No abstract

Data on species occurrence at the scale of their distributional range and the determination of their habitat use requirements are essential to support conservation and define management plans that account for their habitat requirements. For wide-ranging species, such as cetaceans, especially considering that their marine habitats include offshore areas, collection of such data is challenging. In the absence of dedicated surveys, alternative methodologies are needed, such as the use of data collected from platforms of opportunity and modelling techniques to predict distribution in unsurveyed areas. Using 6 years of cetacean occurrence data collected along cargo ship routes between the Iberian Peninsula, northwestern African coasts and the Macaronesian islands, we developed ecological niche models to assess habitat preferences and predict suitable habitats of the eight most frequently sighted cetacean taxa in the area. Explanatory variables used for model fitting included topographic, oceanographic, detectability, geographic and seasonal features. To provide a robust habitat characterisation, along with predictions of habitat suitability, making best use of occurrence datasets, we applied two modelling techniques, GAM and Maxent, which offer complementary strengths. Coastal areas provide important habitats for common and bottlenose dophins, while other dolphin species (spotted and striped dolphins) have a more oceanic distribution. The predicted niches of Cuvier’s beaked whale and minke whales are mainly in the high seas at northern latitudes. Suitable habitats for sperm whales and pilot whales are mostly in southern areas in continental slope regions. For all the species, models indicated that areas around seamount features offer suitable habitats, likely of high relevance in oligotrophic offshore waters. As such, dedicated survey effort in such areas would facilitate development and implementation of appropriate management plans, which are currently lacking. Our models offer an important contribution to baseline knowledge of cetacean distribution at basin-scale in the region and could support the definition of priority areas, monitoring plans, and conservation measures, essential to comply with the requirements of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

How species are distributed on Earth depends largely on climate factors. Whenever these environmental conditions change, species tend to shift their distributions to reach more favourable conditions. Distinct sets of species similarly distributed (i.e., chorotypes) occur in biogeographical regions with homogeneous environmental conditions. Here, we analysed whether biogeographical regions are unstable over time (from the past to the future). We modelled the realised niche of amphibians and reptiles in the Iberian Peninsula in the present, and several past and future climate scenarios. Then, we used Jaccard’s index and the unweighted pair group method (UPGMA) to define the biogeographical regions. Our results suggest that the biogeographical regions of Iberian amphibians and reptiles changed greatly over time, due to the climatic changes between periods. Biogeographical regions composed of species with Atlantic affinities changed particularly, overall gaining suitable areas in past colder periods and losing suitable areas in warmer periods. The areas of refugia for amphibians over time corresponded to the most humid regions (north-west of the peninsula), while the most important areas for reptiles occur in the south and on the Atlantic coast. The identification of biogeographical patterns considering past climate changes is essential to better apply conservation measures.

Roads represent a major source of mortality for many species. To mitigate road mortality, it is essential to know where collisions with vehicles are happening and which species and populations are most affected. For this, moving platforms such as mobile mapping systems (MMS) can be used to automatically detect road-killed animals on the road surface. We recently developed an MMS to detect road-killed amphibians, composed of a scanning system on a trailer. We present here a smaller and improved version of this system (MMS2) for detecting road-killed amphibians and small birds. It is composed of a stereo multi-spectral and high definition camera (ZED), a high-power processing laptop, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a support device, and a lighter charger. The MMS2 can be easily attached to any vehicle and the surveys can be performed by any person with or without sampling skills. To evaluate the system’s effectiveness, we performed several controlled and real surveys in the Évora district (Portugal). In real surveys, the system detected approximately 78% of the amphibians and birds present on surveyed roads (overlooking 22%) and generated approximately 17% of false positives. Our system can improve the implementation of conservation measures, saving time for researchers and transportation planning professionals.

Anatolia is characterized by a complex topological structure and a wide diversity of climatic regions. This geological context has been crucial during the evolution of the rock lizard genus Darevskia, promoting the origin of several species within this group of lizards. Our study focuses on the evolutionary history of the rudis species complex, comprised by Darevskia rudis, D. valentini and D. portschinskii, distributed across Anatolia and the Caucasus, with overlapping ranges. Previous studies have suggested the existence of ancient gene flow between these taxa, which, allied with poor sampling, led to weakly resolved phylogenies and mismatching topologies. Here, we employ two mitochondrial (cytb and ND4) and two nuclear (MC1R and C‐mos) DNA fragments, coupled with ecological niche modelling and a significant representation of the species’ wide distribution range to further assess relationships. The specimens identified either as Darevskia rudis or as D. valentini appear as paraphyletic and substructured into four clades, which started to differentiate during the lower Pleistocene (around 1.3 Mya). We also differentiate genetically the recently described Darevskia bithynica and identify the Kizil River valley as a strong vicariant candidate to explain the origin of this species by allopatric speciation. Moreover, the eastern Black Sea Mountains seem to have played an important role as glacial refugium for several populations of D. rudis. Overall, the present study confirms the circum‐Black Sea as a potential Pleistocene refuge and supports the refugia‐within‐refugia hypothesis with the finding of several geographically coherent evolutionary units in the region.