Climate mediates the effects of disturbance on ant assemblage structure

Many studies have focused on the impacts of climate change on biological assemblages, yet little is known about howclimate interacts with other major anthropogenic influences on biodiversity, such as habitat disturbance. Using a unique global database of 1128 local ant assemblages, we examined whether climate mediates the effects of habitat disturbance on assemblage structure at a global scale. Species richness and evenness were associated positively with temperature, and negatively with disturbance. However, the interaction among temperature, precipitation and disturbance shaped species richness and evenness. The effectwas manifested through a failure of species richness to increase substantially with temperature in transformed habitats at low precipitation. At low precipitation levels, evenness increased with temperature in undisturbed sites, peaked at medium temperatures in disturbed sites and remained low in transformed sites. In warmer climates with lower rainfall, the effects of increasing disturbance on species richness and evenness were akin to decreases in temperature of up to 98C. Anthropogenic disturbance and ongoing climate change may interact in complicated ways to shape the structure of assemblages, with hot, arid environments likely to be at greatest risk. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved

Compensatory recruitment allows amphibian population persistence in anthropogenic habitats

International audienceHabitat anthropization is a major driver of global biodiversity decline. Although most species are negatively affected, some benefit from anthropogenic habitat modifications by showing intriguing life-history responses. For instance, increased recruitment through higher allocation to reproduction or improved performance during early-life stages could compensate for reduced adult survival, corresponding to “compensatory recruitment”. To date, evidence of compensatory recruitment in response to habitat modification is restricted to plants, limiting understanding of its importance as a response to global change. We used the yellow-bellied toad ( Bombina variegata ), an amphibian occupying a broad range of natural and anthropogenic habitats, as a model species to test for and to quantify compensatory recruitment. Using an exceptional capture–recapture dataset composed of 21,714 individuals from 67 populations across Europe, we showed that adult survival was lower, lifespan was shorter, and actuarial senescence was higher in anthropogenic habitats, especially those affected by intense human activities. Increased recruitment in anthropogenic habitats fully offset reductions in adult survival, with the consequence that population growth rate in both habitat types was similar. Our findings indicate that compensatory recruitment allows toad populations to remain viable in human-dominated habitats and might facilitate the persistence of other animal populations in such environments

Timeless standards for species delimitation

Recently a new species of bombyliid fly, Marleyimyia xylocopae, was described by Marshall & Evenhuis (2015) based on two photographs taken during fieldwork in the Republic of South Africa. This species has no preserved holotype. The paper generated some buzz, especially among dipterists, because in most cases photographs taken in the field provide insufficient information for properly diagnosing and documenting species of Diptera.Fil: Amorim, Dalton S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Santos, Charles Morphy D.. Universidade Federal Do Abc; BrasilFil: Krell, Frank Thorsten. Denver Museum of Nature & Science; Estados UnidosFil: Dubois, Alain. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Nihei, Silvio S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Oliveira, Otto M.P.. Universidade Federal Do Abc; BrasilFil: Pont, Adrian. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Song, Hojun. Texas A&M University; Estados UnidosFil: Verdade, Vanessa K.. Universidade Federal Do Abc; BrasilFil: Fachin, Diego A.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Klassa, Bruna. Universidade Federal Do Abc; BrasilFil: Lamas, Carlos José E.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Oliveira, Sarah S.. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: De Carvalho, Claudio J. B.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Mello-Patiu, Cátia A.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Hajdu, Eduardo. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Couri, Márcia S.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Silva, Vera C.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Capellari, Renato S.. Federal Institute Of Triângulo Mineiro; BrasilFil: Falaschi, Rafaela L.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Feitosa, Rodrigo M.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Prendini, Lorenzo. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Pombal, José P.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Fernández, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; ColombiaFil: Rocha, Rosana M.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Lattke, John E.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Caramaschi, Ulisses. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Duarte, Marcelo. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Marques, Antonio Carlos. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Reis, Roberto E.. Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Kurina, Olavi. Estonian University Of Life Sciences; EstoniaFil: Takiya, Daniela M.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Tavares, Marcos. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Fernandes, Daniel Silva. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Franco, Francisco Luís. Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo. Secretaria da Saude. Instituto Butantan; BrasilFil: Cuezzo, Fabiana del Carmen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto Superior de Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Paulson, Dennis. University Of Puget Sound; Estados UnidosFil: Guénard, Benoit. The University Of Hong Kong; Hong KongFil: Schlick-Steiner, Birgit C.. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Arthofer, Wolfgang. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Steiner, Florian M.. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Fisher, Brian L.. California Academy Of Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Johnson, Robert A.. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Delsinne, Thibaut Dominique. Société d'Histoire Naturelle Alcide d'Orbigny; FranciaFil: Donoso, David A.. Escuela Politécnica Nacional; EcuadorFil: Mulieri, Pablo Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Patitucci, Luciano Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Carpenter, James M.. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Herman, Lee. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Grimaldi, David. American Museum of Natural History; Estados Unido