A molecular phylogeny of African Dainty Frogs, with the description of four new species (Anura: Pyxicephalidae: Cacosternum)

Channing, Alan, Schmitz, Andreas, Burger, Marius, Kielgast, Jos (2013): A molecular phylogeny of African Dainty Frogs, with the description of four new species (Anura: Pyxicephalidae: Cacosternum). Zootaxa 3701 (5): 518-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3701.5.

FIGURE 3 in New species of reed frog from the Congo basin with discussion of paraphyly in Cinnamon-belly reed frogs

FIGURE 3. Bayesian phylogram of Hyperolius species including Cinnamon-belly reed frogs inferred from nucleotide sequence data from 16S mitochondrial rRNA. Bayesian posterior probabilities> 0.95 each are marked by an asterisk on branch. We here apply species names as given in Table 1; in the Cinnamon-belly reed frog clade, numbers in parentheses give sample size of the same haplotype, which corresponds with localities. Note that Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris is paraphyletic. Topotypic material of H. olivaceus (#) and H. cinnamomeoventris (##) are indicated. Hyperolius sp. 'Salonga' is H. veithi sp. nov. Both the Hierarchical Likelihood Ratio Tests and Akaike Information Criterion implemented in MrModeltest selected a GTR+I+G model with a gamma distribution of 0.5912 and a proportion of invariable sites of 0.2291 (estimated base frequencies: A: 0.3294, C: 0.2260, G: 0.1813, T: 0.2633; rate matrix: A-C: 3.0708, A-G: 7.4382, A-T: 5.3616, C-G: 1.5864, C-T: 21.7283, G-T: 1.0000)

WINDNA:eDNA based solutions for biodiversity monitoring at offshore wind farms

The transition towards renewable energy may have substantial impact on marine ecosystems in the near future. Wind energy is planned to expand by a factor 10 in the North Sea region alone by 2050. The ambitious political objectives seek to shift from a "no net loss" (NNL) to a "marine net gain" (MNG) approach when licensing projects. Hence, there is a pressing need to document the impact of offshore wind on marine biodiversity. However, traditional methods are costly, labor-intensive, and lack both taxonomic and spatio-temporal resolution. The "WINDNA" project will evaluate the potential of environmental DNA (eDNA) and aim to provide new cost-effective and comprehensive marine biodiversity data. Key aspects involve examining the spatial and temporal scales of marine biodiversity using traditional water sampling by boat as well as an offshore-deployed automated environmental sample processor and an autonomous underwater vehicle (ESP2 and ESP3). Furthermore, "WINDNA" focuses on monitoring biodiversity changes during the early stages of artificial reef succession. The "WINDNA" project provides a pragmatic approach, aligning with environmental and political goals contributing to the sustainable growth of renewable energy while prioritizing positive biodiversity impact. The presentation will include preliminary data