scholarly journals First records of Eyprepocnemis plorans plorans in southeastern Italy (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

2018 ◽  
pp. 65-67
Author(s):  
Rocco Labadessa ◽  
Teodoro Dura ◽  
Giuseppe Mascia ◽  
Arianna Pisconti ◽  
Erminio Rolli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
Eyprepocnemis Plorans ◽  
Wide Range

New populations of Eyprepocnemis plorans plorans (Charpentier, 1825) are first reported for southeastern Italy. The species was found in the period 2013-2017 in different lowland habitats of Apulia and Basilicata. These data may document a most recent colonization of southeastern Italy, which is potentially due to a wide range shift or expansion of species distribution from adjacent regions or countries.

scholarly journals Assessing the reliability of species distribution projections in climate change research

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Santini ◽  
Ana Benítez-López ◽  
Luigi Maiorano ◽  
Mirza Čengić ◽  
Mark A.J. Huijbregts
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Modelling Assumptions ◽  
Virtual Species

AbstractAimForecasting changes in species distribution under future scenarios is one of the most prolific areas of application for species distribution models (SDMs). However, no consensus yet exists on the reliability of such models for drawing conclusions on species distribution response to changing climate. In this study we provide an overview of common modelling practices in the field and assess model predictions reliability using a virtual species approach.LocationGlobalMethodsWe first provide an overview of common modelling practices in the field by reviewing the papers published in the last 5 years. Then, we use a virtual species approach and three commonly applied SDM algorithms (GLM, MaxEnt and Random Forest) to assess the estimated (cross-validated) and actual predictive performance of models parameterized with different modelling settings and violations of modelling assumptions.ResultsOur literature review shows that most papers that model species distribution under climate change rely on single models (65%) and small samples (< 50 presence points, 62%), use presence-only data (85%), and binarize models’ output to estimate range shift, contraction or expansion (74%). Our virtual species approach reveals that the estimated predictive performance tends to be over-optimistic compared to the real predictive performance. Further, the binarization of predicted probabilities of presence reduces models’ predictive ability considerably. Sample size is one of the main predictors of real accuracy, but has little influence on estimated accuracy. Finally, the inclusion of irrelevant predictors and the violation of modelling assumptions increases estimated accuracy but decreases real accuracy of model projections, leading to biased estimates of range contraction and expansion.Main conclusionsOur study calls for extreme caution in the application and interpretation of SDMs in the context of biodiversity conservation and climate change research, especially when modelling a large number of species where species-specific model settings become impracticable.

scholarly journals Taxonomic circumscription of melanconis-like fungi causing canker disease in China

MycoKeys ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 89-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinlei Fan ◽  
Zhuo Du ◽  
Jadson D.P. Bezerra ◽  
Chengming Tian
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Phylogeny ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Canker Disease ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Molecular Phylogenies

Melanconis-like species comprise latent fungal pathogens with a wide range of woody hosts. Taxonomy of these pathogens is difficult due to their uninformative descriptions and similar asexual morphology. Based on molecular phylogenies, many species of this group were placed in various families of Diaporthales. In this study, eight species of melanconis-like fungi were isolated from Betulaalbosinensis, B.platyphylla (Betulaceae), Cornuscontroversa (Cornaceae), Corylusmandshurica (Betulaceae) and Juglansregia (Juglandaceae) in China. These species were phylogenetically placed in three families of Diaporhthales, i.e. Juglanconisjuglandina, J.oblonga (Juglanconidaceae), Melanconiellabetulicolasp. nov., M.corylinasp. nov. (Melanconiellaceae), Melanconisbetulae, Ms.itoana, Ms.stilbostoma (Melanconidaceae) and one new genus, Sheathospora (Melanconiellaceae). Sheathospora is proposed to accommodate Melanconiellacornuta with conical and discrete pycnidia with aseptate, hyaline, cylindrical to ellipsoidal conidia with distinct hyaline sheath on branches of Cornuscontroversa. Combined analyses of ITS, LSU, CAL, RPB2 and TEF1-α sequence data were used to construct the molecular phylogeny. Additionally, we provided separate phylogenetic trees for three families (Juglanconidaceae, Melanconidaceae and Melanconiellaceae) to show the species distribution of melanconis-like fungi in China.

scholarly journals Integrating citizen science data with expert surveys increases accuracy and spatial extent of species distribution models

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.J. Robinson ◽  
V. Ruiz-Gutierrez ◽  
M.D. Reynolds ◽  
G.H. Golet ◽  
M. Strimas-Mackey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractInformation on species’ habitat associations and distributions, across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, are a fundamental source of ecological knowledge. However, collecting biological information at relevant scales if often cost prohibitive, although it is essential for framing the broader context of more focused research and conservation efforts. Citizen-science data has been signaled as an increasingly important source of biological information needed to fill in data gaps needed to make more comprehensive and robust inferences on species distributions. However, there are perceived trade-offs of combining highly structured, scientific survey data with largely unstructured, citizen-science data. As a result, the focus of most methodological advances to combine these sources of information has been on treating these sources as independent. The degree to which each source of information is allowed to directly inform a common underlying process (e.g. species distribution) depends on the perceived quality of the data. In this paper, we explore these trade-offs by applying a simplified approach of filtering citizen-science data to resemble structured survey data, and analyze both sources of data under a common framework. To accomplish this, we explored ways of integrating high-resolution survey data on shorebirds in the northern Central Valley of California with observations in eBird for the entire region that were filtered to improve their quality. The integration of survey data with the filtered citizen-science data in eBird resulted in improved inference and predictive ability, and increased the extent and accuracy of inferences on shorebirds for the Central Valley. The structured surveys were found to improve the overall accuracy of ecological inference based only on citizen-science data, by increasing the representation of data collected from high quality habitats for shorebirds (e.g. rice fields). The practical approach we have shown for data integration can be also be used to improve the efficiency of designing biological surveys in the context of larger, citizen-science monitoring efforts, ultimately reducing the financial and time expenditures typically required of monitoring programs and focused research. The simple processing and filtering method we present can be used to integrate other types of data (e.g. camera traps) with more localized efforts (e.g. research projects), ultimately improving our ecological knowledge on the distribution and habitat associations of species of conservation concern worldwide.

scholarly journals Estimating potential range shift of some wild bees in response to climate change scenarios in northwestern regions of Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Rahimi ◽  
Shahindokht Barghjelveh ◽  
Pinliang Dong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
Potential Range ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Quality Changes ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
The Future

Abstract Background Climate change is occurring rapidly around the world, and is predicted to have a large impact on biodiversity. Various studies have shown that climate change can alter the geographical distribution of wild bees. As climate change affects the species distribution and causes range shift, the degree of range shift and the quality of the habitats are becoming more important for securing the species diversity. In addition, those pollinator insects are contributing not only to shaping the natural ecosystem but also to increased crop production. The distributional and habitat quality changes of wild bees are of utmost importance in the climate change era. This study aims to investigate the impact of climate change on distributional and habitat quality changes of five wild bees in northwestern regions of Iran under two representative concentration pathway scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). We used species distribution models to predict the potential range shift of these species in the year 2070. Result The effects of climate change on different species are different, and the increase in temperature mainly expands the distribution ranges of wild bees, except for one species that is estimated to have a reduced potential range. Therefore, the increase in temperature would force wild bees to shift to higher latitudes. There was also significant uncertainty in the use of different models and the number of environmental layers employed in the modeling of habitat suitability. Conclusion The increase in temperature caused the expansion of species distribution and wider areas would be available to the studied species in the future. However, not all of this possible range may include high-quality habitats, and wild bees may limit their niche to suitable habitats. On the other hand, the movement of species to higher latitudes will cause a mismatch between farms and suitable areas for wild bees, and as a result, farmers will face a shortage of pollination from wild bees. We suggest that farmers in these areas be aware of the effects of climate change on agricultural production and consider the use of managed bees in the future.

Southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis) species distribution models project a large range shift and contraction due to regional climatic changes

2018 ◽  
Vol 411 ◽  
pp. 176-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Shirk ◽  
Samuel A. Cushman ◽  
Kristen M. Waring ◽  
Christian A. Wehenkel ◽  
Alejandro Leal-Sáenz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Species Distribution Models ◽  
Large Range ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Distribution Models

scholarly journals Influence of different data cleaning solutions of point-occurrence records on downstream macroecological diversity models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Fuehrding-Potschkat ◽  
Holger Kreft ◽  
Stefanie Ickert-Bond
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Species Distribution Models ◽  
Data Cleaning ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Occurrence Records ◽  
Expert Data

Digital point-occurrence records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and other repositories enable a wide range of research in macroecology and biogeography. However, data errors may hamper immediate use. Manual data cleaning is time-consuming and often unfeasible, given that the databases may contain thousands or millions of records. Automated data cleaning pipelines are therefore of high importance. This study examined the extent to which cleaned data from six pipelines using data cleaning tools (e.g., the GBIF web application, different R packages) affect downstream species distribution models. In addition, we assessed how the pipeline data differ from expert data. From 13,889 North American Ephedra observations in GBIF, the pipelines removed 31.7% to 62.7% false-positives, invalid coordinates, and duplicates, leading to data sets that included between 9,484 (GBIF application) and 5,196 records (manual-guided filtering). The expert data consisted of 703 thoroughly handpicked records, comparable to data from field studies. Although differences in the record numbers were relatively large, stacked species distribution models (sSDM) from the pipelines and the expert data were strongly related (mean Pearson’s r across the pipelines: 0.9986, versus the expert data: 0.9173). The ever-stronger correlations resulted from occurrence information that became increasingly condensed in the course of the workflow (from individual occurrences to collectivized occurrences in grid cells to predicted probabilities in the sSDMs). In sum, our results suggest that the R package-based pipelines reliably identified invalid coordinates. In contrast, the GBIF-filtered data still contained both spatial and taxonomic errors. However, major drawbacks emerge from the fact that no pipeline fully discovered misidentified specimens without the assistance of expert taxonomic knowledge. We conclude that application-filtered GBIF data will still need additional review to achieve higher spatial data quality. Achieving high-quality taxonomic data will require extra effort, probably by thoroughly analyzing the data for misidentified taxa, supported by experts.

scholarly journals Contributions of Distribution Modelling to the Ecological Study of Psittaciformes

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 611
Author(s):  
José R. Ferrer-Paris ◽  
Ada Sánchez-Mercado
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Parrot Species ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Research Action

We provide an overview of the use of species distribution modeling to address research questions related to parrot ecology and conservation at a global scale. We conducted a literature search and applied filters to select the 82 most relevant studies to discuss. The study of parrot species distribution has increased steadily in the past 30 years, with methods and computing development maturing and facilitating their application for a wide range of research and applied questions. Conservation topics was the most popular topic (37%), followed by ecology (34%) and invasion ecology (20%). The role of abiotic factors explaining parrot distribution is the most frequent ecological application. The high prevalence of studies supporting on-ground conservation problems is a remarkable example of reduction in the research–action gap. Prediction of invasion risk and assessment of invasion effect were more prevalent than examples evaluating the environmental or economic impact of these invasions. The integration of species distribution models with other tools in the decision-making process and other data (e.g., landscape metrics, genetic, behavior) could even further expand the range of applications and provide a more nuanced understanding of how parrot species are responding to their even more changing landscape and threats.

scholarly journals Climate Change Can Drive a Significant Loss of Suitable Habitat for Polylepis quadrijuga, a Treeline Species in the Sky Islands of the Northern Andes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Caballero-Villalobos ◽  
Francisco Fajardo-Gutiérrez ◽  
Mariasole Calbi ◽  
Gustavo A. Silva-Arias
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Sky Islands ◽  
Future Projections ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Future

It is predicted that climate change will strongly affect plant distributions in high elevation “sky islands” of tropical Andes. Polylepis forests are a dominant element of the treeline throughout the Andes Cordillera in South America. However, little is known about the climatic factors underlying the current distribution of Polylepis trees and the possible effect of global climate change. The species Polylepis quadrijuga is endemic to the Colombian Eastern Cordillera, where it plays a fundamental ecological role in high-altitude páramo-forest ecotones. We sought to evaluate the potential distribution of P. quadrijuga under future climate change scenarios using ensemble modeling approaches. We conducted a comprehensive assessment of future climatic projections deriving from 12 different general circulation models (GCMs), four Representative Concentration Pathways (R) emissions scenarios, and two different time frames (2041–2060 and 2061–2080). Additionally, based on the future projections, we evaluate the effectiveness of the National System of Protected Natural Areas of Colombia (SINAP) and Páramo Complexes of Colombia (PCC) in protecting P. quadrijuga woodlands. Here, we compiled a comprehensive set of observations of P. quadrijuga and study them in connection with climatic and topographic variables to identify environmental predictors of the species distribution, possible habitat differentiation throughout the geographic distribution of the species, and predict the effect of different climate change scenarios on the future distribution of P. quadrijuga. Our results predict a dramatic loss of suitable habitat due to climate change on this key tropical Andean treeline species. The ensemble Habitat Suitability Modeling (HSM) shows differences in suitable scores among north and south regions of the species distribution consistent with differences in topographic features throughout the available habitat of P. quadrijuga. Future projections of the HSM predicted the Páramo complex “Sumapaz-Cruz Verde” as a major area for the long-term conservation of P. quadrijuga because it provides a wide range of suitable habitats for the different evaluated climate change scenarios. We provide the first set of priority areas to perform both in situ and ex situ conservation efforts based on suitable habitat projections.

Morphological variation of the spermatheca of Mocyta fungi (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

2021 ◽  
pp. 252-266
Author(s):  
Sergiy Glotov
Keyword(s):  
Species Distribution ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Ecological Monitoring ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Effective Group ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Range Of Variation

The variation of spermatheca of Mocyta fungi (Gravenhorst, 1806) has been studied. Mocyta fungi is a widespread Holarctic species, which by a combination of morphological and biological features belongs nowadays to the genus Mocyta (Mulsant & Rey, 1874), tribe Athetini (Casey, 1910), subfamily Aleocharinae (Fleming, 1821), family Staphylinidae (Latreille, 1802). Based on a survey of museum collections, the author’s own gatherings, and collections of Ukrainian entomologists, a total of 349 specimens from Ukraine, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Poland, and Russia have been studied. Additionally, based on the analysis of all known literature data, a wide range of variation of the spermatheca of Mocyta fungi has been compiled. The wide morphological variability of the form of the spermatheca in Mocyta fungi in different parts of the species range indicates the need for careful use of the form of the spermatheca taxonomic works, especially when describing new species based on the study of one or a few specimens. In addition, the most effective group of diagnostic features has been compiled for Mocyta fungi, which can be used to identify species quickly and reliably both in the field and during cameral identification. The information on the species’ distribution in the territory of Ukraine has been clarified and significantly supplemented by new findings. The results can be used to address a number of theoretical issues of faunistics, zoogeography, and ecology, as well as in compiling the inventory of the fauna of the Ukrainian Carpathians, for comparative faunal research, in the analysis of species distribution, in biogeographic constructions, studies of faunogenesis, ecological monitoring and prediction of consequences of the influence of human activities on natural ecosystems of the region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document