The status of a rare phylogeographic lineage of the vulnerable European souslik Spermophilus citellus, endemic to central Macedonia

The conversion of grasslands for agriculture has triggered a serious decline of the European ground squirrel or souslik Spermophilus citellus, categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996. The Jakupica phylogeographic lineage of central Macedonia is the smallest of the three major evolutionary lines of the European souslik. This lineage is an important reservoir of within-species diversity and should be regarded as an independent unit for conservation management purposes. It is endemic to Mount Jakupica, where it lives in mountain pastures at 1,500-2,250m altitude. The total area occupied by sousliks (884 ha) is fragmented and 94% of individuals occur in four colonies. Densities (0.8-5.5 adults ha-1) are lower than those reported elsewhere for the species, with the total population probably ,2,000 adults. One large colony, reportedly of c. 1,000 sousliks, was decimated in 2007 by a catastrophic fire and had still not recovered bz 2010. A steady decline in livestock grazing, together with the predicted advance of the tree line as a consequence of climate change, will probably reduce the optimal habitat for the souslik and negatively affect population fitness. Monitoring needs to be implemented, at least for the largest colonies, to provide early warning of any decline

Beaver (Castor fiber) in Slovenia

Bober je bil v Sloveniji zanesljivo prisoten od interglaciala Riss/Würm pa vse do 17-18. stoletja, ko ga je iztrebil človek. Prva pobuda za njegovo ponovno naselitev (1992) zaradi pomanjkanja sredstev ni zaživela. Bober se je tako naselil v Sloveniji po naravni poti, kot posledica naselitev bavarskih bobrov na Hrvaško, ki so se začele leta 1996. Prva naselbina je bila zabeležena pozimi 1998/1999 v spodnjem toku Radulje, ob izlivu v Krko. Bober je odtlej stalno prisoten na tem območju. Prvo razmnoževanje smo zabeležili leta 2001, pozimi 2003/2004 pa so se bobri ustalili tudi v zgornjem delu Krke. Oktobra 2002 se je bober pojavil tudi na Dobličici, kjer se je prav tako ustalil. Oba habitata sta za bobra suboptimalna glede kakovosti vode, brežin in prehranske osnove, močna pa je prisotnost človeka. Škode in konflikti so na obeh območjih zmerne. Obe naselbini sta opredeljeni kot območji NATURA 2000.V zadnjih dveh letih se je bober pojavil tudi na Sotli (2005), Muri (2005) in Dravi (2006). Populacija bobrov v Sloveniji predstavlja obrobje hrvaške populacije

Ecogeographical patterns of morphological variation in pygmy shrews Sorex minutus (Soricomorpha: Soricinae) within a phylogeographic and continental-and-island framework

Ecogeographical patterns of morphological variation were studied in the Eurasian pygmy shrew Sorex minutus to understand the species’ morphological diversity in a continental and island setting, and within the context of previous detailed phylogeographic studies. In total, 568 mandibles and 377 skulls of S. minutus from continental and island populations from Europe and Atlantic islands were examined using a geometric morphometrics approach, and the general relationships of mandible and skull size and shape with geographical and environmental variables was studied. Samples were then pooled into predefined geographical groups to evaluate the morphological differences among them using analyses of variance, to contrast the morphological and genetic relationships based on morphological and genetic distances and ancestral state reconstructions, and to assess the correlations of morphological, genetic and geographic distances with Mantel tests. We found significant relationships of mandible size with geographic and environmental variables, fitting the converse Bergmann’s rule; however, for skull size this was less evident. Continental groups of S. minutus could not readily be differentiated from each other by shape. Most island groups of S. minutus were easily discriminated from the continental groups by being larger, indicative of an island effect. Moreover, morphological and genetic distances differed substantially, and again island groups were distinctive morphologically. Morphological and geographical distances were significantly correlated, but not so the morphological and genetic distances indicating that morphological variation does not reflect genetic subdivision in S. minutus. Our analyses showed that environmental variables and insularity had important effects on the morphological differentiation of S. minutus

Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities

AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW).LocationGlobal.TaxonAll extant mammal species.MethodsRange maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error-checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species).ResultsRange maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org) and accessed for individual or batch download for non-commercial use.Main conclusionExpert maps of species' global distributions are limited in their spatial detail and temporal specificity, but form a useful basis for broad-scale characterizations and model-based integration with other data. We provide georeferenced range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species as shapefiles, with species-level metadata and source information packaged together in geodatabase format. Across the three taxonomic sources our maps entail, there are 1784 taxonomic name differences compared to the maps currently available on the IUCN Red List website. The expert maps provided here are harmonised to the MDD taxonomic authority and linked to a community of online tools that will enable transparent future updates and version control