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Introduction: Connected landscapes can increase the effectiveness of protected areas by facilitating individual movement and gene flow between populations, thereby increasing the persistence of species even in fragmented habitats. Connectivity planning is often based on modeling connectivity for a limited number of species, i.e., “connectivity umbrellas”, which serve as surrogates for co-occurring species. Connectivity umbrellas are usually selected a priori, based on a few life history traits and often without evaluating other species. Methods: We developed a quantitative method to identify connectivity umbrellas at multiple scales. We demonstrate the approach on the terrestrial large mammal community (24 species) in continental Europe at two scales: 13 geographic biomes and 36 ecoregions, and evaluate the interaction of landscape characteristics on the selection of connectivity umbrellas. Results: We show that the number, identity, and attributes of connectivity umbrellas are sensitive to spatial scale and human influence on the landscape. Multiple species were selected as connectivity umbrellas in 92% of the geographic biomes (average of 4.15 species) and 83% of the ecoregions (average of 3.16 species). None of the 24 species evaluated is by itself an effective connectivity umbrella across its entire range. We identified significant interactions between species and landscape attributes. Species selected as connectivity umbrellas in regions with low human influence have higher mean body mass, larger home ranges, longer dispersal distances, smaller geographic ranges, occur at lower population densities, and are of higher conservation concern than connectivity umbrellas in more human-influenced regions. More species are required to meet connectivity targets in regions with high human influence (average of three species) in comparison to regions with low human influence (average of 1.67 species). Discussion: We conclude that multiple species selected in relation to l

Studying herbal products derived from local and traditional knowledge and their value chains is one of the main challenges in ethnopharmacology. The majority of these products have a long history of use, but non-harmonized trade and differences in regulatory policies between countries impact their value chains and lead to concerns over product efficacy, safety and quality. Veronica officinalis L. (common speedwell), a member of Plantaginaceae family, has a long history of use in European traditional medicine, mainly in central eastern Europe and the Balkans. However, no specified control tests are available either to establish the quality of derived herbal products or for the discrimination of its most common substitute, V. chamaedrys L. (germander speedwell). In this study, we use DNA metabarcoding and high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) to authenticate sixteen V. officinalis herbal products and compare the potential of the two approaches to detect substitution, adulteration and the use of unreported constituents. HPLC-MS showed high resolution in detecting phytochemical target compounds, but did not enable detection of specific plant species in the products. DNA metabarcoding detected V. officinalis in only 15% of the products, whereas it detected V. chamaedrys in 62% of the products. The results confirm that DNA metabarcoding can be used to test for the presence of Veronica species, and detect substitution and/or admixture of other Veronica species, as well as simultaneously detect all other species present. Our results confirm that none of the herbal products contained exactly the species listed on the label, and all included substitutes, contaminants or fillers. This study highlights the need for authentication of raw herbals along the value chain of these products. An integrative methodology can assess both the quality of herbal products in terms of target compound concentrations and species composition, as well as a