Museum für Naturkunde

Abstract An inventory of terrestrial small mammals was conducted at five sites in southeastern Sierra Leone with the aim of documenting species diversity, abundance and distribution. Trapping was done using Sherman live traps, Victor traps, Tomahawk live traps and pitfall traps in five habitats across five sites. Based on morphological and DNA barcode-based identification, we recorded a total of 28 terrestrial small mammal species, including 20 rodents and eight shrews in 13,770 trap nights with an average trap success rate of 7 %. We document a possible country record for the rodent species Dephomys cf. eburneae , raising the total known rodent species for the country to 42 species. Furthermore, we document first country record for the shrew species Crocidura longipes , raising the total known shrew species for the country to 15. This study contributes to the knowledge and conservation of terrestrial small mammal diversity and occurrence in Sierra Leone and also provides baseline information for the five study sites. Finally, this study further demonstrates the potential importance of the study sites for conservation of terrestrial small mammals in Sierra Leone.

Fatal interactions with wind turbines are a major threat to bat populations worldwide. Yet, the ultimate causes for bats colliding with wind turbines remain elusive. Using an extensive acoustic data set recorded at nacelle height in different parts of Germany, we show that feeding and social activity occur at all studied wind turbines. At least seven bat species (accounting for 95% of German bat fatalities) perform song flight at wind turbines, a behavior related to mating and courtship, indicating that males may find wind turbines attractive for establishing mating territories. Male songs broadcast over considerable distances and could function as acoustic beacons attracting females to turbine sites. Analysis of 3D thermal detection shows that bat density is higher in the rotor swept zone than in the free air space surrounding turbines. This strongly suggests that bats actively approach turbines, possibly in search of mating, roosting and/or foraging opportunities.

Ishakidris Bolton, 1984 is a monotypic ant genus, previously known only from a solitary specimen collected in Sarawak, Borneo. Unusual morphology of the genus has kept scientists intrigued since its description. Here we report on the discovery of Ishakidris hastifera sp. nov. from Peninsular Malaysia that provides important new insights into the taxonomy of this enigmatic genus and sheds light on its previously unknown diversity and distribution. We present a detailed account of the worker’s diagnostic features, aided by a micro-CT–based 3D model of the holotype, together with a cybertype dataset for the new species and an identification key for the genus. In addition, a 3D model of non-type material is made available for the already established species, Ishakidris ascitaspis Bolton 1984, using additional workers newly collected in Sabah, Borneo. Our analysis of both species’ internal structures, enabled by the 3D models, revealed a shelf-like invagination of the propodeum into the mesosomal cavity – an unprecedented character in ants. Using the morphological data, we discuss the support for the current systematic placement of the genus in Myrmicinae subfamily, or alternative hypothesis for Agroecomyrmecinae, that calls for molecular data to be yet tested.

The germline-restricted chromosome (GRC) of passerines is a remarkable tissue-specific chromosome that accumulated paralogs of genes from the regular "A chromosomes" over millions of years, often amplified into dozens of gene copies. In addition to its repetitive content, typically uniparental inheritance, and lack of recombination, the GRC resembles non-recombining sex chromosomes and some B chromosomes, for all of which assembly and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) calling are difficult. Here, we first show that much of the Australian zebra finch macro-GRC can be assembled using accurate long reads. We then describe a paralog-aware Snakemake pipeline, ParaVar, to map short reads from the GRC to retrieve GRC regions suitable for haplotype-based analysis. ParaVar reliably calls hundreds of SNPs across the GRC, thereby providing an estimate of nucleotide diversity on the highly repetitive zebra finch macro-GRC. Our results show significantly lower nucleotide diversity (20- to 50-fold lower) on the GRC compared to the mitogenome and autosomes, and a strong phylogenetic discordance between the GRC and the mitochondrial genome. Beyond the contribution of background selection, our results suggest that a single GRC haplotype recently spread through the populations while jumping across matrilines via occasional paternal inheritance. We anticipate that our paralog-aware pipeline will be useful for SNP calling and population genetics analyses of repetitive GRCs, sex chromosomes, and B chromosomes.

Reliable information on the state of biodiversity depends on long-term, spatially representative, and taxonomically valid monitoring data. Citizen science (CS) is increasingly considered a complementary and valuable component of biodiversity monitoring, yet its suitability for meeting specific monitoring needs has rarely been assessed systematically. To address this, we conducted a nationwide anonymous survey among about 350 stakeholders involved in professional and CS-based biodiversity monitoring in Germany. Respondents evaluated key structural needs for improvement in current monitoring programs and assessed the perceived ability of CS to address these needs. To synthesize the responses, we systematically compared perceived monitoring needs with the perceived suitability of CS for the same set of criteria. This comparison yields a data-driven, conceptual gap framework identifying three key areas of i) strong potential, where CS aligns well with high monitoring needs; ii) critical gaps, where needs are high, but CS is considered unsuitable without additional support; and iii) intermediate zones, where CS may contribute under certain conditions. High needs in monitoring were reported for improving data continuity and quality, spatial and temporal coverage, methodological consistency, and taxonomic expertise. CS was considered particularly well-suited to contributing to areas of strong potential, such as expanding sampling coverage, supporting long-term datasets, and offering opportunities for training, engagement and piloting new methods. Conversely, critical gaps emerged for tasks requiring specialized taxonomic expertise, rigorous validation or strict standardization—areas in which CS would require additional infrastructures, professional oversight, or hybrid models to contribute effectively. Additionally, an exploratory subset of species and data experts investigated these patterns qualitatively and more in detail. Lastly, respondents identified key criteria in successful CS projects. Together, these findings offer a structured, evidence-based framework for where CS can meaningfully contribute to national biodiversity monitoring and indicators and where targeted investment, coordination, or expertise are required. The results provide actionable guidance for designing scalable monitoring architectures aligned with national and GBF targets.

This artistic research project investigates how working with images in the Westlicher Düppeler Forst, a Natura 2000 urban forest at Berlin’s western edge, can decentre anthropocentric habits of seeing and open up new ways of imagining urban biodiversity as a web of more-than-human life. Rather than treating photographs as isolated neutral representations, the project approaches their sequences and constellations as speculative image ecologies that help shape what becomes visible and thinkable about these relations where conceptual and indicator-based understandings reach their limits.The work unfolds through procedures that trace a gradual shift in authorship from human-directed staging towards more-than-human co-creation. Contextual photographs situate the forest within its urban surroundings and mark where city and woodland meet. Staged, portrait-like photographs of fungi, ice, stones and roots explore sculptural presences that usually fall outside charismatic images of urban green. Authorship then shifts as image-making is partly delegated to wildlife cameras triggered by animal movement, so that images arise from encounters shaped by more-than-human agency. Finally, 35mm and medium-format film is placed under bark, in tree hollows or on the forest floor so that humidity, soil and decay inscribe themselves into the emulsion, inviting the forest to act as an image-making agent.Drawing on theories of visual thinking and posthuman and speculative philosophies, the project explores an aesthetic-epistemological approach to urban biodiversity. It asks how composed image sequences, built from these different image modalities, can generate ecological knowledge that does not emerge in textual or quantitative accounts. Here, iconic syntax is used to build relational visual structures and correspondences across images, foregrounding relations, agencies and sites that remain marginal in scientific imagery. In this sense, aesthetic practice becomes a way of thinking with and through images about urban more-than-human relations and the conditions under which they can be perceived and understood.The contribution is proposed as an oral presentation with projected image sequences and invites discussion of artistic image practice as contributing to an aesthetic epistemology that expands how biodiversity is imagined and made legible in urban environments.

ABSTRACT Litter decomposition by arthropods and microbes is a key ecosystem process in tropical forests, yet its response to disturbance and forest regeneration remains poorly understood. To investigate decomposition dynamics across forest succession, we conducted a space‐for‐time study in the Ecuadorian lowland Chocó spanning active cacao plantations and pastures (year 0), regenerating secondary forests (1–38 years), and old‐growth forest. We deployed litterbags in 32 plots, with aboveground litterbags accessible to arthropods and belowground ones allowing only microbial decomposition. Each litterbag contained standardized leaf litter from five common tree species. We modeled litter mass loss as a function of forest age and environmental variables associated with regeneration. To assess ecosystem resilience to new disturbances, we also tested how localized pulse perturbation (forest clearing) and fencing (large ground‐dwelling animal exclusion) influenced decomposition. Aboveground decomposition was primarily driven by surface temperature, elevation, tree biomass, and forest age, with trajectories varying by land‐use history. In sites recovering from cacao cultivation, decomposition followed a U‐shaped pattern, with lower rates during mid‐succession and again higher rates in old‐growth forest. This suggests that faunal decomposers respond non‐linearly to successional changes, likely reflecting shifts in habitat quality and resource availability. Belowground decomposition remained stable across forest ages and was shaped by soil moisture and soil carbon‐to‐nitrogen ratios, indicating strong environmental filtering on microbial communities. Perturbation reduced decomposition, especially aboveground, and the rates in fenced treatments did not reach undisturbed levels. Our findings highlight the effects of large‐ and small‐scale disturbances on an essential process for successful tropical forest restoration.

To investigate reptile body size as an ecological indicator and the relationships between size and environmental variables through time, we compared patterns of maximum size from the Plio-Pleistocene Shungura Formation of Ethiopia. For this previously-undescribed reptile fossil record, we provided estimates of body mass for pythonid snakes, aquatic pelomedusid and trionychid turtles, terrestrial testudinid turtles, whose carapace lengths reach over 1 m, and crocodylians including Crocodylus Laurenti, 1768, cf. Mecistops Gray, 1844, and the tubulirostrine Euthecodon Fourtau, 1920, which is the largest known crocodylian from the Early Pleistocene. Body size maxima in aquatic taxa correspond to lake level, with large body size observed in aquatic turtles, crocodylians, and hippopotamids during lake high stands on the north side of the Turkana Depression. However, these semi-aquatic groups display heterogenous trends over time and relationships to hydrologic proxies, indicating that their differential niches in these aquatic habitats were linked to different conditions and food resources. Terrestrial tortoises (Testudinidae Batsch, 1788) exceed 100 kg in mass in three members of the Shungura Formation, but are absent at large sizes between 2.3 and 2.1 Ma, during the main period of hominin stone tool production. We tested for correlation between reptile maximum sizes, mammal maximum sizes and faunal metrics, δ18O and δ13C records from paleosols and mammal tooth enamel, and paleotemperature estimates across members of the Shungura Formation. After correction for multiple comparisons, no correlation tests between reptile size and paleoenvironment or mammal metrics are significant. However, high correlation coefficients between size maxima and paleosol δ18O values suggest temporal coincidence between size change and shifts in hydrological regimes and evaporation levels. These results suggest links between maximum size in reptiles and local environments that, if confirmed by trends in other settings, could be utilized in the future as paleoenvironmental proxies for terrestrial vegetation and aquatic habitats.

ABSTRACT Global sustainability policy demands coordination among domain‐specific policies, yet a major challenge persists in policy monitoring and reporting, where various, often uncoordinated indicator initiatives exist. To address this challenge, we apply a network approach to investigate linkages between the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15, Life on Land), the indicators of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and those used in assessments of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). Network analysis is a well‐known tool but to the best of our knowledge remains largely unexplored to analyse indicator linkages. Our findings indicate limited interconnectivity (number and type of cross‐set linkages) among the selected indicator sets. Nevertheless, we identify direct network linkages showing that most SDG 15 indicators could draw upon data or other information (e.g., methodological) from Aichi indicators, IPBES indicators, or EBVs. Findings show the potential of EBVs to deliver policy‐relevant information, but this warrants further research. We identify indicators and EBVs with a key role in the network and discuss advantages and limitations of our network approach. We show the utility of the approach to linking multiple policy agendas, and argue that—if applied more widely—it can promote a more coordinated sustainability policy monitoring and reporting.