Local adaptation to climate facilitates a global invasion.

Local adaptation may facilitate range expansion during invasions, but the mechanisms promoting destructive invasions remain unclear. Cheatgrass (), native to Eurasia and Africa, has invaded globally, with particularly severe impacts in western North America. We sequenced 307 genotypes and conducted controlled experiments.

Heads or Tails? Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) Attraction to Carrion.

Necrophilous insects occupy an ecologically interesting niche because carrion is a highly desirable but ephemeral food source. Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) within temperate regions are frequently found at carrion, but little is known about their attraction to this resource. Are dung beetles attracted to the carrion itself or are they indirectly attracted due to the exposed gastrointestinal contents? We investigated the association between dung beetles and carrion by examining the distribution of dung beetles on the cranial and caudal end of rat carcasses, delimiting a resource more attractive to necrophagous insects (cranial end) from a resource more attractive to coprophagous insects (caudal end).

Habitat Associations of Carrion Beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Across a Full Annual Cycle.

Necrophagous insects play an important role in decomposition and nutrient recycling of decomposing vertebrates. Ecological studies of carrion-associated beetles enhance forensic investigations by providing information about community assemblages and predictable patterns of succession. However, lack of standardized protocols that include replication, spatial scale, and phenology reduce detection of patterns and predictions.

A new cryptic species and review of the east-Andean leaf chafer genus Ohaus, 1905 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Rutelinae).

The Neotropical scarab beetle genus Ohaus (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini) is distributed in the western (lowland) Amazonian region from Colombia to Bolivia. Based on our research, the genus includes three species including a new cryptic species from Ecuador. We use niche modeling to predict potential suitable habitat and identify environmental factors associated with the distribution of species.