Composition and activity of nitrifier communities in soil are unresponsive to elevated temperature and CO2, but strongly affected by drought

Nitrification is a fundamental process in terrestrial nitrogen cycling. However, detailed information on how climate change affects the structure of nitrifier communities is lacking, specifically from experiments in which multiple climate change factors are manipulated simultaneously. Consequently, our ability to predict how soil nitrogen (N) cycling will change in a future climate is limited. We conducted a field experiment in a managed grassland and simultaneously tested the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2, temperature, and drought on the abundance of active ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA), comammox (CMX) Nitrospira, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), and on gross mineralization and nitrification rates. We found that N transformation processes, as well as gene and transcript abundances, and nitrifier community composition were remarkably resistant to individual and interactive effects of elevated CO2 and temperature. During drought however, process rates were increased or at least maintained. At the same time, the abundance of active AOB increased probably due to higher NH4+ availability. Both, AOA and comammox Nitrospira decreased in response to drought and the active community composition of AOA and NOB was also significantly affected. In summary, our findings suggest that warming and elevated CO2 have only minor effects on nitrifier communities and soil biogeochemical variables in managed grasslands, whereas drought favors AOB and increases nitrification rates. This highlights the overriding importance of drought as a global change driver impacting on soil microbial community structure and its consequences for N cycling

Sphagnum auriculatum Schimp. in Portugal with late Quaternary occurrences

Sphagnum auriculatum Schimp. occurs in Portugal mainly in the northem and central parts of the country where the precipitation rates vary between 800-2800 mm/yr. It occupies the atlantic and pre-atlantic temtories though two of the collections were made south of Lisbon, in the mediterranean tenitory. Holocene records exist 50 km south of these locations suggesting a wider distribution of this species towards the south in the Quaternary. Climate changes together with habitat disturbances may be responsable for its disappearance from these areas.S. auriculatum Schimp es troba a Portugal, principalment, al nord i centre del país, on hi ha una precipitació anual de 800 a 2800 mm. Ocupa els territoris atlàntics i subatlàntics tret de dues localitats al sud de Lisboa, de tipus mediterrani. S'han trobat registres holocènics a 50 km al sud d'aquestes localitats i això fa pensar que aquesta espècie presentava, al Quaternari, una àrea de distribució més àmplia. Canvis climàtics juntament amb alteracions del medi poden ser la causa de la desaparició de l'espècie en aquestes àrees

A miniature world in decline: European Red List of Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts

This publication has been prepared by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as a deliverable of the LIFE European Red Lists project (LIFE14 PRE BE 001). A miniature world in decline: The European Red List of Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts is, therefore, a part of a series of publications released since 2015, when the project began, that also include: • European Red List of Lycopods and Ferns, 2017 • European Red List of Saproxylic Beetles, 2018 • European Red list of Terrestrial Molluscs: slugs, snails, and semi-slugs, 2019 • European Red list of Trees, 2019 • European Red list of Selected Endemic Shrubs, 2019 Based on other European Red List assessments, 59% of freshwater molluscs, 40% of freshwater fishes, 28% of grasshoppers, crickets and bush-crickets, 23% of amphibians, 20% of reptiles, 20% of ferns and lycopods, 17% of mammals, 16% of dragonflies, 13% of birds, 9% of butterflies and bees, 8% of aquatic plants and 2% of medicinal plants are threatened at the European level (Allen et al., 2014; IUCN, 2015; Hochkirch et al., 2016; García Criado et al., 2017). Additional European Red Lists assessing a selection of species showed that 22% of terrestrial molluscs, 16% of crop wild relatives and 18% of saproxylic beetles are also threatened (Cuttelod et al., 2011; Bilz et al., 2011; Cálix et al., 2018). The findings of this work suggest that 23% of bryophytes are threatened species in Europe, representing the fifth most threatened group of plants assessed so far