Neonicotinoid seed dressings have caused concern world-wide. We use large field experiments to assess the effects of neonicotinoid-treated crops on three bee species across three countries (Hungary, ...Germany, and the United Kingdom). Winter-sown oilseed rape was grown commercially with either seed coatings containing neonicotinoids (clothianidin or thiamethoxam) or no seed treatment (control). For honey bees, we found both negative (Hungary and United Kingdom) and positive (Germany) effects during crop flowering. In Hungary, negative effects on honey bees (associated with clothianidin) persisted over winter and resulted in smaller colonies in the following spring (24% declines). In wild bees (Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis), reproduction was negatively correlated with neonicotinoid residues. These findings point to neonicotinoids causing a reduced capacity of bee species to establish new populations in the year following exposure.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
A variety of tools have emerged with the goal of mapping the current delivery of ecosystem services and quantifying the impact of environmental changes. An important and often overlooked question is ...how accurate the outputs of these models are in relation to empirical observations. In this paper we validate a hydrological ecosystem service model (InVEST Water Yield Model) using widely available data. We modelled annual water yield in 22 UK catchments with widely varying land cover, population and geology, and compared model outputs with gauged river flow data from the UK National River Flow Archive. Values for input parameters were selected from existing literature to reflect conditions in the UK and were subjected to sensitivity analyses. We also compared model performance between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data sourced from global- and UK-scale datasets. We then tested the transferability of the results within the UK by additional validation in a further 20 catchments.
Whilst the model performed only moderately with global-scale data (linear regression of modelled total water yield against empirical data; slope=0.763, intercept=54.45, R2=0.963) with wide variation in performance between catchments, the model performed much better when using UK-scale input data, with closer fit to the observed data (slope=1.07, intercept=3.07, R2=0.990). With UK data the majority of catchments showed <10% difference between measured and modelled water yield but there was a minor but consistent overestimate per hectare (86m3/ha/year). Additional validation on a further 20 UK catchments was similarly robust, indicating that these results are transferable within the UK. These results suggest that relatively simple models can give accurate measures of ecosystem services. However, the choice of input data is critical and there is a need for further validation in other parts of the world.
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•Ecosystem service models are widely used but rarely validated with empirical data.•We validated the InVEST water yield model with long-term river flow data in the UK.•We investigated model sensitivity and compared performance with alternative input data.•The model can be highly sensitive to variation or errors in the input parameters.•The InVEST model performed well when national scale input data were used.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Youth screen use in the ABCD® study Bagot, KS; Tomko, RL; Marshall, A.T. ...
Developmental cognitive neuroscience,
10/2022, Volume:
57
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Adolescent screen usage is ubiquitous and influences development and behavior. Longitudinal screen usage data coupled with psychometrically valid constructs of problematic behaviors can provide ...insights into these relationships. We describe methods by which the screen usage questionnaire was developed in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, demonstrate longitudinal changes in screen usage via child report and describe data harmonization baseline-year 2. We further include psychometric analyses of adapted social media and video game addiction scales completed by youth. Nearly 12,000 children ages 9–10 years at baseline and their parents were included in the analyses. The social media addiction questionnaire (SMAQ) showed similar factor structure and item loadings across sex and race/ethnicities, but that item intercepts varied across both sex and race/ethnicity. The videogame addiction questionnaire (VGAQ) demonstrated the same configural, metric and scalar invariance across racial and ethnic groups, however differed across sex. Video gaming and online social activity increased over ages 9/10–11/12 (p’s < 0.001). Compared with boys, girls engaged in greater social media use (p < .001) and demonstrated higher ratings on the SMAQ (p < .001). Compared with girls, boys played more video games (p < .001) and demonstrated higher ratings on the VGAQ (p < .001). Time spent playing video games increased more steeply for boys than girls from age 9/10–11/12 years (p < .001). Black youth demonstrated significantly higher SMAQ and VGAQ scores compared to all other racial/ethnic groups. These data show the importance of considering different screen modalities beyond total screen use and point towards clear demographic differences in use patterns. With these comprehensive data, ABCD is poised to address critical questions about screen usage changes across adolescence.
•Total screen use increased 9 to 12 years of age.•Sex differences in types of screen use; girls engaged in more social media use and boys played video games more.•Minoritized youth had higher social media and video game addiction ratings than white counterparts.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
▶ Biomass and species richness of predatory ground beetles in UK arable landscapes respond principally to landscape structure, while phytophagous species respond to local habitat type only. ▶ The ...functional diversity of predatory ground beetles is positively correlated with the proportion of Tussock Grass field margins in the surrounding landscape. ▶ The functional traits that describe predatory ground beetle dispersal and movement are less diverse in landscapes containing high proportions of the crop Oilseed Rape.
This study investigated how local habitat type and landscape structure affects the biomass, species richness and functional diversity of ground beetles sampled from a 1000
ha UK arable farm. At a local scale habitat type was either crop (winter wheat and oilseed rape) or one of five field margin habitats. Surrounding each of these sampling areas, landscape structure was defined using remote sensed data from Specim AISA Eagle (400–970
nm) and Hawk (970–2450
nm) hyperspectral sensors. Ground beetles were divided into predatory and phytophagous trophic levels. Local habitat type only affected phytophagous ground beetle biomass, which was lowest within crops. Total biomass of predatory beetles was negatively correlated, and species richness positively correlated, with landscape habitat diversity. Only the functional diversity of predatory ground beetles responded to landscape structure, showing positive correlations with the proportion of Tussock Grass field margins. Predatory ground beetles show a greater dependence on landscape structure than phytophagous species, a response that is attributed to their high mobility needed for movement between dynamically variable food resources.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
To assess the benefits and challenges of remote reporting using an intra-departmental teleradiology system.
A pilot of an in-hospital Trust radiologist reporting on in-hospital Trust patients via a ...remote login was undertaken. Reporting output, training impact, and quality improvement were measured.
Reporting output increased by 140%. Trainee satisfaction was high in a qualitative survey, particularly for out-of-hours support and teaching. Clinicians found the service to be similar to the same service provided by a locally based radiologist.
In the COVID-19 era, remote working has developed rapidly. This study shows that radiology departments can provide remote reporting that is equal in standard to reporting from within the hospital, and in addition, that there are advantages to output and training.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Honeybees are less likely to transfer pollen to oilseed rape than solitary bees.•Though less common solitary bees may contribute significantly to pollination.•The importance of solitary bees is ...particularly high away from honeybee hives.•Management for wild pollinators is crucial where honeybee hives are infrequent.
In Europe, oilseed rape is the principal crop used in the production of edible and renewable fuel oil products. Insect pollinators, in particular bees, have been shown to have a positive effect on the seed set of this crop. We undertook experiments looking at behavioural differences between honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees visiting oilseed rape flowers, and related this to landscape scale responses in visitation rates. We found that behavioural differences between honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees alter the likelihood of pollen transfer from their bodies to the plant stigma. Solitary bees and bumblebees tend to have greater rates of stigmal contact than honeybees. The interactions between the likelihood of free pollen on bodies and the probability of stigmal contact suggest that only 34.0% of visitations by honeybees were likely to result in pollen transfer to the stigma, relative to 35.1% for the bumblebees and 71.3% for solitary bees. Visitation rates were higher for honeybees in high quality landscapes with relatively large areas of alternative foraging habitat. Visitation rates of honeybees were also more frequent in the vicinity of managed hives. For solitary bees and bumblebees visitation rates did not respond to landscape structure, although more species of solitary bees were found in landscapes with a high cover of semi-natural grassland. While honeybees may be less efficient in pollen transfer per unit visit, where they numerically outweigh other types of bees in a crop (e.g. around managed hives) this may not be important. For this reason the relative ease with which hives can be moved across landscape means that honeybees are perhaps the most suitable taxa for use as a pro-active mitigation measure against pollinator deficits. However, the greater efficiency of solitary bees compensates for the effort required to implement longer term management (i.e. the establishment of flower rich field margins and open soil nesting sites) to support their populations.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Agri-environment schemes (AES) are key mechanisms to deliver conservation policy, and include management to provide resources for target taxa. Mobile species may move to areas where resources are ...increased, without this necessarily having an effect across the wider countryside or on populations over time. Most assessments of AES efficacy have been at small spatial scales, over short timescales, and shown varying results. We developed a survey design based on orthogonal gradients of AES management at local and landscape scales, which will enable the response of several taxa to be monitored. An evidence review of management effects on butterflies, birds and pollinating insects provided data to score AES options. Predicted gradients were calculated using AES uptake, weighted by the evidence scores. Predicted AES gradients for each taxon correlated strongly, and with the average gradient across taxa, supporting the co-location of surveys across different taxa.
Nine 1 × 1 km survey squares were selected in each of four regional blocks with broadly homogenous background habitat characteristics. Squares in each block covered orthogonal contrasts across the range of AES gradients at local and landscape scales. This allows the effects of AES on species at each scale, and the interaction between scales, to be tested. AES options and broad habitats were mapped in field surveys, to verify predicted gradients which were based on AES option uptake data. The verified AES gradient had a strong positive relationship with the predicted gradient. AES gradients were broadly independent of background habitat within each block, likely allowing AES effects to be distinguished from potential effects of other habitat variables. Surveys of several mobile taxa are ongoing.
This design will allow mobile taxa responses to AES to be tested in the surrounding countryside, as well as on land under AES management, and potentially in terms of population change over time. The design developed here provides a novel, pseudo-experimental approach for assessing the response of mobile species to gradients of management at two spatial scales. A similar design process could be applied in other regions that require a standardized approach to monitoring the impacts of management interventions on target taxa at landscape scales, if equivalent spatial data are available.
•Agri-environment schemes (AES) are key conservation policies in many countries.•A novel design was developed to monitor mobile taxa responses to AES at two scales.•Survey sites covered orthogonal contrasts across local and landscape AES gradients.•These AES gradients are independent of other background habitat variables.•This novel design monitors habitat management effects at varying spatial scales. .
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Biological recording data can be used to provide quantitative measures of habitat association.•Large quantities of occurrence data perform better than smaller quantities of abundance ...data.•Occurrence data allow detection and accounting for spatial trends in habitat association.•On average, 5000 occurrence records per species are required to obtain an accurate estimate of habitat association.•Habitat association of many habitat specialists will be detected using only a few hundred records.
Accurate knowledge of species’ habitat associations is important for conservation planning and policy. Assessing habitat associations is a vital precursor to selecting appropriate indicator species for prioritising sites for conservation or assessing trends in habitat quality. However, much existing knowledge is based on qualitative expert opinion or local scale studies, and may not remain accurate across different spatial scales or geographic locations. Data from biological recording schemes have the potential to provide objective measures of habitat association, with the ability to account for spatial variation. We used data on 50 British butterfly species as a test case to investigate the correspondence of data-derived measures of habitat association with expert opinion, from two different butterfly recording schemes. One scheme collected large quantities of occurrence data (c. 3 million records) and the other, lower quantities of standardised monitoring data (c. 1400 sites). We used general linear mixed effects models to derive scores of association with broad-leaf woodland for both datasets and compared them with scores canvassed from experts.
Scores derived from occurrence and abundance data both showed strongly positive correlations with expert opinion. However, only for occurrence data did these fell within the range of correlations between experts. Data-derived scores showed regional spatial variation in the strength of butterfly associations with broad-leaf woodland, with a significant latitudinal trend in 26% of species. Sub-sampling of the data suggested a mean sample size of 5000 occurrence records per species to gain an accurate estimation of habitat association, although habitat specialists are likely to be readily detected using several hundred records. Occurrence data from recording schemes can thus provide easily obtained, objective, quantitative measures of habitat association.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
•Habitat within 100m of the nestbox was most influential on breeding success.•Breeding success was related to extensive tree canopy and tall hedgerows.•Tits may be useful indicators of quality for ...specific agri-environmental managements.
This study examined relationships between habitat and breeding success for two common bird species, the great tit Parus major and blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus. The aim was to determine the potential of these species to act as indicators of food resource availability for birds in managed semi-natural habitats on farmland and thus as a measure of the effectiveness of specific management practices under agri-environment schemes (AES). Breeding success was recorded for four years (2007–2010) using 90 nestboxes on arable farmland in central England. Habitat parameters were derived from high spatial resolution airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and hyperspectral data.
Relationships of breeding variables with a range of habitat variables, many of which were influenced by AES management, were evident for both species, despite strong interannual variation in breeding parameters. Relationships were strongest for models using habitat variables within a 100m radius of the nest, compared to values of 50 and 200m. Both species showed significant, positive relationships with the area and proximity of tree canopy and, for great tits especially, with hedgerow height and volume.
Therefore, tits may act as indicators of the quality of local habitat, particularly within-hedge trees and hedgerows, managed under agri-environmental provision, and provide insight into the spatial arrangement of AES options at the field scale.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
•We monitored birds for five years across varying levels of agri-environmental uptake.•Agri-environmental treatments significantly increased winter bird numbers.•For many species this led to higher ...numbers in the breeding season.•Spatially separated controls were important for detecting treatment effects.•Agri-environment schemes can benefit farm-scale populations of many bird species.
Farmland bird populations continue to show declines in spite of over 20 years of research and implementation of agri-environmental schemes (AES) intended to reverse this. Although it is well known that provision of winter food resources can attract farmland birds, there is continuing uncertainty over the ability of AES to provide tangible benefits for target species in terms of increased abundance. Answering these questions is hampered by interannual fluctuations in bird populations and the mobility and territoriality of farmland birds, which have complicated the interpretation of previous studies.
We monitored birds for five years on a large arable estate in central England managed under varying levels of AES uptake (low level uptake of simple and widely applicable AES options, more extensive uptake of more complex AES options), and two control treatments (on-site and off-site). Bird abundance in winter and both total abundance and number of territories in the breeding season were calculated from monthly visits to 16 transects.
Several species showed significantly higher winter abundance on AES treatments, particularly granivorous species (e.g. reed bunting, yellowhammer, linnet). Many other species (e.g. blackbird, chaffinch, robin) also showed significant differences in winter abundance between treatments on the estate and off-site controls. In the breeding season, linnet, reed bunting, goldfinch and combined granivorous birds showed higher abundance or number of territories on AES treatments compared to on-site controls. For most other species the differences were only significant between treatments on the estate and off-site controls. Independently of AES treatment, a lower coverage of cereals or greater Shannon diversity of crops in the local landscape also had a positive effect on the abundance of many species.
Our results suggest that well-implemented AES can significantly enhance local populations of both farmland specialists of conservation concern and generalist species. Our results also show that, in many cases, these effects were only demonstrable at the farm scale, in comparison with off-site controls. This is probably due to high levels of movement and dispersal of birds resulting in a farm-scale spill-over of beneficial effects of agri-environment measures. Our results therefore highlight the importance of thinking beyond the single-farm scale when designing schemes or studies for monitoring the effectiveness of AES, and the importance of selecting appropriately located controls.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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