Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia

• PhD Environmental Sciences
• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Biological invasions pose substantial economic threats globally, yet detailed cost assessments for many Global South nations, especially in Africa, remain scarce. This study presents the first comprehensive breakdown of the potential costs of biological invasions in Morocco. We identified 551 invasive alien species, comprising approximately 1.76% o...

BOLD, the Barcode of Life Data System, supports the acquisition, storage, validation, analysis, and publication of DNA barcodes, activities requiring the integration of molecular, morphological, and distributional data. Its pivotal role in curating the reference library of DNA barcodes, coupled with its data management and analysis capabilities, ma...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science – a dynamic and rapidly evolving discipline – the proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with various discrep...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science — a dynamic and quickly evolving discipline — the rapid proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its language development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with...

Background Rodents are among the most notorious invasive alien species worldwide. These invaders have substantially impacted native ecosystems, food production and storage, local infrastructures, human health and well-being. However, the lack of standardized and understandable estimation of their impacts is a serious barrier to raising societal awa...

Caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America inducing hemostatic disturbances in patients upon skin contact with the caterpillars’ spines. Currently, only two species have been reported to cause hemorrhagic syndromes in humans: Lonomia achelous and Lo...

Caterpillars of the Neotropical genus Lonomia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are responsible for some fatal envenomation of humans in South America inducing hemostatic disturbances in patients upon skin contact with the caterpillars' spines. Currently, only two species have been reported to cause hemorrhagic syndromes in humans: Lonomia achelous and Lo...

Invasive ants are amongst the most destructive and widespread invaders across the globe; they can strongly alter invaded ecosystems and are responsible for the loss of native ant species. Several studies have reported that invasive ants can also lead to substantial economic costs. In this study, we search, describe and analyse 1342 reported costs o...

A bstract Wild silkmoths (Saturniidae) are one of the most emblematic and most studied families of moths. Yet, the absence of a robust phylogenetic framework based on a comprehensive taxonomic sampling impedes our understanding of their evolutionary history. We analyzed 1,024 ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and their flanking regions to infer the re...

• Global insect decline has recently become a cause for major concern, particularly in the tropics where the vast majority of species occurs. Deforestation is suggested as being a major driver of this decline, but how anthropogenic changes in landscape structure affect tropical insect communities has rarely been addressed. • We sampled Saturniidae...

The regions of the Andes and Caribbean-Mesoamerica are both hypothesized to be the cradle for many Neotropical lineages, but few studies have fully investigated the dynamics and interactions between Neotropical bioregions. The New World hawkmoth genus Xylophanes is the most taxono-mically diverse genus in the Sphingidae, with the highest endemism a...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic...

Invasive alien species (IAS) affect natural ecosystems and services fundamental to human well-being, human health and economies. However, the economic costs associated with IAS have been less studied than other impacts. This information can be particularly important for developing countries such as Argentina, where monetary resources for invasion m...

Invasive species can have severe impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human health. Though the economic impacts of invasions provide important foundations for management and policy, up-to-date syntheses of these impacts are lacking. To produce the most comprehensive estimate of invasive species costs within North America (including the Greater Ant...

The ever-increasing number of introduced species profoundly threatens global biodiversity. While the ecological and evolutionary consequences of invasive alien species are receiving increasing attention, their economic impacts have largely remained understudied, especially in France. Here, we aimed at providing a general overview of the monetary lo...

Invasive alien species are responsible for a high economic impact on many sectors worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of studies assessing these impacts in Central and South America. Investigating costs of invasions is important to motivate and guide policy responses by increasing stakeholders’ awareness and identifying action priorities....

Despite the large body of knowledge recognising the impact of biological invasions on biodiversity, their economic impact has been less evaluated. However, the associated economic costs ought to provide useful information on many different aspects to prevent and manage invasions. Here, we describe the economic costs of biological invasions in Japan...

Economic assessments for invasive alien species (IAS) are an urgent requirement for informed decision-making, coordinating and motivating the allocation of economic and human resources for the management of IAS. We searched for economic costs of IAS occurring in Spain, by using the InvaCost database and requesting data to regional governments and n...

Biological invasions, as a result of human intervention through trade and mobility, are the second biggest cause of biodiversity loss. The impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) on the environment are well known, however, economic impacts are poorly estimated, especially in mega-diverse countries where both economic and ecological consequences of...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic co...

Aim Future climate changes may affect species distribution and their genetic diversity, hampering species adaptation to a new climate or tracking the suitable conditions. Amphibians have high sensitivity to environmental degradation and changes in temperature and humidity. Thus, the expected climatic changes by the end‐of‐century (EOC 2100) may cau...

The Saturniidae is one of the most emblematic families of moths, comprising nearly 3000 species distributed globally. In this study, DNA barcode analysis and comparative morphology were combined to describe three new species within the genus Automeris, which is the most diverse genus in the family. Automeris llaneros Decaëns, Rougerie & Bonilla, sp...

Rodents are a notorious group of invaders worldwide. Their invasions have substantially impacted native ecosystems, local infrastructure, and human health and well-being. However, a lack of synthesized estimation of their economic impacts hampers effective management interventions at relevant scales. Here, we used the InvaCost database – the most u...

Invasive ants are amongst the most destructive and widespread invaders across the globe; they can strongly alter invaded ecosystems and are responsible for the displacement of numerous native ant species. Several studies have reported that invasive ants can lead to substantial economic costs. In this study, we search, describe and analyze 1,621 rep...

We contend that the exclusive focus on the English language in scientific research might hinder effective communication between scientists and practitioners or policy makers whose mother tongue is non-English. This barrier in scientific knowledge and data transfer likely leads to significant knowledge gaps and may create biases when providing globa...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic co...

Herbivorous insects represent a major fraction of global biodiversity and the relationships they have established with their food plants range from strict specialists to broad generalists. Our knowledge of these relationships is of primary importance to basic (e.g. the study of insect ecology and evolution) and applied biology (e.g. monitoring of p...

Herbivorous insects represent a major fraction of global biodiversity and the relationships they have established with their food plants range from strict specialists to broad generalists. Our knowledge of these relationships is of primary importance to basic (e.g. the study of insect ecology and evolution) and applied biology (e.g. monitoring of p...

Despite the huge biodiversity of the Cerrado biome, a synthesis on the distribution of genetic diversity across the biome is still wanting. We describe patterns of plant genetic variation across the Cerrado biome, highlighting areas of high diversity and priority areas for conservation. We also analyze the relative importance of environmental chara...

The IUCN Red List categorizes species based on their geographical distribution and population size. However, attributes such as genetic information are not yet considered. We compiled information on genetic diversity (HE, HO) and inbreeding coefficient (f) along with their ecological attributes (IUCN category, migratory habit, forest dependence and...

Restricted gene flow may lead to the loss of genetic diversity and higher genetic differentiation among populations, but the genetic consequences of megafauna extinction for plant populations still remain to be assessed. We performed a phylogenetic-independent meta-analysis across 102 Neotropical plants to test the hypothesis that plant species wit...

Our knowledge of global biodiversity remains incomplete and beset by knowledge shortfalls affecting both the census of species (i.e. the Linnean shortfall) and our understanding of their distributions (i.e. the Wallacean shortfall; Hortal et al. 2015). While alarming rates of species extinction have been reported in most groups of organisms, our ca...

Aim We mapped the geographical pattern of body sizes in sphingid moths and investigated latitudinal clines. We tested hypotheses concerning their possible environmental control, that is, effects of temperature (negative: temperature size rule or Bergmann's rule; positive: converse Bergmann rule), food availability, robustness to starvation during e...

Aim We test hypotheses on the environmental control of elevational richness patterns of sphingid moths for their global applicability and generality. Specifically, we compare effects of area with climate‐related drivers, such as primary productivity and temperature, while also considering direct effects of precipitation. Major taxa Sphingid moths...

The range size of species co-occurring in local assemblages is a pivotal variable in assessments of a site’s conservation value. Assemblages featuring many small-ranged species are given more priority than assemblages consisting mainly of wide-ranging species. However, the assembly of relevant information can be challenging and local range size dis...

Background Bombycoidea is an ecologically diverse and speciose superfamily of Lepidoptera. The superfamily includes many model organisms, but the taxonomy and classification of the superfamily has remained largely in disarray. Here we present a global checklist of Bombycoidea. Following Zwick (2008) and Zwick et al. (2011), ten families are recogni...

Global Bombycoidea checklist

Aim To map the spatial variation of range sizes within sphingid moths, and to test hypotheses on its environmental control. In particular, we investigate effects of climate change velocity since the Pleistocene and the mid‐Holocene, temperature and precipitation seasonality, topography, Pleistocene ice cover, and available land area. Location Old...

Understanding how historical and current environmental suitability and human impacts affect the genetic diversity on a large scale is essential to species management planning. However, most studies in conservation genetics are carried out at a local or regional scale and rarely on broad spatial scales such as an entire biome. We evaluated the relat...

The high rates of future climatic changes, compared with the rates reported for past changes, may hamper species adaptation to new climates or the tracking of suitable conditions, resulting in significant loss of genetic diversity. Trees are dominant species in many biomes and because they are long-lived, they may not be able to cope with ongoing c...

We studied genetic diversity and differentiation patterns in Neotropical plants to address effects of life history traits (LHT) and ecological attributes based on an exhaustive literature survey. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to test the effects as fixed and random factors of growth form, pollination and dispersal modes, mating an...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158660.].

Number of species per ecological attributes across all the studies included in the analyses of genetic diversity and structure in Neotropical plants. (DOCX)

Mean values of the posterior distribution of the GLMM for nuclear genome, for genetic parameters. He, genetic diversity within population; FIS, inbreeding coefficient; AR, allelic richness. Note that both genetic parameters are calculated for isozymes and microsatellite makers. Significant values are denoted in bold and grey-shaded. (DOCX)

Phylogenetic generalized least squares for growth form, for each genetic parameter analyzed. Significant values are denoted in bold. FST, genetic differentiation among populations; HeS, mean genetic diversity among populations, He, genetic diversity within population; FIS, inbreeding coefficient. SE, standard error. (DOCX)

Phylogenetic generalized least squares for dispersal mode, for each genetic parameter analyzed. Significant values are denoted in bold. FST, genetic differentiation among populations; HeS, mean genetic diversity among populations, He, genetic diversity within population; FIS, inbreeding coefficient. SE, standard error. (DOCX)

Number of species per life-history trait (LHT) across all the studies included in the analyses of genetic diversity and structure in Neotropical plants. (DOCX)

Number of species analyzed per molecular marker across all the studies included in the analyses of genetic diversity and structure in Neotropical plants. (DOCX)

Mean values of the posterior distribution of the GLMM for nuclear genome, for genetic parameters. FST, genetic differentiation among populations; HeS, mean genetic diversity among populations. Note that both genetic parameters are calculated for dominant (i.e. AFLP, RAPD,ISSR.), isozymes and microsatellite makers. Significant values are denoted in...

Mean values of the posterior distribution of the GLMM for nuclear genome, for genetic parameters. h, haplotype diversity π, nucleotide diversity. Significant values are denoted in bold. (DOCX)

Number of genus and species per family included in the analyses of genetic diversity and structure in Neotropical plants. (DOCX)

Mean values of the posterior distribution of the GLMM for chloroplast genome, for genetic parameters. FST, genetic differentiation among populations; h, haplotype diversity; π, nucleotide diversity. Significant values are denoted in bold and grey-shaded. (DOCX)

Phylogenetic generalized least squares for breeding system, for each genetic parameter analyzed. Significant values are denoted in bold. FST, genetic differentiation among populations; HeS, mean genetic diversity among populations, He, genetic diversity within population; FIS, inbreeding coefficient. SE, standard error. (DOCX)

Despite their vast diversity and vital ecological role, insects are notoriously underrepresented in biogeography and conservation, and key broad-scale ecological hypotheses about them remain untested - largely due to generally incomplete and very coarse spatial distribution knowledge. Integrating records from publications, field work and natural hi...

Essa atividade busca auxiliar no ensino de Genética da Conservação demonstrando como uma metodologia baseada em estudos genéticos pode ser utilizada para avaliar quais populações de uma determinada espécie (ou mais de uma espécie) estão sendo ou serão afetadas por mudanças climáticas. A atividade pode ser utilizada como simulação de aula prática ou...

The coexistence of numerous tree species in tropical forests is commonly explained by negative dependence of recruitment on the conspecific seed and tree density due to specialist natural enemies that attack seeds and seedlings ('Janzen-Connell' effects). Less known is whether guilds of shared seed predators can induce a negative dependence of recr...

Aim To investigate the contribution to range filling, range extent and climatic niche space of species of information contained in the largest databank of digitized biodiversity data: the global biodiversity information facility ( GBIF ). We compared such information with a compilation of independent distributional data from natural history collect...

Aim Conservation studies often investigate the biodiversity of one taxonomic group with the expectation that it reflects biodiversity of other taxa as well. However, previous studies have found that biodiversity patterns are often only weakly correlated across ecologically very different taxa. Using three arthropod taxa that share the same habitat,...

see: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12021/suppinfo

Many amphibian lineages show terrestrialization of their reproductive strategy and breeding is partially or completely independent of water. A number of causal factors have been proposed for the evolution of terrestrialized breeding. While predation has received repeated attention as a potential factor, the influence of other factors such as habita...

Aim Many taxa, especially invertebrates, remain biogeographically highly understudied and even baseline assessments are missing, with too limited and heterogeneous sampling being key reasons. Here we set out to assess the human geographic and associated environmental factors behind inventory completeness for the hawkmoths of A frica. We aim to sepa...

Over the last two decades, macroecology – the analysis of large-scale, multi-species ecological patterns and processes – has established itself as a major line of biological research. Analyses of statistical links between environmental variables and biotic responses have long and successfully been employed as a main approach, but new developments a...

Agrius cingulata (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) is widespread in the Americas, but has recently begun to spread into Africa. In parts of its native range, the species is a pest of sweet potato, which is an important crop plant in Africa. We used two types of ecological niche models, based on native distribution records and climate and vegetation structu...