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The distribution of terrestrial biodiversity within Antarctica is complex, with 16 distinct biogeographic regions (Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions) currently recognised within the Antarctic continent, Peninsula and Scotia Arc archipelagos of the Antarctic Treaty area. Much of this diversity is endemic not only to Antarctica as a whole, but to specific regions within it. Further complexity is added by inclusion of the biodiversity found on the islands located in the Southern Ocean north of the Treaty area. Within Antarctica, scientific, logistic and tourism activities may inadvertently move organisms over potentially long distances, far beyond natural dispersal ranges. Such translocation can disrupt natural species distribution patterns and biogeography through: (1) movement of spatially restricted indigenous species to other areas of Antarctica; (2) movement of distinct populations of more generally distributed species from one area of Antarctica to another, leading to genetic homogenisation and loss of assumed local patterns of adaptation; and (3) further dispersal of introduced non-native species from one area of Antarctica to another. Species can be moved between regions in association with people and cargo, by ship, aircraft and overland travel. Movement of cargo and personnel by ship between stations located in different biogeographic regions is likely to present one of the greatest risks, particularly as coastal stations may experience similar climatic conditions, making establishment more likely. Recognising that reducing the risk of inter-regional transfer of species is a priority issue for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, we make practical recommendations aimed at reducing this risk, including the implementation of appropriate biosecurity procedures. This study also contributes to the ALIENANT project (CTM2013-47381-P) granted by Spanish MINECO to M.Á. Olalla-Tárraga. K.A. Hughes and Peter Convey are supported by Natural Environment Research Council core funding to BAS. L.R. Pertierra is supported by a contract associated to the project NICHEAPPS (CGL2014-56416-P) granted to P. Aragón. P. Aragón was funded by the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Program (Spanish MINECO, RYC-2011-07670).

Modeling species' habitat requirements are crucial to assess impacts of global change, for conservation efforts and to test mechanisms driving species presence. While the influence of abiotic factors has been widely examined, the importance of biotic factors and biotic interactions, and the potential implications of local processes are not well understood. Testing their importance requires additional knowledge and analyses at local habitat scale. Here, we recorded the locations of species presence at the microhabitat scale and measured abiotic and biotic parameters in three different common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) populations using a standardized sampling protocol. Thereafter, space use models and cross-evaluations among populations were run to infer local processes and estimate the importance of biotic parameters, biotic interactions, sex, and age. Biotic parameters explained more variation than abiotic parameters, and intraspecific interactions significantly predicted the spatial distribution. Significant differences among populations in the relationship between abiotic parameters and lizard distribution, and the greater model transferability within populations than between populations are in line with effects predicted by local adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity. These results underline the importance of including biotic parameters and biotic interactions in space use models at the population level. There were significant differences in space use between sexes, and between adults and yearlings, the latter showing no association with the measured parameters. Consequently, predictive habitat models at the population level taking into account different sexes and age classes are required to understand a specie's ecological requirements and to allow for precise conservation strategies. Our study therefore stresses that future predictive habitat models at the population level and their transferability should take these parameters into account., Funds were provided by MEC Projects (CGL2005-01187, CGL2008-01522) MCB was supported by a Ph.D. grant (JAEPre_09_01372) from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and cofinanced by the European Social Fund and by a contract funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CGL2012-32459 to P.S.F.)

Recently, the European Commission adopted a new strategy to halt the loss of biodiversity. Member states are expected to favor a more effective collection and redistribution of European Union (EU) funds under the current Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014–2020. Because of the large spatial variation in the distribution of biodiversity and conservation needs at the continental scale, EU instruments should ensure that countries with higher biodiversity values get more funds and resources for the conservation than other countries. Using linear regressions, we assessed the association between conservation investments and biodiversity values across member states, accounting for a variety of conservation investment indicators, taxonomic groups (including groups of plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates), and indicators of biodiversity value. In general, we found clear overall associations between conservation investments and biodiversity variables. However, some countries received more or less investment than would be expected based on biodiversity values in those countries. We also found that the extensive use of birds as unique indicators of conservation effectiveness may lead to biased decisions. Our results can inform future decisions regarding funding allocation and thus improve distribution of EU conservation funds., D.S.-F. was supported by a postdoctoral contract funded by Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha and the European Social Fund (ESF). P.A. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2011-07670) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). This work was partly funded by the project CGL2014-56416-P (MINECO).

La presente tesis estudia los mecanismos que intervienen reduciendo los costes que suponen los encuentros agresivos entre los machos de L. Monticola, teniendo en cuenta factores como el de intruso-residente, familiaridad, habilidad competitiva y estacionalidad. Los machos de L.monticola son capaces detectar y discriminar sus propias secreciones femorales de las de otros machos a partir señales quimicas exclusivamente. Este hecho indica la utilización de las secreciones femorales en la comunicación intraespecifica. El uso del espacio y la exploración quimica de los machos de L.monticola en presencia de señales quimicas procedentes de otros machos conespecificos depende del tamaño relativo. Esto sugiere que son capaces de estimar la habilidad competitiva en relación con otros machos conespecíficos y en ausencia del emisor. Los machos de L.monticola son capaces de discriminar entre machos con especificos familiares y no familiares utilizando unicamente informacion quimica procedente de las secreciones femorales o los excrementos. El hecho de que los machos verdes sean de mayor tamaño, tengan mayor probabilidad de éxito en los ecuestres agonísticos, tengan areas más exclusivas frente a otros machos y un mayor grado de solapamiento con las hembras sugiere que la coloración verde podría actuar como señalizador de la habilidad competitiva. Los machos verdes presentan un solapamiento temporal mayor con otros machos que los machos marrones. A diferencia de los machos marrones, los machos verdes concentran el acceso a los recursos por la mañana lo que les podría permitir reducir los costes que implican las actividades conspicuas. Por otro lado, los machos marrones podrían tener que dispersar el acceso a los recursos de una forma oportunista. Las interacciones agonísticas, los niveles de actividad, el tamaño del area de campeo y el número de vecinos del mismo sexo decrecieron según se iba aproximando el periodo no reproductor en los machos pro no en las hembras. Estos resultados sugieren que el balance entre los costes y los beneficios es diferente en el periodo reproductor y no reproductor en los machos pero no en las hembras. El cambio gradual que se aprecie en los machos podría ser un mecanismo para reducir la frecuencia de las interacciones agonísticas.

Understanding geographic variation in the characteristics of individuals and populations of species and/or closely related species is a long-standing research theme in biogeography and evolutionary biology. This endevour involves answering why species appear where they are; which are the factors driving species distributions; which is the relationship between the species and their environment; why closely related species or species populations share similar traits or environmental requirements; how species and species populations vary in space and time and which are the factors behind this heterogeneous response. Research on biogeographical variation involves recognizing and describing patterns and unveiling the processes behind them. This entails some challenges, mainly because these patterns may arise from a plethora of factors and mechanisms that may act together, simultaneously or separately, at different spatial and temporal scales. The best approach to address this is combining different sources of information at different spatio-temporal ecological and evolutionary scales with multiple hypotheses...