Colour patterns, e.g. irregular, spotted or barred forms, are widespread in the animal kingdom, yet their potential role as signals of quality has been mostly neglected. However, a review of the published literature reveals that pattern itself is a promising signal of individual quality across species of many different taxa.

Understanding how different factors mediate the resistance of communities to climatic variability is a question of considerable ecological interest that remains mostly unresolved. This is particularly remarkable to improve predictions about the impact of climate change on vegetation. Here, a trait-based approach is used to analyse the sensitivity to climatic variability over 9 years of 19 Mediterranean shrubland communities located in southwest Spain.

One of the most critical phases in the life of petrels is at fledging when young birds pass from parental dependence on land to an independent life at sea. To mitigate mortality at this time, rescue programs are implemented near breeding sites around the world, especially for birds grounded by artificial lights. This study evaluated the plumage and body condition of short-tailed shearwater fledglings captured at colonies just before departure in comparison to fledglings washed up on beaches...

Invasive fish have a high disruptive potential in aquatic ecosystems, in which amphibians may be highly impacted due to intense competition and/or predation on their eggs and larvae. Most studies have focused on the effect of large invasive fishes such as salmonids, whereas the effect of smaller fish on amphibians has been seldom investigated. The effects of the invasive Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) on pygmy newts (Triturus pygmaeus), a species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula,...

The Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) is a widely distributed endemic species in the Iberian Peninsula. To im¬prove knowledge of its population dynamics, the relative abundance and population trends of the Iberian hare were studied in the autumns of 1995–2012 in a protected area (Doñana National Park) by spotlighting in 2 different habitats: marshland and ecotones.