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Azorean lava-tubes and volcanic pits adequately sampled for arthropod fauna were evaluated for species diversity and rarity. An iterative partial multiple regression analysis was performed to produce a multi-criteria index (Importance Value for Cave Conservation, IV-CC) incorporating arthropod species diversity indices but also including indices qualifying cave geological and management features (e.g., the diversity of geological structures, threats, accessibility). Additionally, we calculated complementarity solutions (irreplaceability and Fraction-of-Spare measures) for each cave with different targets per species, i.e., the minimum number of caves needed for each species to be represented either once or twice. Our results clearly show that to preserve all troglobiont arthropods endemic to the Azores, it is crucial to protect several caves per island. As many as 10 and 15 caves are needed to include one or two occurrences, respectively, per species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bacterial strain, PhyBa_CO2_2 T , was isolated from the North Atlantic Gyre, offshore Terceira Island in the Azores. Initially, the NCBI nucleotide blast analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strain belongs to the genus Brachybacterium , with a 100 % identity with Brachybacterium paraconglomeratum LMG 19861 T . However, further genomic characterization through average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization analyses showed values of 96.06 and 64.80 %, respectively. Comparative genomics also highlighted differences in gene content. The genome size of PhyBa_CO2_2 T is 3.6 Mbp and the DNA G+C content is 72.1 mol%. Chemotaxonomic analysis demonstrated that the composition of the fatty acids was mainly composed of anteiso-C 15 : 0 (46.04 %), iso-C 16 : 0 (13.70 %) and anteiso-C 17 : 0 (9.48 %), and the polar lipids were mainly diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and two unidentified glycolipids. Furthermore, the diagnostic amino acid of the cell wall was meso -diaminopimelic acid and the predominant menaquinone was MK7. Finally, phenotypic analysis revealed differences in biochemical profiles between PhyBa_CO2_2 T and its closely related strains in terms of indole production, urease and β-glucuronidase activity. Therefore, based on the genomic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data obtained, we concluded that strain PhyBa_CO2_2 T represents a new species, for which the name Brachybacterium atlanticum sp. nov. is proposed in reference to its isolation site. The type strain is PhyBa_CO2_2 T (=DSM 114113 T = CECT 30695 T ).