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Asian hornbills are known to forage and breed in fragmented rainforests and agroforestry plantations in human‐modified landscapes adjoining contiguous protected forests. However, the factors influencing year‐round hornbill abundance, demography and tracking of key food resources such as wild fig Ficus fruits in modified habitats and protected forests remain poorly understood. We carried out monthly surveys of two species of high conservation concern, the Vulnerable Great Hornbill (GH, Buceros bicornis) and the endemic Malabar Grey Hornbill (MGH, Ocyceros griseus) for 15 months and monitored ripe fig fruit availability for 12 months along 11 line transects (total length 24 km) in shade‐coffee plantations and adjoining continuous rainforests in a protected area (PA) in the Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats, India. Both hornbill species used plantations and the PA year‐round but distance sampling density estimates were higher in the PA in both nesting (GH by 57%; MGH by 50%) and non‐nesting (GH by 53%; MGH by 144%) seasons. Relative to estimates from 2004 to 2005, mean GH density appeared stable or increasing, whereas MGH had declined by 39% in the PA and by 56% in plantations. Monthly encounter rate of both hornbills tended to be higher in the PA and that of MGH was also positively related to the density of fig trees with ripe fruit. Sex ratios of observed adult birds in the non‐nesting season were relatively even (GH) or slightly female‐biased (MGH), but became male‐biased in both species during the nesting season when females were confined in tree‐cavity nests. We used change in the adult sex ratio of observed birds from the non‐nesting to nesting season to estimate an index of the proportion of adult pairs breeding at any point within the season, providing the first such estimates for any hornbill species. The proportion of breeding pairs was higher in the PA (GH – 56%, MGH – 64%) than in the plantations (GH – 33%, MGH – 30%). Although hornbills use shade‐coffee plantations year‐round, partly due to fig fruit availability, differences in hornbill density and breeding incidence, as assessed from the sex ratios of observed adult birds, indicate that plantations are a sub‐optimal habitat for both species.

AimTo investigate the drivers of intra‐specific genetic diversity in centipedes, a group of ancient predatory soil arthropods.LocationAsia, Australasia and Europe.Time PeriodPresent.Major Taxa StudiedCentipedes (Class: Chilopoda).MethodsWe assembled a database of 1245 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences representing 128 centipede species from all five orders of Chilopoda. This sequence dataset was used to estimate genetic diversity for centipede species and compare its distribution with estimates from other arthropod groups. We studied the variation in centipede genetic diversity with species traits and biogeography using a beta regression framework, controlling for the effect of shared evolutionary history within a family.ResultsA wide variation in genetic diversity across centipede species (0–0.1713) falls towards the higher end of values among arthropods. Overall, 27.57% of the variation in mitochondrial COI genetic diversity in centipedes was explained by a combination of predictors related to life history and biogeography. Genetic diversity decreased with body size and latitudinal position of sampled localities, was greater in species showing maternal care and increased with geographic distance among conspecifics.Main ConclusionsCentipedes fall towards the higher end of genetic diversity among arthropods, which may be related to their long evolutionary history and low dispersal ability. In centipedes, the negative association of body size with genetic diversity may be mediated by its influence on local abundance or the influence of ecological strategy on long‐term population history. Species with maternal care had higher genetic diversity, which goes against expectations and needs further scrutiny. Hemispheric differences in genetic diversity can be due to historic climatic stability and lower seasonality in the southern hemisphere. Overall, we find that despite the differences in mean genetic diversity among animals, similar processes related to life‐history strategy and biogeography are associated with the variation within them.

AimTo investigate the drivers of intra-specific genetic diversity in centipedes, a group of ancient predatory soil arthropods.LocationGlobalTime periodPresentMajor taxa studiedCentipedes (Class: Chilopoda)MethodsWe assembled a database of over 1200 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences representing 120 centipede species from all five orders of Chilopoda. We used this sequence dataset to estimate genetic diversity for centipede species and compared its distribution with estimates from other arthropod groups. We studied the variation in centipede genetic diversity with species traits and biogeography using a beta regression framework, controlling for the effect of shared evolutionary history within a family.ResultsWe observed a wide variation in genetic diversity across centipede species (0 to 0.1713), which falls towards the higher end of values among arthropods. Overall, 21.51% of the variation in mitochondrial COI genetic diversity in centipedes was explained by a combination of predictors related to life history and biogeography. Genetic diversity decreased with body size and latitudinal position of sampled localities, was greater in species showing maternal care and increased with geographic distance among conspecifics.Main conclusionsCentipedes fall towards the higher end of genetic diversity among arthropods, which may be related to their long evolutionary history and low dispersal ability. In centipedes, the negative association of body size with genetic diversity may be mediated by its influence on local abundance or the influence of ecological strategy on long-term population history. Species with maternal care had higher genetic diversity, which goes against our expectations and needs further scrutiny. Hemispheric differences in genetic diversity can be due to historic climatic stability and lower seasonality in the southern hemisphere. Overall, we find that despite the differences in mean genetic diversity among animals, similar processes related to life history strategy and biogeography shape the variation within them.