien terrestrial and marine species have been introduced to Galápagos by humans. Of these, 1,476 have become established. Almost half of these were intentional introductions, mostly of plants. Most unintentional introductions arrived on plants and plant associated material, followed by transport vehicles, and commodities (in particular fruit and vegetables). The number, frequency and geographic origin of pathways for the arrival and dispersal of alien species to and within Galápagos have increased over time, tracking closely the increase in human population (residents and tourists) on the islands. Intentional introductions of alien species should decline as biosecurity is strengthened but there is a danger that unintentional introductions will increase further as tourism on Galápagos expands. This unique world heritage site will only retain its biodiversity values if the pathways for invasion are managed effectively.

MACAROMOD: A tool to model particulate waste dispersion and benthic impact from offshore sea-cage aquaculture in the Macaronesian region

Three species in two genera of porcelain crabs are reported from the remote oceanic archipelago of Trindade and Martin Vaz one of which, Pachycheles meloi, new to science. The new species is morphologically similar to Pachycheles riisei (Stimpson, 1858) from the inner continental shelf between Florida (USA) and São Paulo (Brazil), of which Pachycheles meloi sp. nov. differs by a suite of carapace and appendage characters, including the presence of a pair of male gonopods on the second abdominal segment (absent in P. riisei). The new species is additionally compared to other congeners. Opportunity is taken to elaborate on the taxonomy of Petrolisthes amoenus (Guérin-Méneville, 1855) and Petrolisthes marginatus (Stimpson, 1859). The Trindade and Martin Vaz Archipelago contain a strongly depauperate porcellanid fauna of western Atlantic affinities.

This contribution examines the traces of colonial history within and across a split Indian Ocean archipelago, the independent ‘Union of the Comoros’ and ‘French’ Mayotte. It will focus on a selection of works by the Franco-Comorian author Salim Hatubou (1972–2015) to illustrate the complexities of commonly overlooked island literatures outside the French Caribbean. My analysis considers geopolitical realities of Mayotte, France’s fifth overseas department, as well as the Comoros, through the islanding of identities. It first examines sociocultural issues before engaging with aesthetic and political practices of presentation connecting sites within and across a formerly united archipelago through the theory of transcolonialism. As such, this analysis undermines the classic centre-periphery binary by approaching mobility within and across multiple peripheries.

BackgroundThe South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) archipelagos and Madagascar constitute a hotspot of biodiversity with a high rate of endemism. In this area, the endemic subspecies A. m. unicolor has been described in Madagascar. It belongs to the African lineage, one of the four described evolutionary lineages in honey bees. Despite a long beekeeping tradition and several recorded European introductions, few studies have been carried out on the diversity and proportion of honey bee subspecies.In order to identify and define which evolutionary lineages and potential sub-lineages are present in the SWIO, the COI-COII intergenic region and the ND2 gene of the mtDNA were sequenced in honey bee colonies from three archipelagos. An extensive sampling (n = 1184 colonies) was done in the Mascarene (La Réunion, Mauritius, Rodrigues), Seychelles (Mahé, Praslin, La Digue) and Comoros (Grande Comore, Mohéli, Anjouan, Mayotte) archipelagos. Islands genetic diversity was compared to newly sampled populations from Madagascar, continental African and European populations.ResultsAfrican lineage haplotypes were found in all islands (except for Rodrigues). Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles had 100% of A lineage, 95.5% in La Réunion and 56.1% in Mauritius. Among all African colonies detected in the SWIO, 98.1% (n = 633) of COI-COII haplotypes described the presence of the subspecies A. M. unicolor. Both genetic markers revealed i) a new private AI mitochondrial group shared by the SWIO archipelagos and Madagascar distant from continental populations; ii) the private African haplotypes for each island suggested diversity radiation in the archipelagos; iii) the detection of the Comoros archipelago as a possible contact area between insular and continental African populations.The exotic European C and M lineages were only detected in the Mascarene archipelago, but striking differences of proportion were observed among islands. Merely 4.6% of European colonies were found in La Réunion whereas Mauritius cumulated 44%. Here, among the 84 observed COI-COII haplotypes, 50 were newly described including 13 which were private to the SWIO archipelagos and Madagascar. Similarly, 24 of the 34 found ND2 haplotypes were novel which included six haplotypes particular to the SWIO populations.ConclusionA new African subgroup was described in the SWIO region with mitochondrial genetic evidence that A. m. unicolor is the indigenous subspecies of the archipelagos surrounding Madagascar.