Recent compilations of species richness for 54 European countries and large islands and linear spatial autocorrelation modelling were used to infer the influence of area and environmental variables on the number of species of clearwing moths (Sesiidae) in Europe. Area corrected species richness of rhizophagous Sesiidae peaked at about 40°N and decreased towards higher and lower latitudes. Most species rich was Greece (45 species), Bulgaria (37), Italy (35) and Romania (35). The area corrected species richness of xylophagous Sesiidae peaked at about 45°N with France (24) and Italy (22) being most species rich. Species richness was significantly positively correlated with area and the average yearly difference in temperature, and significantly negatively correlated with latitude. Island and mainland SAR slopes did not differ significantly, however island species richness per unit area appeared to be about 2 to 2.5 times lower than mainland species richness.
Suchozemští plži patří k nejlépe prozkoumaným skupinám bezobratlých temperátní a boreální zóny. Díky znalostem o ekologii a rozšíření jednotlivých druhů tak představují výbornou modelovou skupinu pro studium rozmanitých témat. Na příkladu plžů byl zkoumán např. fenomén hnízdovitosti společenstev, rozdíly v biologii a rozšíření velkých a drobných druhů s ohledem na míru pasivního šíření, kvartérní vývoj krajiny nebo třeba latitudinální gradient diverzity. Mnohé otázky však stále zůstávají otevřené, např. vlivy predace a mezidruhové konkurence ve společenstvech plžů nebo vazba některých druhů na podmínky obecně považované za nepříznivé, jako jsou velmi chladné oblasti nebo vápníkem chudá stanoviště., Land snails are considered one of the best-explored invertebrates of temperate and boreal zones. With respect to the extensive knowledge about their ecology and distribution, land snails make a great model group for studying various topics. Snails contributed to our knowledge about the nestedness of assemblage composition, differences in biology and distribution of large and small species (regarding their ability for passive dispersal), Quaternary landscape evolution, and the latitudinal diversity gradient. Other topics still remain open, such as the effects of predation and interspecific competition among land-snail assemblages and the association of some species to generally unfavourable conditions (e.g. areas of extremely cold temperatures or calcium-poor sites)., and Michal Horsák, Veronika Horsáková.
During the last decade many electronic databases of vegetation plots, mainly phytosociological relevés, were established in different European countries. These databases contain information which is extremely valuable for both testing various macroecological hypotheses and for nature conservation surveying or monitoring. The aim of this paper is to provide estimates of the number of vegetation plots there are in Europe, how many are stored in an electronic format and to assess their distribution across European countries and regions.We sent a questionnaire to the managers of national or regional databases of vegetation plots and other prominent vegetation ecologists. Meta-data obtained in this way indicate that there are > 4,300,000 vegetation-plot records in Europe, of which > 1,800,000 are already stored electronically. Of the electronic plots, 60% are stored in TURBOVEG databases. Most plot records probably exist in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, UK, Switzerland and Austria. The largest numbers of plots per unit area are in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and countries of central Europe. The most computerized plots per country exist in the Netherlands (600,000), followed by France, the Czech Republic and the UK. Due to its strong phytosociological tradition, Europe has many more vegetation plots than any other part of the world. This wealth of unique ecological information is a challenge for future biodiversity studies. With the alarming loss in biodiversity and environmental problems like global warming and ongoing changes in land use, there is an urgent need for wide-scale scientific and applied vegetation research. Developments of information systems such as SynBioSys Europe and facilitation of data flow between the national and regional databases should make it easier to use these vegetation-plot data.