Abstract English is the lingua franca for scientific communication, but some journals, especially in developing countries, still publish non-English studies. A shift towards publishing in English may promote internationalization and more visibility of scientific journals. Here we compared quality indexes between Brazilian journals that have always published in English and journals that have published in languages other than English. We also investigated whether a temporal shift towards publishing in English led to elevated quality measures. Our analyses covered 16 Brazilian biodiversity journals and accounted for 12640 papers published since 2007. The mean impact factor was on average 55% higher in journals that have published consistently in English, compared to the so-called multilanguage journals. The proportion of publications in English increased to nearly three times the original value in multilanguage journals between 2007 and 2016, and the impact factor tripled during this period. At the same time, the Qualis-Capes classifications (B1-B2-B3) tended to fall. Publishing in English can be a first step to increased visibility, and this is particularly important for biodiversity journals, since Brazilian ecosystems are considered of interest to the international scientific community and nature conservation.

Interactions between terrestrial and aquatic systems influence the structure of river habitats and, consequently, affect their benthic macroinvertebrate composition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of spatial and environmental variables (local physical and chemical variables of water and regional landscape characteristics) on the benthic macroinvertebrate community of the Pandeiros River Basin. Biotic and abiotic variables were evaluated at 20 sampling sites distributed across the primary sub-basins of the Pandeiros River Basin. We found that the macroinvertebrates were primarily affected by environmental variables. The most important environmental variables were pebble proportion and water conductivity at the local scale (7.2% of explained variation) and elevation and nonforest areas at the regional scale (6.9% of explained variation). The spatial variables were representative only in shared explained variation with the environmental matrices (local-spatial = 0.2% and regional-spatial = 2%; all matrices combined = 4.4%). Sampling sites with higher non-forest areas, lower elevations, and steeper slopes presented low pebble fractions and higher electrical conductivities. Habitat diversity was lower when the percentage of pebbles decreased, resulting in decreased taxonomic richness and diversity in macroinvertebrate communities. High electrical conductivities and non-forest areas also had negative effects on macroinvertebrate density due to the loss of habitat diversity. We conclude that higher proportions of pebbles in the substrate and higher altitudes were likely the primary variables for positive effects on the taxonomic richness and density of macroinvertebrate communities.