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Paddy ecosystems are among the most biodiversity-rich ecosystems, but they can be degraded by field consolidation or the abandonment of rice cultivation. Snakes are the top predators in paddy ecosystems; therefore, understanding the distribution of snakes is important for the conservation of paddy biodiversity. Traditionally, surveys of snakes have been primarily conducted by sighting and trapping, but such methods require encountering snakes during surveys and require expertise in species identification. In this study, we developed environmental DNA (eDNA) detection assays for snakes as a method for surveying a wide area relatively easily. We designed species-specific assays for three common snake species in Japanese paddy ecosystems: Elaphe quadrivirgata, Rhabdophis tigrinus, and Gloydius blomhoffii. After confirming the detection of target species DNA from the rearing environment, the assays were applied to field samples. Eighty-seven and 51 samples were collected from paddy fields, reservoirs, and ditches in summer and autumn, respectively. We collected eDNA samples from eight traditional paddy areas that had not been consolidated, eight consolidated paddy areas, and two abandoned paddy areas in southeastern Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. We attempted to detect the DNA of the three target species in these samples using our eDNA assays and succeeded in identifying the DNA of R. tigrinus and G. blomhoffii in three areas and one area, respectively. Statistical analysis suggested that land-use type affected the detection of R. tigrinus eDNA. This study is the first attempt to survey snakes in paddy ecosystems using eDNA analysis and will contribute to the development of paddy ecosystem monitoring.

Agricultural intensification and urban development have drastically influenced pollinators living in semi-natural grasslands. Pollinators are likely to have different responses to these land-use changes; some decline rapidly while others maintain or increase their populations. We predicted differences in interspecific response to land-use changes are partly attributed to differences in habitat preference. We examined the distribution and flower use patterns of two closely related Eucera species with different habitat preferences. Study sites were meadows surrounding traditional, intensified, and urbanised agricultural lands in the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area, Japan. Forest-associated Eucera nipponensis were significantly fewer in consolidated and urbanised meadows than traditional meadows, whereas open land-associated E. spurcatipes exhibited the opposite. A significant negative relationship between their abundances was also found. Both species foraged on legume flowers most frequently (83.5%), but floral use pattern was significantly different in traditional and consolidated meadows. Bee species preferring stable habitats were vulnerable to land consolidation and urbanisation, while species associated with disturbed habitats maintained or increased population size in meadows with the land-use changes. Thus, recent land uses may have different impacts on species with different habitat preferences.

Semi-natural grasslands, which support high biodiversity, are declining worldwide, underscoring an urgent need to identify high biodiversity grasslands that should be prioritised for conservation. We previously reported that grasslands with longer temporal continuity in a single region in Japan have higher plant diversity. To confirm the generality of this finding, we targeted three regions (40 to 90 km apart) in central Japan, including the previously-studied area. We first traced vegetation changes since the 1910s to the present in and around ski-run grasslands, and then examined the effects of vegetation history on plant communities. We surveyed plant communities using transects at five to eight sites in each of three vegetation types: "old grasslands", which are estimated to have persisted for 110 to several thousand years, "new grasslands", which were created by deforestation 45 to 89 years ago, and forests adjacent to those ski runs, in each region (total, 58 sites). The number of rare grassland species and native grassland species were highest in old grasslands. Species composition differed markedly between old and new grasslands, with the beta diversity as high as nearly half of that across all three regions. Numbers of indicator species were 21 and 4 for old and new grasslands, respectively, indicating that many plant species depend on old grasslands. Indicator species that were more frequent in old grassland were perennials, had purple flower color, and tended to have well-developed rhizomes. The strong effect of vegetation history across these three regions clearly verified the high conservation priority of grasslands with long temporal continuity.

Biologging involves the use of animal-borne data loggers to investigate behavioral ecology and physiology, and is widely used in various taxonomic groups, including freshwater turtles. Two methods of attachment of the logger were used in previous studies on freshwater turtles. Technological advances have led to a variety of devices and experimental periods and their characteristics vary depending on each species of turtle. Thus, the ideal attachment method for each species and experimental purpose should be considered. This study proposes a new method that utilizes quick-setting epoxy to bond the carapace to a basement. We conducted field experiments on a wild Reeves’ pond turtle and a wild red-eared slider. The new method was used for the pond turtle and the traditional approach of drilling holes in the carapace for attaching the logger with cable ties was used for the slider. The data logger was deployed on the pond turtle for > 3 h and on the slider for 26 days. Results revealed that the movement speed of the pond turtle and the dynamic acceleration of the slider tended to be small in the periods from sunset to sunrise. Although the duration of attachment in the new method was short compared to previous studies, results show that the method is useful for repeatedly attaching and removing the device from turtles, as it is simple and noninvasive.

The lack of knowledge regarding the ecology of aquatic reptiles hampers the development of effective conservation strategies. Biologging is widely used to investigate behavioral ecology and physiology with animal-borne data loggers. In recent years, behavioral ecology studies using biologging have been conducted in freshwater turtles. However, universal methods for deployment of animal-borne data loggers in freshwater turtles have not yet been established. In this study, we established a method for attaching a data logger to freshwater turtles by conducting field experiments on a wild Reeves’ pond turtle and a wild red-eared slider. We attached a data logger to the carapace of a pond turtle using quick-setting epoxy, and by drilling holes in the marginal scutes of the slider’s carapace, and attaching it with cable ties. The data logger was deployed on the Reeves’ pond turtle for more than 3 h and on the red-eared slider for 26 days. We show that deployment of a data logger by fixing it on the holes in marginal scutes with cable ties is effective. In addition, analysis of the obtained data revealed that the movement speed of a pond turtle and the dynamic acceleration of a slider tended to be small in the periods from sunset to sunrise. It is expected that the diffusion of the attaching method of the animal-borne data logger established in this study will enable the elucidation of the behavioral ecology of freshwater turtles, such as classifying their behavior with acceleration, like walking and swimming, and calculating the proportion of each classified behavior.

1. Pollinator-mediated reproductive interference can occur when two or more plant species share the same pollinators. Recent studies have suggested that prior autonomous selfing mitigates reproductive interference, potentially facilitating coexistence even in the absence of pollination niche partitioning (i.e. the pre-emptive selfing hypothesis). However, whether the evolution of prior selfing promotes coexistence, in the context of the eco-evolutionary dynamics of population size, selfing rates and inbreeding depression, remains poorly understood. 2. We constructed an individual-based model to examine the conditions under which the evolution of prior selfing promotes coexistence in the context of mutual reproductive interference. In the model, two plant species compete by way of mutual reproductive interference, and both have the potential to evolve the capacity for prior autonomous selfing. We expected that purging of deleterious mutations might result in evolutionary rescue, assuming that the strength of inbreeding depression declines as the population selfing rate increases; this would enable inferior competitors to maintain population density through the evolution of prior selfing. 3. Our simulation demonstrated that evolution of prior selfing may promote coexistence, whereas reproductive interference in the absence of such evolution results in competitive exclusion. We found that lower pollinator availability is likely to favour rapid evolutionary shifts to higher prior selfing rates, thereby neutralising the negative effects of reproductive interference in both species. When the strength of inbreeding depression decreased with an increase in the population-level selfing rate, moderate pollinator availability resulted in long-term coexistence in which relative abundance-dependent selection on the prior selfing rate served to intermittently maintain the population density of the inferior competitor. 4. Synthesis. We demonstrate that the evolution of prior selfing may increase population growth rates of inferior competitors and may consequently promote long-term coexistence via an evolutionary rescue. This constitutes a novel mechanism explaining the co-evolutionary coexistence of closely related plant species without niche partitioning, and is consistent with recent studies reporting that closely related species with mixed mating systems can co-occur sympatrically, even under conditions of mutual reproductive interference.

The pollination and reproductive success of flowering plants can be negatively influenced in various ways by neighbouring heterospecific plants, such as resource competition and reproductive interference. We hypothesized that covering together with shading by neighbouring plants may reduce pollinator visits to and reproductive success of plants by reducing floral attractiveness and pollinator activity and by interrupting flower access, respectively. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether shaded and covered flowers suffered from pollinator limitation and low reproductive success in a population of the dwarf herb Lithospermum zollingeri, which co-exists with woody and herbaceous plants in anthropogenically maintained forest edge meadows. Here, shaded and covered flowers were defined as those beneath the shade of the woods and those whose front portion was covered by any vegetative part of neighbouring plants, respectively. The shaded and covered flowers were visited by significantly fewer pollinators than sunlit and open flowers in the field. However, three major pollinator species responded differently to shading and covering. Significant pollen limitation reduced seed set in covered flowers, and shaded flowers produced fewer seeds. Pollen removal from the anthers was not influenced by shading or covering. Our study demonstrates the negative effects of covering on pollinator visits and seed production. It also elucidates the negative effects of shading on reproductive success in L. zollingeri, which depends on managed semi-natural conditions. Land management abandonment, which has increased shaded and covered conditions in artificial forest edge meadows and open forest floors, might promote a rapid reduction in the populations of such dwarf plants.

Over the past century, grassland and forest ecosystems globally have been heavily influenced by land use changes driven by diverse socioeconomic activities. Ski resorts are a modern land-use type associated with biodiversity loss in mountain ecosystems worldwide. Below the treeline, by contrast, some ski slopes have been shown to provide suboptimal semi-natural habitats for native grassland plants and animals, depending on specific construction and management practices. We compared environmental factors and grassland vegetation between two types of ski slopes in central Japan with different land-use histories: slopes constructed on old pastures (pasture slopes) and slopes constructed by clearing secondary forests or Larix kaempferi plantations established on abandoned pastures during the 1940s–1990s (forest slopes). We examined the effects of land use history and machine grading as well as other environmental factors on ski slope vegetation, including total species richness and the richness of native, endangered, and exotic plants, using a total of 108 plots of 2 m × 10 m. Compared to pasture slopes, forest slopes exhibited significantly lower richness of total plants and native grassland species, including endangered species. Forest slopes were more graded than pasture slopes, resulting in lower native and higher exotic grassland species richness. A significantly lower duration of direct sunlight on forest slopes than on pasture slopes possibly decreased endangered species diversity. The lower species richness on forest slopes may be partly caused by seed dispersal limitations. Our findings demonstrate that ski slopes have good potential to support numerous native grassland plant species, including endangered species, but this potential is significantly and negatively affected by forest use history and concomitant environmental changes. The conservation of semi-natural conditions on pasture slopes as habitats for native grassland species can be promoted through the maintenance of annual mowing practices, avoidance of machine grading, and wider ski courses.NomenclatureYonekura & Kajita (2003) BG Plants: index of Japanese names and scientific names (YList; http://ylist.info/index.html)

Satoyama is one of the semi-natural ecosystems in Japan. Traditional agricultural practices in satoyama provide preferable habitats for many species, thus, enhancing biodiversity. However, many satoyama ecosystems have been altered by agricultural intensification and rapid urbanization. Meanwhile, ageing and shrinking population has led to the abandonment of remaining satoyama ecosystems, resulting in their potential degradation. We argue that counteracting the abandonment of satoyama is particularly essential in urbanized landscapes because conserving its biodiversity would have a payoff for urban communities. We focused on nature-oriented park use of satoyama ecosystems, utilizing their original scenery, topography, water features, and vegetation. To evaluate the potential of nature-oriented park use for biodiversity conservation, we examined the differences in diversity and species composition of vascular plants and butterflies among three land-use types (agricultural-use, park-use, and abandoned sites) of satoyama ecosystems. Diversity of native plants and butterflies did not significantly differ between agricultural-use and park-use sites and that of native plants was significantly lower at abandoned sites than at agricultural-use sites. Although species composition of native plants at agricultural-use sites and park-use sites significantly differ, that of native butterflies did not. The efficacy of park use for biodiversity conservation, thus, depended on the taxa. Nonetheless, for striking a balance between the difficulty in maintaining agricultural use and accelerating satoyama abandonment, our study highlights the utility of park use as an alternative usage, contributing to biodiversity conservation. Balancing the wise use of satoyama in urbanized landscapes is a fundamental step toward the conservation of its biodiversity and human–nature interactions.

The diversity and the abundance of amphibians have dramatically declined globally over the past 30 years, and the monitoring and conservation of their habitats is essential. However, traditional methods such as bait trapping and mark-recapture are costly, and morphological identification usually requires a high level of taxonomic expertise. Here, seasonal surveillances of Hida salamanderHynobius kimuraewere performed by means of environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis withHynobius-specific primers and a species-specific TaqMan probe. Water sampling and visual surveys were conducted seasonally in a stream in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Detection rates of eDNA were then calculated by real-time PCR, and eDNA site occupancy probability was estimated by multi-scale occupancy modeling. The eDNA-based detection rate of Hida salamander was 76.7%, whereas the visual survey-based detection rate was 23.3%, and target eDNA was detected at almost all sites where the presence of target species was visually confirmed. Moreover, factors relating to the site- and sample-level occurrence probabilities of the target eDNA differed depending on the developmental stage of the target species. Our findings support previous studies showing that eDNA analysis enables an effective assessment of amphibian distributions without damaging the organisms or their habitat, and we compare for the first time the site occupancy probability of amphibian eDNA throughout the life cycle of an amphibian species. The present study contributes to the development of eDNA analysis as a tool for understanding the distribution and seasonal activity of amphibian species and will thus aid in the planning of conservation measures and habitat restoration for these species.

Theory predicts that prior self-pollination (prior selfing) should not evolve in mixed mating species that enable delayed selfing. In this study, we test the hypotheais that prior selfing has evolved under severe pollinator limitation in the mixed mating species Commelina communis which can reproduce via delayed selfing. The hypothesis predicts that prior selfing occurs more frequently in populations with very low pollinator availability and/or in smaller flowers which receive infrequent visitations. We tested the predictions by comparing the degree of prior selfing among ten populations experiencing various levels of pollinator limitation and by examining a relationship between individual flower size and the occurrence of prior selfing. Populations with higher pollinator availability had higher prior selfing rate. Moreover, prior selfing occurs more frequently in larger flowers. These findings were totally opposite patterns of the predictions and the previous findings. We proposed new hypotheses that prior selfing has been maintained by the presence of reproductive interference from the congener and/or propotency in C. communis to explain our unexpected findings. We should verify potential effects of reproductive interference and propotency in future to elucidate the mystery of prior selfing in this mixed mating species with delayed selfing.

PremiseFloral angle, such as upward, horizontal, and downward orientation are known to evolve under both biotic and abiotic agents to enhance pollination success in zoophilious plants. Adaptive significance of horizontal orientation in radially symmetrical (actinomorphic) flowers under biotic and abiotic selection pressures were largely unknown, although those in bilaterally symmetrical flowers have been well studied.MethodsUsing experimentally angle changed flowers, we examined the effects of flower angle on pollinator behaviors, pollination success and rain avoidance in a population of insect-pollinated Platycodon grandiflorus. We further investigated the frequency and amount of precipitation in the flowering season and pollen damage by water in this species. Main results: Horizontally oriented flowers received more visitations and pollen grains on the stigma in male and/or female phases than downward and/or upward oriented flowers and avoided pollen damage by rainfall compared to upward oriented flowers. The pollen germination experiment showed that approximately 30% of pollen grains burst in distilled water, thus pollen damage by rainfall was potentially serious in P. garndiflorus.ConclusionIn this study, our field experiments revealed that upward flowers cannot avoid damage from rainfall during the flowering period whereas both upward and downward flowers suffered from pollinator limitation in female success. Thus, horizontal flower orientation is suggested to be adaptive in this insect-pollinated actinomorphic species which blooms in the rainy season.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has been used as a cost-efficient and non-invasive tool for monitoring invasive and threatened species. Previous studies typically involve two approaches; species-specific detection via PCR and multiple species detection via metabarcoding. However, the former could be costly when several species are targeted, and the latter could sometimes be insufficient to distinguish closely related species. Here, the simultaneous eDNA detection from multiple species via multiplex real-time PCR was applied to 99 ponds to evaluate the distribution of three exotic and three threatened native fish species over different seasons. We detected bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) eDNA at 31 sites, largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) eDNA at 22 sites, smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) eDNA at one site, golden venus chub (Hemigrammocypris rasborella) eDNA at 11 sites, Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) eDNA at 26 sites, and weather loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) eDNA at 41 sites. We found that eDNA detection rates were higher in early summer for all fish species. Moreover, exotic fish eDNA was detected more frequently in ponds which were easier to access by car and which have a larger surface area and higher pH. Furthermore, the detection rates of native fish eDNA were generally lower in the ponds where exotic fish eDNA was detected more frequently. Multiplex real-time PCR can help detect the distribution of exotic and threatened native species for conservation and ecosystem management. This method is expected to substantially contribute to the early detection of invasive species and the efficient protection of threatened species’ habitat.

Palaearctic grasslands are diverse and dynamic ecosystems that are in the focus of ecology, conservation biology and agronomy. This special issue is dedicated to the biodiversity and conservation issues of Palaearctic grasslands and was initiated by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group members attending the 14th Eurasian Dry Grassland Conference (EDGC) at Sulmona, Italy in 2018. The papers in this special issue cover a wide range of grassland ecosystems from mountain dry grasslands to lowland loess grasslands, feathergrass steppes and wet grasslands, and focus on the biodiversity values and conservation issues of Palaearctic grasslands. We believe that this compilation will contribute to a better understanding of the ecology of grasslands and support their more effective conservation.

Commelina communis f. ciliata (Commelinaceae), a newly distinguished taxon, is an annual andromonoecious herb exhibiting a mixed mating system, the details of which remain unclear. We developed microsatellite markers for use in exploring the evolution of andromonoecy and mixed mating in the species. Fifteen microsatellite loci were developed using next-generation sequencing. The primer sets were used to evaluate 65 C. communis f. ciliata individuals from three populations in Japan; we found 1-13 alleles per locus and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 0.76. The markers are potentially useful to examine intra- and interspecies genetic structure and the mixed mating strategy of Commelina species via paternity analysis.

When more than one closely related plant species share the same pollination niche, reproductive interference via interspecific pollen transfer should limit their coexistence. However, some studies have reported the sympatric coexistence of two native close relatives pollinated by the same pollinators under reproductive interference, even without niche partitioning. We examined the frequency dependency of reproductive interference between close relatives in natural conditions and the potential roles of autonomous selfing in mitigating the negative reproductive interference effects between congeneric species. We investigated sympatrically growing Commelina communis (Cc) and C. c. f. ciliata (Ccfc) populations. These species exhibit very large overlaps in habitat preference, flowering phenology and pollination niche, but seldom produce hybrids. First, we conducted a hand‐pollination experiment to examine the negative effects of heterospecific pollen deposition on seed production and the potential of self‐pollination to mitigate the effects in both species. Then, we examined the effects of reproductive interference on reproductive success and the potential for autonomous selfing in the field. We found significant negative effects of heterospecific pollen deposition on seed production and the mitigation effects of prior and competing self‐pollination, in both Cc and Ccfc. For both species in the field, intraspecific pollinator movements and reproductive success significantly decreased with an increase in the relative floral abundance of competing species, although the negative reproductive interference effect on reproductive success was lower in Cc than in Ccfc. We also found greater potential for prior autonomous selfing in Cc than in Ccfc. Our findings suggest that Cc flowers were less affected by reproductive interference from competing species, which was likely due to a higher prior selfing ability compared to Ccfc flowers. The asymmetry in susceptibility to reproductive interference may explain the Cc‐biased distribution in the study area. The study improves our understanding of how prior autonomous selfing can reduce the negative reproductive interference effect from competing species in mixed‐mating species with frequent pollinator visits. A plain language summary is available for this article.

Premise Understanding the flower visitation history of individual pollinators is key in the study of pollination networks, but direct tracking is labor intensive and, more important, does not capture information about the previous interactions of an individual. Therefore, a protocol to detect most of the pollen species on the body surfaces of an individual pollinator could elucidate its flower visitation history. Methods and Results Under a microscope, we observed 6.0‐µL droplets from a sample solution (1.0 or 3.0 mL) containing pollen grains collected from individuals of six major pollinator functional groups. To clarify how many droplets need to be observed to detect all pollen species within the solution, we examined up to 10 droplets collected from each individual insect. Sample‐based rarefaction curve analyses of the data showed that we could detect ~90% of the pollen species and the plant–pollinator links in the networks by observing six droplets. Conclusions The rarefaction curve analysis for pollen‐on‐pollinator studies is a useful preliminary step for minimizing the time and labor required while maximizing the data on the flower visitation history of each individual pollinator and revealing any hidden flower–pollinator interactions.

© 2021 The Authors., Aims: Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results: Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions: The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology., GrassPlot development has been supported by the Bavarian Research Alliance (BayIntAn_UBT_2017_58), the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS); IB, CorM, JAC, IGM, DGM, MHe, DL and MTo were supported by the Basque Government (IT936‐16); CorM, IAx, MCh, JDa, PD, MHá, ZL, ZPr, EŠ and LT were supported by the Czech Science Foundation (19‐28491X); TR was supported by the Estonian Research Council (PUT1173); RJP was funded by the Strategic Research Programme of the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services Division”; SBa was supported by the GINOP‐2.3.2‐15‐2016‐00019 project; GFi was partially supported by the MIUR initiative “Department of excellence” (Law 232/2016)"; BJA was funded by the Spanish Research Agency (grant AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033); AK, VB, IM, DS, IV and DV were supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (2020.01/0140); MP and AH were supported by the Estonian Research Council (PRG874, PRG609), and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange); Data collection of HCP was funded by FORMAS (Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Science and Spatial Planning) and The Swedish Institute; JR was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant No. 20‐09895S) and the long‐term developmental project of the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO 67985939); ATRA was funded by the Grant of Excellence Departments, MIUR‐Italy (ARTICOLO 1, COMMI 314 – 337 LEGGE 232/2016); JMA was supported by Carl Tryggers stiftelse för vetenskaplig forskning and Qatar Petroleum; AAli was supported by the Jiangsu Science and Technology Special Project (Grant No. BX2019084), and Metasequoia Faculty Research Startup Funding at Nanjing Forestry University (Grant No. 163010230), and he is currently supported by Hebei University through Faculty Research Startup Funding Program; ZB was supported by the NKFI K 124796 grant; The GLORIA‐ Aragón project of JLBA was funded by the Dirección General de Cambio Climático del Gobierno de Aragón (Spain); MCs and LDem were supported by DG Environment through the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism and Barbara Knowles Fund, in collaboration with Pogány‐havas Association, Romania; JDa was partially supported by long‐term research development project no. RVO 67985939 of the Czech Academy of Sciences; BD and OV were supported by the NKFI KH 126476, NKFI KH 130338, NKFI FK 124404 and NKFI FK 135329 grants; BD, OV and AKe were supported by the Bolyai János Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; BE was funded by the Environmental Department of the Tyrolean Federal State Government, the MAB Programme of the Austrian Academy of Science, the Mountain Agriculture Research Unit and the Alpine Research Centre Obergurgl of Innsbruck University. The GLORIA projects of BE were funded by the EU project no. EVK2‐CT‐2000‐00056, the Earth System Sciences Program of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (project MEDIALPS), the Amt für Naturparke, Autonome Provinz Bozen‐Südtirol, the Südtiroler Wissenschaftsfonds and the Tiroler Wissenschaftsfonds; RGG was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Research to sample GLORIA sites in central Spain (CGL 2008‐00901/BOS) and present works by the Autonomous Region of Madrid (REMEDINAL TE‐CM, S2018/EMT‐4338); MJ was supporteLatviaed by Latvia Grant No. 194051; NP and SŠ were partly supported by the Slovenian Research Agency, core fundings P1‐0403 and J7‐1822.

Table 1 on p. 135 should be replaced with the corrected Table 1 shown bellow.

Semi-natural grasslands are ecosystems rich in biodiversity. However, their decline has been reported worldwide, and identification of grasslands with high conservation priority is urgently required. Recently, an increasing number of studies have reported that past vegetation history affects current biological communities. To evaluate whether the temporal continuity of grasslands promotes biodiversity, and thus can be an indicator of conservation priority, we studied vascular plant communities in old (160– 1000s years) and new (52–70 years after deforestation) grasslands, as well as in forests, of Sugadaira Highland in central Japan. The number of plant species was highest in old grasslands, followed by new grasslands and forests. This pattern was much clearer in the number of grassland-dependent native and grassland-dependent endangered species, indicating the role of old grasslands as refugia for those species. The species composition differed between old and new grasslands. New grasslands had species compositions in between those of old grasslands and forests, suggesting that the plant community in new grasslands retains the influence of past forestation for more than 52 years after deforestation. Eleven indicator species were detected in old grasslands, but none in new grasslands, suggesting the uniqueness of the plant community in old grasslands. We conclude that the temporal continuity of grasslands increases plant diversity and can be an indicator of grasslands with high conservation priority.

When the two or more plants species share the same pollinators, pollinator-mediated reproductive interference make coexistence difficult. Recent studies suggested prior autonomous selfing mitigate reproductive interference, could enabling coexistence without pollination niche partitioning (pre-emptive selfing hypothesis). However, there are no studies to test whether evolution of prior selfing promote the coexistence, considering eco-evolutionary dynamics of population size, selfing rate and inbreeding depression.To examine conditions that the evolution of prior selfing promote coexistence under mutual reproductive interference especially in the point of view for pollinator availability and dynamics of inbreeding depression, we constructed individual-based model in which two plant species compete against each other in the form of mutual reproductive interference and can evolve prior autonomous selfing rate. We expected that purging of deleterious mutations could cause evolutionary rescue because inferior species could rescue population density through the evolution of prior selfing if the strength of inbreeding depression decreases with an increase of population’s selfing rate.Our simulation demonstrated that the evolution of prior selfing could promote the coexistence while reproductive interference caused competitive exclusion without evolution. We found that lower pollinator availability tended to prefer rapid evolutionary shift to higher prior selfing rate, it neutralizes the negative effect of reproductive interference, and population dynamics exhibit neutral random walk in both species. When the strength of inbreeding depression decreased with an increase in population’s selfing rate, moderate pollinator availability resulted in long-term coexistence in which relative-abundance-dependent selection on the prior selfing rate rescue population density of inferior species intermittently.Synthesis. We showed that the evolution of prior selfing could increase population growth rate of inferior species and consequently enable the long-term coexistence with evolutionary rescue. This is the new mechanisms explaining co-evolutionary coexistence of closely related plant species without niche partitioning and consistent with recent studies reported that closely related mixed-mating species are sympatrically growing even under the mutual reproductive interference.

Natural or semi-natural grasslands and shrublands are small but widely distributed throughout Japan, although the forest vegetation is the potential climatic climax under the humid climates in the most parts of the county. Grasslands and shrublands have been formed by natural and anthropogenic disturbances and/or specific soil conditions in the Japanese archipelago. Since the last century, however, grasslands, especially semi-natural ones, have decreased in the area continuously, mostly due to land-use changes (abandonment, intensified use, afforestation and urban development) driven by socioeconomic growth in Japan. The rapid declines, along with fragmentation and degradation, of semi-natural grasslands have caused significant biodiversity loss as in the other Palaearctic regions but most of those grasslands and shrublands are not well protected. Natural grasslands and shrublands, on the other hand, have been protected from anthropogenic developments in general, but their area may decrease by climate changes in the future. The anti-disaster development, such as dams and embankments, reduced natural disturbances and have caused reduction and degradation of grasslands and shrublands in riparian and coastal areas. In some oceanic islands, feral goats have had significant negative impacts on grassland and shrubland vegetation. Some grasslands and shrublands on limestone and serpentine soils and on oceanic islands are often hotspots of endemic species whereas semi-natural, riparian and coastal grasslands harbor many plant and animal species which used to be found throughout Japan but now at high risk of extinction. Thus, in Japan, recent human activities largely degraded and reduced Japanese grasslands and shrublands which have high conservation values. To protect these invaluable ecosystems, a suite of activities have been initiated to promote biodiversity conservation and restoration in Japanese grasslands and shrublands.

This study focuses on the importance of subjective perceptions in the valuation and conservation of urban green spaces. Because physical attributes of the natural environment are filtered through individuals’ perceptions, their self-reporting of the extent of green spaces fluctuates according to their biases. However, the determinant of people’s self-reporting of the extent of green spaces within neighborhoods remains unclear. An examination of the relationship between the physical attributes of green spaces and the self-reported extent of green spaces is required to address this uncertainty. Accordingly, two separate studies were conducted by establishing two types of data on green spaces: physical data derived from a Geographical Information System and questionnaire-derived self-reported data. Multiple regression analysis was performed to compare the effects of different types of physical green spaces on the self-reported extent of green spaces. The results indicated that residents’ perceptions of same-sized green spaces differed considerably depending on their type. To ascertain the effects of subjective perceptions on economic valuation, a life satisfaction approach was subsequently applied within two separate analyses. In the first analysis, reflecting a normal pattern, the relationship between life satisfaction and the area of green space was examined, and in the second analysis, the self-reported extent of green spaces was used as an intermediate variable between green spaces and life satisfaction. A comparison of the estimated values from the two analyses revealed significant differences, depending on whether self-reported green spaces were used as an intermediate variable. Specifically, values of urban green spaces fluctuated more than those of forests in the case of self-reported green spaces. Although urban planners and experts generally emphasize the physical attributes of green spaces, such as area, these results indicate that it is critical to consider people’s perceptions.

The biodiversity of agricultural landscapes has been noticeably affected by rapid urbanization. Although many studies have examined species diversity per unit area (alpha diversity), knowledge about the patterns of species turnover (beta diversity) in urban areas remains limited. Furthermore, most beta diversity studies have focused on spatial heterogeneity; however, losses of temporal heterogeneity resulting from urbanization remain limited. In this study, we examined how urbanization is associated with decreases in the seasonal heterogeneity of species composition, which could be used as an indicator of the loss of seasonality by ecologists and policy makers aiming to conserve biodiversity. We investigated (1) changes in species richness based on seasonal averages (alpha diversity) and (2) the seasonal turnover of species composition (beta diversity) for flowering plants and butterflies along a rural-urban gradient in semi-natural grasslands. The response variables were alpha and beta diversity for flowering plants and butterflies, and the explanatory variables were urban areas within a 1-km radius of the center of each site. Increasing urban area caused both the seasonal alpha and beta diversity of flowering plants and butterflies to decline. These results supported the homogenization hypothesis for the seasonality of plants and butterflies in semi-natural grasslands of dominant urban areas in East Asia. Future studies should focus on investigating how urbanization is causing both declines in seasonality and changes in the spatial heterogeneity of species composition and associated biodiversity loss. Ecologists and policy makers should focus on developing strategies to halt the loss of temporal biological heterogeneity to maintain biodiversity.

This study investigated the effect of valuators’ personal history and beliefs on valuation of ecosystem services around Mt. Rokko, which is located near Kobe, a major city in Japan. Special attention was paid to how differences in lifestyle, access to nature, and experiences during childhood influence willingness to pay (WTP) for peri-urban ecosystem conservation. The estimated values (median: 1858 JPY) were relatively higher than in previous case studies including one on the World Heritage forest in the country, but the value was not outlier of the literature. From the simple model estimation, we focused on the effect of individual differences. The full model including information of personal experience with nature revealed differences in WTP among residents. The basic characteristics of age and income were found to have a significant effect. Interestingly, it was also found that certain experiences during childhood had a significant effect on increasing WTP for ecosystem and biodiversity conservation. These findings suggest the importance of considering the diversity of valuators in ecosystem valuation studies under urbanization processes, and it also warns the extinction of experience with nature under on going urbanization for urban ecosystem conservation.

Summary Despite the well-known visual attraction function of angiosperm petals, additional roles of these floral organs (e.g. the provision of landing-site platforms for pollinators) have rarely been examined. This is likely because most petals perform multiple functions, making it difficult to isolate the importance of landing sites in pollination success. We investigated the landing-site function of dull-coloured pinnately branched petals in Mitella pauciflora flowers, which are predominantly pollinated by fungus gnats. We conducted a field experiment, in which the effects of experimental petal removal on pollinators’ approach, landing and visit duration and floral reproductive success were examined in naturally pollinated flowers. According to direct and time-lapse camera observations, petal removal did not influence pollinators’ approach frequency or visit duration, but did significantly decrease their landings. Fruit set and pollen dispatch both significantly decreased with petal removal, indicating that petals promote female and male reproductive success in M. pauciflora by facilitating pollinator landing. This demonstrates that inconspicuous petals primarily have a landing-site function rather than a visual attraction function in M. pauciflora. Discriminating between diverse petal functions is a challenging problem, and new approaches are required to elucidate the functional features of angiosperm flowers. A lay summary is available for this article.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T16:57:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-01-23 British Ecological Society Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Background and Aims: Large clades of angiosperms are often characterized by diverse interactions with pollinators, but how these pollination systems are structured phylogenetically and biogeographically is still uncertain for most families. Apocynaceae is a clade of >5300 species with a worldwide distribution. A database representing >10 % of species in the family was used to explore the diversity of pollinators and evolutionary shifts in pollination systems across major clades and regions. Methods: The database was compiled from published and unpublished reports. Plants were categorized into broad pollination systems and then subdivided to include bimodal systems. These were mapped against the five major divisions of the family, and against the smaller clades. Finally, pollination systems were mapped onto a phylogenetic reconstruction that included those species for which sequence data are available, and transition rates between pollination systems were calculated. Key Results: Most Apocynaceae are insect pollinated with few records of bird pollination. Almost three-quarters of species are pollinated by a single higher taxon (e.g. flies or moths); 7 % have bimodal pollination systems, whilst the remaining approx. 20 % are insect generalists. The less phenotypically specialized flowers of the Rauvolfioids are pollinated by a more restricted set of pollinators than are more complex flowers within the Apocynoids + Periplocoideae + Secamonoideae + Asclepiadoideae (APSA) clade. Certain combinations of bimodal pollination systems are more common than others. Some pollination systems are missing from particular regions, whilst others are over-represented. Conclusions: Within Apocynaceae, interactions with pollinators are highly structured both phylogenetically and biogeographically. Variation in transition rates between pollination systems suggest constraints on their evolution, whereas regional differences point to environmental effects such as filtering of certain pollinators from habitats. This is the most extensive analysis of its type so far attempted and gives important insights into the diversity and evolution of pollination systems in large clades. Faculty of Arts Science and Technology University of Northampton, Newton Building, Avenue Campus Lehrstuhl für Pflanzensystematik Universität Bayreuth Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107 Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM) Curso de Licenciatura em Educação do Campo - LEC Campus JK - Diamantina School of Life Sciences University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01 Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste UNNE-CONICET Department of Plant Biology Ecology and Evolution, 301 Physical Sciences Laboratorio de Plantas Vasculares Departamento de Biología Comparada Facultad de Ciencias UNAM Laboratório de Ecologia da Polinização e Interações - LEPI Departamento de Botânica Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Júlio de Mesquita Filho'- Unesp Saint Louis University Department of Biology Biology Extension Building, 1008 S. Spring Ave. Mehmet Akif Ersoy Mah. 269. Cad. Urankent Prestij Konutlarý Department of Biological Sciences University of Cape Town, P/Bag X3 Ecosystem Management Group ETH Zurich EDB UMR 5174 Université de Toulouse UPS, 118 route de Narbonne Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva - Biología Floral IMBIV (UNC-CONICET) Departamento de Botânica Museu Nacional Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Quinta da Boa Vista Department of Plant Sciences Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences University of the Free State, PO Box 339 Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro Departamento de Botânica - CB Laboratório de Biologia Floral e Reprodutiva - POLINIZAR Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar Centro de Ciências Agrárias Depto. Ciências da Natureza Matemática e Educação, Rod. Anhanguera Km 174 Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão 915 Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) IMBIV (CONICET-UNC) Herbarium - Royal Botanic Gardens Laboratorio de Investigaciones Botánicas (LABIBO) Facultad de Ciencias Naturales Universidad Nacional de Salta-CONICET, Av. Bolivia 5150 Department of Biosciences University of Salzburg Biology Department Franklin and Marshall College Natural History Museum Georgia College, 231 W. Hancock Street Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn Campus Department of Biology Willamette University Department of Botany Faculty of Science Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Road Department of Biodiversity Earth and Environmental Sciences Academy of Natural Sciences Drexel University Center for Ecological Research Kyoto University, Hirano 2-509-3 Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP Instituto de Biociências Departamento de Botânica Laboratório de Fenologia Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), PO Box 661 School of Biological Sciences Royal Holloway University of London Graduate School of Arts and Sciences University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Campus IX. Rodovia BR 242, km 4, s/n. Flamengo Tropical Biology Association David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street Instituto de Biologia - UFU, Campus Umuarama Bloco 2D Department of Botany Rhodes University, PO Box 94 Biospheres Eshwari, 52/403, Nanasaheb Peshva Marg, Near Ramna Ganpati Department of Evolution Ecology and Organismal Biology University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue Departamento de Biologia Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Av. Universitária s/n, Novo Horizonte Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road Laboratorio de Ecología UBIPRO FES-Iztacala Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Tlalnepantla de Baz Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia Departamento de Biologia Vegetal Instituto de Biologia Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Caixa Postal 6109 Department of Plant Sciences Natural and Agricultural Sciences University of the Free State, Qwaqwa campus, Kestell Road Penn State University, 542 ASI Building Department of Chemistry and Bioscience Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H Graduate School of Human Development and Environment Kobe University, 3-11 Tsurukabuto Departamento de Biologia Vegetal Universidade Federal de VIçosa (UFV) Museo Botánico Córdoba y Cátedra de Morfologia Vegetal (IMBIVUNC-CONICET) Graduate School of Technology Industrial and Social Science Tokushima University, 2-1 Minamijyosanjima Centro Acadêmico de Vitória Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Departamento de Educação Universidade Federal da Paraiba Departamento de Engenharia e Meio Ambiente Universidade Federal da Paraiba Laboratório de Ecologia da Polinização e Interações - LEPI Departamento de Botânica Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Júlio de Mesquita Filho'- Unesp Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP Instituto de Biociências Departamento de Botânica Laboratório de Fenologia

Premise Sexual dimorphism in flowering phenology traits may have evolved under sexual selection and vector-mediated selection. The conspicuous sexual dimorphism and sex-specific selection pressures in flowering phenology traits have been investigated mainly in entomophilous dioecious plants, whereas little is known about this in anemophilous plants. Methods We examined sexual dimorphism in flowering onset, flowering peak, flowering duration, maximum proportion of open flowers per inflorescence branch, maximum proportion of newly opening flowers on a given date per branch, and longevity of individual flowers in natural Rumex acetosa populations. Correlations between flowering phenology traits and the degree of flowering overlap with the opposite sex were examined. We also tested whether the overlap of female flowering with male flowering enhanced seed set in female plants. Results Little sexual dimorphism was observed in flowering onset, peak, duration, and maximum proportion of newly opening flowers. Females had greater floral longevity and greater maximum proportion of open flowers than males. Flowering overlap with the opposite sex significantly increased with the maximum proportion of newly opening flowers and decreased with temporal deviation in the flowering peak in both sexes. Females with greater flowering overlap with males set more seeds in two of the three study populations. Conclusions In wind-pollinated R. acetosa, little sexual dimorphism in phenological traits may have evolved to achieve synchronous flowering with the opposite sex. Our results suggest that, in angiosperms, not only common selection but also anemophily-specific selection may shape little sexual dimorphism in R. acetosa, unlike in entomophilous plants.

The effect of land-use changes on plant diversity is an important issue, as plant diversity is vital to maintaining of threatened insect diversity in agro-ecosystems. Although many studies have examined patterns of a few threatened species, few studies have examined a large number of threatened species while comparing organisms of different trophic levels. Observed and expected community assembly patterns of common and threatened species should be evaluated along land-use gradients in agro-ecosystems, using species richness and red list indicator (RLI). This study examined local and regional diversity of plants and herbivorous insects among abandoned, traditional, and intensified land-use types in semi-natural grasslands and compared observed and expected values via null model analysis. This study showed that the richness and RLI of plants and herbivorous insects were maintained in the traditional land-use. However threatened plants and herbivorous insects at sites of land abandonment and intensified use were significant lower than null model expectations. Although, plant richness, rather than RLI, was responsible for maintaining richness and the RLIs of herbivorous insects, plant richness did not linearly correlate with plant RLIs. Threatened plants did not depend on plant richness, it will be vital to identify and conserve unique environments for diversity of plants and herbivores. In conclusion, we should reintroduce traditional land-use practices in intensified use and abandoned grasslands. National and local governmental support for the appropriate management of semi-natural grasslands is beneficial for biodiversity conservation at both the local (e.g., present study area) and national (Japanese) levels.

Question Which types of management practice promote plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands? Which environmental factors might be involved in this management effect? How do different plant life-form groups respond to these variables? Location Kaida Plateau, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Methods In the study area, hay meadows were traditionally maintained through both burning and mowing every second year. Recently, however, meadows that have either been abandoned or maintained only by annual burning or annual mowing have increased. We compared plant species richness, vegetation height and soil pH and water content between traditional meadows and those abandoned or maintained only by burning or mowing. We also examined relationships between these variables and the species richness of plant life-form groups. Results The mean total and rare plant richness (36 and eight species·m−2, respectively) in traditionally managed meadows were higher than in meadows of other management types (

Recent global land-use changes have led to reductions in many herbaceous plant species in semi-natural grassland landscapes. Changes in management frequency and intensity are known to cause declines in plant populations. However, little is known about the impact of changes in the timing of management practices on the genetic diversity as well as the reproductive success of rare semi-natural grassland species. We determined the suitable management (mowing) timing for Vincetoxicum pycnostelma Kitag. (Apocynaceae; Asclepiadoideae), an endangered summer- and autumn-blooming semi-natural grassland herb. We examined 15 V. pycnostelma populations to assess the effects of mowing timing on the genetic diversity of each population using nine microsatellite markers and on pollination and reproductive success. Pollination success was not affected by flowering timing. Mowing during the mid- to late flowering and fruiting periods of V. pycnostelma (July–September) had a significant negative effect on the number of inflorescences and total fruits produced, whereas mowing before flowering and growing periods (April, May and November–March) had positive effects on the number of inflorescences and fruits, respectively. Furthermore, mowing during the mid- to late flowering and fruiting periods also caused a significant decrease in genetic diversity. Our results demonstrated that mowing events during the mid- to late flowering and fruiting periods caused significant declines in the genetic diversity and/or reproductive success of V. pycnostelma. By contrast, mowing before flowering periods significantly enhanced reproductive success. To conserve semi-natural grassland herb diversity, mowing should be avoided during seasons when the flowering and fruiting periods of many endangered species overlap., 半自然草地性絶滅危惧植物の保全に好適な草刈り時期を解明 --開花結実期の草刈りが繁殖と遺伝的多様性を低下させる--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2016-02-16.

Celes akitanus was rediscovered in semi-natural grasslands in Japan. This species is one of the most endangered insects in Japan; most local populations were thought to be extinct. Reliable records of this rare species had been obtained only from Yamagata, Niigata, Tokyo and Nagano Prefectures. We compared the morphology of the holotype of Oedipoda akitana (=C. akitanus) and newly collected specimens and found that they matched with each other. The species was redescribed based on the holotype and new specimens. A molecular phylogenetic analysis involving other acridid species indicated that our samples were practically identical to C. akitanus from China. We conclude that the specimens we collected are C. akitanus, which has been rediscovered in Japan after about 30 years. Because the discovered populations were restricted to narrow and scattered areas, conservation of these populations should be a high priority. Population monitoring and habitat assessment are required. Because C. akitanus and many other endangered species are found in the grassland areas, these habitats should be protected and maintained.

Premise of the study The evolutionary shift from radial to bilateral symmetry in flowers is generally associated with the evolution of low flower-size variation. This phenomenon supports the hypothesis that the lower size variation in bilateral flowers can be attributed to low pollinator diversity. In this study, we propose two other hypotheses to explain low flower-size variation in bilateral symmetrical flowers. To test the three hypotheses, we examined the relative importance of pollinator diversity, composition, and bilateral symmetry itself as selective forces on low flower-size variation. Methods We examined pollinator diversity and composition and flower-size variation for 36 species in a seminatural ecosystem with high bee richness and frequent lepidopteran visitation. Key results Bilateral flowers were more frequently visited than radial flowers by larger bees, but functional-group diversity of the pollinators did not differ between symmetry types. Although bilateral flowers had significantly lower flower-size variation than radial flowers, flower-size variation did not vary with pollinator diversity and composition but was instead related to bilateral symmetry. Conclusions Our results suggest that the lower size variation in bilateral flowers might have evolved under selection favoring the control of pollinator behavior on flowers to enhance the accurate placement of pollen on the body of the pollinator, independent of pollinator type. Because of the limited research on this issue, future work should be conducted in various types of plant-pollinator communities worldwide to further clarify the issue.

Semi-natural grassland areas expanded worldwide several thousand years ago following an increase in anthropogenic activities. However, semi-natural grassland habitat areas have been declining in recent decades due to changes in landuse, which have caused a loss of grassland biodiversity. Reconstructing historical and recent demographic changes in semi-natural grassland species will help clarify the factors affecting their population decline. Here we quantified past and recent demographic histories of Melitaea ambigua (Lepidoptera; Nymphalidae), an endangered grassland butterfly species in Japan. We examined changes in demography over the past 10,000 years based on 1378 bp of mitochondrial COI gene. We then examined changes in its genetic diversity and structure during the last 30 years using nine microsatellite DNA markers. The effective population size of M. ambigua increased about 3000–6000 years ago. In contrast, the genetic diversity and effective population sizes of many populations significantly declined from the 1980s to 2010s, which is consistent with a recent decline in the species population size. Our data suggest that the M. ambigua demography can be traced to changes in area covered by semi-natural grasslands throughout the Holocene.

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ... 1,000 m²) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series. The key components are richness data and metadata. However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data. About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants. At present, GrassPlot contains data from 36 countries throughout the Palaearctic, spread across elevational gradients and major grassland types. GrassPlot with its multi-scale and multi-taxon focus complements the larger international vegetation-plot databases, such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and the global database “sPlot”. Its main aim is to facilitate studies on the scale- and taxon-dependency of biodiversity patterns and drivers along macroecological gradients. GrassPlot is a dynamic database and will expand through new data collection coordinated by the elected Governing Board. We invite researchers with suitable data to join GrassPlot. Researchers with project ideas addressable with GrassPlot data are welcome to submit proposals to the Governing Board. Abbreviations: EDGG = Eurasian Dry Grassland Group; EVA = European Vegetation Archive; GrassPlot = Database of Scale-Dependent Phytodiversity Patterns in Palaearctic Grasslands; SAR = species-area relationship.

Summary 1. Although traditional land-use and management practices are known to enhance environmental heterogeneity in agricultural lands, loss of heterogeneity resulting from recent land-use changes can lead to spatiotemporal b-diversity losses (biotic homogenization). However, patterns and causes of b-diversity loss, especially at a within-field scale, have remained unexplored. 2. We examined b-diversity declines in plants, butterflies and orthopterans resulting from land abandonment and intensification in semi-natural grasslands on paddy margins at a within-field scale in relation to changes in disturbance frequency and surrounding landscapes by surveying eight abandoned, thirteen traditional and ten intensive paddy terraces. Three indices, the additive partitioning of species richness (badd) and the turnover (btu) and nestedness (bne) components of Jaccard dissimilarity of plants and herbivores, were used to evaluate different aspects of b-diversity. We hypothesized that biotic homogenization due to abandonment and intensification would be expressed as low spatiotemporal badd and btu, low spatial bne and high temporal bne. 3. The spatial and temporal badd of plants and herbivores were higher in traditional terraces than in others. Changes in mowing frequency caused direct declines in butterfly badd and indirectly decreased herbivore badd through diminished plant badd in abandoned and intensified terraces. 4. Neighbouring forests increased plant spatial and butterfly temporal badd and btu. Abandoned terraces had higher orthopteran spatial and plant temporal btu than traditional terraces. Mowing frequency generally did not influence spatial and temporal btu of plants and herbivores. In intensive terraces, temporal bne of plants were higher than in traditional terraces, suggesting dominance by plant species sharing similar phenologies. 5. Synthesis and applications. These results suggest that traditional mowing practices are essential for maintaining plant and herbivore badd, and consequently, species pools within terraces. The higher spatial or temporal species turnover of plants and orthopterans in abandoned terraces and higher temporal plant nestedness in intensive than in traditional terraces were not due to increases in species pools within terraces. Because within-terrace environmental heterogeneity is thought to remain in abandoned and intensive terraces, we recommend reduction in mowing frequency in intensive terraces and reintroduction of mowing in abandoned terraces for biodiversity restoration.

Population density can be affected by its prey [resource] and predator [consumer] abundances through two different mechanisms: the alternation of birth [or somatic growth] or death rate and inter-habitat movement. While the food-web theory has traditionally been built on the former mechanism, the latter mechanism has formed the basis of a successful theory explaining the spatial distribution of organisms in the context of behavioral and evolutionary ecology. Yet, few studies have compared these two mechanisms, leaving the question of how similar (or different) predictions derived from birth–death-based and movement-based food-web theories unanswered. Here, theoretical models of the tri-trophic (resource–consumer-top predator) food chain were used to compare food-web patterns arising from these two mechanisms. Specifically, we evaluated the response of the food-chain structure to inter-patch differences in productivity for movement-based models and birth–death-based models. Model analysis reveals that adaptive movements give rise to positively correlated responses of all trophic levels to increased productivity; however, this pattern was not observed in the corresponding birth–death-based model. The movement-based model predicts that the food chain response to productivity is determined by the sensitivity of animal movement to the environmental conditions. More specifically, increasing sensitivity of a consumer or top predator leads to smaller inter-patch variance of the resource or consumer density, while increasing inter-patch variance in the consumer or resource density. In conclusion, adaptive movement provides an alternative mechanism correlating the food-web structure to environmental conditions.

Questions: Are there positive edge effects on beta- and alpha-diversity of plant species across semi-natural grassland–secondary forest gradients located within a traditional agricultural landscape? Is beta-diversity (dissimilarity in plant species composition between two given plots) well explained by environmental differences for both grasslands and forests? Do gradients of environmental factors created by forest edges influence spatial variation in alpha-diversity from edges to grasslands and forests? Location: Semi-natural grasslands and secondary forests (or conifer plantation) around paddy fields in a traditional agricultural landscape, western Japan. Methods: Vegetation survey and environmental (soil water content and sunlight) measurements were conducted on 11 transects passing through grassland–forest ecosystems. Spatial variations in plant beta- and alpha-diversity and environmental variables and their relationships were examined. Results: We quantitatively demonstrated common positive edge effects on beta-diversity in both grasslands and forests. Our results suggest that amongedge variations in light conditions, which likely depend on edge aspect and forest type, promote high grassland plant beta-diversity in the vicinity of edges. However, the high beta-diversity of forest floor communities in the proximity of edges cannot be explained by this mechanism. Alpha-diversity tended to be lower within grassland plots located around edges than in grassland interiors, while the richness of the forest community increased toward the edge. This alpha-diversity pattern was suggested to be attributable to resource gradients created by the forest edges. Conclusions: Although plant alpha-diversity may not be consistently high in the vicinity of edges, beta-diversity in the communities bordering grassland–forest edges will generally be high in the traditional agricultural landscape. Thus, maintenance of environmental heterogeneity among grassland–forest edges in agricultural ecosystems should be prioritized for local biodiversity conservation.

Summary To prevent the invasion of exotic species causing a decline in an endangered endemic species, it is important to determine the distribution of both species at an early stage, when the density of the exotic species is still low, and to manage the invasion immediately. However, distinguishing between closely related species is difficult because they share similar characteristics. The identification of DNA fragments sampled from a body of water (environmental DNA) has become a popular technique for rapidly determining the distribution of a target species. In this study, we analysed environmental DNA in water samples from 37 sites across the Katsura River basin in Japan. We used TaqMan real-time PCR to distinguish the Japanese giant salamander Andrias japonicus from the closely related Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus, which is known to invade Japanese rivers and hybridize with the Japanese species. In environmental samples, we detected mtDNA of the endemic species at 25 sites and mtDNA of the exotic species at nine sites. The DNA detection sites were concentrated in the upstream region. The exotic species DNA was found beyond the limits of an earlier capturing survey. Synthesis and applications. Using environmental DNA to monitor the two salamander species requires less time and effort than traditional surveys, so a wide-ranging survey can be conducted rapidly. Our results showed that performing three environmental DNA surveys for each site between autumn and winter is desirable for giant salamanders. Further collection of environmental DNA, in combination with conventional population surveys, will provide valuable information that can help protect rare endemic species in a variety of aquatic ecosystems and can help monitor the invasion of exotic species.