Search results for "Habit"
showing 10 items of 1816 documents
The invasive Asparagopsis taxiformis hosts a low diverse and less trophic structured molluscan assemblage compared with the native Ericaria brachycar…
2021
Abstract Invasive seaweeds threaten biodiversity and socio-economics values of worldwide marine ecosystems. Understanding to what extent invasive seaweeds can modify local biodiversity is one of the main priorities in conservation ecology. We compared the molluscan assemblage of the invasive Asparagopsis taxiformis with that of the native Ericaria brachycarpa and explore if variation in the molluscan assemblage diversity was related to the substrate attributes (biomass, and thallus, canopy, and interstitial volumes) of the algae. Results showed that A. taxiformis harboured lower diversity and trophic structure of the molluscan assemblage compared to E. brachycarpa. Biomass was the variable …
Synthesis of habitat restoration impacts on young-of-the-year salmonids in boreal rivers
2019
River restoration offers the potential to enhance biological integrity, often measured as fish population changes. We used a meta-analytical approach to synthesize density responses to in-stream habitat restoration by young-of-the year (YOY) brown trout and Atlantic salmon in 28 rivers (overall 32 restoration projects) in Finland. We also examined which local and watershed-scale factors most influenced restoration success. Finally, we conducted an expert survey to obtain an independent estimate of a sufficient density enhancement for restoration to be considered successful. Despite strong context-dependency, habitat restoration had an overall positive effect on YOY salmonid density. When co…
Habitat associations drive species vulnerability to climate change in boreal forests
2016
Species climate change vulnerability, their predisposition to be adversely affected, has been assessed for a limited portion of biodiversity. Our knowledge of climate change impacts is often based only on exposure, the magnitude of climatic variation in the area occupied by the species, even if species sensitivity, the species ability to tolerate climatic variations determined by traits, plays a key role in determining vulnerability. We analyse the role of species’ habitat associations, a proxy for sensitivity, in explaining vulnerability for two poorly-known but species-rich taxa in boreal forest, saproxylic beetles and fungi, using three IPCC emissions scenarios. Towards the end of the 21…
An integrated analysis of micro- and macro-habitat features as a tool to detect weather-driven constraints: A case study with cavity nesters.
2017
The effects of climate change on animal populations may be shaped by habitat characteristics at both micro- and macro-habitat level, however, empirical studies integrating these two scales of observation are lacking. As analyses of the effects of climate change commonly rely on data from a much larger scale than the microhabitat level organisms are affected at, this mismatch risks hampering progress in developing understanding of the details of the ecological and evolutionary responses of organisms and, ultimately, effective actions to preserve their populations. Cavity nesters, often with a conservation status of concern, are an ideal model because the cavity is a microenvironment potentia…
Clutch-size variation in Western Palaearctic secondary hole-nesting passerine birds in relation to nest box design.
2014
Møller, A.P. [et al.]
Substantial decline of Northern European peatland bird populations: Consequences of drainage
2017
Northern European peatlands are important habitats for biological conservation because they support rich biodiversity and unique species compositions. However, historical management of peatland habitats has had negative consequences for biodiversity and their degradation remains a major conservation concern. Despite increasing awareness of the conservation value of peatlands, the statuses and ecological requirements of peat land species have remained largely understudied. Here, we first analysed temporal trends of Northern European peatland birds to document the status of their populations using bird data from five different countries. Second, we used Finnish monitoring data to assess habit…
Alien Plant Diversity in Mediterranean Wetlands: A Comparative Study within Valencian, Balearic and Sardinian Floras
2018
Although wetlands provide an important range of environmental, social and economic services, they are increasingly subjected to anthropogenic erturbations, amongst which invasion by alien plants is particularly alarming. This paper focuses on the alien flora of wetlands from three territories belonging to the western Mediterranean area: one continental (Valencian Community) and two insular (Balearic Islands and Sardinia), providing a complete checklist for the three territories and a general comparison. In total, 380 alien taxa from 89 families have been reported, being the Valencian Community the area richer in taxa (312), followed by the Balearic Islands (151) and Sardinia (134). The inva…
Modelling prey-predator interactions in Messina beachrock pools
2020
Abstract The Strait of Messina (Sicily, Italy) attracts the interest of marine ecologists for the presence of a large variety of habitat and mutually-interacting communities. Among them, beachrock formations, despite their wide geographic distribution, which also includes the Mediterranean area, have been poorly investigated from the biotic viewpoint. In this paper, the spatial and seasonal variability of benthic megafauna from the Messina microtidal beachrock is described. Combining in situ collected data (measurements of abiotic parameters and underwater visual census) with theoretical post-processing analyses (analysis of similarity percentages and cluster analysis), we deduced the possi…
Red Listing plants under full national responsibility: Extinction risk and threats in the vascular flora endemic to Italy
2018
Abstract Taxa endemic to a country are key elements for setting national conservation priorities and for driving conservation strategies, since their persistence is entirely dependent on national policy. We applied the IUCN Red List categories to all Italian endemic vascular plants (1340 taxa) to assess their current risk of extinction and to highlight their major threats. Our results revealed that six taxa are already extinct and that 22.4% (300 taxa) are threatened with extinction, while 18.4% (247; especially belonging to apomictic groups) have been categorized as Data Deficient. Italian endemic vascular plants are primarily threatened by natural habitat modification due to agriculture, …
Conserving plant diversity in Europe: outcomes, criticisms and perspectives of the Habitats Directive application in Italy
2016
Habitat Directive is the core strategy of nature conservation in Europe aiming at halting biodiversity loss. In this study the results of the third Italian assessment regarding the conservation status (CS) of plants listed in the Habitat Directive (Flora of community interest—FCI) was presented. Data was collected from several sources related to plant distribution, population data, habitats and pressures. Following the official European procedure, all parameters were evaluated and combined to give the CS of each taxon in each biogeographical region of presence. A comparison between the recent Italian IUCN and Reporting assessments was performed in order to evaluate the consistency between t…