Papers by Constantí Stefanescu
Diversity, 2021
The Biodiversity and Bioindicators research group (BiBIO), based at the Natural Sciences Museum o... more The Biodiversity and Bioindicators research group (BiBIO), based at the Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers, has coordinated four long-term faunal monitoring programmes based on citizen science over more than two decades in Catalonia (NE Spain). We summarize the historical progress of these programmes, describing their main conservation outputs, the challenges overcome, and future directions. The Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (CBMS) consists of a network of nearly 200 recording sites where butterfly populations have been monitored through visual censuses along transects for nearly three decades. This programme provides accurate temporal and spatial changes in the abundance of butterflies and relates them to different environmental factors (e.g., habitat and weather conditions). The Bat Monitoring Programme has progressively evolved to include passive acoustic monitoring protocols, as well as bat box-, underground- and river-bat surveys, and community ecological indices have ...
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We tested in the field the hypothesis that the specialist butterfly Euphydryas aurinia (Lepidopte... more We tested in the field the hypothesis that the specialist butterfly Euphydryas aurinia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Melitaeinae) lays eggs on leaves of Lonicera implexa (Caprifoliaceae) plants with greater iridoid concentrations. We conducted our investigations in a Mediterranean site by analyzing leaves with and without naturally laid egg clusters. There were no significant differences in iridoid glycoside concentrations between leaves from plants that did not receive eggs and the unused leaves from plants receiving eggs, a fact that would seem to indicate that E. aurinia butterflies do not choose plants for oviposition by their iridoid content. However, the leaves of L. implexa that bore egg clusters had dramatically greater (over 15-fold) concentrations of iridoid glycosides than the directly opposite leaves on the same plant. These huge foliar concentrations of iridoids (15% leaf dry weight) may provide specialist herbivores with compounds that they either sequester for their own defense or use as a means of avoiding competition for food from generalist herbivores. Nevertheless, it may still be possible that these high concentrations are detrimental to the herbivore, even if the herbivore is a specialist feeder on the plant.
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Existen dos escenarios futuros de efectos del cambio climático sobre la biodiversidad de vertebra... more Existen dos escenarios futuros de efectos del cambio climático sobre la biodiversidad de vertebrados: 1) Los ecosistemas se desplazan en conjunto en función del clima, y 2) Los ecosistemas se adaptan y cambian. El primero es poco realista debido a la tremenda y creciente fragmentación de hábitat en Europa y a la complejidad de las respuestas de las distintas especies y de sus interacciones. Sólo en ríos parece que existe esta posibilidad de desplazamiento de las biocenosis. El segundo no permite predicciones exactas en la mayoría de los casos con el nivel de conocimientos actual. Existen evidencias de efectos directos del cambio climático ocurrido hasta el presente, a pesar de la escasez de buenas series temporales. Así se han detectado importantes cambiosfenológicos en poblaciones de vertebrados e invertebrados, con adelantos (y en ciertos casos retrasos) en procesos de inicio de actividad, llegada de migración o reproducción. Los desajustes entre predadores y sus presas debidos a ...
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Scientia Marina, 2004
Abstract Data obtained over a period of twenty years from 214 bottom trawls, towed on a single wa... more Abstract Data obtained over a period of twenty years from 214 bottom trawls, towed on a single warp at depths between 402 and 1993 m in the western Mediterranean (Algerian and Balearic basins) and eastern North Atlantic (Rockall Trough and Porcupine Seabight), ...
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Evolutionary Ecology - EVOL ECOL, 2009
What is the role of time-constraints in determining geographical variation in the resource use of... more What is the role of time-constraints in determining geographical variation in the resource use of organisms? One hypothesis concerning phytophagous insects predicts a local narrowing of host plant range at localities where a short development time is important (because an additional generation per season is only just possible), with increased specialization on host plants permitting fast development. To test this hypothesis, populations of the polyphagous comma butterfly (Nymphalidae: Polygonia c-album) from five European areas (localities in Norway, Sweden, England, Belgium and Spain) were sampled and the preferences of laboratory-reared female butterflies were investigated, by a choice test between Salix caprea and the fastest host Urtica dioica. The results suggest that females of both of two northern univoltine populations (time-stressed from Norway and time-relaxed from Sweden) accept the slow host S. caprea to a higher degree than females of more southern populations with part...
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Journal of Fish Biology - J FISH BIOL, 1993
The capture of a juvenile specimen of Seriola fasciala (Bloch, 1793), a species previously unreco... more The capture of a juvenile specimen of Seriola fasciala (Bloch, 1793), a species previously unrecorded in the Mediterranean, is reported from the Badia de Palma (Balearic Islands, North-western Mediterranean).
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Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2009
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Marine Ecology-progress Series - MAR ECOL-PROGR SER, 1992
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Oikos, 2009
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Biodiversity and Conservation, 2009
Page 1. ORIGINAL PAPER The effect of an agro-pasture landscape on diversity and migration pattern... more Page 1. ORIGINAL PAPER The effect of an agro-pasture landscape on diversity and migration patterns of frugivorous butterflies in Chiapas, Mexico Linda Marın Æ Jorge L. León-Cortés Æ Constantı Stefanescu Received: 11 ...
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Journal of Insect Conservation, 2011
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Biology letters, Jan 23, 2012
Different vegetation types can generate variation in microclimates at local scales, potentially b... more Different vegetation types can generate variation in microclimates at local scales, potentially buffering species from adverse climates. To determine if species could respond to such microclimates under climatic warming, we evaluated whether ectothermic species (butterflies) can exploit favourable microclimates and alter their use of different habitats in response to year-to-year variation in climate. In both relatively cold (Britain) and warm (Catalonia) regions of their geographical ranges, most species shifted into cooler, closed habitats (e.g. woodland) in hot years, and into warmer, open habitats (e.g. grassland) in cooler years. Additionally, three-quarters of species occurred in closed habitats more frequently in the warm region than in the cool region. Thus, species shift their local distributions and alter their habitat associations to exploit favourable microclimates, although the magnitude of the shift (approx. 1.3% of individuals from open to shade, per degree Celsius) i...
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by Josef Settele, Norbert Hirneisen, Anna Avila, Heiko Schmaljohann, Janne Heliölä, Richard Fox, Felix Liechti, Susanne Åkesson, Nils Ryrholm, Constantí Stefanescu, Matti Leskinen, Elisabeth Kühn, and Ferran Páramo
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Papers by Constantí Stefanescu