The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

Resumen. La fragmentación y el cambio de uso del suelo hacia actividades primarias intensivas son los factores que tienen más peso en la pérdida de la biodiversidad; no obstante, existen tipos de manejo que pueden tener un equilibrio entre la productividad y la conservación del ambiente; entre ellos se encuentran agrosistemas, como los cafetales, que han sido considerados refugios de la diversidad biológica. En este trabajo se determinó el efecto de estos agrosistemas en la diversidad de lagartijas, encontrándose que es mayor en los cafetales con sombra diversifi cada de baja altitud que en los sitios de vegetación primaria como la selva mediana y el bosque mesófi lo; dicha diversidad se explica porque en los cafetales hay una mayor riqueza de microhábitats disponibles para las lagartijas, los cuales se generan por el tipo de manejo del agrosistema. Este trabajo apoya los cafetales como una opción para la conservación de la biodiversidad; además, se registran observaciones sobre aspectos ecológicos importantes relacionados con las lagartijas, como la apertura y la sobreposición del nicho espacial (microhábitat).

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The Rough-footed mud turtle (Kinosternon hirtipes) is distributed from Western Texas through the Valley of Mexico. Along with its distribution, this turtle inhabits several types of environments, ranging from desert ponds to mountain creeks. During two wet seasons (2017 and 2018) we studied a population of K. h. murrayi in the lagoon of Loma Caliente, in the highlands of Michoacán. We estimated population size and structure with a capture-mark-recapture study and obtained X-ray photographs for each mature female captured to determine clutch size and egg size. A total of 139 turtles were captured and marked, with a recapture rate of 32.85 %. The estimated population was 330 individuals, and the sex ratio was not different from 1:1. The population structure was composed mainly of adults and immature individuals. Nineteen females have eggs in their oviducts. Clutch size ranges from five to two eggs. The average clutch size was 3.2. We provide partial evidence for pelvic constraint on egg size in the studied population.

The taxonomy of the 10 recognized Neoechinorhynchus species associated with emydid turtles is complex due to the morphological conservatism. In the present study, specimens of N. emyditoides from northern and southeastern Mexico exhibit great phenotypic plasticity on its diagnostic characteristics. We sequenced three molecular markers: the internal transcribed spacers ITS1, ITS2 and 5.8S gene, the D2 + D3 domains of the large subunit from nuclear DNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1) from mitochondrial DNA. Sequences of the nuclear molecular markers were aligned and compared with other congeneric species associated with emydids available in GenBank. Phylogenetic analyses supported the polyphyly of Neoechinorhynchus. The species from emydids formed a clade, which was subdivided into five subclades that correspond with each species analysed (N. pseudemydis, N. chrysemydis, N. emydis, N. schmidti and N. emyditoides). To understand better the genetic structure of N. emyditoides a haplotype network was inferred with 29 cox1 sequences, revealing the presence of 13 haplotypes, two of which were shared and 11 were unique. The high values of fixation index, Fst (0.4227–0.8925) detected between the two populations from southeastern and the two from northern Mexico indicated low genetic flow among the populations. Our data suggest that the Neoechinorhynchus species associated with emydid turtles diversified in the eastern USA and that of N. emyditoides expanded its distribution range reached southeastern Mexico.