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1. To test hypotheses concerning the applicability of the Rapoport effect (RE: "species that occur at higher latitudes tend to have greater geographical range-size than species which have ranges limited to latitudes closer to the equator") to aquatic macrophytes at global scale, we analysed the world latitudinal distribu

ABSTRACT1. The reintroduction of a plant species regionally extinct in the wild poses a stimulating conservation challenge. If the species is dioecious and the ex situ preserved population is only of one sex, the challenge is even more difficult. To assess whether the female population of Stratiotes aloides originally studied requires a reinforcement to increase its genetic variation, and to determine from which source male individuals should be taken to re-establish a viable population, the genetic structure of nine different accessions of S. aloides across Europe and Asia were analysed -six native populations and the last three Italian populations, preserved ex situ.2. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting of 190 individuals from these populations was performed using six primer combinations and chromosome counts.3. AFLP markers revealed medium to high values of genetic diversity at the population level, unexpectedly including residual ex situ accessions. Neighbour-joining tree, PCoA and STRUCTURE analyses indicate the presence of three genetic patterns identifiable in the central-western, central and eastern Europe-Asian populations. Chromosome counts revealed the presence of diploid (2n = 24) and tetraploid (2n = 48) populations.4. Similarity between populations belonging to different hydrographical basins, and differences between neighbouring populations could be explained through long-distance bird-mediated dispersal events. Genetic analysis showed that reinforcement with female individuals from other European populations to increase the genetic diversity of the Italian female population is not necessary. Surprisingly, the geographically closest male population (Bavaria) to the Po basin is not the best option for male reintroduction. Instead, male individuals should be reintroduced from the Rhine basin (Netherlands) and eastern part of the Danube basin (Romania).

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The "Flora of Russia" project on iNaturalist brought together professional scientists and amateur naturalists from all over the country. Over 10,000 people were involved in the data collection. Within 20 months, the participants accumulated 750,143 photo observations of 6,857 species of the Russian flora. This constitutes the largest dataset of open spatial data on the country’s biodiversity and a leading source of data on the current state of the national flora. About 87% of all project data, i.e. 652,285 observations, are available under free licences (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC) and can be freely used in scientific, educational and environmental activities.

The genus Hydrocharis L. includes three geographically isolated species. Analysis of the actual data (32 thousand geographical locations and 1946 herbarium sheets) covering the period 1765–2019 made it possible to clarify the nature of the distri- bution of these species and its changes. Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L. has disjunctive Eurasian – North American temperate range, with a massive North American en- clave, the formation of which began in the 1930–1940s. The range of Hydrocharis dubia (Blume) Backer is disjunctive Southeast Asian – Australian subboreal-tropical, Australia enclave began forming in the 1850–1870s. Hydrocharis chevalieri (De Wild.) Dandy is a macrothermal Central African equatorial endemic. Current threat status of all species may be estimated as Least Concern. The mean annual temperature is the most contrasting feature of the distribution areas of the species, water depth, bottom soil type and hydrochemical composition have lower impact. Prognostic models of the potential distribution of the tagged species have been made.

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