Chaetosiphella stipae stipae is a xerothermophilous aphid, associated with Palaearctic temperate steppe zones or dry mountain valleys, where there are grasses from the genus Stipa. Its geographical distribution shows several populations that are spread from Spain, across Europe and Asia Minor, to Mongolia and China. Geographical variation in chaetotaxy and other morphological features were the ...

The millipede Typhloglomeriscaucasica Golovatch, hitherto considered as a troglobite confined to several caves near Sochi, western Caucasus, Russia, is recorded epigeically in the same region, and is therefore a troglophile.

The study of species coexistence and community assembly has been a hot topic in ecology for decades. Disentangling the hierarchical role of abiotic and biotic filters is crucial to understand community assembly processes. The most critical environmental factor in semi-arid environments is known to be water availability, and perennials are usually described as nurses that create milder local con...

The plant community in the Patagonian steppe is arranged in two structural patch types: scattered grasses and shrubs, which are often surrounded by a ring of grasses. Previous studies suggested that this pattern results from a cyclical succession driven by plant interactions. Although there is a good understanding of the factors affecting the formation of the grass rings encircling the shrubs, ...

1. The distinction between semelparity and iteroparity is one of the most fundamental in life-history biology. Despite an abundance of theory proposed to explain the evolution of this dichotomy, few quantitative empirical tests exist. 2. We report here on life-history variation in the perennial herb Arabis fecunda (Brassicaceae), in which differences in the frequency of iteroparity and terminal...

Two new species, Lasiopa aksarayiensis sp. n. and Lasiopa aktasii sp. n. are described from the Central Anatolian stepe in Turkey. All diagnostic characters are illustrated and possible relationships of both taxa are briefly discussed. The first record of Lasiopa pseudovillosa (Rozkošný, 1983) from Turkey is presented and additional Turkish localities of Lasiopa caucasica (Pleske, 1901) are rec...

QUESTIONS Molecular phylogenies are being increasingly used to better understand the mechanisms structuring natural communities. The prevalent theory is that environmental factors and biotic interactions promote the phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion of plant communities, respectively. However, both environmental filtering and biotic interactions are very likely to interact in most natu...

Taxonomic composition of native and alien plants the genus Corydalis s. l. in flora Ukraine has been analyzed. Based on literature, herbarium, inventory other information, it was established for first time that 3 taxa (outside natural ranges) 16 were recorded among ergasiophytes botanical gardens dendrological parks Ukraine. The majority these (73.7 %) have not preserved collections living plan...