Integrated distance sampling models for simple point counts.

Point counts (PCs) are widely used in biodiversity surveys but, despite numerous advantages, simple PCs suffer from several problems: detectability, and therefore abundance, is unknown; systematic spatiotemporal variation in detectability yields biased inferences, and unknown survey area prevents formal density estimation and scaling-up to the landscape level. We introduce integrated distance sampling (IDS) models that combine distance sampling (DS) with simple PC or detection/nondetection (DND) data to capitalize on the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses of each data type. Key to IDS models is the view of simple PC and DND data as aggregations of latent DS surveys that observe the same underlying density process.

Phenological and elevational shifts of plants, animals and fungi under climate change in the European Alps.

Mountain areas are biodiversity hotspots and provide a multitude of ecosystem services of irreplaceable socio-economic value. In the European Alps, air temperature has increased at a rate of about 0.36°C decade since 1970, leading to glacier retreat and significant snowpack reduction.

Benefits of protected areas for nonbreeding waterbirds adjusting their distributions under climate warming.

Climate warming is driving changes in species distributions and community composition. Many species have a so-called climatic debt, that is, shifts in range lag behind shifts in temperature isoclines. Inside protected areas (PAs), community changes in response to climate warming can be facilitated by greater colonization rates by warm-dwelling species, but also mitigated by lowering extirpation rates of cold-dwelling species.

Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review.

The use of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS; also known as "drones") for professional and personal-leisure use is increasing enormously. UAS operate at low altitudes (<500 m) and in any terrain, thus they are susceptible to interact with local fauna, generating a new type of anthropogenic disturbance that has not been systematically evaluated. To address this gap, we performed a review of the existent literature about animals' responses to UAS flights and conducted a pooled analysis of the data to determine the probability and intensity of the disturbance, and to identify the factors influencing animals' reactions towards the small aircraft.