Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds

Biodiversity is being lost worldwide at an increased rate particularly as the result of human activities and infrastructure. Avian mortality through collision with power lines has been an important topic in animal ecology research, but studies of this kind have never been undertaken in the Canary Islands, a volcanic archipelago located near the northwest African coast that has important seabird colonies, several endemic bird species and endemic races of steppe-land birds of conservation concern. During two contrasting periods in 2008 (breeding vs post-breeding), a total of 366 km of power lines were surveyed on this archipelago covering the entire distributional range of the most important steppe-land bird species (i.e. 232 km, Fuerteventura; 134 km, Lanzarote). In all, 310 carcasses representing 23 families and 26 species were detected. We estimated with distance Sampling that 25.5% and 6.3% of individuals of the total population of Houbara bustards, Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae, and Eurasian stone curlews, Burhinus oedicnemus insularum, respectively, were killed in a year. We encourage the Canary Islands authorities (Consejería de Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Canarias) to try to minimize the Houbara bustard collision rate, particularly in the northern plains of Lanzarote (i.e. Jables de Famara), as a means to reduce mortality of this emblematic species in this insular environment.     

Some heteronemerteans (Nemertea) from the Solomon Islands

Three species of heteronemerteans are recorded from the Solomon Islands. Baseodiscus quinquelineatus has previously been reported from the islands, but Notospermus tricuspidatus has not. The third species, Kukumia solomonensis gen. et sp. nov., is fully described and illustrated. We compared the 18S rDNA gene sequence from this species with five other heteronemertean species from which the sequence of this gene is known. Phylogenetic analysis using three palaeonemertean species as outgroup corroborated a relationship with lineid taxa.     

The marine red algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius,Indian Ocean)

This paper reports on the red algae of Rodrigues, collected in the framework of the Shoals of Capricorn Programme (10 September to 5 October 2001). In total 68 species are reported, of which 65 represent new records for the island. Although most taxa represent rather common species, which are generally widespread in the Indian and western Pacific Ocean, some are of special interest to algal systematists and biogeographers. Renouxia antillana is reported for the first time for the Indian Ocean. The presence of Renouxia also constitutes the first record of the order Rhodogorgonales for the entire Indian Ocean. A few species have interesting distribution patterns. Halydictyon sp. is restricted in its distribution to South Africa, Mauritius and Australia. Despite these interesting records, the red algal flora of Rodrigues is most remarkable by the absence of several ‘ubiquitous' species.     

The extent of coral bleaching in Rodrigues, 2002

The reefs of Rodrigues were some of the few reef areas in the Indian Ocean to escape the mass coral bleaching event of 1997–1998. However, during the last 2 weeks of February 2002 Rodrigues experienced sea-water temperatures over 30°C, clear skies and calm seas. Rapid assessments of the degree of coral bleaching and coral mortality were carried out at 22 sites around the coast of Rodrigues during March 2002. The surveys showed that the bleaching event in Rodrigues was not widespread, occurring at less than one-third of the sites surveyed and that coral mortality was restricted to sites in the north and west of the island. Where mortality did occur, it was severe, affecting up to 75% of corals at some sites. Coral species most vulnerable were Acropora cytherea and Acropora abrotanoides, which suffered up to 100% mortality. These colonies were still standing and had been very recently overgrown with turf algae. At present the reefs around Rodrigues are in good health, however, they are being impacted by over-fishing and sedimentation, and proposed developments have the potential to cause further damage to the reefs. It is likely that stressed corals will recover from bleaching events more slowly. It is therefore important that the coral reefs in Rodrigues are adequately protected from human impacts in order to increase their chances of surviving future bleaching events.     

Genus Baseodiscus (Nemertea: Heteronemertea): Molecular identification of a new species in a phylogenetic context

A new heteronemertean, Baseodiscus jonasii sp. nov., is described from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. It resembles B. delineatus in inner morphology but can be distinguished from this species by its different colour pattern and differences in the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. The monophyletic status of the genus is investigated by reconstructing the phylogeny of six specimens from four species assigned to this genus, together with 22 specimens from nine other heteronemertean genera, using parsimony and Bayesian analysis. The results imply that Baseodiscus is a monophyletic group while several other heteronemertean genera are non‐monophyletic.     

New montane,subterranean congeners of a littoral millipede,genus Thalassisobates (Diplopoda: Julida: Nemasomatidae)

Two new species are described in the hitherto monotypic genus Thalassisobates Vehoeff, 1908: T. emesesensis sp. nov. from the mesovoid shallow stratum of La Gomera (Canary Islands), and T. almeriensis sp. nov. from a cave in Almería, southern continental Spain. Notes on the morphology and distribution of T. littoralis (Silvestri, 1903 Silvestri, F. 1903. “Isobates littoralis Silvestri n.sp. (in litt.). – Fasc. XCIX, N.9”. In Berlese, A.: Acari Myriopoda et Scorpiones hucusque in Italie reperta  [Google Scholar]) are given, and the monophyly and relationships of Thalassisobates are discussed. Other examples of arthropod genera with a similar habitat duality: marine littoral on one side, and subterranean montane on the other, are given. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6455CE47-E9DB-4A9D-8074-D0D87A7816C2