Persistence of wild felids after a protracted civil war in Quiçama National Park and Quiçama Game Reserve, Angola

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICRufford Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 20153-1; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Grant/Award Number: 2015102593

Warfare-induced mammal population declines in Southwestern Africa are mediated by species life history, habitat type and hunter preferences

Civil wars often coincide with global biodiversity hotspots and have plagued the everyday reality of many countries throughout human history. However, how do civil wars affect wildlife populations? Are these impacts the same in savannah and forest environments? How persistent are the post-war consequences on wildlife populations within and outside conflict zones? Long-term monitoring programs in war zones, which could answer these questions, are virtually nonexistent, not least due to the risks researchers are exposed to. In this context, only a few methodologies can provide data on wild populations during war conflicts. We used local ecological knowledge to assess the main consequences of a prolonged civil war (1975-2002) in Southwestern Africa on forest and savannah mammals. The post-war abundance in 20 of 26 (77%) mammal species considered in this study was lower in open savannah compared to the closed-canopy forest environments, with some species experiencing a decline of up to 80% of their pre-war baseline abundance. Large-bodied mammals were preferred targets and had been overhunted, but as their populations became increasingly depleted, the size structure of prey species gradually shifted towards smaller-bodied species. Finally, we present a general flow diagram of how civil wars in low-governance countries can have both positive and negative impacts on native wildlife populations at different scales of space and time

Biodiversity and notes on carabid beetles from Angola with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Serrano, Artur R. M., Capela, Rúben A., Santos, Carmen Van-Dúnem Neto (2017): Biodiversity and notes on carabid beetles from Angola with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Zootaxa 4353 (2): 201-256, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4353.2.

The rose chafers (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) of Angola: a descriptive checklist with new records and synonymic notes

An annotated checklist of the species and subspecies of rose chafers (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) hitherto known from Angola is given. This list includes species records from recent entomological trips in that country (2014, 2015 and 2017) and from Portuguese museums and private collections. A total of 177 species and 31 subspecies are recorded for Angola, including 32 endemic species/subspecies (15.4%). Some species are represented by only the holotype specimen (some without locality) or the type series. Others were recorded based on a single specimen. Records for four genera, one subgenus, twenty nine species and four subspecies previously unknown from Angola are given. A new synonymy is established: Ruteroides Gomes Alves, 1973 is proposed as a junior synonym of Pseudinca Kraatz, 1880. Consequently, Ruteroides fradei Gomes Alves, 1973 is transferred to Pseudinca. A brief historical review, as well as some considerations on the distribution and conservation status of these beetles in Angola is also presented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Long range gene flow beyond predictions from oceanographic transport in a tropical marine foundation species

Abstract The transport of passively dispersed organisms across tropical margins remains poorly understood. Hypotheses of oceanographic transportation potential lack testing with large scale empirical data. To address this gap, we used the seagrass species, Halodule wrightii, which is unique in spanning the entire tropical Atlantic. We tested the hypothesis that genetic differentiation estimated across its large-scale biogeographic range can be predicted by simulated oceanographic transport. The alternative hypothesis posits that dispersal is independent of ocean currents, such as transport by grazers. We compared empirical genetic estimates and modelled predictions of dispersal along the distribution of H. wrightii. We genotyped eight microsatellite loci on 19 populations distributed across Atlantic Africa, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Brazil and developed a biophysical model with high-resolution ocean currents. Genetic data revealed low gene flow and highest differentiation between (1) the Gulf of Mexico and two other regions: (2) Caribbean-Brazil and (3) Atlantic Africa. These two were more genetically similar despite separation by an ocean. The biophysical model indicated low or no probability of passive dispersal among populations and did not match the empirical genetic data. The results support the alternative hypothesis of a role for active dispersal vectors like grazers

The taxonomic impediment: a shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches.

Engel, Michael S, Ceríaco, Luis M P, Daniel, Gimo M, Dellapé, Pablo M, Löbl, Ivan, Marinov, Milen, Reis, Roberto E, Young, Mark T, Dubois, Alain, Agarwal, Ishan, Lehmann A., Pablo, Alvarado, Mabel, Alvarez, Nadir, Andreone, Franco, Araujo-Vieira, Katyuscia, Ascher, John S, Baêta, Délio, Baldo, Diego, Bandeira, Suzana A, Barden, Phillip, Barrasso, Diego A, Bendifallah, Leila, Bockmann, Flávio A, Böhme, Wolfgang, Borkent, Art, Brandão, Carlos R F, Busack, Stephen D, Bybee, Seth M, Channing, Alan, Chatzimanolis, Stylianos, Christenhusz, Maarten J M, Crisci, Jorge V, D'elía, Guillermo, Da Costa, Luis M, Davis, Steven R, De Lucena, Carlos Alberto S, Deuve, Thierry, Fernandes Elizalde, Sara, Faivovich, Julián, Farooq, Harith, Ferguson, Adam W, Gippoliti, Spartaco, Gonçalves, Francisco M P, Gonzalez, Victor H, Greenbaum, Eli, Hinojosa-Díaz, Ismael A, Ineich, Ivan, Jiang, Jianping, Kahono, Sih, Kury, Adriano B, Lucinda, Paulo H F, Lynch, John D, Malécot, Valéry, Marques, Mariana P, Marris, John W M, Mckellar, Ryan C, Mendes, Luis F, Nihei, Silvio S, Nishikawa, Kanto, Ohler, Annemarie, Orrico, Victor G D, Ota, Hidetoshi, Paiva, Jorge, Parrinha, Diogo, Pauwels, Olivier S G, Pereyra, Martín O, Pestana, Lueji B, Pinheiro, Paulo D P, Prendini, Lorenzo, Prokop, Jakub, Rasmussen, Claus, Rödel, Mark-Oliver, Rodrigues, Miguel Trefaut, Rodríguez, Sara M, Salatnaya, Hearty, Sampaio, Íris, Sánchez-García, Alba, Shebl, Mohamed A, Santos, Bruna S, Solórzano-Kraemer, Mónica M, Sousa, Ana C A, Stoev, Pavel, Teta, Pablo, Trape, Jean-François, Dos Santos, Carmen Van-Dúnem, Vasudevan, Karthikeyan, Vink, Cor J, Vogel, Gernot, Wagner, Philipp, Wappler, Torsten, Ware, Jessica L, Wedmann, Sonja, Zacharie, Chifundera Kusamba (2021): EDITORIAL The taxonomic impediment: a shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 193 (2): 381-387, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab072, URL: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/193/2/381/637438