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Lepiota atrobrunneodisca sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on collections from Shanxi Province in North China. This species is characterized by the pileus with dark brown to black-brown umbonate disc, irregularly shaped squamules on a whitish surface, annulus often adhering to stipe, ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid, binucleate basidiospores, numerous cheilocystidia, the absence of pleurocystidia, and the hymeniform pileus covering made up of tightly packed subglobose, sphaeropedunculate to clavate terminal elements. The phylogenetic analyses were performed using ITS and four combined loci (ITS-nrLSU-IGS-mtSSU) datasets, which supported that L. atrobrunneodisca formed a distinct clade.

Gymnopus wutaishanensis sp. nov. is described and illustrated from north China. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses based on ITS and LSU sequences supported the establishment of the new species and positioned it in Gymnopus sect. Impudicae. Morphologically, this new species is diagnosed by the combination of basidiomata with tangy and unpleasant odor when fresh, pale orange to pinkish brown pileus, white and relatively dense lamellae, hairy stipes and small basidiospores of (4–)5–6(–7) × (2–)2.5–4 μm.

Key to the Lepiota species with a hymeniform pileus covering from China 1. Pileus surface usually smooth, not breaking up into scales.......................................................................................... L. coloratipes 1. Pileus surface covered with scales.....................................................................................................................................................2 2. Basidiospores ellipsoid, oblong-ellipsoid in side-view......................................................................................................................3 2. Basidiospores subtriangular to triangular in side-view with or without lateral knobs in frontal view..............................................6 3. Annulus covered by minute yellowish brown squamules on lower surface................................................... L. sinorecondita ad int. 3. Annulus white, smooth.......................................................................................................................................................................4 4. Basidia> 22 μm long......................................................................................................................................... L. atrobrunneodisca 4. Basidia L. apalochroa 5. Pileus surface covered by grey to greyish brown small scales.................................................................................... L. micropholis 6. Basidiospores with lateral knobs in frontal view..................................................................................... L. cristata var. macrospora 6. Basidiospores not as above.................................................................................................................................................................7 7. Basidiospores> 6 μm long.............................................................................................................................. L. cristata var. cristata 7. Basidiospores L. cristatanea, Published as part of Mao, Ning, Xia, Lu, Xu, Yu-Yan & Fan, Li, 2023, Lepiota atrobrunneodisca (Agaricaceae, Agaricales), a new species with a hymeniform pileus covering from North China, pp. 186-198 in Phytotaxa 595 (2) on page 196, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.595.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7905882

Key to the known species of Hygrophorus subgenus Colorai from China 1. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia absent...........................................................................................................................................2 1. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia present..........................................................................................................................................3 2. Pileus surface dry, raw umber to pale ochre...................................................................................................................... H. robustus 2. Pileus surface glutinous, dark yellow or olivaceous brown...................................................................................... H. viridiflavidus 3. Floccules at the stipe apex absent.......................................................................................................................................................4 3. Floccules at the stipe apex present...................................................................................................................................................13 4. Stipe apex has an annular zone...........................................................................................................................................................5 4. Stipe apex has none annular zone.......................................................................................................................................................7 5. Pileus blackish-brown to brown...................................................................................................................................... H. annulatus 5. Pileus light yellow to yellow..............................................................................................................................................................6 6. Pileus plane, with a broad small umbo........................................................................................................................... H. esculentus 6. Pileus plane, with a depressed center................................................................................................................................ H. xiangjun 7. Pileus has reddish to purplish tinge....................................................................................................................................................8 7. Pileus has brown tinge......................................................................................................................................................................11 8. Pileus> 15 cm diam.; basidiospores small, 5.5–7 × 3.5–4.8 μm.................................................................................... H. orientalis 8. Pileus 9. Pileus> 10 cm diam.; associated with Fagaceae..............................................................................................................................10 9. Pileus 10. Pileus applanate, context thick (up to 2.4 cm.................................................................................................................. H. deliciosus 10. Pileus wavy and uplifted, context thin (0.4–0.9 cm.................................................................................................... H. qinggangjun 11. Pileus broadly convex or flat, slender basidia (41–57 × 6–10 μm)..................................................................................... H. alpinus 11. Pileus plane with a small umbo, shorter and wider basidia (33–45 × 8–11 μm................................................. H. pseudohypothejus 12. Basidiospores broad ellipsoid, Qm = 1.48, surface bacillate ornamentation.............................................................. H. parvirussula 12. Basidiospores narrow ellipsoid, Qm = 1.86, surface smooth...................................................................................... H. yunnanensis 13. Odor sweetish, reminiscent of bitter almonds..................................................................................................................................14 13. Odor indistinct..................................................................................................................................................................................15 14. Associated with Picea spp...................................................................................................................................... H. agathosmoides 14. Associated with Pinus spp............................................................................................................................................. H. pinophilus 15. Habitat in broad-leaved forests....................................................................................................................................... H. atrofuscus 15. Habitat in mixed broadleaf-conifer tree forests................................................................................................................................16 16. Pileus 4–7cm diam., yellowish-brown to brown, margin wavy and ruffled like the hem of a skirt........................... H. brunneiceps 16. Pileus 3–4.5 cm diam., applanate, margin usually uplifted at maturity; fawn-colored to yellowish-brown near the margin, brown at centre............................................................................................................................................................................... H. habaensis

Hygrophorus viridiflavidus, a new species from Shanxi Province in northern China, belonging to subgenus Colorati, section Limacini, is proposed in this study based on morphology and molecular systematics. Hygrophorus viridiflavidus is similar and closely related to H. glutinifer, but can be distinguished from the latter by its shorter and narrower basidia (35.0–46.5 × 8.0–10.5μm). Morphological characteristics and ITS-phylogeny support Hygrophorus viridiflavidus as a distinct species.

Hygrophorus viridiflavidus L. Fan & Y.X. Zhang sp. nov. (Fig. 2, 3) MycoBank:— MB846250 Diagnosis: differs from the other species of subgenus Colorati section Limacini in its medium-sized basidiomata, lamellae partially turning yellowish green when bruised, shorter and narrower basidia 35.0–46.5×8.0–10.5 μm, cystidioid elements absent, and longer and narrower basidiopores (8.5–)9.0–10.5(–11.0) × (4.5–)4.8–5.8(–6.0) μm. Etymology: viridiflavidus, viridi -, meaning green, flavidus, meaning yellowish, referring to the lamellae gradually turning light yellowish green when bruised. Holotype: CHINA. Shanxi Province, Qinshui County, Lishan Mountains, Zhongcun Forest Farm, on the ground in forest of Quercus spp., 112°1’27’’E, 35°29’7’’N, elev. 1,680 m, 24 August 2020, collected by H. Liu LH 1116 (BJTC FM978, GenBank Acc. No.: ITS = OP699731, nrLSU = OP699736, tef1-α = OP723351). Description: Basidiomata medium-sized, firm, fleshy, with dark greenish tone. Pileus 41–57(–98) mm, hemispherical or obtusely conical with strongly involute margin at first, then expanded to almost flat with prominent obtuse umbo, first rather dark yellow (#917625) or olivaceous brown (#676700) with dark greyish (#1b1b00) to blackish brown (#424200) centre, then paler especially in marginal zone towards light greyish (#786e4c) or olivaceous brown (#676700), mostly with olivaceous (#9b8957) or dark greenish (#4e4e00) tinge, centre always much darker, very strongly glutinous. Lamellae adnate to subdecurrent, thick and waxy, white (#ffffff), partly gradually turning light yellowish green (#cccc00) to drying cream (#ffeb07) when bruised. Stipe 38–79 × 10–23 mm, cylindro-clavate to ventricose, often flexuous or bent and tapering-rooting towards the base, connected with margin of cap by a glutinous hyaline veil when young, then veil burst and disappear with maturity, with an unconspicuous annular zone at the apex, pale yellowish white (#ffffd6), smooth or with white (#ffffff) floccules above the annular zone, covered by successive bands of thickly glutinous, dark brown (#856731) or greyish brown (#433419) flocci below, drying greybrown (#686042). Context thick, pure white (#ffffff), in stem also white or slightly yellowish at base. Smell indistinct. Taste not recorded. Spore deposit white. Basidiopores ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid or somewhat ovoid, measuring (8.5–)9.0–10.5(–11.0) × (4.5–)4.8–5.8(– 6.0) μm; Q =1.58–2; Qm =1.79±0.11, with an oblique hilar appendage 1–2 μm long; inamyloid, hyaline and smooth or microguttulate in water, appearing monoguttulate in KOH. Basidia 2-spored or 4-spored, clavate, 35.0–46.5 × 8.0–10.5 μm, some with oily refractive content in KOH; sterigmata 3.5–5.5 μm long. Cystidioid elements absent. Hymenophoral trama divergent, comprised of cylindrical, interwoven, branched hyphae 3–13 μm wide. Pileipellis an ixotrichoderm composed of thick-walled, hyaline or brown-pigmented interwoven hyphae 2.5–4 μm wide, hyaline or with olive green intracellular pigment, sparsely branching and embedded in a gelatinous matrix; incrustations or extracellular pigment not seen. Subpellis composed of more or less parallel hyphae up to 9 μm wide. Stipitipellis an ixotrichoderm, made up of branched hyphae 3–5 μm wide, with yellowish brown intracellular pigment; terminal elements rounded to attenuated, not enlarged. Stipititrama composed of densely packed, more or less parallelly arranged, subhyaline hyphae up to 9 μm wide. Floccules at the apex composed of compact fascicles of branched hyphae with cylindrical or slender clavate terminal elements 37–74 × 5–9 μm. Clamp connections present in all tissues. Ecology & Distribution: associated with Quercus spp. in elevation 1,680 m, only known from Shanxi Province, northern China. Additional specimens examined (paratypes): CHINA. Shanxi Province, Qinshui County, Lishan Mountains, Zhongcun Forest Farm, on the ground in forest of Quercus spp., 112°1’21’’E, 35°29’3’’N, elev. 1,680 m, 24 August 2020, collected by H. Liu LH 1139 (BJTC FM999, GenBank Acc. No.: ITS = OP699730, nrLSU = OP738418, tef1-α = OP723352)., Published as part of Zhang, Yu-Xin, Mao, Ning & Fan, Li, 2023, Hygrophorus viridiflavidus sp. nov. (Hygrophoraceae, Agaricales), from North China, pp. 187-197 in Phytotaxa 579 (3) on pages 191-192, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.579.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7550376

Cyprinids (carps, chubs and minnows) possess well-developed hearing and high sensitivity to sound pressure. The sensitive hearing may assist cyprinids with searching for food, territory defense, and mating behavior. Many paired fishes violently shake in sand and gravel while spawning in rivers. However, no study has examined the ecological importance of the collision sound made by the behavior. This study examined whether cohabitated chubs (Opsariichthys evolans and Zacco platypus) use the collision sound as a signal to locate spawning events so they can be a male satellite or egg eater. Three types of sounds (i.e., collision sound, music noise and ambient noise) were played with or without jerkbaits at the midstream of the Keelung River, Taiwan during the spawning season in 2018 and 2019. Generalized linear mixed models were then built to examine the effects of the sound types and the presence of jerkbaits on the number of individuals that the two chubs attracted. Results showed significantly different levels of attractiveness among the three sound types, with the collision sound attracting most fishes, including both females and males, followed by music noise and ambient noise. The presence of jerkbaits increased the number of fishes attracted, but the effect was only statistically marginally significant. These results suggest that the collision sound as an acoustic signal may be more important than a visual signal for the chubs to locate spawning events of other mating pairs, probably because of the longer transmission distance of the former. The present study demonstrates the ecological meanings of the collision sounds made in association with spawning activities of the chubs and implies that the native chub's spawning activities may be affected by the introduced Z. platypus. More studies on the interactions between these cohabitated chubs will benefit the conservation of native chubs.

Gymnopus wutaishanensis L. Fan & N. Mao, sp. nov. (Figs. 3, 4) Mycobank:— MB841244 Diagnosis:—It is distinguished from phylogenetically closest species G. densilamellatus and G. polyphyllus by its tangy odor and stipe covered with white hairs; morphologically, it differ from other species in Gymnopus by its unpleasant favour of basidiomata, pale orange to pinkish brown pileus, crowded lamellae, stipe covered with white hairs, and ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid basidiospores. Etymology:—‘ wutaishanensis’, Wutaishan Moutains, refers to the type locality. Holotype:— CHINA. Shanxi province, Wutai county, Wutaishan Mountains, 38°57’9’’N, 113°30’9’’E, 2070 m elev., 23 July 2019, on the ground in coniferous forest dominated by Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr., Y.Y. Xu (BJTC FM484!, holotype). Description:— Basidiomata single or in groups. Pileus 10–60 mm diam, low convex to plane convex when young, then plane to slightly depressed center, not translucently striate or sometimes with fine striate at the margin only, margin cracking with age, surface smooth or radially rugulose, pale orange (#e19e87) to pinkish brown (#cc8263), centre dark orange (#a64929) to brown (#924024). Lamellae close, L = 70–80, l = 1–2, adnate, white (#ffffff); edge smooth, lamellulae concolorous with lamellae. Stipe 30–60 × 2–5 mm, cylindrical or laterally compressed, hollow, equal or sometimes slightly broadened at base, light gray (#cccccc) to pale white (#f7f7f7), sometimes dark grayish orange (#8f857b) at apex when old, surface often densely covered with white hairs. Context concolorous with lamellae. Odor tangy and unpleasant. Taste not recorded. Basidiospores [25/3/3] (4–)5–6(–7) × (2–)2.5–4 μm; [Q = (1.50–)1.67–2.05(–2.22), avQ = 1.82 ± 0.23]; ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, thin-walled. Basidia 25–35 × 5–8 μm, clavate, hyaline, with four sterigmata. Cheilocystidia numerous, 18–40(–60) × 3–7 μm, variable in shape, cylindrical, clavate, mostly irregular, rostrate, or coralloid at apex, hyaline, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Lamellar trama regular, made of cylindrical or subinflated 2–9 μm, hyaline, thin-walled hyphae. Pileipellis a cutis composed of cylindrical, 3–10 μm, brownish or hyaline, thinto slightly thick- walled hyphae; terminal cells and lateral projections 25–60 × 4–8 μm, cylindrical, narrowly clavate, sometimes irregular, thin-walled, smooth. Pileocystidia absent. Stipitipellis a thin cutis of parallel cylindrical hyphae of 2.5–8 μm, with hyaline to pale brown content. Caulocystidia 20–40(–55) × 4–6 μm, cylindrical, clavate, sometimes irregular. Hairs of the stipe surface 58–105 μm long, 10–43 μm wide at the base, composed of parallel cylindrical hyphae of 2–6(–9) μm wide, hyaline, thin- walled. Clamp connections present in all tissues. Habit, habitat and distribution:—solitary, gregarious to cespitose on the ground in coniferous forest dominated by Larix principis-rupprechtii, Shanxi province, China. Additional specimens examined:— CHINA. Shanxi province, Wutai county, Wutaishan Mountains, 38°57’9’’N, 111°30’7’’E, 1990 m elev., 23 July 2019, on the ground in coniferous forest dominated by Larix principis-rupprechtii, H. Liu (BJTC FM508!). ibid. Wutai county, Wutaishan Mountains, 38°47’47’’N, 113°48’0’’E, 2060 m elev., 25 July 2019, on the ground in coniferous forest dominated by Larix principis-rupprechtii, H. Liu (BJTC FM583!). ibid. Hebei province, Laiyuan county, Baishishan Mountains, 21 August 2019, G.J. Li and Y.B. Guo (HBAU15111!).

Bonomyces pseudoarnoldii L. Fan & N. Mao, sp. nov. (Figs. 3, 4) MycoBank:— MB841875 Diagnosis:—differing from the phylogenetically and morphologically closest related species B. arnoldii by its crowded lamellae, absence of granules at the top of the stipe, well-differentiated mediostratum and stipitipellis, genetic profile, and distribution in north China. Etymology:—‘ pseudoarnoldii ’, refers to this species being similar to B. arnoldii. Holotype:— CHINA. Shanxi Province, Linfen City, Yicheng County, Zhongtiaoshan Mt., 1950 m elev., 8 July 2021, on the ground under Pinus armandi, N. Mao MNM 239 (BJTC FM1672). Description:— Pileus 12–49 mm, at first convex, then flat to slightly depressed or umbilicate; margin not striate, revolute or flat when young, later slightly uplifted and wavy, sometimes split; surface dry, finely to coarsely fibrillose near the margin, occasionally cracking into minute squamules towards the center; reddish brown (#b95d30) to dark brown (#a56829), pale orange (#e67028), sometimes light yellow (#f3bc9b) or dark reddish brown (#3f1010) in the center. Lamellae 1.5–3.0 mm broad, L = 40‒60, l = 1‒3, crowded, subdecurrent to decurrent, whitish (#ff0000), becoming beige (#f5f5dc), edge turning reddish brown (#b95d30) with age. Stipe central, 18–45 × 3–9 mm, terete, usually equal, occasionally inflated at the apex and slightly tapering at base, granules absent at the top, sometimes curved, longitudinally fibrillose, solid, pale white (#fafafa) to reddish brown (#b95d30) or pale orange (#ee9e6d), with a cluster of large white rhizomorphs at the base. Context white when young later pale brown under the pileus and stipe surface. Odor not recorded. Taste not recorded. Spore print white. Basidiospores [120/4/3] (6.5–)7–8.5(–9) × (4–)4.5–5.5(–6) μm (avg. ± SD = 7.6 ± 0.65 × 4.8 ± 0.57 μm), [Q = (1.35–) 1.40–1.75 (–1.90), Q av = 1.58 ± 0.16], mostly oblong-ellipsoid or amygdaliform in side-view, a few somewhat cylindrical, usually uni-guttulate, smooth, slightly thick-walled (0.3–0.6 µm), with a thick lateral apiculus. Basidia (27–)30–35(–37) × 5–8 μm, mostly 4–spored, occasionally 2–spored, cylindrical to clavate, mostly hyaline, with sterigmata 3–6 μm long. Subhymenium 10–15 µm thick, pavimentous (bottom of hymenophore), weakly developed, made of small polygonal elements 2–4 µm wide. Hymenopodium, 15–20 µm thick, slightly divergent, composed of slender hyphae 1.5–5 µm wide. Mediostratum 70–105 µm thick, well differentiated, regular, composed of parallel hyphae 3–9 μm diam, smooth, colorless. Hymenial cystidia not seen. Pileipellis a trichoderm, 120–150 µm thick, composed of parallel cylindrical to clavate hyphae, 3–11 μm in diam, smooth, with walls sometimes slightly thickened, with yellow to brown minute intracellular pigment, often with numerous cystidioid terminal elements measuring about 30–55 × 5–9(–13) μm, cylindrical to narrowly clavate or sometimes irregular, prostrate or erect, in fascicles. Subpellis not differentiated. Stipitipellis well-differentiated, 90–105 µm thick, composed of parallel hyphae 2.5–6 μm diam. with pale yellow to light brown content, thin-walled. Stipititrama well-differentiated, made of parallel hyaline hyphae 2.5–9.0 µm wide. Clamp connections present in all tissues. Habit, habitat and distribution:—Solitary or scattered, on the ground in conifer forests dominated by Pinus armandi, known from the north of China. Additional specimens examined:— CHINA. Shanxi Province, Linfen City, Yicheng County, Zhongtiaoshan Ms., 35°29’41’’N, 111°54’15’’E, 1950 m elev., 8 July 2021, on ground under Pinus armandi, N. Mao MNM 238 (BJTC FM1671); ibid. 35°29’51’’N, 111°55’1’’E, 1920 m elev., 8 July 2021, on ground under Pinus armandi, N. Mao MNM 240 (BJTC FM1673).

Key to the species of Bonomyces known in the world. 1. Pileus covered by fibrillose to squamulose........................................................................................................................................2 1. Pileus smooth.................................................................................................................................................................... B. sinopicus 2. Subpellis present and distinctly differentiated, 25–30 µm thick................................................................................ B. afrosinopicus 2. Subpellis absent or weakly differentiated...........................................................................................................................................3 3. Terminations cylindrical to clavate in pileipellis................................................................................................................................4 3. Terminations cylindrical, not clavate in pileipellis...................................................................................................... B. squamulosus 4. Lamellae slightly distant, L = 30‒40, having granules at the top of the stipe.................................................................... B. arnoldii 4. Lamellae slightly crowded, L = 40‒60, no granules at the top of the stipe............................................................. B. pseudoarnoldii, Published as part of Mao, Ning, Lv, Jing-Chong, Zhao, Tao-Yu & Fan, Li, 2022, Bonomyces pseudoarnoldii (Biannulariaceae, Agaricales), a new species from China revealed by morphology, and multilocus phylogenetic analysis, pp. 69-78 in Phytotaxa 545 (1) on page 77, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.545.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/6520388

Recordings of bat echolocation and social calls are used for many research purposes from ecological studies to taxonomy. Effective use of these relies on identification of species from the recordings, but comparative recordings or detailed call descriptions to support identification are often lacking for areas with high biodiversity. The ChiroVox website (www.chirovox.org) was created to facilitate the sharing of bat sound recordings together with their metadata, including biodiversity data and recording circumstances. To date, more than 30 researchers have contributed over 3,900 recordings of nearly 200 species, making ChiroVox the largest open-access bat call library currently available. Each recording has a unique identifier that can be cited in publications; hence the acoustic analyses are repeatable. Most of the recordings available through the website are from bats whose species identities are confirmed, so they can be used to determine species in recordings where the bats were not captured or could not be identified. We hope that with the help of the bat researcher community, the website will grow rapidly and will serve as a solid source for bat acoustic research and monitoring.

Mao, Ning, Xu, Yu-Yan, Fan, Li (2021): Three new species of Tricholomopsis (incertae sedis) from North China based on morphological and molecular data. Phytotaxa 507 (2): 155-166, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.507.2.3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.507.2.3

Species traits affect how a species interacts with the environment and other species and thus determine the role of the species in an ecosystem. They affect not only population dynamics of a species across space and over time, but also community structure and function through their key role in the community assembly processes. Information on species traits is also highly relevant for conservation planning as they determine the adaptive ability of a species in the face of environmental changes. However, information on species traits is usually scarce and sparsely distributed amongst diverse types of literature and sources. Difficulty in accessing comprehensive information on species traits has formed an essential knowledge gap, limiting our understanding of biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning and preventing effective conservation. Even for birds, a well-studied taxon, comprehensive trait information is still unavailable or distributed across different sources for many species. In this study, we compiled information from a variety of sources on 23 traits for all breeding birds, including 157 resident and 14 summer visiting species, in Taiwan and surrounding islands. The 23 traits include those related to the movement patterns, morphology, geographic distributions, activity patterns, feeding behaviour, habitat use, and breeding behaviour and strategies of the species. The trait information was obtained, not only from published literature and datasets, but also from unpublished banding records and specimen measurements. The dataset also contains derived traits, including the elevation and temperature boundaries of species distribution ranges in Taiwan. In addition, structured information on nest characters, which is seldom compiled in trait datasets, has been made available, for the first time, for the breeding birds in Taiwan. Therefore, the most comprehensive trait dataset to date on breeding birds in Taiwan will allow trait-based research and applications in diverse topics and thus enhance our understanding of the patterns and dynamics of breeding bird diversity and its functions in Taiwan.

The Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve is internationally renowned for its spectacular karst landscape. It covers a large area with hundreds of limestone islands and various ecosystems including caves, tropical forests, and mangroves. However, previous surveys were only conducted in terrestrial ecosystems on Cat Ba Island. Therefore, bats inhabiting mangroves and the remaining islands did not receive attention from scientists up to 2014. To initially fill in the gaps, we conducted ten bat surveys between 2015 and 2020 with an emphasis on mangroves and previously unsurveyed islands. Bats were captured using mist nets and harp traps. Twenty-three species belonging to 13 genera of six families were recorded during the surveys. Of these, four species (Macroglossus minimus, Myotis hasselti, Phoniscus jagorii, Tylonycteris fulvida) are new to the reserve. Remarkably, 15 species belonging to seven genera of five families were captured in mangrove, which is the highest species diversity for bats reported from any mangrove area in mainland Southeast Asia. Based on results from the surveys and literature review, we here provide the most updated bat diversity of the reserve with confirmed records of 32 bat species belonging to 16 genera of six families. Historical records of each species in the literature were reviewed. Two species, Scotophilus heathi and Scotophilus kuhlii, are unconfirmed because of unclear evidence in previous publications. Results of this study indicated that the mangrove ecosystem is important for bats but still poorly studied in Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve and Vietnam as a whole. In addition, morphological measurements, echolocation data, distributional records, and conservation status of each species are also given in this paper for potential research and conservation campaigns in the future.

Species delimitation is challenging in sibling species/cryptic lineages because of the absence of clear diagnostic traits. However, integration of different approaches such as phylogeography and ecological niche comparison offers one potential approach to tease apart recently diverged lineages. In this study, we estimate the ecological niche divergence among lineages inChromis viridisin a broad-scale phylogeographic framework to test whether the combination of these two approaches can effectively distinguish recently diverged lineages. Results from Cytb and Rag2 analyses identified two cryptic lineages (C. viridis AandC. viridis B) that diverged ∼3 Myr ago. Estimates of ecological niche divergence with 11 environmental parameters across the broad geographic range of these lineages showed overlapping ecological niches and niche conservatism. However, regardless of the incongruence between genetic and ecological niche divergence, the substantial genetic divergence between the two clades ofC. viridisin both mtDNA and nuclear loci strong suggest that they are cryptic taxa.

Topographic variation underpins a myriad of patterns and processes in hydrology, climatology, geography and ecology and is key to understanding the variation of life on the planet. A fully standardized and global multivariate product of different terrain features has the potential to support many large-scale research applications, however to date, such datasets are unavailable. Here we used the digital elevation model products of global 250 m GMTED2010 and near-global 90 m SRTM4.1dev to derive a suite of topographic variables: elevation, slope, aspect, eastness, northness, roughness, terrain roughness index, topographic position index, vector ruggedness measure, profile/tangential curvature, first/second order partial derivative, and 10 geomorphological landform classes. We aggregated each variable to 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 km spatial grains using several aggregation approaches. While a cross-correlation underlines the high similarity of many variables, a more detailed view in four mountain regions reveals local differences, as well as scale variations in the aggregated variables at different spatial grains. All newly-developed variables are available for download at Data Citation 1 and for download and visualization at http://www.earthenv.org/topography.

Aim Habitat heterogeneity has long been recognized as a key landscape characteristic determining biodiversity patterns. However, a lack of standardized, large-scale, high-resolution and temporally updatable heterogeneity information based on direct observations has limited our understanding of this connection and its effective use for biodiversity conservation. To address this, we develop here remote sensing-based metrics to characterize global habitat heterogeneity at 1-km resolution and assess their value for biodiversity modelling. Location Global. Methods We develop 14 heterogeneity metrics (available at http://www.earthenv.org) based on the textural features of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and closely examine a complementary core set of six of these metrics. We evaluate their ability to provide fine-grain habitat heterogeneity by comparing the heterogeneity information captured by them with that measured by 30-m Landsat-based land-cover data. Using spatial autoregressive models, we then compare their utility with that of more conventional metrics (derived from topography or categorical land-cover data) for modelling the species richness of bird communities across the conterminous United States based on Breeding Bird Survey data. Results The newly derived metrics capture different aspects of habitat heterogeneity and provide fine-grain information for locations deemed homogeneous by traditional land-cover classifications at both continental and global extents. Most of them strongly exceed conventional heterogeneity variables in capturing the spatial variation in bird species richness, with Homogeneity emerging as the strongest predictor. Main conclusions This study develops and validates the performance of readily usable metrics of textural measures capturing fine-grain habitat heterogeneity. The presented metrics outperform conventional measures in capturing detailed spatial variation in habitats and in predicting key biodiversity patterns. They provide a rigorous and comparable basis for understanding heterogeneity–diversity relationships, and offer a powerful tool for monitoring and understanding the responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to the changing environment.

Aim Although it is recognized that ecological patterns are scale dependent, the exact scales over which specific ecological processes operate are still a matter of controversy. In particular, understanding the scales over which biotic interactions operate is critical for predicting changes in species distributions in the face of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. It has been hypothesized that biotic interactions operate predominately at fine grains, yet this conjecture has received relatively little empirical scrutiny. We use US woodpeckers as a model system to assess the relative importance of biotic interactions, environmental suitability and geographic proximity to other intraspecific occurrence sites, across scales. Location Conterminous United States. Methods We combined species occurrence data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) with a large pair-wise interaction matrix describing known interactions among woodpeckers and other bird species. Using a logistic mixed modelling framework we then established the relative importance of biotic interactions as predictors of woodpecker occurrences in relation to environment and geographic proximity to intraspecific occurrence sites. Results We found that geographic proximity becomes a stronger predictor of woodpecker occurrence as grain becomes coarser, while environment is graininvariant. As opposed to environment and geographic proximity, we found that when the focal species experienced positive biotic interactions, the importance of interactions decreased with increased grain. However, positive interactions remained important up to a grain size of entire BBS routes (c. 40 km), which is much coarser than the grain size used by most species distribution models. In contrast, when the focal species experienced negative interactions we did not find clear grain dependence. Main conclusions Biotic interactions (both positive and negative) are important predictors of species occurrences. While these interactions are strongest at fine grains, they can remain important even at coarse grains, and are thus critical for predicting distributional changes in the face of the ongoing biodiversity crisis.

Image annotation is a common approach for biodiversity detection by labeling features of interest from images. However, annotation tools and data structures are usually developed and combined as platform for specific purposes. It makes tools hard to be adopted by different domains and hinders the interoperability of potentially related data from multiple sources. Following linked data principles and ontology design patterns, we proposed a platform-independent framework, and implemented a web-based prototype for semantic annotating images with persistent HTTP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). Our framework is designed for breaking down data silos, i.e. scattered information annotated from active or legacy biodiversity databases, personal observation blogs, or albums can be queried and interoperated together. The prototype can be used without installation and easily integrated into other platforms. It pulls image links from a page and let people select features of interest (e.g. flowers, birds, or patterns) as tokens with bounding boxes from an image. Tokens can then be populated with properties or traits (e.g. colors, behaviors) derived from domain ontologies which are treated as choosable profiles. Meanwhile tokens can be described with measurement data in certain dimensions such as body weight or wing length. Relations can be created between any two tokens from arbitrary hosts. Tokens, properties, measurements and relations are assembled through framework ontologies such as Extensible Observation Ontology (OBOE). Each token is given a hash URI composed of an image URI and a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). With URIs, relations can be explicitly kept as structured data instead of literal descriptions, and the data location can be easily resolved. Annotation data are modeled as graph, shared and aggregated by URIs, and thus the meta-information can be extended as much as possible exactly like linked data does. We made a simple visualization to show the interlinking data graph (Fig. 1). In general, audios can also be annotated on spectrogram with simple translation from x, y bounding box coordinates to time and frequency domain to get aligned with the real annotated target. Due to the difficulties for non-expert to describe contents with precise words, an ontology bridging amateurs to professionals should be introduced. Data quality is controlled not only by expert validation but also by peer reviews from experienced observers with revisions. Diverse applications, such as voucher-based biota, trait database, species recognition, visualized dynamic identification keys, phenology monitoring and species interaction data building (e.g. food web, parasitism) can be run in crowdsourcing approach by communities of different domains, while all their efforts for ground truth developing are integrated, ready for further discovery and reuse under our framework.

Distributions of Earth's species are changing at accelerating rates, increasingly driven by humanmediated climate change. Such changes are already altering the composition of ecological communities, but beyond conservation of natural systems, how and why does this matter? We review evidence that climate-driven species redistribution at regional to global scales affects ecosystem functioning, human well-being, and the dynamics of climate change itself. Production of natural resources required for food security, patterns of disease transmission, and processes of carbon sequestration are all altered by changes in species distribution. Consideration of these effects of biodiversity redistribution is critical yet lacking in most mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

a b s t r a c t Livestock production is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide. However, impacts of livestock on endangered species have been understudied, particularly across the livestock-wildlife inter- face in forested protected areas. We investigated the impact of an emerging livestock sector in China's renowned Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas. We integrated empirical data from field surveys, remotely sensed imagery, and GPS collar tracking to analyze (1) the spatial distribution of horses in giant panda habitat, (2) space use and habitat selection patterns of horses and pandas, and (3) the impact of horses on pandas and bamboo (panda's main food source). We discovered that the horse distribution overlapped with suitable giant panda habitat. Horses had smaller home ranges than pandas but both species showed similarities in habitat selection. Horses consumed considerable amounts of bamboo, and may have resulted in a decline in panda habitat use. Our study highlights the need to formulate policies to address this emerging threat to the endangered giant panda. It also has implications for understanding livestock impacts in other protected areas across the globe.

Aim For many applications in biodiversity and ecology, existing remote sensing-derived land-cover products have limitations due to among-product inconsistency and their typically non-continuous nature. Here we aim to help address these shortcomings by generating a 1-km resolution global product that provides scale-integrated and accuracy-weighted consensus land-cover information on an approximately continuous scale. Location Global. Methods Using a generalized classification scheme and an accuracy-based integration approach, we integrated four global land-cover products. We evaluated the performance of this product compared with inputs for estimating subpixel 30-m resolution land cover. We also compared the accuracy of deductive and inductive species distribution models built with the different products for modelling the continental distributions of six avian habitat specialists. Results Our product offers accuracy-weighted consensus information on the prevalence of 12 land-cover classes within every nominal 1-km pixel across the globe (except for Antarctica). Compared with the four base products, it better captures the land-cover information contained in the fine-grain validation data for all classes combined and for most individual classes. It also has the highest sensitivity and overall accuracy for detecting the presence of every fine-grain land-cover class. Both deductive and inductive models built with the consensus dataset have the highest or second highest accuracy for modelling bird species distributions. Main conclusions Our consensus product integrates the four base products and successfully maximizes accuracy and reduces errors of omission. Specifically, the consensus product reduces limitations caused by misclassifications, false absence rates and the categorical format of existing land-cover products. Consequently, it surpasses single base products in the ability to capture subpixel land-cover information and the utility for modelling species distributions. Both the presented methodology and the consensus product have multiple applications in biodiversity research and for understanding and modelling of global terrestrial ecosystems.

Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity. Besides increasing air temperatures, the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events have been increasing, and are predicted to increase further in the future. To understand impacts of extreme weather on biodiversity, long-term and frequent data collections on the environment and biodiversity responses are needed. In this study, we used the environmental ultrasounds collected at eight sites across Taiwan to evaluate the usefulness of passive acoustic monitoring for accessing ecological impacts of heavy rains, which are one of the deadliest weather events. We separated acoustic signals of bats, insects and rains using a machine-learning tool we developed. We then investigated temporal changes in the intensity and frequency compositions of bat signals over a heavy rain event. We found significant impacts of the event on the acoustic signals produced by bats. Bat signals took a longer time to recover from the event at the places experiencing heavier and more temporally concentrated rains than at the places with lighter and more spread out rains. This study shows the potential of passive acoustic monitoring for improving our understanding of the responses of biodiversity to extreme weather events under climate change.

Understanding the mechanisms underlying ecosystem resilience - why some systems have an irreversible response to disturbances while others recover - is critical for conserving biodiversity and ecosystem function in the face of global change. Despite the widespread acceptance of a positive relationship between biodiversity and resilience, empirical evidence for this relationship remains fairly limited in scope and localized in scale. Assessing resilience at the large landscape and regional scales most relevant to land management and conservation practices has been limited by the ability to measure both diversity and resilience over large spatial scales. Here, we combined tools used in large-scale studies of biodiversity (remote sensing and trait databases) with theoretical advances developed from small-scale experiments to ask whether the functional diversity within a range of woodland and forest ecosystems influences the recovery of productivity after wildfires across the four-corner region of the United States. We additionally asked how environmental variation (topography, macroclimate) across this geographic region influences such resilience, either directly or indirectly via changes in functional diversity. Using path analysis, we found that functional diversity in regeneration traits (fire tolerance, fire resistance, resprout ability) was a stronger predictor of the recovery of productivity after wildfire than the functional diversity of seed mass or species richness. Moreover, slope, elevation, and aspect either directly or indirectly influenced the recovery of productivity, likely via their effect on microclimate, while macroclimate had no direct or indirect effects. Our study provides some of the first direct empirical evidence for functional diversity increasing resilience at large spatial scales. Our approach highlights the power of combining theory based on local-scale studies with tools used in studies at large spatial scales and trait databases to understand pressing environmental issues.

Assessing species composition and its changes through time across broad geographic regions is time consuming and a difficult endeavor. The synoptic view provided by imaging remote sensors offers an alternative. But while many studies have developed procedures for assessing biodiversity using multi- and hyper-spectral imagery, they may only provide snapshots at particular months/seasons due to the seasonal variability of spectral characteristics induced by vegetated land surface phenologies. Thus, procedures for remotely assessing biodiversity patterns may not fully represent the biodiversity on the ground if vegetated land surface phenologies are not considered. Using Mantel tests, ordinarily least square regression models and spatial autoregressive models, we assessed the relationship between floristic diversity and vegetated land surface phenologies, as captured by time series of vegetation indices derived from data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The relationship was calibrated with data from temperate montane forests of the Qinling Mountains region, Shaanxi Province, China. Our results show that floristically similar areas also exhibit a comparable similarity in phenological characteristics. However, phenological similarity obtained using the Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI), a spectral vegetation index found to be not only sensitive to changes in chlorophyll content but also linearly related with the relative content of foliar anthocyanins, exhibited the strongest relationship with floristic similarity. Therefore, analysis of the temporal dynamics of pigments through the use of satellite-derived metrics, such as VARI, may be used for evaluating the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of species composition across broad geographic regions.

Understory vegetation is an important component in forest ecosystems not only because of its contributions to forest structure, function and species composition, but also due to its essential role in supporting wildlife species and ecosystem services. Therefore, understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of understory vegetation is essential for management and conservation. Nevertheless, detailed information on the distribution of understory vegetation across large spatial extents is usually unavailable, due to the interference of overstory canopy on the remote detection of understory vegetation. While many efforts have been made to overcome this challenge, mapping understory vegetation across large spatial extents is still limited due to a lack of generality of the developed methods and limited availability of required remotely sensed data. In this study, we used understory bamboo in Wolong Nature Reserve, China as a case study to develop and test an effective and practical remote sensing approach for mapping understory vegetation. Using phenology metrics generated from a time series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data, we characterized the phenological features of forests with understory bamboo. Using maximum entropy modeling together with these phenology metrics, we successfully mapped the spatial distribution of understory bamboo (kappa: 0.59; AUC: 0.85). In addition, by incorporating elevation information we further mapped the distribution of two individual bamboo species, Bashania faberi and Fargesia robusta (kappa: 0.68 and 0.70; AUC: 0.91 and 0.92, respectively). Due to its generality, flexibility and extensibility, this approach constitutes an improvement to the remote detection of understory vegetation, making it suitable for mapping different understory species in different geographic settings. Both biodiversity conservation and wildlife habitat management may benefit from the detailed information on understory vegetation across large areas through the applications of this approach.

Background There is ample evidence that biotic factors, such as biotic interactions and dispersal capacity, can affect species distributions and influence species’ responses to climate change. However, little is known about how these factors affect predictions from species distribution models (SDMs) with respect to spatial grain and extent of the models. Objectives Understanding how spatial scale influences the effects of biological processes in SDMs is important because SDMs are one of the primary tools used by conservation biologists to assess biodiversity impacts of climate change. Data sources and study eligibility criteria We systematically reviewed SDM studies published from 2003–2015 using ISI Web of Science searches to: (1) determine the current state and key knowledge gaps of SDMs that incorporate biotic interactions and dispersal; and (2) understand how choice of spatial scale may alter the influence of biological processes on SDM predictions. Synthesis methods and limitations We used linear mixed effects models to examine how predictions from SDMs changed in response to the effects of spatial scale, dispersal, and biotic interactions. Results There were important biases in studies including an emphasis on terrestrial ecosystems in northern latitudes and little representation of aquatic ecosystems. Our results suggest that neither spatial extent nor grain influence projected climate-induced changes in species ranges when SDMs include dispersal or biotic interactions. Conclusions We identified several knowledge gaps and suggest that SDM studies forecasting the effects of climate change should: 1) address broader ranges of taxa and locations; and 1) report the grain size, extent, and results with and without biological complexity. The spatial scale of analysis in SDMs did not affect estimates of projected range shifts with dispersal and biotic interactions. However, the lack of reporting on results with and without biological complexity precluded many studies from our analysis.

Understanding the mechanisms underlying ecosystem resilience - why some systems have an irreversible response to disturbances while others recover - is critical for conserving biodiversity and ecosystem function in the face of global change. Despite the widespread acceptance of a positive relationship between biodiversity and resilience, empirical evidence for this relationship remains fairly limited in scope and localized in scale. Assessing resilience at the large landscape and regional scales most relevant to land management and conservation practices has been limited by the ability to measure both diversity and resilience over large spatial scales. Here, we combined tools used in large-scale studies of biodiversity (remote sensing and trait databases) with theoretical advances developed from small-scale experiments to ask whether the functional diversity within a range of woodland and forest ecosystems influences the recovery of productivity after wildfires across the four-corner region of the United States. We additionally asked how environmental variation (topography, macroclimate) across this geographic region influences such resilience, either directly or indirectly via changes in functional diversity. Using path analysis, we found that functional diversity in regeneration traits (fire tolerance, fire resistance, resprout ability) was a stronger predictor of the recovery of productivity after wildfire than the functional diversity of seed mass or species richness. Moreover, slope, elevation, and aspect either directly or indirectly influenced the recovery of productivity, likely via their effect on microclimate, while macroclimate had no direct or indirect effects. Our study provides some of the first direct empirical evidence for functional diversity increasing resilience at large spatial scales. Our approach highlights the power of combining theory based on local-scale studies with tools used in studies at large spatial scales and trait databases to understand pressing environmental issues.

For decades, scholars have been trying to determine whether small or large groups are more likely to cooperate for collective action and successfully manage common-pool resources. Using data gathered from the Wolong Nature Reserve since 1995, we examined the effects of group size (i.e., number of households monitoring a single forest parcel) on both collective action (forest monitoring) and resource outcomes (changes in forest cover) while controlling for potential confounding factors. Our results demonstrate that group size has nonlinear effects on both collective action and resource outcomes, with intermediate group size contributing the most monitoring effort and leading to the biggest forest cover gain. We also show how opposing effects of group size directly and indirectly affect collective action and resource outcomes, leading to the overall nonlinear relationship. Our findings suggest why previous studies have observed differing and even contradictory group-size effects, and thus help guide further research and governance of the commons. The findings also suggest that it should be possible to improve collective action and resource outcomes by altering factors that lead to the nonlinear group-size effect, including punishing free riding, enhancing overall and within-group enforcement, improving social capital across groups and among group members, and allowing self-selection during the group formation process so members with good social relationships can form groups autonomously.