—Human classifications and phylogenies of perceived natural entities are subject to change in light of new evidence. Taxonomic changes, translated into Code-compliant names and nomenclatural relationships, frequently lead to name/meaning dissociations across succeeding treatments. Classification standards such as the Mammal Species of the World (MSW) aim to unify name usages at the global scale...

BACKGROUND Biogas production is a very complex process due to the high complexity in diversity and interactions of the microorganisms mediating it, and only limited and diffuse knowledge exists about the variation of taxonomic and functional patterns of microbiomes across different biogas reactors, and their relationships with the metabolic patterns. The present study used metagenomic sequencin...

Invasive alien species come from most taxonomic groups, and invasion biology is searching for robust cross-taxon generalizations and principles. An analysis of 2,670 papers dealing with 892 invasive species showed that all major groups of invaders are well studied, but that most information on the mechanisms of invasion has emerged from work on a limited number of the most harmful invaders. A s...

The type specimen of the red alga Alysium holtingii C. Agardh, described from Brazil, is located in the Lund Herbarium, and it is depicted for the first time in a publication. It is taxonomically identical to Dichotomaria obtusata (J. Ellis and Solander) Lamarck and thus can be treated as a later taxonomic synonym. Alysium is regarded as congeneric with Dichotomaria.

Species of the genus Chiropterotriton are distributed through much of northern and eastern Mexico. The genus has presented taxonomic difficulties, with a number of species waiting to be described. We describe two new species, Chiropterotriton cieloensis sp. nov. and Chiropterotriton infernalis sp. nov., from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas based on both molecular and morphological data. We pres...

Species extinctions have the potential to dramatically reshape ecological communities. In the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, the emergence of a lethal amphibian pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) drives mountain yellowlegged frog (Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae) populations to local extinction. Prior to population declines, these frogs and their tadpoles were abundant, highlevel p...