Cristina Fiera

Soil Mesostigmata mites are key predators in edaphic food webs and sensitive to environmental disturbance. However, their response to land-use intensity across European pedoclimatic gradients remains insufficiently understood. This study investigates whether the structure and composition of Mesostigmata communities are shaped by land-use type and intensity in the Pannonian region of southern Romania. A total of 51 sites representing six land-use types (urban, arable land, forest, wetlands, orchards, and grasslands) and three intensities (high, medium and low) were sampled. Three plots per site were established, resulting 153 soil samples. Seven soil parameters were measured (K, P, soil organic carbon, bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, pH, and soil moisture content). The statistical analyses were performed in R software (vers. 4.4.1, R Core Team 2025). We identified 42 Mesostigmata species with an overall density of 74,394 individuals m?². Forest ecosystems supported the highest species richness and abundance, whereas arable lands and orchards showed the lowest values. Low-intensity systems had the highest abundances (33,630 ind m?²), while medium-intensity systems showed peak species richness (27 species). Highly anthropized systems had reduced diversity (15 species) and density (11,719 ind m?²). Dominant species included Amblyseius stramenti, Zercon peltatus peltatus, Gaeolaelaps nolli, and Asca aphidoides, xerothermic-adapted taxa with small body size and reduced biomass. Community composition differed significantly along the land-use intensity gradient and was associated with variation in soil nutrients, carbon content, bulk density, and pH. From environmental point of view each type of ecosystems were characterized by the specifically edaphic conditions. Mesostigmata communities exhibit clear structural responses to land-use gradients, highlighting their potential as bioindicators of soil disturbance in Pannonian terrestrial ecosystems. This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under the SOB4ES project – Integrating Soil Biodiversity to Ecosystem Services(Grant Agreement No. 101112831).

This study describes three new species of Palaearctic Collembola— Entomobrya cezarae sp. nov ., E. antoniae sp. nov ., and Willowsia solanella sp. nov .—collected in Romania. The genus Entomobrya , one of the most diverse and taxonomically challenging groups of Collembola, has long been affected by incomplete historical descriptions. Recent advances in macrochaetotaxy-based methodologies, particularly those developed by Jordana and collaborators, have significantly improved species diagnoses and clarified the taxonomy of the tribe Entomobryini. In addition, recent global revisions further emphasize the need for standardized morphological terminology. The genus Willowsia , comprising 44 species with a worldwide distribution and characterized by distinctive scales, is here supplemented by the description of a new species. These findings contribute to a more robust understanding of the diversity of Palaearctic Entomobryidae.

This study presents data on soil campodeids collected in Romania and Bulgaria in recent years. The collection comprises 12 species of genus Campodea Westwood, 1842 in total. A new species, Campodea (Dicampa) transylvanica Sendra, sp. nov. is described from Zarand and Făgăraș mountains in Romania. Campodea (Campodea) plusiochaeta Silvestri, 1912 is newly recorded for the Romanian fauna, while Campodea (Paurocampa) ruseki Condé, 1966 represents a new record for Bulgaria. New distributional data are also provided for the remaining ten species.

In the present paper, a new species of the genus Entomobrya is described from Croatia. E. silvicola sp. nov. has a unique colour pattern that distinguishes it from other Entomobrya species in Europe and worldwide. Besides the different colour pattern, there are notable differences in the dorsal macrochaetotaxy and other characters that distinguish the new species from the other Entomobrya sharing the same dorsal macrochaetotaxy formula of Abd II–III. Herein, we also provide the redescription of E. margaretae Gruia, 1967, based on topotypic specimens, of which a neotype was designated.

This paper provides an overview on troglobitic springtails found in European caves, including a checklist at species level. The paper also reviews what is currently known about Collembola, which occur in caves of the most important mountain ranges in Europe. Only troglobitic species were included since many troglophiles were of uncertain ecological status. A total of 338 troglobitic species of Collembola is recorded from European caves, distributed across 12 families. Spain and France appear to host the highest richness of species, including endemics. From a biogeographic perspective, troglobitic species are unevenly distributed in Europe, especially in the most important mountain ranges, like the Alps, the Carpathians, the Pyrenees, the Caucasus, and other European mountains. Troglobitic springtails are far more abundant in temperate zones than in the tropics. Despite this, several genera of Collembola appear to be well represented, while some are poorly represented (or lacking) in European caves. Many advances in knowledge of subterranean springtails have been made, particularly in the description of new species. However, there are still major gaps in the knowledge of the biology, environmental requirements, and impacts on subterranean fauna. This paper highlights the need for further research and provides baseline data for such efforts.

Dated, geo‐referenced museum specimens are a rich data source for reconstructing species' distribution and abundance patterns. However, museum records are potentially biased towards over‐representation of rare species, and it is unclear whether museum records can be used to estimate relative abundance in the field. We assembled 17 coupled field and museum datasets to quantitatively compare relative abundance estimates with the Dirichlet distribution. Collectively, these datasets comprise 73,039 museum records and 1,405,316 field observations of 2,240 species. Although museum records of rare species overestimated relative abundance by 1‐fold to over 100‐fold (median study = 9.0), the relative abundance of species estimated from museum occurrence records was strongly correlated with relative abundance estimated from standardized field surveys (r² range of 0.10–0.91, median study = 0.43). These analyses provide a justification for estimating species relative abundance with carefully curated museum occurrence records, which may allow for the detection of temporal or spatial shifts in the rank ordering of common and rare species.

Two new species of the genusHymenaphorurafrom Romania,H. urbanasp. nov. andH. kalinderasp. nov., are described and illustrated.Hymenaphorura urbanahas a postantennal organ (PAO) with 13–15 simple vesicles, abdominal terga I–III with subequal setae p₂and p₃, abdominal tergum V granular area with 3+3 distinct, long macrosetae, andH. kalinderasp. nov. has PAO with 9–12 simple vesicles, one border seta, abdominal terga I–III with setae p₂slightly longer than setae p₃, abdominal tergum V granular area with 4+4 distinct macrosetae. Remarks onH. subsimilisBagnall, 1948 are given. An updated key for the world distributed species ofHymenaphorurais presented.

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/our-work/biodiversity/predicts.html)—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.