Niche theory in its various forms is based on those environmental factors that permit species persistence, but less work has focused on defining the extent, or size, of a species' environment: the area that explains a species' presence at a point in space. We proposed that this habitat extent is identifiable from a characteristic scale of habitat selection, the spatial scale at which habitat be...

In contrast to the deep subseafloor biosphere, a volumetrically vast and stable habitat for microbial life in the terrestrial crust remains poorly explored. For the long-term sustainability of a crustal biome, high-energy fluxes derived from hydrothermal circulation and water radiolysis in uranium-enriched rocks are seemingly essential. However, the crustal habitability depending on a low suppl...

Because of their complex life styles, amphibians and reptiles living in wetlands require both aquatic and terrestrial buffer zones in their protected conservation areas. Due to steep declines in wild populations, the gold-spotted pond frog (Rana chosenica) is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. However, lack of data about its movements and use of habitat prevents effective conservation planning. ...

Phytoremediation offers an environmental friendly alternative to conventional cleanup techniques. In this study, mycorrhizal fungi isolated from the roots of Mentha longifolia grown in the basin of the Centuria River (S Poland) were used. Iris pseudacorus was grown in substratum from an industrial waste, enriched in Pb, Fe, Zn, and Cd in a terrestrial and water-logged habitat. Plant yield and p...

Because particular life history traits affect species vulnerability to development pressures, cross-species summaries of life history traits are useful for generating management guidelines. Conservation of aquatic turtles, many members of which are regionally or globally imperiled, requires knowing the extent of upland habitat used for nesting. Therefore, we compiled distances that nests and gr...

Habitat split is a major force behind the worldwide decline of amphibian populations, causing community change in richness and species composition. In fragmented landscapes, natural remnants, the terrestrial habitat of the adults, are frequently separated from streams, the aquatic habitat of the larvae. An important question is how this landscape configuration affects population levels and if i...

Dividing the world into nine regions, this first paper describes literature records of the limno-terrestrial tardigrades (Tardigrada) reported from Central America. Updating previously published species lists we have revised the taxonomy and provided additional habitat, geographic co-ordinates, and biogeographic comments. It is hoped this work will serve as a reference point and background for ...

In the Arctic Ocean's southern Beaufort Sea (SB), the length of the sea ice melt season (i.e., period between the onset of sea ice break-up in summer and freeze-up in fall) has increased substantially since the late 1990s. Historically, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the SB have mostly remained on the sea ice year-round (except for those that came ashore to den), but recent changes in the ext...

Ontogenetic shifts in habitat use are widespread, especially in ectothermic taxa in which juveniles may be an order of magnitude smaller than large adult conspecifics. The factors that generate such habitat shifts are generally obscure, but we studied an unusual system that allowed us to compare consequences of habitat selection between adults and juveniles. Pit-vipers (Gloydius shedaoensis) on...