Arachnids are the most abundant land predators. Despite the importance of their functional roles as predators and the necessity to understand their diet for conservation, the trophic ecology of many arachnid species has not been sufficiently studied. In the case of the wandering spider, Phoneutria boliviensis F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897, only field and laboratory observational studies on their diet exist. By using a DNA metabarcoding approach, we compared the prey found in the gut content...

Understanding how geographic and environmental heterogeneity drive local patterns of genetic variation is a major goal of ecological genomics and a key question in evolutionary biology. The tropical Andes and inter-Andean valleys are shaped by markedly heterogeneous landscapes, where species experience strong selective processes. We examined genome-wide SNP data together with behavioral and ecological traits (mating calls and body size) known to contribute to genetic isolation in anurans in the emerald-eyed treefrog, Boana platanera, distributed...

1. Bats in the family Phyllostomidae exhibit great diversity in skull size and morphology that reflects the degree of resource division and ecological overlap in the group. In particular, the subfamily Stenodermatinae has high morphological diversification associated with cranial and mandibular traits that is associated with the ability to consume the full range of available fruits (soft and hard). 2. Was analyzed craniodental traits and their relationship to the bite force in 343 specimens distributed...

1. Tropical forests are globally important, but it is not clear whether biodiversity enhances carbon storage and sequestration in them. We tested this relationship focusing on components of functional trait biodiversity as predictors. 2. Data are presented for three rain forests in Bolivia, Brazil and Costa Rica. Initial above-ground biomass and biomass increments of survivors, recruits and survivors + recruits (total) were estimated for trees ≥10 cm d.b.h. in 62 and 21 1.0-ha plots, respectively....

Inga subnuda Salzm. ex Benth. are one of 31 endemic species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Intermixed leaf and floral traits have made morphological distinctiveness difficult, and its current taxonomic treatment considers I. subnuda as one species with two subspecies. We aim to explore different lines of evidence to disentangle and clarify species boundaries in these two subspecies. Morphological variation and bioclimatic data of the two subspecies of the complex were assessed by using multivariate...