0000000000132711
AUTHOR
Juli G. Pausas
New Reptile Hosts for Helminth Parasites in a Mediterranean Region
ABSTRACT Parasitic helminths are an almost universal feature of vertebrate animals, but reptiles are among the hosts with the most depauperate parasite communities. Biological traits of reptiles ar...
Coefficient shifts in geographical ecology: an empirical evaluation of spatial and non-spatial regression
12 páginas, 4 figuras, 3 tablas.
Fire and Plant Diversification in Mediterranean-Climate Regions
Despite decades of broad interest in global patterns of biodiversity, little attention has been given to understanding the remarkable levels of plant diversity present in the world’s five Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions, all of which are considered to be biodiversity hotspots. Comprising the Mediterranean Basin, California, central Chile, the Cape Region of South Africa, and southwestern Australia, these regions share the unusual climatic regime of mild wet winters and warm dry summers. Despite their small extent, covering only about 2.2% of world land area, these regions are home to approximately one-sixth of the world vascular plant flora. The onset of MTCs in the middle Miocene …
Quantitative genetic analysis of floral traits shows current limits but potential evolution in the wild
The vast variation in floral traits across angiosperms is often interpreted as the result of adaptation to pollinators. However, studies in wild populations often find no evidence of pollinator-mediated selection on flowers. Evolutionary theory predicts this could be the outcome of periods of stasis under stable conditions, followed by shorter periods of pollinator change that provide selection for innovative phenotypes. We asked if periods of stasis are caused by stabilizing selection, absence of other forms of selection or by low trait ability to respond even if selection is present. We studied a plant predominantly pollinated by one bee species across its range. We measured heritability …
Disentangling the role of heat and smoke as germination cues in Mediterranean Basin flora
9 páginas, 1 figura, 4 tablas.
Electronic supplementary materials for “A stable pollination environment limits current but not potential evolution of floral traits” by Castellanos et al. from Quantitative genetic analysis of floral traits shows current limits but potential evolution in the wild
A single document containing Supplementary methods, Tables and Figures)
Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe: A Synthesis of National Perspectives
Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by natio…
Fire benefits flower beetles in a Mediterranean ecosystem
Despite the abundance of plants that benefit from fire in Mediterranean ecosystems, little is known about the possible presence of fire-favoured insects (other than bark beetles). For two years we sampled invertebrates after two large wildfires in eastern Spain and demonstrate that two flower beetle species, Protaetia morio and P. oblonga (Cetoniidae), show a pyrophilous behaviour. These beetles were much more numerous after the fires than in unburnt plots around the fire perimeter; in addition, these species tended to increase in number with the distance from the fire perimeter and with fire recurrence, especially P. morio. These results were maintained for the two postfire years sampled. …