Beetles are the most diverse group of animals and are crucial for ecosystem functioning. In many countries, they are well established for environmental impact assessment, but even in the well-studied Central European fauna, species identification can be very difficult. A comprehensive and taxonomically well-curated DNA barcode library could remedy this deficit and could also link hundreds of years of traditional knowledge with next generation sequencing technology. However, such a beetle library is missing to date. This study provides the globally largest DNA barcode reference library for Coleoptera for 15 948 individuals belonging to 3514 well-identified species (53% of the German fauna) with representatives from 97 of 103 families (94%). This study is the first comprehensive regional test of the efficiency of DNA barcoding for beetles with a focus on Germany. Sequences ≥500 bp were recovered from 63% of the specimens analysed (15 948 of 25 294) with short sequences from another 997 specimens. Whereas most specimens (92.2%) could be unambiguously assigned to a single known species by sequence diversity at CO1, 1089 specimens (6.8%) were assigned to more than one Barcode Index Number (BIN), creating 395 BINs which need further study to ascertain if they represent cryptic species, mitochondrial introgression, or simply regional variation in widespread species. We found 409 specimens (2.6%) that shared a BIN assignment with another species, most involving a pair of closely allied species as 43 BINs were involved. Most of these taxa were separated by barcodes although sequence divergences were low. Only 155 specimens (0.97%) show identical or overlapping clusters.

The purpose of this investigation Was to examine families' involvement in and perceptions of children's special education services. A telephone survey Was conducted With 45 families of children With autism Who Were part of a parent support group. The survey consisted of a total of 15 questions that pertained to the folloWing areas: (a) the child's educational placement and type of special education services received, (b) the frequency and nature of parents' communication With school personnel, (c) parents' knoWledge about and involvement in their child's Individualized Education Program (IEP) process, and (d) parents' priorities for their child and overall satisfaction With school services. Results indicated that the majority of children spent part of their day in the general education classroom and received 1 to 2 special education services.

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This study was designed to examine the services received by 3-to 9-year-old children with autism and pervasive developmental disabilities. Four questions were addressed:(1) What services are received? (2) How are families involved in their services? (3) How do providers ensure that their services have continuity or are organized around a common set of child needs? and (4) What problems do families report? These questions were addressed by conducting a telephone interview with 25 families in western Pennsylvania. Results indicated that families interacted with a host of different agencies and professionals. Several problems also became apparent, as many families reported difficulty accessing needed services and minimal involvement in planning or implementing these interventions.

Global warming and land‐use change are expected to be additive threats to global diversity, to which insects contribute the highest proportion. Insects are strongly influenced by temperature but also require specific habitat resources, and thus interaction between the two factors is likely. We selected saproxylic beetles as a model group because their life cycle depends on dead wood, which is highly threatened by land use. We tested the extent to which higher temperatures compensate for the negative effects of low amounts of dead wood on saproxylic beetle species richness (Temperature–Dead wood compensation hypothesis) on both a macroclimate and a topoclimate scale (north‐ and south‐facing slopes). We analyzed 1404 flight‐interception trap catches across Europe to test for interaction effects of temperature and dead‐wood amount on species richness. To experimentally test our findings from the activity trap data, we additionally reared beetles from 80 bundles of dead wood initially exposed at high and low elevations. At the topoclimate scale, we analyzed trap catches and reared beetles from dead wood exposed in 20 forest stands on south‐facing and north‐facing slopes in one region. On the macroscale, both temperature and dead‐wood amount positively affected total and threatened species richness independently, but their interaction was significantly negative, indicating compensation. On both scales and irrespective of the method, species richness decreased with temperature decline. Our observation that increasing temperature compensates for lower amounts of dead wood has two important implications. First, managers of production forests should adapt their dead‐wood enrichment strategy to site‐specific temperature conditions. Second, an increase in temperature will compensate at least partially for poor habitat conditions in production forests. Such a perspective contrasts the general assumption of reinforcing impacts of global warming and habitat loss on biodiversity, but it is corroborated by recent range expansions of threatened beetle species.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a buddy skills package on the social interactions between a preschooler with autism and her peers. Following baseline, the children participated in 8 sessions of training that focused on the strategies of Play, Stay, and Talk. An intervention consisting of teacher feedback, praise, and picture cards was then implemented to support peers' overtures to their classmate with autism. Teacher feedback and praise were terminated in a final maintenance phase, whereas the picture cards were still available as visual cues. A multiple baseline design indicated that the package increased peers' overtures to their playmate with autism, and these behaviors continued during the maintenance condition. The child with autism also directed more overtures to her peers, although she did not receive teacher support for this. Additional analyses indicated that children's interactions became longer and more reciprocal over the course of this study.

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