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The Anthropocene deposits of England, here regarded as those formed after ∼1950 CE, are now extensive, take various forms, and may be characterized and recognized by a number of stratigraphic signals, such as artificial radionuclides, pesticide residues, microplastics, enhanced fly ash levels, concrete fragments and a novel variety of ‘technofossils’ and neobiotic species. They include the uppermost parts of both ‘natural’ deposits such as the sediment layers formed in lakes and estuaries, and more directly human-made or human-influenced ones such as landfill deposits and the ‘artificial ground’ beneath urban areas and around major constructions. ‘Negative deposits’ include the worked areas of quarries and regions such as the English Fenland, where thick peat deposits have ablated to leave a strongly modified underlying landscape, and extend beneath into the subterranean realm as mine workings, metro systems and boreholes. The production of these is still rapidly increasing and evolving in character, while the early signs of global change, such as warming, sea level rise, and modifications to biotic assemblages, are beginning to further modify the emerging geology of this new phase of Earth history.

The spread of the invasive and allergenic Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. in Italy was analysed and mapped using distribution data from a wide range of sources. Ambrosia artemisiifolia occupies 1057 floristic quadrants which are mostly distributed in the Po plain. The distribution obtained represents the basis to implement urgent management strategies.

Natural habitat loss and exotic plant invasions are two major drivers of global change in subtropical and tropical ecosystems. These two drivers lead to a loss of biodiversity and alter species interactions, which may imperil vital ecosystem functions and services such as pollination and seed dispersal by animals. Yet, additive and potential interactive effects of natural habitat loss and plant invasion on mutualistic interactions are poorly understood. I therefore studied the combined effects of these two drivers on plant–pollinator and plant–frugivore interactions in a heterogeneous forest landscape in South Africa. The studies presented in this thesis demonstrate that natural habitat loss and exotic plant invasions profoundly alter and partly disrupt plant–animal mutualistic interactions. Specialized species and interactions are especially vulnerable, which may not only affect their own survival but also that of their mutualistic partners. Here, it should be noted that my findings indicate that both studied mutualisms, pollination and seed dispersal, are equally likely to be significantly altered by global change, despite marked differences between them such as the specialization between mutualistic partners. Furthermore, the community approach applied in all of my studies showed that the overall effects of the two global change drivers on the studied mutualism are generally negative, but also allowed me to separate the responses of different species to the two drivers. Here, I showed that these responses were in many cases directly related to the functional traits of species. In contrast, species richness was a poor representative of changes in the functional composition of species communities. Consequently, understanding and predicting ecological processes under global change considerably benefits from functional trait-based approaches. Furthermore, I found that different drivers of global change affect communities via different response traits. Results obtained from one functional trait therefore may not be representative for those from another trait. Similarly, in all of my studies I found marked effects of the two investigated global change drivers on mutualistic interactions and the composition of species communities. However, effects were often specific to one driver, and many results would have been overlooked in single-driver studies. Consequently, my results highlight the need to include multiple global change drivers when studying ecosystem processes on a community scale. Here, I found that the two drivers can be complementary in their negative effects on specialized species and interactions. While these additive effects are already worrying, I also found evidence for negative synergistic effects between the two drivers on specialized species. Such synergisms considerably increase the risk of species’ extinctions and thus of a permanent disruption of essential ecosystem processes., Habitatverlust und Invasionen gebietsfremder, exotischer Pflanzenarten sind zwei hauptverantwortliche Treiber des globalen Wandels. Diese Treiber bedrohen sowohl natürliche Artengemeinschaften als auch essentielle Ökosystemprozesse, wie beispielsweise die Bestäubung und Samenausbreitung von Pflanzenarten durch Tierarten. In subtropischen und tropischen Wäldern sind bis zu 90% aller Pflanzenarten auf die Bestäubung durch Tiere sowie die Samenausbreitung durch Frugivore angewiesen. Insbesondere spezialisierte Pflanze-Tier Interaktionen könnten durch den Verlust natürlicher Habitate und Pflanzeninvasionen bedroht sein. Ebenso könnte ein Verlust der funktionellen Diversität von Artengemeinschaften durch die beiden Treiber eine Reduktion der Funktionsfähigkeit von Ökosystemen in degradierten Habitaten anzeigen. Dennoch sind die Auswirkungen von Habitatverlust und Pflanzeninvasionen auf Bestäubungs- und Samenausbreitungsprozesse bisher wenig verstanden. In einer heterogenen, subtropischen Waldlandschaft in Südafrika untersuchte ich den Einfluss des Verlusts natürlicher Habitate und der relativen Abundanz exotischer Pflanzenarten auf Pflanze-Bestäuber Interaktionen, die funktionelle Diversität von Bestäubergemeinschaften und Pflanze-Frugivor Interaktionen. In einer ersten Studie fand ich eine Verringerung der Spezialisierung von Pflanze-Bestäuber Interaktionen, welche auf einen Verlust spezialisierter Interaktionen mit zunehmendem Habitatverlust und zunehmendem Anteil exotischer Pflanzenarten hinwies. Dieser Verlust wurde von einer Änderung der Zusammensetzung der Bestäubergemeinschaften in Richtung eines höheren Anteils an Habitatgeneralisten begleitet. In einer zweiten Studie fand ich eine Verringerung der funktionellen Diversität der Bestäubergemeinschaften in verschiedenen morphologischen Merkmalen mit zunehmendem Habitatverlust sowie zunehmendem Anteil exotischer Pflanzenarten in meinen Untersuchungsflächen. Hierbei hatten Habitatverlust und Pflanzeninvasionen teils merkmalspezifische und teils vergleichbare negative Effekte auf die funktionelle Diversität der Bestäubergemeinschaften. Trotz der Abnahme der funktionellen Diversität fand ich keine gerichtete Veränderung in der Artenzahl von Bestäubern mit zunehmendem Habitatverlust oder zunehmendem Anteil exotischer Pflanzenarten. Die Artenzahl der Bestäubergemeinschaften war somit ein schlechter Indikator ihrer funktionellen Diversität. In einer dritten Studie fand ich Änderungen in Pflanze-Frugivor Interaktionen mit zunehmendem Habitatverlust und Invasionsgrad meiner Untersuchungsflächen. Hierbei waren die Besuchsmuster von Habitatgeneralisten und obligaten Frugivoren mit einem generalisierten Nahrungsspektrum jeweils wenig von Habitatverlust und Pflanzeninvasionen betroffen. Jedoch nahmen die Besuchsraten von Frugivoren mit einer hohen Spezialisierung auf natürliche Wälder oder einer Spezialisierung auf bestimmte fruchtende Pflanzenarten mit zunehmendem Habitatverlust und Invasionsgrad ab. Dabei bewirkten insbesondere negative, synergistische Effekte zwischen Habitatverlust und Invasionsgrad eine Abnahme der Besuchsrate von spezialisierten, partiellen Frugivoren. Zudem hingen Veränderungen der Besuchsraten mit Habitatverlust von der Waldspezialisierung der Frugivore ab, während Veränderungen mit zunehmenden Invasionsgrad der Untersuchungsflächen von der Spezialisierung der Frugivore auf fleischige Früchte abhingen. Zusammenfassend zeigen diese drei Studien, dass der Verlust natürlicher Habitate und Invasionen exotischer Pflanzenarten insbesondere spezialisierte Pflanze-Tier Interaktionen negativ beeinflussen. Ebenso kann es zu einem Verlust von funktioneller Diversität kommen, welcher bei einem ausschließlichen Fokus auf Artenzahlen nicht zum Vorschein tritt. Habitatverlust und Pflanzeninvasionen haben vergleichbare negative Effekte auf Pflanze-Tier Mutualismen. Jedoch hängen die Reaktionen einzelner Tierarten auf diese beiden Treiber des globalen Wandels von artspezifischen Merkmalen, wie beispielsweise ihrer Habitatspezialisierung oder bestimmten morphologischen Merkmalen, ab. Die Erforschung der Effekte des globalen Wandels auf natürliche Ökosystemprozesse profitiert daher von integrierten Ansätzen, welche mehrere Treiber umfassen und einen Fokus auf mehrere funktionelle Merkmale von Arten legen.

The parasites of the Asian invasive fish, Chinese sleeper Perccottus glenii , were studied in 6 localities in different parts of Ukraine. In total, 15 taxa of parasites were registered; among them were 1 species of Microsporidia, 5 species of ciliates, 2 species of cestodes, 2 species of trematodes, 2 species of nematodes, 1 species of acanthocephalan, 1 species of parasitic crustacean and 1 mollusk (glochidia). The invasive Chinese sleeper is included as a paratenic host in the life cycle of the parasites of indigenous reptiles in Europe. The non-indigenous cestode Nippotaenia mogurndae occurred in the intestine of the Chinese sleeper from the Ivachiv Reservoir (Dniester River basin). This cestode is recorded for Ukrainian fauna for the first time. In addition, 3 species of parasites were recorded in the Chinese sleeper for the first time: Nicolla skrjabini , Cosmocephalus obvelatus and Pomphorhynchus laevis . We note the low similarity among the different localities and the low parasite richness, that suggest that the parasite fauna of the Chinese sleeper in Ukraine is in transition.

Scolytids have been studied more than any other forest insect group, but most investigations have been restricted to only a few species and mainly to their role as pests. The thesis here aimed to expand these studies to on the one hand the role of pest species as ecosystem engineers and thereby their influence on biodiversity and on the other hand to the whole subfamily of Scolytinae to improve the understanding why some are abundant and some are rare as well why some species occur as pests and other do not.

The Editorial presents the focus, scope, policies, and the inaugural issue of NeoBiota, a new open access peer-reviewed journal of biological invasions. The new journal NeoBiota is a continuation of the former NEOBIOTA publication series. The journal will deal with all aspects of invasion biology and impose no restrictions on manuscript size neither on use of color. NeoBiota implies an XML-based editorial workflow and several cutting-edge innovations in publishing and dissemination, such as semantic markup of and enhancements to published texts, data publication, and extensive cross-linking within the journal and to external sources. Fil: Kühn, Ingolf. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania Fil: Kowarik, Ingo. Technische Universität Berlin; Alemania Fil: Kollmann, Johannes. Technische Universitat München; Alemania Fil: Starfinger, Uwe. Julius Kuehn Institute; Alemania Fil: Bacher, Sven. University of Fribourg; Suiza Fil: Blackburn, Tim. King Saud University; Arabia Saudita Fil: Bustamante, Ramiro. Universidad de Chile; Chile Fil: Celesti Grapow, Laura. Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia Fil: Chytrý, Milan. Masaryk University; República Checa Fil: Colautti, Robert. University of Duke; Estados Unidos Fil: Essl, Franz. Environment Agency Austria; Austria Fil: Foxcroft, Llewellyn. South African National Parks; Sudáfrica. Stellenbosch University; Sudáfrica Fil: García Berthou, Emili. University of Girona; España Fil: Gollasch, Stephan. GoConsult; Alemania Fil: Hierro, Jose Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa; Argentina Fil: Hufbauer, Ruth. Colorado State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Hulme, Philip. Lincoln University; Estados Unidos Fil: Jarosik, Vojtech. Charles University in Prague; República Checa. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República Checa Fil: Jeschke, Jonathan. Ludwig Maximilians Universitat; Alemania Fil: Karrer, Gerhard. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna; Austria Fil: Mack, Richard. Washington State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Molofsky, Jane. University of Vermont; Estados Unidos Fil: Murray, Brad. University of Technology Sydney; Australia Fil: Nentwig, Wolfgang. University of Bern; Suiza Fil: Osborne, Bruce. Universidad de Dublin; Irlanda Fil: Pysek, Petr. Charles University in Prague; República Checa. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República Checa Fil: Rabitsch, Wolfgang. Environment Agency Austria; Austria Fil: Rejmanek, Marcel. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos Fil: Roques, Alain. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; Francia Fil: Shaw, Richard. CABI Europe; Reino Unido Fil: Sol, Daniel. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España Fil: van Kleunen, Mark. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: Vilà, Montserrat. University of Konstanz; Alemania Fil: von der Lippe, Moritz. Technishe Universitat Berlin; Alemania Fil: Wolfe, Lorne. Georgia Southern University; Estados Unidos Fil: Penev, Lyubomir. Pensoft Publishers; Bulgaria

The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester is distributed worldwide in temperate, freshwater habitats. However, such a successful, worldwide dispersion of the medusa and its minute, less obvious polyp is unique among the freshwater jellyfish species (Limnomedusae, Olinidiae). Although numerous reports were given shortly after its discovery, the interest did not cease over the years. In cooperation with the German Underwater Federation (Verband Deutscher Sporttaucher e. V.) additional data of freshwater jellyfish occurrences could be obtained. In combination with previously published discovery reports, these data provide an area- wide observation of the distribution of freshwater jellyfish within the Federal Republic of Germany, adding 21 to the previously known C. sowerbii locations. Indications are that there is a far more wide spread distribution of the medusa than thought and the potentially even wider distribution of the often times overlooked polyp.