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Research in Macaronesia has led to substantial advances in ecology, evolution and conservation biology. We review the scientific developments achieved in this region, and outline promising research avenues enhancing conservation. Some of these discoveries indicate that the Macaronesian flora and fauna are composed of rather young lineages, not Tertiary relicts, predominantly of European origin. Macaronesia also seems to be an important source region for back-colonisation of continental fringe regions on both sides of the Atlantic. This group of archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands, and Cabo Verde) has been crucial to learn about the particularities of macroecological patterns and interaction networks on islands, providing evidence for the development of the General Dynamic Model of oceanic island biogeography and subsequent updates. However, in addition to exceptionally high richness of endemic species, Macaronesia is also home to a growing number of threatened species, along with invasive alien plants and animals. Several innovative conservation and management actions are in place to protect its biodiversity from these and other drivers of global change. The Macaronesian Islands are a well-suited field of study for island ecology and evolution research, mostly due to its special geological layout with 40 islands grouped within five archipelagos differing in geological age, climate and isolation. A large amount of data is now available for several groups of organisms on and around many of these islands. However, continued efforts should be made toward compiling new information on their biodiversity, to pursue various fruitful research avenues and develop appropriate conservation management tools. The Island Biology Interest Group (IBIG, http://www.ibigbiology.com) is grateful to the organisers of the 2016 Island Biology Conference held in the Azores for promoting the symposium that led to this manuscript. We thank Joaquin Hortal for useful comments on an early version of the manuscript, and also Guido Jones for his language editing funded by the Cabildo de Tenerife, under the TFinnova Programme supported by MEDI and FDCAN funds. We are grateful to Salvador de la Cruz and Elena Morales for extracting updated information from the Biodiversity Data Bank of the Canary Islands. We also thank Ricardo Ramalho (Cardiff University) for fruitful discussions on the geological age of the Cabo Verde islands. This manuscript is a contribution by the INCT in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation funded by MCTIC/CNPq/FAPEG (grant 465610/2014-5).

Aim: Much research has focused on the separate and combined effects of habitat and geography on species communities, both in mainland and island ecosystems. However, few studies have looked into the differences among communities inhabiting different island habitats. Here we aim to determine the contributions of habitat filtering and dispersal to the differences in taxonomic structure of island communities across geographic scales. Location: Sixty plots in two habitats (forest and dry habitat) across eight islands of the Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde. Taxon: Spiders (Araneae). Methods: We generated community data by using the optimised and standardised COBRA sampling protocols. We tested the differences in three beta diversity metrics ( βTotal, βReplacement and βRichness) for each habitat and dispersal category separately, across geographic scales through nested non-parametric PerMANOVA. We tested if dispersal and habitat influenced differences between the communities of the same area by applying a PERMDISP to βreplacement, and using the distances in linear mixed models. We tested the effects of habitat and dispersal on species relative abundances (SADs) and rarity by building Gambin models for each community and dispersal group separately. Results: Communities grouped according to archipelago and habitat, in terms of taxonomic similarity. In general, β diversity increased with geographic scale, and was greater in dry habitats. βReplacement among communities of the same region was greater in dry habitats than in forests, and this difference was stronger for rare ballooners. Dry habitat communities showed more species with low abundances (rare species) at different spatial scales. Main conclusions: Our findings reveal that habitat type does not only condition the processes behind community assembly but also the scale at which they occur. Indeed, our findings are highly relevant for theories on across and within island community assembly as well as for biodiversity conservation., Field work was supported by two projects: 1) the ERA-Net Net-Biome research framework, Canary Islands Government ACIISI grants SE-12/02 (PO), SE-12/03 (JCC), SE-12/04 (BE), co-financed by FEDER, Portuguese FCT-NETBIOME grant 0003/2011 (PB); and 2) FCT MACDIV – FCT PTDC/BIABIC/0054/2014. Open Access was financed by the project UID/BIA/00329/2020. The National Parks of Terceira and Pico (Azores), the Instituto das Florestas e da Conservação da Natureza (Madeira), the Cabildos of Tenerife and La Gomera, Garajonay National Park (La Gomera) as well as the Cabo Verde Government provided permits for specimen collection in protected areas. IRA was funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the Norma Transitória DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0003.

[EN] In this study, the presence, distribution, and chorology of more than 3,000 individuals belonging 38 families and 173species of Heteroptera from the Canary Islands has been revised. Specimens of the suborder Heteroptera were collected from the different islands and an updated checklist of the species occurring in the archipelago is presented. Three new records for the Canaries and 36new records for at least one island are presented herein., [ES] En este estudio se revisa la presencia, distribución ycorología de más de 3.000 ejemplares pertenecientes a 38 familias y 173especies de las islas Canarias.Dichos ejemplares fueron capturados en las diferentes islas por lo que se presenta una lista actualizada de las especies presentes en el archipiélago. Se aportan tres nuevas citas para las Canarias y 36nuevascitas para al menos una de las islas.