Biodiversity is a cauliflower under the sunlight

For a long time ecologists have questioned the variations of biodiversity across the latitudinal gradient. Recently it has emerged that the changes in [beta]-diversity are caused simply by changes in the sizes of species pools. I combined the species pool size and the fractal nature of ecosystems to clarify some general patterns of this gradient. Considering temperature, humidity and NPP as the main variables of an ecosystem niche and as the axis of the polygon in the Cartesian plane, it is possible to build fractal hypervolumes, whose the fractal dimension rises up to three, moving towards the equator. It follows that the best figure that graphically synthesizes the evolutionary forces that fit this ecosystem hypervolume is the fractal cauliflower

Ecology: from cells to Gaia : massive open online course.

The course presents the principles of evolution, ecology, and behavior for students during their study of biology and of the environment. It discusses major ideas and results. Recent advances have energized these fields with results that have implications well beyond their boundaries: ideas, mechanisms, and processes that should form part of the toolkit of all biologists and educated citizens.Загл. с титул. экран

Biological Diversity (Theories, Measures and Data sampling techniques) : massive open online course.

The course presents an overview of the theory behind biological diversity evolution and dynamics and of methods for diversity calculation and estimation. We will become familiar with the major alpha, beta, and gamma diversity estimation techniques. Understanding how biodiversity evolved and is evolving on Earth and how to correctly use and interpret biodiversity data is important for all students interested in conservation biology and ecology, whether they pursue careers in academia or as policy makers and other professionals (students graduating from our programs do both). Academics need to be able to use the theories and indices correctly, whereas policy makers must be able to understand and interpret the conclusions offered by the academics.Загл. с титул. экран

Measuring water pollution effects on antimicrobial resistance through explainable artificial intelligence

Antimicrobial resistance refers to the ability of pathogens to develop resistance to drugs designed to eliminate them, making the infections they cause more difficult to treat and increasing the likelihood of disease diffusion and mortality. As such, antimicrobial resistance is considered as one of the most significant and universal challenges to both health and society, as well as the environment. In our research, we employ the explainable artificial intelligence paradigm to identify the factors that most affect the onset of antimicrobial resistance in diversified territorial contexts, which can vary widely from each other in terms of climatic, economic and social conditions. Specifically, we employ a large set of indicators identified through the One Health framework to predict, at the country level, mortality resulting from antimicrobial resistance related to Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The analysis reveals the outstanding importance of indicators related to water accessibility and quality in determining mortality due to antimicrobial resistance to the considered pathogens across countries, providing perspective as a potential tool for decision support and monitoring

A multitaxonomic assessment of Natura 2000 effectiveness across European biogeographic regions

AbstractThe Natura 2000 (N2K) protected area (PA) network is a crucial tool to limit biodiversity loss in Europe. Despite covering 18% of EU's land area, its effectiveness at conserving biodiversity across taxa and biogeographic regions remains uncertain. Testing this effectiveness is, however, difficult as it requires considering the non‐random location of PAs, and many possible confounding factors. Here, we used propensity score matching accounting for the confounding effects of biogeographic regions, terrain ruggedness, and land cover, when assessing the effectiveness of N2K PAs on the distribution of 1,769 priority species from EU's Birds and Habitats Directives, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, arthropods, fishes, molluscs, vascular and non‐vascular plants. We compared alpha, beta, and gamma diversity between matched selections of protected and non‐protected areas across EU's biogeographic regions using generalized linear models, generalized mixed models, and non‐parametric tests for paired samples, respectively, for each taxonomic group and for the entire set of species. While we found N2K PAs to host significantly more priority species than non‐protected land, this difference was not consistent across biogeographic regions and taxa. Total alpha diversity as well as alpha diversity of amphibians, arthropods, birds, mammals, and vascular plants were significantly higher inside PAs than outside, except in the Boreal region. Beta diversity was in general significantly higher inside N2K PAs than outside. Similarly, gamma diversity showed the highest values within N2K PAs, with some exceptions in Boreal and Atlantic regions. The planned expansion of the N2K network, as dictated by the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, should therefore target areas in the southern part of the Boreal region, areas with high species diversity of amphibians, arthropods, birds, mammals, and vascular plants, which are currently underrepresented in the N2K network.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserve

The last 50 years of climate-induced melting of the Maliy Aktru glacier (Altai Mountains, Russia) revealed in a primary ecological succession

In this article, we report and discuss the results obtained from a survey of plants, microorganisms (bacteria and fungi), and soil elements along a chronosequence in the first 600 m of the Maliy Aktru glacier's forefront (Altai Mountains, Russia). Many glaciers of the world show effects of climate change. Nonetheless, except for some local reports, the ecological effects of deglaciation have been poorly studied and have not been quantitatively assessed in the Altai Mountains. Here, we studied the ecological changes of plants, fungi, bacteria, and soil elements that take the form of a primary ecological succession and that took place over the deglaciated soil of the Maliy Aktru glacier during the last 50 year. According to our measurements, the glacier lost about 12 m per year during the last 50 years. Plant succession shows clear signs of changes along the incremental distance from the glacier forefront. The analysis of the plant α‐ and β‐diversity confirmed an expected increase of them with increasing distance from the glacier forefront. Moreover, the analysis of β‐diversity confirmed the hypothesis of the presence of three main stages of the plant succession: (a) initial (pioneer species) from 30 to 100 m; (b) intermediate (r‐selected species) from 110 to 120–150 m; and (c) final (K‐selected species) from 150 to 550. Our study also shows that saprotrophic communities of fungi are widely distributed in the glacier retreating area with higher relative abundances of saprotroph ascomycetes at early successional stages. The evolution of a primary succession is also evident for bacteria, soil elements, and CO2 emission and respiration. The development of biological communities and the variation in geochemical parameters represent an irrefutable proof that climate change is altering soils that have been long covered by ice

The last 50 years of climate-induced melting of the Maliy Aktru glacier (Altai Mountains, Russia) revealed in a primary ecological succession

In this article, we report and discuss the results obtained from a survey of plants, microorganisms (bacteria and fungi), and soil elements along a chronosequence in the first 600 m of the Maliy Aktru glacier's forefront (Altai Mountains, Russia). Many glaciers of the world show effects of climate change. Nonetheless, except for some local reports, the ecological effects of deglaciation have been poorly studied and have not been quantitatively assessed in the Altai Mountains. Here, we studied the ecological changes of plants, fungi, bacteria, and soil elements that take the form of a primary ecological succession and that took place over the deglaciated soil of the Maliy Aktru glacier during the last 50 year. According to our measurements, the glacier lost about 12 m per year during the last 50 years. Plant succession shows clear signs of changes along the incremental distance from the glacier forefront. The analysis of the plant α‐ and β‐diversity confirmed an expected increase of them with increasing distance from the glacier forefront. Moreover, the analysis of β‐diversity confirmed the hypothesis of the presence of three main stages of the plant succession: (a) initial (pioneer species) from 30 to 100 m; (b) intermediate (r‐selected species) from 110 to 120–150 m; and (c) final (K‐selected species) from 150 to 550. Our study also shows that saprotrophic communities of fungi are widely distributed in the glacier retreating area with higher relative abundances of saprotroph ascomycetes at early successional stages. The evolution of a primary succession is also evident for bacteria, soil elements, and CO2 emission and respiration. The development of biological communities and the variation in geochemical parameters represent an irrefutable proof that climate change is altering soils that have been long covered by ice

BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

MotivationThe BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables includedThe database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record.Spatial location and grainBioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm2).Time period and grainBioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year.Major taxa and level of measurementBioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates.Software format.csv and .SQL

Grassland vertical height heterogeneity predicts flower and bee diversity: an UAV photogrammetric approach

The ecosystem services offered by pollinators are vital for supporting agriculture and ecosystem functioning, with bees standing out as especially valuable contributors among these insects. Threats such as habitat fragmentation, intensive agriculture, and climate change are contributing to the decline of natural bee populations. Remote sensing could be a useful tool to identify sites of high diversity before investing into more expensive field survey. In this study, the ability of Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles (UAV) images to estimate biodiversity at a local scale has been assessed while testing the concept of the Height Variation Hypothesis (HVH). This hypothesis states that the higher the vegetation height heterogeneity (HH) measured by remote sensing information, the higher the vegetation vertical complexity and the associated species diversity. In this study, the concept has been further developed to understand if vegetation HH can also be considered a proxy for bee diversity and abundance. We tested this approach in 30 grasslands in the South of the Netherlands, where an intensive field data campaign (collection of flower and bee diversity and abundance) was carried out in 2021, along with a UAV campaign (collection of true color-RGB-images at high spatial resolution). Canopy Height Models (CHM) of the grasslands were derived using the photogrammetry technique "Structure from Motion" (SfM) with horizontal resolution (spatial) of 10 cm, 25 cm, and 50 cm. The accuracy of the CHM derived from UAV photogrammetry was assessed by comparing them through linear regression against local CHM LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data derived from an Airborne Laser Scanner campaign completed in 2020/2021, yielding an [Formula: see text] of 0.71. Subsequently, the HH assessed on the CHMs at the three spatial resolutions, using four different heterogeneity indices (Rao's Q, Coefficient of Variation, Berger-Parker index, and Simpson's D index), was correlated with the ground-based flower and bee diversity and bee abundance data. The Rao's Q index was the most effective heterogeneity index, reaching high correlations with the ground-based data (0.44 for flower diversity, 0.47 for bee diversity, and 0.34 for bee abundance). Interestingly, the correlations were not significantly influenced by the spatial resolution of the CHM derived from UAV photogrammetry. Our results suggest that vegetation height heterogeneity can be used as a proxy for large-scale, standardized, and cost-effective inference of flower diversity and habitat quality for bees