The development of sustainable transport is a key challenge in societies where there is an accelerated need for socio-economic development. This is the case for seven countries from central and south-eastern Europe that share the Carpathian Mountains. The challenge of developing sustainable transport requires transdisciplinary, or at least cross-sectoral cooperation, between the transport development and nature conservation sectors. Such cooperation is not in the culture of the Carpathian countries, which together host some of the most remarkable biodiversity values in Europe, including the largest populations of brown bear, grey wolf and Eurasian lynx. The overall length of motorways in these countries more than quintupled in the last 30 years and the rapid expansion of Linear Transport Infrastructure (LTI) continues at exacerbating rates. The rich biodiversity habitats are being fragmented and the concept of ecological connectivity is poorly understood and implemented by the national authorities. Ecological networks for large carnivores are not defined nor officially recognised in the Carpathian countries, with little exceptions. The legislation is not consistent across the strands of ecological connectivity and is not harmonised between the countries to effectively support transnational conservation efforts. Thus, the critical intersections between planned or even existing LTI and ecological corridors for large carnivores cannot be identified, in most cases leading to increasing habitat fragmentation and isolation of wildlife populations in the region. We summarised all this key context-related information for the Carpathians in relation to LTI development and ecological connectivity. To counteract this trend in the Carpathian ecoregion, we propose a set of recommendations to: improve and harmonise the legislation; develop and endorse methodologies for designating ecological corridors; address the cumulative impact on ecological connectivity; define other threats on landscape permeability; improve stakeholder engagement, cooperation and communication; develop comprehensive and transparent biodiversity and transport databases; monitor wildlife and transport for implementing most appropriate mitigation measures and strategies; build capacity to address the issue of sustainable transportation; and foster transnational cooperation and dialogue. Bringing these elements together will support the design of ecological networks in a way that considers the needs and location of both current and future habitats and contribute to efforts to address the climate crisis. These specific recommendations are relevant also for other areas of the world facing similar problems as the Carpathians.

We investigated the systematics and biogeography of the West-Palaearctic water cricket genus Velia Latreille based on a phylogenetic analysis of five molecular markers obtained from 79% of all known taxa of the subgenera Velia (s.s.) and Velia (Plesiovelia) Tamanini. The results revealed a sister-group relationship between Velia (Plesiovelia) and the monotypic subgenus Velia (s.s.), and showed that the former is divided into three major clades. All taxa of Velia (Plesiovelia) were recovered as monophyletic, except for V. (P.) serbica Tamanini, which was paraphyletic with respect to V. (P.) mancinii mancinii Tamanini. Our results also indicate the existence of several unrecognized species. Molecular dating based on fossil data and COI rates indicates that the split between Velia (s.s.) and Velia (Plesiovelia) occurred between 40 and 22 Ma. An ancestral area reconstruction suggests that the latter originated in southeastern Europe, from where it radiated to the west and east, along the Neogene archipelagos of Europe and Asia Minor. Northwestern Africa served as the second most important diversification centre of the subgenus. The low genetic variability in the widespread V. (P.) caprai caprai Tamanini and V. (P.) saulii Tamanini implies a rapid postglacial colonization of Europe, whereas high diversity within the lineages of V. (P.) serbica indicates survival of Pleistocene glaciations in microrefugia throughout southeastern Europe. These results serve as a useful framework for future studies ranging from the systematics of the group to historical biogeography, ecology and biodiversity conservation.

Holocene climate warming has dramatically altered biological diversity and distributions. Recent human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases will exacerbate global warming and thus induce threats to cold-adapted taxa. However, the impacts of this major climate change on transcontinental temperate species are still poorly understood. Here, we generated extensive genomic datasets for a water strider, Aquarius paludum, which was sampled across its entire distribution in Eurasia and used these datasets in combination with ecological niche modeling (ENM) to elucidate the influence of the Holocene and future climate warming on its population structure and demographic history. We found that A. paludum consisted of two phylogeographic lineages that diverged in the middle Pleistocene, which resulted in a “west–east component” genetic pattern that was probably triggered by Central Asia-Mongoxin aridification and Pleistocene glaciations. The diverged western and eastern lineages had a second contact in the Holocene, which shaped a temporary hybrid zone located at the boundary of the arid–semiarid regions of China. Future predictions detected a potentially novel northern corridor to connect the western and eastern populations, indicating west–east gene flow would possibly continue to intensify under future warming climate conditions. Further integrating phylogeographic and ENM analyses of multiple Eurasian temperate taxa based on published studies reinforced our findings on the “west–east component” genetic pattern and the predicted future northern corridor for A. paludum. Our study provided a detailed paradigm from a phylogeographic perspective of how transcontinental temperate species differ from cold-adapted taxa in their response to climate warming.