Biodiversity hotspots, representing regions with high species endemism and conservation threat, have been mapped globally. Yet, biodiversity distribution data from within hotspots are too sparse for effective conservation in the face of rapid environmental change. Using frogs as indicators, ecological niche models under paleoclimates, and simultaneous Bayesian analyses of multispecies molecular data, we compare alternative hypotheses of assemblage-scale response to late Quaternary climate change. This reveals a hotspot within the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot. We show that the southern Atlantic forest was climatically unstable relative to the central region, which served as a large climatic refugium for neotropical species in the late Pleistocene. This sets new priorities for conservation in Brazil and establishes a validated approach to biodiversity prediction in other understudied, species-rich regions.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1166955 | DOI Listing |
Insects
December 2024
LIBRe-Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.
The native biodiversity of oceanic islands is threatened by human-driven disturbance and by the growing number of species introductions which often interfere with natural ecological processes. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of anthropogenic disturbance on plant-pollinator interactions in the native forest communities of an oceanic island (Terceira, Azores, Portugal). We found that native species predominated in preserved sites compared to disturbed ones and that the extant plant-pollinator interactions were mostly dominated by generalist species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimals (Basel)
January 2025
Faculty of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Department of Animal Science, São Paulo State University, Jaboticabal Campus, São Paulo 14884-900, Brazil.
Domestic cats () currently occupy the 38th place in the Global Invasive Species Database. Free-roaming cats potentially have broad-ranging impacts on wildlife, occupying most terrestrial environments globally as house pets, strays, or feral animals. In Australia, for example, cats are responsible for the decline in many vertebrate populations and extinction of several native mammals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports
January 2025
Graduate Program in Parasitological Biology, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil; Laboratory of Entomology and Tropical Parasitology, Department of Morphology, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil.
The present study reports the occurrence of Eutrombicula goeldii (Oudemans) (Trombidiformes: Trombiculidade) on free-living common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, in Sergipe state, northeastern Brazil. Fifty-two marmosets were captured from 12 family groups, and during the examination of some individuals, orange mites were detected in the peripheral region of the ear and eyelids. The mites were collected via skin scrapings and transparent adhesive tape and observed under a microscope.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Negl Trop Dis
January 2025
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil.
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is primarily associated with non-human-primates (NHPs) in Africa, which also infect humans. Since its introduction to Brazil in 2014, CHIKV has predominantly thrived in urban cycles, involving Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Limited knowledge exists regarding CHIKV occurrence and implications in rural and sylvatic cycles where neotropical NHPs are potential hosts, from which we highlight Leontopithecus chrysomelas (Kuhl, 1820), the golden-headed lion tamarin (GHLT), an endangered species endemic to the Atlantic Forest (AF) in Southern Bahia State, Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil.
Knowledge of the potential distribution and locations of poorly known threatened species is crucial for guiding conservation strategies and new field surveys. The painted tree-rat (Callistomys pictus) is a monospecific, rare, and endangered echimyid rodent endemic to the southern Bahia Atlantic Forest in Brazil. There have been no records of the species published in the last 20 years, and the region has experienced significant forest loss and degradation.
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