Undersampled Areas Research Articles

Sheeppox virus genome sequences from the European outbreaks in Spain, Bulgaria, and Greece in 2022–2024

In 2022-2024, three outbreaks of sheeppox (SPP) were reported in the European Union. These occurred in Spain, Bulgaria, and Greece and had serious economic consequences due to animal losses and trade restrictions. Five sheeppox virus (SPPV) whole-genome sequences (WGSs) were determined from samples collected during these outbreaks and analyzed in the context of all other published WGSs. Sheeppox virus strains can be divided in two, or possibly three, main groups. The isolates from the recent outbreaks belong to clade A2, which includes strains historically circulating in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Sequence divergence was low among the isolates that caused the recent European outbreaks. These results highlight the need for more regular and dense surveillance in under-sampled areas and the use of WGS to increase the chance of pinpointing the origin of an introduction, identifying potential introduction routes, and providing insights into SPPV evolution.

Diversity and Ecological Distribution of Plecoptera of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The order Plecoptera constitutes a relatively small group of aquatic insects, encompassing 17 extant families and comprising over 4400 valid species. In Brazil, the number of valid extant species is 207, located in two families: Perlidae (149) and Gripopterygidae (58). Despite extensive research on the southeastern region of Brazil, there is a notable scarcity of comprehensive studies consolidating geographical records and species richness of Plecoptera in the state of Minas Gerais. This study seeks to increase and refine our understanding of Plecoptera within Minas Gerais, focusing on its diversity and distribution. The initial phase involved a thorough review of articles documenting Plecoptera species in the state. Subsequently, biological material from the Museum of Entomology at the Federal University of Viçosa collection was meticulously identified, and its geographical records were incorporated. Utilizing this dataset, we compiled an updated list of Plecoptera species documented in Minas Gerais. Geographical coordinates of collection points were then mapped and graphically represented to elucidate the geographic and altitudinal distribution of these species. A total of 42 Plecoptera species were identified within the state of Minas Gerais, adding many occurrence records and documenting the first record of Gripopteryx pinima for the state. Despite these advancements, knowledge gaps persist, particularly in the mesoregions of Triângulo/Alto Paranaíba, Oeste de Minas, Vale do Mucuri, and Campo das Vertentes. This endeavor serves as an initial foundation to stimulate further collections and investments in undersampled areas, fostering future monitoring and conservation initiatives for aquatic environments.

A geospatial analysis of local intermediate snail host distributions provides insight into schistosomiasis risk within under-sampled areas of southern Lake Malawi

BackgroundAlong the southern shoreline of Lake Malawi, the incidence of schistosomiasis is increasing with snails of the genera Bulinus and Biomphalaria transmitting urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis, respectively. Since the underlying distribution of snails is partially known, often being focal, developing pragmatic spatial models that interpolate snail information across under-sampled regions is required to understand and assess current and future risk of schistosomiasis.MethodsA secondary geospatial analysis of recently collected malacological and environmental survey data was undertaken. Using a Bayesian Poisson latent Gaussian process model, abundance data were fitted for Bulinus and Biomphalaria. Interpolating the abundance of snails along the shoreline (given their relative distance along the shoreline) was achieved by smoothing, using extracted environmental rainfall, land surface temperature (LST), evapotranspiration, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil type covariate data for all predicted locations. Our adopted model used a combination of two-dimensional (2D) and one dimensional (1D) mapping.ResultsA significant association between normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and abundance of Bulinus spp. was detected (log risk ratio − 0.83, 95% CrI − 1.57, − 0.09). A qualitatively similar association was found between NDVI and Biomphalaria sp. but was not statistically significant (log risk ratio − 1.42, 95% CrI − 3.09, 0.10). Analyses of all other environmental data were considered non-significant.ConclusionsThe spatial range in which interpolation of snail distributions is possible appears < 10km owing to fine-scale biotic and abiotic heterogeneities. The forthcoming challenge is to refine geospatial sampling frameworks with future opportunities to map schistosomiasis within actual or predicted snail distributions. In so doing, this would better reveal local environmental transmission possibilities.Graphical

Optically‐Stimulated‐Luminescence Ages and Paleo‐Environmental Implications of Relict Frost Wedges in North–Central Bohemia, Czech Republic

ABSTRACTRelict frost wedges are widespread and valuable indicators of past environmental conditions that have been extensively dated across central and western European lowlands over the past few decades, but their timing in the Czech Republic is poorly known. Here, we present optically‐stimulated‐luminescence (OSL) ages for seven relict frost wedges situated at four study sites in north–central Bohemia, Czech Republic (49.9992–50.4956°N, 13.3736–16.0011°E, 230–350 m above sea level). The OSL ages indicate that the frost wedges developed during two phases in marine isotope stage 2: an older phase that peaked at 23.6 ± 2.9 ka and a younger phase that peaked at 16.1 ± 1.3 ka. Both phases probably experienced cold, dry and windy conditions that were mostly associated with &lt;0°C mean annual air and ground temperatures and the presence of at least discontinuous permafrost, which is in line with similar central and western European records and other paleo‐environmental archives. The new OSL ages constitute the first extended dataset on the timing of frost wedges in this undersampled area between the Fennoscandian and Alpine ice sheets, which is essential for reconstructing past permafrost extents and climate conditions, as well as for validating models of past permafrost dynamics in central Europe.

Analysis of Wildfire Susceptibility by Weight of Evidence, Using Geomorphological and Environmental Factors in the Marche Region, Central Italy

Fires are a growing problem even in temperate climate areas, such as those in Central Italy, due to climate change leading to longer and longer periods of drought. Thus, knowing the fire susceptibility of an area is crucial for good planning and taking appropriate countermeasures. In this context, it was decided to use only causal factors of a geomorphological and environmental nature in order to obtain a fire susceptibility analysis that can also be applied to climatically under-sampled areas. Vector data of fires in Central Italy from 2005 to 2023 were collected, and the correct areal extent was calculated for each. At the same time, six factors were selected that could have an influence on fire development, such as ecological units, topographic wetness index (TWI), geology, slope, exposure, and altitude. The model was obtained by means of the weight of evidence statistical method, which takes into account past data by reinterpreting them in a future-oriented way on the basis of the identified factors and classes. The model was validated with a test sample and shows an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.72 with a reliability that can be described as good considering the total absence of climatic factors that are known to play a major role in fire development. Furthermore, the identified causal factors were divided into classes, and these were carefully weighted in order to define their relative influence in the study area. Particularly Ecological Units with characteristic and well-defined contrast (C) values, which could lead to a more complete definition of forests that tend to increase fire susceptibility and those that tend to decrease it, allowing the latter to be exploited as a hazard mitigation agent.

Spatial predictions and uncertainties of forest carbon fluxes for carbon accounting

Countries have pledged to different national and international environmental agreements, most prominently the climate change mitigation targets of the Paris Agreement. Accounting for carbon stocks and flows (fluxes) is essential for countries that have recently adopted the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - ecosystem accounting framework (UNSEEA) as a global statistical standard. In this paper, we analyze how spatial carbon fluxes can be used in support of the UNSEEA carbon accounts in five case countries with available in-situ data. Using global multi-date biomass map products and other remotely sensed data, we mapped the 2010–2018 carbon fluxes in Brazil, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden and the USA using National Forest Inventory (NFI) and local biomass maps from airborne LiDAR as reference data. We identified areas that are unsupported by the reference data within environmental feature space (6–47% of vegetated country area); cross-validated an ensemble machine learning (RMSE=9–39 Mg C textrm{ha}^{-1} and textrm{R}^{2}=0.16–0.71) used to map carbon fluxes with prediction intervals; and assessed spatially correlated residuals (<5 km) before aggregating carbon fluxes from 1-ha pixels to UNSEEA forest classes. The resulting carbon accounting tables revealed the net carbon sequestration in natural broadleaved forests. Both in plantations and in other woody vegetation ecosystems, emissions exceeded sequestration. Overall, our estimates align with FAO-Forest Resource Assessment and national studies with the largest deviations in Brazil and USA. These two countries used highly clustered reference data, where clustering caused uncertainty given the need to extrapolate to under-sampled areas. We finally provide recommendations to mitigate the effect of under-sampling and to better account for the uncertainties once carbon stocks and flows need to be aggregated in relatively smaller countries. These actions are timely given the global initiatives that aim to upscale UNSEEA carbon accounting.

Aspheric surface measurement by absolute wavelength scanning interferometry with model-based retrace error correction.

This paper presents a non-nulling absolute interferometric method for fast and full-area measurement of aspheric surfaces without the necessity of any mechanical movement. Several single frequency laser diodes with some degree of laser tunability are used to achieve an absolute interferometric measurement. The virtual interconnection of three different wavelengths makes it possible to accurately measure the geometrical path difference between the measured aspheric surface and the reference Fizeau surface independently for each pixel of the camera sensor. It is thus possible to measure even in undersampled areas of the high fringe density interferogram. After measuring the geometrical path difference, the retrace error associated with the non-nulling mode of the interferometer is compensated for using a calibrated numerical model (numerical twin) of the interferometer. A height map representing the normal deviation of the aspheric surface from its nominal shape is obtained. The principle of absolute interferometric measurement and numerical error compensation are described in this paper. The method was experimentally verified by measuring an aspheric surface with a measurement uncertainty of λ/20, and the results were in good agreement with the results of a single-point scanning interferometer.

Fish eDNA detections in ports mirror fishing fleet activities and highlight the spread of non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea

Gathering comprehensive marine biodiversity data can be difficult, costly and time consuming, preventing adequate knowledge of diversity patterns in many areas worldwide. We propose fishing ports as “natural” sinks of biodiversity information collected by fishing vessels probing disparate habitats, depths, and environments. By combining rapid environmental DNA metabarcoding (eDNA) surveys and data from public registers and Automatic Identification Systems, we show significant positive relationships between fishing fleet activities (i.e. fishing effort and characteristics of the fishing grounds) and the taxonomic fish assemblage composition in eleven Mediterranean fishing ports. Overall, we identified 160 fish and 123 invertebrate OTUs, including at least seven non-indigenous species, in some instances well beyond their known distribution areas. Our findings suggest that eDNA assessments of fishing harbours' waters might offer a rapid way to monitor marine biodiversity in unknown or under-sampled areas, as well as to reconstruct fishing catches, often underreported in several regions.

Sampling from commercial vessel routes can capture marine biodiversity distributions effectively.

Collecting fine-scale occurrence data for marine species across large spatial scales is logistically challenging but is important to determine species distributions and for conservation planning. Inaccurate descriptions of species ranges could result in designating protected areas with inappropriate locations or boundaries. Optimizing sampling strategies therefore is a priority for scaling up survey approaches using tools such as environmental DNA (eDNA) to capture species distributions. In a marine context, commercial vessels, such as ferries, could provide sampling platforms allowing access to undersampled areas and repeatable sampling over time to track community changes. However, sample collection from commercial vessels could be biased and may not represent biological and environmental variability. Here, we evaluate whether sampling along Mediterranean ferry routes can yield unbiased biodiversity survey outcomes, based on perfect knowledge from a stacked species distribution model (SSDM) of marine megafauna derived from online data repositories. Simulations to allocate sampling point locations were carried out representing different sampling strategies (random vs regular), frames (ferry routes vs unconstrained), and number of sampling points. SSDMs were remade from different sampling simulations and compared with the "perfect knowledge" SSDM to quantify the bias associated with different sampling strategies. Ferry routes detected more species and were able to recover known patterns in species richness at smaller sample sizes better than unconstrained sampling points. However, to minimize potential bias, ferry routes should be chosen to cover the variability in species composition and its environmental predictors in the SSDMs. The workflow presented here can be used to design effective sampling strategies using commercial vessel routes globally for eDNA and other biodiversity survey techniques. This approach has potential to provide a cost-effective method to access remote oceanic areas on a regular basis and can recover meaningful data on spatiotemporal biodiversity patterns.

Interpolation of airborne LiDAR data for archaeology

The use of topographic airborne LiDAR data has become an essential part of archaeological prospection, and the need for an archaeology-specific data processing workflow is well established. However, interpolation, an important step in which the digital elevation model is derived from the classified point cloud, has received little attention from archaeologists. This processing step has a direct impact on the accuracy and visual performance of the digital elevation model, but remains a challenge despite numerous studies. Most studies have compared the accuracy of different interpolators (with conflicting results), but very few compare the visual performance. Also, there are no archaeology-specific studies. This article addresses this problem by providing an archaeology-specific visual performance assessment of six of the most commonly used interpolators. The data was tested at four European test sites with innovative use of the triangular assessment method. Kriging was the best interpolator in undersampled areas, and inverse distance weighting was a distant second. In other areas, triangulation with linear interpolation was marginally better than kriging. However, when availability and computational costs are also taken into account, inverse distance weighting is currently the most suitable archaeology-specific interpolator. In addition, we propose a hybrid interpolator that combines the strengths of triangulation with linear interpolation and inverse distance weighting (QGIS plug-in). All results are to be considered European-data specific.

A checklist of South Dakota bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Several bumble bee species (Bombus Latreille) are declining and efforts to conserve populations will be strengthened by an improved knowledge of their geographic distribution. Knowledge gaps exist, however, especially in central portions of North America. Here we report 29 species of bumble bees from South Dakota in the north-central USA, based on 130 years of records from 1891 to 2021. Specimens or observations were available for &amp;gt;90% of the 66 counties, though they were not distributed evenly as most records came from Pennington, Lawrence, Custer, Brookings, and Day Counties. The five most commonly collected or reported bumble bee species were B. griseocollis (54 counties), B. pensylvanicus (41 counties), B. fervidus (39 counties), B. huntii (27 counties), and B. bimaculatus (25 counties). Twenty species were recorded from 10 or fewer counties. Despite differences in occurrence, 66% of the Bombus species in South Dakota were collected or observed since 2020, including six of the nine species of conservation concern (B. fraternus, B. pensylvanicus, B. fervidus, B. occidentalis, B. terricola, and B. morrisoni). However, the critically endangered B. affinis, B. variabilis, and B. suckleyi have not been collected or observed for over 50 years. While this checklist is the first for South Dakota bumble bees in nearly 100 years, data are still lacking as ~55% of counties had fewer than five species reported. We suggest future efforts should focus on these under-sampled areas to fill in baseline knowledge of the wild bee fauna towards completing a more holistic view of bumble bee distributions across the Great Plains.

Amphibians and reptiles from a protected area in western Brazilian Amazonia (Reserva Extrativista do Baixo Juruá)

Sampling gaps across the logistically challenging and extremely biodiverse Amazonia largely hamper our understanding of broad-scale amphibian and reptile diversity patterns in this ecosystem. The Juruá River basin, a southwestern tributary of the Amazon River, is one of these undersampled areas, with only punctual information documented for these vertebrates that are spatially or temporally biased. This is especially the case for the lower-middle courses of the Juruá River, which also has comparatively less protected areas than its upper course. In order to fill some biodiversity knowledge gaps associated with amphibians and reptiles in this river basin, we combined results of our field expeditions carried out in 1992, 2005-2007, and 2018 to the Reserva Extrativista (Extractive Reserve) do Baixo Juruá, a Brazilian protected area in the right bank of the lower Juruá River. Amphibians and reptiles were sampled using four complementary methods: active surveys, pitfall traps, funnel traps, and trammel nets. We identified species or updated their taxonomic status with a reanalysis of the external morphology of the preserved material in the light of novel taxonomic literature (more than 1,500 specimens) and employment of DNA barcoding analyses for some newly collected specimens with contentious taxonomic status. Our combined sampling evidenced 149 species of amphibians and reptiles occurring in this protected area (72 amphibians, 68 squamates, six chelonians, and three crocodilians). Recorded species highlight the value of the lower Juruá River region as harboring quite diverse assemblages for these vertebrates, with species typical of the western and southwestern Amazonia sub-regions. Remarkable species records are presented, as well as accounts on species with lower taxonomic resolution. Furthermore, we discuss the biogeographic affinities of recorded assemblages based on the species geographic range and preferred habitats, and the value of this protected area to preserve the regional biological diversity.

Digitizing Insect-Plant Interactions: Lessons from the gall collection at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart

As an interaction between insect and plant, galls present unique challenges to natural history collections. Traditionally, insects and plants are stored in different ranges within a museum, and a preserved gall may reasonably be placed in either one. Unidentified galls are especially difficult to categorize, as they may also be formed by non-insect agents (Roskam 2019). There is no uniform curatorial standard, which means that gall specimens do not always fit neatly into museum infrastructure. The gall collection at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS) serves as a model to explore the challenges of incorporating ecological interactions into digital and physical infrastructure, as well as the benefits and uses of the resulting digital data. The entomological collection at SMNS houses an estimated 1000 to 2000 uncatalogued gall specimens, collected over approximately 200 years. Preservation methods include herbarium sheets, envelopes, albums, file folders, cardboard boxes, and folded newspaper. Some galls are also pinned in the dry insect collection alongside their inhabitants. The oldest of these are from the personal collection of Karl von Roser, who collected around Stuttgart in the early 19th century (Fig. 1), although the exact collecting dates and localities are unknown. The study set included all specimens from the local state, Baden-Württemberg (n=395). Data were digitized via the DiversityCollection application in the Diversity Workbench (Triebel et al. 1999). A new data range was created for galls. Specimens were assigned accession numbers in order by date of collection. Updated taxonomic identifications of gall formers and host plants were included. Unidentified specimens were also accessioned, which would not have been feasible with the pre-existing collection ranges. Representatives of sixty-eight gall-forming species were further selected for photographic digitization (Fig. 2). Data standardization presented significant challenges. Both taxonomic and geographical nomenclature have changed over the last 200 years, so historical interpretation was often necessary. Geographical coordinates were approximated using Google Maps. This approach was labor intensive and required specialized cultural and linguistic knowledge. However, the end results were worthwhile, including many new faunistic records, discovery of surprisingly undersampled areas (e.g., the Black Forest), and creative implementations of the digital data (a computer game). Future streamlining of the process is needed to facilitate larger-scale ecological studies, such as understanding the effects of climate change and habitat loss on gall communities over time (James et al. 2018).

Heteragrion calafatiensis (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Northern Brazil.

The Neotropical genus Heteragrion Selys, 1862 is the second most speciose among the Neotropical Zygoptera. However, most of its species are poorly known regarding their biology, distribution, and taxonomy, especially those from undersampled areas like Northern Brazil. Here we describe Heteragrion calafatiensis sp. nov. from the coastal environments of the Brazilian Amazon of Par state (Holotype , Brazil, Par, municipality of Magalhes Barata, near the Marapanim River, (-0.863291, -47.668058, 20 m, 26.ix.2021), C.C. Mendoza-Penagos leg, in UFPA). This is the nineth Heteragrion species recorded for the Northern region of Brazil. The new species can be separated from congeners by cercal morphology and thoracic coloration pattern.

New records of Orchidaceae for the Northeast of Brazil

The new occurrences of nine species of Orchidaceae belonging to six genera: Acianthera Scheidw. (2 spp.), Bifrenaria Lindl. (1 sp.), Grandiphyllum Docha Neto (1 sp.), Maxillaria Ruiz &amp; Pav. (2 spp.), Pabstiella Brieger &amp; Senghas (2 spp.) and Saundersia Rchb. f. (1 sp.) are documented here for the first time in Poções, Bahia State, extending their distribution to Northeast of Brazil. Of the nine species presented here, six are endangered. Diagnostic morphological characters of the species are briefly described. These new records highlight the importance of studies in under-sampled areas.

Amphibians of the equatorial seasonally dry forests of Ecuador and Peru.

Seasonally dry forests (SDFs) are one of the most challenging ecosystems for amphibians, fueling the diversity of this group of vertebrates. An updated inventory of native amphibians present in the Equatorial SDF is provided, which extends along the Pacific coast of Ecuador and northwestern Peru. The study is based on an extensive field sampling (two thirds of the total records) carried out throughout the Equatorial SDF, along with a compilation of the available information on distribution of amphibians in the region from published scientific papers, museum collections and on-line databases. The final dataset included 2,032 occurrence records for 30 amphibian species, belonging to eight anuran families. Additionally, data regarding conservation status, habitat use, spawn deposition site, reproductive mode, and body size, along with an identification key for all encountered species are provided. The results indicate a strong sampling bias with a deficit in the Peruvian part of the study area, and a need for urgent inventories targeted at under-sampled areas, using modern taxonomic methods. The study emphasizes the conservation priorities in the Equatorial SDF, based on the distribution, conservation status and life-history data. This information should be useful for the local authorities and institutions involved in the management and conservation of biodiversity in SDF.

Heteragrion lencionii (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Serra de Itabaiana National Park, Northeastern Brazil.

The Neotropical genus Heteragrion Selys, 1862 is one of the most speciose among Zygoptera. Notwithstanding, most of its species are poorly known, especially those from undersampled areas such as Northeastern Brazil. Here, we describe Heteragrion lencionii sp. nov., from protected areas of Sergipe state (Holotype ♂, Brazil, Sergipe, Areia Branca, Serra de Itabaiana National Park, -10.7484, -37.3390, 179 m, 7.xii.2020, A.B. Farias A.E. dos Santos leg., in UFS). This is only the second Heteragrion species discovered as new for the Northeastern region of Brazil, separated from other congeners by cercus morphology and thoracic coloration pattern.

Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) from Mananciais da Serra, a Tropical-Araucaria Forest ecotonal remnant in the southern Atlantic Forest, state of Paraná, Brazil

This study provides a comprehensive checklist of Odonata species from the protected area of Mananciais da Serra. The survey was conducted in the endangered Atlantic Forest domain at the southern Serra do Mar mountain chain within a well-preserved area in the municipality of Piraquara, state of Paraná, Brazil. Adults and larvae were sampled between June 2017 and March 2020 using different techniques in numerous mesohabitats, including phytotelmata, pools, small streams, and large reservoirs. A total of 1,708 specimens from 9 families, 43 genera and 84 species were sampled resulting in 53 new records for the state of Paraná, almost doubling the known occurrence records for dragonflies and damselflies in that state. Furthermore, two hitherto undescribed females from the generaPlaniplaxandHeteragrion, four ultimate stadium larvae fromPlaniplax,Neocordulia,Heteragrion, andAcanthagrion, and five undescribed species were detected, one each from the generaHeteragrion,Progomphus,Brechmorhoga,Erythrodiplax, andDasythemis. The estimated richness of odonates in this area is greater than 100 species, while the observed richness corresponding to almost 10% of all Odonata species in Brazil, the species-richest country in the world. These results reiterate the need to investigate undersampled areas to improve knowledge on diversity, taxonomy, and distribution of neotropical species. Finally, taxonomic notes for some species, including the rare corduliidNeocordulia mambucabensisCosta &amp;amp; T.C. Santos, 2000, are provided.

From biggest to smallest mud dragons: size-latitude trends in a group of meiobenthic animals worldwide

Size-latitude trends in the meiobenthic phylum Kinorhyncha, commonly known as mud dragons, have been explored in oceans worldwide. Generalized least squares regression was used to assess relationships between size and latitude, as well as between size, latitude, and two selected environmental variables that exhibit latitudinal gradation: the sea surface temperature and the net primary productivity. Different structures of spatial autocorrelation and potential confounding factors, such as the species richness and the number of kinorhynch records that could affect latitudinal gradients, were also addressed. In addition, generalized mixed models were used to determine the influence of the phylogeny on body size. Size-latitude relationships of Kinorhyncha were commonly found globally, as well as for particular geographic regions (hemispheres and/or coastlines), with important differences between taxonomic groups. These size-latitude trends were heterogeneous and implied the influence of the latitude itself, environmental variables, and phylogeny. These facts indicate that a single underlying process is not likely to explain the observed relationships but a complex interaction of several macroecological patterns both present and past. Perhaps, the inclusion of future new reports, conducted in undersampled areas, may shed some light on the matter and reveal more generalized size-latitude patterns. Nevertheless, it is also likely that broadly generalizable size-latitude relationships may not exist in meiofaunal communities.

Sampling bias and model choice in continuous phylogeography: Getting lost on a random walk.

Phylogeographic inference allows reconstruction of past geographical spread of pathogens or living organisms by integrating genetic and geographic data. A popular model in continuous phylogeography-with location data provided in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates-describes spread as a Brownian motion (Brownian Motion Phylogeography, BMP) in continuous space and time, akin to similar models of continuous trait evolution. Here, we show that reconstructions using this model can be strongly affected by sampling biases, such as the lack of sampling from certain areas. As an attempt to reduce the effects of sampling bias on BMP, we consider the addition of sequence-free samples from under-sampled areas. While this approach alleviates the effects of sampling bias, in most scenarios this will not be a viable option due to the need for prior knowledge of an outbreak's spatial distribution. We therefore consider an alternative model, the spatial Λ-Fleming-Viot process (ΛFV), which has recently gained popularity in population genetics. Despite the ΛFV's robustness to sampling biases, we find that the different assumptions of the ΛFV and BMP models result in different applicabilities, with the ΛFV being more appropriate for scenarios of endemic spread, and BMP being more appropriate for recent outbreaks or colonizations.