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Pachycondyla harpax (Fabricius) is a widespread and conspicuous New World ponerine ant (subfamily Ponerinae). To examine the geographic distribution of P. harpax, I compiled and mapped published and unpublished specimen records from >1500 sites. I documented the earliest known P. harpax records for 28 geographic areas (countries, West Indian islands, and US states), including four for which I found no previously published records: the islands of Guadeloupe, Margarita, and Tobago and the US state of Georgia. Pachycondyla harpax has been recorded from every country in South and Central America except Chile and Uruguay. Pachycondyla harpax is also now known from six West Indian islands: Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Margarita, Trinidad, and Tobago. The known continental range of P. harpax appears to be essentially continuous, extending from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in the south (31.8°S) to Wood County, Texas in the north (32.8°N), including the continental islands of Margarita, Tobago, and Trinidad. Isolated island populations of P. harpax on Grenada, Guadeloupe, and Jamaica may be exotic, introduced through human commerce. In the US, it is unclear why P. harpax populations are only known from Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia, when there would appear to be suitable habitat for this species all along the Gulf coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.

Kinixys spekii has a wide distribution range across sub-Saharan Africa, having been reported from Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, eSwatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Kinixys spekii inhabits savannah and dry bushveld habitats and was previously considered an inland species. However, recent records suggest a more extensive geographical distribution. Here, we provide genetically verifed records for Angola, South Africa, and Mozambique, and discuss reliable sightings for Rwanda. These new records extend the range signifcantly to the east and west, and provide evidence for the occurrence of this species along the coast of the Indian Ocean in South Africa and Mozambique. ; © 2019 Ihlow et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The official and authorized publication credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows: offcial journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; official journal website: amphibian-reptile-conservation.org.

Kinixys spekii has a wide distribution range across sub-Saharan Africa, having been reported from Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, eSwatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Kinixys spekii inhabits savannah and dry bushveld habitats and was previously considered an inland species. However, recent records suggest a more extensive geographical distribution. Here, we provide genetically verified records for Angola, South Africa, and Mozambique, and discuss reliable sightings for Rwanda. These new records extend the range significantly to the east and west, and provide evidence for the occurrence of this species along the coast of the Indian Ocean in South Africa and Mozambique. ; A Margarethe Koenig scholarship from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, the German Science Foundation and the Mapula Trust. ; http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org ; am2020 ; Zoology and Entomology

Prolonged diapause occurs in a number of insects and is interpreted as a way to evade adverse conditions. The winter pine processionary moths (Thaumetopoea pityocampa and Th. wilkinsoni) are important pests of pines and cedars in the Mediterranean region. They are typically univoltine, with larvae feeding across the winter, pupating in spring in the soil and emerging as adults in summer. Pupae may, however, enter a prolonged diapause with adults emerging one or more years later. We tested the effect of variation in winter temperature on the incidence of prolonged diapause, using a total of 64 individual datasets related to insect cohorts over the period 1964 2015 for 36 sites in seven countries, covering most of the geographic range of both species. We found high variation in prolonged diapause incidence over their ranges. At both lower and upper ends of the thermal range in winter, prolonged diapause tended to be higher than at intermediate temperatures. Prolonged diapause may represent a risk-spreading strategy to mitigate climate uncertainty, although it may increase individual mortality because of a longer exposure to mortality factors such as predation, parasitism, diseases or energy depletion. Climate change, and in particular the increase of winter temperature, may reduce the incidence of prolonged diapause in colder regions whereas it may increase it in warmer ones, with consequences for population dynamics. ; Work supported by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo to Md H.R. Salman, University of Padova to Myron P. Zalucki and Folco Giomi, Spanish Ministry of the Environment (PROPINOL PN22/2008 and CONSOLIDER-MONTES CSD2008- 00040) to José A. Hodar, DIAMETABO project of the INRA EFPA department to Mathieu Laparie, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 771271 HOMED (Holistic Management of Emerging forest pests and Diseases) to Andrea Battisti.

Over evolutionary time, pathogen challenge shapes the immunepheno type of the host to better respond to an incipient threat. The extent and direction of this selection pressure depend on the local pathogen composition, which is in turn determined by biotic and abiotic features of the environment. However, little is known about adaptation to local pathogen threats in wild animals. The Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) is a species complex that lends itself to the study of immune adaptation because of its circumpolar distribution over a large latitudinal range, with little or no admixture between ''different clades. Inthis study, we examine the diversity in a key family of innate immune genes-theToll-like receptors (TLRs)-across the range of the Gentoo penguin. The three TLRs that we investigated present varying levels of diversity, with TLR4 and TLR5 greatly exceeding the diversity of TLR7. We present evidence of positive selection in TLR4 and TLR5, which points to pathogen-driven adaptation to the local pathogen milieu. Finally, we demonstrate that two positively selected cosegregating sites in TLR5 are sufficient to alter the responsiveness of the receptor to its bacterial ligand, flagellin. Taken together, these results suggest that Gentoo penguins have experienced distinct pathogen-driven selection pressures in different environments, which may be important given the role of the Gentoo penguin as a sentinel species in some of the world's most rapidly changing environments. ; Oxford Clarendon Fund scholarship Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/M011224/1 Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) PIA ACT172065 Spanish Government CGL2007-60369 CTM2015-64720 Institut Polaire Francais Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV: Program 137) Institut Polaire Francais Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV: Program 354) Laboratoire International Associe 647 "BioSensib" (CSM/CNRS-University of Strasbourg) ALS

Here we provide geographic distribution ranges for 205 species of terrestrial non-volant mammals in the 1970s. We selected terrestrial non-volant mammals because they are among the most studied groups, have greater availability of historical distribution data for the 1970s decade, and also show the largest range contractions compared to other taxonomic groups (Di Minin etal. 2013; Ripple etal., 2014). Species belong to 52 families and 16 orders. Range maps were extracted from scientific literature including published papers, books, and action plans. For Australian species, due to the absence of published maps, we collated occurrence data from individual data sets (maintained by museums and government agencies) and converted these into polygonal range maps. Taxonomic and geographic biases towards more studied (charismatic) species are inevitably present. Among the most abundant orders, the highest percentage representation is for Carnivora (55 species, corresponding to 21% of species in the order), Cetartiodactyla (24 species, 10% of the order) and Perissodactyla (6 species, 38% of the order). In contrast, the percentage representation is low for Rodentia (66 species, 3% of species in the order), Primates (19 species, 4%) and Eulipotyphla (6 species, 1%). The proportional representation of less speciose orders is highly variable. The dataset offers the opportunity to measure the recent (1970-present) change in the distribution of terrestrial mammal species, and test ecological and biogeographical hypotheses about such change. It also allows to identify areas where changes in species distribution were largest. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set other than citation of this Data Paper.

Climate change is suggested to be one of the possible drivers of decline in pollinators. In this paper, we applied an ecological niche model to modeling distributional responses in face of climate changes for the subspecies of Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier. This species is divided into two subspecies based on difference in the yellow tergal stripes, which are continuous in M. q. quadrifasciata and interrupted in M. q. anthidioides. The geographic distribution of each subspecies is also distinct. M. q. quadrifasciata is found in colder regions in the Southern states of Brazil, whereas M. q. anthidioides is found in habitats with higher temperatures, suggesting that ecological features, such as adaption to distinct climatic conditions may take place. Thus, the possibility of having diff erent responses in geographic range shifts to future climate scenario would be expected. This study aimed to investigate the eff ects of climate changes on the distribution of the two M. quadrifasciata subspecies in Brazil, using an ecological niche model by the MaxEnt algorithm. Our results indicate that the subspecies showed clear diff erences in geographic shift patterns and increased climate niche overlap in the future scenarios. M. q. anthidioides will have the potential for an increase of suitable climatic conditinos in the Atlantic Forest, and towards the Pampa biome, while M. q. quadrifasciata will suffer a reduction of adequate habitats in almost all of its current geographic distribution. Given the potential adverse eff ects of climate changes for this subspecies, conservation actions are urgently needed to avoid that it goes extinct.

We thank the authorities of the Sierra Nevada National Park and the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusian Regional Government) for granting permission to collect samples even of species under protection. We also thank the Centro de Investigación Tecnología e Innovación de la Universidad de Sevilla ("Celestino Mutis" CITIUS-2 center) for facilities to use the Coulter Multisizer 3. This research was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (National Parks Authority ref. 296/2011) and by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2014-52459-P and partially CGL2013-45037-P and CGL2017-82465-P). S. MartínHernanz was supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (FPI 2015, BES-2015-073314). All samples in this study were collected under permission by the Sierra Nevada National Park and the Andalusian Regional Government ; Unraveling the relationships between ecological, functional traits and genetic diversity of narrow endemic plants provide opportunities for understanding how evolutionary processes operate over local spatial scales and ultimately how diversity is created and maintained. To explore these aspects in Sierra Nevada, the core of the Mediterranean Betic‐Rifean hotspot, we have analyzed nuclear DNA microsatellite diversity and a set of biological and environmental factors (physicochemical soil parameters, floral traits, and community composition) in two strictly endemic taxa from dolomite outcrops of Sierra Nevada (Helianthemum pannosum and H. apenninum subsp. estevei ) and two congeneric widespread taxa (H. cinereum subsp. rotundifolium and H. apenninum subsp. apenninum ) that further belong to two different lineages (subgenera) of Helianthemum . We obtained rather unexpected results contrasting with the theory: (a) The narrow endemic taxa showed higher values of genetic diversity as well as higher average values of pollen production per flower and pollen‐to‐ovule ratio than their widespread relatives; and (b) the two taxa of subg. Helianthemum , with larger corollas, approach herkogamy and higher pollen production than the two taxa of subg. Plectolobum , displayed lower genetic diversity and higher values of inbreeding. Altogether, these results disclose how genetic diversity may be affected simultaneously by a large number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, especially in Pleistocene glacial refugia in mountains where the spatial context harbors a great ecological heterogeneity. On the other hand, differences in mating system and the significant effect of the substrate profile, both being highly diverse in the genus Helianthemum , in the genetic variability illustrate about the importance of these two factors in the diversification and species differentiation of this paradigmatic genus in the Mediterranean and open the field to formulate and test new hypotheses of local adaptation, trait evolution, and habitat diversification. ; Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Grant/Award Number: BES-2015-073314; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Grant/Award Number: CGL2013-45037-P, CGL2014- 52459-P and CGL2017-82465-P; Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, Grant/Award Number: 296/2011

Endemic species of Atlantic Forest Central Corridor may have evolved under adverse climate conditions, but their response to modern climate change is unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the response of the endemic and endangered ant species Dinoponera lucida to biotics and abiotics factors based on three scales: ecological factors inside forest fragment, physical attributes of landscape and climatic variables of the assessed region. Data collection took place in a representative selection of forest fragments in the region where the species is distributed in. Pitfalls were used to collect samples and to assure the presence and absence of the species in the site. We also checked the abundance of food resources and applied a hemispherical photography technique to measure shading inside the fragment, in loco. Landscape attributes data and climatic predictors were collected through geoprocessing techniques. All predictors were associated with binary "presence" and "absence" data based applied in logistic models. There was no significant response to environmental aspects within the fragment or to landscape, but there was strong and peculiar response to climatic variables such as temperature and rainfall. Accordingly, D. lucida presents a restricted realized niche, a feature shared among many endangered species that can disappear due to displacement and to habitat loss caused by climate and environmental changes. This species presents all the criteria necessary to be considered as rare, which is a controversial subject with political implications for Espírito Santo state, and makes D. lucida the ideal target for urgent conservation strategies.

Funding: This study was financially supported by COST Action FP1406 (PINESTRENGTH), the Estonian Science Foundation grant PSG136, the Forestry Commission, United Kingdom, the Phytophthora Research Centre Reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000453, a project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. ANSES is supported by a grant managed by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the "Investissements d'Avenir" programme (ANR-11-LABX-0002-01, Laboratory of ExcellenceARBRE). SW was partly supported by BBSRC Grant reference BB/L012251/1 "Promoting resilience of UK tree species to novel pests & pathogens: ecological & evolutionary solutions (PROTREE)" jointly funded by BBSRC, Defra, ESRC, the Forestry Commission, NERC and the Scottish Government, under the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative. Annual surveys in Switzerland were financially supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. Acknowledgments: Andrea Kunova and Cristina Pizzatti are acknowledged for the assistance in the sampling. Thanks are due to Dina Ribeiro and Helena Marques from ICNF-Portuguese Forest Authority for providing location coordinates. We thank three anonymous reviwers for valuable corrections and suggestions. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

AbstractThe U.S. military faces an increasingly diverse array of challenges in meeting its national security objectives in the twenty‐first century. One of the most critical challenges is providing realistic training for our armed forces. To address this challenge, the Department of Defense is pursuing a strategy to achieve range sustainment. This strategy dictates a need for a management structure within which the military can operate and maintain sustainable ranges. Rather than starting with a completely new structure, the Department of Defense should consider management structures currently in use around the world. The management structure described in the international standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001, provides a very useful framework for addressing the required elements of a sustainable range management system. The ISO 14001 framework helps range managers identify gaps in any proposed management structure and determine the most effective means of integrating existing range management tools into the sustainable range management system. Two examples of existing range management tools that may be used within a sustainable range management system are geographic information systems (GISs) and the ecological model ECOS2T (Ecological Simulations for a Sustainable Tomorrow). ISO 14001 provides a useful road map for the integration of these tools into a sustainable range management system. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The paper presents an analysis of the costs of shipping containers from four Chinese ports to representative central European destinations. It is demonstrated that the sum of costs by sea and costs over land, using both truck and rail transport, clearly favours the Italian ports, above all those of Genoa and Trieste for a geographic range that does not include all the Northern countries of the European Union and Russia but does cover a considerable portion of the southernmost cities of these countries such as Milan, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Bern, Lyon, and Kiev. Other Italian ports can compensate for the handicap of the greater distance from this range of production and consumption zones, if they are appropriately reorganized with lower costs in direct competition with the Northern European ports, particularly the port of Naples, where COSCO has set up operation. However, despite the evident advantages in terms of distance and costs, Italian ports are unable to compete with those of Northern Europe on account of inefficiency affecting both their internal structure and inland transport. The purpose of the paper is to define costs in each sector (shipping costs, port costs and inland distribution costs) and to compare the relative port positions.