Quantifying diversity and growth form distribution of scleractinian corals, in Mangrove Bay, El Qoseir, Egypt.

Background: Coral reefs provide habitat for approximately 25% of all extant marine species, including 845 species of scleractinian corals. These rich ecosystems are becoming increasingly degraded in many regions by a range of anthropogenic factors, including recurrent bleaching episodes associated with rising sea surface temperatures. Within the northern Red Sea, coral reef communities appear to be faring relatively better than global trends and continue to exhibit remarkable diversity and thermal tolerance.

Changes in Community Composition and Functional Traits of Bumblebees in an Alpine Ecosystem Relate to Climate Warming.

Climate warming has been observed as the main cause of changes in diversity, community composition, and spatial distribution of different plant and invertebrate species. Due to even stronger warming compared to the global mean, bumblebees in alpine ecosystems are particularly exposed to these changes. To investigate the effects of climate warming, we sampled bumblebees along an elevational gradient, compared the records with data from 1935 and 1936, and related our results to climate models.

Ant community composition and functional traits in new grassland strips within agricultural landscapes.

Ongoing intensification and fragmentation of European agricultural landscapes dramatically reduce biodiversity and associated functions. Enhancing perennial noncrop areas holds great potential to support ecosystem services such as ant-mediated pest control.To study the potential of newly established grassland strips to enhance ant diversity and associated functions, we used hand collection data and predation experiments to investigate differences in (a) ant community composition and (b) biocontrol-related functional traits, and (c) natural pest control across habitats in cereal fields, old grasslands, and new grassland transects of three years of age.