Biological specimens collected and deposited in museum collections are a valuable resource for ecological and evolutionary research and species conservation, especially in species-rich but poorly documented tropical areas. The utility of these collected specimens for basic science and conservation is greatly enhanced by combined digital collections of all available specimens, including date of collection and georeferenced location data. In this paper, we introduce a publicly available, digitized, and georeferenced dataset of freshwater fishes of Ghana aggregated from eleven different research institutions and museums. The dataset contains 2696 total collection records representing 23,001 individuals, 224 species, and 38 families of freshwater fishes in Ghana. This dataset is characterized by extreme taxonomic, spatial, and temporal disparities in collection records. In spite of these disparities, analysis of the dataset can yield important immediate contributions to the conservation of freshwater fishes in Ghana. We suggest methods to efficiently augment these valuable data, and we anticipate that this dataset will be a valuable resource for scientific research and conservation efforts in Ghana and other parts of West Africa.
One of the unresolved issues in modern fungal molecular systematics is the lack of criteria for distinguishing intraspecific from interspecific variability of genetic markers. This paper discusses the results of an analysis of 69 original ITS sequences obtained from fungi collected in the Altai, the Urals, and northern Kazakhstan regions, and 42 sequences retrieved from GenBank and UNITE, belonging to two cryptic, sympatric polypore species: Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr. and Fomes inzengae (Ces. & De Not.) Cooke. The sequences were divided into geographic groups reflecting a wide range of climatic conditions (from subarctic to subtropical) and geographic distances between sampling locations. Both species are characterized by low intragroup nucleotide diversity of ITS sequences and high nucleotide similarity, indicating low individual variability. A high, nearly complete identity in the ITS region of rDNA is also characteristic at the intergroup level, expressed in very low nucleotide divergence and high nucleotide similarity of ITS sequences from different geographic groups. The fixation index, calculated from the ratio of nucleotide diversity to divergence of ITS sequences, indicates a complete absence of genetic differentiation between local populations of F. inzengae and moderate differentiation in F. fomentarius. However, between populations of these two species, even in areas of their joint distribution, complete or very high genetic isolation occurs, confirming the validity of dividing F. fomentarius sensu lato into two cryptic sympatric species—F. fomentarius and F. inzengae.
Climate change shifts bird migration timing, but its influence on medium-distance migrants is understudied. We investigated how temperatures across Europe influence the dunnock’s spring passage timing, using daily standardised ringing data from spring migration (26 March–16 May) at Hel Peninsula (N Poland, Baltic coast) over 1965–2025. We determined multi-year trends in the dates of the beginning (10% of passage = p10), median (p50), end (p90), and migration duration (MD = p90–p10) of dunnocks. We also tested the effects of temperatures, averaged for months of breeding (two parts: May–June, July–August), wintering (November–February), autumn (September–October) and spring (March–May) migrations, in four regions of Europe, on the dates of these percentiles during 1965–2025, using multiple linear regression. All phases of passage advanced by 5–8 days; MD remained stable over the 61 years. All phases were early with warm springs in central and southern Europe; p10 and p50 were delayed after warm winters. The p10 was early after warm summers in northern Europe. This shows that climate warming in Europe benefits dunnocks, but their decline across Europe suggests that habitat changes and extreme weather counteract these benefits. Understanding these trade-offs for medium-distance migrants is crucial for their conservation.
Polyopisthocotylans of the Diplozoidae are hematophagous gill parasites of freshwater cyprinoids; however, their diversity in East African river systems remains poorly characterised. In this study, we describe Paradiplozoon gladysae n. sp., a novel diplozoid recovered from the gills of an endemic cyprinid Labeo victorianus Boulenger in the River Nyando, a tributary of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. An integrated approach combining light and scanning electron microscopy and molecular characterisation of ITS2 rDNA was used to examine the collected species. In general, P. gladysae n. sp. is distinguished from congeners by its small clamps and the unique morphology of its median plate. Molecular analysis of the ITS2 region of rDNA confirmed the genetic distinctiveness of the new species and placed the species within the highly supported clade of African species formed by P. koubkovae Řehulková, Nejat, Benovics, 2023; P. ichthyoxanthon Avenant-Oldewage, van Vuren, Mashego, 2013; and P. vaalense Dos Santos, van Vuren, Avenant-Oldewage, 2013, with P. vaalense being the closest sister taxon to the newly determined species. However, the analysis revealed a clear distinction, with a 39 bp difference and an uncorrected genetic p-distance of 6.8% between P. gladysae n. sp. and P. vaalense. The discovery of P. gladysae n. sp. adds to the growing diversity of diplozoid polyopisthocotylans in East Africa and highlights the River Nyando as an important but understudied hotspot for freshwater parasite biodiversity.
