Stopping declines in biodiversity is critically important, but it is only a first step toward achieving more ambitious conservation goals. The absence of an objective and practical definition of ...species recovery that is applicable across taxonomic groups leads to inconsistent targets in recovery plans and frustrates reporting and maximization of conservation impact. We devised a framework for comprehensively assessing species recovery and conservation success. We propose a definition of a fully recovered species that emphasizes viability, ecological functionality, and representation; and use counterfactual approaches to quantify degree of recovery. This allowed us to calculate a set of 4 conservation metrics that demonstrate impacts of conservation efforts to date (conservation legacy); identify dependence of a species on conservation actions (conservation dependence); quantify expected gains resulting from conservation action in the medium term (conservation gain); and specify requirements to achieve maximum plausible recovery over the long term (recovery potential). These metrics can incentivize the establishment and achievement of ambitious conservation targets. We illustrate their use by applying the framework to a vertebrate, an invertebrate, and a woody and an herbaceous plant. Our approach is a preliminary framework for an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Species, which was mandated by a resolution of IUCN members in 2012. Although there are several challenges in applying our proposed framework to a wide range of species, we believe its further development, implementation, and integration with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species will help catalyze a positive and ambitious vision for conservation that will drive sustained conservation action. Detener la disminución de la biodiversidad es fundamental, pero es tan solo un primer paso para alcanzar metas de conservación más ambiciosas. La falta de un objetivo y una definición práctica de recuperación de las especies que sea aplicable en grupos taxonómicos causa que los objetivos de los planes de recuperación sean inconsistentes y frustra la posibilidad de informar y maximizar su impacto en la conservación. Hemos ideado un marco para evaluar exhaustivamente la recuperación de las especies y el éxito de conservación. Proponemos una definición de especies completamente recuperadas, el cual enfatiza la viabilidad, la funcionalidad ecológica y la representación y utiliza enfoques contrafactuales para calcular el grado de recuperación. Esto nos permite calcular un conjunto de 4 medidas de conservación que demuestran los impactos de los esfuerzos de conservad ón hasta la fecha (legado de conservación); identifica la dependencia de una especie a las acciones de conservación (dependencia de conservación); calcula las ganancias esperadas a mediano plazo de una acción de conservación (ganancia de conservación) y los requisitos específicos para alcanzar la máxima recuperación posible a largo plazo (potencial de recuperación). Estas medidas pueden incentivar el establecimiento y logro de objetivos ambiciosos de conservación. Ilustramos el uso del marco aplicándolo en un vertebrado, un invertebrado, una planta leñosa y una planta herbácea. Nuestro enfoque representa un marco preliminar para la creación de una Lista Verde Especies de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), la cual fue ordenada por una resolución de los miembros de la mencionada institución en el 2012. A pesar de que existen varias dificultades para aplicar el marco propuesto en un grupo amplio de especies, creemos que continuar su desarrollo, implementación e integración con la Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas de la UICN contribuirá a catalizar una visión positiva y ambiciosa de conservación que conducirá a una acción de conservación sostenida. 阻止生物多祥性的減少十分重要，但这仅仅是实现更远大保护目标的第一歩。由于对“物种恢复”的概念 缺少ー个客观实际、适用于各种类群生物的定义，致使恢复计划目标不一致，并且也阻碍了对保护影响力的报告 和最大化。因此，我们设计了一个综合评估物种恢复和保护成功的框架。我们提出了“完全恢复” 物种的定义， 这个定义强调物种的生存能力、生态功能和代表性，我们还运用反事实分析法来量化物种恢复的程度。我们可 以计算这样四个保护指标，包括分析至今为止保护行动的影响カ(保护遗产) 、确定物种对保护行动的依赖性 (保护依赖1É )、量化保护行动在中期的预期目标(保护成效) ，以及指明远期要实现最大可能恢复所需条件(恢 复潜力) 。这些指标可以刺激宏远保护目标的建立和实现。我们将此框架分別用于ー种脊椎动物、无脊椎动 物、木本植物和草本植物, 以说明这些指标的用法。我们提出的方法是〈く世界自然保护联盟物种绿色名录》的 ー个初步框架，这是由IUCN成员在2012年的ー项决议授权下进行的。虽然这个框架在不同物种中大范围的 应用还面临ー些挑战，但我们相信它在未来的发展、实施并与《IUCN受威胁物种红色名录》的整合，可以帮助 催生出ー个积极远大的保护蓝图，以驱动持续的保护行动。
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Previous studies show that conservation actions have prevented extinctions, recovered populations, and reduced declining trends in global biodiversity. However, all studies to date have substantially ...underestimated the difference conservation action makes because they failed to account fully for what would have happened in the absence thereof. We undertook a scenario‐based thought experiment to better quantify the effect conservation actions have had on the extinction risk of the world's 235 recognized ungulate species. We did so by comparing species’ observed conservation status in 2008 with their estimated status under counterfactual scenarios in which conservation efforts ceased in 1996. We estimated that without conservation at least 148 species would have deteriorated by one International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List category, including 6 species that now would be listed as extinct or extinct in the wild. The overall decline in the conservation status of ungulates would have been nearly 8 times worse than observed. This trend would have been greater still if not for conservation on private lands. While some species have benefited from highly targeted interventions, such as reintroduction, most benefited collaterally from conservation such as habitat protection. We found that the difference conservation action makes to the conservation status of the world's ungulate species is likely to be higher than previously estimated. Increased, and sustained, investment could help achieve further improvements.
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3.
Ecophylogenetics: advances and perspectives Mouquet, Nicolas; Devictor, Vincent; Meynard, Christine N. ...
Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society,
November 2012, Volume:
87, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Ecophylogenetics can be viewed as an emerging fusion of ecology, biogeography and macroevolution. This new and fast‐growing field is promoting the incorporation of evolution and historical ...contingencies into the ecological research agenda through the widespread use of phylogenetic data. Including phylogeny into ecological thinking represents an opportunity for biologists from different fields to collaborate and has provided promising avenues of research in both theoretical and empirical ecology, towards a better understanding of the assembly of communities, the functioning of ecosystems and their responses to environmental changes. The time is ripe to assess critically the extent to which the integration of phylogeny into these different fields of ecology has delivered on its promise. Here we review how phylogenetic information has been used to identify better the key components of species interactions with their biotic and abiotic environments, to determine the relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning and ultimately to establish good management practices to protect overall biodiversity in the face of global change. We evaluate the relevance of information provided by phylogenies to ecologists, highlighting current potential weaknesses and needs for future developments. We suggest that despite the strong progress that has been made, a consistent unified framework is still missing to link local ecological dynamics to macroevolution. This is a necessary step in order to interpret observed phylogenetic patterns in a wider ecological context. Beyond the fundamental question of how evolutionary history contributes to shape communities, ecophylogenetics will help ecology to become a better integrative and predictive science.
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is based on interconnection of intelligent and addressable devices, allowing their autonomy and proactive behavior with Internet connectivity. Data dissemination in IoT ...usually depends on the application and requires context-aware routing protocols that must include auto-configuration features (which adapt the behavior of the network at runtime, based on context information). This paper proposes an approach for IoT route selection using fuzzy logic in order to attain the requirements of specific applications. In this case, fuzzy logic is used to translate in math terms the imprecise information expressed by a set of linguistic rules. For this purpose, four Objective Functions (OFs) are proposed for the Routing Protocol for Low Power and Loss Networks (RPL); such OFs are dynamically selected based on context information. The aforementioned OFs are generated from the fusion of the following metrics: Expected Transmission Count (ETX), Number of Hops (NH) and Energy Consumed (EC). The experiments performed through simulation, associated with the statistical data analysis, conclude that this proposal provides high reliability by successfully delivering nearly 100% of data packets, low delay for data delivery and increase in QoS. In addition, an 30% improvement is attained in the network life time when using one of proposed objective function, keeping the devices alive for longer duration.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract This work proposes the use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) in tracing and recognizing the pericardium contour of the human heart using Computed Tomography (CT) images. We assume that each slice ...of the pericardium can be modelled by an ellipse, the parameters of which need to be optimally determined. An optimal ellipse would be one that closely follows the pericardium contour and, consequently, separates appropriately the epicardial and mediastinal fats of the human heart. Tracing and automatically identifying the pericardium contour aids in medical diagnosis. Usually, this process is done manually or not done at all due to the effort required. Besides, detecting the pericardium may improve previously proposed automated methodologies that separate the two types of fat associated to the human heart. Quantification of these fats provides important health risk marker information, as they are associated with the development of certain cardiovascular pathologies. Finally, we conclude that GA offers satisfiable solutions in a feasible amount of processing time.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Neural crest cells are highly multipotent stem cells, but it remains unclear how their fate restriction to specific fates occurs. The direct fate restriction model hypothesises that migrating cells ...maintain full multipotency, whilst progressive fate restriction envisages fully multipotent cells transitioning to partially-restricted intermediates before committing to individual fates. Using zebrafish pigment cell development as a model, we show applying NanoString hybridization single cell transcriptional profiling and RNAscope in situ hybridization that neural crest cells retain broad multipotency throughout migration and even in post-migratory cells in vivo, with no evidence for partially-restricted intermediates. We find that leukocyte tyrosine kinase early expression marks a multipotent stage, with signalling driving iridophore differentiation through repression of fate-specific transcription factors for other fates. We reconcile the direct and progressive fate restriction models by proposing that pigment cell development occurs directly, but dynamically, from a highly multipotent state, consistent with our recently-proposed Cyclical Fate Restriction model.
•Basal crop coefficients were derived from SIMDualKc model calibration.•Soil water simulation had a low RMSE representing<4.3% of total available water.•Combining SIMDualKc and Stewart's models led ...to yield predictions deviating<6%.•The ratio of yield value to full costs (EWPR) was used for assessing crop returns.•EWPR was highest for full irrigation and lowest with deficit during flowering stage.
Several maize field experiments, including deficit and full irrigation, were used to assess irrigation impacts on yields. The SIMDualKc water balance model was first calibrated and validated to obtain the basal crop coefficients (Kcb) and the depletion fractions for no stress (p) relative to all crop growth stages. The values 0.15, 1.15, 0.30 were obtained for, respectively, the Kcb ini, Kcb mid and Kcb end, as well as p=0.50. The SIMDualKc model provided the partitioning of crop ET into transpiration and soil evaporation. The estimates of the actual transpiration of the maize crop under different irrigation schedules were used with the global and multiphasic Stewart's models (S1 and S2) to assess yields. A test was performed to compare the observed yield versus the models predicted yield. Good yield prediction was achieved with both S1 and S2 models; however, the S2 model performed better since it considers the distinct water stress effects at various crop growth stages. A RMSE of 1209kgha−1 was obtained for S2 yield estimates, which represents 6.8% of the observed average yield, while the RMSE for the S1 model represents 10%. Performance indicators relative to water productivity (WP) and the economic water productivity ratio (EWPR) were used to assess irrigation scheduling scenarios. Results show that the mild deficit scenario had the better WP. However, WP indicators are more sensitive to water use than to yield, which makes them less adequate for assessing the performance of irrigation water use at farm. Differently, when analysing scenarios under an economic perspective using full cropping costs with EWPR, deficit irrigation was ranked lower than full irrigation. This indicator shows to be more suitable to analyse economic viability of different irrigation strategies.
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The objective of this study was to determine fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter spp from poultry and human isolates. Forty-one Campylobacter jejuni isolates (30 of poultry origin and 11 of ...human origin) and 11 Campylobacter coli isolates (10 of human origin and 1 of poultry origin) were examined for ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and nalidixic acid resistance using the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) method. Thereafter, the isolates were analyzed by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) assay for detection of Thr-86 mutation. Finally, DNA sequencing was performed for confirmation of gyrA gene mutation. A complete correlation was observed between MICs, PCR-RFLP assay, and sequencing. The results revealed high quinolone resistance rates for C. jejuni (100%) and C. coli (100%) isolates obtained from poultry and moderate resistance for C. jejuni (9.1%) and C. coli (40%) samples of human origin. A mutation in codon 86 of the gyrA gene with a Thr-to-Ile substitution is reported to be the main cause of high resistance to quinolones. This mutation can be analyzed by PCR-RFLP assay, which has been proven to be a simple and fast method for the detection of fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter spp.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The propagation of charged particles, including cosmic rays, in a partially ordered magnetic field is characterized by a diffusion tensor whose components depend on the particle's Larmor radius R
L ...and the degree of order in the magnetic field. Most studies of the particle diffusion presuppose a scale separation between the mean and random magnetic fields (e.g. there being a pronounced minimum in the magnetic power spectrum at intermediate scales). Scale separation is often a good approximation in laboratory plasmas, but not in most astrophysical environments such as the interstellar medium (ISM). Modern simulations of the ISM have numerical resolution of the order of 1 pc, so the Larmor radius of the cosmic rays that dominate in energy density is at least 106 times smaller than the resolved scales. Large-scale simulations of cosmic ray propagation in the ISM thus rely on oversimplified forms of the diffusion tensor. We take the first steps towards a more realistic description of cosmic ray diffusion for such simulations, obtaining direct estimates of the diffusion tensor from test particle simulations in random magnetic fields (with the Larmor radius scale being fully resolved), for a range of particle energies corresponding to 10−2 ≲ R
L/l
c ≲ 103, where l
c is the magnetic correlation length. We obtain explicit expressions for the cosmic ray diffusion tensor for R
L/l
c ≪ 1, that might be used in a sub-grid model of cosmic ray diffusion. The diffusion coefficients obtained are closely connected with existing transport theories that include the random walk of magnetic lines.
Spodoptera frugiperda is one of the main pests of maize and cotton in Brazil and has increased its occurrence on soybean. Field-evolved resistance of this species to Cry1 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) ...proteins expressed in maize has been characterized in Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and southeastern U.S. Here, we conducted studies to evaluate the survival and development of S. frugiperda strains that are susceptible, selected for resistance to Bt-maize single (Cry1F) or pyramided (Cry1F/Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2) events and F
hybrids of the selected and susceptible strains (heterozygotes) on DAS-444Ø6-6 × DAS-81419-2 soybean with tolerance to 2,4-D, glyphosate and ammonium glufosinate herbicides (event DAS-444Ø6-6) and insect-resistant due to expression of Cry1Ac and Cry1F Bt proteins (event DAS-81419-2). Susceptible insects of S. frugiperda did not survive on Cry1Ac/Cry1F-soybean. However, homozygous-resistant and heterozygous insects were able to survive and emerge as fertile adults when fed on Cry1Ac/Cry1F-soybean, suggesting that the resistance is partially recessive. Life history studies revealed that homozygous-resistant insects had similar development, reproductive performance, net reproductive rate, intrinsic and finite rates of population increase on Cry1Ac/Cry1F-soybean and non-Bt soybean. In contrast, heterozygotes had their fertility life table parameters significantly reduced on Cry1Ac/Cry1F-soybean. Therefore, the selection of S. frugiperda for resistance to single and pyramided Bt maize can result in cross-crop resistance to DAS-444Ø6-6 × DAS-81419-2 soybean. The importance of these results to integrated pest management (IPM) and insect resistance management (IRM) programs is discussed.
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