Aim Previous research on how climatic niches vary across species ranges has focused on a limited number of species, mostly invasive, and has not, to date, been very conclusive. Here we assess the degree of niche conservatism between distant populations of native alpine plant species that have been separated for thousands of years. Location European A lps and F ennoscandia. Methods Of the studied pool of 888 terrestrial vascula...

For the last few decades, trophic ecology has usually been investigated by using stable isotopes. However, the isotopic signatures of potential food sources in hydrothermal vent ecosystems are often unknown and so their relative contribution to the consumers’ diet, as well as resource partitioning, are then difficult to estimate. Here, we used a recent B ayesian mixing model (stable isotope analysis in R , SIAR ) based on δ 13...

Summary Sequencing of 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction ( PCR ) amplicons is the most common approach for investigating environmental prokaryotic diversity, despite the known biases introduced during PCR . Here we show that 16S rDNA fragments derived from Illumina‐sequenced environmental metagenomes ( mi tag s) are a powerful alternative to 16S rDNA amplicons for investigating the taxonomic diversity and structure of prokaryo...

The diet of P omatoschistus microps has been studied using both gut content and stable isotope analyses. In the R oscoff A ber B ay ( B rittany, F rance), this fish is commonly found on sandy muddy intertidal flats. Gut content analyses were also interpreted using trophic indices. Owing to the large diversity of prey consumed, these indices emphasised the opportunistic feeding behaviour of P . microps . Here, this species fed...

Studying the effect of similar environments on diverse genetic backgrounds has long been a goal of evolutionary biologists with studies typically relying on experimental approaches. Pink salmon, a highly abundant and widely ranging salmonid, provide a naturally occurring opportunity to study the effects of similar environments on divergent genetic backgrounds due to a strict two‐year semelparous life history. The species is co...

Summary Magnetotactic bacteria ( MTB ) are capable of synthesizing intracellular organelles, the magnetosomes, that are membrane‐bounded magnetite or greigite crystals arranged in chains. Although MTB are widely spread in various ecosystems, few axenic cultures are available, and only freshwater M agnetospirillum spp. have been genetically analysed. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of a marine magnetotactic spiril...

Oceanic islands have been a test ground for evolutionary theory, but here, we focus on the possibilities for evolutionary study created by offshore islands. These can be colonized through various means and by a wide range of species, including those with low dispersal capabilities. We use morphology, modern and ancient sequences of cytochrome b ( cytb ) and microsatellite genotypes to examine colonization history and evolution...