Shopping for Ecological Indices? On the Use of Incidence-Based Species Compositional Similarity Measures

IAN MACGREGOR FORS FEDERICO ESCOBAR SARRIA JUAN FERNANDO ESCOBAR IBAÑEZ NATALIA MESA SIERRA FREDY ALEXANDER ALVARADO ROBERTO Rafael Rueda Hernández CLAUDIA ELIZABETH MORENO ORTEGA Ina Falfán ERICK JOAQUIN CORRO MENDEZ Eduardo Octavio Pineda Arredondo Amandine Bourg JOSE LUIS AGUILAR LOPEZ (2022, [Artículo])

"β-diversity has been under continuous debate, with a current need to better understand the way in which a new wave of measures work. We assessed the results of 12 incidence-based β-diversity indices. Our results of gradual species composition overlap between paired assemblages considering progressive differences in species richness show the following: (i) four indices (β-2, β-3, β-3.s, and βr) should be used cautiously given that results with no shared species retrieve results that could be misinterpreted; (ii) all measures conceived specifically as partitioned components of species compositional dissimilarities ought to be used as such and not as independent measures per se; (iii) the non-linear response of some indices to gradual species composition overlap should be interpreted carefully, and further analysis using their results as dependent variables should be performed cautiously; and (iv) two metrics (βsim and βsor) behave predictably and linearly to gradual species composition overlap. We encourage ecologists using measures of β-diversity to fully understand their mathematical nature and type of results under the scenario to be used in order to avoid inappropriate and misleading inferences."

Beta diversity Nestedness Replacement Richness difference Species turnover BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) ECOLOGÍA VEGETAL ECOLOGÍA VEGETAL

Plants of the Popol vuh, the sacred book of the Maya

Plantas del Popol Vuh, el libro sagrado de los Mayas

CANDELARIA ISABEL PEREZ MARTIN SIGFREDO EDMUNDO ESCALANTE REBOLLEDO SILVIA VERGARA YOISURA FRANCISCO ALFONSO LARQUE SAAVEDRA (2022, [Artículo])

A compilation of the plants mentioned in the sacred book of the Mayans Popol Vuh, recognized as the framework of their cosmogony that was written in the K’iche’ area in Guatemala around the year 1550 was made. Thirty-two different species were identified, from 21 plant families, all native to Mesoamerica. The largest number of species was in Fabaceae with four species, Moraceae and Solanaceae with three species each, in addition to Bromeliaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Malvaceae and Poaceae with two species each. The five most important and frequently named species are maize (Zea mays), jícaro (Crescentia cujete), copal (Protium copal), rubber (Castilla elastica) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao). Eleven species were identified, such as pito wood (Erythrina berteroana) and zibak (Cyperus canus), considered of cosmogonic significance and food plants that are integrated into five groups: fruit trees [zapote (Manilkara zapota), nance (Byrsonima crassifolia), jocote (Spondias mombin), anona (Annona reticulata), matasano (Casimiroa edulis)], grains and seeds [maize, beans (Phaseolus lunatus), cocoa, pataxte (Theobroma bicolor)], vegetables [squash (Cucurbita moschata), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), chilacayote (Cucurbita ficifolia)], flavourings [chili (Capsicum annuum)], and beverages [maguey (Agave americana)]. Seven species were domesticated: maize, squash, chilacayote, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), beans, tomato and cocoa and others for medicinal purposes, fuel and instruments. The description of the creation of man asserts the close relationship of the Mayan culture with plant biodiversity; moreover, the famous milpa, a multi-species Mesoamerican agroecosystem is mentioned that was practiced by their gods © 2022. Revista Fitotecnia Mexicana.All Rights Reserved.

COSMOGONY MILPA PLANT FAMILIES POPOL VUH SACRED BOOK SPECIES BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) PALEOBOTÁNICA PALEOBOTÁNICA

Maize seed aid and seed systems development: Opportunities for synergies in Uganda

Jason Donovan Rachel Voss Pieter Rutsaert (2024, [Artículo])

In the name of food security, governments and NGOs purchase large volumes of maize seed in non-relief situations to provide at reduced or no cost to producers. At the same time, efforts to build formal maize seed systems have been frustrated by slow turnover rates – the dominance of older seed products in the market over newer, higher performing ones. Under certain conditions, governments and NGO seed aid purchases can support formal seed systems development in three ways: i) support increased producer awareness of new products, ii) support local private seed industry development, and iii) advance equity goals by targeting aid to the most vulnerable of producers who lack the capacity to purchase seeds. This study explores the objectives and activities of seed aid programmes in Uganda and their interactions with the maize seed sector. We draw insights from interviews with representatives of seed companies, NGOs and government agencies, as well as focus group discussions with producers. The findings indicated that seed aid programme objectives are largely disconnected from broader seed systems development goals. There is little evidence of public-private collaboration in design of these programmes. Better designed programs have the potential to align with varietal turnover objectives, commercial sector development and targeting of underserved markets could promote equity and ‘crowd in’ demand.

Seed Business Varietal Turnover Seed Aid CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SEED SEED SYSTEMS SOCIAL INCLUSION MAIZE

Polydomus karssenii gen. nov. sp. nov. is a dark septate endophyte with a bifunctional lifestyle parasitising eggs of plant parasitic cyst nematodes (Heterodera spp.)

Samad Ashrafi Abdelfattah DABABAT Maria Finckh Marc Stadler Wolfgang Maier (2023, [Artículo])

Plant Parasitic Nematodes Nematode's Egg Parasites CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA ENDOPHYTES NEMATOPHAGOUS FUNGI NEW SPECIES PHYLOGENY PLANT NEMATODES TAXONOMY

Seed integrity, effect of temperature and storage time on germination of Populus luziarum and P. primaveralepensis, endangered subtropical species from Mexico

César Jacobo Pereira MIGUEL ANGEL MUÑIZ CASTRO JOSE ANTONIO VAZQUEZ GARCIA Joel David Flores Rivas ALEJANDRO MUÑOZ URIAS FRANCISCO MARTIN HUERTA MARTINEZ (2022, [Artículo])

"Background: Populus luziarum and P. primaveralepensis are endemic species of western Mexico; growing in riparian forests they are critically endangered. The best way to conserve their seeds is unknown, which could be limiting for their conservation.

Hypothesis: The germinability of both subtropical species is like that of boreal and template Salicaceae species that disperse seeds in spring and early summer, as they germinate quickly with high percentages, and rapidly lose their viability when stored at ambient temperature.

Studied species: Populus luziarum and P. primaveralepensis. Study site and dates: Western Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Jalisco, Mexico. October 2019.

Methods: The physical integrity of the seeds was assessed by X-ray imaging and compared with germinability. In addition, the effect of storage time (nine weeks) under two temperatures (4 and 21 °C) on the percentage and mean germination rate was evaluated.

Results: No significant differences were found between physical integrity and germination in freshly collected seeds for both species. Germination in the first 24 hrs was 91 and 95 % for Populus luziarum and P. primaveralepensis, respectively (week 0). Germination percentages were lower when stored at 21 °C, but P. primaveralepensis was decreased more slowly.

Conclusions: Seeds of subtropical Populus respond similarly to those of species from temperate and boreal climates with early seed dispersal, a crucial condition for establishing ex situ reforestation and conservation programs."

Salicaceae Seed physical integrity Seed storage conditions Subtropical endemic species White poplars BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA)

Variación morfológica de las hormigas Myrmecocystus de las dunas costeras de Baja California, México

Morphological variation of Myrmecocystus ants from the coastal dunes of Baja California, Mexico

Samuel Antonio Hernández Jiménez (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

La península de Baja California cuenta con dunas costeras aisladas sobre las cuales se distribuyen hormigas del género Myrmecocystus Snelling, 1976, cuya distribución se restringe en estos hábitats; la artropofauna de estas dunas es poco conocida. Se evaluaron las diferencias morfológicas de Myrmecocystus de seis poblaciones recolectadas a lo largo de la península de Baja California correspondientes a seis dunas. Para medir las diferencias morfológicas de las poblaciones, se analizaron 109 individuos, 20 por cada duna, a excepción de una duna en donde sólo se recolectaron nueve individuos. Para evaluar los cambios de forma intra e interpoblacionales, se analizaron dos estructuras morfológico-funcionales: 1) cabeza, incluyendo el clípeo relacionada con la competencia y alimentación y 2) tórax, incluyendo el propodeo, que muestra la diferencia de casta entre obreras. Con una cámara fija montada en un microscopio estereoscópico se tomaron 198 microfotografías digitales, para evaluar cambios de forma mediante un análisis de morfometría geométrica. Se detectaron diferencias asociadas al aislamiento geográfico. La variación observada en la cabeza puede ayudar a diferenciar las poblaciones del norte de la península (Santa Rosaliíta, Punta Mazo, Guerrero Negro y Punta Abreojos) y las del sur (Las Barrancas y Bahía Magdalena), la variación morfológica del tórax no mostró diferencias significativas. Existen variaciones intraespecíficas que podrían ser consecuencia de las condiciones ambientales (fenotípicas) o por procesos aleatorios como la deriva génica. El presente estudio arroja datos de la variación morfológica de seis poblaciones que representan dos especies de Myrmecocystus aun no descritas para la península de Baja California. Estos resultados repercutirán en la descripción y un aumento documentado de la biodiversidad de la artropofauna bajacaliforniana.

The Baja California peninsula has isolated coastal dunes on which ants of the genus Myrmecocystus Snelling, 1976 are distributed, whose distribution is restricted in these habitats; The arthropofauna of these dunes is poorly understood. The morphological differences of Myrmecocystus were evaluated from six populations collected along the Baja California peninsula corresponding to six dunes. To measure the morphological differences of the populations, 109 individuals were analyzed, 20 for each dune, except for one dune where only nine individuals were collected. To evaluate intra- and interpopulation shape changes, two morphological-functional structures were analyzed: 1) head, including the clypeus related to competition and feeding, and 2) thorax, including the propodeum, which shows the caste difference between workers. With a fixed camera mounted on a stereoscopic microscope, 198 digital microphotographs were taken to evaluate shape changes through a geometric morphometry analysis. Differences associated with geographic isolation were detected. The variation observed in the head can help to differentiate the populations of the north of the peninsula (Santa Rosaliíta, Punta Mazo, Guerrero Negro, and Punta Abreojos) and those of the south (Las Barrancas and Magdalena Bay), the morphological variation of the thorax did not show significant differences. There are intraspecific variations that could be a consequence of environmental conditions (phenotypic) or random processes such as gene drift. The present study yields data on the morphological variation of six populations representing two species of Myrmecocystus not yet described for the Baja California peninsula. These results will have an impact on the description and a documented increase in the biodiversity of the Baja Californian arthropofauna.

Alometría, Especiación, Morfometría Geométrica, Forma, Especies no descritas Allotometry, Speciation, Geometric Morphometry, Shape, Undescribed Species BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA DE INSECTOS (ENTOMOLOGÍA) MORFOLOGÍA DE LOS INSECTOS MORFOLOGÍA DE LOS INSECTOS

Recent advances on research of native prawn Macrobrachium americanum (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) with aquaculture and conservation purposes

Yuneisy Milagro Agüero Fernández MIRIAM VICTORIA MARTIN MANZO MARITZA LOURDES SOBERANES YEPIZ Marcelo Ulises García Guerrero Yuniel Méndez Martínez Luis Hector Hernandez Hernandez Laura S López Greco Edilmar Cortés Jacinto (2022, [Artículo])

"Where good management practices on aquaculture are mandatory. The economic and ecological importance of prawns of the Genus Macrobrachium cause an impact at a global level involving economic, academic and social aspects. Macrobrachium americanum appears as one of the genus species with high nutritional value and an economic demand in the national and international markets, as well as a vital income for fisherman and producers of this species. For researchers, it is a challenge to find solutions to culture and propose conservation measures for M. americanum with emphasis on development, nutrition and reproduction. Although there are scientific studies supporting the economic importance of this species, our knowledge about its cultivation, reproduction and conservation is limited. This paper summarizes the latest studies made in cooperation with M. americanum in research lead by the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Mexico. After several years of continuous research, it is considered that those efforts have produced useful information for the sustainable exploitation, conservation and basic management practices of this species."

Freshwater ecosystem, growth rate, native prawn species, conservation, sustainable fishing BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL

Gamma-diversity partitioning of gobiid fishes (Teleostei: Gobiidae) ensemble along of Eastern Tropical Pacific: Biological inventory, latitudinal variation and species turnover

OMAR VALENCIA MENDEZ (2018, [Artículo])

Gobies are the most diverse marine fish family. Here, we analysed the gamma-diversity (γ-diversity) partitioning of gobiid fishes to evaluate the additive and multiplicative components of α and β-diversity, species replacement and species loss and gain, at four spatial scales: sample units, ecoregions, provinces and realms. The richness of gobies from the realm Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is represented by 87 species. Along latitudinal and longitudinal gradients, we found that the γ-diversity is explained by the β-diversity at both spatial scales, ecoregions and provinces. At the ecoregion scale, species are diverse in the north (Cortezian ecoregion) and south (Panama Bight ecoregion) and between insular and coastal ecoregions. At the province scale, we found that the species turnover between the warm temperate Northeast Pacific (WTNP), Tropical East Pacific (TEaP) and the Galapagos Islands (Gala) was high, and the species nestedness was low. At the ecoregion scale, historical factors, and phylogenetic factors have influenced the hotspots of gobiid fish biodiversity, particularly in the Cortezian, Panama Bight and Cocos Island ecoregions, where species turnover is high across both latitudinal and longitudinal gradients. At the provincial level, we found that the contributions of the β-diversity from north to south, in the WTNP, TEaP and Gala were high, as result of the high number of unique species. Species turnover was also high at this scale, with a low contribution from species nestedness that was probably due to the low species/gene flow within the provinces. These results highlight the importance and successful inclusion of a cryptobenthic fish component in ecological and biogeographical studies. © 2018 Valencia-Méndez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Article, biodiversity, biogeographic region, biogeography, gene flow, goby fish, nonhuman, phylogeny, species distribution, species diversity, taxonomic identification, teleost, animal, animal dispersal, fish, Pacific Ocean, phylogeography, Animal Di CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS AGRARIAS PECES Y FAUNA SILVESTRE PECES Y FAUNA SILVESTRE

Assessing the Response of Nematode Communities to Climate Change-Driven Warming: A Microcosm Experiment

RUTH GINGOLD WERMUTH (2013, [Artículo])

Biodiversity has diminished over the past decades with climate change being among the main responsible factors. One consequence of climate change is the increase in sea surface temperature, which, together with long exposure periods in intertidal areas, may exceed the tolerance level of benthic organisms. Benthic communities may suffer structural changes due to the loss of species or functional groups, putting ecological services at risk. In sandy beaches, free-living marine nematodes usually are the most abundant and diverse group of intertidal meiofauna, playing an important role in the benthic food web. While apparently many functionally similar nematode species co-exist temporally and spatially, experimental results on selected bacterivore species suggest no functional overlap, but rather an idiosyncratic contribution to ecosystem functioning. However, we hypothesize that functional redundancy is more likely to observe when taking into account the entire diversity of natural assemblages. We conducted a microcosm experiment with two natural communities to assess their stress response to elevated temperature. The two communities differed in diversity (high [HD] vs. low [LD]) and environmental origin (harsh vs. moderate conditions). We assessed their stress resistance to the experimental treatment in terms of species and diversity changes, and their function in terms of abundance, biomass, and trophic diversity. According to the Insurance Hypothesis, we hypothesized that the HD community would cope better with the stressful treatment due to species functional overlap, whereas the LD community functioning would benefit from species better adapted to harsh conditions. Our results indicate no evidence of functional redundancy in the studied nematofaunal communities. The species loss was more prominent and size specific in the HD; large predators and omnivores were lost, which may have important consequences for the benthic food web. Yet, we found evidence for alternative diversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, such as the Rivets and the Idiosyncrasy Model. © 2013 Gingold et al.

aquaculture, article, bacterivore, benthos, biodiversity, biomass, climate, community dynamics, controlled study, ecosystem, environmental temperature, microcosm, nematode, nonhuman, population abundance, species diversity, species richness, taxonomy CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

Rapid effects of marine reserves via larval dispersal

Richard Cudney Bueno (2009, [Artículo])

Marine reserves have been advocated worldwide as conservation and fishery management tools. It is argued that they can protect ecosystems and also benefit fisheries via density-dependent spillover of adults and enhanced larval dispersal into fishing areas. However, while evidence has shown that marine reserves can meet conservation targets, their effects on fisheries are less understood. In particular, the basic question of if and over what temporal and spatial scales reserves can benefit fished populations via larval dispersal remains unanswered. We tested predictions of a larval transport model for a marine reserve network in the Gulf of California, Mexico, via field oceanography and repeated density counts of recently settled juvenile commercial mollusks before and after reserve establishment. We show that local retention of larvae within a reserve network can take place with enhanced, but spatially-explicit, recruitment to local fisheries. Enhancement occurred rapidly (2 yrs), with up to a three-fold increase in density of juveniles found in fished areas at the downstream edge of the reserve network, but other fishing areas within the network were unaffected. These findings were consistent with our model predictions. Our findings underscore the potential benefits of protecting larval sources and show that enhancement in recruitment can be manifested rapidly. However, benefits can be markedly variable within a local seascape. Hence, effects of marine reserve networks, positive or negative, may be overlooked when only focusing on overall responses and not considering finer spatially-explicit responses within a reserve network and its adjacent fishing grounds. Our results therefore call for future research on marine reserves that addresses this variability in order to help frame appropriate scenarios for the spatial management scales of interest. © 2009 Cudney-Bueno et al.

article, environmental monitoring, fishery, larva, marine environment, marine species, Mexico, mollusc, nonhuman, oceanography, prediction, animal, biology, environmental protection, food industry, geography, growth, development and aging, larva, met CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA