Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and folklore are repositories of large amounts of information about the natural world. Ideas, perceptions and empirical data held by human communities regarding local species are important sources which enable new scientific discoveries to be made, as well as offering the potential to solve a number of conservation problems. We documented the gecko-related folklore and TEK of the people of southern Portugal, with the particular aim of understanding the main ideas relating to gecko biology and ecology. Our results suggest that local knowledge of gecko ecology and biology is both accurate and relevant. As a result of information provided by local inhabitants, knowledge of the current geographic distribution of Hemidactylus turcicus was expanded, with its presence reported in nine new locations. It was also discovered that locals still have some misconceptions of geckos as poisonous and carriers of dermatological diseases. The presence of these ideas has led the population to a fear of and aversion to geckos, resulting in direct persecution being one of the major conservation problems facing these animals. It is essential, from both a scientific and conservationist perspective, to understand the knowledge and perceptions that people have towards the animals, since, only then, may hitherto unrecognized pertinent information and conservation problems be detected and resolved.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Argentina, Septoria reinamora on leaf spots of Mutisia spinosa. Australia, Cortinarius albofolliculus on mossy soil, Cortinarius descensoriformis among leaf litter, Cortinarius kaki among leaf litter, Cortinarius lissosporus in leaf litter, Cortinarius malogranatus in leaf litter, Cortinarius meletlac on soil in mixed forest, Cortinarius sebosioides in long decayed wood litter, Helicogermslita australiensis as an endophyte from healthy leaves of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, Puccinia clemensiorum on culms of Eleocharis ochrostachys, Puccinia geethae on leaves of Cyperus brevifolius, Puccinia marjaniae on leaves of Nymphoides indica, Puccinia scleriae-rugosae on leaves of Scleria rugosa. Brazil, Dactylaria calliandrae on living leaf of Calliandra tweediei, Mucor cerradoensis from soil, Musicillium palmae on living leaves of unidentified palm species, Neodendryphiella agapanthi from stalks of Agapanthus praecox, Parafusicladium riodejaneiroanum on living leaves of native bamboo, Parapenidiella melastomatis on living leaves of unidentified Melastomataceae, Pararamichloridium ouropretoense on living leaves of unidentified Poaceae, Pentagonomyces endophyticus (incl. Pentagonomyces gen. nov.) as endophytic from roots of Musa acuminata, Polyschema endophytica from healthy roots of coffee plant, Purimyces endophyticus as root endophyte of Cattleya locatellii, Ramularia rhododendri on living leaves of Rhododendron sp., Staphylotrichum soli from soil, Trichoderma sexdentis from leaves inside a nest of the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa, Wiesneriomyces soli from soil. France, Cosmospora nemaniae on dead or effete stromata of Nemania cf. colliculosa, Inocybe alnobetulae in subalpine green alder stands, Stylonectria hygrophila on dead twigs of Betula pubescens. Germany, Coniochaeta corticalis from bark humus, Coniochaeta fermentaria from fermentation residues from biogas plants, Coniochaeta fibricola from softwood fibres, Coniochaeta weberae from bark humus, Inocybe canicularis on calcareous to more acidic soil with conifers. Iceland, Inocybe islandica associated with Dryas octopetala. India, Vishniacozyma indica on dead twigs. Iran, Botryotrichum lycii on rotten leaf of Lycium depressum. Italy, Cuphophyllus dolomiticus among Salix retusa, Salix reticulata and Dryas octopetala, Inocybe subentolomospora on moss with the presence of Alnus incana, Populus nigra and Salix spp. Malaysia, Catenulostroma pellitae on leaf spots of Eucalyptus pellita. Mexico, Colletotrichum mexicanus from fruit of Persea americana cv. Hass. New Caledonia (France), Cortinarius caeloculus, Cortinarius luteigemellus and Cortinarius perpensus on soil under Nothofagus aequilateralis. New Zealand, Cytospora braithwaitei on branch of Malus domestica. Pakistan, Callistosporium khalidii on humus soil, Entoloma lilacinum on litter in conifer forest, Laccaria decolorans on litter in broad-leaved subtropical forest. Poland, Pseudoneoconiothyrium modrzynanum from resin of Larix decidua ssp. polonica, Tuberculiforma enigmatica isolated from sooty mould community on Quercus robur leaves. Portugal, Clavulus hemisphaericus (incl. Clavulus gen. nov.) on mossy slopes and under Laurus leaf litter, Entoloma daegae on sandy, granitic soil, Hygrocybe aurantiocitrina under laurel forest, Hygrocybe sanguineolutea gregarious in laurel forest, Hygrocybe vulcanica on mossy areas of laurel forest areas, Pachyphlodes algarvensis on sandy soil under Cistus salvifolius, Quercus suber and Pinus pinea. South Africa, Amycosphaerella podalyriae on leaf of Podalyria calyptrata, Erythrobasidium eucalypti from the gut of Gonipterus sp., Letendraea goniomae on leaves of Gonioma kamassi, Pezicula brabeji and Sphaerulina brabeji on twigs of Brabejum stellatifolium, Stachybotrys conicosiae on dead flower head of Conicosia elongata, Talaromyces ignescens from soil. Spain, Cortinarius phaeobrunneus on soil under Quercus ilex and Q. faginea, Inocybe pini-halepensis among grass and fallen leaves of Pinus halepensis, Inocybe subporcorum in sandy soils under Quercus ilex subsp. ballota and Pinus pinaster, Mycena morenoi on dead leaves of Betula pubescens and Salix atrocinerea, Pachyphlodes iberica on clayey and loamy soil under Quercus ilex and Quercus rotundifolia, Ramariopsis coronata in laurel forest. Switzerland, Inocybe minata in a bog on very wet acidic soil with Salix spp. and Betula spp. Thailand, Hypocrella khonsanitii on scale insects (Coccidae), Petchiella hymenopterorum on hymenopteran pupae in the nest (Hymenoptera). Trinidad and Tobago, Neodevriesia maravalensis from office swab. Türkiye, Russula anatolica under Quercus vulcanica. UK, Paracylindrosporium dactylorhizae (incl. Paracylindrosporium gen. nov.) on leaf spots of Dactylorhiza sp., Niesslia hepworthiae and Niesslia libertiae on living leaves of Libertia grandiflora. Ukraine, Lichenohendersonia cetrariae on thallus of terricolous Cetraria aculeata. USA, Atromagnispora indianensis (incl. Atromagnispora gen. nov.) on submerged wood in a freshwater stream, Cytospora michiganensis from utility room (settle plate), Exophiala aeris from air (settle plate), Hongoboletus americanus from mixed pine-hardwood forest, Lorrainsmithia pennsylvanica from bedroom, air, Superstratomyces massachusettsanus from lyse buffer. Vietnam, Aspergillus halopiscium on dry marine anchovy Stolephorus commersonnii. Morphological and culture characteristics are supported by DNA barcodes.

Aim: Fossil pollen is an important tool for understanding biogeographical patterns in the past, but the taxonomic resolution of the fossil‐pollen record may be limited to genus or even family level. Chemical analysis of pollen grains has the potential to increase the taxonomic resolution of pollen analysis, but present‐day chemical variability is poorly understood. This study aims to investigate whether a phylogenetic signal is present in the chemical variations of Quercus L. pollen and to assess the prospects of chemical techniques for identification in biogeographical research.Location: Portugal.Taxon: Six taxa (five species, one subspecies) of Quercus L., Q. faginea, Q. robur, Q. robur ssp. estremadurensis, Q. coccifera, Q. rotundifolia and Q. suber belonging to three sections: Cerris, Ilex and Quercus (Denk, Grimm, Manos, Deng, & Hipp, 2017).Methods: We collected pollen samples from 297 individual Quercus trees across a 4° (~450 km) latitudinal gradient and determined chemical differences using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). We used canonical powered partial least squares regression (CPPLS) and discriminant analysis to describe within‐ and between‐species chemical variability.Results: We find clear differences in the FTIR spectra from Quercus pollen at the section level (Cerris: ~98%; Ilex: ~100%; Quercus: ~97%). Successful discrimination is based on spectral signals related to lipids and sporopollenins. However, discrimination of species within individual Quercus sections is more challenging: overall, species recall is ~76% and species misidentifications within sections lie between 18% and 31% of the test set.Main Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that subgenus level differentiation of Quercus pollen is possible using FTIR methods, with successful classification at the section level. This indicates that operator‐independent FTIR approaches can surpass traditional morphological techniques using light microscopy. Our results have implications both for providing new insights into past colonization pathways of Quercus, and likewise for forecasting future responses to climate change. However, before FTIR techniques can be applied more broadly across palaeoecology and biogeography, our results also highlight a number of research challenges that still need to be addressed, including developing sporopollenin‐specific taxonomic discriminators and determining a more complete understanding of the effects of environmental variation on pollen‐chemical signatures in Quercus.

The Iberian Peninsula hosts a high diversity of oak species, being a hot-spot for the conservation of European White Oaks (Quercus) due to their environmental heterogeneity and its critical role as a phylogeographic refugium. Identifying and ranking the drivers that shape the distribution of White Oaks in Iberia requires that environmental variables operating at distinct scales are considered. These include climate, but also ecosystem functioning attributes (EFAs) related to energy–matter exchanges that characterize land cover types under various environmental settings, at finer scales. Here, we used satellite-based EFAs and climate variables in species distribution models (SDMs) to assess how variables related to ecosystem functioning improve our understanding of current distributions and the identification of suitable areas for White Oak species in Iberia. We developed consensus ensemble SDMs targeting a set of thirteen oaks, including both narrow endemic and widespread taxa. Models combining EFAs and climate variables obtained a higher performance and predictive ability (true-skill statistic (TSS): 0.88, sensitivity: 99.6, specificity: 96.3), in comparison to the climate-only models (TSS: 0.86, sens.: 96.1, spec.: 90.3) and EFA-only models (TSS: 0.73, sens.: 91.2, spec.: 82.1). Overall, narrow endemic species obtained higher predictive performance using combined models (TSS: 0.96, sens.: 99.6, spec.: 96.3) in comparison to widespread oaks (TSS: 0.80, sens.: 92.6, spec.: 87.7). The Iberian White Oaks show a high dependence on precipitation and the inter-quartile range of Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) (i.e., seasonal water availability) which appears to be the most important EFA variable. Spatial projections of climate–EFA combined models contribute to identify the major diversity hotspots for White Oaks in Iberia, holding higher values of cumulative habitat suitability and species richness. We discuss the implications of these findings for guiding the long-term conservation of Iberian White Oaks and provide spatially explicit geospatial information about each oak species (or set of species) relevant for developing biogeographic conservation frameworks.

Land degradation in Mediterranean Basin is clearly connected to the resilience of perturbed ecosystems, contributing to land abandonment, recurrent fires and biodiversity loss, with the prevalence of secondary shrublands that tend to occupy large areas. This is the case of Cistus ladanifer .shrublands, one of the most widespread shrub communities in Iberian Peninsula and a poor, uniform and resilient system. Here we analyze the impact of several management practices in the recovery of territories largely occupied by this shrublands. We tested “nonintervention”, “cut”, “fire”, “mechanical mobilization” and “pasture” in 100 m2 plots of Cistus ladaniferus L., in Central Portugal, being followed since 1993. Flora was analyzed using Braun–Blanquet’s methodology and the plots compared with hierarchical cluster analysis and PCA. An ANOVA analysis was also performed to investigate differences in management practices, between plots and between two periods of time. The results show that extensive grazing or continuous cut have a high impact on plant diversity and community structure, been extensive grazing, the best way to improve plant diversity in a short period of time, using less resource

Hybridization footprint suggests introgression with local wild relatives in Western European grape varieties.