•Herring gulls prefer high bivalve biomass and low water levels for foraging.•Tracking and hydrodynamic data can be used to predict the occurrence of bivalve beds.•Herring gulls are suitable ...indicators for intertidal bivalve beds in the Wadden Sea.
Germany is an EU member state and is thus obliged to monitor and protect its marine and coastal areas in the context of international treaties (e.g. EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, EU Natura2000 directives, Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Programme, OSPAR) to achieve the good environmental status (GES). Suitable indicators thus need to be developed to assess the status of relevant ecosystems. Intertidal bivalve beds belong to the most productive habitats in the shallow coastal waters of the Wadden Sea but are highly dynamic and difficult to monitor. Extensive benthos and sediment sampling are required to study their development and distribution. We therefore evaluated the suitability of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) as a bioindicator species for monitoring these habitats. As flexible and opportunistic top-predators, herring gulls prefer to forage on intertidal flats and feed on bivalves (Cerastoderma edule, Mytilus edulis, Ensis leei) and crustaceans, with intertidal habitats near the breeding colony preferred during the incubation period. We used state of the art tracking devices to analyse habitat selection by herring gulls, and assessed how this was driven by biotic and abiotic factors. We then designed a habitat model to predict the occurrence of intertidal bivalve beds for directed monitoring, based on GPS logger data from herring gulls and hydrodynamic data. Both methods showed high correlations of herring gull foraging patterns with bivalve biomass and inundation time, depending on the distance from the breeding colony. The movement patterns of herring gulls clearly mirrored intertidal bivalve distributions. These results showed that combining GPS-logger data for top-predators, such as birds, with environmental data has great potential for monitoring and assessing the GES. We propose that herring gulls may be used as an indicator to locate bivalve beds in the Wadden Sea and to detect changes in the food web.
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Neobiotic species can have profound impacts on food webs and entire ecosystems. The American razor clam Ensis leei was introduced into the Wadden Sea by vessels in the late 1970s and has since spread ...widely. It has been suggested that Ensis does not interact strongly with other benthic species. The abundance and biomass of E. leei were recorded in 2393 samples in the north-eastern Wadden Sea and 800 samples in the south-eastern Wadden Sea over a total period of 9 years. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we developed a habitat prediction model using sedimentological and hydrodynamic predictors to help understand the shape of the ecological niche occupied by Ensis in the Wadden Sea. Our model showed that Ensis preferred areas with moderately high bed shear stress and prolonged or constant water coverage. Ensis preferred coarse sediments in the northern sub-area but coarse and muddy sediments in the southern sub-area and was negatively affected by the sand mason worm Lanice conchilega in the northern sub-area. Predictions of the spatial distribution of Ensis using the northern and southern datasets revealed major differences in predicted hot-spots throughout the entire study site. This study thus highlights the need to collect a sufficiently large dataset from different sub-areas of the Wadden Sea to allow valid conclusions to be drawn regarding the spatial distribution of Ensis. The negative effects of L. conchilega on Ensis abundance and biomass as well as the occurrence of Ensis in muddy sediments in the south suggest that the ecological niche of this neobiotic species is likely to overlap partly with the native fauna of the Wadden Sea.
•Long-term data were used to determine ecological niche and predict habitat potential of Ensis leei.•Abundance and biomass of Ensis were related with sedimentologic and hydrodanamic predictors.•Ensis occurred both, in coarse sediments as well as in muddy environments.•Ensis abundance and biomass declined in areas with dense Lanice conchilega reefs.•The invasive Ensis is thought to overlap with the pristine benthic fauna particularly in muddy sediments.
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The Wadden Sea along the North Sea coasts of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. Its habitats are highly productive and ...harbour high standing stocks and densities of benthic species, well adapted to the demanding environmental conditions. Therefore, the Wadden Sea is one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world and thus protected by national and international legislation, which amongst others requires extensive monitoring. Due to the inaccessibility of major areas of the Wadden Sea, a classification approach based on optical and radar remote sensing has been developed to support environmental monitoring programmes. In this study, the general classification framework as well as two specific monitoring cases, mussel beds and seagrass meadows, are presented. The classification of mussel beds profits highly from inclusion of radar data due to their rough surface and achieves agreements of up to 79 % with areal data from the regular monitoring programme. Classification of seagrass meadows reaches even higher agreements with monitoring data (up to 100 %) and furthermore captures seagrass densities as low as 10 %. The main classification results are information on area and location of individual habitats. These are needed to fulfil environmental legislation requirements. One of the major advantages of this approach is the large areal coverage with individual satellite images, allowing simultaneous assessment of both accessible and inaccessible areas and thus providing a more complete overall picture.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The Wadden Sea, shared by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, is one of the world's largest intertidal wetlands. Waterbirds are an important element of the Wadden Sea ecosystem. By their migratory ...behaviour they connect the Wadden Sea with other sites, ranging from the arctic to the western seaboards of Europe and Africa, forming the East-Atlantic Flyway. The Joint Monitoring of Migratory Birds (JMMB) project of the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program (TMAP) follows the changes in population size within the Wadden Sea. In this paper we describe and analyse population trends over the years 1991–2009 for 22 waterbird species using the Wadden Sea in internationally important numbers and depending on intertidal mudflats. Population declines predominated in this 18-year period. More populations decreased in Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen than in The Netherlands and Denmark. This is the case particularly for species feeding on polychaetes. In contrast, waterbirds feeding on bivalves are in decline in all regions except Denmark. On the finer spatial scale of tidal basins, these patterns in trends are still apparent, although much variation in trend directions exists within the Dutch Wadden Sea, especially in bivalve specialists. For those species for which we could compare the trend in the Wadden Sea with the trend of their entire flyway population, we found that the former were more negative. This finding and the contrasting trends between regions and tidal basins within the Wadden Sea suggest that causes of the population changes are to be sought within the Wadden Sea itself. These causes, which may act in combination, could be related to factors operating within the Wadden Sea only or with factors operating on a larger scale but having an intensified or differentiated effect within the Wadden Sea. Interestingly, the Wadden Sea regions where negative trends of benthivorous waterbirds predominate are characterized by a large tidal amplitude, whereas areas where bird numbers have generally increased are characterized by a small tidal amplitude. An inventory of possible causes indicated climate change, eutrophication, shellfish fisheries, invasive species and increasing numbers of avian predators as the most important candidates to be investigated further to explain the observed trends.
► We analyse trends in numbers since 1991 of 22 waterbird species depending on intertidal mudflats of the Wadden Sea. ► 73% of these are decreasing, including all bivalve specialists and more than half of the polychate and mixed benthos feeders. ► More decreases are found in Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen in comparison with The Netherlands and Denmark. ► These patterns are discussed in relation to likely drivers.
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The joint research project MINOS examines whether large-scale offshore wind farms within the German parts of the North and Baltic Seas affect or endanger harbour porpoises, common seals, and ...seabirds. The research results are expected to provide the basis for estimating and assessing the impacts of future wind farms. MINOS focuses on two items: recording the preferential habitats and migratory routes of these animals in the EEZ, and investigating the sensitivity of porpoises and seals to sound, in order to assess possible damage, displacement and disturbance. When evaluating overall impacts to these animals, any expected impact of offshore wind farms must be considered in the context of already existing stressors.
The goal of the research is not to prevent or to hamper wind farming, but to provide a profound and reproducible knowledge basis for assessment in order to facilitate the development of sustainable power generation. This decision will not be taken by biologists or geologists, but by authorities or in court.
Since harbour porpoises have an ultrasonic location system (like bats), they are very sensitive to underwater noise. The noise produced during the construction and operation of offshore wind turbines, could cause behavioural changes or even physical harm to these animals. Such disturbances could displace the porpoises from their feeding and breeding habitats or otherwise reduce their fitness due to higher stress. Similar effects could also be expected to apply to common seals. Preliminary results indicate that harbour porpoises and common seals avoid sources that emit sounds similar to that of wind turbines.
With regard to seabirds, MINOS has focused on divers and sea ducks, which have important wintering grounds in the North and Baltic Seas within the German EEZ. The construction of offshore wind farms within these areas should be assessed with regard to possible detrimental consequences caused by the loss or interruption of diver and sea duck resting and feeding habitats.
MINOS has also developed and expanded upon research and evaluation methods for future use in monitoring programmes. Resting seabirds and harbour porpoises were counted using low altitude aerial transect surveys. Complex mathematical modelling was used to estimate the abundance of animals. Similarly, ship surveys were also carried out. Telemetry was used to record spatial activity patterns of seals. Hearing tests were carried out with free-ranging porpoises and seals and their conspecifics in captivity. Finally, porpoise detectors (POD) were employed to detect the presence of porpoises in the vicinity. These detectors can function for several weeks, but cannot determine the relative number of animals; nonetheless, they provide important additional results to the numbers gained through airborne and at-sea surveys.
The above-described research has been conducted in seven separate subprojects, integrated into the MINOS-project and its successor, MINOSplus (see chapters 10, 11, 12 and 13). All projects were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
Alternative splicing enhances proteome diversity and modulates cancer-associated proteins. To identify tissue- and tumor-specific alternative splicing, we used the GeneChip Human Exon 1.0 ST Array to ...measure whole-genome exon expression in 102 normal and cancer tissue samples of different stages from colon, urinary bladder, and prostate. We identified 2069 candidate alternative splicing events between normal tissue samples from colon, bladder, and prostate and selected 15 splicing events for RT-PCR validation, 10 of which were successfully validated by RT-PCR and sequencing. Furthermore 23, 19, and 18 candidate tumor-specific splicing alterations in colon, bladder, and prostate, respectively, were selected for RT-PCR validation on an independent set of 81 normal and tumor tissue samples. In total, seven genes with tumor-specific splice variants were identified (ACTN1, CALD1, COL6A3, LRRFIP2, PIK4CB, TPM1, and VCL). The validated tumor-specific splicing alterations were highly consistent, enabling clear separation of normal and cancer samples and in some cases even of different tumor stages. A subset of the tumor-specific splicing alterations (ACTN1, CALD1, and VCL) was found in all three organs and may represent general cancer-related splicing events. In silico protein predictions suggest that the identified cancer-specific splice variants encode proteins with potentially altered functions, indicating that they may be involved in pathogenesis and hence represent novel therapeutic targets. In conclusion, we identified and validated alternative splicing between normal tissue samples from colon, bladder, and prostate in addition to cancer-specific splicing events in colon, bladder, and prostate cancer that may have diagnostic and prognostic implications.
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Purpose
– In 2003 Reichheld published an article in HBR, in which he claims that the net promoter score (NPS), is the only number you need to grow, and the only number you need to manage customer ...loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the NPS is inferior to the standard measures of loyalty used by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and EPSI rating.
Design/methodology/approach
– In 2006 a customer satisfaction survey of the entire insurance sector in Denmark was conducted. The survey design was based on the questionnaires from EPSI rating and ACSI supplemented with insurance-specific questions, consumer sentiment questions and the basic Net Promoter Question. The sample consists of approximately 2,000 observations.
Findings
– The analyses presented in this paper show that the NPS it not what it claims to be: the one number you need to grow. The NPS is found to be a very poor predictor of both customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. The measure is very sensitive to changes in the underlying distribution, and finally the precision of the NPS was found to be low compared to other measures of loyalty, and it is not possible to predict the NPS categorization and hence it is hard to say precisely, how organizations can influence corporate growth based on the NPS.
Research limitations/implications
– The analysis is only conducted on data collected in a Danish business-to-consumer setting. More research is needed to shed light on the performance of the NPS across cultures as well as in a business-to-business setting.
Practical implications
– The paper demonstrates the dangers of using the NPS as an input to managerial decision making. Organizations are far better off using a standard customer loyalty measure such as those employed by the ACSI or EPSI instead of the NPS.
Originality/value
– Previous studies of the NPS have not replicated the methodology directly. Either there have been differences in scale length or in wording. The authors have constructed an experiment in the Danish insurance industry that answers some of the questions concerning the NPS without the shortcomings that most of the previous studies have suffered from.
Enhancing importance-performance analysis Eskildsen, Jacob K; Kristensen, Kai
International journal of productivity and performance management,
01/2006, Volume:
55, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Purpose - The interpretation of the importance performance map is based on an assumption of independence between importance and performance but many studies question the validity of this assumption. ...The aim of this research is to develop a new typology for job satisfaction attributes as well as a new importance performance map that can be an aid for organizations when they prioritize their improvement actions based on a job satisfaction study.Design methodology approach - A typology for possible relationships between importance and performance in job satisfaction studies is developed based on theoretical considerations. This typology is then applied and validated on approximately 10,000 responses from the European Employee Index 2002. Ultimately a new importance performance map for priority setting in job satisfaction studies is developed based on the new typology for possible relationships between importance and performance.Findings - The result of this analysis showed that the assumption of independence between the importance and performance is invalid in certain situations.Research limitations implications - The subsets in the analysis are not all independent since a respondent may appear in more than one subset. This is a problem with the data generating process that to some extent might influence the analysis.Practical implications - Profound impact on the way that the importance performance map should be interpreted since non-proportional attributes will move both vertically as well as horizontally in the traditional importance performance map as performance changes.Originality value - This paper gives a theoretical explanation for the presence of non-proportional satisfiers and develops a new importance performance map that takes the presence of non-proportional satisfiers into account.
This paper analyses the relationship between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and the future business potential of existing customers. The data for the analysis come from the Danish Customer ...Satisfaction Index 2006. Here a total of approximately 2000 private customers evaluated their preferred property insurance provider. Based on theoretical considerations, six assumptions are developed and tested.
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