The distribution of earthworm ecological groups in urban areas is not well-known, despite their crucial role in delivering soil ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling and water drainage. Citizen science engages public audiences in the scientific research process and is an excellent tool for collecting biodiversity data in urban areas, where most of the UK population resides. However, a disadvantage is that differing levels of skill and engagement among participants can create statistical challenges. The Earthworm Watch citizen science project used 668 matched-pair surveys to estimate how the abundance and ecological diversity of earthworms respond to land management practices, and soil properties in UK urban habitats. A total of 5170 earthworms were counted during the project with a mean of 8 earthworms per soil pit - equivalent to a density of 198 earthworms per m2. Soil moisture and texture were the largest drivers of total earthworm abundance, with habitat borderline statistically insignificant. Endogeic earthworms were found in 71 % of soil pits, epigeic in 62 % and anecic in 33 %. Fertiliser use also had a significant effect on total abundance, but only when organic fertiliser was used. Earthworm ecological groups demonstrated varied responses to habitat, with endogeic earthworms consistently the most abundant group, showing slight preferences for grasslands and vegetable beds. Anecic earthworms had the lowest abundance across all habitats but were more prevalent in grasslands and vegetable beds. Epigeic earthworms were most abundant beneath shrubs and hedges. These findings align with expected patterns of earthworm ecology, underscoring the potential of well-designed citizen science projects to yield valuable insights into urban earthworms and soil health.

During the past 100 years, the Natural History Museum has suffered three major specimen thefts from its bird research collections: the removal over many years and relabeling of specimens by Richard MEINERTZHAgEN during the early and mid 20th century, the major egg theft conducted by Mervyn SHoRTHoUSE during the 1970s and the break-in and removal of just under 300 bird skins by Edwin RIST in 2009. These thefts were carried out in greatly varying manners and with widely differing apparent motivations. This paper explores these episodes, with the aim of providing museum bird curators with information useful for assessing and addressing the risks to their own collections.

Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of both total and ecotype-specific earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20–30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The use of earthworms as soil quality indicators must therefore be carried out with care, ensuring that sufficient samples are taken within field to take account of variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties.

Abstract Oryza rufipogon is the wild progenitor of cultivated rice Oryza sativa and exhibits high levels of genetic diversity across its distribution, making it a useful resource for the identification of abiotic stress–tolerant varieties and genes that could limit future climate-changed–induced yield losses. To investigate local adaptation in O. rufipogon, we analyzed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from a panel of 286 samples located across a diverse range of climates. Environmental association analysis (EAA), a genome-wide association study (GWAS)-based method, was used and revealed 15 regions of the genome significantly associated with various climate factors. Genes within these environmentally associated regions have putative functions in abiotic stress response, phytohormone signaling, and the control of flowering time. This provides an insight into potential local adaptation in O. rufipogon and reveals possible locally adaptive genes that may provide opportunities for breeding novel rice varieties with climate change–resilient phenotypes.

This article comments on: Rafael G. Albaladejo, Sara Martín-Hernanz, J. Alfredo Reyes-Betancort, Arnoldo Santos-Guerra, María Olangua-Corral and Abelardo Aparicio Reconstruction of the spatio-temporal diversification and ecological niche evolution of Helianthemum (Cistaceae) in the Canary Islands using genotyping-by-sequencing data, Annals of Botany, Volume 127, Issue 5, 16 April 2021, Pages 597–611, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa090

Abstract Oceanic archipelagos provide striking examples of lineages that have radiated over pronounced ecological gradients. Accompanying this diversification, lineages have evolved adaptations allowing survival in extreme environments. Here, we investigate the genomic basis of ecological adaptation in Canary Island <jats:italic>Descurainia</jats:italic> (Brassicaceae), an island relative of <jats:italic>Arabidopsis</jats:italic>. The seven endemic species have diversified in situ along an elevational and ecological gradient, from low‐elevation scrub to high‐elevation sub‐alpine desert. We first generated a reference genome for <jats:italic>Descurainia millefolia,</jats:italic> phylogenetic analysis of which placed it as sister to <jats:italic>D. sophioides</jats:italic>. Ninety‐six gene families were found to be specific to <jats:italic>D. millefolia</jats:italic> and a further 1087 and 1469 gene families have expanded or contracted in size, respectively, along the <jats:italic>D. millefolia</jats:italic> branch. We then employed genome re‐sequencing to sample 14 genomes across the seven species of Canary Island <jats:italic>Descurainia</jats:italic> and an outgroup. Phylogenomic analyses were consistent with previous reconstructions of Canary Island <jats:italic>Descurainia</jats:italic> in resolving low‐ and high‐elevation clades. Using the branch‐site dN/dS method, we detected positive selection for 275 genes on the branch separating the low‐ and high‐elevation species and these positively selected genes (PSGs) were significantly enriched for functions related to reproduction and stress tolerance. Comparing PSGs to those in analyses of adaptation to elevation and/or latitude in other Brassicaceae, we found little evidence of widespread convergence and gene reuse, except for two examples, one of which was a significant overlap between <jats:italic>Descurainia</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Draba nivalis,</jats:italic> a species restricted to high latitudes. The study of Canary Island <jats:italic>Descurainia</jats:italic> suggests that the transition to high‐elevation environments such as that found in the high mountains of the Canary Islands involves selection on genes related to reproduction and stress tolerance but that repeated evolution across different lineages that have evolved into similar habitats is limited, indicating substantially different molecular trajectories to adaptation.

Abstract: Land‐use change and habitat degradation are among the biggest drivers of aboveground biodiversity worldwide but their effects on soil biodiversity are less well known, despite the importance of soil organisms in developing soil structure, nutrient cycling and water drainage. Combining a global compilation of biodiversity data from soil assemblages collated as part of the PREDICTS project with global data on soil characteristics, we modelled how taxon richness and total abundance of soil organisms have responded to land use. We also estimated the global Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII)—the average abundance and compositional similarity of taxa that remain in an area, compared to a minimally impacted baseline, for soil biodiversity. This is the first time the BII has been calculated for soil biodiversity. Relative to undisturbed vegetation, soil organism total abundance and taxon richness were reduced in all land uses except pasture. Soil properties mediated the response of soil biota, but not in a consistent way across land uses. The global soil BII in cropland is, on average, a third of that originally present. However, in grazed sites the decline is less severe. The BII of secondary vegetation depends on age, with sites with younger growth showing a lower BII than mature vegetation. We conclude that land‐use change has reduced local soil biodiversity worldwide, and this further supports the proposition that soil biota should be considered explicitly when using global models to estimate the state of biodiversity.

We present a genome assembly from a female specimen of <ns3:italic>Ampedus sanguinolentus sanguinolentus</ns3:italic> (click beetle; Arthropoda; Insecta; Coleoptera; Elateridae). The assembly contains two haplotypes with total lengths of 1,574.76 megabases and 1,572.87 megabases. Most of haplotype 1 (97.13%) is scaffolded into 10 chromosomal pseudomolecules, while haplotype 2 is a scaffold-level assembly. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.99 kilobases in length.