Examination of the 'founder effect' in biodiversity research: patterns and imbalances in the published literature

We reviewed 2524 articles published from 1987 to 1995 in five international journals, Conservation Biology , Biological Conservation , Biodiversity and Conservation , Ecological Applications , and the Journal of Applied Ecology , to assess patterns and imbalances in biodiversity research in the following subject areas: locations where research was conducted, types of organisms studied, types of ecosystems studied, types of methodologies used, and types of stresses investigated. Biodiversity research was found to be narrowly focused with little deviation from its initial course set of being a discipline concerned largely with the implications of forest habitat loss on charismatic terrestrial megafauna; i.e. the 'founder effect' is very much in evidence. The 'sleeping dragon' of ignored marine biodiversity is really symptomatic of a wider problem, and can perhaps be referred to as a 'hibernating hydra' of many imbalances due to, for example, under-representations of research from developing nations, or on amphibians and invertebrates, alpine and arctic systems, sociological components and chemical stresses etc. It is time to take steps to actively awaken the creature so that conservation biology/applied ecology can become more pluralistic in scope.     

Process of biodiversity research of Karst areas in China

Because the Karst environment is very sensitive to disturbance, once a strong disturbance occurs in a Karst ecosystem it will undergo reverse succession, and both its recovery and restoration might be difficult. So, biodiversity is an important factor in maintaining existing Karst landscapes and also provides the basis for recovery of degraded Karst ecosystems. Karst restoration has become the core issue in research related to environmental changes in Karst areas. With the implementation of the World Heritage List and Rocky Desertification Project in recent years, the number of related research papers has shown rapid growth and Karst has become one of the important topics of new research. This paper uses the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and Springer databases as well as the Taylor & Francis UK database as data sources; the result shows: (1) the quantity of Karst related journal articles is on the rise, exceeding 20 articles per year since 2008; (2) Karst related journal articles focus on two major categories, ecology (51) and environmental engineering (41); (3) the literature mainly comprises jointly produced documents, and most are from the core research team of Wang Kelin, Su Weici, Xiong Kangning. Based on statistical results, we comprehensively review two theses and 89 academic papers and use combined data from the internet and correlation analysis to give a scientific overview of recent literature. The result can be seen in three ways. First, 39 papers have been published on mechanisms that maintain biodiversity > 20 papers on the characteristics of diversity > 20 papers on monitoring and evaluation of diversity > 13 papers on Karst restoration and reconstruction of diversity. Second, the research concentrated on three aspects, namely, 16 papers on the characteristics of native biodiversity, 17 on biological mechanisms that maintain biodiversity, and 15 on non-biological mechanisms for maintaining biodiversity. Third, for comparing natural Karst habitats with degraded habitat in two contrasting ecological landscapes, the paper elaborates on dynamic biodiversity research in Karst areas from different perspectives and different fields and scientifically analyses the correlations of literature from these different perspectives. This paper is based on a brief summary of research related to biodiversity in Karst regions, as well as research related to the perspectives of specific geological and geomorphological conditions of Karst regions and clarifies the basic condition of biological diversity in Karst areas. Four problem areas are identified that need to be the subject of future studies. First, research related to genetics, species and ecosystem research needs to be integrated and strengthened and further study of mechanisms related to genetic variation, species in Karst area flora and changes within Karst ecosystems is needed. Second, research on the mechanisms involved in habitat maintenance serves as the basis of the establishment of regional diversity surveys. On this basis, research related to maintaining diversity in light of economic development should be added with discussions on issues such as population variation and the ability of populations to evolve as well as changes in regional biodiversity on both the macro and microlevels. Third, species selection during habitat reconstruction is very subjective. If we want to balance economic development with ecological benefits, we need to study how we can coordinate the relationships among species in the reconstruction area, and maintain stable regional biodiversity. Last, designing a monitoring system is an important basis for status surveys and prediction of future conditions. Monitoring might provide scientific data to help maintain biological diversity in Karst areas.     

Role of DNA barcoding in marine biodiversity assessment and conservation: An update

More than two third area of our planet is covered by oceans and assessment of marine biodiversity is a challenging task. With the increasing global population, there is a tendency to exploit marine resources for food, energy and other requirements. This puts pressure on the fragile marine environment and necessitates sustainable conservation efforts. Marine species identification using traditional taxonomical methods is often burdened with taxonomic controversies. Here we discuss the comparatively new concept of DNA barcoding and its significance in marine perspective. This molecular technique can be useful in the assessment of cryptic species which is widespread in marine environment and linking the different life cycle stages to the adult which is difficult to accomplish in the marine ecosystem. Other advantages of DNA barcoding include authentication and safety assessment of seafood, wildlife forensics, conservation genetics and detection of invasive alien species (IAS). Global DNA barcoding efforts in the marine habitat include MarBOL, CeDAMar, CMarZ, SHARK-BOL, etc. An overview on DNA barcoding of different marine groups ranging from the microbes to mammals is revealed. In conjugation with newer and faster techniques like high-throughput sequencing, DNA barcoding can serve as an effective modern tool in marine biodiversity assessment and conservation.     

Insular bats and research effort: a review of global patterns and priorities

相似文献   

Elemental signatures of human diets from the Georgia Bight

Multielement analysis was performed on bone samples extracted from the femora of 39 adults from three mortuary sites (Johns Mound, Santa Catalina de Guale, and Santa Catalina de Guale de Santa Meria) and time periods (late preagricultural, early contact, and late contact) in the Georgia Bight. This study was used to investigate whether elemental analysis would support or contradict other lines of data regarding diets and dietary change previously generated for the region. The data are in agreement with an earlier interpretation, based on stable isotopes, that dietary maize increases through time but fails to support the idea that marine resources decreased in importance. Rather, it appears that the wild plant food component of the diets decreases as maize increases in importance; throughout the sequence, marine resources comprise a significant portion of the diets. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

A review and a framework for the integration of biodiversity monitoring at the habitat level

The monitoring of biodiversity at the level of habitats is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish national habitat monitoring systems and various organisations initiate regional and local schemes. Parallel to this growth, it is increasingly important to address biodiversity changes on large spatial (e.g. continental) and temporal (e.g. decade-long) scales, which requires the integration of currently ongoing monitoring efforts. Here we review habitat monitoring and develop a framework for integrating data or activities across habitat monitoring schemes. We first identify three basic properties of monitoring activities: spatial aspect (explicitly spatial vs. non-spatial), documentation of spatial variation (field mapping vs. remote sensing) and coverage of habitats (all habitats or specific habitats in an area), and six classes of monitoring schemes based on these properties. Then we explore tasks essential for integrating schemes both within and across the major classes. Finally, we evaluate the need and potential for integration of currently existing schemes by drawing on data collected on European habitat monitoring in the EuMon project. Our results suggest a dire need for integration if we are to measure biodiversity changes across large spatial and temporal scales regarding the 2010 target and beyond. We also make recommendations for an integrated pan-European habitat monitoring scheme. Such a scheme should be based on remote sensing to record changes in land cover and habitat types over large scales, with complementary field mapping using unified methodology to provide ground truthing and to monitor small-scale changes, at least in habitat types of conservation importance.     

Scratchpads 2.0: a Virtual Research Environment supporting scholarly collaboration, communication and data publication in biodiversity science

The Scratchpad Virtual Research Environment (http://scratchpads.eu/) is a flexible system for people to create their own research networks supporting natural history science. Here we describe Version 2 of the system characterised by the move to Drupal 7 as the Scratchpad core development framework and timed to coincide with the fifth year of the project's operation in late January 2012. The development of Scratchpad 2 reflects a combination of technical enhancements that make the project more sustainable, combined with new features intended to make the system more functional and easier to use. A roadmap outlining strategic plans for development of the Scratchpad project over the next two years concludes this article.     

The loss of biodiversity conservation in EU research programmes: Thematic shifts in biodiversity wording in the environment themes of EU research programmes FP7 and Horizon 2020

Society has been seeking ways to express biodiversity's value to stimulate its protection. Economic valuation of ecosystem services has had limited success to motivate biodiversity protection and reaching the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy targets is in danger of failure. The expression of biodiversity's value in policy documents thus becomes a topic of discussion, because it greatly influences the ways policy makers think about environmental problems. We present an analysis of the word use related to biodiversity conservation versus ecosystem services in the environment themes of the FP7 and Horizon 2020 research work programs of the European Commission in the period of 2007–2014, and the projects accepted under these themes. We conclude first that biodiversity was lost as a topic in the transition from FP7 to Horizon 2020, accompanied by a three-quarters loss of biodiversity topics in the projects accepted under these research work programs. Moreover, the use of ‘ecosystem services’ was 1.5 times higher at the end of that period compared to the beginning in the research work programs, to the detriment of the use of ‘sustainability’ and ‘conservation’ which halved during that same period. In the light of international commitments to biodiversity conservation, the focus toward ecosystem services and away from conservation is of great concern.     

Effects of budget constraints on conservation network design for biodiversity and ecosystem services

Limited budgets and budget cuts hamper the development of effective biodiversity conservation networks. Optimizing the spatial configuration of conservation networks given such budget constraints remains challenging. Systematic conservation planning addresses this challenge. Systematic conservation planning can integrate both biodiversity and ecosystem services as conservation targets, and hence address the challenge to operationalize ecosystem services as an anthropocentric argument for conservation. We create two conservation scenarios to expand the current conservation network in the Dutch province of Limburg. One scenario focuses on biodiversity only and the other integrates biodiversity and ecosystem services. We varied conservation budgets in these scenarios and used the software Marxan to assess differences in the resulting network configurations. In addition, we tested the network’s cost-effectiveness by allocating a conservation budget either in one or in multiple steps. We included twenty-nine biodiversity surrogates and five ecosystem services. The inclusion of ecosystem services to expand Limburg’s conservation network only moderately changed prioritized areas, compared to only conserving biodiversity. Network expansion in a single time-step is more efficient in terms of compactness and cost-effectiveness than implementing it in multiple time-steps. Therefore, to cost-effectively plan conservation networks, the full budget should ideally be available before the plans are implemented. We show that including ecosystem services to cost-effectively expand conservation networks can simultaneously encourage biodiversity conservation and stimulate the protection of conservation-compatible ecosystem services.     

Nitrogen deposition and reduction of terrestrial biodiversity:Evidence from temperate grasslands

Biodiversity is thought to be essential for ecosystem stability, function and long-term sustainability. Since nitrogen is the limiting nutrient for plant growth in many terrestrial ecosystems, reactive nitrogen has the potential to reduce the diversity of terrestrial vegetation and associated biota through favouring species adapted to quickly exploiting available nutrients. Although the potential has long been recognised, only recently has enough evidence come together to show beyond reasonable doubt that these changes are already occurring. Linked together, experimental, regional/empirical, and time-series research provide a powerful argument that enhanced deposition of reactive nitrogen across Great Britain, and potentially the rest of Europe, has resulted in a significant and ongoing decline in grassland species richness and diversity.     

Ecological indicators to capture the effects of fishing on biodiversity and conservation status of marine ecosystems

IndiSeas (“Indicators for the Seas”) is a collaborative international working group that was established in 2005 to evaluate the status of exploited marine ecosystems using a suite of indicators in a comparative framework. An initial shortlist of seven ecological indicators was selected to quantify the effects of fishing on the broader ecosystem using several criteria (i.e., ecological meaning, sensitivity to fishing, data availability, management objectives and public awareness). The suite comprised: (i) the inverse coefficient of variation of total biomass of surveyed species, (ii) mean fish length in the surveyed community, (iii) mean maximum life span of surveyed fish species, (iv) proportion of predatory fish in the surveyed community, (v) proportion of under and moderately exploited stocks, (vi) total biomass of surveyed species, and (vii) mean trophic level of the landed catch. In line with the Nagoya Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2011–2020), we extended this suite to emphasize the broader biodiversity and conservation risks in exploited marine ecosystems. We selected a subset of indicators from a list of empirically based candidate biodiversity indicators initially established based on ecological significance to complement the original IndiSeas indicators. The additional selected indicators were: (viii) mean intrinsic vulnerability index of the fish landed catch, (ix) proportion of non-declining exploited species in the surveyed community, (x) catch-based marine trophic index, and (xi) mean trophic level of the surveyed community. Despite the lack of data in some ecosystems, we also selected (xii) mean trophic level of the modelled community, and (xiii) proportion of discards in the fishery as extra indicators. These additional indicators were examined, along with the initial set of IndiSeas ecological indicators, to evaluate whether adding new biodiversity indicators provided useful additional information to refine our understanding of the status evaluation of 29 exploited marine ecosystems. We used state and trend analyses, and we performed correlation, redundancy and multivariate tests. Existing developments in ecosystem-based fisheries management have largely focused on exploited species. Our study, using mostly fisheries independent survey-based indicators, highlights that biodiversity and conservation-based indicators are complementary to ecological indicators of fishing pressure. Thus, they should be used to provide additional information to evaluate the overall impact of fishing on exploited marine ecosystems.     

中国生物多样性研究文献计量分析

生物多样性是人类赖以生存的重要物质基础,中国在生物多样性研究领域做了大量的工作,发表了众多有价值的学术论文。通过文献计量方法,对2009-2018年中国生物多样性研究领域WOS（Web of Science）和CNKI（中国知网）数据库收录论文的数量及被引情况、载文期刊分布等进行统计;并借助CiteSpace文献可视化软件,分析论文的作者合作、合作机构、国家（地区）合作和研究热点等。结果表明：2009-2018年间,中国生物多样性研究领域共发表论文17035篇,其中CNKI收录文献13365篇,WOS收录文献3670篇;年度发文总量以及WOS年度发文量总体呈上升趋势;CNKI文献被引频次最高的论文是于2009年发表在《生物多样性》上的"植物群落清查的主要内容、方法和技术规范",WOS文献被引频次最高的论文是于2011年发表在Global Change Biology上的"TRY-a global database of plant traits";朴世龙教授、骆亦其教授和唐志尧教授等是基于WOS文献的生物多样性研究领域核心作者,王得祥教授、马克平研究员和张文辉教授等基于CNKI文献的生物多样性研究领域主要作者;WOS文献与CNKI文献发文量最多的机构均为中国科学院所属相关科研院所;与中国合作的国家或地区共有106个,包括美国、英国、澳大利亚等;《生态学报》和Global Change Biology分别是该领域中文和外文文献的重要期刊载体;基于WOS文献的研究热点为气候、土壤等环境因子变化对物种多样性的影响研究以及基于微卫星分子标记技术的物种遗传多样性研究,基于CNKI文献的研究热点为环境因子与群落结构的关系研究。上述研究结果从收录论文的角度,定量、客观、科学地描述了2009-2018年中国生物多样性研究状况及研究热点,以期促进中国生物多样性的深入研究,并为相关领域学者凝练研究动向和科学问题等提供参考信息。     

Habitat fragmentation and biodiversity: testing for the evolutionary effects of refugia

Concordant areas of endemism among taxa have important implications both for understanding mechanisms of speciation and for framing conservation priorities. Here we discuss the need for careful testing of phylogeographic data for evidence of such concordance, with particular reference to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This is because there are good reasons to question whether concordance between taxa is likely to be a common pattern, and because of the serious implications of incorrectly concluding that the biodiversity of a given area can be partitioned in this way.     

Diversity biases in terrestrial mammalian assemblages and quantifying the differences between museum collections and published accounts: A case study from the Miocene of Nevada

Understanding diversity through time in the fossil record has primarily relied on the raw count of species within a given time interval, or species richness. These estimates are often derived from published fossil data, and standardized for sample size or geographic area. However, most methods that standardize richness by sample size are sensitive to changes in evenness, which introduces a potential problem with relying on published records: published accounts could be more even than the museum collections from which they are drawn. We address this bias in the context of mammalian paleodiversity, comparing published and museum collections of the Hemphillian Thousand Creek fauna to those of the Barstovian Virgin Valley fauna. We rarified specimen data, both number of identified specimens (NISP) and minimum number of individuals (MNI), and presence/absence data to compare published and museum data within and between faunas. Within faunas, published numbers of specimens are more even than museum samples, but the difference for localities in Virgin Valley is not significant. Neither published nor museum numbers of specimens indicate a significant difference between faunas, but the diversity pattern is reversed between the two data sets. Presence/absence rarefactions show no differences between sources; here, published data adequately sample the underlying museum records. Specimen-based evenness is not accurate in the published sample, and therefore we suggest that future studies of diversity in terrestrial mammalian assemblages must assess unpublished collections. Additionally, NISP data for Thousand Creek are more even than MNI data, suggesting that relying solely on NISP for assessing species diversity can also be misleading. Because publication bias alters richness and evenness, diversity estimates using published data must be circumspect about data sources.     

Comparison of baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) and prawn (shrimp) trawls for assessments of fish biodiversity in inter-reefal areas of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

A field comparison of baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) and prawn (shrimp) trawls was made to assess the sampling options for describing patterns of fish biodiversity in the lagoonal waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Replicated comparisons were made during the day and night on trawl grounds with different biophysical characteristics. Each trawl was made close and parallel to a long-shore set of five BRUVS set at regular intervals along one nautical mile. For each species, the sum of the maximum number of fish sighted on BRUVS at any one time (∑MaxN_{1, …, 5}) was compared with the number of fish caught in trawls (N).The two techniques recorded significantly different components of the fish fauna on the trawl grounds. Trawls caught mainly small (≤300 mm), sedentary or cryptic, demersal species—such as flatfishes, apogonids, synodontids, triglids and callionymids. The BRUVS recorded more larger, mobile species from a much wider size range of families, including large elasmobranchs, more fusiform pelagic species (such as carangids and scombrids), and numerous eels. Species accumulation curves were parallel and very similar in shape for both techniques, but were separated by about 11 extra species in trawls. Fifty-two species in 17 families were caught only in trawls and 38 species in 15 families were recorded only by BRUVS. The occurrence of 38 small mobile species in 21 families was common to both techniques, but most of these showed marked differences in relative abundance. Trawls recorded higher species richness at all sites, and at night, but the average number of species and individuals recorded per transect were only about 26% and 19% lower for the BRUVS. The BRUVS consistently recorded more species during the day than trawls, and are limited most by water clarity. Multivariate analyses showed that both techniques indicated the presence of six fish assemblages based on day and night in three locations, despite sampling quite different components of the fauna. The six assemblages accounted for 78.9% of the variation in the BRUVS data compared to 68.9% of the variation in the trawl data, and there was a lower error rate in discriminating the six assemblages in the BRUVS data.BRUVS are non-extractive and can be used on complex topographies and in sensitive habitats in most or all zones of the Marine Park, but models of bait plumes are needed to convert fish sightings to density estimates. They may have a particular role in studies of larger, rarer elasmobranchs and teleosts of special conservation interest. Trawls can be used in any level of water clarity and provide direct estimates of fish density, particularly those smaller teleosts most vulnerable to the effects of trawling. The complementary use of prawn trawls and BRUVS would enable a more comprehensive assessment of teleost and elasmobranch diversity in the variety of inter-reef seabed topographies and management zones comprising the Marine Park.     

Horizontal dynamics of zooplankton in subtropical Lake Blanca (Uruguay) hosting multiple zooplankton predators and aquatic plant refuges

The Gulf of California, Mexico, consists of unique environmental conditions resulting in a rich array of biological diversity. Nematodes are present in most marine sediments and are probably the most abundant metazoans. This research analyses and compares nematode biodiversity in two shallow, littoral locations of the Gulf and compares the results with other Pacific and Atlantic faunae. Samples collected in Punta Estrella and Santa Clara were processed for nematode extraction by standard methods. A total of eighty genera were identified, sixty-seven occurring in coarser sediments at Punta Estrella and fifty-five in more silty sediments at Santa Clara. Nematode abundance was higher at the latter location, on average. The region was not especially high or low in diversity compared to other littoral sites, and was most similar to locations in Europe with a corresponding ecology but at temperate latitudes. Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Handling editor: K. Martens     

Recent advances and synthesis in biodiversity and biogeography of arenicolous Collembola

Synthesis and new data on interstitial Collembola-fauna in littoral and continental sand sediments. Collembola biodiversity in supralitoral and inland sands can not be compared to the biodiversity developed in mineral soils or leaf litter, and Collembola biodiversity in intertidal sands is lower. The problem of the dispersial of these littoral sand Collembola is considered. A number of species appear have a trans-oceanic dispersal on considerable distances on or in sea water.     

云南番木瓜环斑病毒的发生及遗传多样性

【目的】明确云南省番木瓜环斑病毒(Papaya ringspot virus,PRSV)发生情况,并对其进行遗传多样性分析。【方法】利用RT-PCR技术,于2011-2012年对采自云南省昆明市、楚雄州、保山市、德宏州、西双版纳州、临沧市、玉溪市、红河州、文山州等地的24个番木瓜、南瓜和罗汉果疑似病样进行扩增、测序,对样品中获得的940 bp PRSV部分cp基因及3′端非编码区的序列应用分子生物学软件MEGA 5进行系统发育分析。【结果】从17个样品中检测到了PRSV,检出率为70.8%,表明该病毒在云南的发生较为普遍。云南PRSV不同分离物间的核苷酸序列变异较大,与其他已报道的PRSV分离物之间的基因组3′端核苷酸序列一致性为81.7%-100%。基于PRSV的CP部分氨基酸序列及基因组3′端核苷酸的系统进化分析结果表明,来自亚洲、北美洲、南美洲和大洋洲的PRSV分离物可以分为2个组,其中第Ⅰ组均为来自中国的分离物,包括了大部分的PRSV云南分离物,第Ⅰ组内分离物间的差异较第Ⅱ组大;第Ⅱ组的分离物来源较为复杂,亚洲、北美洲、南美洲和大洋洲均有分布。基于PRSV CP部分氨基酸序列构建的系统进化树中,各分离物之间没有明显的地理和寄主相关性,而基于PRSV基因组3′端核苷酸序列构建的系统进化树中,除中国大陆分离物和印度分离物外,其他地区的PRSV在进化上与其地理来源有明显的相关性。【结论】PRSV在云南的昆明市、楚雄州、保山市、德宏州、西双版纳州、临沧市、玉溪市、红河州和文山州等地都有不同程度发生,且为害寄主植物涉及番木瓜、南瓜及罗汉果,PRSV侵染罗汉果为云南首次发现。云南PRSV分离物的分子变异很大,但是关于PRSV的分子变异是否与其地理分布及症状表现有关,以及P型和W型的分子区分特征还有待进一步研究。     

上海大莲湖鱼类群落组成及生物多样性

于2009年4月11—19日、4月27—5月8日和5月20—29日3个时间段对大莲湖的鱼类群落特征及其多样性组成进行了调查,共收集鱼类样本24061尾,隶属11科17属22种。群落优势种为鲫(Carassius auratus),占样本个体总数的76.38%;Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(H′)为1.0027,Simpson优势度指数(λ)为0.5959,Pielous均匀度指数(J′)为0.3244,Margalef种类丰富度指标(D)为2.0816,相对稀有种数(R)为90.91%;鱼类群落可分为3个生态类型:江海洄游性鱼类有3种、河湖洄游性鱼类1种和定居性鱼类18种。鱼类食性可分为5种类型:食鱼性鱼类9种、食无脊椎动物性鱼类2种、杂食性鱼类7种、食浮游生物性鱼类有3种和草食性鱼类1种。研究结果表明:大莲湖鱼类群落的多样性指标处于较低水平,稳定性较低;相对于黄埔江下游地区,大莲湖的食鱼性鱼类比例较高,说明位于黄浦江上游的大莲湖之水质好于下游流域。为保护和持续利用大莲湖鱼类资源,应加强监管和对生态环境的保护。