Aim Insects provide essential ecosystem services, but there is a concern that insect abundance is in rapid decline. Identifying trends in insect biodiversity is challenging because we lack baseline data for most biogeographic regions, and most insect species remain undescribed. Here, we aim to report the first nationwide inventory of insect biodiversity in South Africa. Location Eleven National Botanical Gardens representing f...

The morphodynamics of the Leucate double-crescent bar system was studied over twenty years using bathymetric data supplemented by satellite images and video monitoring. Eleven different bar typologies were identified, mostly based on existing beach state classifications (Low-Tide Terrace, Transverse Bar and Rip, Rhythmic Bar and Beach), also including new heterogeneous typologies (TBR/LTT, RBB HP/RBB, TBR/RBB). The inner bar s...

Ocean Census is a new Large-Scale Strategic Science Mission aimed at accelerating the discovery and description of marine species. This mission addresses the knowledge gap of the diversity and distribution of marine life whereby of an estimated 1 million to 2 million species of marine life between 75% to 90% remain undescribed to date. Without improved knowledge of marine biodiversity, tackling the decline and eventual extinct...

Single‐locus molecular delimitation plays a key role in meeting the need to expedite the exploration and description of the species on our planet. Multiple methods have been developed to aid data interpretation over the past 20 years, but species delimitation remains difficult due to their varying performance. In this study, we examine the accuracy of five widely used delimitation methods (i.e. BIN, ABGD, ASAP, GMYC and mPTP)...

This study focuses on the dynamics of an intermittent estuary in a wave-dominated (microtidal) area, with low fluvial discharges and strong dominant offshore wind regimes. The aims are to understand the effect of these particular environmental factors in the dynamics of such estuaries. The results allow us to propose a synthetic morphodynamic model of evolution whereby opening phases are predominantly controlled by offshore wi...

It has been hypothesised that the 2‐year oscillations in abundance of Xestia moths are mediated by interactions with 1‐year Ophion parasitoid wasps. We tested this hypothesis by modelling a 35‐year time series of Xestia and Ophion from Northern Finland. Additionally, we used DNA barcoding to ascertain the species diversity of Ophion and targeted amplicon sequencing of their gut contents to confirm their larval hosts. Modelling...

The Masoninae (type genus Masona van Achterberg) is a widespread but seldom collected group of morphologically aberrant tiny (body length 2 mm or less) wasps that have always been considered as a subfamily of Braconidae, albeit on little supporting evidence. Discovery of a fully winged female of Masona from remote Australia has enabled a reassessment of its relationships. This specimen yielded sequence data for the nuclear 28S...

Mites (Arachnida: Acariformes, Parasitiformes) are the most abundant and species‐rich group of arthropods in soil, but are also diverse in freshwater habitats, on plants, and as symbionts of larger animals. However, assessment of their diversity has been impeded by their small size and often cryptic morphology. As a consequence, published estimates of their species richness span more than two orders of magnitude (0.4–114 milli...

Climate changes can have fundamental impacts on the distributional patterns of montane species, and range shifts frequently lead to allopatric divergence followed by the establishment of secondary contact zones. Many European and North American organisms have retreated to southern refugia during glacial periods and colonized northward during postglacial periods, but little is known about the evolutionary response of cold‐adapt...

Pollination is an ecosystem function of global importance. Yet, who visits the flower of specific plants, how the composition of these visitors varies in space and time and how such variation translates into pollination services are hard to establish. The use of DNA barcodes allows us to address ecological patterns involving thousands of taxa that are difficult to identify. To clarify the regional variation in the visitor comm...

As molecular tools for assessing trophic interactions become common, research is increasingly focused on the construction of interaction networks. Here, we demonstrate three key methods for incorporating DNA data into network ecology and discuss analytical considerations using a model consisting of plants, insects, bats and their parasites from the Costa Rica dry forest. The simplest method involves the use of Sanger sequencin...

Species reintroductions are increasingly used as means of mitigating biodiversity loss. Besides habitat quality at the site targeted for reintroduction, the choice of source population can be critical for success. The butterfly Melanargia russiae (Esper´s marbled white) was extirpated from Hungary over 100 years ago, and a reintroduction program has recently been approved. We used museum specimens of this butterfly, mitochondr...

While the high species diversity of tropical arthropod communities has often been linked to marked spatial heterogeneity, their temporal dynamics have received little attention. This study addresses this gap by examining spatio‐temporal variation in the arthropod communities of a tropical montane forest in Honduras. By employing DNA barcode analysis and Malaise trap sampling across 4 years and five sites, 51,596 specimens were...

Size, growth, and density have been studied for North American Pacific coast sea urchins Strongylocentrotus purpuratus , S. droebachiensis, S. polyacanthus , Mesocentrotus (Strongylocentrotus) franciscanus , Lytechinus pictus , Centrostephanus coronatus , and Arbacia stellata by various workers at diverse sites and for varying lengths of time from 1956 to present. Numerous peer‐reviewed publications have used some of these dat...

The relationship between species diversity and environmental parameters is poorly understood for the mobile macrofauna of deep‐sea habitats due to under‐sampling and subsequent lack of accurate taxonomic information. To redress this, cytochrome oxidase c subunit I ( COI ) DNA sequences were used to estimate species diversity and to compare phoxocephalid amphipod assemblages among 20 stations encompassing a range of environment...

We tested the hypothesis that cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences would successfully discriminate recognised species of New Zealand caddisflies. We further examined whether phylogenetic analyses, based on the COI locus, could recover currently recognised superfamilies and suborders. COI sequences were obtained from 105 individuals representing 61 species and all 16 families of Trichoptera known from New Zealand. No...

Ecological linkages between species diversity in communities and genetic diversity in populations have potential to influence the assembly of communities in habitats recovering from human disturbance, but few studies have attempted to synthesize relationships between these levels of biological organization, especially for locally adapted species. No such studies have been done in freshwater ecosystems despite the plethora of e...