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Copyright of Journal of Field Ornithology is the property of Resilience Alliance and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Among the many concerns for biodiversity in the Anthropocene, recent reports of flying insect loss are particularly alarming, given their importance as pollinators, pest control agents, and as a food source. Few insect monitoring programmes cover the large spatial scales required to provide more generalizable estimates of insect responses to global change drivers.We ask how climate and surrounding habitat affect flying insect biomass using data from the first year of a new monitoring network at 84 locations across Germany comprising a spatial gradient of land cover types from protected to urban and crop areas.Flying insect biomass increased linearly with temperature across Germany. However, the effect of temperature on flying insect biomass flipped to negative in the hot months of June and July when local temperatures most exceeded long‐term averages.Land cover explained little variation in insect biomass, but biomass was lowest in forests. Grasslands, pastures, and orchards harboured the highest insect biomass. The date of peak biomass was primarily driven by surrounding land cover, with grasslands especially having earlier insect biomass phenologies.Standardised, large‐scale monitoring provides key insights into the underlying processes of insect decline and is pivotal for the development of climate‐adapted strategies to promote insect diversity. In a temperate climate region, we find that the positive effects of temperature on flying insect biomass diminish in a German summer at locations where temperatures most exceeded long‐term averages. Our results highlight the importance of local adaptation in climate change‐driven impacts on insect communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ornithologische Beobachter is the property of Ala - Schweizerische Gesellschaft fuer Vogelkunde und Vogelschutz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: The succession of glacials and interglacials during the Pleistocene strongly influenced the diversification and distribution patterns in birds. In contrast to species of temperate regions, open‐habitat specialists should have experienced range expansion during the longer glacial periods, while range contractions occurred during the shorter interglacials. However, only few studies have tested this prediction so far. We studied the Oenanthe hispanica–pleschanka–cypriaca (Aves, Muscicapidae: Saxicolinae) complex characteristic of open habitats in the Palearctic. Based on three mitochondrial and one Z‐linked nuclear marker, we inferred its phylogeny, historical diversification, and demography. Ecological niche modeling was used to reconstruct potential distributions during the last glacial maximum and the last interglacial. Using 19 morphological traits, we tested for morphometric differences among the different taxa. Mitochondrial markers revealed strong genetic differences between O. h. hispanica and the other taxa with a divergence event at around 1.7 million years ago. No consistent genetic differences were revealed between O. cypriaca, O. h. melanoleuca, and O. pleschanka. The latter two hybridize in contact zones, which might explain partly the lack of genetic differentiation; yet, further analyses using genomic data are needed to infer the true divergence history of the complex. Signs of population expansions in the clade comprising O. h. melanoleuca, O. pleschanka, and O. cypriaca at 90,000 years ago coincided with the last glacial as predicted. Population expansion then was also supported by ecological climate niche models. O. h. hispanica was not consistently separated from the other taxa in morphometrics. It might nonetheless warrant species status, pending further analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the morphological shifts in the House Sparrows Passer domesticus on the island of Helgoland by considering the insular syndrome theory and founder effects. Analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction for the period 1989-29008 revealed significant differences in the body mass of birds. Juveniles on Helgoland had the heaviest body mass while those from Schleswig-Holstein are lighter and those from Niedersachsen were the lightest. The length of 8th primary (P8) and body mass of juvenile House Sparrows also increased indicating a change in size as a result of reduced predation risk, reduced dispersal and increased intraspecific competition due to high population densities. Evidence also shows the movement of House Sparrows between Helgoland and the mainland.

The article discusses research which compared habitat variables and morphological measurements of both forms of the Mourning Wheatear Oenanthe lugens lugens in Jordan with the aim of describing the possible distinctiveness of the black morph. Means of selected morphological measurements taken for typical and black morph are presented. The study suggests a low taxonomic differentiation of the black form compared with the typical nominate form with the exception of rock coloration.