Publications by authors named "Gabriele M Sgarlata"
Species ranges are dynamic, experiencing expansions, contractions or shifts in response to habitat changes driven by extrinsic factors such as climate change or human activities. While existing research examines the genetic consequences of spatial processes, few studies integrate species-specific traits to analyse how habitat changes affect co-existing species. In this study, we address this gap by investigating how genetic diversity patterns vary among species with different traits (such as generation length, population density and dispersal) experiencing similar habitat changes.
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- * The article proposes a comprehensive approach to accurately define species boundaries, using integrated evidence and focusing on geographic isolation, specifically applied to the mouse lemurs, a debated group of primates.
- * The study reveals that previous estimates of species diversity were inflated, mainly mistaking geographic variation for new species, and suggests that a clearer understanding of species limits can inform better conservation strategies.
Madagascar exhibits extraordinarily high level of species richness and endemism, while being severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation (HL&F). In front of these threats to biodiversity, conservation effort can be directed, for instance, in the documentation of species that are still unknown to science, or in investigating how species respond to HL&F. The tufted-tail rats genus (Eliurus spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The investigation of morphological variation in animals is widely used in taxonomy, ecology, and evolution. Using large datasets for meta-analyses has dramatically increased, raising concerns about dataset compatibilities and biases introduced by contributions of multiple researchers.
Materials And Methods: We compiled morphological data on 13 variables for 3073 individual mouse lemurs (Cheirogaleidae, Microcebus spp.
Article Synopsis
- Habitat loss and fragmentation impact different organisms variably, prompting a study on how these factors influence two rodent species—one endemic and one invasive—in Madagascar's fragmented forests.
- The research used genetic data to assess inbreeding, genetic diversity, and connectivity, revealing higher inbreeding and lower diversity in the endemic species compared to the invasive one.
- Findings included patterns of relatedness within and between habitat patches, with different migration rates for each species that did not align with the type of habitat they occupied, highlighting potential ecological constraints on the endemic species.
Tropical forests harbor extremely high levels of biological diversity and are quickly disappearing. Despite the increasingly recognized high rate of habitat loss, it is expected that new species will be discovered as more effort is put to document tropical biodiversity. Exploring under-studied regions is particularly urgent if we consider the rapid changes in habitat due to anthropogenic activities.
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