Niche differentiation between deeply divergent phylogenetic lineages of an endemic newt: implications for Species Distribution Models.

Species distribution models (SDMs) treat species as a single unit, neglecting intraspecific variation. Few studies address the impact of intraspecific variation on SDM performance, and none of them account for the well-known inter-algorithm variability in prediction performance. The endemic Iberian amphibian Lissotriton boscai comprises two geographically highly structured phylogenetic lineages, which allowed us to explore how intraspecific variation affects the overall performance of SDMs and the predicted ecological niche.

Arthropod biodiversity patterns point to the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum (MSS) as a climate refugium.

The determinants of biodiversity patterns in the subterranean habitat called Mesovoid Shallow Substratum (MSS) are not well-understood. In this study, thirty-three scree slopes at high altitudes were selected across the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park in central Spain to investigate the effect of ten environmental variables on the abundance and species diversity of the spider and springtail assemblages from the colluvial MSS. In each locality, a multiperforated PVC tube with a pitfall trap inside was buried up to 1 m deep, and generalized linear models and Mantel tests were used to analyze the effect of mainly climate- and habitat-related variables on the diversity patterns of both taxa.

The study of hidden habitats sheds light on poorly known taxa: spiders of the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum.

The scarce and biased knowledge about the diversity and distribution of Araneae species in the Iberian Peninsula is accentuated in poorly known habitats such as the Mesovoid Shallow Substratum (MSS). The aim of this study was to characterize the spiders inventory of the colluvial MSS of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, and to assess the importance of this habitat for the conservation of the taxon. Thirty-three localities were selected across the high peaks of the Guadarrama mountain range and they were sampled for a year using subterranean traps specially designed to capture arthropods in the MSS.

Energy and speleogenesis: Key determinants of terrestrial species richness in caves.

The aim of this study was to unravel the relative role played by speleogenesis (i.e., the process in which a cave is formed), landscape-scale variables, and geophysical factors in the determination of species richness in caves.

Ecological change predicts population dynamics and genetic diversity over 120 000 years.

While ecological effects on short-term population dynamics are well understood, their effects over millennia are difficult to demonstrate and convincing evidence is scant. Using coalescent methods, we analysed past population dynamics of three lizard species (Psammodromus hispanicus, P. edwardsianus, P.

The "Alluvial Mesovoid Shallow Substratum", a new subterranean habitat.

In this paper we describe a new type of subterranean habitat associated with dry watercourses in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula, the "Alluvial Mesovoid Shallow Substratum" (alluvial MSS). Historical observations and data from field sampling specially designed to study MSS fauna in the streambeds of temporary watercourses support the description of this new habitat. To conduct the sampling, 16 subterranean sampling devices were placed in a region of Eastern Spain.

A multiple-site similarity measure independent of richness.

The Diserud-Ødegaard multiple-site similarity index makes use of data on species shared by two or more sites, but produces equal similarity values in two different circumstances: species loss and true species turnover. We developed a new multiple-site similarity measure, which is independent of richness and performs better than the Diserud-Ødegaard index under conditions of equal richness between sites, because it discriminates between situations in which shared species are distributed evenly among sites or concentrated in few pairs of sites. We conducted several simulations to assess the relative performance of both the indices.

Limitations of biodiversity databases: case study on seed-plant diversity in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Databases on the distribution of species can be used to describe the geographic patterns of biodiversity. Nevertheless, they have limitations. We studied three of these limitations: (1) inadequacy of raw data to describe richness patterns due to sampling bias, (2) lack of survey effort assessment (and lack of exhaustiveness in compiling data about survey effort), and (3) lack of coverage of the geographic and environmental variations that affect the distribution of organisms.