Greece is situated in the East Mediterranean region and Balkan peninsula, i.e., a European biodiversity hotspot with high endemism subterranean freshwater fauna, highlighting need to understand its biodiversity. A literature search was undertaken present checklist of cladocerans copepods based on compilation published current data, from 1892 up 2022 inland surfaces water bodies different region...

Predicting population extinctions is a key element of quantitative conservation biology and population ecology. Although stochastic population theories have long been used to obtain theoretical distributions of population extinction times, model-based predictions have rarely been tested. Here I report results from a quantitative analysis of extinction time in 281 experimental populations of wat...

The magnitude of community-wide dispersal is central to metacommunity models, yet dispersal is notoriously difficult to quantify in passive and cryptic dispersers such as many freshwater invertebrates. By overcoming the problem of quantifying dispersal rates, colonization rates into new habitats can provide a useful estimate of the magnitude of effective dispersal. Here we study the influence o...

Morphology of three species of the cladoceran genus Camptocercus Baird, 1843 (Anomopoda: Chydoridae), North Asian C. streletskayae Smirnov, 1998, Australian C. australis Sars, 1896 and Neotropical C. dadayi Stingelin, 1913, is investigated. Revealed data confirm a high level of morphological diversity within the genus. C. australis and C. dadayi belong to the uncinatus-clade of the genus, while...

Defenses protect prey, while offenses arm predators. Some defenses and offenses are constitutive (e.g. tortoise shells), while others are phenotypically plastic and not always expressed (e.g. neckteeth in water fleas). All of them are costly and only adaptive at certain prey densities. Here, I analyse such density-dependent effects, applying a functional response model to categorize defenses an...

Global climate change might result in permafrost thaw and the formation of thermokarst landscapes that release long-term carbon stocks as greenhouse into atmosphere, thereby initiating a positive feedback. These processes are mediated by biological activity, including microbes, vascular plants animals, whereas role invertebrates ecosystems remains poorly understood. We investigated diversity as...

This study evaluated feeding patterns and ontogenetic variations in a non-native fish species (Plagioscion squamosissimus) in an isolated lake in the Upper Paraná River floodplain. Quarterly samplings were performed from April 2005 to February 2006 using plankton nets to capture larvae, seining nets for juveniles, and gill nets and trammel for adults. Stomach contents (n = 378) were examined ac...

Increased algal blooms are a threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide, although the combined effects of multiple stressors make it difficult to determine the underlying causes. We explore whether changes in trophic interactions in response to declining calcium (Ca) concentrations, a water quality issue only recently recognized in Europe and North America, can be linked with unexplained bloom prod...

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília – UNB, Brasília, DF, Brazil Grupo de Estudos de Ecossistemas Aquáticos, Laboratório de Zoologia, Universidade Católica de Brasília – UCB, QS 7, Lote 1, bloco M, sala 331, CEP 71966-700, Taguatinga, DF, Brazil Keratella Estudos e Projetos Ambientais Ltda, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil *e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; mb...