Leatherback sea turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, are highly migratory predators that feed exclusively on gelatinous zooplankton, thus playing a unique role in coastal and pelagic food webs. From 2007 to 2010, we used satellite telemetry to monitor the movements and dive behavior of nine adult and eleven subadult leatherbacks captured on the Northeast USA shelf and tracked throughout the Northwest...

We compared the effectiveness of environmental variables, and in particular of land-use indicators, to explain species richness patterns across taxonomic groups and biogeographical scales (i.e. overall pan-Europe and ecoregions within pan-Europe). Using boosted regression trees that handle non-linear relationships, we compared the relative influence (as a measure of effectiveness) of environmen...

An international effort is underway to establish a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean to help provide for the long-term conservation of marine biodiversity in the region. Important to this undertaking is knowledge of the distribution of benthic assemblages. Here, our aim is to identify the areas where benthic marine assemblages are likely to differ from...

BACKGROUND Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming) and in the sea (e.g. overfishing). Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidifi...

BACKGROUND Leptospirosis is an epidemic-prone neglected disease that affects humans and animals, mostly in vulnerable populations. The One Health approach is a recommended strategy to identify drivers of the disease and plan for its prevention and control. In that context, the aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of human cases of leptospirosis in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Br...

Coastal economies and ecosystems have historically depended on oyster reefs, but this habitat has declined globally by 85% because of anthropogenic activities. In a Florida estuary, we investigated the cause of newly reported losses of oysters. We found that the oyster reefs have deteriorated from north to south and that this deterioration was positively correlated with the abundance of carnivo...

Elucidating the variation in grassland belowground biomass (BGB) and its response to changes climatic variables are key issues plant ecology research. In this study, BGB data for five ecoregions (cold steppe, temperate dry savanna, humid temperate) were used examine effects of variability extremes on C3- C4-dominated grasslands. Results showed that varied significantly across ecoregions, with h...

Abstract Piophilidae Macquart, 1835, is a small family of flies widely distributed in all parts the world but more represented cooler temperate regions Northern Hemisphere. At present, there lack information on distribution this Caucasus region. In study, Piophilidae, with record Prochyliza nigrimana (Meigen, 1826), reported for first time from South ecoregion.

Abstract. Lakes in permafrost regions are dynamic landscape components and play an important role for climate change feedbacks. Lake processes such as mineralization flocculation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), one the main fractions lakes, contribute to greenhouse effect part global cycle. These focus research, but studies so far limited specific study regions. In our synthesis, we analyzed...