Changes in the nocturnal activity of birds during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a neotropical city

Changes in the nocturnal activity of birds during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a neotropical city. The COVID-19 lockdown provided the opportunity to measure species biodiversity in urban environments under conditions divergent from regular urban rhythms. For 90 days, including weeks of strict lockdown and the subsequent relaxation of restrictions, we measured the presence and abundance of birds that were active at night at two sites in the city of Cali, Colombia. Our results show that species richness of nocturnal birds decreased 40% to 58% during the weeks with more human activity, adding further evidence to the biodiversity responses of the 'anthropause' on urban environments.Non peer reviewe

The differential effect of lowlands on the phylogeographic pattern of a Mesoamerican montane species (Lepidocolaptes affinis, Ayes: Furnariidae)

We sequenced 1869 bp of mtDNA (cyt b and ND2) freom 80 specimens of Lepidocolaptes affinis, a montane bird species of Mesoamerica, sampled at 34 localities freom Mexico to Costa Rica. The species showed moderate genetic diversity (pi = 0.0045) and phylogeographic structure (Phi(ST) = 0.120.95). The phylogeographic pattern indicated the Nicaragua Depression has prevented gene flow whereas populations on the two sides of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec did not show strong genetic differentiation. In Mexico, the population of the Sierra Madre Oriental was composed of two different lineages. In general, our data did not support a scenario of historical demographic expansion, and matched partially the phylogeographic patterns of other Mesoamerica montane species. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity