Urban forest fragments as unexpected sanctuaries for the rare endemic ghost butterfly from the Atlantic forest

Bottled & canned - Anthropogenic debris as an understudied ecological trap for small animals

Nowadays, littering is one of the biggest challenges that environmental conservation is facing. Although beverage containers, such as bottles and cans, belong to the most common threats in this context, their effect on animals has been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to assess the diversity and mortality level of the animal taxa entering discarded containers and to investigate which container features influence the number and functional composition of the trapped animals. The study was conducted in 10 urban woodlands in the city of Wrocław, Poland. In total, 939 open containers were collected. In 56% of them, a total number of 10,162 dead individuals (10,139 invertebrates and 23 vertebrates) was found. The most common amongst them were insects (orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera), malacostracans (Isopoda), arachnids (Opiliones, Sarcoptiformes) and gastropods (Stylommatophora). The number of dead animals was affected positively by the container capacity and was significantly higher in glass and plastic bottles when compared to aluminium cans. At the same time, the presence of a neck negatively affected the number of dead animals. Container capacity was also positively correlated with the abundance of the most common functional groups: predators, phytophages and saprophages. Moreover, colourless and green, but not brown, containers were a significant predictor for the abundance of the latter two groups. Our study revealed that discarded containers constitute an ecological trap for many groups of animals. There is an urgent need to reduce the amount of rubbish in the environment by, for example, the implementation of regional and international regulations addressing the problem of littering, or organising repeated clean-up and educational activities.

North-south and climate-landscape-associated pattern of population structure for the Atlantic Forest White Morpho butterflies

Atlantic Forest White Morpho butterflies, currently classified as Morpho epistrophus and M. iphitus, are endemic to the Atlantic Forest, where they are widely distributed throughout heterogeneous environmental conditions. Studies with endemic butterflies allow to elucidate questions on both patterns of diversity distribution and current and past processes acting on insect groups in this biodiversity hotspot. In the present study, we characterized one mtDNA marker (COI sequences) and developed 11 polymorphic loci of microsatellite for 22 sampling locations distributed throughout the entire Atlantic Forest domain. We investigated both the taxonomic limits of taxa classified as White Morpho and the structure and distribution of the genetic diversity throughout their populations. Genetic markers and distribution data failed to identify species diversification, population structure, or isolation among subpopulations attributed to different taxa proposed for the White Morpho, suggesting that the current distinction between two species is unreasonable. The Bayesian coalescent tree based on COI sequences also failed to recover monophyletic clades for the putative species, and pointed instead to a north-south oriented pattern of genetic structure, with the northern clade coalescing later than the southern clade. Northern samples also showed more intragroup structure than southern samples based on mtDNA data. Clustering tests based on microsatellites indicated the existence of three genetic clusters, with turnover between the states of Paraná and São Paulo. The north-south pattern found for the White Morpho populations is showed for the first time to a endemic AF insect and coincides with the two different bioclimatic domains previously described for vertebrates and plants. Population structure observed for these butterflies is related to climate- and landscape-associated variables, mainly precipitation and elevation.

Benthic Diatom Communities in Urban Streams and the Role of Riparian Buffers

Urbanization impacts stream ecosystems globally through degraded water quality, altered hydrology, and landscape disturbances at the catchment and riparian scales, causing biodiversity losses and altered system functioning. Addressing the “urban stream syndrome” requires multiple mitigation tools, and rehabilitation of riparian vegetation may help improve stream ecological status and provide key ecosystem services. However, the extent to which forested riparian buffers can help support stream biodiversity in the face of numerous environmental contingencies remains uncertain. We assessed how a key indicator of stream ecological status, benthic diatoms, respond to riparian habitat conditions using 10 urban site pairs (each comprising of one unbuffered and one buffered reach), and additional urban downstream and forest reference upstream sites in the Oslo Fjord basin. Diatom communities were structured by multiple drivers including spatial location, land use, water quality, and instream habitat. Among these, riparian habitat condition independently explained 16% of variation in community composition among site pairs. Changes in community structure and indicator taxa, along with a reduction in pollution-tolerant diatoms, suggested tangible benefits of forested riparian buffers for stream biodiversity in urban environments. Managing urban impacts requires multiple solutions, with forested riparian zones providing a potential tool to help improve biodiversity and ecosystem services.