An investigation of terrestrial bryophyte species diversity and community structure along an altitudinal gradient from 2,001 to 4,221 m a.s.l. in Gongga Mountain in Sichuan, China was carried out in June 2010. Factors which might affect bryophyte species composition and diversity, including climate, elevation, slope, depth of litter, vegetation type, soil pH and soil Eh, were examined to unders...

Detailed large-scale information on mammal distribution has often been lacking, hindering conservation efforts. We used the information from the 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a baseline for developing habitat suitability models for 5027 out of 5330 known terrestrial mammal species, based on their habitat relationships. We focused on the following environmental variables: land cove...

Understanding the impacts of meteorological factors on giant pandas is necessary for future conservation measures in response to global climate change. We integrated temperature data with three main habitat parameters (elevation, vegetation type, and bamboo species) to evaluate the influence of climate change on giant panda habitat in the northern Minshan Mountains using a habitat assessment mo...

This study developed habitat potential maps for the marten (Martes flavigula) and leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) in South Korea. Both species are registered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which means that they need to be managed properly. Various factors influencing the habitat distributions of the marten and leopard were identified to create habi...

The genus Azolla forms a group of small-leafed, floating aquatic ferns native to the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate regions of Africa, Asia, and America. For several decades, these ferns have been utilized for various purposes: e.g. as green manure, feed for animals, but also for the removal of different metals (e.g. Hg, Pb, Cr and Cd) through wastewater treatment or for elimination of...

Habitat characterisation is a pivotal step of any animal ecology study. The choice of variables used to describe habitats is crucial and need to be relevant to the ecology and behaviour of the species, in order to reflect biologically meaningful distribution patterns. In many species, acoustic communication is critical to individuals' interactions, and it is expected that ambient acoustic condi...

A major conservation concern is whether population size and other ecological variables change linearly with habitat loss, or whether they suddenly decline more rapidly below a "critical threshold" level of habitat. The most commonly discussed explanation for critical threshold responses to habitat loss focus on habitat configuration. As habitat loss progresses, the remaining habitat is increasi...

Roads are human infrastructure that heavily affect wildlife, often with marked impacts on carnivores, including brown bears Ursus arctos. Here, we assessed the potential impact of road networks distribution in small, isolated and endangered Cantabrian population north-western Spain. To ascertain whether local bear spatial distribution, first influences distance locations to roads using candidat...