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- Standardised inventories of lepidopterans and odonates from Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal) : setting the scene for mountain biodiversity monitoringPublication . Boieiro, Mário; Antunes, Sandra; Figueiredo, Hugo; Soares, Albano; Lopes, Ana; Monteiro, Eva; Garcia-Pereira, Patrícia; Rego, Carla; Conde, José; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Serrano, Artur R. M.BACKGROUND: Mountain insect biodiversity is unique, but is menaced by different drivers, particularly climate and land-use changes. In mainland Portugal, the highest mountain - Serra da Estrela - is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots, being classified as Natural Park since 1976. Many lepidopteran and odonate species, including rare and protected species, are known to occur in Serra da Estrela, but basic knowledge on their abundance, distribution and ecology is still lacking. Standardised sampling of these communities is crucial to provide valuable biological information to support short-term decision-making for conservation management, setting simultaneously the standards for mountain biodiversity monitoring aiming to tackle the effects of environmental change in the long-term. NEW INFORMATION: This study reports novel information on lepidopteran and odonate species diversity, distribution and abundance from Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal). Seventy-two lepidopteran and 26 odonate species were sampled in this protected area, including the first findings of Apatura ilia (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775), Macromia splendens (Pictet, 1843) and Vanessa virginiensis (Drury, 1773). New populations of Euphydrias aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775) and Oxygastra curtisii (Dale, 1834), protected species under the Habitats Directive, were found in this Natural Park and novel distribution and ecological data were collected for most species, including several rare species and subspecies [e.g. Aeshna juncea (Linnaeus, 1758), Coenonympha glycerion iphioides Staudinger, 1870, Cyaniris semiargus (Rottemburg, 1775) and Sympetrum flaveolum (Linnaeus, 1758)]. All data were collected using standardised sampling allowing its use as a baseline for biodiversity monitoring in Serra da Estrela.
- Survey data of public awareness on climate change and the value of marine and coastal ecosystemsPublication . Fonseca, Catarina; Wood, Louisa; Andriamahefazafy, Mialy; Casal, Gema; Chaigneau, Tomas; Cornet, Cindy C.; Degia, A. Karima; Failler, Pierre; Ferraro, Gianluca; Furlan, Elisa; Hawkins, Julie P.; de Juan, Silvia; Krause, Torsten; McCarthy, Tim; Pérez, Géraldine; Roberts, Callum M.; Trégarot, Ewan; O'Leary, Bethan C.The long-term provision of ocean ecosystem services depends on healthy ecosystems and effective sustainable management. Understanding public opinion about marine and coastal ecosystems is important to guide decision-making and inform specific actions. However, available data on public perceptions on the interlinked effects of climate change, human impacts and the value and management of marine and coastal ecosystems are rare. This dataset presents raw data from an online, self-administered, public awareness survey conducted between November 2021 and February 2022 which yielded 709 responses from 42 countries. The survey was released in four languages (English, French, Spanish and Italian) and consisted of four main parts: (1) perceptions about climate change; (2) perceptions about the value of, and threats to, coasts, oceans and their wildlife, (3) perceptions about climate change response; and (4) socio-demographic information. Participation in the survey was voluntary and all respondents provided informed consent after reading a participant information form at the beginning of the survey. Responses were anonymous unless respondents chose to provide contact information. All identifying information has been removed from the dataset. The dataset can be used to conduct quantitative analyses, especially in the area of public perceptions of the interlinkages between climate change, human impacts and options for sustainable management in the context of marine and coastal ecosystems. The dataset is provided with this article, including a copy of the survey and participant information forms in all four languages, data and the corresponding codebook.
- Contrasting roles of landscape compositions on shaping functional traits of arthropod community in subtropical vegetable fieldsPublication . Zhang, Jie; Saqib, Hafiz Sohaib Ahmed; Niu, Dongsheng; Guaman, Karla Giovana Gavilanez; Wang, Ao; Yu, Deyi; You, Minsheng; Pozsgai, Gabor; You, ShijunAgricultural intensification and land use transformation are among the main driving forces of the unprecedented decline of biodiversity and ecosystem services in croplands. Trait-based approaches provide a unique framework to detect the potential mechanisms of how this intensification affects biodiversity and alter ecosystem services. However, the potential relationship between arthropod traits and various types of habitats is still poorly understood, especially in subtropical vegetable agroecosystems. Here, we conducted a trait-based approach to evaluate the variable roles of different habitats on functional trait diversity and the structure of the arthropod community in brassica vegetable crops. Twenty-three conventional cruciferous vegetables fields were sampled over two years in three regions in Fujian, China. We found that the increasing proportion of non-brassica vegetable plantations and water bodies negatively affected the functional diversity of arthropods, whereas forest and grassland habitats showed a positive correlation, indicating habitat filtering for certain traits or trait combinations. This study demonstrates the importance of landscape composition as an ecological filter for vegetable arthropod community, and identifies how the proportion of different habitats selected for or against specific functional traits. Our findings support that increasing forest and grassland areas adjacent to vegetable fields can play a vital role in promoting the functional diversity of arthropod communities. Since the natural enemy assemblages supported by these habitats bear combinations of diverse traits adapted to disturbance, they have the potential to enhance pest suppression in the highly variable environment of vegetable crops.
- Ellenberg Indicator Values Disclose Complex Environmental Filtering Processes in Plant Communities along an Elevational GradientPublication . Di Biase, Letizia; Tsafack, Noelline; Pace, Loretta; Fattorini, SimoneEllenberg indicator values (EIVs) express plant preferences for temperature, light, continentality, soil moisture, pH, and soil nutrients, and have been largely used to deduce environmental characteristics from plant communities. However, EIVs might also be used to investigate the importance of filtering mechanisms in shaping plant communities according to species ecological preferences, a so far overlooked use of EIVs. In this paper, we investigated how community-weighted means (CWM), calculated with EIVs, varied along an elevational gradient in a small mountain in Central Italy. We also tested if species abundances varied according to their ecological preferences. We found that the prevalence of thermophilous species declines with elevation, being progressively replaced by cold-adapted species. Heliophilous species prevail at low and high elevations (characterized by the presence of open habitats), whereas in the middle of the gradient (occupied by the beech forest), sciophilous species predominate. Variations for moisture and soil nutrient preferences followed a similar pattern, probably because of the high moisture and nutrient levels of forest soils with a lot of humus. No distinct pattern was detected for EIVs for pH and continentality since these factors are subject to more local variations. These results highlight the possible role of EIVs to investigate how environmental gradients shape plant communities.
- Monitoring ten insect pests in selected orchards in three Azorean Islands : The project CUARENTAGRIPublication . Lamelas-López, Lucas; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Tarantino, Elisa; Juliano, Maria M.; Fontes, José C.; Moules, Cristina A. R.; Rodrigues, Ricardo; Machado, Jessica; Mota, José A.; Sousa, Beatriz; Amaral, Helder; Filipe, Maria da Conceição; Lopes, David João HortaBACKGROUND: The data we present are part of the CUARENTAGRI project, which involves all archipelagos of the Macaronesia (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde). The project aims to: i) identify and evaluate the risks associated with the introduction of new arthropod pests; ii) study the population dynamics of selected arthropod pest species currently responsible for the damage of key target crops and iii) develop monitoring systems, based on prediction and/or population dynamics of the crop pests, creating warnings and a phytosanitary prevention system. In this contribution, we compile data for three Azorean Islands (Terceira, São Jorge and São Miguel Islands), where pheromone-baited traps were placed in pastures, potato fields and several orchards’ types (apples, banana, chestnuts, olives, orange and strawberry), during three consecutive years (2020, 2021 and 2022). NEW INFORMATION: A total of 114,827 specimens of insects (Arthropoda, Insecta) were collected, belonging to four orders, six families and ten recorded pest species. A total of eight species are considered introduced (Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar, 1824), Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931), Bactrocera oleae (Rossi, 1790), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824), Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller, 1873), Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus, 1758), Cydia splendana (Hübner, 1799) and Grapholita molesta (Busck, 1916); n = 84,986 specimens) and two native non-endemic (Mythimna unipuncta (Haworth, 1809) and Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval, 1833); n = 17,465 specimens). This study intended to contribute to a better knowledge of the arthropods pests that can affect the Azorean crops and will serve as a baseline for future monitoring actions, pest risk assessments and prevention systems.
- Drivers of Insect Community Change along the Margins of Mountain Streams in Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)Publication . Ceia-Hasse, Ana; Boieiro, Mário; Soares, Albano; Antunes, Sandra; Figueiredo, Hugo; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Conde, José; Serrano, Artur R. M.Mountain ecosystems are important biodiversity hotspots and valuable natural laboratories to study community assembly processes. Here, we analyze the diversity patterns of butterflies and odonates in a mountainous area of high conservation value—Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)—and we assess the drivers of community change for each of the two insect groups. The butterflies and odonates were sampled along 150 m transects near the margins of three mountain streams, at three elevation levels (500, 1000, and 1500 m). We found no significant differences in odonate species richness between elevations, but marginal differences (p = 0.058) were found for butterflies due to the lower number of species at high altitudes. Both insect groups showed significant differences in beta diversity (βtotal) between elevations, with species richness differences being the most important component for odonates (βrich = 55.2%), while species replacement drove the changes between butterfly assemblages (βrepl = 60.3%). Climatic factors, particularly those depicting harsher conditions of temperature and precipitation, were the best predictors of total beta diversity (βtotal) and its components (βrich, βrepl) for the two study groups. The study of insect biodiversity patterns in mountain ecosystems and of the role played by different predictors contribute to further our understanding on the community assembly processes and may help to better predict environmental change impacts on mountain biodiversity.
- Characterizing and quantifying water content in 14 species of bryophytes present in azorean native vegetationPublication . Coelho, Márcia Catarina Mendes; Gabriel, Rosalina; Ah-Peng, ClaudineBryophytes are an important component of plant diversity, may be found from sea level to mountaintops, and are particularly conspicuous on the Azores islands. These plants rely on environmental water, which acquires intercepting rain and dew (liquid water) and uses fog (water vapor), and transports both externally, by capillary forces, and internally, in different cells (specialized or not). This study characterizes and quantifies the ability of six liverworts and eight mosses to retain water, through different pathways, and to lose water by evaporation. Twelve replicates of each species were collected in Azorean native vegetation during the summer of 2016. The absolute water content (AWC) was obtained through measurements of specimens saturated, without free water, and completely dry. Most of the 14-target species showed an ectohydric behavior pattern retaining more than 60% of water through gametophyte surface. The AWC value ranged from 646% in Polytrichum commune to 5584% in Sphagnum subnitens. The water loss by direct evaporation showed, for most of species, an exponential decay curve along time. Understanding how much native bryophytes, acquire, store, and release water into the system contributes not only to the knowledge of native vegetation resilience but also to potential impacts on the availability and quality of water—a major ecosystem service performed by bryophytes.
- How much biodiversity is concealed in the word ‘biodiversity’?Publication . Mammola, Stefano; Fukushima, Caroline S.; Biondo, Girolama; Bongiorni, Lucia; Cianferoni, Fabio; Domenici, Paolo; Fruciano, Carmelo; Lo Giudice, Angelina; Macías-Hernández, Nuria; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Miličić, Marija; Morganti, Michelangelo; Mori, Emiliano; Munévar, Ana; Pollegioni, Paola; Rosati, Ilaria; Tenan, Simone; Urbano-Tenorio, Fernando; Fontaneto, Diego; Cardoso, PedroAmidst a global biodiversity crisis1, the word ‘biodiversity’ has become indispensable for conservation and management2. Yet, biodiversity is often used as a buzzword in scientific literature. Resonant titles of papers claiming to have studied ‘global biodiversity’ may be used to promote research focused on a few taxonomic groups, habitats, or facets of biodiversity — taxonomic, (phylo)genetic, or functional. This usage may lead to extrapolating results outside the target systems of these studies with direct consequences for our understanding of life on Earth and its practical conservation. Here, we used a random sample of papers with the word ‘biodiversity’ in their title to take a long view of the use of this term. Despite improvements in analytical tools, monitoring technologies, and data availability3,4, we found that the taxonomic scope of research articles has not increased in recent years. We also show that studies with a wider taxonomic scope attract more citations and online attention. Our results have broad ramifications for understanding how extrapolating from studies with narrow taxonomic scope affects our view of global biodiversity and conservation.
- Climate–Growth Relationships in Laurus azorica—A Dominant Tree in the Azorean Laurel ForestPublication . Pavão, Diogo Cláudio; Jevšenak, Jernej; Silva, Lurdes da Conceição Borges; Elias, Rui B.; Silva, LuísForests on oceanic islands, such as the Azores archipelago, enable interesting dendroclimatic research, given their pronounced climatic gradients over short geographical distances, despite the less pronounced seasonality. The Lauraceae play an essential ecological role in Macaronesian natural forests. An example is Laurus azorica (Seub.) Franco, a relevant species given its high frequency and physiognomic dominance in Azorean laurel forests. This study aims to quantify climate–growth relationships in L. azorica using a dendroecological approach. We sampled four stands at São Miguel and two stands at Terceira islands, for a total of 206 trees. Following standard dendrochronological methods and rigorous sample selection procedures, we obtained relatively low rbar values and high temporal autocorrelation. Using a stepwise Random Forest analysis followed by Generalized Linear Models calculation, we found prominent effects of present and previous year temperature, but a low precipitation signal on growth rings, with some model variation between stands. Our results agreed with previous observations for broad-leaved species with diffuse porous wood, contributing to increase the baseline dendroecological knowledge about Azorean forests. Due to the high levels of within- and between-stand variation, and to refine the climatic signal analysis, complementary approaches should be explored in the future.
- Herbivory on the pedunculate oak along an urbanization gradient in Europe : Effects of impervious surface, local tree cover, and insect feeding guildPublication . Valdés‐Correcher, Elena; Popova, Anna; Galmán, Andrea; Prinzing, Andreas; Selikhovkin, Andrey V.; Howe, Andy G.; Mrazova, Anna; Dulaurent, Anne‐Maïmiti; Hampe, Arndt; Tack, Ayco J. M.; Bouget, Christophe; Lupaștean, Daniela; Harvey, Deborah; Musolin, Dmitry L.; Lövei, Gábor L.; Centenaro, Giada; Halder, Inge Van; Hagge, Jonas; Dobrosavljević, Jovan; Pitkänen, Juha‐Matti; Koricheva, Julia; Sam, Katerina; Barbaro, Luc; Branco, Manuela; Ferrante, Marco; Faticov, Maria; Tahadlová, Markéta; Gossner, Martin M.; Cauchoix, Maxime; Bogdziewicz, Michał; Duduman, Mihai‐Leonard; Kozlov, Mikhail V.; Bjoern, Mona C.; Mamaev, Nikita A.; Fernandez‐Conradi, Pilar; Thomas, Rebecca; Wetherbee, Ross; Green, Samantha; Milanović, Slobodan; Moreira, Xoaquín; Mellerin, Yannick; Kadiri, Yasmine; Castagneyrol, BastienUrbanization is an important driver of the diversity and abundance of tree-associated insect herbivores, but its consequences for insect herbivory are poorly understood. A likely source of variability among studies is the insufficient consideration of intraurban variability in forest cover. With the help of citizen scientists, we investigated the independent and interactive effects of local canopy cover and percentage of impervious surface on insect herbivory in the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) throughout most of its geographic range in Europe. We found that the damage caused by chewing insect herbivores as well as the incidence of leaf-mining and gall-inducing herbivores consistently decreased with increasing impervious surface around focal oaks. Herbivory by chewing herbivores increased with increasing forest cover, regardless of impervious surface. In contrast, an increase in local canopy cover buffered the negative effect of impervious surface on leaf miners and strengthened its effect on gall inducers. These results show that – just like in non-urban areas – plant-herbivore interactions in cities are structured by a complex set of interacting factors. This highlights that local habitat characteristics within cities have the potential to attenuate or modify the effect of impervious surfaces on biotic interactions.