Monitoring of species' genetic diversity in Europe varies greatly and overlooks potential climate change impacts.

Genetic monitoring of populations currently attracts interest in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity but needs long-term planning and investments. However, genetic diversity has been largely neglected in biodiversity monitoring, and when addressed, it is treated separately, detached from other conservation issues, such as habitat alteration due to climate change. We report an accounting of efforts to monitor population genetic diversity in Europe (genetic monitoring effort, GME), the evaluation of which can help guide future capacity building and collaboration towards areas most in need of expanded monitoring. Overlaying GME with areas where the ranges of selected species of conservation interest approach current and future climate niche limits helps identify whether GME coincides with anticipated climate change effects on biodiversity. Our analysis suggests that country area, financial resources and conservation policy influence GME, high values of which only partially match species' joint patterns of limits to suitable climatic conditions. Populations at trailing climatic niche margins probably hold genetic diversity that is important for adaptation to changing climate. Our results illuminate the need in Europe for expanded investment in genetic monitoring across climate gradients occupied by focal species, a need arguably greatest in southeastern European countries. This need could be met in part by expanding the European Union's Birds and Habitats Directives to fully address the conservation and monitoring of genetic diversity.

Agricultural intensification and biodiversity partitioning in European landscapes comparing plants, carabids, and birds.

Effects of agricultural intensification (AI) on biodiversity are often assessed on the plot scale, although processes determining diversity also operate on larger spatial scales. Here, we analyzed the diversity of vascular plants, carabid beetles, and birds in agricultural landscapes in cereal crop fields at the field (n = 1350), farm (n = 270), and European-region (n = 9) scale. We partitioned diversity into its additive components alpha, beta, and gamma, and assessed the relative contribution of beta diversity to total species richness at each spatial scale. AI was determined using pesticide and fertilizer inputs, as well as tillage operations and categorized into low, medium, and high levels. As AI was not significantly related to landscape complexity, we could disentangle potential AI effects on local vs. landscape community homogenization. AI negatively affected the species richness of plants and birds, but not carabid beetles, at all spatial scales. Hence, local AI was closely correlated to beta diversity on larger scales up to the farm and region level, and thereby was an indicator of farm- and region-wide biodiversity losses. At the scale of farms (12.83-20.52%) and regions (68.34-80.18%), beta diversity accounted for the major part of the total species richness for all three taxa, indicating great dissimilarity in environmental conditions on larger spatial scales. For plants, relative importance of alpha diversity decreased with AI, while relative importance of beta diversity on the farm scale increased with AI for carabids and birds. Hence, and in contrast to our expectations, AI does not necessarily homogenize local communities, presumably due to the heterogeneity of farming practices. In conclusion, a more detailed understanding of AI effects on diversity patterns of various taxa and at multiple spatial scales would contribute to more efficient agri-environmental schemes in agroecosystems.

The role of genetic diversity and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in population recovery of the semi-natural grassland plant species Succisa pratensis.

BACKGROUND: Ecosystem restoration is as a critical tool to counteract the decline of biodiversity and recover vital ecosystem services. Restoration efforts, however, often fall short of meeting their goals. Although functionally important levels of biodiversity can significantly contribute to the outcome of ecosystem restoration, they are often overlooked. One such important facet of biodiversity is within-species genetic diversity, which is fundamental to population fitness and adaptation to environmental change. Also the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), obligate root symbionts that regulate nutrient and carbon cycles, potentially plays a vital role in mediating ecosystem restoration outcome. In this study, we investigated the relative contribution of intraspecific population genetic diversity, AMF diversity, and their interaction, to population recovery of Succisa pratensis, a key species of nutrient poor semi natural grasslands. We genotyped 180 individuals from 12 populations of S. pratensis and characterized AMF composition in their roots, using microsatellite markers and next generation amplicon sequencing, respectively. We also investigated whether the genetic makeup of the host plant species can structure the composition of root-inhabiting AMF communities. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed that population allelic richness was strongly positively correlated to relative population growth, whereas AMF richness and its interaction with population genetic diversity did not significantly contribute. The variation partitioning analysis showed that, after accounting for soil and spatial variables, the plant genetic makeup explained a small but significant part of the unique variation in AMF communities. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that population genetic diversity can contribute to population recovery, highlighting the importance of within-species genetic diversity for the success of restoration. We could not find evidence, however, that population recovery benefits from the presence of more diverse AMF communities. Our analysis also showed that the genetic makeup of the host plant structured root-inhabiting AMF communities, suggesting that the plant genetic makeup may be linked to genes that control symbiosis development.