The escape behaviour, measured as flight initiation distance (FID; the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential predator, usually a human in the study systems), is a measure widely used to study fearfulness and risk-taking in animals. Previous studies have shown significant differences in the escape behaviour of birds inhabiting cemeteries and urban parks in European cities, where birds seem to be shyer in the latter. We collected a regional dataset of the FID of birds inhabiting cemeteries and parks across Latin America in peri-urban, suburban and urban parks and cemeteries. FIDs were recorded for eighty-one bird species. Mean species-specific FIDs ranged from 1.9 to 19.7 m for species with at least two observations (fifty-seven species). Using Bayesian regression modelling and controlling for the phylogenetic relatedness of the FID among bird species and city and country, we found that, in contrast to a recent publication from Europe, birds escape earlier in cemeteries than parks in the studied Latin American cities. FIDs were also significantly shorter in urban areas than in peri-urban areas and in areas with higher human density. Our results indicate that some idiosyncratic patterns in animal fearfulness towards humans may emerge among different geographic regions, highlighting difficulties with scaling up and application of regional findings to other ecosystems and world regions. Such differences could be associated with intrinsic differences between the pool of bird species from temperate European and mostly tropical Latin American cities, characterized by different evolutionary histories, but also with differences in the historical process of urbanization.

Metacercariae of the genus Posthodiplostomum are often recorded in freshwater fish hosts. While the diversity and taxonomy of this genus are receiving increasing attention in molecular phylogenetic studies, available data remain geographically biased. Most molecular studies of Posthodiplostomum and morphologically similar (neascus) worms originate in North America and Europe and Asia (more than 60% of DNA sequences are from USA and Canada), with few data currently available from the Neotropics, where high host diversity suggests high and under-sampled parasite diversity. In this study, we report molecular and morphological data from metacercariae of Posthodiplostomum in fish in Puerto Rico, where only a single species has been previously reported. Partial sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 from metacercariae from Dajaus monticola (native to Puerto Rico) and the introduced fishes Poecilia reticulata, Parachromis managuensis, Lepomis macrochirus and Micropterus salmoides revealed 7 genetically distinct species-level lineages, of which 4 were novel. We report novel molecular life-cycle linkages in Posthodiplostomum macrocotyle (metacercariae in muscle of the cichlid Pa. managuensis), a species previously known only from adults in birds from South America; and in Posthodiplostomum sp. 23 (metacercariae in poeciliids), which has recently been found in Ardea herodias in Georgia, USA. We also report the first molecular data from Posthodiplostomum sp. 8 in M. salmoides in the Caribbean. Metacercariae of most species were morphologically distinguished and all displayed narrow specificity for fish hosts, with no indication of parasite sharing among introduced and native fishes.

Riparian zones are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, but are at risk due to agricultural expansion and climate change. To maximize return on conservation investment in mixed-use landscapes, it is important to identify the minimum intact riparian forest buffer sizes to conserve riparian ecosystem services. The minimum riparian forest buffer width necessary to maintain tropical river water quality remains unclear, and there is little analysis of effective riparian buffer lengths. Also, in studies on the effect of land use on river water quality globally, there is little standardization in the area where land use is analyzed. Here, these challenges were addressed in the Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica. Water quality parameters and social variables were sampled at 194 locations across the region. For each sample, land use was calculated in nine different riparian buffer sizes and at the sampling location. Riparian forest cover had a positive effect on water quality parameters, while agricultural cover had a negative effect. The longer the length of the buffer considered, the greater the relative support for influencing water quality (1000 m > 500 m > 100 m). All buffer widths yielded similar support within each length class. These results indicate that length of riparian forest buffers, not width, drives their ability to conserve water quality. While wide and long riparian forests are ideal to maximize the protection of river water quality and other ecosystem services, in landscapes where that is impractical, the 15-m-wide riparian forest buffers that are supported by Costa Rican legislation could improve water quality, providing that they are at least 500 m long. The results also indicate the importance of methodological standardization in studies that monitor land use effects on water quality. The authors propose that studies in similar regions analyze land use in riparian zones 15-m-wide by 1000 m upstream. Conserving and restoring narrow, long riparian forest buffers could provide a rapid, economical management approach to balance agricultural production and water quality protection.

UNASSIGNED: Previous research has shown diverse vertical space use by various taxa, highlighting the importance of forest vertical structure. Yet, we know little about vertical space use of tropical forests, and we often fail to explore how this three-dimensional space use changes over time.
UNASSIGNED: Here we use canopy tower systems in French Guiana and passive acoustic monitoring to measure Neotropical bat activity above and below the forest canopy throughout nine nights. We use a Bayesian generalized linear mixed effect model and kernel density estimates to demonstrate patterns in space-use over time.
UNASSIGNED: We found that different bats use both canopy and understory space differently and that these patterns change throughout the night. Overall, bats were more active above the canopy (including Cormura brevirostris, Molossus molossus, Peropteryx kappleri and Peropteryx macrotis), but multiple species or acoustic complexes (when species identification was impossible) were more active in the understory (such as Centronycteris maximiliani, Myotis riparius, Pteronotus alitonus and Pteronotus rubiginosus). We also found that most bats showed temporally-changing preferences in hourly activity. Some species were less active (e.g., P. kappleri and P. macrotis), whereas others were more active (Pteronotus gymnonotus, C. brevirostris, and M. molossus) on nights with higher moon illuminance.
UNASSIGNED: Here we show that Neotropical bats use habitat above the forest canopy and within the forest understory differently throughout the night. While bats generally were more active above the forest canopy, we show that individual groups of bats use space differently over the course of a night, and some prefer the understory. This work highlights the need to consider diel cycles in studies of space use, as animals use different habitats during different periods of the day.

Potential resource overlap between howling monkeys and other arboreal mammals was studied in the rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Eight species of mammals belonging to the orders Primates, Carnivora, Rodentia, and Marsupialia were found to share the canopy and to overlap trophically with howling monkeys. These mammals made up 77% and Alouatta 23% of the arboreal mammalian biomass under consideration. The arboreal porcupine and spider monkey were the only mammals that also fed on leaves. However, in this feeding niche, Alouatta is the only important mammalian folivore in Los Tuxtlas, and resource depression derived from leaf-eating insects is more important. The eight arboreal mammals may exert more pressure upon fruit resources, for they consumed 75% of the estimated total dry weight of fruit/ha/yr consumed by arboreal mammals.

Approximately 20% of the Brazilian Amazon has now been deforested, and the Amazon is currently experiencing the highest rates of deforestation in a decade, leading to large-scale land-use changes. Roads have consistently been implicated as drivers of ongoing Amazon deforestation and may act as corridors to facilitate species invasions. Long-term data, however, are necessary to determine how ecological succession alters avian communities following deforestation and whether established roads lead to a constant influx of new species.We used data across nearly 40 years from a large-scale deforestation experiment in the central Amazon to examine the avian colonization process in a spatial and temporal framework, considering the role that roads may play in facilitating colonization.Since 1979, 139 species that are not part of the original forest avifauna have been recorded, including more secondary forest species than expected based on the regional species pool. Among the 35 species considered to have colonized and become established, a disproportionate number were secondary forest birds (63%), almost all of which first appeared during the 1980s. These new residents comprise about 13% of the current community of permanent residents.Widespread generalists associated with secondary forest colonized quickly following deforestation, with few new species added after the first decade, despite a stable road connection. Few species associated with riverine forest or specialized habitats colonized, despite road connection to their preferred source habitat. Colonizing species remained restricted to anthropogenic habitats and did not infiltrate old-growth forests nor displace forest birds.Deforestation and expansion of road networks into terra firme rainforest will continue to create degraded anthropogenic habitat. Even so, the initial pulse of colonization by nonprimary forest bird species was not the beginning of a protracted series of invasions in this study, and the process appears to be reversible by forest succession.

In order to test the hypothesis that elevation may be an important factor accounting for the distribution of myxomycetes in tropical forests, this project was designed and conducted in Costa Rica. Two lower elevational belts were selected for this work due to their floristic and structural resemblance. Using the moist chamber technique, 40 different sites located in four different transects in two different macroclimatic regions were surveyed using three substrates during the rainy and the dry periods of 2014 and 2015. The results showed a lack of differences in diversity-based estimators according to elevation using different approaches and taxonomic differences were found across transects, collecting periods and substrates but not in relation with elevation either. Our results suggest that when increased spatial sampling resolution is implemented and floristic elements are common, elevation may not be as important of a factor in shaping the distribution of myxomycetes in tropical forests as commonly believed.

There is a huge lack of information regarding the natural history of subterranean species, particularly focusing on aspects of the behavioral ecology of Brazilian cave fauna. In the present work, we aimed to describe and evaluate the behavioral repertoire of Xangoniscus itacarambiensis (Isopoda, Styloniscidae) through observations in the field and laboratory and also by means of complementary experiments. Overall, we recorded 25 spontaneous behaviors. Besides describing the physical habitat, we recorded some intraspecific interactions, agonistic and territorial behaviors, as well as the amphibian habit. There was a direct relationship between the size of travertine dams where they live (measurements of length and width) and the mean number of individuals, although there was no significant correlation with the pool depth. Behaviors observed in the laboratory differed qualitatively and quantitatively from those observed in the field, with individuals more active in the latter. This scenario alerts about the significant behavioral alteration of such isopods when removed from their natural habitat, what must be considered in future behavioral studies including troglobites given their natural sensitivity to environmental changes.

UNASSIGNED: This study establishes an altiudinal gradient, spanning from the highland Andes (2400 m) to lowland Amazon, as a productive region for the study of bird pollination in Southeastern Peru. The \'Manú Gradient\' has a rich history of ornithological research, the published data and resources from which lay the groundwork for analyses of plant-bird interactions. In this preliminary expedition we documented 44 plants exhibting aspects of the bird pollination syndrome, and made field observations of hummingbird visits at three sites spanning the Manú Gradient: 2800 m (Wayqecha), 1400 m (San Pedro), and 400 m (Pantiacolla). Some of the documented plant taxa are underrepresented in the bird pollination literature and could be promising avenues for future analyses of their pollination biology. The Manú Gradient is currently the focus of a concerted, international effort to describe and study the birds in the region; we propose that this region of Southeastern Peru is a productive and perhaps underestimated system to gain insight into the ecology and evolution of bird pollination.
UNASSIGNED: Observations were made on 11, 19, and 14 putatively bird pollinated plant species found at the high-, mid- and low-elevation sites along the gradient, respectively. Hummingbirds visited 18 of these plant species, with some plant species being visited by multiple hummingbird species or the same hummingbird species on differing occasions. Morphometric data is presented for putatively bird-pollinated plants, along with bill measurements from hummingbirds captured at each of three sites. Voucher specimens from this study are deposited in the herbaria of the Universidad Nacional de Agraria de La Molina (MOL), Peru and the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. The specimens collected represent a \'snapshot\' of the diversity of bird-pollinated flora as observed over 10 day sampling windows (per site) during the breeding season for hummingbirds of Manú .

Thelypteridaceae is one of the largest fern families, having about 950 species and a cosmopolitan distribution but with most species occurring in tropical and subtropical regions. Its generic classification remains controversial, with different authors recognizing from one up to 32 genera. Phylogenetic relationships within the family have not been exhaustively studied, but previous studies have confirmed the monophyly of the lineage. Thus far, sampling has been inadequate for establishing a robust hypothesis of infrafamilial relationships within the family. In order to understand phylogenetic relationships within Thelypteridaceae and thus to improve generic reclassification, we expand the molecular sampling, including new samples of Old World taxa and, especially, many additional neotropical representatives. We also explore the monophyly of exclusively or mostly neotropical genera Amauropelta, Goniopteris, Meniscium, and Steiropteris. Our sampling includes 68 taxa and 134 newly generated sequences from two plastid genomic regions (rps4-trnS and trnL-trnF), plus 73 rps4 and 72 trnL-trnF sequences from GenBank. These data resulted in a concatenated matrix of 1980 molecular characters for 149 taxa. The combined data set was analyzed using maximum parsimony and bayesian inference of phylogeny. Our results are consistent with the general topological structure found in previous studies, including two main lineages within the family: phegopteroid and thelypteroid. The thelypteroid lineage comprises two clades; one of these included the segregates Metathelypteris, Coryphopteris, and Amauropelta (including part of Parathelypteris), whereas the other comprises all segregates of Cyclosorus s.l., such as Goniopteris, Meniscium, and Steiropteris (including Thelypteris polypodioides, previously incertae sedis). The three mainly neotropical segregates were found to be monophyletic but nested in a broadly defined Cyclosorus. The fourth mainly neotropical segregate, Amauropelta, was found to include species considered to be part of Parathelypteris. In Old World thelypteroids, which correspond to nearly half the diversity in the family, an increase in sampling is still needed to resolve relationships and circumscription of genera, particularly in the christelloid clade (i.e., Amphineuron, Chingia, Christella, Pneumatopteris, Pronephrium, and Sphaerostephanos). Based on currently available knowledge, we propose the recognition of 16 genera in the family.