The tropical niche conservatism (TNC) hypothesis and the out of the tropics (OTT) hypothesis propose mechanisms generating patterns of species diversity across warm‐to‐cold thermal gradients at large spatial scales. These two hypotheses both integrate ecological and biogeography‐related evolutionary factors, but they predict opposite patterns for phylogenetic structure. Mount Namjagbarwa possesses one of the longest elevational gradients for flowering plant diversity in the world. We aim to analyse the elevational patterns of the phylogenetic structure of flowering plants in this mountain, and investigate underlying causes for the emergence of the patterns.

Elevational patterns of phylogenetic structure of angiosperms in a biodiversity hotspot in eastern Himalaya

Global progress in climate change and biodiversity conservation research

Biogeographical regionalization is scant for most insect groups due to shortfalls in distribution and phylogenetic information, namely the Wallacean and Darwinian shortfalls respectively. Here, we focused on the European ants and compared new techniques to classical analyses based on regional lists and taxonomic methods. We asked the following: (1) Can grid‐based regionalizations using novel distribution data improve biogeographical transitions? and (2) Can phylogenetic approaches reveal new insights regarding ant evolutionary history?

Geographic and climatic constraints on bioregionalization of European ants

Significance Geospatial approaches are increasingly vital for conservation with applications of gap analysis informing decision-making and resource allocation. We extend traditional assessments by incorporating both the spatial distribution of threats and resources to build an index of available conservation capacity across a species’ range. Using 91 African carnivores, we identified locations within each species’ range at risk of contraction due to a deficit of resources available to potentially thwart present threats. Our results raise new concerns for African carnivores, particularly small-bodied species, contrary to current perceptions of their extinction risks.

Socio-ecological gap analysis to forecast species range contractions for conservation

Geopolitical borderlands are politically sensitive areas and biodiversity hotspots, strictly controlled by the government and military. How to ensure political security, while protecting the biodiversity in borderlands is a problem for ecologists and governments. In this study, the nest site selection of the wild boar Sus scrofa was a case study in the Sino-Russia borderland to understand the survival strategy of wild life under anthropogenic pressure. We investigated (a) how the spatial distribution of anthropogenic pressure and wild boar nests in the borderland and (b) how anthropogenic pressure and the border influence on the wild boars’ nest site selection. The Getis-Ord Gi* analysis was used to analyze the distribution patterns of wild boar nest sites and anthropogenic pressures in the borderland, the Structural Equation Models was used to explore the influence of border, roads, settlements, agricultural land, grassland and anthropogenic pressure on wild boars’ nest site selection. The results indicated that wild boar nest sites are close to the border, roads and agricultural land and away from settlements and grassland. Regardless of the combination of anthropogenic pressure, wild boars make the most advantageous choice and prefer to be closer to the borderland. We speculated that military control played a vital role in borderlands for animal protection under anthropogenic pressure. Wild boars benefit from the prohibition of anthropogenic persecution due to military control. Compared with existing measures, we suggest a different protection/wildlife management strategy, what we need to do may be to prohibit anthropogenic persecution rather than perform other human interventions to protect animals. However, for a species with trouble potential, we need to base our conservation strategies on the recovery of top predators, and play the community control role of top predators to avoid the occurrence of trouble.

Wild Boar Survives in a Landscape That Prohibits Anthropogenic Persecution

This work was supported by the projects ‘Developing tools to unify range dynamics and community-level processes into a single analytical framework’ (cooperation project Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas-Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico CSIC-CNPq P2011BR0071) and ‘Predicting diversity variations across scales through process-based models linking com-munity ecology and biogeography’ (Pesquisador Visitante Especial CNPq, PVE314523/2014-6). AMCS was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF 331623 ‘COMMSTRUCT’), by a ‘Juan de la Cierva’ Fellowship (IJCI-2014-19502) funded by the cur-rent Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, by Universidad de Alcala, through a travel grant within the ‘Ayudas de movilidad de personal docente y personal investigador’ program, and by the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (contract CEEIND/03425/2017). RL’s research is funded by CNPq (grant #306694/2018-2). This paper is a contribution of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia (INCT) in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation funded by Brazilian Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia, Inovacoes e Comunicacoes, CNPq and Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do estado de Goias (grant MCTIC/CNPq/FAPEG 465610/2014-5).

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Ana Márcia Barbosa

Papers

Current climate, but also long‐term climate changes and human impacts, determine the geographic distribution of European mammal diversity