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1. Geographic variation in the determinants of ectoparasite faunas’ species richness: fleas and gamasid mites parasitic on small mammals from 6 biogeographic realms

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182025100371  

   Krasnov, Boris R; Grabovsky, Vasily I; Korallo-Vinarskaya, Natalia; Vinarski, Maxim V; Robles_Fernandez, Angel Luis; Khokhlova, Irina (June 2025, Parasitology)

   Abstract We investigated the effects of body mass, geographic range size, the within-range richness of host assemblages (diversity field) and the habitat breadth of small mammalian hosts from 6 biogeographic realms on the species richness of their flea and gamasid mite faunas. We also tested whether the probability of between-host ectoparasite sharing is related to host phylogenetic relatedness, trait similarity or geographic distance/environmental dissimilarity between their ranges. We asked whether the effects of host-associated determinants of ectoparasite richness and the probability of ectoparasite sharing differ between (1) biogeographic realms and (2) fleas and mites. Whenever significant effects of host body mass on ectoparasite richness were found, they were negative, whereas the significant effects of geographic range size, diversity field and habitat breadth were positive. The occurrence of each determinant’s effects on ectoparasite species richness differed (1) within fleas or mites between realms and (2) between fleas and mites within a realm. In all realms, the probability of a flea or a mite species being shared between hosts decreased with a decrease in the hosts’ phylogenetic relatedness, trait similarity, geographic distance between ranges or environmental similarity. The probabilities of an ectoparasite species being shared between hosts were most strongly related to the hosts’ trait similarity and were least related to the environmental similarity. We conclude that caution is needed in making judgements about the generality of macroecological patterns related to parasites based on the investigations of these patterns in limited numbers of localities and when pooling data on various taxa. 

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2. Characterising Soil Eukaryotic Diversity From NEON Metagenomics Datasets

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.70062  

   Vilonen, Leena; Thompson, Andrew; Adams, Byron; Ayres, Edward; Franco, André_L C; Wall, Diana H (January 2026, Molecular Ecology Resources)

   ABSTRACT Belowground eukaryotic diversity serves a vital role in soil ecosystem functioning, yet the composition, structure, and macroecology of these communities are significantly under‐characterized. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) provides publicly available datasets from long‐term surveillance of numerous taxa and ecosystem properties. However, this dataset is not routinely evaluated for its eukaryotic component, likely because analyzing metagenomes for eukaryotic sequences is hampered by low relative sequence abundance, large genomes, poorer eukaryote representation in public reference databases, and is not yet mainstream. We mined the NEON soil metagenome datasets for 18S rRNA sequences using a custom‐built pipeline and produced a preliminary assessment of biodiversity trends in North American soil eukaryotes. We extracted ~800 18S rRNA reads per sample (~22,000 reads per site) from 1455 samples from 495 plots across 45 NEON sites in 11 biomes, which corresponded to 5183 genera in 35 phyla. To our knowledge, this represents the first large‐scale soil eukaryote analysis of NEON data. We asked whether taxonomic richness paralleled patterns previously established ecological trends and found that eukaryotic richness was negatively correlated with pH, managed sites lowered eukaryotic richness by 47%, most biomes had a distinct eukaryotic community, and fire decreased eukaryotic richness. These findings parallel generally accepted ecological trends and support the notion that NEON soil metagenome datasets can and should be used to explore spatiotemporal patterns in soil eukaryote diversity, its association with ecosystem functioning, and its response to environmental changes in North America. 

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3. Consistent trait-temperature interactions drive butterfly phenology in both incidental and survey data

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16104-7  

   Larsen, Elise A.; Belitz, Michael W.; Guralnick, Robert P.; Ries, Leslie (December 2022, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Data availability limits phenological research at broad temporal and spatial extents. Butterflies are among the few taxa with broad-scale occurrence data, from both incidental reports and formal surveys. Incidental reports have biases that are challenging to address, but structured surveys are often limited seasonally and may not span full flight phenologies. Thus, how these data source compare in phenological analyses is unclear. We modeled butterfly phenology in relation to traits and climate using parallel analyses of incidental and survey data, to explore their shared utility and potential for analytical integration. One workflow aggregated “Pollard” surveys, where sites are visited multiple times per year; the other aggregated incidental data from online portals: iNaturalist and eButterfly. For 40 species, we estimated early (10%) and mid (50%) flight period metrics, and compared the spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of phenology across species and between datasets. For both datasets, inter-annual variability was best explained by temperature, and seasonal emergence was earlier for resident species overwintering at more advanced stages. Other traits related to habitat, feeding, dispersal, and voltinism had mixed or no impacts. Our results suggest that data integration can improve phenological research, and leveraging traits may predict phenology in poorly studied species. 

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4. Biodiversity and biogeography of zooxanthellate soft corals across the Indo-Pacific

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98790-7  

   McFadden, Catherine S; Erickson, Katie L; Lane, Audra; Nassongole, Bibiana; Aguilar, Steven; Dunakey, Sabra K; Durkin, Kathleen M; Lalas, Jue_A A; Kushida, Yuka; Macrina, Laura; et al (May 2025, Scientific Reports)

   Documentation of biodiversity and its geographical distribution is necessary to understand the processes and drivers of evolutionary diversification as well as to guide conservation and management initiatives. Among the most emblematic patterns of biodiversity in the world’s oceans is the Coral Triangle (Indo-Australian Archipelago), widely recognized to be the center of species richness for a variety of marine life forms. The distribution of biodiversity remains incompletely documented, however, for a majority of reef-associated invertebrate taxa, including the zooxanthellate soft corals (Octocorallia) that dominate hard substrate on many Indo-Pacific reefs. We used a genetic approach to document the diversity of Indo-Pacific soft corals, sequencing two single-locus barcoding markers for > 4400 soft coral specimens and assigning individuals to molecular operational taxonomic units as proxies of species. We document two centers of species richness for zooxanthellate soft corals, one in the Indo-Australian Archipelago and a second, equally diverse center in the Western Indian Ocean. Centers of endemicity for soft corals are coincident with these centers of species richness, although the peripheral Red Sea and Hawaii also support high proportions of endemic taxa. The patterns documented here suggest that biogeographic distributions of soft coral families may be driven in part by larval dispersal potential: taxa with benthic larvae are absent from most oceanic islands of the central Pacific and are represented by higher proportions of endemic taxa in other geographic regions. Our findings demonstrate the distinct biogeographic patterns among reef taxa and underscore the need to document and analyze species distributions of more reef-associated invertebrate groups to derive a complete picture of reef biogeography. 

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5. Diversity squared: New insights into patterns of heterobranch species richness and diversification of lineages

   Gosliner, T; Donohoo, S; Bonomo, L; Knutson, V; Fritts-Penniman, A (August 2022, Spixiana Supplement)

   Expeditionary field work still remains the most fundamental tool to discover novel species and repetitive sampling in high diversity portions of the Indo-Pacific tropics continues to provide large numbers of previously undocumented taxa. Multidisciplinary collaborative teams and large expeditions are an immense source of novel biodiversity. Micro-scale temporal changes in diverse ecosystems provide a catalyst for new species discovery, as well as insights into the discovery of patterns of trophic and symbiotic divergence. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses of large samples of diverse taxa across geographical gradients have increasingly detected cryptic and pseudo-cryptic species complexes that have dramatically altered our view of species richness. Aposematic and extreme camouflaged colour patterns within the context of fish predatory behaviour provides an evolutionary framework for divergence and convergence of colour patterns. Similarly, recent studies of temperate nudibranch assemblages in temperate waters in Europe, southern Africa and the Pacific coast of North America also demonstrate previously undetected diversity and the presence of colour patterns that likely reflect similarity derived from both common ancestry and convergence. Combining these approaches has documented astonishingly high levels of previously undetected diversity, has huge implications to our knowledge of global biodiversity with a likely 3-5x increase in global species richness, and has developed more appropriate regenerative conservation strategies. 

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