Previously, we showed that registration effort and traffic intensity explain 90% of variation in roadkill numbers, 70% of variation in numbers of recorded species and 40% of diversity variation (Balčiauskas et al., 2020). Here we analysed the comparatively rare roadkills of semi-aquatic mammals in Lithuania, northern Europe, covering the period of 2007–2021, relating these to monitoring effort. From over 30,000 roadkills, European beaver was registered 43 times, American mink 26 times, otter 22 times and muskrat two times, with the average roadkill indexes being 0.000065, 0.00076, 0.00061 and 0.00010 ind./km/day, and the maximum indexes being 0.067, 0.028, 0.048 and 0.016 ind./km/day, respectively. These data show the roadkills are not common events. Their occurrences did not correspond to population numbers (beaver over 40,000, American mink about 8–10,000 and otter about 3–5000 individuals in 2020–2021) nor to traffic intensity. However, for all these species, registration effort (number of times the route was driven, this being 300-400 on the most investigated routes) was the main factor, with more registrations being on the small number of best-sampled main roads. As two of these species, American mink and muskrat, are invasive species in EU, while otter is protected in most of the countries, registrations of their roadkills should be enhanced (using targeted efforts by hunters or citizen scientists for example) in order to obtain a better approximation of the roadkilled numbers of these species and thus be able to use this knowledge in species management.

DNA metabarcoding is becoming an important tool for surveying biodiversity thanks to its broad taxonomic coverage and the possibility of increased sample processing speed. Especially the complex world of zooplankton paired with the spatial and temporal variability of the study area, the LTER site Venice Lagoon, require high identification and sampling effort, which would particularly benefit from the rapidness and cost-effectiveness of DNA metabarcoding.

In this study, first, the reliability of DNA metabarcoding, based on a COI marker proposed by Leray et al. (2013), was evaluated by comparing it to the classical morphological analysis. On one side, the molecular analysis resulted in higher taxa richness (224 vs. 88 taxa), discriminating better especially the meroplanktonic component, underlining the capability of metabarcoding to detect the ‘hidden diversity’ of zooplankton assemblages. Moreover, DNA metabarcoding was able to detect numerous non-indigenous species (NIS), highlighting its power as an early-detection system. On the other side, both methods revealed similar spatio-temporal patterns, and the sequence abundances were significantly correlated with individual counts for various taxonomic groups. Following this preliminary validation, it was then applied at a higher spatial and temporal frequency, testing the advantages of this fast and reliable method in increasing the monitoring effort. This large dataset revealed the presence of monthly patterns in the zooplankton community, confirming the importance of high temporal frequency assessments to detect community changes over the year and enabling a more precise description of the zooplankton biodiversity in the Venice Lagoon.

Finally, DNA metabarcoding was applied to investigate on the diet of the highly invasive zooplanktivorous ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. Up until now, to study the diet of M. leidyi, the gut content was mainly analysed by morphological identification, while this is the first study investigating the feeding preference of this species utilizing DNA metabarcoding, with the benefit of identifying also (partially) digested prey. The comparison of the gut content with the in-situ mesozooplankton community indicated that Mnemiopsis feeds on a variety of prey, mostly coinciding with the in-situ zooplankton assemblage. However, some groups, like decapod larvae and the slow-swimming larvae of gastropods and bivalves seem to be favored.

The Asian corn borer Ostrinia furnacalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) as a major pest that affects the yield and quality of corn in Heilongjiang Province, China. Due to the popularization of corn varieties and the continuous improvement of cultivation techniques, Asian corn borer has migrated to a high degree with the change of corn planting area and climate. In this study, 14 pairs of primers were screened by the Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular marker method, and the genetic structure of 22 natural populations of Asian corn borer collected from different accumulative temperature areas in Heilongjiang Province were analyzed. The data showed that the total genetic diversity (Ht) was 0.3236, within the population the genetic diversity (Hs) was 0.2094, while the differentiation level (Gst) between populations was 0.3531, and the gene flow (Nm) of individuals in each generation among populations was 0.9161. The results showed that the total genetic variation of the Asian corn borer mainly came from between populations, and they had a high number of individual migration with different populations, and the gene exchange was frequent. In addition, the genetic distance of the population was analyzed by cluster analysis combined with UPGMA method, the results showed that the Asian corn borer changed from the first accumulated temperature belt (> 2700 ℃) to the sixth accumulated temperature belt (< 1900 ℃), and the corn borer in the adjacent accumulated temperature zone had a higher genetic similarity coefficient, and the lower the genetic similarity between populations with the decrease of regional daily accumulated temperature.This research revealed that Asian corn borer adapted to the lower temperature field ecological environment in order to follow the host corn, and then produced changes in genetic diversity and structure, which had expanded from the first and second accumulated temperate belts to the fifth and sixth accumulated temperate belts.

Аphids are the dominant pests in the complex of harmful fauna of stone fruits in Ukrane, in addition to fruit-damaging species. In plum orchards mealy plum aphid Hyalopterus pruni Geoffr. (Hemiptera: Aphidinae) cause serious economic damage. Insect predators have an important role in the regulation of agricultural pests. Our goal was to determine the role of predation in the dynamics of mealy plum aphid population. Investigations were carried out in period of mass development of mealy plum aphid in the experimental plum orchard garden of the Institute of Horticulture of Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. For this purpose, model trees were selected and isolators were installed on 4 branches of each tree with aphid-infested leaves. Different species of entomophagous were placed in isolators and assesments were performed on daily basis. According to our observations, Adalia bipunctata L., A. decimpunctata L., Syrphus ribesii L., S. balteatus Deg, Chrysopa perla L., Ch. carnea Steph. dominate among aphidophagous predators. Coccinella septempunctata L., Calvia quatuordecimguttata L., Propylaea quatuordecimpunctata L. were less common. Syrphus and Chrysopa larvae have the highest predation activity. The influence of weather conditions on the efficiency of aphidophagous predators was analyzed. Optimal conditions for A. bipunctata, A. decimpunctata, S. ribesii, S. balteatus, Ch. perla, Ch. carnea during June-July were as follows: mean daily temperature -17-20°C, precipitation 0.1-1.5 mm and relative air humidity 57-67%. The threshold ratios of dominant aphidophagous predators to aphids were determined. High predation activity of Syrphus and Chrysopa larvae and coccinellides indicates that the ratio of entomophagous to aphids must be taken into account when making decision about control measures.

The tropical Andes in South America top the world list of endemism hotspots, for their wide species richness per unit area. Thus, our study focuses on the Key Area for Biodiversity (ACB) Utcubamb River(PER-84) one of the 96 ACB, with an area of 35,534 hectares, located northwest of Peruvian territory within the hotspot of the tropical Andes. Our field of study is also known as the valley of waterfalls and includes the third highest waterfall in the world “Gocta", being an important national and international tourist attraction. However, despite its great ecological and tourist value and exist poor research reports. That is why we carry out a biological inventory during the wet season of 2019 to register and identify species of tetrápoda fauna and promoting actions for their conservation. From the field assessments, the following number of species were recorded: amphibians (14), reptiles (6), birds (229), and mammals (20). The highlight of our study is the registration for the first time of 2 species of amphibians (Gastrotheca aguaruna and Gastrotheca spectabilis) and 2 reptiles (Dipsaspalmeri and Tachymenis affinis), added to this, the existence of endemic species: amphibians (3), reptiles (2), birds (3) and mammals (1) that have not yet been reported for the ACB, which increases the number of endemisms in this part of Peruvian territory. Thus, our study aims to be the basis for promoting new research that allows the discovery of new species for science and added to this to propose strategies for their conservation over time.

Biodiversity is an indispensable resource and contributes to the balance of ecosystems, being of great importance for the development of a society and its culture through good management and management of natural spaces. However, the reduction and fragmentation of habitats, trafficking, and illegal trade in wild animals affect the great diversity of wild flora and fauna that characterizes Peru. Considering this problem, we modeled the biogeographic distribution of 5 species of wildlife categorized as threatened by Peruvian legislation and included in the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), critically endangered (CR) Lagothrix flavicauda, endangered (EN) Aotus miconax, in vulnerable status (VU) Tremarctos ornatus, Lagothrix cana and in near threatened category (NT) Panthera onca. Our study aimed to identify its current potential distribution in the Peruvian territory is legally protected by the conservation areas of national, regional, or private administration. In this regard, we used a maximum entropy approach (MaxEnt), integrating 14 variables (7 bioclimatic variables, 3 topographic, 3 variables of vegetation cover, and relative humidity). It was observed that 3.6% (46,225.50 km²) of the Peruvian territory presents a high probability (>0.6) of distribution of the evaluated species and 10.7% (13,6918.28 km²⁾ of moderate distribution (0.4-0.6). Based on this, our study allowed us to identify geographical spaces for threatened species in which conservation actions should focus, through the formulation of strategies, plans, policies, and participatory management in the Peruvian territory.

In this scientific era non-bovine milk is gaining more international acceptance for research and commercialization. As, bovine milk is reported as hypersensitive to infant’s serum due to high concentration of the caseins proteins which manifest the allergic reaction and act as potent allergen. So we overcome these problems for infants, elders and immunocomprised people alternative nutritious and healthy drink is in demand. Among non-bovine milk, donkey milk consumption is increased since last decade. The nutritious components of donkey milk are comparable to human milk. Besides of high lysozymal the well adapted potential probiotics species of donkey milk are identified and categorized on the basis of their relative abundance as in Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactococcus lactis and Carnobacterium maltaromaticum are more abundant while the genera Leuconostoc, Enterococcus and Streptococcus are least. Composition of these species also varies in raw milk and fermented milk. These strains also exhibit antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-proliferative properties in culture. From literature it was found that the species isolated from fermented milk Enterococcus faecium DM33 exert greatest antioxidative and most potent antimicrobial activity. It was also reported that this strain shows highest ACE-inhibitory activity with Lactobacillus casei DM214 fermented milk. Thus, donkey milk is very healthy and beneficial for digestive system i.e. microbiota should be explored.

Introduction: Bumblebee, the native pollinator belongs to family Apidae of genus Bombus is the most suitable pollinator in agroecosystem and forested areas.

Method: Preliminary study on foraging behavior of Bombus haemorrhoidalis Smith has been conducted in Doon Valley, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, which is surrounded by agroecosystem and subtropical temperate landscape situated at the foothillsof outer Himalayan region with an altitudinal gradient of 640 m amsl. The study was conducted in four different habitats viz. riverine; agricultural fields; forest area and semi urban areas of Doon Valley. Samples were collected from all habitats with the help of systematic net sweeps and examined in the laboratory. Field observation on foraging behavior and species abundance with emergence of queen bee has been documented from October 2020 to April 2021

Results and Conclusion: The preferred foraging plant species are Cirsium arvense( Asteraceae), Lantana sp. (Verbenaceae), Tropaeolum majus (Tropaeolaceae) and Solanum melongena (Solanaceae). Their foraging activity depends on seasonal availability of floral resources in the study area.

Regarding the bumblebee fauna, a number of regions of Russia are still insufficiently studied. These include Arkhangelsk Region, the large territory that is partly located in the subarctic region of Northern European Russia. In this research, we present the information on the distribution of bumblebees of the studied region and discuss the bumblebee communities and also their conservation in Northern European Russia. The regional fauna of bumblebees is presented by species that are widely distributed in the Palaearctic. The species richness of bumblebees is maximum in the valleys of large rivers and in secondary meadows due to the appearance of species, which are not common of the zonal taiga ecosystems. These include Bombus ruderarius, B. veterans, B. soroeensis, B. sichelii and other species are belonging to a group of meadow species. One species, B. consobrinus, is considered as a rare species in the regional fauna. It is presented quite locally in most districts of Arkhangelsk Region. In the north of Arkhangelsk Region, B. consobrinus is most abundant in the native taiga habitats but it is rare in the other areas of the studied region. B. consobrinus in Arkhangelsk Region prefers the meadows near coniferous forests, where its main food plant, Aconitum septentrionale, is concentrated.

Recently, there has been a decrease in the numbers of amphibians in Eastern Europe, their home ranges are shrinking and fragmented due to climate change, anthropogenic impact and the appearance of alien species. Representatives of Caudata are particularly affected. Thereby, in the south of the T. cristatus range, we have proposed to include this species to the Red Data Book of Ukraine. The next contender in this respect is L. vulgaris. One of the factors limiting their numbers is the appearance of alien fish species, which have recently actively spread in the region and occupied similar habitats, for instance P. glenii. We employed an ensemble distribution model approach to build stacked species distribution models (SSDMs), using a variety of modeling algorithms and multiple species. Results show that P. glenii in the future will have more, in terms to habitat suitability, expected areas to appear in. Under such circumstances T. cristatus can be especially affected, since P. glenii was found in the reservoirs where this newt would breed. Similarities were revealed between the SDMs of these species reaching an R² (coefficient of determination) of 60%. Similarity between L. vulgaris and P. glenii - 46%. But due to constant drought, especially in the south of the range, the number of reservoirs suitable for newts’ breeding has greatly decreased. Because of the long-lasting drought, particularly in the south, areas of breeding sites have been considerably reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to establish management plans for the protection of the two native urodelans’ species.