Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – http://www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

. 2003. Changes in carabid beetle assemblages across an urban-rural gradient in Japan. -Ecography 26: 481-489.As part of the international Globenet project, carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) were collected using pitfall traps from four urban, four suburban and four rural sites in Hiroshima City, Japan, during the 2001 summer season. In agreement with expectation, carabid abundance and species richness decreased significantly from rural to urban sites. Furthermore, no large, and only few individuals of medium-sized specialist species were collected from the urban environment, while many specimens of medium-sized and some large-sized specialist species were collected from the suburban and rural sites. Hiroshima city was characterised by medium-sized generalist carabids, while the suburbs and the rural environments were characterised by small-sized generalist beetles. These results did not apply at the species level. To summarise, we found a significant effect of urbanisation on the composition of carabid beetle assemblages in Hiroshima City. These changes were similar to those found in previous studies performed in Sofia (Bulgaria), Edmonton (Canada) and Helsinki (Finland). Thus, it appears that urbanisation has some similar and predictable effects on carabid assemblages in various parts of the world. M. Ishitani

With reference to the data of synthetic standards, GC-EAD and GC-MS analyses of a pheromone gland extract of the soybean pod borer, Leguminivora glycinivorella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), resulted in three acetates [dodecyl acetate, (8E,10E)-8,10-dodecadienyl acetate (E8,E10-12:OAc), and its (8E,10Z)-isomer] at a ratio of 10 : 100 : 2.5 as a candidate of the pheromone. While the contents in the glands were low and even the titer of the major pheromonal component was ca. 0.5 ng/female, the positions of the two double bonds were confirmed by a mass spectrum of the adduct with 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione. In a soybean field, synthetic E8,E10-12:OAc successfully attracted male moths of L. glycinivorella, and highly selective attraction was observed for E8,E10-12:OAc among the geometrical isomers of the 8,10-diene. Neither of the two minor components showed a synergistic effect on field attraction by E8,E10-12:OAc, and their roles were unclear. A binary lure of E8,E10-12:OAc and (E)-8-dodecenyl acetate (E8-12:OAc) was necessary to attract the male moths of Matsumuraeses falcana, the soybean pod worm, but E8-12:OAc strongly inhibited the attraction of L. glycinivorella by E8,E10-12:OAc, indicating that E8-12:OAc secreted by M. falcana is one of the most important factors in the reproductive isolation of these two species.

An attenuated strain of Chinese yam necrotic mosaic virus (CYNMV), designated KM3, was selected from among CYNMV fi eld isolates. KM3 causes a mild mosaic on leaves of Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita) cv. Nagaimo during the early stages of growth, and the severity of the symptoms is reduced with growth of the plants. In crossprotection tests using aphids to transmit the virus, Nagaimo plants that had been infected with KM3 were protected from infection with CYNMV severe strains YS117 and IW5. A reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism (RT-PCR-RFLP) method was developed to discriminate KM3 from other isolates in the fi eld.