Decline of unique Pontocaspian biodiversity in the Black Sea Basin: a review

Environmental Biolog

Research priorities for freshwater mussel conservation assessment

Freshwater mussels are declining globally, and effective conservation requires prioritizing research and actions to identify and mitigate threats impacting mussel species. Conservation priorities vary widely, ranging from preventing imminent extinction to maintaining abundant populations. Here, we develop a portfolio of priority research topics for freshwater mussel conservation assessment. To address these topics, we group research priorities into two categories: intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are indicators of organismal or population status, while extrinsic factors encompass environmental variables and threats. An understanding of intrinsic factors is useful in monitoring, and of extrinsic factors are important to understand ongoing and potential impacts on conservation status. This dual approach can guide conservation status assessments prior to the establishment of priority species and implementation of conservation management actions.NF-R was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship (Xunta de Galicia Plan I2C 2017-2020, 09.40.561B.444.0) from the government of the autonomous community of Galicia. BY was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (no. 0409-2016-0022). DLS was supported by the G. E. Hutchinson Chair at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. AO was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (no. 17-44-290016). SV was funded by European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI- Operacional Competitiveness and Internacionalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013. NF-R is very grateful to the University of Oklahoma Biological Survey for providing space to work in the U.S. and especially to Vaughn Lab members. Authors are very grateful to Akimasa Hattori, Allan K. Smith, Andrew Roberts, Daniel Graf, David Stagliano, David T. Zanatta, Dirk Van Damme, Ekaterina Konopleva, Emilie Blevins, Ethan Nedeau, Frankie Thielen, Gregory Cope, Heinrich Vicentini, Hugh Jones, Htilya Sereflisan, Ilya Vikhrev, John Pfeiffer, Karen Mock, Mary Seddon, Katharina Stockl, Katarzyna Zajac, Kengo Ito, Marie Capoulade, Marko Kangas, Michael Lange, Mike Davis, Pirkko-Liisa Luhta, Sarina Jepsen, Somsak Panha, Stephen McMurray, G. Thomas Watters, Wendell R. Haag, and Yoko Inui for their valuable contribution in the initial selection and description of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. We also wish to thank Dr. Amanda Bates, Chase Smith, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government

The conservation status of the world's freshwater molluscs

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one-third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Australasia and among gastropods. Threat levels were higher in lotic than lentic systems. Pollution (chemical and physical) and the modification of natural systems (e.g. through damming and water abstraction) were the most frequently reported threats to freshwater molluscs, with some regional variation. Given that we found little spatial congruence between species richness patterns of freshwater molluscs and other freshwater taxa, apart from crayfish, new additional conservation priority areas emerged from our study. We discuss the implications of our findings for freshwater mollusc conservation, the adequacy of a sampled approach and important next steps to estimate trends in freshwater mollusc extinction risk over time

Gyraulus elenae sp. n. — a new Planorbid snail from Eastern Turkey (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Planorbidae)

Vinarski, Maxim V., Glöer, Peter, Palatov, Dmitry M. (2013): Gyraulus elenae sp. n. — a new Planorbid snail from Eastern Turkey (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Planorbidae). Zootaxa 3664 (1): 95-98, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3664.1.

Pontohoratia smyri Vinarski & Palatov & Glöer 2014, sp. nov.

Pontohoratia smyri sp. nov. (Figure 5B; 7D) Type locality Anatolia Lake in the Novoafonskaya Cave, Abkhazia (see Table 1). Type series ZIN, accession number 1 (the holotype), and 2 (seven paratypes). 25 paratypes in the collection of the Museum of Siberian Aquatic Mollusks (Omsk State Pedagogical University), accession number 07-033. The snails from the type series were collected in 2009. Other material studied 39 specimens sampled in 2010 in the collection of Dmitry Palatov (Moscow). Holotype shell dimensions at 3.25 whorls (in mm) SH 1.2; SW 1.4; SpH 0.6; BWH 0.9; AH 0.7; AW 0.6. Morphological description Shell very small (up to 1.4 mm), almost planispiral, yellowish-white or corneous, with very wide body whorl and relatively low spire. Shell walls moderately thick. Umbilicus wide and deep, opened. Whorls number up to 3.50. Whorls convex, separated by deep suture. Aperture angular, visibly deflected. Penis simple, without a lobe (see Figure 5B). Etymology The species is named after Givi Smyr, a speleologist, who discovered the Novoafonskaya Cave in 1961. Differential diagnosis Pontohoratia smyri differs from P. birsteini by much lower spire and much wider body whorl (see Figure 7). SW is 1.15–1.45 times more than SH, whereas in P. birsteini this ratio is around 1.00 (see Table 3). Whorls number in P. smyri is lower than in P. birsteini. The honeycomb-like pits on the protoconch surface of the new species are somewhat wider than those of P. birsteini (see Figure 4). Distribution and ecology Pontohoratia smyri is known from the type locality and the closest vicinities of the Novoafonskaya Cave (floodplain of the Psyrtskha River). Perhaps, the original habitat of P. smyri is an underground brook inflowing to the lake Anatolia and the shells were carried out by its flow. The same is true also for empty shells of this species found in several springs in the floodplain of the Psyrtskha River. Empty shells of two other gastropod species were collected along with P. smyri: Paladilhiopsis shadini Starobogatov, 1962 and Belgrandiella (?) abchasica Starobogatov, 1962. The invertebrate community of this cave is very specific and includes some crustacean taxa: amphipods Niphargus spp. (Niphargidae) and Anopogammarus sp. (Typhlogammaridae), and decapod Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) fagei Birstein, 1939.Published as part of Vinarski, Maxim V., Palatov, Dmitry M. & Glöer, Peter, 2014, Revision of ' Horatia' snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae sensu lato) from South Caucasus with description of two new genera, pp. 2237-2253 in Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) (J. Nat. Hist.) 48 (37 - 38) on pages 2247-2248, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2014.917210, http://zenodo.org/record/519424

Prediction of prevalence from mean abundance via a simple epidemiological model in mesostigmate mites from two geographical regions

We analysed data on the abundance and distribution of 26 species of mesostigmate mites with different feeding habits collected from bodies of small mammalian hosts in 2 geographical regions (West Siberia and Argentina). We tested whether prevalence of a mite can be reliably predicted from a simple epidemiological model that takes into account mean abundance and its variance. We theorized that the difference between prevalence predicted from the model and observed prevalence would be smallest in obligatory haematophagous mites, intermediate in facultatively haematophagous mites and greatest in non-haematophagous mites. We also theorized that prevalence of mites from the region with sharp seasonality (Siberia) would be predicted accurately only if host number would be taken into account. We found that the success of a simple epidemiological model to predict prevalence in mites was similar to that reported earlier for other ectoparasitic arthropods. Surprisingly, the model predicted prevalence of obligatory exclusively haematophagous mites less successfully than that of mites with other feeding habits. No difference in the model performance between mites occurring in the 2 geographical regions were found independent of whether the model took the number of hosts into account.Fil: Krasnov, Boris R.. Ben Gurion University of the Negev; IsraelFil: Korallo Vinarskalla, N. P.. Omsk Research Institute of Natural Foci Infections. Laboratory of Arthropod-Borne Viral Infections; RusiaFil: Vinarski, M. V.. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Faculty of Chemistry and Biology. Department of Zoology and Physiology; RusiaFil: Lareschi, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; Argentin