Variations in environmental conditions along gradients play an important role in species distribution through environmental filtering of morphological and physiological traits; however, their effects on bat diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the effect of the distance to the nearest watercourse, terrain elevation, vegetation clutter, basal area and canopy height on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity and on the predominance of some functional traits (body mass, wing morphology and trophic level) of bat assemblages (phyllostomid and mormoopid bats) in a terra firme forest, in the northeastern Brazilian Amazon. We captured bats using mist nets in 15 permanent plots over a 25 km2 area of continuous forest. We captured 279 individuals belonging to 28 species with a total of 77.760 m2.h of sampling effort. Our results showed that bat richness increases as a function of distance to the nearest watercourse and that the assemblage also changes, with more diverse taxonomic and functional groups in areas further from the watercourse. Furthermore, elevation positively affects species richness, and the basal area of the forest positively influences the average body mass of bats. Taken together, our results demonstrate that subtle variations in the environmental conditions along a local scale gradient impact on the main dimensions of bat diversity in primary forests.

Differences in habitat complexity and structure can directly influence the composition, diversity, and structure of species assemblages. Measurements of functional and phylogenetic diversity complement the commonly used measurements of taxonomic diversity, elucidating the relationships between species, their traits, and their evolutionary history. In this study, we evaluated how the mosaic of open and forested formations in a federal conservation unit in the western portion of the Brazilian Cerrado savanna influences the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure of lizard assemblages. Lizards were sampled for 15 months using pitfall traps set in open and forested formations. We recorded 292 lizards distributed among 16 species from eight families, with species composition differing among the formations. Richness was greater in the assemblages from open formations, while functional diversity and phylogenetic variability were greater in those of forested formations. Lizard assemblages in open formations were functionally and phylogenetically clustered, probably as a result of environmental filters acting on species, while the assemblages from forested formations were randomly structured. Different environmental and historical mechanisms have apparently shaped the current diversity of lizards in the region. This study shows that Cerrado vegetation mosaics can promote wide variation in different aspects of the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure from the lizard assemblages.

Archaeological investigations in Camels Back Cave, western Utah, recovered a series of small-mammal bone assemblages from stratified deposits dating between ca. 12,000 and 500 14C yr B.P. The cave's early Holocene fauna includes a number of species adapted to montane or mesic habitats containing grasses and/or sagebrush (e.g., Lepus townsendii, Marmota flaviventris, Reithrodontomys megalotis, and Brachylagus idahoensis) which suggest that the region was relatively cool and moist until after 8800 14C yr B.P. Between ca. 8600 and 8100 14C yr B.P. these mammals became locally extinct, taxonomic diversity declined, and there was an increase in species well-adapted to xeric, low-elevation habitats, including ground squirrels, Lepus californicus and Neotoma lepida. The early small-mammal record from Camels Back Cave is similar to the 11,300–6000 14C yr B.P. mammalian sequence from Homestead Cave, northwestern Utah, and provides corroborative data on Bonneville Basin paleoenvironments and mammalian responses to middle Holocene desertification.

Comparisons of historical and modern assemblages of mammals can yield important insights into patterns and processes of environmental change. Here, we present the first analyses of small mammal assemblages present in northern Patagonia during the last glacial maximum (LGM). Using remains obtained from owl pellets excavated from an archeological cave site (Arroyo Corral I, levels VII–V, carbon dates of 22,400–21,530 cal yr BP), we generate estimates of the minimum number of individuals for all species detected; these estimates, in turn are used to determine relative species abundances. Comparisons of these data with similar analyses of small mammal remains obtained from a second archeological site (ACoII, levels IV–V, carbon dates of 10,010–9220 cal yr BP) as well as from modern owl pellets reveal pronounced changes in relative species abundance since the LGM. In particular, Euneomys chinchilloides and Ctenomys sociabilis – the predominant species during the LGM – declined markedly, suggesting a change from open, bare habitat punctuated by patches of wet meadows and shrubs to the more densely vegetated mosaic of ecotone habitats found in this region today. These data provide important new insights into the environmental changes that have occurred in northern Patagonia over the last 20,000 years.

Although sponges constitute the dominant animal group in marine caves globally, few studies have investigated quantitatively their diversity patterns in this habitat. Regarding Mediterranean marine caves, data describing the structure and diversity gradients of sponge assemblages are available for the north-western basin, while information for the eastern Mediterranean is almost inexistent. In this study, the sponge assemblages in two Aegean marine caves (eastern Mediterranean Sea) with different topography were examined using a non-destructive method. In each cave, three quadrats (25 × 25 cm) were photographed at 5 m intervals, along three transects: one along the ceiling and two along the opposite walls. Per cent coverage for each sponge species was calculated using advanced image processing software. Our analyses revealed a rich sponge assemblage, which consisted of 50 species assigned to eight growth forms. Resemblance analysis for the surveyed caves revealed two major groups of samples corresponding to the shadowy outer and the darker internal cave sectors. However, differences in species composition as well as divergent spatial patterns of species richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity and morphological diversity were found not only between the caves but also between different transects within each cave. Sponge morphological diversity presented significant positive correlation with species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity in both caves, suggesting that it could possibly be used as a surrogate measure for describing sponge diversity gradients in Mediterranean caves. Cave topography was found to have a significant effect on the observed diversity patterns and assemblage structure, highlighting the high level of individuality in these unique habitats.

Qualitative samples of ‘opisthobranchs’ were collected from different beaches and estuaries in Ceará State, North-east Brazil. Further species distributions from the literature were used to infer patterns of distribution and to analyse faunal similarity among Atlantic biogeographic areas, Brazilian zones and the Ceará State. A total of 35 new records are reported for the Ceará State, including 19 new records from the North-east Brazilian Shelf (NBS), 12 new from the Brazilian Province and two new records from the South Atlantic. More than half of the species in this area are common between the Caribbean and Brazilian provinces, which demonstrates their capacity for crossing the Amazon–Orinoco barrier. The high percentage of occurrence in the NBS and the South Brazilian Bight, when compared to neighbouring zones, may be attributed to the poor knowledge of the Brazilian ‘opisthobranch’ fauna.

Latitudinal patterns of composition, biogeographic affinity and indicators of taxonomic diversity are described for the by-catch fish community in five typical shrimping areas in the Mexican Pacific (Upper Gulf of California, Sinaloa-Nayarit, Jalisco-Colima, Michoacán-Guerrero and Gulf of Tehuantepec). The taxonomic composition included two classes, 20 orders, 65 families, 147 genera and 292 species. The family Sciaenidae was the best represented with 33 species, whereas at the genus level, Anchoa was represented with eight species. A high percentage of the species showed wide distribution ranges (30.2% for Cortez Province ~ Panamic Province; 21.3% for San Diego Province ~ Panamic Province); nevertheless, each ecosystem included a characteristic combination of species, apparently related to the physiographic conditions of the ecosystems. Species richness showed a pronounced decrease from the Upper Gulf of California, which has warm-temperate features, to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, which has tropical conditions; this is an opposite trend to that observed in the taxonomic diversity indicators, suggesting that a taxonomic redundancy was present in tropical areas and higher taxonomic diversity was present in the Upper Gulf of California, despite the lower species richness. This is explained by the prevailing environmental conditions and isolation processes generated during the formation of the Gulf of California.

Several studies have evaluated the short-term effects of tropical forest fragmentation on plant taxonomic diversity, while only a few have evaluated its effects on functional or phylogenetic diversity. To our knowledge no study has looked at the long-term consequences of tropical forest fragmentation on the three main components of plant diversity simultaneously: taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. We sampled the vascular flora using belt transects (50 × 4 m) in a continuous tropical semi-evergreen forest (16 transects) and in an adjacent naturally fragmented forest (fragments of 1.7-My-old semi-evergreen forest immersed in a mangrove/sedge matrix) (18 transects), and compared their taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic plant diversity. There were 36 species in the continuous forest and 28 in the fragmented forest. Continuous forest was taxonomically more diverse (25%) than the fragmented forest. All functional diversity metrics were greater (6–33%) in the continuous than in the fragmented forest. Phylogenetic diversity was 19% greater and phylogenetically more overdispersed in the continuous forest than in the fragmented forest. The results suggest that in the fragmented forest not only is taxonomic plant diversity lower, but functional and phylogenetic diversity are as well. The negative effects of forest fragmentation on plant diversity seem to be chronic.

Excavations at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, Nevada recovered rodent remains from stratified deposits spanning the past ca. 12,500 14C yr BP (14,800 cal yr BP). Specimens from horizons dating to the late Pleistocene and early Holocene include species adapted to montane and moist and cool habitats, including yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) and bushy-tailed woodrat (Neotoma cinerea). Shortly after 9000 14C BP (10,200 cal yr BP) these mammals became locally extinct, or nearly so, taxonomic diversity declined, and the region became dominated by desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida) and other species well-adapted to xeric, low-elevation settings. The timing and nature of changes in the Bonneville Estates rodent fauna are similar to records reported from nearby Homestead and Camels Back caves and provide corroborative data on terminal Pleistocene–early Holocene environments and mammalian responses to middle Holocene desertification. Moreover, the presence of northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) at Bonneville Estates adds to a sparse regional record for that species and similar to Homestead Cave, it appears that the ca. 9500 14C yr BP (10,800 cal yr BP) replacement of the northern pocket gopher by Botta's pocket gopher in the Great Salt Lake Desert vicinity was also in response to climate change.

Taxonomic diversity and temporal patterns in abundance of periphytic ciliate communities across taxonomic levels were studied to monitor water quality in Korean coastal waters during April 2007. Specifically we compared two methods based on an artificial substrate (glass slide): the polyurethane foam enveloped slide (PFES) and the conventional slide (CS) systems. The results demonstrated that: (1) the colonization patterns of the ciliate communities at all taxonomic levels showed a lower variability in the PFES system than those of the CS system; (2) The taxonomic diversity (Δ) and taxonomic distinctness (Δ*) were significantly higher in the PFES system than those in the CS system; and (3) all four taxonomic diversity/distinctness indices represented lower variability in the PFES system than those of the CS samples. These findings suggest that the PFES system is more effective than the CS system for measuring the colonization patterns and taxonomic distinctness parameters that are increasingly used as potential indicators of water quality. This conclusion supports our previous suggestion that the PFES system is a better tool than the CS system for monitoring water quality in the marine ecosystem, using periphytic ciliates.

Collections of ostracods from various habitats in and around Lake Inari, Finnish Lapland, provide the first record of these crustaceans from Finland north of the Arctic Circle. From a total of 35 sites visited, 14 species were collected, out of which four appeared to be new to Finland: Fabaeformiscandona lapponica, Pseudocandona pratensis, Eucypris pigra and Paralimnocythere relicta. Two major assemblage groups were recognised by clustering classification and multi-dimensional scaling ordination, one dominated by Cyclocypris ovum, the second by Candona candida. Taxonomic diversity of the most assemblages was of expected range based on the inventory of 53 freshwater species of Finland.

The macroinvertebrate fauna of twenty-one ponds (thirteen temporary and eight permanent) located in four protected areas in Central Italy were studied in March, May and June 2002, with the aim to bring out relationships between environmental variables and the functional characteristics (functional feeding groups, habits and resistance to drought) of communities. Macroinvertebrates were collected in three mesohabitat types (macrophyte beds, littoral sediments, central sediments). Overall, the functional attributes of temporary and permanent pond communities did not differ greatly. However, at the mesohabitat scale, collector-gatherers, burrowers and permanent residents capable of passive dispersal were more abundant in sediments. Scrapers and shredders, sprawlers and climbers, swimmers and divers, and organisms capable of active dispersal which lack drought resistance were more abundant in macrophyte beds. Although hydroperiod is the main driving factor affecting community structure, our results suggest that it remains an unimportant factor in controlling functional traits, which appeared to be more influenced by substratum types. Moreover, the positive relationship between taxonomic and functional diversity metrics indicates that an increase in taxonomic richness induces a satisfactory partitioning of the ecological resources among taxa, thus maintaining the ecological complexity of the ponds regardless of their hydroperiod length.

Vellaria zucchellii sp. nov. is described from coastal sediment samples from Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica, 74°40′28.1″S, 164°04′11.6″E, Tethys Bay, 25 m depth). This organic-walled monothalamous (single chambered) foraminifer is characterized by a wide, prominent aperture that facilitates attachment to larger particles (small sand grains or other foraminiferal shells). It shares this feature with the two other known species of Vellaria, both of which were described from an Indian estuary. Phylogenetic analysis of small subunit rRNA gene sequences suggest that V. zucchellii is related to the genus Psammophaga. However, the new species lacks the mineral grain inclusions that are characteristic of Psammophaga. The description of this new organic-walled monothalamous foraminiferal species further documents the high taxonomic diversity of these delicate and abundant protists in the polar benthic communities.