Predicting the biodiversity impacts of global warming implies that we know where and with what magnitude these impacts will be encountered. Amphibians are currently the most threatened vertebrates, mainly due to habitat loss and to emerging infectious diseases. Global warming may further exacerbate their decline in the near future, although the impact might vary geographically. We predicted that subtropical amphibians should be relatively susceptible to warming-induced extinctions because their upper critical thermal limits (CT max ) might be only slightly higher than maximum pond temperatures (T max ). We tested this prediction by measuring CT max and T max for 47 larval amphibian species from two thermally distinct subtropical communities (the warm community of the Gran Chaco and the cool community of Atlantic Forest, northern Argentina), as well as from one European temperate community. Upper thermal tolerances of tadpoles were positively correlated (controlling for phylogeny) with maximum pond temperatures, although the slope was steeper in subtropical than in temperate species. CT max values were lowest in temperate species and highest in the subtropical warm community, which paradoxically, had very low warming tolerance (CT max -T max ) and therefore may be prone to future local extinction from acute thermal stress if rising pond T max soon exceeds their CT max . Canopy-protected subtropical cool species have larger warming tolerance and thus should be less impacted by peak temperatures. Temperate species are relatively secure to warming impacts, except for late breeders with low thermal tolerance, which may be exposed to physiological thermal stress in the coming years.

The spatial organization of the endangered Iberian lynx, Lynx pardinus (Temminck, 1827), was studied in Dofiana National Park, south-western Spain, between 1983 and1992. Thirty-six individuals (19 males and 17 females), including 24 adults (13 males and 1 1 females) were radio-tracked, providing 13,950 locations during 17,l I 1 radio-tracking days. Iberian lynxes were essentially solitary (95.9% of simultaneous locations apart) and interactions were restricted to rearing activities by females. Adult associations were uncommon. Seasonal (four months) home ranges were larger for adult resident males (10.3 r+_ 1.9 km2; n = 5 ) than for females (8.7 2 2.4km2; n = 5). Lynxes used a central portion of the home range intensively ('core area', 50% Harmonic Mean) with similar size for males (3.7 2 0.7 km2) and females (3.2 2 0.8 km2), representing, on average, a 37.6 ? 1.5% and 36.6 t 4.5% of male and female home ranges, respectively. lntrasexual home-range overlap was usually low between same-sex neighbourn (15.1 2 6.6% males and 22.1 ? 3.3% for females), but some instances of high overlap (>25%), both among males and females, were recorded, corresponding to spatial interactions between neighbours which usually ended with the displacement of one of the contenders. Core areas were mainly exclusive except during these spatial interactions. Actual fights resulting from these interactions seem more frequent than previously reported for other medium-sized solitary felids, likely promoted by high competition for optimum territories due to saturation of the population. The Iberian lynx spatial organization in Dofiana works as a land tenure system, as described for other solitary felids. Although the mating system tends to monogamy, with male home range overlapping mainly that of one female, individual variations to polygyny were also found.

We conducted the current study to characterize the clinical presentation of primary Sjögren syndrome (SS) in a large cohort of Spanish patients and to determine whether epidemiologic, clinical, and analytical features modulate disease expression. Patients were from the GEMESS Study group, which was formed in 2005 and included 12 Spanish reference centers. By March 2007, the database included 1010 consecutive patients, recruited since 1994, both incident and prevalent cases. The cohort included 937 women and 73 men (ratio, 13:1), with a mean age of 53 years at diagnosis and 59 years at inclusion in the registry. Multivariate analysis showed that male patients had a lower frequency of thyroiditis, Raynaud phenomenon, and antinuclear antibodies. Young-onset patients had a low degree of sicca involvement (xerostomia and parotid enlargement) and a high frequency of immunologic markers (anti-Ro/SS-A and low C4 levels). Patients with disease duration of more than 10 years had a higher prevalence of xerophthalmia, parotid enlargement, lung involvement, and peripheral neuropathy in comparison with incident cases. The subset of patients with anti-Ro/La antibodies had the highest prevalence of most systemic, hematologic, and immunologic alterations (higher frequency of Raynaud phenomenon, altered parotid scintigraphy, positive salivary gland biopsy, peripheral neuropathy, thrombocytopenia, and rheumatoid factor). Hypocomplementemia was associated with a higher frequency of vasculitis and lymphoma, and cryoglobulins with a higher frequency of parotid enlargement, vasculitis, and leukopenia.Epidemiologic, clinical, and analytical features have a significant impact on the clinical presentation of primary SS, influencing the results of the main diagnostic tests, the prevalence and diversity of extraglandular involvement, and the frequency of the main immunologic markers. Primary SS should be considered as a systemic autoimmune disease that can express in many guises beyond sicca involvement.