Taxonomic review of the lace bug genus Omoplax (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae) endemic to “Oriental Galapagos” (the Ogasawara Islands,Japan) with the description of its new allied genus and species

In this study, we revise the lace bugs (family Tingidae) from the Ogasawara Islands, Japan (also known as the “Oriental Galapagos”). Three species belonging to two endemic genera are recognized: Acanthomoplax tomokunii gen. et sp. nov. , Omoplax desecta (Horváth, 1912), and O. majorcarinae Guilbert, 2001. A key to species is provided to facilitate the identification of Ogasawaran lace bugs.     

Alarming evidence of widespread mite extinctions in the shadows of plant,insect and vertebrate extinctions

This paper, which addresses the issue of the extinction of mite species at the global scale for the first time, highlights mite diversity, assesses the evidence for an extinction process, discusses contributing factors and estimates losses. The ~1 250 000 mite species occupy an enormous variety of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems from the equator to the polar regions and to high altitudes. Some groups provide essential ecosystem services, including the incorporation of organic matter into the soil. The maintenance of mite diversity is inextricably linked to the continuance of floristic diversity, habitat complexity and insect diversity. The majority of mite species are assumed to be in the tropical rainforests, of which >50% has been destroyed or severely degraded. Most biodiversity hotspots are in tropical forests; endemic phytoseiid mite species are at least 17 times more concentrated in the hotspots than outside. Habitat destruction and degradation continue on an enormous scale, with increasing human population growth and resource consumption the overarching drivers of extinction. Moreover, climate change is likely to be worsening the effects of the other drivers at an increasing rate. The small body of direct evidence and a considerable body of indirect evidence strongly suggest the continuing, widespread extinction of mite species. Based on estimates of overall biodiversity loss, ~15% of mite species were likely to have become extinct by 2000, with losses currently expected to increase by between 0.6% and 6.0% by 2060. More detailed information on both spatial differences in mite assemblages and anthropogenic threats worldwide is crucial because they underpin the total number of species and their vulnerability to extinction, respectively. The rapid expansion of the protected area estate to capture the maximum possible area of ecosystem heterogeneity, especially in the biodiversity hotspots, is essential, as is best practice management of these areas.     

Spatiotemporal patterns of taxonomic and functional β-diversity of dung beetles in native and introduced pastures in the Brazilian Pantanal

Anthropogenic activity, such as conversion and degradation of habitats, is causing global biodiversity declines. However, our understanding of how local ecological communities are responding to these changes taxonomically and functionally is still limited. The effects of the replacement of native by introduced pastures on biodiversity are some of those examples with limited understanding. Here, we sampled dung beetles in native and introduced pastures using standardised sampling protocols during the dry and rainy seasons in the Brazilian Pantanal. We used multifaceted β-diversity partitioning of taxonomy-, abundance- and trait-based approaches to evaluate spatial (i.e. between pasture types) and temporal (i.e. between seasons) patterns of dung beetle changes in composition, abundance and species traits. Spatially, we found no effects of pasture type, season and their interaction on taxonomy-based β-diversity and its components. For abundance-based β-diversity and its components, pasture type had effects on both Bray-Curtis dissimilarity and balanced variation in abundance. Higher values of both metrics were found in native pastures. For functional-based β-diversity, Sorensen dissimilarity with higher values in the dry season, while pasture type also had an effect on functional nestedness, where higher values of functional nestedness were found in introduced pastures. Seasonally, we also found no effects of pasture type, season and their interaction on taxonomy-based β-diversity and its components. However, pasture type had effects on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, with higher values found in introduced pastures. No effects on balanced variation in abundance and abundance gradients were found. Pasture type influenced the functional turnover, but not functional dissimilarity or nestedness. Higher values of functional turnover were found in native pastures. In summary, we demonstrate that the type of pastures and climatic seasonality have effects on abundance- and functional- but not on taxonomy-based β-diversity patterns of dung beetles in the Brazilian Pantanal.     

Phenological and elevational shifts of plants,animals and fungi under climate change in the European Alps

Mountain areas are biodiversity hotspots and provide a multitude of ecosystem services of irreplaceable socio-economic value. In the European Alps, air temperature has increased at a rate of about 0.36°C decade⁻¹ since 1970, leading to glacier retreat and significant snowpack reduction. Due to these rapid environmental changes, this mountainous region is undergoing marked changes in spring phenology and elevational distribution of animals, plants and fungi. Long-term monitoring in the European Alps offers an excellent natural laboratory to synthetize climate-related changes in spring phenology and elevational distribution for a large array of taxonomic groups. This review assesses the climatic changes that have occurred across the European Alps during recent decades, spring phenological changes and upslope shifts of plants, animals and fungi from evidence in published papers and previously unpublished data. Our review provides evidence that spring phenology has been shifting earlier during the past four decades and distribution ranges show an upwards trend for most of the taxonomic groups for which there are sufficient data. The first observed activity of reptiles and terrestrial insects (e.g. butterflies) in spring has shifted significantly earlier, at an average rate of −5.7 and −6.0 days decade⁻¹, respectively. By contrast, the first observed spring activity of semi-aquatic insects (e.g. dragonflies and damselflies) and amphibians, as well as the singing activity or laying dates of resident birds, show smaller non-significant trends ranging from −1.0 to +1.3 days decade⁻¹. Leaf-out and flowering of woody and herbaceous plants showed intermediate trends with mean values of −2.4 and −2.8 days decade⁻¹, respectively. Regarding species distribution, plants, animals and fungi (N = 2133 species) shifted the elevation of maximum abundance (optimum elevation) upslope at a similar pace (on average between +18 and +25 m decade⁻¹) but with substantial differences among taxa. For example, the optimum elevation shifted upward by +36.2 m decade⁻¹ for terrestrial insects and +32.7 m decade⁻¹ for woody plants, whereas it was estimated to range between −1.0 and +11 m decade⁻¹ for semi-aquatic insects, ferns, birds and wood-decaying fungi. The upper range limit (leading edge) of most species also shifted upslope with a rate clearly higher for animals (from +47 to +91 m decade⁻¹) than for plants (from +17 to +40 m decade⁻¹), except for semi-aquatic insects (−4.7 m decade⁻¹). Although regional land-use changes could partly explain some trends, the consistent upward shift found in almost all taxa all over the Alps is likely reflecting the strong warming and the receding of snow cover that has taken place across the European Alps over recent decades. However, with the possible exception of terrestrial insects, the upward shift of organisms seems currently too slow to track the pace of isotherm shifts induced by climate warming, estimated at about +62 to +71 m decade⁻¹ since 1970. In the light of these results, species interactions are likely to change over multiple trophic levels through phenological and spatial mismatches. This nascent research field deserves greater attention to allow us to anticipate structural and functional changes better at the ecosystem level.     

Fast Bayesian inference for large occupancy datasets

In recent years, the study of species' occurrence has benefited from the increased availability of large-scale citizen-science data. While abundance data from standardized monitoring schemes are biased toward well-studied taxa and locations, opportunistic data are available for many taxonomic groups, from a large number of locations and across long timescales. Hence, these data provide opportunities to measure species' changes in occurrence, particularly through the use of occupancy models, which account for imperfect detection. These opportunistic datasets can be substantially large, numbering hundreds of thousands of sites, and hence present a challenge from a computational perspective, especially within a Bayesian framework. In this paper, we develop a unifying framework for Bayesian inference in occupancy models that account for both spatial and temporal autocorrelation. We make use of the Pólya-Gamma scheme, which allows for fast inference, and incorporate spatio-temporal random effects using Gaussian processes (GPs), for which we consider two efficient approximations: subset of regressors and nearest neighbor GPs. We apply our model to data on two UK butterfly species, one common and widespread and one rare, using records from the Butterflies for the New Millennium database, producing occupancy indices spanning 45 years. Our framework can be applied to a wide range of taxa, providing measures of variation in species' occurrence, which are used to assess biodiversity change.