Aim We aimed to understand the ecological connections between caves and mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS) in Iron Formations from southeastern Brazil. Location Iron Quadrangle and Southern Espinhaço Range, southeastern Brazil. Taxon Subterranean invertebrates. Methods Our dataset compiles species distribution data of subterranean invertebrates from long‐term monitoring projects conducted in three localities: Brumadinho, Itabir...

Groundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical rol...

Many questions relevant to conservation decision‐making are characterized by extreme uncertainty due to lack of empirical data and complexity of the underlying ecologic processes, leading to a rapid increase in the use of structured protocols to elicit expert knowledge. Published ecologic applications often employ a modified Delphi method, where experts provide judgments anonymously and mathematical aggregation techniques are...

Animals can be important in modulating ecosystem‐level nutrient cycling, although their importance varies greatly among species and ecosystems. Nutrient cycling rates of individual animals represent valuable data for testing the predictions of important frameworks such as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology ( MTE ) and ecological stoichiometry ( ES ). They also represent an important set of functional traits that may reflect both...

Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and demographic consequences of fatalities caused by renewable energy facilities. G...

The critically endangered Madagascar fish‐eagle ( Haliaeetus vociferoides ) is considered to be one of the rarest birds of prey globally and at significant risk of extinction. In the most recent census, only 222 adult individuals were recorded with an estimated total breeding population of no more than 100–120 pairs. Here, levels of Madagascar fish‐eagle population genetic diversity based on 47 microsatellite loci were compare...

Aim The diversity of the obligate cave‐dwelling fauna has proved difficult to measure because of the highly localized distributions of most species. We investigated: (1) the local and regional diversity patterns of a major component of the obligate cave‐dwelling fauna living in the epikarst zone, the karst layer closest to the surface; (2) variations in local and regional patterns of species richness; and (3) sampling sufficie...

Aim Over 250 species of obligate terrestrial cave‐dwelling animals (troglobionts) are known from single caves in the eastern United States. We investigate their geographical distribution, especially in relation to other troglobionts. We relate these patterns to taxonomic group, opportunities for dispersal and geographical location. Location Caves of the United States east of the Mississippi River. Methods We associated over 30...