A new species of <i>Ocyale</i> (Araneae, Lycosidae) from Madagascar, with first observations on the biology of a representative in the genus

A large white species of wolf spider, Ocyale ghost Jocque M. & Jocque R. sp. nov., is described from a white sandy beach of an inland freshwater lake in the northwest of Madagascar. The first photos of a living specimen of the genus Ocyale are provided together with some observations on the biology of the newly described species. An updated and illustrated key to the Afrotropical species of Ocyale is included here

Toward a Global Phylogeny of the “Living Fossil" Crustacean Order of the Notostraca

Tadpole shrimp (Crustacea, Notostraca) are iconic inhabitants of temporary aquatic habitats worldwide. Often cited as prime examples of evolutionary stasis, surviving representatives closely resemble fossils older than 200 mya, suggestive of an ancient origin. Despite significant interest in the group as ‘living fossils’ the taxonomy of surviving taxa is still under debate and both the phylogenetic relationships among different lineages and the timing of diversification remain unclear. We constructed a molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca using model based phylogenetic methods. Our analyses supported the monophyly of the two genera Triops and Lepidurus, although for Triops support was weak. Results also revealed high levels of cryptic diversity as well as a peculiar biogeographic link between Australia and North America presumably mediated by historic long distance dispersal. We concluded that, although some present day tadpole shrimp species closely resemble fossil specimens as old as 250 mya, no molecular support was found for an ancient (pre) Mesozoic radiation. Instead, living tadpole shrimp are most likely the result of a relatively recent radiation in the Cenozoic era and close resemblances between recent and fossil taxa are probably the result of the highly conserved general morphology in this group and of homoplasy

The amphibians and reptiles of Cusuco National Park, Northwest Honduras: updates from a long-term conservation programme

\ua9 Alexandra E. Laking et al.Mesoamerican cloud forests support a rich and unique biodiversity but face severe threats from increasing habitat degradation and climate change. Here, we present an updated overview of the amphibians and reptiles of Cusuco National Park (CNP), an isolated cloud forest in the Sierra de Omoa, Northwest Honduras. Based on surveys conducted over a 17-year period, we report the presence of 105 confirmed species of amphibians (30) and reptiles (75) within the reserve. This includes numerous threatened and regionally endemic amphibian species, as well as several reptile species previously unrecorded within the park. Given that it harbours approximately 26% of all recorded Honduran herpetofauna, our study highlights CNP as the most diverse forest region in Honduras with respect to the reptile and amphibian diversity documented to date. Our findings reinforce the plea to actively protect CNP as a globally valuable biodiversity hotspot and a centre of herpetofaunal endemicity. Furthermore, in the face of rapid deforestation across Mesoamerica, our findings highlight the need for expanded biodiversity studies across extant forest regions in Honduras to refine species distribution ranges and facilitate timely and effective conservation measures

Ghost-busting: Patch occupancy and habitat preferences of Ocyale ghost (Araneae: Lycosidae), a single site endemic in north-western Madagascar

Microendemic species are of great conservation concern due to their vulnerability to stochastic events and environmental change. Therefore, understanding the basic ecology of such organisms is integral to future efforts to conserve them. Here, we present the first ecological study of the only known population of Ocyale ghost (Lycosidae) – the single species within this genus in Madagascar – located at a small lake shore in the north-west of the island. We aimed to reveal spatial patterns of microhabitat selection and patch occupancy in relation to substrate patch covariates, including distance to lake edge, topography, and sand coverage. We found microhabitat selection to be strong in our occupancy models, with plots closer to the lake edge and with a higher proportion of sand showing the highest estimated occupancy. We suggest decreases in prey availability and changes in the physical characteristics of the substrate in relation to the distance from lake shore and sand availability (important for burrowing and temperature regulation), respectively, as potential factors behind occupancy. We discuss our findings in the context of the proportional underrepresentation of invertebrates in conservation research, which threatens the persistence of endemic and microendemic invertebrates in the face of significant global and local environmental change

Operation Wallacea - Cusuco National Park, Honduras 2016 & 2017 : end of season report

This end of season report is submitted as a review of the summer 2016-2017 seasons and the research activities of the Operation Wallacea research teams in Cusuco National Park over the course of the two summers. This report contains a summary of the methodologies and surveys employed, in addition to the data collected during that time, and a complete analysis of that data as part of this complete report. A more detailed analysis of the herpetofauana dataset, coving the period 2007-2017, is provided, as this information was absent from more recent reports

Climate influences the response of community functional traits to local conditions in bromeliad invertebrate communities

Functional traits determine an organism's performance in a given environment and as such determine which organisms will be found where. Species respond to local conditions, but also to larger scale gradients, such as climate. Trait ecology links these responses of species to community composition and species distributions. Yet, we often do not know which environmental gradients are most important in determining community trait composition at either local or biogeographical scales, or their interaction. Here we quantify the relative contribution of local and climatic conditions to the structure and composition of functional traits found within bromeliad invertebrate communities. We conclude that climate explains more variation in invertebrate trait composition within bromeliads than does local conditions. Importantly, climate mediated the response of traits to local conditions; for example, invertebrates with benthic life‐history traits increased with bromeliad water volume only under certain precipitation regimes. Our ability to detect this and other patterns hinged on the compilation of multiple fine‐grained datasets, allowing us to contrast the effect of climate versus local conditions. We suggest that, in addition to sampling communities at local scales, we need to aggregate studies that span large ranges in climate variation in order to fully understand trait filtering at local, regional and global scales

A review of the ecological value of Cusuco National Park an urgent call forconservation action in a highly threatened Mesoamerican cloud forest

Cloud forests are amongst the most biologically unique, yet threatened, ecosystems in Mesoamerica. We summarize the ecological value and conservation status of a well-studied cloud forest site: Cusuco National Park (CNP), a 23,440 ha protected area in the Merendón mountains, northwest Honduras. We show CNP to have exceptional biodiversity; of 966 taxa identified to a species-level to date, 362 (37.5%) are Mesoamerican endemics, 67 are red-listed by the IUCN, and at least 49 are micro-endemics known only from the Merendón range. CNP also provides key ecosystem services including provision of drinking water and downstream flood mitigation, as well as carbon sequestration, with an estimated stock of 3.5 million megagrams of carbon in 2000. Despite its ecological importance, CNP faces multiple environmental threats and associated stresses, including deforestation (1,759 ha since 2000 equating to 7% of total forest area), poaching (7% loss of mammal relative abundance per year), amphibian declines due to chytridiomycosis (70% of species threatened or near-threatened), and climate change (a mean 2.6 °C increase in temperature and 112 mm decrease in rainfall by 2100). Despite conservation actions, including community ranger patrols, captive-breeding programmes, and ecotourism initiatives, environmental degradation of CNP continues. Further action is urgently required, including reinforcement and expansion of ranger programmes, greater stakeholder engagement, community education programmes, development of alternative livelihood projects, and legislative enforcement and prosecution. Without a thorough and rapid response to understand and mitigate illegal activities, the extirpation and extinction of species and the loss of vital ecosystem services are inevitable in the coming decades

Modelling Hurricane Exposure and Wind Speed on a Mesoclimate Scale: A Case Study from Cusuco NP, Honduras

High energy weather events are often expected to play a substantial role in biotic community dynamics and large scale diversity patterns but their contribution is hard to prove. Currently, observations are limited to the documentation of accidental records after the passing of such events. A more comprehensive approach is synthesising weather events in a location over a long time period, ideally at a high spatial resolution and on a large geographic scale. We provide a detailed overview on how to generate hurricane exposure data at a meso-climate level for a specific region. As a case study we modelled landscape hurricane exposure in Cusuco National Park (CNP), Honduras with a resolution of 50 m×50 m patches. We calculated actual hurricane exposure vulnerability site scores (EVVS) through the combination of a wind pressure model, an exposure model that can incorporate simple wind dynamics within a 3-dimensional landscape and the integration of historical hurricanes data. The EVSS was calculated as a weighted function of sites exposure, hurricane frequency and maximum wind velocity. Eleven hurricanes were found to have affected CNP between 1995 and 2010. The highest EVSS's were predicted to be on South and South-East facing sites of the park. Ground validation demonstrated that the South-solution (i.e. the South wind inflow direction) explained most of the observed tree damage (90% of the observed tree damage in the field). Incorporating historical data to the model to calculate actual hurricane exposure values, instead of potential exposure values, increased the model fit by 50%

How useful are volunteers for visual biodiversity surveys? An evaluation of skill level and group size during a conservation expedition

The ability of volunteers to undertake different tasks and accurately collect data is critical for the success of many conservation projects. In this study, a simulated herpetofauna visual encounter survey was used to compare the detection and distance estimation accuracy of volunteers and more experienced observers. Experience had a positive effect on individual detection accuracy. However, lower detection performance of less experienced volunteers was not found in the group data, with larger groups being more successful overall, suggesting that working in groups facilitates detection accuracy of those with less experience. This study supports the idea that by optimizing survey protocols according to the available resources (time and volunteer numbers), the sampling efficiency of monitoring programs can be improved and that non-expert volunteers can provide valuable contributions to visual encounter-based biodiversity surveys. Recommendations are made for the improvement of survey methodology involving non-expert volunteers