Understanding the processes that determine above‐ground biomass ( AGB ) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting the sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and for designing and evaluating dynamic global vegetation models ( DGVM s). AGB is determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary productivity ( NPP )] and the rate at which carbon is lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whet...

Cytogenetic and molecular analyses enabled identification of two cytotypes among individuals of the spotted scorpion fish Scorpaena plumieri from Margarita Island, Venezuela. Cytotype 1 was characterized by 48 subtelo‐acrocentric chromosomes and fundamental number (number of chromosome arms; FN ) equalled 48, while cytotype 2 was characterized by two metacentric and 46 subtelo‐acrocentric chromosomes and FN was 50. These cytot...

Monophyly of the genus Leporinus (Characiformes: Anostomidae) was tested by sequencing and analysing a total of 4732 bp, including two mitochondrial [ cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 ( CO1 ) and cytochrome b ( Cytb )] and three nuclear [myosin heavy chain 6 cardiac muscle alpha ( Myh6 ), recombination activating gene 1 ( RAG1 ) and recombination activating gene 2 ( RAG2 )] loci for 22 species of Leporinus , or c. 25% of all descr...