Simple physics link the distribution and colour of dragonflies across North America and Europe

Assemblages of dragonflies are darker coloured in colder regions and lighter coloured in warmer regions! – A general pattern for insects? Photo: Stefan Pinkert.

By Stefan Pinkert

In this...

Advantages of being a dark beetle – Insect colouration and thermoregulation

Thermal benefits of dark body colouration (melanism) are known for various groups of ectotherms like amphibians (alpine salamander Salamandra atra, A) and reptiles (melanistic morph of the adder Vipera berus, B).  By studying the body colouration and body...

Microbial biogeography of permafrost thaw ponds

Permafrost thaw ponds are increasing in size and numbers in northern Quebec landscape (Sheldrake River valley; 56°36.66′N, 76°12.93′W). The extent and stage of thawing of the surrounding permafrost determine the spatial distribution as well as the main limnological...

Range size evolution in gymnophthalmid lizards

By Agus Camacho 

Changes of just a few centimeters in the length of a limb, or of some grams in body weight, may correlate with changes in geographic range size of thousands of square kilometers. These striking relationships may have the key to understand why some...

Putting insects on the map: near global variation in moth richness

by Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia‎ 

Despite their vast diversity and vital ecological role, insects are notoriously underrepresented in biogeography and conservation, and key broad-scale ecological hypotheses about them remain untested – largely due to generally incomplete...

Parasites in ecosystems: a call for appreciation of their non-trivial role in ecosystem biomass and energetics

Lake Hayes, New Zealand, South Island. One of the four lakes sampled during our study. Picture inserted show an amphipod host, Paracalliope fluviatilis, infected by the trematode parasite, Coitocaecum parvum. Note the proportionally large size of the...

Evaluating methods to quantify spatial variation in the velocity of biological invasions

Close-up of horse chestnut leafminer, Cameraria ohridella. Hhoto credit: Gyorgy Csoka, Hungary Forest Research Institute, Bugwood.org

EDITOR'S CHOICE MAY 2016

by Andrew Liebhold

When invasive species spread...

ORCiD now mandatory for submitting authors

From March 2016, it is mandatory for the submitting author to provide an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) via our ScholarOne system. Co-authors and reviewers are strongly encouraged to also connect their ScholarOne accounts to ORCiD, but it is...

Species On The Move, Tasmania 2016

The global redistribution of our planets’ species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change, however, the mechanisms that underpin such range shifts are poorly understood. Additionally, the pervasiveness of range shifts, from poles to the equator, and depths of...