Suchergebnisse

Climate change poses numerous challenges to the environment and the survival of species, humans included. But in spite of the scientific consensus related to the influence of human activities on environmental imbalance, and the recent civic mobilization demanding political action to address climate change, there is still some resistance on the public opinion about the real impacts of the current climate crisis. Science communication can be a powerful ally to raise awareness on these issues. "Coats for snow" is an activity to help communicating the impacts of climate change and foster new dialogues on the topic. It was designed as a "consultative science communication" activity, inspired by the "AEIOU vowel analogy" of science communication. As such, to facilitate Interest and Understanding, we tell a story inspired on ongoing research, studying how species adapted to cold environments with winter snow can be affected by increasing global temperature and consequent decrease of snow cover. To promote engagement and Enjoyment, we use a game that allows the active participation of the public. To contribute to informed Opinions and behavioural changes, we include a before-and-after debate, where different aspects of climate change can be addressed. The activity was tested with children aged 9-10 years old after a guided visit to a Natural History Museum Gallery. It proved to be an attractive strategy, encouraging highly interactive discussions around climate change and its impact on biodiversity. However, even though climate change is widely mentioned in the media and many school students are adhering to climate strikes worldwide, almost all children that participated in the activity declared that they have never heard of it. This led us to conclude that efforts to communicate and engage the public with climate change issues should include younger children. Results from the "coats for snow" activity show that it is possible.

[EN]: About 21 thousands years ago the Iberian Peninsula was very cold and most of Europe was even covered by snow! This was at the end of the Pleistocene, the geologic epoch from the Quaternary period that predated the current, the Holocene. And it was during this epoch that most of the planet suffered many glacial events and that's why the Quaternary is also known as the glacial period. The modern glacial period, because previously there were another four! One of the major consequences of these climatic oscillations was changes in the geographic distribution and genetic variability of species, especially those that inhabited regions most affected by glaciations. But why are we talking about Quaternary, Pleistocene, Iberian Peninsula, Europe and snow? Because we will be talking about hares! ; [PT]: Há cerca de 21 mil anos a Península Ibérica estava muito gelada e grande parte da Europa estava mesmo coberta de neve! Estávamos no final do Pleistoceno, a época geológica do período Quaternário que antecedeu a actual, o Holoceno. E foi durante esta época que uma grande parte do planeta viveu muitos eventos glaciares e é por isso que o Quaternário é também conhecido como o período glaciar. Período glaciar moderno, porque houve outros quatro! Uma das grandes consequências destas oscilações climáticas foi a alteração da distribuição geográfica e variabilidade genética das espécies, principalmente daquelas que viviam nas regiões mais afectadas pelas glaciações. Mas porque estamos a falar em Quaternário, Pleistoceno, Península Ibérica, Europa e neve? Porque vamos falar de lebres! ; [ES]: Hace cerca de 21 mil años la Península Ibérica estaba helada y gran parte de Europa estaba también cubierta de nieve. Estábamos al final del Pleistoceno, la época geológica del Cuaternario que antecedió la actual, el Holoceno. Fue durante esta época cuando una gran parte del planeta vivió numerosos eventos glaciares y por eso es que también se conoce al Cuaternario como el periodo glacial. ¡Periodo glacial moderno, porque hubo otros cuatro! Una de las grandes consecuencias de estas oscilaciones climáticas fue la alteración de la distribución geográfica y variabilidad genética de las especies, principalmente de aquellas que vivían en las regiones más afectadas por las glaciaciones. Pero, ¿por qué estamos hablando del Cuaternario, Pleistoceno, Península Ibérica, Europa y nieve? ¡Porque vamos a hablar de liebres! ; The edition of this book was financed by EcoMito (EXPL/AAGMAA/1082/2013), research project from the Operational Program Human Potential - National Strategic Reference Framework (Programa Operacional Potencial Humano, POPH - Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional, QREN) from the European Social Fund and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Portuguese Government. ; R. Campos and J. Melo-Ferreira are post-doctoral (SFRH/BPD/64365/2009) and auxiliary researchers (IF/00033/2014), respectively, from the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT), financed by QREN-POPH, the European Social Fund and the Portuguese Ministry for Education and Science. P. Acevedo has a contract financed by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competiveness (MINECO) and by the University of Castilla-La Mancha, under the program Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2012-11970). ; Peer Reviewed

[Aim]: Lepus castroviejoi and Lepus corsicanus are sister species with allopatric distributions that share extensive phenotypic and genetic variation. Under the framework of niche conservatism, we assessed whether these species have similar ecological niches, which could provide insights into their mode of divergence, conservation, and taxonomic status. [Location]: The distribution range of L. castroviejoi in the northern Iberian Peninsula, and that of L. corsicanus in mainland Italy and Sicily. [Methods]: We developed spatially explicit ecological models to characterize the niches of the two species by modelling them separately and together. Individual models were transferred to the territory of the sister species to explore their niche relationships. Predictions were assessed for discrimination and calibration in a cross-assessment procedure. [Results]: The model trained with L. castroviejoi was not able to predict the range of L. corsicanus, whereas the model trained with L. corsicanus was able to discriminate the L. castroviejoi distribution better than by chance alone (AUC = 0.814), although the reliability of the predictions was limited. The model trained with L. corsicanus in Italy's mainland (excluding the range in Sicily), however, discriminated L. castroviejoi presences/absences (AUC = 0.788) and accurately predicted its probability of occurrence. Furthermore, a well-calibrated model, which was able to discriminate the species distributions (L. castroviejoi, AUC = 0.828; L. corsicanus, AUC = 0.956), was obtained when the species were considered together. [Main conclusions]: Our results suggest that L. castroviejoi and L. corsicanus share extensive niche properties, which reinforces their possible conspecific status. The ecological niche of their ancestor may have resembled the present occupied niche of L. corsicanus in mainland Italy, given that this model was able to accurately predict the distribution range of both species. Finally, ecological evidence suggests that niche conservatism may explain the fragmentation in the distribution range of their ancestor, which may have been the driver of the initial stages of divergence. ; P.A. received a José Castillejo fellowship (2010 –2011)in Portugal awarded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación to conduct this study, and was also partly supported bythe CGL2009-11316/BOS Spanish Government and FEDER project. P.A. and J.M.-F. currently hold postdoctoral grantsfrom the Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT),funded by Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (POPH)– Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN) fromthe European Social Fund and by the Portuguese Ministério da Educaçao e Ciência (SFRH/BPD/90320/2012 and SFRH/BPD/43264/2008, respectively). Financial support was partly obtained from the research project grants PTDC/BIA-EVF/111931/2009 and PTDC/BIA-EVF/115069/2009, funded by FEDER through the COMPETE program and Portuguese national funds through the FCT. ; Peer Reviewed

The application of species distribution models (SDMs) in ecology and conservation biology is increasing and assuming an important role, mainly because they can be used to hindcast past and predict current and future species distributions. However, the accuracy of SDMs depends on the quality of the data and on appropriate theoretical frameworks. In this study, comprehensive data on the current distribution of the Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) were used to i) determine the species' ecogeographical constraints, ii) hindcast a climatic model for the last glacial maximum (LGM), relating it to inferences derived from molecular studies, and iii) calibrate a model to assess the species future distribution trends (up to 2080). Our results showed that the climatic factor (in its pure effect and when it is combined with the land-cover factor) is the most important descriptor of the current distribution of the Iberian hare. In addition, the model's output was a reliable index of the local probability of species occurrence, which is a valuable tool to guide species management decisions and conservation planning. Climatic potential obtained for the LGM was combined with molecular data and the results suggest that several glacial refugia may have existed for the species within the major Iberian refugium. Finally, a high probability of occurrence of the Iberian hare in the current species range and a northward expansion were predicted for future. Given its current environmental envelope and evolutionary history, we discuss the macroecology of the Iberian hare and its sensitivity to climate change. ; P.A. was supported by the Vicerrectorado de Investigación of the University of Malaga and partially by the project CGL2009-11316/BOS of the Spanish Government and FEDER. Currently, P.A. holds a Beatriu de Pinós fellowship funded by "Comissionat per a Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Innovació, Universitats i Empresa" of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the COFUND Programme - Marie Curie Actions under 7th Marc Programme of the European Community. J.M.-F. was funded from the SFRH/BPD/43264/2008 post-doctoral grant by by Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and the European Social Fund. Financial support was partially obtained from the Research Projects PTDC/BIA-EVF/111931/2009 and PTDC/BIA-EVF/115069/2009, by FCT and FEDER. ; Peer Reviewed

Parapatry is a biogeographical term used to refer to organisms whose ranges do not overlap, but are immediately adjacent to each other; they only co-occur - if at all - in a narrow contact zone. Often there are no environmental barriers in the contact zones, hence competitive interaction is usually advocated as the factor that modulates species distribution ranges. Even though the effects of climate change on species distribution have been widely studied, few studies have explored these effects on the biogeographical relationships between closely related, parapatric, species. We modelled environmental favourability for three parapatric hare species in Europe - Lepus granatensis, L. europaeus and L. timidus - using ecogeographical variables and projected the models into the future according to the IPCC A2 emissions scenario. Favourabilities for present and future scenarios were combined using fuzzy logic with the following aims: (i) to determine the biogeographical relationships between hare species in parapatry, that is L. granatensis/L. europaeus and L. europaeus/L. timidus and (ii) to assess the effects of climate change on each species as well as on their interspecific interactions. In their contact area L. granatensis achieved higher favourability values than L. europaeus, suggesting that if both species have a similar population status, the former species may have some advantages over the latter if competitive relationships are established. Climate change had the most striking effect on the distribution of L. timidus, especially when interspecific interactions with L. europaeus were taken into account, which may compromise the co-existence of L. timidus. The results of this study are relevant not only for understanding the distribution patterns of the hares studied and the effects of climate change on these patterns, but also for improving the general application of species distribution models to the prediction of the effects of climate change on biodiversity. ; We are grateful to A.M. Barbosa for her ever-useful advice. P. A. and A. J.-V. were supported by the Juan de la Cierva research program awarded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación–Fondo Social Europeo, and partially by the project CGL2009-11316/BOS from the Spanish Government and FEDER. P. A. is a current holder of the Jose Castillejo fellowship (2010–2011) in Portugal awardedby the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. J. M.-F. has a post-doctoral grant funded by FCT and the European Social Fund (SFRH/BPD/43264/2008). This work was partially funded bythe research projects PTDC/BIA-EVF/111931/2009 and PTDC/BIA-EVF/115069/2009 funded by FCT and FEDER. ; Peer Reviewed