The impact of forest management on litter-dwelling invertebrates: a subtropical–temperate contrast

Land use intensification in forests is a main driver of global biodiversity loss. Although historical state of land use differs between subtropical and temperate zones, gradients of land-use intensities similarly range from unmanaged to very intensively managed forests. Irrespective of similar land use forces in both climate zones, comparative studies on land use effects are still rare. Such studies are, however, promising in discovering more general impacts and geographical specifics of land use intensification. We studied litter-dwelling invertebrates along a gradient of increasing land use intensity in subtropical forests in Southern Brazil and temperate forests in Central Europe using similar sampling designs. Effects of land use intensity on the entire community were analyzed on the level of orders and feeding guilds. In both climate zones a similar number of individuals were caught when standardizes to 100 pitfall trap days, but taxa richness was higher in the subtropics. Moreover, community composition differed between both climate zones. In both regions, land use intensity did not affect taxa richness, but invertebrate abundance was affected in opposite ways; while increasing land use intensity resulted in a decrease of invertebrate abundance in the subtropics, an increase was observed in the temperate zone and this was mostly consistent regarding different feeding guilds. Management practices should take into account that the effect of land use intensity on biodiversity can differ drastically among climatic regions.     

Can forest management have season-dependent effects on bird diversity?

Forest management modified the original structure of most European forests, and in the most extreme cases, genuinely natural and semi-natural forests were turned into plantations through clear felling and replanting, often using non-native species. We compared the bird community structure of native oak woods of northern Italy with that of their anthropogenic counter-parts: black locust and sweet chestnut woods. The three stand types were compared in terms of vegetation structure, bird species richness, diversity and abundance of foraging guilds. We analysed both the overwintering and the breeding community, to assess whether management had specific seasonal effects on bird diversity. Forestry-imposed disturbances affected bird diversity more consistently in winter than in breeding time: bird species richness and diversity were significantly greater in oak and chestnut stands, which were the preferred habitat for bark foragers and foliage gleaners. In the breeding period, bird diversity of black locust woodlands increased, and inter-stand differences were not significant. At this time of year, understorey gleaners were more abundant in black locust stands (where shrubs were denser). In winter, species richness, diversity and the abundance of several guilds were positively correlated with stand age, whereas in the breeding period canopy gleaners preferred younger woodlots. Despite the lack of inter-stand differences in breeding bird diversity, young-managed woods benefited generalist birds that need no particular conservation efforts. Conversely, priority species for forest conservation such as specialised bark foragers positively selected native and mature stands throughout the year. We suggest that detailed year-round studies on diversity and community composition could sharpen the precision with which it is possible to prescribe conservation measures in forested areas.     

BioScore–Cost-effective assessment of policy impact on biodiversity using species sensitivity scores

Human-induced pressures are known to be one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. In order to readily assess policy impacts on biodiversity, a cost-effective evaluation tool is developed, using species sensitivity scores. We demonstrate the potential effects of a selected policy option, being woody bioenergy crop production, on a wide range of species groups in Europe. Large-scale expansions of woody biofuel plantations would have a net negative effect on the species set covered in our study, with little variation among biogeographical regions, but with considerable differences among species groups. The evaluation tool enables policy makers to assess the potential impact of decisions on future biodiversity.     

Can measuring urinary biomarkers improve the management of lupus nephritis?

Although renal biopsy is the most accurate way of assessing renal inflammation in patients with lupus nephritis (LN), the technique is invasive and cannot be performed frequently. Currently used blood and urine biomarkers have limited utility in monitoring the activity of nephritis. In a previous issue of Arthritis Research and Therapy, Singh and colleagues showed that measuring urinary levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 could be useful in both diagnosing and monitoring LN. These levels are higher in patients with lupus than controls, are higher in lupus patients who have active renal disease compared with those who do not, and correlate significantly with the histological activity index in renal biopsies of patients with LN.Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). If not treated adequately, the disease can result in renal failure or death. In its early stages, LN may be almost asymptomatic and picked up only by carrying out routine blood and urine tests. Measurements of urine protein are especially helpful in this regard. In a previous issue of Arthritis Research and Therapy, Singh and colleagues described tests for three different urinary biomarkers in patients with SLE, investigating which is likely to be most helpful for monitoring renal disease activity [1].Treatment of LN was revolutionized by the introduction of combined corticosteroid/cyclophosphamide regimes and has advanced more recently with the replacement of cyclophosphamide by mycophenolate in many cases [2]. Early diagnosis and treatment has a major impact on clinical outcomes in patients with LN [3], but can also cause treatment-related adverse effects. Being able to identify exactly when treatment is needed during the course of the disease and when maintenance treatment needs to be increased is therefore important. The most accurate way to assess nephritis in patients with SLE is by carrying out a renal biopsy. The histological type of nephritis can be defined and the degree of inflammation can be quantified using an activity index [4]. A high activity index signifies active yet reversible disease, whereas the chronicity index shows irreversible damage.Renal biopsy is an invasive procedure, however, which cannot be repeated whenever a flare of renal lupus is suspected. We would therefore like to have biomarkers, measurable in blood or urine, which rise and fall with renal disease activity and are closely associated with the degree of inflammation in the kidney. Blood markers such as anti-double-stranded DNA, anti-nucleosome and anti-α-actinin antibodies have been studied. There is some evidence that increases in these markers are associated with renal disease activity [5], as measured by indices such as blood albumin and urine protein, but very little evidence for their association with renal biopsy scores.Given that the kidney is the main site of inflammation in LN, however, biomarkers in urine may reflect this inflammation more closely than those in the blood. There has been some interest in using urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as a marker of renal inflammation in SLE. Studies have shown that urinary (but not serum) neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels correlate with measures of renal disease activity and that a rise in urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin at one visit predicts flare of nephritis at the next visit [6,7]. These studies were cross-sectional and did not look at the association between urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and renal histology.The current paper by Singh and colleagues is also a cross-sectional study but includes data on renal histology and compares three different urinary assays; CXCL16, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) [1]. Since all three of these molecules can play a role in the recruitment of inflammatory cells to the nephritic kidney, it would be entirely reasonable to predict that their levels would rise in the urine when active renal inflammation is at its height. The authors review both clinical and murine evidence supporting this prediction for each of these markers [8]. In this study they report creatinine-normalized urinary CXCL16, MCP-1 and VCAM-1 levels in 73 patients with SLE, 13 healthy volunteers and 22 patients with other forms of glomerulonephritis.The study results showed some evidence of utility for all three of these urinary markers. All markers were elevated in patients with SLE compared to healthy controls and correlated with the level of proteinuria. However, the comparison with healthy controls is complicated by the fact that 92% of these controls were Asian whereas none of the patients were. Disease activity in the study was assessed using the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index and correlated with MCP-1 and VCAM-1 but not CXCL16. When patients were defined as having active or inactive renal disease, on the basis of the renal components of the Systemic Lupus Erythema tosus Disease Activity Index score alone, MCP-1 and VCAM-1 but not CXCL16 distinguished those two groups. However, this result was based on a relatively small number of patients with inactive renal disease (n = 14), probably because there was a low threshold for considering a patient to have active renal disease - being positive for any single criterion of hematuria, pyuria, proteinuria or casts was sufficient. This difficulty in defining active LN based on disease activity measures is common to many papers of this type and is a major reason why the availability of renal biopsy data from the date of the urine sample in 24 of these patients is so important. These histological data provide a direct objective measure of nephritis and particularly support the utility of urinary VCAM-1 as a biomarker, since only VCAM-1 was significantly correlated with the activity index and also differentiated class IV LN from the other histological types.This study thus provides compelling evidence that measuring urinary VCAM-1 could be an important new biomarker in patients with LN, and some evidence supporting urinary CXCL16 and MCP-1. Investigation into whether an index combining the values of all three markers, along the lines of the serum chemokine index reported by Bauer and colleagues [9], would have more potential to distinguish active LN from inactive LN would be interesting. As suggested by the authors, however, the most important thing is to study levels of these urinary markers longitudinally in patients with LN to see whether they predict changes in activity of nephritis in individual patients over time.     

Environmental assessment of Smart City Solutions using a coupled urban metabolism—life cycle impact assessment approach

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - The purpose of the study is to quantify the environmental performance of Smart City Solutions at urban system level and thus evaluate their...     

Can biodiversity hotspots protect more than tropical forest plants and vertebrates?

Conservation International's biodiversity hotspots are areas of high vascular plant endemism combined with high levels of habitat destruction and land use change. Although such hotspots have also been shown to be centres for terrestrial vertebrate endemism, much less is known about how well these areas function as hotspots for other less well‐studied groups, including the hyperdiverse arthropods, other invertebrates and fungi. Because there is a close evolutionary and ecological relationship between insects and plants, we suggest that the potential role of plants as umbrella species for herbivorous insects, potentially herbivorous fungi and nematodes, and parasitic insects should be explored. Finally, we reflect on the increasing social, economic, human conflict and governance issues and the impacts of increasing land use change and global climate change that threaten the biodiversity hotspot system.     

Can the assumption of a non‐random search improve our prediction of butterfly fluxes between resource patches?

Abstract. 1. Understanding dispersal patterns that enable small, spatially isolated populations to survive in fragmented landscapes has become an important issue in conservation biology and landscape management. However, for most of the species of interest it is not known whether dispersing individuals navigate or follow systematic search strategies, as opposed to moving randomly. 2. Recently it was shown that individuals of the butterfly species Maniola jurtina do not seek resources by means of random flight. If true, this may be problematic for existing metapopulation models, including those based on the evolution of dispersal rates in metapopulations. 3. The study tested to what extent the non‐random dispersal patterns described in the literature can explain M. jurtina fluxes in its natural habitat. 4. A model based on literature assumptions of M. jurtina movements is presented in the work reported here, and its predictions are compared with 2 years of capture–recapture data on its fluxes in two landscapes. 5. The model provides a good fit to the data and gives better predictions than the model based only on patch sizes and distances between patches. 6. Thus, if data are available about the actual landscape under consideration, the model should be preferred to simpler approaches; however, in general theoretical considerations the simple approach based on patch size and the degree of its isolation will retain its value.     

Uncertainty in life cycle impact assessment of toxic releases practical experiences - arguments for a reductionalistic approach?

This paper describes the experience with impact assessment of toxic releases in a Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) for PVC in Sweden. For this system, all emissions related to the PVC-chain were inventoried. They have been evaluated making use of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) step from the CMI.-guide, including the new toxicity equivalency factors calculated with the Uniform System for Evaluation of Substances (USES). The application of this method led to the conclusion that I.CA Impact Assessment of toxic releases is still a major bottleneck: the USES-equivalency factors are not to he trusted due to outdated data, inappropriate defaults, etc. in the USES’ substance properties database. Therefore, a second USES-ser of factors was calculated that differed up to factors of 1,000 or more from the old ones. Even these factors probably suffer from unacceptable high structural, in practice not reducible uncertainties. In conclusion, we warn the LCA community not to overestimate the possibility of LCA Impact Assessment to obtain a meaningfull priority setting with regard to toxicity problems. Instead, we propose developing indicator systems for LCIA of toxic releases that genuinely deal with all relevant types of uncertainty: data uncertainty, modelling uncertainty and particularly paradigmatic uncertainty.     

Can Malaise traps be used to sample spiders for biodiversity assessment?

Malaise traps are typically used to sample a range of flying insect groups; however non-target taxa such as spiders may also be collected in large numbers. In this study, spiders were sampled in peatlands and wet grasslands and catches in Malaise and pitfall traps were compared in order to determine the adequacy of Malaise traps for use in spider biodiversity assessment. Overall, the number of species and individuals caught in Malaise and pitfall traps were comparable, although more species were sampled in Malaise traps in locations with a greater structural diversity of the vegetation. The spider fauna sampled by the Malaise traps differed from that of the pitfall traps, but both methods consistently separated the species assemblages by biotope. These results demonstrate that Malaise traps are effective at sampling spiders and indicate that they can be used in biodiversity assessment. In addition the complementary species sampled by each method mean that employing both techniques will be useful where a full inventory of the species is required. The authors do not suggest that Malaise traps should be used solely to sample spiders; however, if traps are set to collect insects, identification of the spiders sampled may reduce the need to employ additional sampling techniques.     

Can hydraulic redistribution put bread on our table?

Hydraulic redistribution is the process where soil water is translocated by plant roots from wet to dry areas as it is drawn through xylem pathways by a water potential gradient. Hydraulic redistribution places soil water resources where they would otherwise not be, which results in a range of ecological and hydrological consequences. Although deep-rooted plants can transfer water up from depth into shallow soil layers, any localised ??irrigation?? of neighbouring plants tends to be obscured by recovery of the very same water by the donor plants during daytime transpiration. A new intercropping system was recently trialled which eliminates transpiration by the donor plant through complete shoot removal in order to maximise hydraulic redistribution. In the absence of any transpiring shoots, the donor plants are left to wick water up from depth 24 hours a day via their root systems, to the benefit of neighbouring shallow-rooted crops. This system allows deeper-rooted ??nurse plants?? to capture water that is out of reach of crops in a ??water safety-net?? role, which may be of considerable benefit in water-scarce environments.     

Can measures of prey availability improve our ability to predict the abundance of large marine predators?

Apex marine predators can structure marine communities, so factors underlying their abundance are of broad interest. However, such data are almost completely lacking for large sharks. We assessed the relationship between tiger shark abundance, water temperature, and the availability of a variety of known prey over 5 years in Western Australia. Abundance of sharks in four size categories and the density of prey (cormorants, dugongs, sea snakes, sea turtles) were indexed using daily catch rates and transects, respectively. Across all sizes, thermal conditions were a determinant of abundance, with numerical peaks coinciding with periods of high water temperature. However, for sharks exceeding 300 cm total length, the inclusion of dugong density significantly improved temperature-based models, suggesting that use of particular areas by large tiger sharks is influenced by availability of this sirenian. We conclude that large marine predator population models may benefit from the inclusion of measures of prey availability, but only if such measures consider prey types separately and account for ontogenetic shifts in the diet of the predator in question. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Impairing the largest and most productive forest on our planet: how do human activities impact phytoplankton?

This article summarizes the outcomes of the 16th Workshop of the International Association for Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology. Four major issues dealing with the impact exerted by human activities on phytoplankton were addressed in the articles of this special volume: climate change and its impacts on phytoplankton, the role of land use in shaping composition and diversity of phytoplankton, the importance of autecological studies to fully understand how phytoplankton is impacted by stressors and the role of ecological classification to evaluate community changes due to the different impacts. Case studies from different types of aquatic environments (rivers, deep and shallow lakes, reservoirs, mountain lakes, and temporary ponds) and from diverse geographical locations (not only from the Mediterranean and temperate regions, but also from subtropical and tropical ones) have shown that a complex spectrum of human impacts, not exclusively linked to eutrophication, severely conditions structure and dynamics of phytoplankton assemblage both in the short and long terms. Moreover, the trade-offs between climate change and other human-induced stresses as eutrophication, agricultural and urban land use or water overexploitation contribute to make more severe the impact exerted by humans on phytoplankton and, in turn, on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems.     

Does genetic counseling have any impact on management of breast cancer risk?

Despite there being an increasing literature on the impact of cancer genetic counseling on risk perception and mental health, there is a lack of data describing impact on risk management. Genetic counseling and testing for cancer predisposition genes aims to improve the future health of those at high risk through appropriate surveillance and screening. However, management of breast cancer risk in women with a family history of this disease is an area of controversy. Counseling services may recommend specific risk management options to women, who then rely on their local screening service to make provision. This study investigated the impact of genetic counseling on management of breast cancer risk in women attending Cancer Family Clinics. A total of 293 women attending four genetic clinics were enrolled. Rates of breast self-examination, clinical breast examination, mammography, biopsy, detected cancers, and other screenings were documented. Participants' perceived benefits and barriers to mammography were assessed along with cancer worry. Results show that rates of mammography, clinical breast examination, and breast self-examination were increased following clinic attendance (p < 0.001). Women in the under 35 age-group had limited access to screening. Rates for biopsy and detected cancers were low. Women reported positive attitudes to mammography, with few reported barriers. Contrary to previous studies, there was no evidence that anxiety about breast cancer impedes uptake of health surveillance methods. Genetic counseling had a positive impact on management of breast cancer risk. Whether this translates into future health gains remains to be established.     

The management of crop structure: a general approach to reversing the impacts of agricultural intensification on birds?

Agricultural intensification is accepted widely as a cause of bird population declines on farmland in Europe and North America. Although intensification is multivariate, one common theme is the impact on variation in crop structure, both within and between fields. Intensification creates simpler, more homogeneous and denser swards in both tillage crops and grassland. This influences predation risk, exposure to weather extremes and the diversity, abundance and accessibility of food. Birds trade off these pressures in different ways, so that the more uniform and dense the vegetation, the fewer the number of birds and range of species that are able to nest and forage successfully. Reversing recent trends towards dense, simplified and homogeneous swards will improve nesting and foraging habitat conditions for a wide range of species across farming systems, and may represent a cost-effective mechanism for the further improvement of agri-environment scheme options designed to assist the recovery of farmland bird populations.     

Dispersal limitation of saproxylic insects in a managed forest? A population genetics approach

Dispersal is a key trait of species enabling gene flow among populations. For species persistence dispersal may therefore be crucial especially in a patchy or changing environment. Tree hollows are a patchy habitat as their number is locally limited and in addition to that, habitat quality of tree hollows differs. Both factors are important for colonization by saproxylic insects as species may be specialized on a particular age or quality of a tree hollow and may be dispersal-limited. Intensive forest management may further decrease the number of tree hollows and increase distances between them, if trees with hollows are removed. However, not much is known about the dispersal abilities of most saproxylic species, even though such knowledge could improve conservation efforts. To investigate the genetic population structure of saproxylic species, we collected saproxylic organisms with emergence traps from 40 hollows in beech trees in a managed forest in Germany (approximately 14 × 14 km). We focused on three threatened species, one coleopteran and two dipteran (Anaspis ruficollis, Scraptiidae; Criorhina floccosa, Syrphidae; Xylomya maculata, Xylomyidae) emerging from our tree hollows. Microsatellite analysis was used to assess gene flow among tree hollows and population genetic structure. In contrast to other studies reporting limited dispersal in saproxylic insects, we found no indication for restricted gene flow in all three species investigated. However, we studied relatively abundant species and our study site may not have been large enough to detect genetic substructure. This study indicates that the amount and quality of a suitable habitat may at least in some cases be more limiting than the physical ability to disperse.     

Can unified theories of biodiversity explain mammalian macroecological patterns?

The idea of a unifying theory of biodiversity linking the diverse array of macroecological patterns into a common theoretical framework is very appealing. We explore this idea to examine currently proposed unified theories of biodiversity (UTBs) and their predictions. Synthesizing the literature on the macroecological patterns of mammals, we critically evaluate the evidence to support these theories. We find general qualitative support for the UTBs' predictions within mammals, but rigorous testing is hampered by the types of data typically collected in studies of mammals. In particular, abundance is rarely estimated for entire mammalian communities or of individual species in multiple locations, reflecting the logistical challenges of studying wild mammal populations. By contrast, there are numerous macroecological patterns (especially allometric scaling relationships) that are extremely well characterized for mammals, but which fall outside the scope of current UTBs. We consider how these theories might be extended to explain mammalian biodiversity patterns more generally. Specifically, we suggest that UTBs need to incorporate the dimensions of geographical space, species' traits and time to reconcile theory with pattern.     

Can a thermally tolerant symbiont improve the future of Caribbean coral reefs?

The detrimental effect of climate change induced bleaching on Caribbean coral reefs has been widely documented in recent decades. Several studies have suggested that increases in the abundance of thermally tolerant endosymbionts may ameliorate the effect of climate change on reefs. Symbionts that confer tolerance to temperature also reduce the growth rate of their coral host. Here, we show, using a spatial ecosystem model, that an increment in the abundance of a thermally tolerant endosymbiont (D1a) is unlikely to ensure the persistence of Caribbean reefs, or to reduce their rate of decline, due to the concomitant reduction in growth rate under current thermal stress predictive scenarios. Furthermore, our results suggest that given the documented vital rates of D1a‐dominated corals, increasing dominance of D1a in coral hosts may have a detrimental effect by reducing the resilience of Caribbean reefs, and preventing their long‐term recovery. This is because Caribbean ecosystems appear to be highly sensitive to changes in the somatic growth rate of corals. Alternative outcomes might be expected in systems with different community‐level dynamics such as reefs in the Indo‐Pacific, where the ecological costs of reduced growth rate might be far smaller.     

Rapid assessment of invertebrate biodiversity on rocky shores: where there’s a whelk there’s a way

The lack of species inventory data for most marine habitats currently hampers the objective management of marine biodiversity. There is thus a clear need to find reliable indicator taxa that can be targeted in marine conservation studies, providing cost-effective data for planning and monitoring. Using the rocky shores of the Solitary Islands Marine Park, NSW, Australia, as a model, I evaluated macroinvertebrates and determined which taxa (i) best reflected ecological patterns of the broader intertidal community; and (ii) were able to accurately predict species richness of assemblages at the headland scale. Both molluscs and crustaceans showed high levels of correlation with overall species richness. However, molluscs, and in particular prosobranchs, most closely reflected patterns in the community data and provided the most accurate predictions of species richness at the scale of the headland. The potential time savings of using molluscs in rapid assessments are considerable and relate to reductions in field time (by up to 40%) as well as the reduced need to invest time developing extensive taxonomic knowledge of other invertebrate groups. Molluscs are widespread and easily sampled, with stable taxonomy and well-known ecology relative to other marine invertebrate taxa. Their use as surrogates of biodiversity shows great potential for future marine conservation studies.