The study used a grid of 11 soft-bottom stations around the islands, which lie approximately 15 kilometres south of Ierapetra in Lasithi Prefecture. Investigators collected each sediment sample with a Smith–McIntyre grab covering 0.1 square metres. The sampled material ranged from coarse and medium sand to fine and very fine sand, a composition the authors report as consistent with the strong hydrodynamic conditions prevailing in the northern and southern parts of the islands. The wider shallow sublittoral environment, extending approximately 0–30 metres, contains a mosaic of habitats, including subtidal rocky reefs associated with macroalgal communities at depths below 20 metres and sandy bottoms covered by the seagrass Posidonia oceanica at depths greater than 10 metres. The latter is a protected Mediterranean habitat under the European Union Habitats Directive.

Beyond the sampled sediment, the source reports that coarse sand accounts for approximately 60% to at least 90% of sediment in the shallow sublittoral zone. It attributes this pattern mainly to intense hydrodynamic conditions north and south-southeast of Chrysi and Mikronisi. The pink-red foraminifer Miniacina miniacea also characterizes the sublittoral zone and contributes to the pink colour of the coastal sediment. These observations describe the physical and biological setting in which the macrobenthic baseline was developed; they do not by themselves establish a trend through time or an effect of human activity.

The paper is presented as a data paper rather than an experiment, statistical comparison or longitudinal analysis. Its stated purpose is to document the structure and spatial variability of soft-bottom macrobenthic communities around the two islands and to provide an ecological baseline for monitoring, impact assessment and adaptive management of the protected coastal area. It forms part of the broader environmental baseline project “Implementation of the Action Plan Measures for Chrysi Island,” funded by the Region of Crete and its sub-regional unit of Lasithi. The supplied study description does not provide the full taxon list, station-level abundance estimates, statistical comparisons or temporal trends, so the documented contribution here is the baseline dataset and its sampling design rather than a broad assessment of change across the marine area. The authors also note that baseline information is particularly important in the eastern Mediterranean, where climate-driven shifts in native marine biodiversity and limited historical data can complicate ecological assessment and long-term monitoring.

Subject of Research: Baseline inventory of soft-bottom macrobenthic communities around Chrysi and Mikronisi, Greece

Article Title: Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of the coastal marine ecosystem of Chrysi Island (southeast coast of Crete, Greece)

Article References: Maidanou, M., Chatzigeorgiou, G., & Koulouri, P. (2026). Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of the coastal marine ecosystem of Chrysi Island (southeast coast of Crete, Greece). Biodiversity Data Journal, 14, Article e202544. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.14.e202544

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.14.e202544

Keywords: Chrysi Island, Mikronisi, soft-bottom habitats, macrobenthos, biodiversity baseline, Mediterranean Sea, Natura 2000, sediment sampling, Posidonia oceanica, Soft-bottom, macrobenthic, communities

The fen is a small alkaline-fen meadow in the Caricion davallianae alliance, with elements of transition mires, at an average elevation of 300 metres above sea level in the pre-Alpine Valbelluna landscape. It lies within the 65-hectare Natura 2000 site “IT3230042 Torbiera di Lipoi,” for which the fen constitutes the core area. Its soils comprise fluvial and alluvial deposits over calcareous moraines associated with the Piave river glacier. The climate is temperate-continental, with a mean annual temperature of about 12 °C and mean annual precipitation of 1,200–1,500 mm, with peaks in autumn and spring.

The meadow was traditionally mowed for straw and hay production until the end of the twentieth century. During subsequent decades, abandonment of that management was followed by natural encroachment and a marked alteration of the site’s physiognomy. Approximately 45% of the fen’s surface was lost between 2003 and 2022. The present landscape is a mosaic of alkaline fen, transition mire, Molinia meadow, tall herb-fringe, wet woodland, oak-hornbeam forest, stable hay-meadow and willow-grove habitats.

For the inventory, researchers examined four literature sources published from 1976 to 1993, specimens held in the Herbarium C. Lasen at the Museo Naturalistico Dolomiti Bellunesi, and field observations collected in 2023 and 2024. These records spanned 50 years, from 1974 to 2024. The pre-abandonment scenario was reconstructed from bibliographic and herbarium data, whereas the current scenario was based on the new field survey. The comparison examined life forms, chorology and conservation value.

This approach had a specific limitation: the precise locations of historical observations were unknown. The authors therefore treated the site as morphologically well defined and considered a comparison between the formerly managed period and vegetation after approximately two decades of abandonment reasonable for conservation, monitoring and management purposes. The historical and recent observations were not equivalent sampling efforts, however, and the study’s analysis of change was qualitative rather than a controlled assessment of causation.

Seventy-seven taxa were found only during the recent survey, 165 were confirmed from historical surveys and 78 were not confirmed. Historical records of Carex acuta, Carex riparia, Galium palustre subsp. elongatum, Galium verum subsp. wirtgeni and Ranunculus tuberosus were considered doubtful and probably reflected misidentification. Seven families accounted for about 55% of the inventory: Poaceae with 37 taxa, Cyperaceae with 32, Asteraceae with 20, Lamiaceae with 16, Ranunculaceae with 16, Rosaceae with 16 and Fabaceae with 14.

Five families recorded historically—Campanulaceae, Lentibulariaceae, Linaceae, Polygalaceae and Potamogetonaceae—were not detected during the recent survey, while Caprifoliaceae, Dioscoreaceae and Onagraceae were newly recorded. Hemicryptophytes, geophytes, phanerophytes and therophytes were the most represented life forms, and their overall proportions remained relatively constant between the compared periods. No hydrophytes were found during the recent survey, while phanerophytes tended to increase. Historical observations in 1985 described Salix cinerea, Alnus glutinosa and Quercus robur as occurring in scattered populations, whereas they were widespread across much of the fen in the recent survey. Frangula alnus and Phragmites australis also colonized the site in recent decades.

The biogeographic composition remained comparatively stable, with Eurasian, European-Caucasian, Eurosiberian, European and Circumboreal species predominating, although Eurasian, Eurosiberian and European species decreased relative to the pre-abandonment period. Alien plants represented 4.4% of the recorded flora, principally North American species, whose proportion increased over time. Ten alien taxa were classified as invasive, one as naturalized, one as casual and two as cryptogenetic. Most occurred in small, scattered populations, although Symphyotrichum lanceolatum formed a relatively large but bounded population in the eastern part of the fen.

Plantago altissima was listed as critically endangered in the Veneto Red List, while seven species were classified as vulnerable: Festuca trichophylla, Gentiana pneumonanthe, Carex lasiocarpa, Carex randalpina, Dactylorhiza incarnata, Equisetum fluviatile and Taraxacum sect. Palustria. Epipactis palustris, Menyanthes trifoliata and Cladium mariscus were near threatened. Two previously recorded red-listed species, Rosa gallica and Utricularia minor, were not found and could be locally extinct, while Potamogeton gramineus was considered regionally extinct. The authors noted that most fen-related vascular species still occurred, although populations were thought to have declined. Cladium mariscus and Carex lasiocarpa, by contrast, were reported to be expanding based on the authors’ field observations.

The findings indicated that the surviving flora still reflected a period when fen habitats were more extensive, suggesting that habitat reduction had not yet produced all the species losses it might eventually cause. The authors concluded that conservation could focus on maintaining the remaining open areas rather than restoring the former management regime or removing newly formed forests, which they noted may also be valuable to animals. They proposed small-scale manual mowing, rapid removal of material outside the fen and seasonal timing intended to limit the spread of alien plants, combined with monitoring to assess effects and adjust measures if unexpected dynamics emerged.

Subject of Research: Floristic inventory and historical vegetation comparison of an alkaline fen in Veneto, northern Italy

Article Title: Inventory of the vascular flora of the alkaline fen “Torbiera di Lipoi” (Veneto, northern Italy)

Article References: Zanatta, K., Lasen, C., Scariot, A., & Nascimbene, J. (2025). Inventory of the vascular flora of the alkaline fen “Torbiera di Lipoi” (Veneto, northern Italy). Italian Botanist, 19, 21-30. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.19.132549

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/italianbotanist.19.132549

Keywords: floristic inventory, vascular flora, alkaline fen, Torbiera di Lipoi, Veneto, plant diversity, vegetation change, traditional mowing, Natura 2000, Inventory, vascular, flora

Researchers used the Braun-Blanquet approach to collect 418 vegetation relevés in homogeneous forest communities and recorded 3,422 verification field points. All relevés were subsequently added to the Balkan Vegetation Database and the Balkan Dry Grassland Database. Habitat identification followed the revised EUNIS classification.

The researchers used the EUNIS-ESy expert system within JUICE 7.1, determining diagnostic, dominant and constant species for the habitat groups. Semi-natural communities were classified to alliance level using vegetation literature and expert knowledge. Mapping was performed in ArcGIS 10.6 using GPS observations, the most recent available orthophotos, forestry management plan data, agricultural-area data and Bulgarian Natura 2000 habitat maps.

Field information and imagery were used to draw and refine habitat polygons manually, producing a map at a 1:5,000 scale. The largest mapped type was T17, Fagus forest on non-acid soils, covering 51.9 km² in 211 polygons. It occurred mainly between 600 and 1,600 metres above sea level on slopes of up to 20–25 degrees, largely over sedimentary rocks and shallow to moderately deep Cambisols.

Fagus sylvatica dominated the closed tree layer, accompanied in some stands by Quercus petraea, Carpinus betulus, Sorbus and Tilia species. The herb layer covered 15–65% and included Aremonia agrimonoides, Mercurialis perennis, Helleborus odorus and several orchid species. The authors related this vegetation to Habitat Directive type 9150, medio-European limestone beech forests of the Cephalanthero-Fagion.

T3N, coniferous plantations of site-native trees, covered 41.97 km² in 246 polygons and ranked second by mapped area. Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra and Picea abies were the principal tree species. Pinus sylvestris stands had a closed horizontal structure, whereas Pinus nigra stands were semi-open.

Shrub cover reached 60–70% in some plantations, while herb-layer cover ranged from 10–70%, depending on the plantation and the shading produced by the tree and shrub layers. T19, temperate and submediterranean thermophilous deciduous forest, covered 23.70 km² in 212 polygons, primarily on east- and south-facing slopes in the Vidlich, Vuchibaba and Ponor mountains. Quercus cerris, Quercus frainetto and Quercus pubescens dominated a tree layer with 75–90% cover.

The community was associated with Habitat Directive habitats 91M0, Pannonian-Balkanic turkey oak-sessile oak forests, and 91H0, Pannonian woods with Quercus pubescens. Across T17 and T18, the two beech-forest types occupied 64.6 km² combined. T18, Fagus forest on acid soils, covered 12.07 km² in two polygons in Berkovska Mountain, with Fagus sylvatica forming a dominant closed canopy.

T1E, Carpinus and Quercus mesic deciduous forest, occupied 12.20 km² in 78 polygons; its tree layer had 85–100% cover and was associated with Habitat Directive type 9170, Galio-Carpinetum oak-hornbeam forests. Temperate Salix and Populus riparian forest, classified as T11, covered 1.8 km² in 29 polygons along the Nishava, Glutnitsa, Zli dol and Shumska rivers. The authors assigned it to Habitat Directive habitat 91E0, alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior.

The smallest mapped category was T1H, broadleaved deciduous plantations of non-site-native trees, covering 1.21 km² in 12 polygons and dominated by Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus rubra. The researchers identified degradation and loss from logging, fires, pollution, pest invasions and erosion as major forest problems in the study area. They reported that T1E and T19 communities were turning into shrublands and that T11 riparian forests were experiencing damage.

These were field-based observations rather than measurements of temporal trends, and the study did not quantify rates of change in forest condition. The principal study output was the detailed 1:5,000 classification and map of seven forest habitats, including their area, polygon number, location, vegetation structure and species composition. The authors proposed measures aimed at forest regeneration, afforestation with native species and preventing further introductions of invasive alien species, and stated that more research is needed to reveal the full condition of forests in the western parts of Bulgaria.

Subject of Research: Field mapping of seven forest habitat types in Godech Municipality, western Bulgaria

Article Title: Forest habitats of Godech Municipality, Western Bulgaria

Article References: Grigorov, B., Velev, N., Assenov, A., Nazarov, M., Genova, B., & Vassilev, K. (2023). Forest habitats of Godech Municipality, Western Bulgaria. BioRisk, 20, 153-163. https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.20.97534

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/biorisk.20.97534

Keywords: forest habitats, Godech Municipality, Bulgaria, EUNIS classification, habitat mapping, vegetation surveys, beech forests, conifer plantations, riparian forests, Natura 2000, Forest, habitats

The authors compiled records from published catalogues, Red Lists, other literature, Palaearctic catalogues, GBIF and additional online databases. They also examined arthropod holdings at the Natural History Museum of Crete, the Laboratory of Forest Entomology collection at the Forest Research Institute, and a private collection. Existing European and Mediterranean assessments guided the initial selection of species, after which the saproxylic status of Greek members of genera containing saproxylic species was checked separately. The synthesis was a review and national catalogue rather than a new field survey, so its totals reflect the evidence available to the authors across historical and modern sources.

Saproxylic beetles are defined here as species dependent on dead or dying wood, wood-rotting fungi or other organisms associated with decaying wood. The authors assigned broad trophic categories principally from the framework used in the Italian Red List, with some simplifications. Where published information was unavailable, a category was inferred from the typical ecology of the relevant genus, an approach that introduces uncertainty for some poorly studied species. Endemic species were assigned to nine broad Greek regions, with those restricted to one administrative division treated as local endemics and those recorded in two or more divisions treated as more widely distributed endemics.

Xylophagous species formed the largest trophic group, with 632 species, followed by saproxylophagous species with 254, mycetophagous species with 246 and predatory species with 231. Seventy species had no trophic assignment, while 84 were classified as having trophic flexibility across more than one category. The paper notes that trophic classification within saproxylic beetles is debated and that assignments for some species remain uncertain.

Endemism was concentrated in southern Greece. The checklist identifies 112 endemic species, representing 7.2% of the 1,548 recorded species, with Cerambycidae and Ptinidae containing the largest numbers, at 21 endemic species each. Crete contained 32 endemic species and the Peloponnese 36, including 26 endemics restricted to Crete and 22 to the Peloponnese. The authors associate Crete’s distinctive fauna with the island’s long-term isolation, dating back approximately 5.5 million years. They identify Pleistocene glacial refugia, mountain isolation and habitat specialisation as possible contributors to the Peloponnesian pattern, but the underlying ecological mechanisms remain uncertain.

Conservation assessments remain incomplete. Of the 1,548 species, 867 had not been assessed in either the European or Greek Red Lists. Among 681 assessed species, 42 were classified as threatened: one Critically Endangered species, 24 Endangered and 17 Vulnerable. Another 457 were Least Concern, 62 Near Threatened and 119 Data Deficient. After invasive and Data Deficient species were excluded, the threatened proportion was 7.5%, compared with 17.9% for Europe. The authors caution that the Greek assessment included many common, widespread and mobile species in families such as Buprestidae and Curculionidae, which can lower the overall proportion classified as threatened.

Endemic species had a less favourable assessed profile. Of 45 assessed endemics, 64%, after correction for Data Deficient species, were classified as threatened, compared with 36.6% in the European assessment and 53% in the Mediterranean assessment. The authors note that many endemics are known from only a few localities or their type locality, so assessments based heavily on distribution data may overestimate their risk. More broadly, the scarcity of taxonomic, distributional and ecological information limits interpretation for both endemic and unassessed species.

Land-use change was the main group of pressures identified in the Greek Red List assessments. These included housing and urban development, roads and railways, crop production, livestock farming, logging, tourism and recreational activities, fire, renewable-energy development, tree plantations, invasive organisms, climate change and pesticide or herbicide use. Species can be associated with more than one pressure, so totals for individual threat categories exceed the number of threatened species. The loss of old trees and dead wood was a particular concern, including the documented association between carob trees and the endangered endemic longhorn beetle Trichoferus bergeri. National data on dead-wood volume remain sparse.

The review identifies Crete, the Peloponnese, Pindos, Olympos and the Aegean as priorities for surveys, alongside work on less-studied beetle groups, species classified as Not Evaluated or Data Deficient, population genetics, species-distribution modelling and open databases. The authors also recommend measuring the effects of logging, wildfire, agricultural intensification and climate- or land-use-driven distribution shifts. Among 22 native species classified as threatened in the Greek Red List, 20 were reported within the Natura 2000 network, one was outside it and the distribution of the remaining species was insufficiently known.

Subject of Research: A review and first national checklist of saproxylic beetle diversity, endemism and conservation status in Greece

Article Title: Saproxylic beetles ( Insecta , Coleoptera ) of Greece: A synthesis of diversity, biogeography and conservation challenges, with the first national checklist

Article References: Bolanakis, G., Avtzis, D., Németh, T., Kundrata, R., Háva, J., Kaltsidis, A., Makris, C., Maroulis, L., & Trichas, A. (2026). Saproxylic beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) of Greece: A synthesis of diversity, biogeography and conservation challenges, with the first national checklist. Frontiers of Biogeography, 19, Article e177299. https://doi.org/10.21425/fob.19.177299

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.21425/fob.19.177299

Keywords: saproxylic beetles, Greece, species checklist, biodiversity, endemism, conservation status, Red List, dead wood, trophic guilds, Natura 2000, Saproxylic, beetles

The project was the baseline biodiversity survey component of the LIFE Natura@night initiative and was designed to record species occurrences before later evaluations of artificial light at night. It was not an experiment measuring the effects of artificial lighting. Instead, its purpose was to establish an inventory of nocturnal arthropods in protected areas and provide standardised baseline data for subsequent monitoring. Although the sampling covered several arthropod groups, the greater sampling and taxonomic effort applied to nocturnal Lepidoptera made them the focus of the associated analyses.

Madeira Island contains 12 terrestrial Natura 2000 sites covering approximately 35% of its land area. Nine sites were sampled: SCI Cabo Girão, SCI Caniço de Baixo, SCI Machico, SCI Pico do Facho, SCI Porto Novo, SAC Pináculo, SAC Maciço Montanhoso Central da Ilha da Madeira, SPA/SAC Ponta de S. Lourenço and SPA/SAC Laurissilva da Madeira. The selected sites encompassed coastal habitats, dry shrublands, agricultural mosaics, exotic forests, native laurissilva forest and high-altitude mountain ecosystems. Three other terrestrial Natura 2000 sites—Achadas da Cruz, Ilhéu da Viúva and Moledos–Madalena do Mar—were excluded because of logistical constraints.

A total of 48 sampling points were established across the nine protected areas, with points separated by at least 250 metres to maximise spatial independence. Fieldwork comprised campaigns in late summer 2022 and spring 2023, producing 68 sampling events. During the second campaign, researchers revisited selected locations that had yielded few specimens during the first survey because of unfavourable weather conditions, reduced vegetation cover or both. Two additional sampling sites were established in 2023 to improve coverage of the protected areas surveyed.

Each sampling event used two complementary arthropod trapping methods. UV Heath light traps were used to sample nocturnal Lepidoptera, the primary target group of the LIFE Natura@night project and the group for which standardised comparisons among sites were required. Wine-rope bait traps provided a complementary method intended to detect species that are weakly attracted to artificial light or not attracted to it. This combination was intended to reduce sampling bias associated with reliance on light traps alone and improve the completeness of the inventory.

Environmental conditions were recorded during each sampling event, including temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, wind intensity and sky darkness assessed with the Bortle scale. Sampling was not conducted during periods of strong winds, rainfall or high humidity because these conditions can reduce insect activity and trap efficiency. These restrictions also mean that the compiled dataset represents sampling conducted under specified weather and environmental conditions rather than uninterrupted monitoring across all conditions.

The dataset is intended to supply occurrence and abundance information for terrestrial arthropods and establish a baseline for monitoring Madeira’s nocturnal communities. Such baseline records are particularly relevant on an oceanic island whose arthropod fauna includes more than 3,400 insect taxa and more than 750 endemic species, according to the background cited by the dataset. The authors note that important gaps remain in knowledge of the distribution, abundance and ecology of many Madeiran insects and that relatively few species have been assessed for extinction risk.

The work also provides a standardised, Darwin Core-formatted biodiversity record curated by Elisa Teixeira, Mário Boieiro and Paulo A.V. Borges. The field and identification team was divided among project planning and sampling design, fieldwork, specimen identification and data curation. The published resource therefore combines information about the survey’s geographic coverage, sampling design, environmental conditions, complementary trapping methods and taxonomic treatment, together with the associated occurrence and abundance data.

Because the supplied material describes a dataset and its baseline survey design rather than a comparative analysis of artificial light at night, it does not report an estimated effect of lighting on arthropod abundance, behaviour or community structure. Its supported contribution is the establishment and publication of a large-scale standardised inventory across selected Natura 2000 protected areas of Madeira Island. The stated role of this baseline is to support subsequent assessment of nocturnal arthropod responses to artificial light exposure within the LIFE Natura@night project.

Subject of Research: Baseline inventory and sampling design for nocturnal arthropods in Madeira Natura 2000 protected areas

Article Title: Nocturnal arthropod occurrences across Natura 2000 protected areas of Madeira Island (Portugal)

Article References: Teixeira, E., Costa, T., Gouveia, C., Vieira, V., Boieiro, M., & Borges, P. (2026). Nocturnal arthropod occurrences across Natura 2000 protected areas of Madeira Island (Portugal). Biodiversity Data Journal, 14, Article e209141. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.14.e209141

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.14.e209141

Keywords: Madeira Island, nocturnal arthropods, Lepidoptera, Natura 2000, biodiversity inventory, artificial light at night, light trapping, bait trapping, LIFE Natura@night, Nocturnal, arthropod, occurrences

The sampling area encompassed 19 river catchments, 21 reservoirs, Paralimni lake and 67 watercourses with a combined length of 799 km. Of those waterways, 182 km had perennial flow and 617 km had temporary flow, including ephemeral and intermittently dry channels. Arid sites drained only by temporary watercourses were excluded, so the findings do not constitute a complete island-wide inventory.

Pumpkinseed was recorded in 15 of the 22 surveyed reservoirs and lakes, producing a total catch of 429 fish. It was relatively abundant in the Evretou, Arminou and Germasogeia reservoirs, while catches were negligible in Kouris, Dipotamos, Kannaviou and Agia Marina. Pumpkinseed and largemouth bass were among the most frequently occurring members of the reservoir fish communities, and the two species co-occurred in 86.6 percent of the surveyed reservoirs.

This association prompted the authors to suggest that pumpkinseed may sometimes have entered Cyprus with bass introduced for angling, although the field data did not directly establish how the species arrived. Occurrence in rivers was much less widespread. Pumpkinseed was found in the Diarizos, Maroullena, Akaki and Syrkatis rivers, representing four rivers, or 15.4 percent of the 26 watercourses selected for sampling.

It appeared at only 6.6 percent of river sampling sites, including locations immediately upstream or downstream of reservoirs. One individual was collected from the perennial Diarizos, six from the Maroullena upstream of the Klirou-Malounta-Akaki reservoir, one from the Akaki downstream of that reservoir, and three from the Syrkatis, which feeds the Dipotamos reservoir. The distribution is consistent with limited dispersal from reservoirs during overflow, but the observations do not by themselves measure the frequency or direction of movement.

Electrofishing proved more effective than netting for detecting pumpkinseed, accounting for more than 90 percent of the total catch and confirming the species in six of the ten reservoirs sampled with both methods. Among 342 fish with recorded lengths, mean fork length was 75 mm, with a standard error of 2 mm and a range of 20–197 mm. Most, or 75.1 percent, were shorter than 100 mm, while 11 fish, or 3.2 percent, exceeded 150 mm.

Small pumpkinseed tended to concentrate near banks where vegetation or rocky substrates provided cover, whereas larger individuals occurred in the water column. The authors considered predation by largemouth bass, pikeperch and channel catfish as one possible explanation for the scarcity of large pumpkinseed, but they also noted that early sexual maturity could contribute to the pattern. For the diet analysis, researchers selected 68 pumpkinseed from reservoirs, including individuals between 80 and 197 mm in total length; their mean length was 126 mm, with a standard error of 4 mm.

They excluded fish shorter than 77.5 mm because juveniles were expected to feed almost exclusively on zooplankton. Laboratory examination produced 91 combined stomach and intestinal samples, and 22.2 percent of the analyzed apparatuses were empty. No food item differed significantly in frequency between the stomach and intestine, so the two organs were combined for the overall diet assessment.

Prey volume was estimated from material as ingested and expressed as frequency of occurrence, relative frequency, volume per item containing it and mean volume across all samples. Chironomid larvae, molluscs and crustaceans accounted for approximately 58 percent of the diet by mean estimated volume. Chironomids contributed 37.0 percent, molluscs 11.3 percent and crustaceans 11.4 percent.

The remaining diet included dipteran larvae other than chironomids, odonate larvae, terrestrial insects, fish, algae, undetermined invertebrates and several smaller taxonomic groups. Red swamp crayfish alone contributed 8.4 percent of mean volume. Fish represented 6.2 percent of the overall diet, with identifiable remains including common roach, eastern mosquitofish and pumpkinseed itself.

No evidence of predation on reptiles or amphibians was detected, but the analysis did not test for every form of impact on native aquatic vertebrates. Diet composition varied significantly among three pumpkinseed size classes, with 12 fish measuring 80–100 mm, 44 measuring 101–150 mm and 11 measuring 151–200 mm. A permutational multivariate analysis of variance found that size class explained 11.9 percent of the variation in diet composition, and a dispersion test did not detect significant differences in multivariate spread.

The principal contrasts involved molluscs, terrestrial invertebrates and dipteran larvae. Terrestrial invertebrates were absent from the 12 smallest fish, occurred in 24.3 percent of the middle size class and appeared in 56.0 percent of the largest class. Ants followed the same general pattern, reaching 32 percent occurrence among the largest fish.

The estimated terrestrial contribution of about 15 percent therefore applied to large pumpkinseed, not to the entire sample. The findings do not support treating pumpkinseed as a major direct predator of the aquatic vertebrates examined, but they also do not establish that its wider ecological effects are negligible. The survey identified several other non-native predatory fish across the reservoirs, including largemouth bass, channel catfish and pikeperch, whose diets and potential effects require separate assessment.

The critically endangered Cyprus grass snake, Natrix natrix cypriaca , has a range of about 70 square kilometres that overlaps three surveyed water bodies: Xyliatos, Aftelotos and Paralimni. Non-native predators may have contributed to the snake’s decline or hindered its recovery, but the present study did not test that causal relationship. The pumpkinseed results instead provide a baseline for future monitoring of a fish already included on the European Union list of invasive alien species of Union concern.

Because pumpkinseed was uncommon in rivers and largely restricted to reservoirs within the study area, the authors proposed prevention of new introductions as a more practical response than broad eradication. Eradication from interconnected, heavily used reservoirs would be difficult and could carry substantial social and economic costs. Regular electrofishing or environmental DNA analysis could improve detection in suitable areas.

The authors also proposed a network of ponds of different sizes, disconnected from the hydrographic system, as potential habitat for vulnerable native aquatic species because such barriers would restrict the movement of non-native fish.

Subject of Research: Distribution and feeding ecology of invasive pumpkinseed in sampled Natura 2000 freshwater habitats in Cyprus

Article Title: Distribution and dietary habits of Lepomis gibbosus in Natura 2000 sites of Cyprus

Article References: Papatheodoulou, A., Dell’Orso, M., Boz, B., Spairani, M., Zacharia, M., Tremolada, P., & Balestrieri, A. (2025). Distribution and dietary habits of Lepomis gibbosus in Natura 2000 sites of Cyprus. Nature Conservation, 59, 139-156. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.59.149036

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.59.149036

Keywords: pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus, Cyprus, Natura 2000, invasive fish, freshwater biodiversity, dietary ecology, aquatic invertebrates, nature conservation, field survey, Distribution, dietary

The three species at the heart of the database all hail from North America, and all three are among the most damaging aquatic invaders Europe has ever faced. Faxonius limosus, the spiny-cheek crayfish, originates from the Atlantic watershed of North America. Pacifastacus leniusculus, the signal crayfish, comes from the north-western United States. Procambarus clarkii, the red swamp crayfish, is native to the southern United States and north-eastern Mexico. Together they drive biodiversity loss, restructure food webs and undermine the ecosystem services that lakes provide, from clean water to fisheries. Several introduced crayfish species are listed as species of Union Concern under EU Regulation 1143/2014, a designation that reflects their severe ecological and economic toll and obliges member states to manage their spread.

Freshwater ecosystems are exceptionally vulnerable to human-mediated species introductions, and invasive crayfish rank among the worst offenders on the continent. Yet scientists have long struggled with fragmented and incomplete spatial data, which makes it fiendishly difficult to assess the true costs of these invasions. Significant gaps persist in reporting the economic damage caused by crayfish worldwide, and the absence of comprehensive records hampers both research and the design of effective management strategies. By mobilising FAIR data — a term meaning Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable — the new database directly addresses that deficiency, allowing long-term analyses of invasion dynamics that were previously impossible at a regional scale.

The study area spans an impressive gradient of lake types, from large, deep glacial basins such as Lake Maggiore to small, shallow waterbodies of fluvial and tectonic origin scattered across the Piedmont plain. Two of the study lakes, Maggiore and Orta, belong to the national Long-Term Ecological Research network known as LTER Italy, meaning they are monitored continuously as sentinels of environmental change. The remaining lakes carry conservation designations: they are registered as Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, or components of the European Union’s Natura 2000 network under the Birds Directive. That such heavily protected waters harbour thriving populations of North American crayfish underscores how thoroughly these invaders have penetrated even the continent’s most safeguarded habitats.

The fieldwork behind the database combined standardised trapping with meticulous taxonomic verification. Sampling sites were chosen where sediment type and vegetation cover offered suitable crayfish habitat, and where the animals had been confirmed or suspected previously. The number of sites per lake was scaled to surface area, with four stations in Lake Mergozzo and six in Lake Orta. At each site, 13 interconnected traps, spaced two to three metres apart, were deployed on the shallow lake bottom overnight for roughly 12 hours, coinciding with peak crayfish activity. Each cylindrical trap, measuring 30 by 60 centimetres with a one-square-centimetre mesh, was baited with 20 grams of cat food — an unconventional but effective lure. The catch per unit effort, calculated as total catch divided by the number of traps multiplied by nights, provided a comparable abundance index across lakes and years.

Quality control was equally rigorous. Geographic coordinates were verified using Google Maps, and every specimen was identified to species level by taxonomic experts using standard identification keys, with molecular analyses performed whenever a doubtful case demanded certainty. This precision matters, because the three invaders can be confused with one another, and because Faxonius limosus was itself reclassified taxonomically, having formerly been known as Orconectes limosus following a major revision of crayfish nomenclature in 2017. All native species caught incidentally in the traps were immediately released unharmed, ensuring the monitoring programme did not itself become a further disturbance to the lakes’ fragile ecological balance.

The data reveal striking patterns in how the invaders partition the lakes. In Lake Maggiore, 80 occurrence records from 75 sampling points collected between April 2017 and July 2018 captured all three species, but Faxonius limosus dominated, particularly in May, achieving a mean catch per unit effort of 1.14. In Lake Orta, monthly sampling from June 2021 to May 2022 generated 186 records and documented something ecologically remarkable: the coexistence of F. limosus and Procambarus clarkii, with the red swamp crayfish accounting for more than 80 percent of total abundance from May to December. Lake Mergozzo, by contrast, hosted only F. limosus, whose abundance peaked between June and October 2021 before thinning to occasional records by the following spring.

The seasonal signature in the data is unmistakable. Both F. limosus and P. clarkii reached peak densities in the summer and autumn months, and the pronounced summer predominance of the red swamp crayfish reinforces its reputation as a warm-water invader, flourishing as lake temperatures climb. Pacifastacus leniusculus, meanwhile, made a far more restricted appearance: it was recorded only once, in July 2018, in the northernmost part of Lake Maggiore on Swiss territory. The most recent dataset, gathered between June and October 2025 across all 17 lakes, recorded presence or absence in each waterbody and found crayfish absent in seven of them. Intriguingly, that survey also documented P. clarkii for the first time in Lakes Pistono, San Michele and Sirio, extending the known invasion frontier, while mean abundance of the red swamp crayfish varied from more than 1.5 individuals per unit effort in Candia and Pistono down to less than 0.5 in five other lakes.

Some of the findings hint at shifting dynamics that will repay close monitoring. Catch rates of Faxonius limosus in Lakes Orta and Maggiore during 2025 fell well below those recorded in 2021 and 2022, and the mean catch per unit effort of both species in Lake Orta was significantly altered in 2025 compared with the earlier survey. Researchers hypothesise that the occurrence of non-native crayfish across the region is shaped by hydrological connectivity between waterbodies, predator-prey interactions, and even illegal human activities, such as unauthorised introductions. A further curiosity emerged from Lake Orta, where scientists reported a new morphotype of Procambarus clarkii bearing atypical marbled colouration remarkably similar to the marbled crayfish P. virginalis, a species famous for its ability to reproduce without males.

The database is far more than an archival exercise. Because each of the four datasets carries its own Digital Object Identifier and is published under an open licence, the records can be linked to global invasive species registers, including those maintained by the Invasive Species Specialist Group and the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. The data have already fed into several peer-reviewed studies on crayfish biometry, habitat preferences and invasion history, and they now provide an evidence base for regional management strategies in Piedmont and Lombardy. As invasions accelerate across freshwater systems worldwide, this first consolidated picture of three North American crayfish in 17 Italian lakes offers both a warning and a template: rigorous, standardised, openly shared data is the indispensable foundation for defending vulnerable aquatic ecosystems before the invaders dig in for good.

Subject of Research: Occurrence and distribution of three invasive North American crayfish species in lakes of north-western Italy

Article Title: First database of invasive crayfish in north-western Italian lakes

Article References: Kamburska, L., Zaupa, S., Orlandi, M., Garzoli, L., & Boggero, A. (2026). First database of invasive crayfish in north-western Italian lakes. Biodiversity Data Journal, 14, Article e189983. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.14.e189983

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.14.e189983

Keywords: invasive crayfish, Faxonius limosus, Pacifastacus leniusculus, Procambarus clarkii, GBIF, freshwater ecosystems, Piedmont, Lombardy, Lake Maggiore, biodiversity data, Darwin Core Archive, Natura 2000

The expedition followed the phytosociological tradition established by the late Spanish botanist Salvador Rivas-Martínez, whose celebrated Itinera Geobotanica series inspired the Italian team’s approach. In total, the researchers produced 29 original vegetation relevés and 11 synthetic relevés compiled from earlier bibliographic sources, allowing them to describe, classify and compare the plant communities encountered along five carefully chosen geobotanical itineraries. Each relevé records every species within a defined plot along with estimates of cover and abundance, providing a quantitative snapshot of the vegetation that can be compared across the entire Mediterranean region.

The study area is geologically and climatically remarkable. Mount San Giuliano, rising to 791 metres above sea level with the ancient town of Erice on its summit, and Mount Cofano at 659 metres are both built of Mesozoic carbonate rocks interspersed with Pleistocene calcarenites. The Egadi Islands of Marettimo and Levanzo emerged during the early Miocene as part of the so-called Egadi Range. Marettimo, dominated by Pizzo Falcone at 686 metres, consists of dolomite, marl and limestone dating from the Middle Triassic to the Lower Lias, while Levanzo is formed of Mesozoic and Tertiary carbonate and clastic-terrigenous substrates. All the sites enjoy a classic Mediterranean climate with markedly dry summers and mild winters, moderated by the surrounding sea, and all belong to the Natura 2000 network as Special Areas of Conservation.

The first itinerary took the group to Erice on Mount San Giuliano, a mountain often cited as one of the richest biotopes in Sicily despite centuries of human pressure. On the walls of the Castle of Venus and the surrounding carbonate outcrops, the botanists documented a chasmophytic community known as Scabioso creticae-Centauretum ucriae subass. brassicetosum drepanensis, bristling with endemics such as Brassica villosa subsp. drepanensis, the striking knapweed Centaurea erycina and the cliff-loving Dianthus rupicola subsp. rupicola. In cool, shaded gullies below the Torretta Pepoli, the team recorded patches of laurel woodland referred to Acanthomollis-Lauretum nobilis, a rare micro-forest sustained by moisture condensing from the fogs that frequently cloak the summit, where average annual temperatures fall to about 14.5 degrees Celsius compared with more than 18 degrees on the coast.

Marettimo proved to be the scientific heart of the expedition. Unlike the other Egadi islands, which were joined to Sicily during the last glacial maximum, Marettimo remained isolated, turning it into a refuge for numerous species missing elsewhere in Sicily. The island’s vascular flora of 499 taxa includes eight endemics: three palaeoendemics, Oncostema ughii, Bupleurum dianthifolium and Thymus richardii subsp. nitidus, and five schizoendemics, Allium franciniae, Helichrysum panormitanum subsp. messeriae, Limonium tenuiculum, Prospero hierae and Senecio aegadensis. Relict shrubs such as Daphne sericea and Thymelaea tartonraira, both completely absent from the rest of Sicily, survive in the island’s higher stands, while rosemary climbs to elevations unusual for Sicily, probably because isolation shielded the island from the climate-driven plant migrations of past glaciations.

On the island’s north-western coast, the team made one of the expedition’s headline discoveries: a previously undescribed plant community dominated by the cornflag, Moraea sisyrinchium, an iris relative of southern Mediterranean distribution. The new association, formally named Catapodio pauciflori-Moraeetum sisyrinchii ass. nova, describes an ephemeral coastal dry grassland flourishing on shallow red soils over carbonate rock, blooming in early spring alongside annuals such as Plantago coronopus, Catapodium pauciflorum, Silene colorata and Bellis annua. The authors framed it within the alliance Plantagini-Catapodion balearici of the order Stipo-Bupleuretalia semicompositi and the class Stipo-Trachynietea distachyae, and supported the description with a synoptic table comparing 17 Mediterranean plant communities in which Moraea sisyrinchium is frequent, from Sardinia and Malta to the Balearic Islands and southern Spain. Notably, no association with absolute dominance of this species had been described before.

The Marettimo excursions also stirred a lively taxonomic debate over the island’s holm oak woods. The association Daphno sericeae-Quercetum ilicis, described in 1983 for the fog-drenched heights around Pizzo Falcone, carries nomenclatural priority over the more widely used name Pistacio lentisci-Quercetum ilicis published two years later for thermophilous holm oak woods across western and southern Sicily. Because the phytosociological code forbids downgrading an earlier validly published name, the authors conclude that only two solutions exist: either treat the Daphne-rich Marettimo woods as distinct from the rest of Sicily’s holm oak forests, or petition the nomenclature committee to conserve the later name. Pending resolution, the team adopted the older name in accordance with the code, illustrating how field excursions can expose unresolved threads in the classification of Mediterranean vegetation.

The debate extended to the pine forests of Marettimo, where Aleppo pine woods referred to Erico multiflorae-Pinetum halepensis grow on steep, partially consolidated screes. Many of these stands derive from 1970s plantations that have matured into self-reproducing naturalised woods now advancing into surrounding garrigue and maquis. Their higher-rank classification remains formally undecided: a 2021 proposal to create a new class, Pinetea halepensis, separate from the broadleaved-dominated Quercetea ilicis, is being evaluated by the European Vegetation Classification Committee, which has flagged concerns including the lack of true diagnostic species and the inclusion of anthropogenic plantations in the underlying analysis. A vote was scheduled for 2023, meaning the Marettimo pines sit at the centre of an ongoing continent-wide argument about how Mediterranean conifer forests should be classified.

Levanzo, the driest and least verdant of the two islands visited, offered a contrast shaped by decades of intense agro-silvo-pastoral land use. Its landscape of low scrub, garrigue and grassland is dominated by the wintergreen Periploca angustifolia and tree spurge maquis known as Periploco angustifoliae-Euphorbietum dendroidis, which degrades into Hyparrhenia grasslands and ephemeral Stipellula capensis meadows on eroded soils. The island’s flora of 468 taxa includes 15 endemics, none exclusive to Levanzo, but several species of phytogeographical interest, among them Periploca angustifolia and Aristolochia navicularis, both absent from mainland Sicily, and Crocus longiflorus at the westernmost limit of its range. Near the coast, halophytic vegetation of Limonietum bocconei fringes the wave-beaten rocks.

The final itinerary skirted the coastline of Mount Cofano, a Nature Reserve whose 651 vascular taxa include 48 endemics, three of them exclusive to the mountain: Erica sicula subsp. sicula, Helichrysum panormitanum subsp. brulloi and Limonium cophanense. Centuries of deforestation and near-annual wildfires have replaced the original forests with dwarf palm scrub and vigorous Ampelodesmos grasslands, both fire-adapted pyrophytes that now dominate the slopes. The expedition concluded with floristic updates across all sites: five taxa proved new to Marettimo, including Lysimachia loeflingii recorded for the first time in Sicily, but also the invasive ornamental hybrid Kalanchoë ×houghtonii, flagged as a potential threat to the island’s native flora. Further novelties emerged on Levanzo and Mount Cofano, including the discovery of the narrowly Mediterranean grass Hyparrhenia sinaica. The authors emphasise that these results confirm the value of collaborative fieldwork among specialists in vascular flora and vegetation science for charting the plant diversity of the Italian territory, in one of the richest biodiversity hotspots of the entire Mediterranean basin.

Subject of Research: Vegetation science and phytosociological survey of the Egadi Islands and western Sicily, Italy

Article Title: Itineraries of the Working Group for Vegetation Science of the Italian Botanical Society – 1 (2022): Excursion to the Egadi Islands, Mount San Giuliano and Mount Cofano (Trapani, western Sicily, Italy)

Article References: Gianguzzi, L., Guarino, R., Bazan, G., Di Pietro, R., Acosta, A. T. R., Bajona, E., Bolliger, P., Bonomi, C., Camuffo, A., Console, C., Fascetti, S., Fortini, P., Frattaroli, A., Mei, G., Mondello, F., Olivari, S., Rizzieri, M., Rosati, L., Sarmati, S., … Stinca, A. (2023). Itineraries of the Working Group for Vegetation Science of the Italian Botanical Society – 1 (2022): Excursion to the Egadi Islands, Mount San Giuliano and Mount Cofano (Trapani, western Sicily, Italy). Italian Botanist, 16, 1-57. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.16.103989

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/italianbotanist.16.103989

Keywords: phytosociology, Sicily, Egadi Islands, Marettimo, vegetation science, plant endemism, Mediterranean flora, new plant association, holm oak woods, Natura 2000, biodiversity hotspot, Italian Botanical Society

The story of these peatlands is, until recently, a story of loss. Over the past century, artificial drainage ditches were cut through the Waldviertel’s acidic bogs so that the land could be used for forestry, agriculture and peat extraction. Draining lowers the water table, halts peat formation, alters soils and vegetation, and reshapes the entire biodiversity of the site. In Austria, the damage has been severe: more than 90 percent of the country’s peatlands have been destroyed. Growing tree cover compounds the problem, because increased transpiration dries out the peat even further, while natural water bodies are converted into linear ditch networks that restructure species composition.

Many of the surviving Waldviertel peatlands now sit inside the Natura 2000 network, the European Union’s system of protected areas, and are gradually being restored. The central technique is disarmingly simple: workers block the drainage ditches with wooden dams. Water backs up behind these barriers, refilling the ditches and flooding the peat pools that dotted the historic bog. From 2017 to 2021, the four study sites—Haslauer Moor, Heidenreichsteiner Moor, Schremser Hochmoor and Schwarzes Moos—were among those included in a cross-border INTERREG restoration project, and earlier efforts by the Worldwide Fund for Nature and LIFE projects had already dammed ditches and cleared central bog areas at some sites. These newly rewetted structures are what ecologists call secondary habitats: not pristine, but potentially valuable substitutes for the natural waters that vanished with the peat.

Whether such artificial waters actually support endangered wildlife has been an open question, particularly for amphibians—animals whose semi-permeable skin and aquatic life stages make them acutely sensitive to water chemistry. Peatland water is notoriously acidic, and laboratory and field studies elsewhere have shown that mortality rises sharply when pH falls below about 4. Yet some species persist in bogs: the Moor Frog’s spawn and larvae are known to tolerate acidic conditions, and Green Frogs use peatlands as summer habitats in North America. The Austrian team set out to determine whether blocked ditches and peat pools in the Waldviertel function as genuine breeding grounds, and to compile a baseline inventory of the region’s herpetofauna, for which data—especially on reptiles—had been scarce.

The fieldwork combined six complementary survey methods for amphibians between April and June 2018: acoustic mapping of calling males, visual searches for spawn, dip-netting for larvae with a fine 2-millimeter mesh, evening torch surveys for newts, baited fish traps set overnight, and opportunistic visual encounters. Reptiles were surveyed from June to mid-August along roughly 400-meter zigzag transects through open moorland, forest edges and the banks of water bodies, during the morning and late-afternoon hours when reptiles bask or forage. The researchers also measured the pH of every water body with a portable meter and mapped twelve distinct microhabitat types—from open moorland with moss to silting peat pools—using orthophotos and GIS software, then ran an indicator species analysis to test whether any animals showed strong habitat preferences.

The results were striking. In total, the team recorded 1,520 amphibians, including larvae and spawn, across eight species: Common Toad, European Tree Frog, Edible and Pool Frogs (grouped as Pelophylax sp., since the two hybridize and cannot be reliably separated in the field), Moor Frog, Agile Frog, Common Frog, Alpine Newt and Smooth Newt. Peat pools proved the busiest waters, holding 725 individuals, with Pelophylax water frogs the most abundant at 416 individuals and Common Toad tadpoles close behind at 250. Blocked ditches hosted 174 individuals across six species, including the tree frog and Alpine Newt. Silting peat pools emerged as the richest microhabitat of all, and Pelophylax frogs were found in nine of the twelve habitat types. Notably, the indicator analysis found no statistically significant habitat specialists, suggesting the animals use these waters opportunistically rather than depending on any single structure.

Perhaps the most remarkable finding came from Schwarzes Moos, the most damaged site, where only one hectare of the original 54-hectare bog survives beside the Czech border. Its water bodies measured a mean pH of just 3.72, with readings as low as 3.2—levels at which many amphibian species cannot survive, since mortality increases when pH drops below 4. In comparable Norwegian studies, successful reproduction was not observed below pH 5.2 for the Moor Frog. Yet at Schwarzes Moos the researchers recorded calling Common Toads, water frogs, Moor Frogs and Common Frogs, and even found Agile Frog spawn. The Moor Frog’s acid tolerance is well documented, but the presence of other species at such extreme acidity hints at local adaptation or at pH fluctuations driven by rainfall that might temporarily open windows for breeding. The authors caution that single-season measurements cannot capture the full chemical variability of bog pools, and they call for year-round abiotic monitoring to untangle the relationship between acidity and amphibian success.

The reptile picture, though sparser, was equally encouraging. Sixty-four individuals of four species were found: the legless Slow Worm, the Grass Snake, the adder (Vipera berus) and the Viviparous Lizard, the latter the most frequently recorded and present at all four sites. Viviparous Lizards, which can submerge for up to twenty minutes to escape predators, were most often spotted between wet moss cushions in open moorland, where they shelter from heat and water loss. Grass Snakes, which feed heavily on frogs, were also found at every site—a direct indication that the restored waters support enough amphibian prey to sustain predators. Most exciting was the adder, listed as vulnerable in Austria and restricted there to montane-alpine regions and the Bohemian Mass. Consistent with its need for quickly warming structures, it was found near dead wood, on moss pads and in tall grass, with all four reptile species co-occurring only at Heidenreichstein.

Five of the fifteen species potentially present in the region are classified as vulnerable, and the study confirms that restoration is delivering habitat for several of them. But the researchers also flag a looming management dilemma. Peat pools and ditches will inevitably silt up through natural succession, and dense tree canopies plus sphagnum growth have been shown elsewhere to depress amphibian breeding, while ditches left untended become poor habitat for brown frogs. Studies in drained peatlands suggest that clearing ditches and removing shrubs can boost colonization, at least in the short term. Since the Natura 2000 management plan aims for a natural climax of moor forest, the authors argue that targeted interventions—maintaining open water and sun-exposed moorland patches—should be weighed carefully in conservation planning.

For a country that has lost nearly all of its peatlands, the message from the Waldviertel is quietly optimistic: even small, artificial, highly acidic water bodies created by restoration can become functioning ecosystems within years of rewetting. As habitat loss, fragmentation, pollution, invasive species, disease and climate change continue to squeeze amphibians and reptiles worldwide, every secondary habitat counts. The wooden dams that hold back water in these Austrian bogs are doing far more than restoring carbon-storing peat—they are building nurseries for toads, frogs, newts, lizards and even adders, one flooded ditch at a time.

Subject of Research: Use of restored peatland water bodies by amphibians and reptiles in Lower Austria

Article Title: Water bodies created by peatland restoration are potential habitats for amphibians and reptiles

Article References: Stückler, S., Sonnleitner, R., & Schweiger, S. (2024). Water bodies created by peatland restoration are potential habitats for amphibians and reptiles. Herpetozoa, 37, 347-358. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.37.e130028

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/herpetozoa.37.e130028

Keywords: peatland restoration, amphibians, reptiles, Waldviertel, Natura 2000, drainage ditches, peat pools, pH tolerance, Moor Frog, Viviparous Lizard, herpetology, Austria

For a region that had gone largely without a synthetic avifaunistic update since Scebba and colleagues compiled the first checklist in 1993, the new numbers represent far more than an accounting exercise. The compilation critically integrates peer-reviewed papers, technical reports, theses, ringing bulletins and conference proceedings, alongside records from the citizen-science platforms ORNITHO.it, eBird and iNaturalist. Unpublished observations contributed by members of StOrCal and the wider regional birdwatching community were accepted only after an internal, case-by-case review of the evidence, and rare or unusual records were admitted only when validated by the Italian Rarities Committee.

The methodological rigour underpinning the list is considerable. Every taxon included had to be supported by at least one of five forms of evidence: a published reference in the peer-reviewed or grey literature, a museum specimen with verifiable collection data, a photograph, video or audio recording archived in a public repository, a ringed individual with full ringing data, or detailed field notes from experienced observers, especially when corroborated by independent records. Records judged insufficiently documented were excluded outright, and a handful of historical entries carried over from the 1993 checklist without precise dates or localities were transparently flagged for future re-evaluation. Taxonomy and status coding follow the national CISO–COI checklist of Italian birds, while English common names are aligned with the Global Avian Checklist.

Of the 363 species now on the books, 336 belong to AERC category A, meaning they are of apparently wild origin and have been recorded since 1950. Twelve species are category B, known only from historical records before 1950, seven are category C, introduced species with self-sustaining populations, five fall into the intermediate category AC, and three are category E escapes. The authors assigned general status codes to 258 regular species, 20 irregular ones, 64 accidental or vagrant species and 21 historical species, while breeding status was confirmed for 143 regularly breeding species, eight irregular breeders, three occasional breeders and four former breeders that no longer reproduce in the region.

Perhaps the most biologically revealing finding is what the 43 new species have in common. A striking 35 of them, some 81 percent, are classified as accidental or vagrant, meaning that most of the increase reflects improved observer coverage and better documentation of rare visitors rather than genuine range expansions. The new entries span 12 orders, led by passerines with 15 species, followed by shorebirds and allies with eight and waterfowl with seven. At the family level, ducks and geese (Anatidae) contributed seven new species, while sandpipers (Scolopacidae) and leaf warblers (Phylloscopidae) added four each.

The biogeographic story told by these vagrants is remarkable. Calabria sits astride the central Mediterranean migratory flyway, wedged between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas and facing Sicily and the African continent, and the new records show that the region acts as a convergence point for multiple migration systems. Roughly a quarter of the newly reported taxa are of Siberian or central Asian origin, including species such as the yellow-browed warbler, dusky warbler, red-flanked bluetail and eye-browed thrush. Another quarter come from Africa or the Middle East, and smaller but significant fractions hail from Arctic and northern Europe, as well as a single Nearctic visitor, the American buff-breasted sandpiper. Many of these Siberian wanderers would almost certainly have gone undetected without targeted constant-effort ringing at coastal stations such as Punta Alice in the province of Crotone and San Michele di Cetraro in Cosenza.

Among the genuine breeding news, one record stands out as a headline in its own right. The African plain martin-like swift known as the Caesar’s swift relative, Apus caffer, the red-rumped swift’s smaller cousin more typically associated with the Iberian Peninsula and Africa, has been confirmed nesting irregularly at an inland site in the province of Crotone. This represents the first documented breeding of the species anywhere in Italy and in the entire central Mediterranean Basin, and the authors describe Calabria as a putative bridgehead for Afro-Iberian taxa colonising Europe. Other breeding additions include the regional colonisation by the yellow-legged gull as a regular breeder, occasional nesting by the western swamphen and the naturalisation of the ring-necked parakeet, an introduced species now breeding irregularly.

The conservation picture that emerges from the checklist is sobering. A total of 125 species, about a third of the regional avifauna, are listed in Annex I of the EU Birds Directive, underlining the European importance of Calabria’s birds. National IUCN categories are known for 230 species, and among these, nine are Critically Endangered, 21 are Endangered and 32 are Vulnerable. The Critically Endangered species are dominated by wetland-dependent birds such as the spotted crake, little crake, black tern, sedge warbler and reed bunting, alongside emblematic raptors including the osprey, bearded vulture and Egyptian vulture, and the barred warbler of open scrub habitats. This pattern reflects the vulnerability of Calabria’s limited and fragmented network of coastal and inland wetlands, as well as the precarious state of its cliff-nesting and scavenging birds of prey. The region’s 185 Natura 2000 sites, covering roughly 19 percent of its territory, only partially overlap with the key sites for these taxa, and the authors caution that conservation effectiveness varies considerably across sites.

Contextualising the numbers against neighbouring territories reveals both how much Calabria has to offer and how much remains to be discovered. Sicily, with a much longer ornithological tradition and a larger surface area, has recorded 437 species since the mid-nineteenth century, while even the small island of Pantelleria in the Sicilian Channel has accumulated 261 species under sustained observer effort. The Italian national checklist comprises 551 species, meaning that Calabria now holds roughly two-thirds of the country’s entire avian diversity, a proportion broadly in line with the region’s extent and remarkable habitat heterogeneity, which ranges from sea level to the 2,267-metre summit of Serra Dolcedorme in the Pollino Massif, and from beech and Calabrian black pine forests to coastal wetlands and river mouths along 789 kilometres of coastline.

The authors are candid about the gaps that remain. Inland mountain areas such as the Pollino, the Sila Plateau and the Aspromonte are still under-surveyed compared with the coast, standardised data on breeding densities and population trends are lacking for most species, and pelagic seabirds, nocturnal migrants and high-altitude breeders all deserve dedicated monitoring programmes. The natural next step, they argue, is a regional breeding bird atlas based on standardised square surveys, complemented by coordinated wintering counts at coastal wetlands, an expanded network of constant-effort ringing stations, and deeper integration with national citizen-science platforms under quality-controlled validation. With the checklist dataset openly available on Zenodo, and with regional observers now organised under shared methodological standards, Calabria’s birds finally have the documented, verifiable baseline they need, and the stage is set for the next three decades of discovery at Europe’s southern gateway.

Subject of Research: Updated checklist of the bird species of Calabria, southern Italy

Article Title: Updated checklist of the birds of Calabria (southern Italy)

Article References: Urso, S., Martino, G., Muscianese, E., Policastrese, M., Pucci, M., Vena, M., & Storino, P. (2026). Updated checklist of the birds of Calabria (southern Italy). Biodiversity Data Journal, 14, Article e195967. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.14.e195967

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.14.e195967

Keywords: Calabria, ornithology, bird checklist, biodiversity, vagrancy, migration, citizen science, bird ringing, conservation, IUCN Red List, Mediterranean flyway, Natura 2000