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Advances and knowledge gaps on climate change impacts on honey bees and beekeeping: A systematic review

The osteology of Prognathoglossum kalassyi, an osteoglossiform teleostean fish from the marine Cenomanian of En Nammoura in Lebanon, is described in details. This fish exhibits an important prognathism. The frontal is broad and short. The temporal fossa is located very laterally on the braincase. There is a small postfrontal behind the frontal. The parietal forms the dorsal border of the temporal fossa. The saccular-lagenar bulla is hypertrophied. This series of specialized characters is shared by the Recent osteoglossoid Pantodon and leads to range this Lebanese fossil genus within the family Pantodontidae.

An important functional trait of organisms is their trophic mode. It determines their position within food webs, as well as their function within an ecosystem. For the better part of the 20th century, aquatic protist communities were thought to consist mainly of producers (phytoplankton) and consumers (protozooplankton). Phytoplankton cover their energy requirements through photosynthesis (phototrophy), while protozooplankton graze on prey and organic particles (phagotrophy). However, over the past decades, it was shown that another trophic group (mixoplankton) comprise a notable part of aquatic protist communities. Mixoplankton employ a third trophic mode by combining phototrophy and phagotrophy (mixotrophy). Due to the historical dichotomy, it is not straightforward to gain adequate and correct information on the trophic mode of aquatic protists. Long hours of literature research or expert knowledge are needed to correctly assign trophic modes. Additionally, aquatic protists also have a long history of undergoing taxonomic changes which make it difficult to compare past and present literature. While WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species, keeps track of the taxonomic changes and assigns each species a unique AphiaID that can be linked to its various historic and present taxonomic hierarchy, there is currently no machine-readable database to query aquatic protists for their trophic modes. This paper describes a dataset that was submitted to WoRMS and links aquatic protist taxa, with a focus on marine taxa, to their AphiaID and their trophic mode. The bulk of the data used for this dataset stems from (routine) monitoring stations in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The data were augmented and checked against state-of-the-art knowledge on mixoplankton taxa by consulting literature and experts. Thus, this dataset provides a first attempt to make the trophic mode of aquatic protists easily accessible in both a human- and machine-readable format.

Background - The Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Station Biologique de Paimpont, SBP), owned by the University of Rennes and located in the Brocéliande Forest of Brittany (France), has been hosting student scientific research and field trips during the last 60 years. The study area of the SBP is a landscape mosaic of 17 ha composed of gorse moors, forests, prairies, ponds and creeks. Land use has evolved over time. Historical surveys by students and researchers focused on insects and birds. With this study, we aimed to increase the range of taxa observations, document changes in species composition and landscape and provide a basis for interdisciplinary research perspectives. We gathered historical data, implemented an all-taxon biodiversity inventory (ATBI) in different habitats of the SBP study area, measured abiotic factors in the air, water and soil and performed a photographical landscape observation during the BioBlitz held in July 2017. New information - During the 24 h BioBlitz, organised by the SBP and the EcoBio lab from the University of Rennes and the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), different habitats were individually sampled. Seventy-seven experts, accompanied by 120 citizens and 12 young people participating in the European Volunteer Service, observed, identified and databased 660 species covering 5 kingdoms, 8 phyla, 21 classes, 90 orders and 247 families. In total, there were 1819 occurrences including records identified to higher taxon ranks, thereby adding one more kingdom and four more phyla. Historical data collection resulted in 1176 species and 4270 occurrences databased. We also recorded 13 climatic parameters, 10 soil parameters and 18 water parameters during the BioBlitz. Current habitats were mapped and socio-ecological landscape changes were assessed with a diachronic approach using 32 historical photographs and historical maps. The coupling of historical biodiversity data with new biotic and abiotic data and a photographic comparison of landscape changes allows an integrative understanding of how the SBP changed from agriculturally-used land to a managed natural area within the last 60 years. Hence, this BioBlitz represents an important holistic sampling of biodiversity for studies on trophic webs or on trophic interactions or on very diverse, but connected, habitats. The integration of social, biotic and abiotic data opens innovative research opportunities on the evolution of socio-ecosystems and landscapes. International audience

The mechanisms underlying associations between rodent diversity and the spread of rodent borne diseases are still unclear. The number of potential host species may influence a disease by either spreading the pathogen (or vectors) more rapidly or conversely by reducing contact with other hosts through the effects of dilution. In either case the number of potential hosts may impact on the distribution of a disease or its vectors. Four spatially modelled indices of rodent species richness have been generated to support distribution modelling of rodent borne diseases specifically initially focussing on Hantaviruses and tick borne diseases. 

From the 8(th) to the 11(th) April 2007, at Reunion Island (Indian Ocean), some fish were collected at sea surface after the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise. Among these were eleven specimens of Neocentropogon profundus (Scorpaenoidei: Tetrarogidae). Six species of this genus have been described: two from the Pacific Ocean, N. japonicus Matsubara, 1943 and N. trimaculatus Chan, 1966; four from the Indian Ocean, N. affinis (Lloyd, 1909) from the Gulf of Martaban, Myanmar, N. aeglefinus (Weber, 1913) from the Halmahera Sea, Timor Sea, probably a junior synonym of N. affinis, N. profundus (Smith, 1958) off Mozambique, and N. mesedai Klausewitz, 1985 from the Mismaris-Trough, Red Sea. The eleven specimens found at Reunion constitute the largest available collection for N. profundus, previously known from only two specimens. This study provides an important new set of counts and measurements for this species and also documents its coloration and the shape of its otoliths.

Abstract The Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) has been performing standardized fish stock assessments in Flanders, Belgium. This Flemish Fish Monitoring Network aims to assess fish populations in public waters at regular time intervals in both inland waters and estuaries. This monitoring was set up in support of the Water Framework Directive, the Habitat Directive, the Eel Regulation, the Red List of fishes, fish stock management, biodiversity research, and to assess the colonization and spreading of non-native fish species. The collected data are consolidated in the Fish Information System or VIS. From VIS, the occurrence data are now published at the INBO IPT as two datasets: ‘VIS - Fishes in inland waters in Flanders, Belgium’ and ‘VIS - Fishes in estuarine waters in Flanders, Belgium’. Together these datasets represent a complete overview of the distribution and abundance of fish species pertaining in Flanders from late 1992 to the end of 2012. This data paper discusses both datasets together, as both have a similar methodology and structure. The inland waters dataset contains over 350,000 fish observations, sampled between 1992 and 2012 from over 2,000 locations in inland rivers, streams, canals, and enclosed waters in Flanders. The dataset includes 64 fish species, as well as a number of non-target species (mainly crustaceans). The estuarine waters dataset contains over 44,000 fish observations, sampled between 1995 and 2012 from almost 50 locations in the estuaries of the rivers Yser and Scheldt (“Zeeschelde”), including two sampling sites in the Netherlands. The dataset includes 69 fish species and a number of non-target crustacean species. To foster broad and collaborative use, the data are dedicated to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver and reference the INBO norms for data use.