Influence of plant community on Aedes albopictus (Diptera, Culicidae) oviposition behaviour: Insights from a Spanish botanical garden.

Mosquitoes are capable of transmitting pathogens of both medical and veterinary significance. Addressing the nuisance and vector roles of Aedes albopictus through surveillance and control programs is a primary concern for European countries. Botanical gardens provide suitable habitats for the development of Ae.

Global assessment of marine plastic exposure risk for oceanic birds.

Plastic pollution is distributed patchily around the world's oceans. Likewise, marine organisms that are vulnerable to plastic ingestion or entanglement have uneven distributions. Understanding where wildlife encounters plastic is crucial for targeting research and mitigation.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of Lilford's wall lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874) from the Balearic Islands (Spain).

The Mediterranean lizard Podarcis lilfordi is an emblematic species of the Balearic Islands. The extensive phenotypic diversity among extant isolated populations makes the species a great insular model system for eco-evolutionary studies, as well as a challenging target for conservation management plans. Here we report the first high-quality chromosome-level assembly and annotation of the P.

Insular holobionts: persistence and seasonal plasticity of the Balearic wall lizard ( gut microbiota.

Background: Integrative studies of animals and associated microbial assemblages (, the holobiont) are rapidly changing our perspectives on organismal ecology and evolution. Insular vertebrates provide ideal natural systems to understand patterns of host-gut microbiota coevolution, the resilience and plasticity these microbial communities over temporal and spatial scales, and ultimately their role in the host ecological adaptation.

Methods: Here we used the endemic Balearic wall lizard to dissect the drivers of the microbial diversity within and across host allopatric populations/islets.

Life span, growth, senescence and island syndrome: Accounting for imperfect detection and continuous growth.

Small vertebrates on islands are expected to attain a larger body size, and a greater survival than their mainland counterparts. Comparative studies have questioned whether lizards exhibit this set of adaptations, referred to as the 'island syndrome'. We collected data on 730 individuals the endemic Lilford's lizard Podarcis lilfordi throughout a 10-year period on a small island of the Balearic archipelago (Spain).

Larvae ecology and adult activity of (Diptera: Culicidae) in a touristic rock-pool area of the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean).

Mosquitoes are vectors of several diseases of medical concern such as malaria or dengue and can also negatively affect tourism and the life-quality of the neighbourhood. The species Aedes mariae (Sergent and Sergent, 1903) is a poorly studied mosquito that breeds in rock-pools of the Mediterranean coast. General Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were used to determine drivers affecting the presence and abundance of this species.

Contrasting size-dependent life history strategies of an insular lizard.

In many species with continuous growth, body size is an important driver of life-history tactics and its relative importance is thought to reflect the spatio-temporal variability of selective pressures. We developed a deterministic size-dependent integral projection model for 3 insular neighboring lizard populations with contrasting adult body sizes to investigate how size-related selective pressures can influence lizard life-history tactics. For each population, we broke down differences in population growth rates into contributions from size-dependent body growth, survival, and fecundity.

Diet composition of the lizard (Lacertidae) on 2 small islands: an individual-resource network approach.

Despite it is widely accepted that intrapopulation variation is fundamental to ecological and evolutionary processes, this level of information has only recently been included into network analysis of species/population interactions. When done, it has revealed non-random patterns in the distribution of trophic resources. Nestedness in resource use among individuals is the most recurrent observed pattern, often accompanied by an absence of modularity, but no previous studies examine bipartite modularity.

Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks: Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents.

Ticks can negatively affect their host by direct effects as blood feeding causing anaemia or discomfort, or by pathogen transmission. Consequently, ticks can have an important role in the population dynamics of their hosts. However, specific studies on the demographic effects of tick infestation on seabirds are still scarce.