509 documents found, page 1 of 51

Desvendar a complexidade das florestas: como o LiDAR e os drones estão a transf...

As florestas estão entre os ecossistemas mais complexos e vitais da Terra. Ao manter a biodiversidade, as florestas asseguram a resiliência e a estabilidade dos ecossistemas, oferecendo serviços essenciais. Desempenham também um papel fundamental na regulação do clima global através do seu papel no ciclo do carbono.

The drivers of plant turnover change across spatial scales in the Azores

Beta diversity patterns are essential for understanding how biological communities are structured. Geographical and environmental factors, as well as species dispersal ability, are important drivers of beta diversity, but their relative importance may vary across spatial scales. In this study, we evaluate whether beta diversity changes across geographical scales and analyse how different drivers affect turnover...

The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equit...

A genomic database of all Earth’s eukaryotic species could contribute to many scientific discoveries; however, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. In 2018, scientists across the world united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), aiming to produce a database of high-quality reference genomes containing all ~1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species. As the European node of the ...

How Habitat Simplification Shapes the Morphological Characteristics of Ant Asse...

Human-driven changes in land cover and use can significantly impact species ants community structures, often leading to a decline in taxonomic diversity or species homogenization. Ant morphology, used as a proxy for ecological function, offers a valuable framework for understanding the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on ant diversity. This study explored the morphological diversity of ant assemblages in a...

Perspectives and pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through prote...

Subterranean ecosystems (comprising terrestrial, semi-aquatic, and aquatic components) are increasingly threatened by human activities; however, the current network of surface-protected areas is inadequate to safeguard subterranean biodiversity. Establishing protected areas for subterranean ecosystems is challenging. First, there are technical obstacles in mapping three-dimensional ecosystems with uncertain bou...

Monitoring arthropods under the scope of LIFE-SNAILS project: I - Santa Maria I...

Background The database we introduce is a pivotal component of the LIFE SNAILS project (Support and Naturalisation in Areas of Importance for Land Snails). This initiative is dedicated to safeguarding three endangered species of terrestrial molluscs, specifically, two snails (Oxychilus agostinhoi Martins 1981 and Leptaxis minor Backhuys, 1975) and a semi-slug (Plutonia angulosa (Morelet, 1860)), all of which ar...

A fauna de artrópodes das florestas nativas dos Açores: 1. Terra-Brava (Terceir...

Iniciamos neste volume do Pingo de Lava de 2024 uma série de artigos sobre a fauna de artrópodes das Florestas Nativas dos Açores. As Florestas Nativas dos Açores constituem atualmente uma relíquia das florestas originais dos Açores que cobriam praticamente todas as ilhas. Atualmente cobrem menos de 5% da área original (Gaspar et al., 2008) e estão reduzidas a pequenos fragmentos acima dos 500 m de altitude. Es...

The BALA project: A pioneering monitoring of Azorean forest invertebrates over ...

Globally, there is a concerning decline in many insect populations, and this trend likely extends to all arthropods, potentially impacting unique island biota. Native non-endemic and endemic species on islands are under threat due to habitat destruction, with the introduction of exotic, and potentially invasive, species, further contributing to this decline. While long-term studies of plants and vertebrate faun...

Unveiling Arthropod Responses to Climate Change: A Functional Trait Analysis in...

This study investigates the impact of elevated temperatures on arthropod communities in intensively managed pastures on the volcanic island of Terceira, Azores (Portugal), using a functional trait approach. Open Top Chambers (OTCs) were employed to simulate increased temperatures, and the functional traits of ground dwelling arthropods were analyzed along a small elevation gradient (180–400 m) during winter and...

Insect conservation on islands