Plant species are expected to respond to a climate warming by moving their ranges polewards or upwards in mountains. The authors apply this hybrid approach to simulate how 150 high mountain plant species will migrate from their current distribution in the Alps across this mountain range in response to 21st century climatic trends. The results indicate that until the end of the 21st century the Alpine high mountain flora will lose on average 4450% of their current distribution area, a forecast fairly moderate as compared to predictions achieved with more traditional modelling techniques. In addition, the researchers found plants endemic to the European Alps to be especially sensitive to climate impacts. Up to 75% of these species might face a reduction of their ranges by more than 80% of their current distribution area. Nevertheless, the results caution against optimistic conclusions from moderate range restrictions of Alpine plants observed so far, because they are likely to belie more severe long-term effects of climate changes.
COBISS.SI-ID: 34145069
Emasculation in orb web spiders has been a poorly understood form of sexual mutilation that has been assumed to be maladaptive. Through a review of all evidence including our own past research we showed that the so called eunuch phenomenon is adaptive. Namely, males engage in genital mutilation in order to become more agile and aggressive in combating their rivals. Through emasculation, the eunuchs even secure remote copulation. These behaviors have co-evolved with extreme sexual size dimorphism as a response to sexual conflict.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37090861
The utility of DNA barcoding in taxonomy continues to be debated. In this study we explored its utility in identifying spider species that vary in taxonomic affiliation, morphological diagnosability, and geographic distribution. Our meta-analysis results point towards a high utility of the method, yet its robustness strongly depends on the animal group and taxonomic practices.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38237229
Several clades of spiders whose females evolved giant sizes are known for extreme sexual behaviors, but these behaviors have only been tested in a handful of size dimorphic spiders. Here, we bring another lineage into the picture by reporting on sexual behavior of Caerostris darwini. We uncover a rich sexual repertoire that predictably involves sexual cannibalism, genital mutilation, male preference for teneral females, and emasculation. Surprisingly, C. darwini males also engage in oral sexual encounters, a rarely reported phenomenon outside mammals.
COBISS.SI-ID: 39794477
Sexual dimorphism describes substantial differences between male and female phenotypes. In spiders, sexual dimorphism research almost exclusively focuses on size, and recent studies have recovered steady evolutionary size increases in females, and independent evolutionary size changes in males. Their discordance is due to negative allometric size patterns caused by different selection pressures on male and female size (converse Rensch’s rule). Here, we investigated macroevolutionary patterns of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in Argiopinae, a global lineage of orb weaving spiders with varying degrees of SSD. We devised a Bayesian and maximum likelihood molecular species level phylogeny, then used it to reconstruct sex specific size evolution, to examine general hypotheses and different models of size evolution, to test for sexual size coevolution, and to examine allometric patterns of SSD. Our results, revealing ancestral moderate sizes and SSD, failed to reject the Brownian motion model, which suggests a nondirectional size evolution. Contrary to predictions, male and female sizes were phylogenetically correlated, and SSD evolution was isometric. We interpret these results to question the classical explanations of female biased SSD via fecundity, gravity, and differential mortality.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37591341
We published the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of a model spider group, the family Nephilidae, known for female and web gigantism and for extreme sexual size dimorphism with males over 100 times lighter than the females. These spiders are therefore model organisms for many biological studies, but the only available phylogenetic hypothesis so far has been a morphological one from 2008. Our paper adds a new phylogeny, based on massive original molecular data and modern phylogenetic analyses, including a fossil and time calibrated analysis. The work provides the foundation for understanding nephilid evolutionary history.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36058925
We aimed testing low-cost remote sensing sources and simple methodology for recognising the invasive species Robinia pseudacacia. Different sources (Landsat ETM and airborne orthophotos from spring to summer) were tested. Generalised linear models were constructed to establish a statistical rule of recognition for the species based on spectral information. The best and most reliable recognition was achieved by using the spring orthophoto, in which the species was captured in flower, combined with a GIS filtering by a forest vector layer.
COBISS.SI-ID: 34027053
The paper reviews prior research of personalities in invertebrates, indicates the advantages of using the invertebrates as model organisms, proposes the relevant research areas that should include invertebrates and provides guidance for further personality studies. We described how investigating proximate, evolutionary and ecological correlates of personality variation in invertebrates may broaden our understanding of personality variation in general. We emphasized that personality studies on invertebrates are much needed, because invertebrates exhibit a range of aspects in their life histories, social and sexual behaviours which are extremely rare or absent in most studied vertebrates, but which offer new avenues for personality research. Examples are complete metamorphosis, male emasculation during copulation, asexual reproduction, eusociality and parasitism. We pointed at the advantages of studying personality variation in many invertebrate species, such as easier access to relevant data on proximate and ultimate factors, arising from easy maintenance, fast life cycles and short generation times.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36883757
We develop a procedure for estimating the alteration of natural tree species composition, which explains factors driving alteration and examines its significance for susceptibility of forest stands to natural disturbances. The alteration of natural tree species composition was estimated for the Dinaric region of Slovenia by the Robic Index of Dissimilarity (RID), ranging from 0 (completely natural) to 100 (completely altered). The index was calculated on the compartment level with data on current and potential natural forest vegetation. The influence of human activities on tree species alteration was examined by using topographic and accessibility variables. The susceptibility of forest stands to natural disturbances was analysed with data on sanitary felling. The procedure is applicable at different spatial scales and fosters an understanding of the patterns of tree species composition under the influence of human activity across forest landscapes.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4703398
The knowledge on species’ habitat preferences at local scales across its range is an essential condition for defining the most appropriate habitat management for the conservation of any species. We combined field observations from three European countries with breeding experiments under field conditions to identify oviposition and larval preferences of Coenonympha oedippus at the micro-scale level across a large spatial scale and contrasting habitat types (wet vs. dry). Despite the wide geographical range and the different habitats we found some common features: (1) vegetation structure of the herb layer is an essential factor for oviposition site electivity and successful development of premature stages; (2) high cover of litter and/or dwarf shrubs in the microhabitat creates a herb layer rich in gaps; at their edges eggs are deposited and the caterpillars are adequately sun-exposed; (3) egg-laying females are not selective regarding oviposition substratum; (4) oviposition height is adjusted to positions with direct sunlight or warm substratum; (5) the host-plants coverage in oviposition sites was high (cca. 40%); (6) the most important host-plant is Carex panicea (wet) and Carex humilis (dry); (7) the availability of winter-green host-plants in the vicinity of hibernated larvae plays a substantial role in their survival. Based on the results from field observations and breeding experiments we proposed the implications for habitat management of this highly endangered species in Europe.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37824557