Local heterogenisation and regional homogenisation linked to habitat loss induced by dams in riparian forests of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Riparian forests are crucial for biodiversity, but dam construction for hydroelectric power disrupts these ecosystems, causing habitat loss and altering river dynamics. Our study investigates the impacts of dams on tree diversity in the southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We sampled trees along riverbanks and uplands across 15 dam-affected fragments, analysing the relationship between habitat loss (i.

Correction: Pre-colonial Amerindian legacies in forest composition of southern Brazil.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Preventing traditional management can cause grassland loss within 30 years in southern Brazil.

Woody encroachment threatens several ecosystems around the world. In general, management of grasslands includes regulation of fire and grazing regimes. Changes in these two types of disturbances are potential drivers of woody encroachment.

Melanism evolution in the cat family is influenced by intraspecific communication under low visibility.

Melanism in the cat family has been associated with functions including camouflage, thermoregulation and parasite resistance. Here we investigate a new hypothesis proposing that the evolution of melanism in cats has additionally been influenced by communication functions of body markings. To evaluate this hypothesis, we assembled a species-level data set of morphological (body marks: white marks on the backs of ears) and ecological (circadian activity: arrhythmic/nocturnal, and environmental preference: open/closed) characteristics that could be associated with communication via body markings, and combined these data with a dated molecular phylogeny.

Interaction of land management and araucaria trees in the maintenance of landscape diversity in the highlands of southern Brazil.

In the southern Brazilian highlands, pre-Columbian societies created domesticated landscapes through the use and management of forests, including nurse Araucaria angustifolia trees, a common conifer in these regions. Nowadays, local smallholders still use traditional practices, such as burning, to promote vegetation for cattle grazing in highland grasslands. Even though burning is normally of small extent and low frequency, such management can slow down natural forest expansion and contribute to the maintenance of grasslands, by opposing the facilitative effect of nurse araucaria trees.