[Aim]: While the contribution of abiotic factors to species distribution is well known, the geographic structure, if any, of biotic interactions within the species range is poorly understood. Most studies neglect biotic interactions when generating Species Distribution Models (SDMs) and projecting them, using future climatic scenarios, while others argue that biotic interactions may extend species tolerances to suboptimal abiotic conditions. Elucidating the extent to which biotic interactions play a role at a macro‐scale is challenging due to its inherent complexity. In this study, we characterized the independent contribution of prey abundance distributions on the Merlin's wintering distribution (Falco columbarius). Then, to examine the hypothesis that biotic interactions may counteract other suboptimal conditions, we tested for a differential importance of physical habitat characteristics and prey abundance distributions along the species’ wintering range., [Location]: Peninsular Spain., [Methods]: We modelled the Merlin's geographic distribution with Boosted Classification Trees as a function of environmental predictors (environmental model) and prey relative abundances (prey model), either separately or jointly (combined model). We tested whether the predictive success of environmental and prey models differ spatially., [Results]: Partialling out the variation into independent components we found that the prey abundance distributions explained the largest part of variation. Furthermore, the first four predictors with the highest contribution in our combined models were the abundances of prey species. Finally, our model predictions revealed a north‐to‐south increase in the importance of prey abundance distributions. Interestingly, our results suggest that biotic interactions can enable species to inhabit a wider range of suboptimal habitat conditions on range margins., [Main conclusions]: Relevant biotic interactions may not be always fully interchangeable with environmental surrogates. Abiotic factors and biotic interactions may shape species range limits and cores of distributions differently. Neglecting biotic interactions may compromise spatiotemporal transferability of SDMs, especially on species margins, and hence their applicability., This study is a contribution to the projects CGL2011‐28177, CGL2014‐56416‐P and CGL2016‐78070‐P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. PA was supported by a “Ramón y Cajal” contract (RYC‐2011‐07670)., Peer Reviewed

[Aim]: Major efforts have been devoted to understanding the geographic pattern of sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Rensch's rule posits that SSD increases with body size in male-biased SSD species and decreases with body size in female-biased SSD species. This pattern, and its inverse, have been mainly explored at the interspecific level, whereas research at the intraspecific level has been largely neglected. Here, we test whether the allometric pattern of SSD in an urodele amphibian conforms to Rensch's rule and evaluate the relative role of four potential mechanisms: sexual selection, fecundity selection, density-dependent resource availability and differential plasticity., [Location]: Iberian Peninsula., [Taxon]: Lissotriton boscai (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae)., [Methods]: We used original (field-based) and published data on body size, courtship behaviour and fecundity parameters and a suite of climatic, ecological and genetic (mitochondrial and nuclear markers) predictors to assess these hypotheses., [Results]: The results showed that SSD increased with increasing female mean body size, supporting the inverse Rensch's rule pattern. Primary productivity-related variables and female density were among the most relevant ecological predictors of SSD after accounting for genetic structure and capture date., [Main conclusions]: This study reveals that the interplay between the density-dependent resource availability hypothesis and the differential plasticity hypothesis explains the inverse Rensch's rule. We discuss how combining biogeographical and experimental approaches can provide alternative interpretations to the classical sexual and fecundity selection hypotheses on the interpopulation variation in SSD., This study is a contribution to the projects CGL2014‐56416‐P and CGL2016‐78070‐P of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). Licenses for animal capture and handling were provided by regional Spanish authorities and by the ICN from Portugal. PA was supported by a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ contract (RYC‐2011‐07670, MINECO).

Species distribution models (SDMs) treat species as a single unit, neglecting intraspecific variation. Few studies address the impact of intraspecific variation on SDM performance, and none of them account for the well-known inter-algorithm variability in prediction performance. The endemic Iberian amphibian Lissotriton boscai comprises two geographically highly structured phylogenetic lineages, which allowed us to explore how intraspecific variation affects the overall performance of SDMs and the predicted ecological niche. We built species and lineage distribution models using three different presence‐only algorithms. We also tested for niche overlap, niche equivalency and niche similarity, using an ordination technique. We found differences in the predicted potential distribution of the two lineages and the underlying environmental factors. Moreover, intraspecific differences in model predictive capacity existed irrespective of which algorithm was used to build the distribution models. This was coupled with lineages showing a low degree of niche overlap and occurring in relatively different environmental niches spaces. The intraspecific variation observed in L. boscai led to an improved intraspecific predictivity of the lineage level based-distribution models. There was partial spatial agreement between the niche overlap and independently reported secondary contact zones. Thus SDMs built only at the species level may be too naive to predict impacts of global change on species distributions., This study is a contribution to the projects CGL2014-56416-P and CGL2016-78070-P of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). PA and AJ-V were supported by the “Ramón y Cajal” program (MINECO, RYC-2011-07670 and RYC-2013-14441, respectively).

One of the most valuable initiatives on massive availability of biodiversity data is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which is creating new opportunities to develop and test macroecological knowledge. However, the potential uses of these data are limited by the gaps and biases associated to large-scale distributional databases (the so-called Wallacean shortfall). Describing and quantifying these limitations are essential to improve knowledge on biodiversity, especially in poorly-studied groups, such as mosses. Here we assess the coverage of the publicly-available distributional information on Iberian mosses, defining its eventual biases and gaps. For this purpose, we compiled IberBryo v1.0, a database that comprises 82,582 records after processing and checking the geospatial and taxonomical information. Our results show the limitations of data and metadata of the publicly-available information. Particularly, ca. 42% of the records lacked collecting date information, which limits data usefulness for time coverage analyses and enlarges the existing knowledge gaps. Then we evaluated the overall coverage of several aspects of the spatial, temporal and environmental variability of the Iberian Peninsula. Through this assessment, we demonstrate that the publicly-available information on Iberian mosses presents significant biases. Inventory completeness is strongly conditioned by the recorders' survey bias, particularly in northern Portugal and eastern Spain and the spatial pattern of surveys is also biased towards mountains. Besides, the temporal pattern of survey effort intensifies from 1970 onwards, encompassing a progressive increase in the geographic coverage of the Iberian Peninsula. Although we just found 5% of well-surveyed cells of 30' of resolution over the 1970-2018 period, they cover about a fifth of the main climatic gradients of the Iberian Peninsula, which provides a fair-though limited-coverage. Yet, the well-surveyed cells are biased towards anthropised areas and some of them are located in areas under intense land-use changes, mainly due to the wood-fires of the last decade. Despite the overall increase, we found a noticeable gap of information in the south-west of Iberia, the Ebro river basin and the inner plateaus. All these gaps and biases call for a careful use of the available distributional data of Iberian mosses for biogeographical and ecological modelling analysis. Further, our results highlight the necessity of incorporating several good practices to increase the coverage of high-quality information. These good practices include digitalisation of specimens and metadata information, improvement on the protocols to get accurate data and metadata or revisions of the vouchers and recorders' field notebooks. These procedures are essential to improve the quality and coverage of the data. Finally, we also encourage Iberian bryologists to establish a series of re-surveys of classical localities that would allow updating the information on the group, as well as to design their future surveys considering the most important information gaps on IberBryo., This work is part of the project UNITED Unifying niches, interactions and distributions: A common theoretical framework for geographic range dynamics and local coexistence (This work is part of the project UNITED Unifying niches, interactions and distributions: A common theoretical
framework for geographic range dynamics and local coexistence (CGL2016-78070-P, funded by AEI/FEDER, UE)., funded by AEI/FEDER, UE).

[Aim]: Environmental niche tracking is linked to the species ability to disperse. While
well investigated on large spatial scales, dispersal constraints also influence small-scale processes and may explain the difference between the potential and the realized
niche of species at small scales. Here we test whether niche size and niche fill differ
systematically according to dispersal syndrome within isolated oceanic islands. We
expect that species with higher dispersal abilities (anemochorous or endozoochorous)
will have a higher niche fill, despite their environmental niche size., [Location]: Azores archipelago., [Taxon]: Native seed plants., [Methods]: We combined a georeferenced database of the species distribution within
the archipelago (Azorean Biodiversity Portal/GBIF) with an expert-based
dispersal syndrome categorization and a high-resolution climatic grid (CIELO model). Using four climatic variables (Annual Mean Temperature, Mean Diurnal Range, Annual
Precipitation, Precipitation Seasonality), we calculated a four-dimensional
hypervolume to estimate the niche size of each species. Niche fill was quantified as the suitable climatic space of the island that was occupied by the focal species., [Results]: We found a significant relationship between dispersal syndromes and niche
size, and also between dispersal syndromes and niche fill. Such relationships presented no phylogenetic signal. Endozoochorous species display higher niche fill compared to epizoochorous and hydrochorous species, and larger niches than anemochorous and epizoochorous. Differences among the remaining groups are not significant for either niche size or for niche fill., [Main conclusions]: The ability of a species to track its niche at small scales is not tightly related to its dispersal syndrome, although endozoochorous species track their niche more efficiently than the rest of groups. Despite being intuitively appealing, dispersal syndrome classifications might not be the most appropriate tools for understanding dispersal processes at small scales., ML was funded by a scholarship supporting faculty-specific gender equality targets at
(FAU) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (BES-2016-
077655; project CGL2015-67865-P) and AEI/FEDER, UE (project UNITED, CGL2016-78070-P,). AMCS was funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnología (contract CEEIND/03425/2017). The climatic models of EBA were
developed in the framework of the project PROAAcXXIs–Projecções das Alterações Climáticas nos Açores para o século XXI. (PO_Açores 2020–Eixo Prioritário 1–Açores-01-0145–FEDER—000037).Biodiversity data comes from the project AZORESBIOPORTAL–PORBIOTA (AÇORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072), which was financed by FEDER in 85% and by Azorean Public funds by 15% through the Operational Program Azores 2020., Peer reviewed

Bryophyte communities play a vital functional role in Atlantic coastal dune ecosystems, where they contribute to soil stability, moisture retention, and nutrient cycling. However, these habitats are increasingly affected by climate change and sea level rise, with reported consequences including habitat degradation, shifts in species distributions, and the proliferation of invasive bryophyte species. To assess how bryophyte communities might respond to future climate conditions, 32 coastal dunes were studied along a latitudinal gradient on the western Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. We investigated (i) how abiotic factors related to aridity influence bryophyte cover and species composition, (ii) whether patterns of co-occurrence with vascular plants (annuals and perennials) and lichens could mitigate climate impacts, and (iii) the role of interactions between the invasive moss Campylopus introflexus and native species along the gradient. Our results showed that the moss community is mainly influenced by aridity and annual mean temperature (as defined in the WorldClim database), with biotic interactions playing a minor, yet significant, role. As aridity increases, total moss cover declines noticeably with no consistent patterns of facilitation or competition observed across sites. Based on these findings, we suggest that under future climate scenarios, coastal bryophyte communities are likely to suffer reductions in cover and associated ecosystem functions, with limited buffering potential through plant interactions and a northward shift in species distributions. At the same time, the spread of the exotic moss species Campylopus introflexus, associated with lower aridity, could also slow down. Further research is needed to better understand how these changes will affect the ecological integrity of coastal dunes, habitats already recognised as priorities for conservation., Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Ministerio de Universidades (España), Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal), Xunta de Galicia, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), Peer reviewed

Colonization of new habitat patches is a key aspect of metacommunity dynamics, particularly for sessile organisms. Mosses can establish in new patches through fragmentation, with different vegetative structures acting as propagules. Despite the importance of these propagules for successful colonization the specific aspects that favour moss colonization by vegetative propagules remain poorly understood, including the effect of propagule size. We examine the intra- and interspecific variation of establishment and colonization success in culture of propagules of different sizes in six widespread soil moss species of contrasting growth form (Dicranum scoparium, Homalothecium aureum, Hypnum cupressiforme, Ptychostomum capillare, Syntrichia ruralis and Tortella squarrosa). We obtained three different size classes of propagules from artificially fragmented vegetative material, and assessed their establishment under controlled light and temperature conditions. We characterize the size, shape, apparent viability, morphological type and size changes due to hydration states of the propagules, all of them traits with potentially significant influence in their dispersal pattern and establishment. Then we assess the effect of these traits on moss establishment, using indicators of surface establishment (number of established shoots and colonized surface) and biomass production (viable biomass) as proxies of colonization success. The establishment indicators related to colonization surface and biomass production differ among species and propagule sizes. The magnitude of the interspecific differences of all indicators of establishment success was larger at the smaller propagule size class. T. squarrosa was the most successful species, and D. scoparium showed the lowest performance. We also found interspecific differences in the hydration dynamics of the propagules. The process of establishment by vegetative fragments operates differently among moss species. Besides, differences between hydration states in propagules of some species could be part of syndromes for both dispersal and establishment. This study unveils several functional traits relevant for moss colonization, such as wet versus dry area and length of fragments, which may improve our understanding of their spatial dynamics.

[Abstract] Aim: Major efforts have been devoted to understanding the geographic pattern of sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Rensch's rule posits that SSD increases with body size in male-biased SSD species and decreases with body size in female-biased SSD species. This pattern, and its inverse, have been mainly explored at the interspecific level, whereas research at the intraspecific level has been largely neglected. Here, we test whether the allometric pattern of SSD in an urodele amphibian conforms to Rensch's rule and evaluate the relative role of four potential mechanisms: sexual selection, fecundity selection, density-dependent resource availability and differential plasticity. Location: Iberian Peninsula. Taxon: Lissotriton boscai (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae). Methods: We used original (field-based) and published data on body size, courtship behaviour and fecundity parameters and a suite of climatic, ecological and genetic (mitochondrial and nuclear markers) predictors to assess these hypotheses. Results: The results showed that SSD increased with increasing female mean body size, supporting the inverse Rensch's rule pattern. Primary productivity-related variables and female density were among the most relevant ecological predictors of SSD after accounting for genetic structure and capture date. Main conclusions: This study reveals that the interplay between the density-dependent resource availability hypothesis and the differential plasticity hypothesis explains the inverse Rensch's rule. We discuss how combining biogeographical and experimental approaches can provide alternative interpretations to the classical sexual and fecundity selection hypotheses on the interpopulation variation in SSD., This study is a contribution to the projects CGL2014-56416-P and CGL2016-78070-P of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). Licenses for animal capture and handling were provided by regional Spanish authorities and by the ICN from Portugal. PA was supported by a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ contract (RYC-2011-07670, MINECO)