Diversity, Volume 12, Issue 8

Biodiversity is vital for the stability of the planet; its ecosystem services provide essential elements for our survival and well-being. This review analyzes the national biodiversity policies and describes the main strategies for biodiversity conse...

Phytosociology is a reference method to classify vegetation that relies on field data. Its classification in hierarchical vegetation units, from plant associations to class level, hierarchically reflects the floristic similarity between different sit...

Illegal wildlife trade, which mostly focuses on high-demand species, constitutes a major threat to biodiversity. However, whether poaching is an opportunistic crime within high-demand taxa such as parrots (i.e., harvesting proportional to species ava...

Long-term monitoring programs and population demographic models have shown that the population dynamics of orchids are to a large extent dependent on prevailing weather conditions, suggesting that the changes in climatic conditions can have far reach...

The aim of this research is to set a successful strategy for engaging citizen marine scientists and to obtain reliable data on marine species. The case study of this work is the bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata, a charismatic species spreading...

The present study aimed to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of the over-wintering aquatic bird community of Poyang Lake, including Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve (PNNR), Nanji National Nature Reserve (NNNR) and Duchang Provin...

The Mediterranean Sea is currently experiencing a decline in the abundance of several key species, as a consequence of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., increase in human population, habitat modification and loss, pollution, coastal urbanization, overex...

We used integrative taxonomy to describe a new species of Atelopus from the lowlands of Central Amazonia in the region of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The new species is geographically isolated from the southernmost species of Atelopus of the Guiana Shi...

Fire is a key driver of natural ecosystems in Africa. However, human activity and climate change have altered fire frequency and severity, with negative consequences for biodiversity conservation. Angola ranks among the countries with the highest fir...

Forest and land degradation is a serious problem worldwide and the Peruvian National Map of Degraded Areas indicates that 13.78% (177,592.82 km²) of the country’s territory is degraded. Forest plantations can be a restoration strategy, while co...

Ecological restoration requires balancing levels of genetic diversity to achieve present-day establishment as well as long-term sustainability. Assumptions based on distributional, taxonomic or functional generalizations are often made when deciding...

Galaxiid fishes from South America are represented by three genera (Aplochiton, Brachygalaxias and Galaxias) and eight species. Their genetic patterns have been studied over the last two decades to disentangle how historical and contemporary processe...

Human activity is the major factor driving the wetland degradation in shallow lakes. Human exploitation of lake wetlands alters the habitats of wintering waterbirds, and, in turn, waterbird diversity in the shallow lakes. In the present study, we sur...

Genetic diversity enrichment is urgently necessary to develop climate-resilient faba bean cultivars. The present study aimed to measure the enrichment of genetic diversity and changes in the population structure of faba bean, following induced mutage...

Rhodolith seabeds function as ‘ecosystems engineers’, which globally provide a range of ‘ecosystem services’. However, knowledge on the structure, composition and distribution of rhodolith seabeds is still lacking. This Specia...

In a quest to improve the diversity and conservation of native tree species in tropical African forests, gap regeneration remains all-important nature-promoting silviculture practice and ecosystem-based strategy for attaining these ecological goals....

In this paper we apply a conservation genomics approach to make evidence-based management recommendations for Acacia whibleyana, an endangered shrub endemic to Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. We used population genomic analysis to assess genetic con...

The endangered Barton Springs and Austin blind salamanders (Eurycea sosorum and E. waterlooensis, respectively) are micro-endemics to the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer and its contributing zone in Central Texas. Although vertically se...

Cyanobacteria are among the most diverse morphological microorganisms that inhabit a great variety of habitats. Their presence in the Azores, a volcanic archipelago of nine islands in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, has already been reported....

An outline of the main distribution patterns of lichens in the ecoregions of Italy, accounting for their climatic, geographic, and environmental features, is still missing. On the basis of a GIS-based analysis, we summarized: (1) the main features (e...

When designing models for predicting phytoplankton biomass or characterizing traits, it is useful to aggregate the myriad of species into a few biologically meaningful groups and focus on group-level attributes, the common practice being to combine p...

The Poyang water system in Jiangxi Province, China, is important for floodwater storage, diversity maintenance, and the economy of the Poyang Lake watershed. In recent years, pollution has destroyed the ecosystem and impacted human health and the rel...

Seagrass meadows are an important habitat for a variety of animals, including ecologically and socioeconomically important species. Seagrass meadows are recognised as providing species with nursery grounds, and as a migratory pathway to adjacent habi...

Land salinization is a major constraint for the practice of agriculture in the world. Considering the extent of this phenomenon, the rehabilitation of ecosystems degraded by salinization has become a priority to guarantee food security in semi-arid e...

Primula palinuri Petagna is the only Mediterranean and maritime species in the genus Primula, is endemic to coastal cliffs of southern Italy, and is classified as endangered with a decreasing population trend in the IUCN Red List. For this species, t...

The Pseudomonas genus includes many species living in diverse environments and hosts. It is important to understand which are the major evolutionary groups and what are the genomic/proteomic components they have in common or are unique. Towards this...

Dasybranchusgeojedoensis sp. nov., obtained from the soft sublittoral bottom in southern Korea, is described as a new species. This new species of Dasybranchus is easily distinguishable from its congeners by the protruded parapodial lobes in the fina...

The ‘green’ ciliate Paramecium bursaria lives in mutualistic symbiosis with green algae belonging to the species Chlorella variabilis or Micractinium conductrix. We analysed the diversity of algal endosymbionts and their P. bursaria hosts...

Phylogenetic relatedness is a key diversity measure for the analysis and understanding of how species and communities evolve across time and space. Understanding the nonrandom loss of species with respect to phylogeny is also essential for better-inf...

Floral deception has been observed in several genera in angiosperms, but is most common in the Orchidaceae. Pollination mechanisms in food deceptive plants are often difficult to assess, as visitation frequency by insects requires numerous hours of f...