Food and light availability induce plastic responses in fire salamander larvae from contrasting environments.

Phenotypic plasticity has been proposed as a mechanism facilitating the colonisation and adaptation to novel environments, such as caves. However, phenotypic plasticity in subterranean environments remains largely unexplored. Here, we test for plasticity in growth and development of fire salamander larvae () from subterranean and surface habitats, in response to contrasting food availability and light conditions.

Oribatid mite communities in mountain scree: stable isotopes (N, C) reveal three trophic levels of exclusively sexual species.

Mountain scree habitats are intermediate habitats between the base of the soil and the bedrock. They are composed of a network of small cracks and voids, and are commonly situated at the lower levels of scree slopes. Their environment is defined by empty spaces inside the scree, the absence of light and photoperiod, low temperature, and resource poor conditions.

Effects of vineyard inter-row management on the diversity and abundance of plants and surface-dwelling invertebrates in Central Romania.

Vineyard inter-rows are important biodiversity hotspots within agricultural landscapes, especially when they are covered with vegetation. However, little is known on the effects to management intensity on a broad range of surface-dwelling invertebrates and their interaction with vegetation. We assessed the diversity and activity density of ants, beetles, millipedes, mites, spiders, springtails and woodlice using pitfall traps in vineyards with either high management intensity (HI) consisting of frequently tilled inter-rows or low management intensity (LO) with alternating tillage in every second inter-row.

Parthenogenetic . sexual reproduction in oribatid mite communities.

The dominance of sex in Metazoa is enigmatic. Sexual species allocate resources to the production of males, while potentially facing negative effects such as the loss of well-adapted genotypes due to recombination, and exposure to diseases and predators during mating. Two major hypotheses have been put forward to explain the advantages of parthenogenetic versus sexual reproduction in animals, that is, the Red Queen hypothesis and the Tangled Bank/Structured Resource Theory of Sex.