The relative contributions of adaptation and drift to morphological diversification of the crania of echolocating mammals was investigated using two horseshoe bat species, Rhinolophus simulator and R. cf. simulator as test cases. We used 3D geometric morphometrics to compare the shapes of skulls of the two lineages collected at various localities in southern Africa. Shape variation was predominantly attributed to selective forces; the between population variance (B) was not proportional to the within population variance (W). Modularity was evident in the crania of R. simulator but absent in the crania of R. cf. simulator and the mandibles of both species. The skulls of the two lineages thus appeared to be under different selection pressures, despite the overlap in their distributions. Selection acted mainly on the nasal dome region of R. cf. simulator whereas selection acted more on the cranium and mandibles than on the nasal domes of R. simulator. Probably the relatively higher echolocation frequencies used by R. cf. simulator, the shape of the nasal dome, which acts as a frequency dependent acoustic horn, is more crucial than in R. simulator, allowing maximization of the intensity of the emitted calls and resulting in comparable detection distances. In contrast, selection pressure is probably more pronounced on the mandibles and cranium of R. simulator to compensate for the loss in bite force because of its elongated rostrum. The predominance of selection probably reflects the stringent association between environment and the optimal functioning of phenotypic characters associated with echolocation and feeding in bats.

Quarry operations cause serious environmental impact on invertebrate communities and contribute negatively to habitat destruction and the species they promote but very little is still known about the response of butterflies to such disturbances in western Africa. The current study provides data from a baseline survey of butterflies at Mowire quarry site in the agroecological zone of Ghana and investigates the effects of ongoing quarry operations on butterfly diversity. Specifically quarry operations were assessed on species abundance and richness. A total of 417 individual butterflies belonging to 67 species from 5 families was recorded in three zones. High relative abundance in the Eastern Zone (EZ) (N = 329) and high species richness (S = 55) may be due to increased flowering plants diversity which contain sweet nectar which attracts and support rich butterfly abundance. Low species richness (S = 22) and relative abundance (N= 41) in the Western Zone (WZ), and Northern Zone (NZ) (S = 21) and low relative abundance (N= 47), was corroborated with low plant diversity. Our results shows that, the EZ received less negative impact from the quarry operations but the operations negatively affected WZ and NZ. More generally our study indicates that state institutions should ensure mandatory environmental impact assessment reports from the quarry companies.

The main strategy for animal diversity conservation is to increase the territory size but little consideration is given to habitat characteristics requirement, which lead to a decrease in effectiveness for protected areas. Marginal of protected areas are considered to have higher species richness due to the edge effect. Strategy in these sites are still adopts to increase territory size or pay no attention to needs of specific habitat characteristics that is an important topic for the planner and manager. In this study, camera traps was used to estimate composition, diversity and habitat characteristics of mammals in a non-protected area near Huangshan Mountains in Anhui Province, China. We ran 49 liner models with the relative abundance index and 13 habitat characteristic factors of 11 mammals. To answer the question of habitat characteristics or territory size: which is more important to composition and diversity of mammals in non-protect area? We hypothesized that: (1) Non-protected areas have more mammal species than protected areas with the edge effect. (2) Non-protected areas have more species associated with habitat characteristics. We predicted that the habitat characteristics should be firstly considered, territory size secondly in non-protected areas, would provide a last refuge for mammals. Cameras were operated from June 2017 to October 2019, for a total of 29 months, 2,212 independent photos, 9,485 trap-days, recorded 18 species of mammals more than any other protected areas confirmed first hypothesis 1. The model analysis results showed that, habitat characteristics of mammals were different and showed a significant correlation, supported hypothesis 2. In addition, most species are related to vegetation characteristics except to primates (Macaca. thibetana) and rodent (Leopoldamys edwardsi) confirmed our prediction. We suggested conservation policies in non-protected areas: Habitat characteristics should be concerned at first and then increasing protected areas to provide the last refuge for species conservation.

1. Behavior and organization of social groups is thought to be vital to the functioning of societies, yet the contributions of various roles within social groups towards population growth and dynamics have been difficult to quantify. A common approach to quantifying these role-based contributions is evaluating the number of individuals conducting certain roles, which ignores how behavior might scale up to effects at the population-level. Manipulative experiments are another common approach to determine population-level effects, but they often ignore potential feedbacks associated with these various roles. 2. Here, we evaluate the effects of worker size distribution in bumblebee colonies on worker production in 24 observational colonies across three environments, using functional linear models. Functional linear models are an underused correlative technique that has been used to assess lag effects of environmental drivers on plant performance. We demonstrate potential applications of this technique for exploring high-dimensional ecological systems, such as the contributions of individuals with different traits to colony dynamics. 3. We found that more larger workers had mostly positive effects and more smaller workers had negative effects on worker production. Most of these effects were only detected under low or fluctuating resource environments suggesting that the advantage of colonies with larger-bodied workers becomes more apparent under stressful conditions. 4. We also demonstrate the wider ecological application of functional linear models. We highlight the advantages and limitations when considering these models, and how they are a valuable complement to many of these performance-based and manipulative experiments.

Aim: In recent studies, three species of bat, Hypsignathus monstrosus, Myonycteris torquata and Epomops franqueti were identified as the most likely candidates to be reservoir for Ebolavirus. To help in epidemic preparedness and surveillance, species distribution modeling techniques are useful for predicting where these species are likely to occur in DR Congo. Methods: MaxEnt software was used to model the current and future distribution of the three species in DR Congo based on the occurrence data collected from global biodiversity information facility and environmental covariates collected from Worldclim and USGS. The future distribution were obtained based on two scenario (RCP4.5 and RCP 8.5) of the HadGEM2-CC an IPPC5 climate projections from global climate models (GCMs). Results: The suitable habitat of H. monstrosus, M. torquata and E. franqueti are essentially located from latitude -5° to 5° and longitude 17° to 30°. Overall, their favourable living areas are located in the territories along the entire northern border and the entire northern part of the eastern border of the DR Congo with varying degrees of importance depending on the territories and species. Three bioclimatic variables have shown to play major role in their spread, the precipitation of the driest quarter, the precipitation of coldest quarter and the temperature annual range. In the future, the suitable area of these species will be decreasing and being essentially located in the Kivu provinces. The change in the ecological niche of these species will differ with respect to future climate scenario. Climate of RCP 8.5 has shown to induce major decrease of their suitable habitat in DR Congo. Main conclusions: The MaxEnt model is potentially useful for forecasting the future adaptive distribution of the three bat species under climate change, and it provides important guidance for comprehensive management of the Ebolavirus risk.

Maxent is commonly used species distribution modelling (SDM) program due to its better performance over other SDM programs. But model complexity and selecting optimal models are two important concerns for Maxent users. In order to help advance the field we built 44 sets of models by combining 11 regularization multipliers and four feature classes for 10 fish and 28 odonate species of Bhutan with small occurrence data. We then selected optimal models using four sequential optimal model selection approaches: two ORTEST approaches which combined threshold dependent test omission rate (OR) followed by area under receiver operating curve for test data (AUCTEST), and two AUCDIFF approaches that combined OR followed by difference between training AUC and AUCTEST (AUCDIFF) and then AUCTEST. We then screened for ecologically plausible binary suitable/unsuitable model for each species among the optimal models selected by the sequential approaches or from the remaining models using expert knowledge (EXP approach). We then compared different model features and the predicted binary habitat of the optimal models selected by the five approaches. Models selected by ORTEST approaches matched better with ones selected by EXP approach despite them selecting more complex models compared to AUCDIFF approaches. Further, models selected through AUCDIFF approaches overpredicted the habitat more often than the models selected through ORTEST approaches when compared to models chosen by EXP approach. We recommend use of ORTEST approaches for model selection either as the first line of model screening or by their own when less restrictive thresholds are used to produce binary habitat maps as we did here. First, this would reduce time required for expert screening of multiple models for ecologically plausible models when many species are studied. Second, when used alone, ORTEST approaches can avoid either selecting models that under predict or over predict the suitable habitat.

1. The volatiles from damaged plants induce defense in neighboring plants. The phenomenon is called plant-plant communication, plant talk or plant eavesdropping. Plant-plant communication has been reported to be stronger between kin plants than genetically far plants in sagebrush. 2. Why do plants distinguish volatiles from kin or genetically far plants? We hypothesize that plants respond only to important conditions; the induced defense is not free of cost for the plant. To clarify the hypothesis, we conducted experiments and investigations using goldenrod of 4 different genotypes. 3. The arthropods community on tall goldenrods were different among 4 genotypes. The response to volatiles was stronger from genetically close plants to the emitter than from genetically distant plants from the emitter. The volatiles from each genotype of goldenrods were different; and they were categorized accordingly. Moreover, the arthropod community on each genotype of goldenrods were different. 4. Synthesis: Our results support the hypothesis: goldenrods respond to volatiles from genetically close plants because they would have similar arthropod species. These results are important clues elucidating adaptive significance of plant-plant communication.

1. The dissimilarity and hierarchy of trait values that characterize niche and fitness differences, respectively, have been increasingly applied to infer mechanisms driving community assembly and to explain species co-occurrence patterns. Here, we predict that limiting similarity should result in the spatial segregation of functionally similar species, while functionally similar species will be more likely to co-occur together either due to environmental filtering or competitive exclusion of inferior competitors (hereafter hierarchical competition). 2. We used a fully mapped 50-ha subtropical forest plot in southern China to explore how pairwise spatial associations were influenced by trait dissimilarity and hierarchy between species in order to gain insight into assembly mechanisms. We assessed pairwise spatial associations using two summary statistics of spatial point patterns at different spatial scales and compared the effects of trait dissimilarity and trait hierarchy of different functional traits on the interspecific spatial associations. These comparisons allow us to disentangle the effects of limiting similarity, environmental filtering and hierarchical competition on species co-occurrence. 3. We found that trait dissimilarity was generally negatively correlated with interspecific spatial associations, meaning that species with similar trait values were more likely to co-occur together and thus supporting environmental filtering or hierarchical competition. We further found that leaf area, wood density and maximum height had stronger trait hierarchy effects on the pairwise spatial associations relative to their corresponding trait dissimilarity effects, which suggests that hierarchical competition played a more (or at least equally) important role in structuring our forest community compared to environmental filtering. 4. This study employed a novel method to disentangle the relative importance of multiple assembly mechanisms in structuring co-occurrence patterns, especially the mechanisms of environmental filtering and hierarchical competition, which lead to indistinguishable co-occurrence patterns. This study also reinforced the importance of trait hierarchy rather than trait dissimilarity in driving neighborhood competition.

Abstract: Global climate change is gradually changing the distribution and diversity pattern of species. In order to study the change of distribution area and distribution barycenter of Bufo gargarizans under climate change, we adopted the maximum-entropy modeling (Maxent) model and barycenter migration analysis. And four General circulation models (GCMs) under four representative concentration pathways (RCPs), 29 environment variables (including bioclimate, topography, habitat and human impact) were used to predict the current and future (2050 and 2070) distribution of B. gargarizans. The results show that the Mean temperature of Driest quarter (Bio9), Precipitation of driest month (Bio14) and population (POP) have greater influence on the distribution of B. gargarizans, it indicates that climate and anthropogenic factors have greater influence on the distribution of B. gargarizans than other environmental factors such as topography and landform. And in the next 30 to 50 years, from the perspective of the large spatial scale of the whole China, the distribution area of B. gargarizans is in the eastern part of China, the southeastern part is reduced, and the Midwest and northwest part is expanded. On the whole, the suitable habitat of B. gargarizans will be reduced in the future and will migrate to the high latitude and altitude area. In this study, B. gargarizans was used as a sentinel species to study the response of amphibians to climate change, this paper aims to reveal the mechanism of amphibian response to climate change from the current and future dispersal patterns of B. gargarizans.

This study investigated AMF community response to tillage and soil amendment regimes from rhizospheric soil of maize roots at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm at Hunyani farm, Zimbabwe. Two tillage systems (conservation agriculture: CA) and conventional tillage: CT), and six soil fertility amendments [Control (C), High fertilizer (HF-120), Low fertilizer (LF-60), Manure (M), Manure + low fertilizer (MLF-60), Manure + 60 kg N ha-1 (M-60)] were laid in a split plot design with three replications. Twelve morpho-species were identified at the study site. Species richness was highest for CA+C (11.7) and CA+ M (11.7) at 10-20 cm depth. Control plots of CT had more diverse AMF species in the surface layers (Shannon-Weaver index = 2.12) compared to the subsurface soil layer (Shannon-Weaver index = 1.86). The tillage x fertility interaction showed that in CA, A. dilatata spore populations were higher in MLF-60 amended plots than all other plots, followed by LF-60 plots, while in CT systems MLF-60 promoted higher spore populations than all other treatments. All plots amended with manure plus inorganic fertilizer had lower (P<0.05) G. clavisprum spore populations than C, HF-120 and M amended plots under both CA and CT, however LF-20 promoted higher populations than in plots with a combination of manure and inorganic fertilizer in CT only. Tillage x fertility amendment x depth interactions (P<0.05) were observed on A. denticulate, A. schenkii, and C. Luteum, E. infrequens, R. clarus, and S. calospora spore populations. Medium term effects of CA+ manure, and CA + no amendments may include increasing species richness and diversity. Application of relatively large amounts of inorganic fertilizers increase populations of C. luteum populations in CA and decrease in CT. Manure reduces populations of some species e.g. C. luteum in both CA and. CT.

For procellariiform seabirds, wind and body morphology are crucial determinants of flight costs and flight speeds. During chick-rearing, parental seabirds commute frequently to provision their chicks, and their body mass changes between outbound and return legs. In Antarctica, the typical diurnal katabatic winds which blow stronger in the mornings, form al natural experiment to investigate flight behaviours in response to wind conditions. We GPS-tracked three closely related species of sympatrically breeding Antarctic fulmarine petrels which differ in wing loading and aspect ratio and investigated their flight behaviour in response to wind and changes in body mass. All three species reached higher flight speeds under stronger tailwinds, especially on return legs from foraging, when wing loading was increased since birds carried food for their chicks. Flight speeds decreased under stronger headwinds. Antarctic petrels (Thalassoica antarctica; intermediate body mass, highest wind loading and aspect ratio) responded stronger to changes in wind speed and direction than cape petrels (Daption capense; lowest body mass, wing loading and aspect ratio) or southern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialoides; highest body mass, intermediate wing loading and aspect ratio). Birds did not adjust their flight direction in relation to wind direction nor maximum distance to nest when they encountered strong headwinds on their outbound commutes. However, birds appeared to adjust the timing of commutes to those hours of the day when headwinds were weakest and they were more likely to encounter favourable tail- and crosswinds. Despite these adaptations to the predictable diurnal wind conditions, birds frequently encountered unfavourably strong headwinds, possibly as a result of weather systems disrupting the katabatics coupled with the need to feed. How the predicted decrease in Antarctic near-coastal wind speeds over the remainder of the century will affect flight costs and breeding success which ultimately drives population trajectories remains to be seen.

Seed dispersal by ants is one of the important means of migration for adherent plants. Although many myrmecochorous plants have seed with elaiosome which is nutritional reward for ants, some seeds without elaiosomes are also dispersed by ant species. We tested seed dispersal by ants using the achlorophyllous and myco-heterotrophic herbaceous plant Monotropastrum humile, whose seeds do not have elaiosome, and require a fungal host for germination and ultimately survival. We performed a bioassay using seeds of M. humile and the ant, Nylanderia flavipes, to demonstrate ant-mediated seed dispersal. We also analyzed the volatile odors emitted from M. humile seeds, and conducted bioassays using dummy seeds coated with seed volatiles. Although elaiosomes were absent from the M. humile seeds, the ants carried them to their nest. They also carried the dummy seeds coated with the seed volatile mixture to the nest, and left some dummy seeds inside the nest and discarded the rest of the dummy seeds outside the nest with a bias towards locations with moisture conditions conducive to germination. We concluded that seeds of the myco-heterotrophic, herbaceous species were dispersed by the ants, and that seed odors were sufficient to induce directed dispersal even without elaiosomes. The flesh-fruit producing genus Monotropastrum have probably evolved from the related anemochorous genus Monotropa, which produces capsule fruit. This transformation from anemochory to myrmecochory, presents a novel evolutionary pathway towards ant-mediated seed dispersal in an achlorophyllous plant.

1. The Tea Bag Index (Keuskamp et al. 2013) has been developed to allow worldwide comparable data on litter decomposition and has become an important part of several citizen science projects. This commentary shows that it is unsuitable for assessing total decomposition in most environments as it does not account for the role of macrofauna in the decomposition process. 2. Tea bags were placed following the standardised protocol in old growth forest in Borneo (Sabah, East Malaysia). 3. The results shows that more than half of the bags were attacked by termites and they tended to remove the majority of the tea, rendering the Tea Bag Index incalculable. 4. The Tea Bag Index can measure the microbial component of decay, but will significantly underestimate total decay rates in most environments. This method will not give an accurate estimate of decomposition in most biomes.

Tree functional traits together with processes such as forest regeneration, growth, and mortality affect forest and tree structure. Forest management inherently impacts these processes. Moreover, forest structure, biodiversity, resilience, and carbon uptake can be sustained and enhanced with forest management activities. To assess structural complexity of individual trees, comprehensive and quantitative measures are needed, and they are often lacking for current forest management practices. Here, we utilized 3D information from individual Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees obtained with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to first, assess effects of forest management on structural complexity of individual trees, and second, understand relationship between several tree attributes and structural complexity. We studied structural complexity of individual trees represented by a single scale independent metric called “box dimension”. This study aimed at identifying drivers affecting structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees in boreal forest conditions. The results showed that thinning increased structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees. Furthermore, we found a relationship between structural complexity and stem and crown size and shape as well as tree growth. Thus, it can be concluded that forest management affected structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees in managed boreal forests, and stem, crown, and growth attributes were identified as drivers of it.

1.Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) roots are evolutionary strategies of plants for effective nutrient uptake under varying abiotic conditions. Formation and morphological differentiations of ECM roots are important strategies in foraging environments. However, little is known on how such strategies mediate the nutrients of the below- and aboveground tissues and the balances among nutrient elements across environmental gradients. 2.We studied the function of ECM symbiosis in Abies faxoniana across its distributional range in Southwest China. The effects of differential ECM strategies, i.e. the contact exploration type, the short-distance exploration type, and the medium-distance exploration type, and root tips functional traits, etc., on root and foliar N and P and N:P ratio were examined across natural environmental gradients. 3.The ECM symbionts preferentially facilitated P uptake in A. faxoniana under both N and P limitations. The uptakes of N and P were primarily promoted by the effectiveness of ECM roots, e.g. ECM root tips per unit biomass, superficial area of ECM root tips, the ratio of living and dead root tips, but negatively related to the ECM proliferations and morphological differentiations. Generally, plant N and P nutrients were always promoted by the contact exploration type, while negatively affected by the short-distance exploration type in A. faxoniana. Root and foliar N and P nutrients were expected to be affected by the medium-distance exploration type in dynamics. Especially, root P limitation could be relieved when the frequency of medium-distance exploration type up to c.15%, whilst root N limitation was strengthen when the frequency of medium-distance exploration type over 20%. 4.We suggest that both below- and above-ground nutritional traits of host tree species could be strongly affected by ECM symbiosis in natural environments. The ECM strategies responding to environmental conditions significantly affect the plant nutrient uptakes and trade-offs. ECM soil exploration types are the great supplementary mechanisms for plant nutrient uptake.

Human activity is increasingly and persistently disturbing nature and wild animals. Affected wildlife adopts multiple strategies to deal with different human influences. To explore the effect of human activity on habitat utilization of the Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana), habitat utilization patterns of three neighboring marmot populations in habitats affected differently by human activities were recorded and compared. We found that: (1) Distance between reproductive burrows becomes shorter under the influence of human activity, and further, the more disturbance a population suffers, the more burrows were dug as temporary shelter to reduce the distance to those shelters when threatened. More burrows that are closer in the disturbed habitats improve ability to escape from threats. (2) Burrow site selection is determined by the availability of mounds in the habitat. Breeding pairs selectively build burrows on mounds to reproduce, potentially to improve surveillance and the drainage of their burrows. Human activities generally drive breeding pairs away from the road to build their reproductive burrows, likely to reduce disturbance from vehicles. However, even heavy human activity exerts no pressure on the distance of reproductive burrows from the road or the mound volume of the high disturbance population, potentially because mounds are the best burrowing site in the habitat. Marmots deal with nonlethal human disturbance by digging more burrows in the habitat to flee more effectively and building reproductive burrows on mounds to gain better vigilance and drainage efficiency.

Fauna biodiversity assessments often rely on traditional biomonitoring techniques such as camera traps, which may have biases that lead to gaps in biodiversity data. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as a new source of biodiversity data that may account for these gaps. However, eDNA biodiversity assessment remains relatively untested in terrestrial environments. We compared vertebrate detections using two independent monitoring methods: camera traps and eDNA (n = 160), across two sites in south-western Australia. We also investigated the suitability of tree hollow sediment as a source of eDNA, and the effect of other factors (visitation frequency and timing, animal size) on vertebrate species detectability. We detected 31 taxa with eDNA and 47 with camera traps of which 14 overlapped (12 mammals and 2 birds). Tree hollow sediment detected a wider range of biodiversity than did soil at the entrance of the hollow. By comparing camera trap data with eDNA sequence reads, we were able to detect animals with eDNA that had visited the area up to two months prior to sample collection, with a negative correlation between sequence read amount and days since last recorded detection via camera. “Large” animals (>3kg) detected via camera were associated with significantly higher sequence read amounts than smaller animals. Our results show the effect of substrate selection, frequency of sampling and animal size, on eDNA based surveys. If the aim is to detect broad taxon diversity eDNA based approaches need to be complemented by traditional vertebrate survey methods.

1. Bat abundance, diversity and behaviour can be monitored by capturing bats for identification and measurement in the hand, but this has several disadvantages. These include disturbance to the bats, which limits the frequency with which captures can be made at an individual capture site, and potentially alters the behaviours being studied. 2. Passive recording and automated analysis and identification of bat calls offers an alternative, non-invasive approach to monitoring bats. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of acoustic monitoring in comparison with capture-based monitoring of seasonal swarming behaviour among several species of Myotis bats in southern Britain. 3. We show that both approaches have advantages and disadvantages for different tasks, but can be viewed as complementary methods for addressing different types of research questions. 4. We applied these complementary approaches, together with observations from infra-red video monitoring, to describe seasonal, overnight and species-specific variation in swarming behaviour in a multi-species community of Myotis bats. 5. In our study of swarming behaviour, capture and examination of bats in the hand was necessary for measuring sex ratios, reproductive status, and even for confirmation of species identification for some difficult to separate taxa. Capture is also an essential aspect of tagging bats for individual identification and tracking studies. 6. Passive acoustic monitoring is a valuable non-invasive method for continuous monitoring of within-night, seasonal and between-year variation in the abundance of bat calls. These can be used as an index of variation in relative abundance within -- but not between -- bat species.

Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) have a number of ways to avoid predation, including camouflage, sharp cranial horns, flattening of the body, and the ability to squirt blood from the eyes. These characteristics and their relatively low survival rates in the wild suggests these lizards are under high predation pressure. These lizards have been declining in much of their eastern range due to increased urbanization, agriculture, and loss of prey species. However, they can be still be found in some small south Texas towns where they can reach densities that are much higher (~50 lizards/ha) than in natural areas (~4-10 lizards/ha). We hypothesized that one reason for the high densities observed in these towns may be due to reduced predation pressure. We used model Texas horned lizards to test whether predation levels were lower in two south Texas towns than on a nearby ranch. We constructed models from urethane foam, a material that is ideal for preserving marks left behind by predators. Models (n = 126) and control pieces of foam (n = 21) were left in the field for 9 days in each location in early and late summer and subsequent predation marks were categorized by predator taxa. We observed significantly more predation attempts on the models than on controls and significantly fewer attempts in town (n = 1) compared to the ranch (n = 60). On the ranch, avian predation attempts appear to be common especially when the models did not match the color of the soil. Our results suggest that human modified environments that have suitable habitat and food resources may provide a refuge for some prey species like horned lizards from predators.

Study of the carnivore guild is the key to understand quantitative relationship between members of the carnivore community. The aim of the study was to investigate diversity, abundance and population structure of the mongoose in Nech Sar National Park. Ecological data collection on mongoose species has been carried out from September 2017 to August 2018 in Nech Sar National Park (NSNP). Based on the habitat type and topography of NSNP, 10 transects, each of 4-5 km long were sampled to traverse the major habitat types in the park. Line transect distance sampling methodology was used to determine abundance and population status. DISTANCE (Version 6.0, Release 2) Software was used for density and abundance estimation of mongoose populations. The key to distance sampling analyses is to fit a detection function to the observed distances, and hence, the key functions hazard rate + hermite polynomial, unform + cosine polynomial and half normal + hermite polynomial models were chosen over the others on the basis of best fit. Three species of mongoose namely- Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon,) Slender mongoose (Herpestessanguineus) and White tailed mongoose (Ichneumiaalbicauda) were identified in the study. The overall density of mongoose in the study area was 2.3048+0.16070 individuals/km2 with population estimate of 943+85.593 individuals. Based on season and habitat type, density and abundance estimates showed variation (P<0.05). However, species composition between seasons and habitats was the same. The highest species diversity (H=1.197) was recorded in bushland habitat. The population was female-baised with 1:1.171 and 1:1.59, male to female ratio during wet and dry seasons, respectively. Adult to young (subadult and juvenile) ratio was1.05:1 and 0.94: 1 during wet and dry seasons, respectively. Further researches on other ecological parameters viz. behavior, feeding habit and activity pattern are important to acquire a complete picture about mongoose ecology in the park.

Aim: In theory, long-distance dispersal (LDD) outside a species’ range contributes to genetic divergence. However, previous studies have not discriminated this process from vicariant speciation in migratory bird species. We conducted an integrative phylogeographic approach to test the LDD hypothesis, which predicts that a Japanese migratory bird subspecies diverged from a population in the coastal region of the East China Sea (CRECS) via LDD over the East China Sea (ECS). Location: East Asia Taxon: Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) Methods: Both a haplotype network and a multi-locus gene network of its three subspecies were reconstructed to examine from which continental population the Japanese subspecies diverged. A species distribution model (SDM) for the Japanese subspecies was constructed using bioclimatic variables under the maximum entropy algorithm. It was projected to the climate of the last glacial maximum (LGM) to infer the candidate source area of colonisation. A migratory route of the Japanese subspecies, which possibly reflects a candidate past colonisation route, was tracked by light-level geolocators. Results: Molecular phylogenetic networks suggest that the Japanese subspecies diverged from a population in the CRECS. The SDM inferred that the emerged continental shelf of the ECS and the present CRECS were suitable breeding areas for the Japanese subspecies during the LGM. A major migratory route for the Japanese subspecies was inferred between the CRECS and the Japanese archipelago across the ECS. Main conclusions: Our integrative approach supported the LDD hypothesis for divergence of the Japanese subspecies of the Brown Shrike. Shrinkage and expansion of the ECS may have been responsible for successful colonisation and isolation of the new population. Vicariance was inferred for divergence of the subspecies in the northeast Asian continent from the Japanese population. Our framework provides a new phylogeographic scenario in this region, and discriminating LDD and vicariance models should improve our understanding of the phylogeographic histories of migratory species.

Grassland converted to cropland affected soil physical and chemical properties and soil microbes. However, these parameters were often studied separately and their combined responses to grassland reclaim remain unclear. To evaluate the impacts of grassland cultivation on soil microbial communities (based on phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs) and the links between soil microbes and physicochemical properties, we performed a paired field experiment following the conversion from native grasslands to 30-60 year-old cropland in the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China. The concentrations of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (STN) and the soil microbial biomass consistently decreased with grassland conversion to cropland. Grassland conversion also significantly decreased the relative abundance of bacterial and fungal PLFAs and the fungal to bacterial ratio (F:B) at 0-10cm soil layer, but those parameters remained unchanged below 10cm soil layers. Grassland conversion affected the microbial biomass mainly through soil C and N content rather than soil pH, moisture and aggregation. These findings revealed that cultivation-induced soil nutrient loss may enhance soil microbe depletion and affect microbial community assembly (shifts in fungi, AMF, Act, GP, and GN bacteria). This implies that conversion of grassland to cropland should be avoided because of the risk of degradation of soil nutrient and microbes.

Determining both individual age and population age distribution is crucial for an array of ecological studies. This is generating growing interest in molecular age markers such as telomere length. Most studies exploring the relationship between age and telomere length have been cross-sectional, but such studies face problems with large individual variation and the selective loss paradox. Thus, interest is growing rapidly for turning to longitudinal studies. In this study, the rate of telomere loss was analyzed for the extraordinarily long-lived North Island brown kiwi, Apteryx mantelli. Relative telomere length (RTL) was quantified using qPCR from blood from four separate sampling occasions across 14 years were analysed. Uniquely, the analysis of RTL was combined with high resolution analysis of genomic quality to get numerical values of DNA integrity. The analysis of RTL suggested a circa 5 % annual increase in A. mantelli telomere length. However, RTL was found to be highly correlative with DNA integrity, indicating that the perceived elongation of telomeres was a result of DNA quality differences between cohorts. Notably, the observed, positive correlation remained significant even when analyzing only samples classified as being of high DNA quality. Previous work has highlighted the potential impact of sample storage differences on RTL. However, to our knowledge, this is the first study to suggest that even small differences in DNA integrity between samples cohorts can impact the results of telomere studies. These findings are of great importance since longitudinal telomere studies of long-lived species tend to be “after the fact” utilizing already available samples for which handling and/or storage regimes might differ or be unknown. For such studies, we suggest that analysis of DNA quality with higher precision than traditional gel electrophoresis is needed to generate reliable results of telomere dynamics.

1. Patterns in, and the underlying dynamics of, species cooccurrence is of interest in many ecological applications. Unaccounted for, imperfect detection of the species can lead to misleading inferences about the nature and magnitude of any interaction. A range of different parameterisations have been published that could be used with the same fundamental modelling framework that accounts for imperfect detection, although each parameterisation has different advantages and disadvantages. 2. We propose a parameterisation based on log-linear modelling that does not require a species hierarchy to be defined (in terms of dominance), and enables a numerically robust approach for estimating covariate effects. 3. Conceptually the parameterisation is equivalent to using the presence of species in the current, or a previous, time period as predictor variables for the current occurrence of other species. This leads to natural, ’symmetric’, interpretations of parameter estimates. 4. The parameterisation can be applied to many species, in either a maximum-likelihood or Bayesian estimation framework. We illustrate the method using camera trapping data collected on three mesocarnivore species in South Texas.