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Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus the conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) requires information on land-use and land-cover changes (LULCCs) and carbon emission trends from the past to the present and into the future. Here, we use the results of participatory scenario development in Tanzania to assess the potential interacting impacts on carbon stock, biodiversity and water yield of alternative scenarios where REDD+ is or is not effectively implemented by 2025, a green economy (GE) scenario and a business as usual (BAU) scenario, respectively. Under the BAU scenario, LULCCs will cause 296 million tonnes of carbon (MtC) national stock loss by 2025, reduce the extent of suitable habitats for endemic and rare species (mainly in encroached protected mountain forests) and change water yields. In the GE scenario, national stock loss decreases to 133 MtC. In this scenario, consistent LULCC impacts occur within small forest patches with high carbon density, water catchment capacity and biodiversity richness. Opportunities for maximizing carbon emission reductions nationally are largely related to sustainable woodland management, but also contain trade-offs with biodiversity conservation and changes in water availability.

Examination of rajid skates off the Algerian coast in the Mediterranean Sea revealed that three of the 33 Dipturus batis Linnaeus, 1758 examined harboured a new tapeworm species: Echeneibothrium algeriensis n. sp. This new species, collected from the anterior half of the spiral valves, is described on the basis of morphological data from light and scanning electron microscopy. The new species differs from previously described Echeneibothrium species by details of the scolex and loculi, total length, the length of the myzorhynchus, the number of proglottides, and the number of testes. Comparison of the diets of the ten skate species common in the Mediterranean basin indicates some varying degree of overlap, suggesting that host specificity in this host–parasite system is determined by other host and/or ecological variables such as adaptations of the parasites to their respective hosts, either on the morpho-anatomical level, in physiological characteristics of the parasite's habitat, in the trophic requirements for the successful transmission of the parasite, or in adaptations to the behavioural characteristics of the host. Furthermore, restricted overlap of E. algeriensis n. sp. with congeners in parasite assemblages of D. batis indicates some structuring according to attachment-site preferences. However, attachment-site preferences are not explained solely by morphological compatibility between bothridia and villi. This study reiterates the need to examine multiple factors synergistically in studies on host specificity of parasites, and the need to examine the parasite fauna of hosts across their entire geographical range in order to truly appreciate the biodiversity they harbour.

Palaeoecology has been prominent in studies of environmental change during the Holocene epoch in Scotland. These studies have been dominated by palynology (pollen, spore and related bio-and litho-stratigraphic analyses) as a key approach to multi- and inter-disciplinary investigations of topics such as vegetation, climate and landscape change. This paper highlights some key dimensions of the pollen- and vegetation-based archive, with a focus upon woodland dynamics, blanket peat, human impacts, biodiversity and conservation. Following a brief discussion of chronological, climatic, faunal and landscape contexts, the migration, survival and nature of the woodland cover through time is assessed, emphasising its time-transgressiveness and altitudinal variation. While agriculture led to the demise of woodland in lowland areas of the south and east, the spread of blanket peat was especially a phenomenon of the north and west, including the Western and Northern Isles. Almost a quarter of Scotland is covered by blanket peat and the cause(s) of its spread continue(s) to evoke recourse to climatic, topographic, pedogenic, hydrological, biotic or anthropogenic influences, while we remain insufficiently knowledgeable about the timing of the formation processes. Humans have been implicated in vegetational change throughout the Holocene, with prehistoric woodland removal, woodland management, agricultural impacts arising from arable and pastoral activities, potential heathland development and afforestation. The viability of many current vegetation communities remains a concern, in that Scottish data show reductions in plant diversity over the last 400 years, which recent conservation efforts have yet to reverse. Palaeoecological evidence can be used to test whether conservation baselines and restoration targets are appropriate to longer-term ecosystem variability and can help identify when modern conditions have no past analogues.

We need reliable data on the spatial distribution of parasites in order to achieve an inventory of global parasite biodiversity and establish robust conservation initiatives based on regional disease risk. This requires an integrated and spatially consistent effort toward the discovery of new parasite species. Using a large and representative dataset on the geographical coordinates where 4943 helminth species were first discovered, we first test whether the geographical distribution of parasite species reports is spatially congruent across helminth higher taxa; i.e. whether areas, where many trematodes are found, are also areas where many nematodes or cestodes have been discovered. Second, we test whether the global geographical distribution of new helminth species reports has changed significantly over time, i.e. across the last few decades. After accounting for spatial autocorrelation in the data, we find no strong statistical support for either of the patterns we investigated. Overall, our results indicate that helminth species discoveries are both spatially incongruent among higher taxa of helminths, and inconsistent over time. These findings suggest that the global parasite discovery effort is inefficient, spatially biased and subject to idiosyncrasies. Coordinated biodiscovery programmes, involving research teams with expertise in multiple taxonomic groups, seem the best approach to remedy these issues.

Symbiotic relationships are a common phenomenon among marine invertebrates, forming both obligatory and facultative dependencies with their host. Here, we investigate and compare the population structure of two crustacean species associated with both shallow and mesophotic ecosystems: an obligate symbiont barnacle (Ceratoconcha domingensis), of the coral Agaricia lamarcki and a meiobenthic, free-living harpacticoid copepod (Laophontella armata). Molecular analyses of the Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI) gene revealed no population structure between mesophotic and shallow barnacle populations within south-west Puerto Rico (ΦST = 0.0079, P = 0.33). The absence of population structure was expected due to the pelagic naupliar larvae of the barnacles and the connectivity patterns exhibited by the coral itself within the same region. Laophontella armata exhibited significant structure based on the mitochondrial COI gene between the mesophotic reef ecosystem of El Seco, Puerto Rico and mangrove sediments of Curaçao (ΦST = 0.2804, P = 0.0). The El Seco and Curaçao copepods shared three COI haplotypes despite the obligatory benthic development of harpacticoid copepods and the geographic distance between the two locations. Three other COI haplotypes from El Seco exhibited higher than expected (up to 7%) intra-species variability, potentially representing three new cryptic species of harpacticoid copepods or rare, deeply divergent lineages of L. armata. This result is evidence for the urgent need of a deeper investigation into the meiofauna diversity associated with mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs), arguably the most diverse metazoan component of MCEs.

This paper provides data on diversity, zonation and seasonal fluctuations of decapod crustaceans at the northern Gulf of Oman coast, based on quantitative and qualitative samplings. A total of 75 species belonging to four infraorders, 27 families and 48 genera were identified. These species include 20 new records for the entire Gulf of Oman and 13 new records for its Iranian coast. The mid-intertidal zone showed a higher mean diversity and abundance than high- and low-intertidal zones. The mean diversity and abundance in the high-intertidal zone showed significant differences with the mid- and low-intertidal zones. The indices of species richness (Margalef), diversity (Shannon) and evenness (Pielou) showed significant differences among the intertidal zones. Most of the identified species (>60%) that had high values in their frequency of occurrence and relative abundance showed an overlapping vertical distribution, and were present in all three or just in two of the three defined zones. Other species were found only in one of the three zones (non-overlapping vertical distribution). The decapod community in the mid-intertidal zone showed a higher dissimilarity with the high-intertidal zone than with the low-intertidal. Both abundance and diversity were found to be lowest and highest during south-west and north-east monsoons, respectively. During south-west monsoon, the abundance of decapods declined dramatically, but species diversity and ecological indices did not show any statistically significant difference among the sampling periods.

A collection of 45 isolates was created based on bacteria isolated from maize, broad bean, wheat, rye and wild plants such as horsetail and burdock. The aim of the current study was to isolate the bacteria, and then identify and assess the degree of genomic diversity. The molecular identification of microsymbionts isolated from the endosphere (root and stem) of plants grown in agricultural soils was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. To evaluate the genomic diversity between strains that occurred in multiple host plants, 18 bacterial isolates representing four species were subjected to denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The 16S rDNA analysis assigned all bacterial isolates to ten genera, from which Rhizobium was represented by 19 isolates, Delftia by 11, Agrobacterium by five, Stenotrophomonas by three, Brevundimonas by two and Novosphingobium, Variovorax, Collimonas, Achromobacter and Comamonas by only one isolate. Furthermore, the genomic diversity of the 11 isolates of Delftia sp. was assessed using the BOX – polymerase chain reaction (BOX-PCR) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus – PCR (ERIC-PCR) methods. Typing patterns and analysis using BOX-PCR and ERIC-PCR data demonstrated similarities among the tested isolates. In general, the results obtained with BOX-PCR and ERIC-PCR were in good agreement. However, a greater degree of differentiation patterns of the genomic DNA was obtained in the ERIC-PCR method.

Full potential of African tomato has not been tapped due to lack of information regarding its characterization. The aim of this work was to study the diversity of 17 African tomato landraces collected from Solanaceae gene bank – Tanzania. Evaluation was done using Complete Random Block Design. Morphological data collected were subjected to GenStat's and Darwin6 software. RNA was extracted from leaf samples, fruits at three ripening stages using modified Trizol method and sequencing done using Illumina sequencing platform. The raw reads were filtered and analysed using the Bioinformatics tools. Phenotypically, the landraces clustered into three clusters dendrogram representation. Clustering was attributed by phenotypic variation. Analysis of variance showed significant phenotypic variations among the landraces (P < 0.05). A total of 115,965 validated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were mined from the 303,754,051 high-quality filtered reads. Molecular characterization showed significant variation within the landraces at fruit development stages. Unlike the phenotypic variation, phylogenetic tree representation grouped the 17 landraces according to their geographical location with some landraces from different countries grouping together. The findings of this study reveal significant morphological variation among African tomato contributed by plant height, leaf blade length, leaf blade width and fruit width. Positive correlation between fruit width and yield (r = 0.93, P < 0.01) was observed. Results of this study reveal that there is admixture of landraces from various geographical locations. Morphological characterization of African tomato can only lay a foundation but it does not reveal genetic diversity. The transcriptome SNP analysis revealed significant variation among the African tomato according to their geographical location.

A new species of Begonia (B. lecongkietii N.S.Lý & M.Hughes) is described from Mount Dầu in the South Central Coast Region, Vietnam, an area with an abundance of recently described endemic plant taxa. The new species is allied to Begonia lamxayana Souvann., which occurs 600 km away in Laos, differing chiefly in having larger villose tepals with an undulate margin and larger androecium with 86–116 (versus 20–30) stamens. Begonia lecongkietii is considered Critically Endangered, owing to its small area of occupancy and decline of habitat quality.

Enterographa sorediata is a corticolous, crustose lichen endemic to the southern part of Great Britain where it is confined to old-growth woodlands. This lichen is rarely fertile and mainly characterized by a sorediate thallus producing protocetraric acid. However, phylogenetic analyses using nuLSU, RPB2 and nuITS sequences suggest that E. sorediata belongs to the genus Syncesia and is conspecific with S. myrticola. This is corroborated by the chemistry and the recent observation of a thallus with both fully developed S. myrticola-like apothecia and soralia. This provides further evidence of the difficulties involved in correctly placing sorediate sterile morphs of crustose lichens into particular genera without using molecular data. An updated distribution map of S. myrticola for Great Britain and Ireland is provided, showing that the sorediate morph extends more inland whereas the fertile morph is more coastal.

Two new species of Arthoniaceae are described from old-growth European forests: Arthonia thoriana from Horner Combe in Great Britain and Inoderma sorediatum from the Białowieża Forest in Poland. Phylogenetic analyses using mtSSU sequences were used to determine the generic affiliation of the two species. Arthonia thoriana is characterized by a non-lichenized white thallus, pallid brown, white pruinose ascomata of 0·12–0·30 mm diam., richly anastomosing paraphysoids and (1–2–)3-septate ascospores of 9–12×3·0–3·5 µm. Inoderma sorediatum differs from all other species of the genus by a sorediate thallus and the production of confluentic acid. It is the sister species to I. afromontanum in our phylogenetic analyses. The discovery of the new species supports the high value of these forests for biodiversity action plans. Phylogenetic analyses also place Schismatomma niveum in the Arthoniaceae and the new genus Snippocia is described to accommodate it. The genus Leprantha is resurrected for its type species (L. cinereopruinosa). A lectotype is designated for Arthonia pruinosella.

Urban areas host many bird species, and urban species richness can be compared with that in natural areas using species–area relationships (SARs). We used a multimodel selection approach to investigate the influence of area, human population, elevation and climatic variables on species richness of breeding birds from 34 towns and 54 nature reserves in Italy. Using the linearized power function, area was identified as the most important correlate of avian species richness in both urban and natural areas. The SARs did not differ significantly between towns and reserves, although human density had a negative effect on bird richness. These findings underline the possible importance of urban areas in biodiversity conservation, but also stress that human density is a factor reducing species richness. However, species richness alone cannot inform conservation priorities because it does not take into account the different conservation values of species.

Oceania can be characterized by a richness of culture, biodiversity and natural resources and a particular future that the changing climate will bring to islands, livelihoods and ecosystems. We reviewed literature detailing the limitations of siloed approaches to public health and conservation action for regional sustainability, highlighting opportunities for regional integration as place-based, through activities that are locally relevant, innovative engagement across a broader variety of sectors and working with indigenous peoples’ knowledges. We present three case studies that extend and redefine the boundaries of the fields of public health and conservation, enabling collaborators to better respond to complex issues impacting biodiversity and human health. These case studies make explicit the links between nutrition, catchment management, water resources, fisheries, marine protected areas and communicable and non-communicable diseases. Public health and conservation are more meaningfully connected in place-based, reciprocal and compassionate activities, using common language to draw on the well-developed instruments of both sectors. These will include health impact assessments and combine health and ecological economics, which together will contribute to responding to an emergent set of challenges, namely human population increase, urbanization, overfishing and more severe aspects of climate change.

The exploitation of natural resources by people generally has detrimental effects on nature but in some cases anthropogenic activities can result in changes to the natural environment that produce new habitats and increase biodiversity. Understanding and supporting such cultural aspects of land use is an important part of effective conservation strategies. The UK has a range of cultural landscapes that contribute to the landscape matrix and are often important for biodiversity. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between various types of cultural landscapes or their effects on biodiversity. We examined the interaction between semi-natural sacred sites and lowland heathland in Cornwall, and the contribution these sites make to the overall biodiversity within the habitat. We found that semi-natural sacred sites had significantly higher levels of biodiversity compared to surrounding heathland; the existence and use of the sites created new and important habitats for rare and threatened heathland species; and the spiritual and cultural use of the sites aids the management of heathland. Promoting the use of semi-natural sacred sites could therefore contribute to biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, the cultural and spiritual importance of such sites potentially increases the availability of volunteer resources for their management. We highlight the importance of an integrated management approach for achieving effective biodiversity conservation in areas containing multiple types of cultural landscapes.

The effect of botanical diversity on supply of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to ruminants in vitro, and the fatty acid (FA) composition of muscle in lambs was investigated. Six plant species, commonly grown as part of UK herbal ley mixtures (Trifolium pratense, Lotus corniculatus, Achillea millefolium, Centaurea nigra, Plantago lanceolata and Prunella vulgaris), were assessed for FA profile, and in vitro biohydrogenation of constituent PUFA, to estimate intestinal supply of PUFA available for absorption by ruminants. Modelling the in vitro data suggested that L. corniculatus and P. vulgaris had the greatest potential to increase 18:3n-3 supply to ruminants, having the highest amounts escaping in vitro biohydrogenation. Biodiverse pastures were established using the six selected species, under-sown in a perennial ryegrass-based sward. Lambs were grazed (~50 days) on biodiverse or control pastures and the effects on the FA composition of musculus longissimus thoracis (lean and subcutaneous fat) and musculus semimembranosus (lean) were determined. Biodiverse pasture increased 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3 contents of m. semimembranosus (+14.8 and +7.2 mg/100 g tissue, respectively) and the subcutaneous fat of m. longissimus thoracis (+158 and +166 mg/100 g tissue, respectively) relative to feeding a perennial ryegrass pasture. However, there was no effect on total concentrations of saturated FA in the tissues studied. It was concluded that enhancing biodiversity had a positive impact on muscle FA profile reflected by increased levels of total PUFA.

Arthropod communities in the tropics are increasingly impacted by rapid changes in land use. Because species showing distinct seasonal patterns of activity are thought to be at higher risk of climate-related extirpation, global warming is generally considered a lower threat to arthropod biodiversity in the tropics than in temperate regions. To examine changes associated with land use and weather variables in tropical arthropod communities, we deployed Malaise traps at three major anthropogenic forests (secondary reserve forest, oil palm forest, and urban ornamental forest (UOF)) in Peninsular Malaysia and collected arthropods continuously for 12 months. We used metabarcoding protocols to characterize the diversity within weekly samples. We found that changes in the composition of arthropod communities were significantly associated with maximum temperature in all the three forests, but shifts were reversed in the UOF compared with the other forests. This suggests arthropods in forests in Peninsular Malaysia face a double threat: community shifts and biodiversity loss due to exploitation and disturbance of forests which consequently put species at further risk related to global warming. We highlight the positive feedback mechanism of land use and temperature, which pose threats to the arthropod communities and further implicates ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Consequently, conservation and mitigation plans are urgently needed.

A revision of Begonia sect. Symbegonia, endemic to New Guinea, is presented, with descriptions of five new species (B. arauensis M.Hughes, B. asaroensis J.Gagul, B. erodiifolia Sands, B. mimikaensis Sands and B. vinkii Sands). There are 18 species now recognised, and a key is provided for their identification. Ten of the species are assessed to belong to the IUCN category Data Deficient, and eight to Least Concern.

Biological surveys starting in the 1950s provided clear evidence that the Itombwe Massif, located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most important areas for conservation in Africa. Further surveys in the mid 1990s and early 2000s showed key species were still present and could be conserved. Following a report on these surveys the Ministry of Environment established the Itombwe Reserve in 2006 without consulting local communities who have legitimate customary rights to reside within the area and use the region's natural resources. Although creating the Reserve was within the government's legal authority, its establishment violated the rights of the people there. Here we report over a decade of work by a consortium of international and national human rights and conservation NGOs, the local communities and the protected areas authority (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature), to remediate this taking of customary rights. Starting in 2008 these partners began a participatory process with all 550 villages within and around the boundary of the Reserve. Using a community resource use mapping approach, developed from best practices, the team helped communities determine the boundary of the Reserve, and then pilot participatory zoning to identify zones for settlements, agriculture, hunting, gathering of non-timber forest products, and conservation. This process secured the customary rights of long-term residents in the Reserve and protected their lands from being taken by non-rights holders. As a result of this work the use rights of communities were largely restored and the communities agreed on 23 June 2016 to formalize the boundaries of the renamed Itombwe Nature Reserve.

Plantation forests with timber production as the major function are highly fragmented and disturbed regarding the tree species composition and stand area. Their closed canopies also have different microclimatic conditions compared with better studied conservation areas. We studied three beetle families (click, longhorn, and rove beetles) with different ecological demands in lowland plantation forests dominated by Sessile oak and Norway spruce in the Czech Republic. Our main interest was how their species richness, abundance, diversity, body length, rarity, red-list status, species composition and individual species were driven by the main tree species, stand area and canopy openness. We analyzed 3466 individuals from 198 beetle species and the results revealed complex and contrasting responses of the studied beetle families – click beetles mostly preferred sun-exposure and spruce as the dominant tree species, longhorn beetles mainly preferred large stands, whereas rove beetles were mostly influenced by oak as the dominant tree species and increasing area. We also observed that some species had different preferences in plantation forests than is known from the literature. The main conclusions of our results are that the dominance of non-natural spruce plantations and a large stand area (both originating from artificially replanted large clear-cuts) did not affect the majority of the studied taxa as we expected. On the other hand, our results might have been influenced by other factor, such as the current small total area of the former vegetation, which in the past might have led to extinction debt; or a large area of other conifers in the surroundings that might have promoted conifer-associated fauna.

Laws are crucial tools to protect wetlands. How these laws are written has important implications for conservation. We assessed all wetland terms and definitions in Brazilian legislation to identify whether legislation uses any generic terms to represent several or all types of wetlands and to determine if definitions with clear descriptors exist that can easily be used to identify wetland systems. A total of 116 local wetland-related terms and 21 wetland definitions were found in Brazilian legislation. A direct Portuguese translation of the term ‘wetlands’ was found only once in the New Forest Code. The insertion of the term ‘wetlands’ in the New Forest Code has important practical implications for the conservation, since all different Brazilian wetland types would be represented by the generic term ‘wetlands’. The existence of a definition of the term ‘wetlands’ associated with attributes of water and biota in Federal legislation will help environmental technicians to identify wetland systems and to recognize different wetland types. The insertion of this definition in the New Forest Code would make it clear that the drainage of any wetland type – large or small – is prohibited, and those who do so would be breaking Brazilian environmental law.