scholarly journals Movement-mediated community assembly and coexistence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike E Schlägel ◽  
Volker Grimm ◽  
Niels Blaum ◽  
Pierluigi Colangeli ◽  
Melanie Dammhahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Behavioural Aspects ◽  
The Impact

Organismal movement is ubiquitous and facilitates important ecological mechanisms that drive community and metacommunity composition and hence biodiversity. In most existing ecological theories and models in biodiversity research, movement is represented simplistically, ignoring the behavioural basis of movement and consequently the variation in behaviour at species and individual level. However, in an age where human endeavours modify climate and land use, the behavioural processes of organisms in response to this, including movement, become critical to understanding resulting biodiversity loss. Here, we draw together research from different subdisciplines in ecology to understand the impact of individual-level movement processes on community-level patterns in species composition and coexistence. We join the movement ecology framework with the key concepts from metacommunity theory, community assembly and modern coexistence theory using the idea of emergence: various behavioural aspects of movement scale up to local and regional patterns in species mobility and mobile-link generated patterns in abiotic and biotic environmental conditions, which in turn influence, at ecological time scales, mechanisms such as dispersal limitation, environmental filtering, and niche partitioning. We conclude by highlighting challenges and promising future avenues to data generation, data analysis and complementary modelling approaches and provide a brief outlook on how a new behavioural-based view on movement becomes important in understanding the response of communities to the ever-changing environment of the Anthropocene.

scholarly journals Road Safety in Low-Income Countries: State of Knowledge and Future Directions

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahram Heydari ◽  
Adrian Hickford ◽  
Rich McIlroy ◽  
Jeff Turner ◽  
Abdulgafoor M. Bachani
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Traffic Engineering ◽  
Road Safety ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
Behavioural Aspects ◽  
The Impact

Road safety in low-income countries (LICs) remains a major concern. Given the expected increase in traffic exposure due to the relatively rapid motorisation of transport in LICs, it is imperative to better understand the underlying mechanisms of road safety. This in turn will allow for planning cost-effective road safety improvement programs in a timely manner. With the general aim of improving road safety in LICs, this paper discusses the state of knowledge and proposes a number of future research directions developed from literature reviews and expert elicitation. Our study takes a holistic approach based on the Safe Systems framework and the framework for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. We focused mostly on examining the problem from traffic engineering and safety policy standpoints, but also touched upon other sectors, including public health and social sciences. We identified ten focus areas relating to (i) under-reporting; (ii) global best practices; (iii) vulnerable groups; (iv) disabilities; (v) road crash costing; (vi) vehicle safety; (vii) proactive approaches; (viii) data challenges; (ix) social/behavioural aspects; and (x) capacity building. Based on our findings, future research ought to focus on improvement of data systems, understanding the impact of and addressing non-fatal injuries, improving estimates on the economic burden, implementation research to scale up programs and transfer learnings, as well as capacity development. Our recommendations, which relate to both empirical and methodological frontiers, would lead to noteworthy improvements in the way road safety data collection and research is conducted in the context of LICs.

Examining Organizational, Cultural, and Individual-Level Factors Related to Workplace Safety and Health Awareness and Risks: A Systematic Review and Metric Analysis (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund W. J. Lee ◽  
Han Zheng ◽  
Htet Htet Aung ◽  
Megha Rani Aroor ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Citation Count ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Health Awareness ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Metric Analysis ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

BACKGROUND Promoting safety and health awareness and mitigating risks are of paramount importance to companies in high-risk industries. Yet, there are very few studies that have synthesized findings from existing online workplace safety and health literature to identify what are the key factors that are related to (a) safety awareness, (b) safety risks, (c) health awareness, and (d) health risks. OBJECTIVE As one of the first systematic reviews in the area of workplace health and safety, this study aims to identify the factors related to safety and health awareness as well as risks, and systematically map these factors within three levels: organizational, cultural, and individual level. Also, this review aims to assess the impact of these workplace safety and health publications in both academic (e.g., academic databases, Mendeley, and PlumX) and non-academic settings (e.g., social media platform). METHODS The systematic review was conducted in line with procedures recommended by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). First, Proquest, ScienceDirect and Scopus were identified as suitable databases for the systematic review. Second, after inputting search queries related to safety and health awareness and risks, the articles were evaluated based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Third, the factors identified in the included articles were coded systematically. Fourth, the research team assessed the impact of the articles through a combination of traditional and new metric analysis methods: citation count, Altmetric Attention Score, Mendeley readers count, usage count, and capture count. RESULTS Out of a total of 4,831 articles retrieved from the three databases, 51 articles were included in the final sample and were systematically coded. The results revealed six categories of organizational (management commitment, management support, organizational safety communication, safety management systems, physical work environment, and organizational environment), two cultural (interpersonal support and organizational culture), and four individual (perception, motivation, attitude and behavior) level factors that relate to safety and health awareness and risk. In terms of impact, the relationship between citation count and the various metrics measuring academic activity (e.g., Mendeley readers, usage count, and capture count) were mostly significant while the relationship between citation count and Altmetric Attention Score was non-significant. CONCLUSIONS This study provides a macro view of the current state of workplace safety and health research and gives scholars an indication on some of the key factors of safety and health awareness and risks. Researchers should also be cognizant that while their work may receive attention from the scholarly community, it is important to tailor their communication messages for the respective industries they are studying to maximize the receptivity and impact of their findings. CLINICALTRIAL N.A.

scholarly journals Investigating the Impact of Noneffortful Responses on Individual-Level Scores: Can the Effort-Moderated IRT Model Serve as a Solution?

2021 ◽  
pp. 014662162110138
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Rios ◽  
James Soland
Keyword(s):  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Parameter Recovery ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Irt Model ◽  
Ability Estimates ◽  
Misclassification Rates ◽  
Individual Scores ◽  
3Pl Model ◽  
The Impact

Suboptimal effort is a major threat to valid score-based inferences. While the effects of such behavior have been frequently examined in the context of mean group comparisons, minimal research has considered its effects on individual score use (e.g., identifying students for remediation). Focusing on the latter context, this study addressed two related questions via simulation and applied analyses. First, we investigated how much including noneffortful responses in scoring using a three-parameter logistic (3PL) model affects person parameter recovery and classification accuracy for noneffortful responders. Second, we explored whether improvements in these individual-level inferences were observed when employing the Effort Moderated IRT (EM-IRT) model under conditions in which its assumptions were met and violated. Results demonstrated that including 10% noneffortful responses in scoring led to average bias in ability estimates and misclassification rates by as much as 0.15 SDs and 7%, respectively. These results were mitigated when employing the EM-IRT model, particularly when model assumptions were met. However, once model assumptions were violated, the EM-IRT model’s performance deteriorated, though still outperforming the 3PL model. Thus, findings from this study show that (a) including noneffortful responses when using individual scores can lead to potential unfounded inferences and potential score misuse, and (b) the negative impact that noneffortful responding has on person ability estimates and classification accuracy can be mitigated by employing the EM-IRT model, particularly when its assumptions are met.

scholarly journals Natural History of NAFLD

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1161
Author(s):  
Raluca Pais ◽  
Thomas Maurel
Keyword(s):  
Liver Disease ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Disease Progression ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

The epidemiology and the current burden of chronic liver disease are changing globally, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) becoming the most frequent cause of liver disease in close relationship with the global epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The clinical phenotypes of NAFLD are very heterogeneous in relationship with multiple pathways involved in the disease progression. In the absence of a specific treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), it is important to understand the natural history of the disease, to identify and to optimize the control of factors that are involved in disease progression. In this paper we propose a critical analysis of factors that are involved in the progression of the liver damage and the occurrence of extra-hepatic complications (cardiovascular diseases, extra hepatic cancer) in patients with NAFLD. We also briefly discuss the impact of the heterogeneity of the clinical phenotype of NAFLD on the clinical practice globally and at the individual level.

scholarly journals Ears in the Sky: Potential of Drones for the Bioacoustic Monitoring of Birds and Bats

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Adrien Michez ◽  
Stéphane Broset ◽  
Philippe Lejeune
Keyword(s):  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Population Monitoring ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Active Species ◽  
Terrestrial Mammals ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
High Resolution Imagery ◽  
Human Operators ◽  
The Impact

In the context of global biodiversity loss, wildlife population monitoring is a major challenge. Some innovative techniques such as the use of drones—also called unmanned aerial vehicle/system (UAV/UAS)—offer promising opportunities. The potential of UAS-based wildlife census using high-resolution imagery is now well established for terrestrial mammals or birds that can be seen on images. Nevertheless, the ability of UASs to detect non-conspicuous species, such as small birds below the forest canopy, remains an open question. This issue can be solved with bioacoustics for acoustically active species such as bats and birds. In this context, UASs represent an interesting solution that could be deployed on a larger scale, at lower risk for the operator, and over hard-to-reach locations, such as forest canopies or complex topographies, when compared with traditional protocols (fixed location recorders placed or handled by human operators). In this context, this study proposes a methodological framework to assess the potential of UASs in bioacoustic surveys for birds and bats, using low-cost audible and ultrasound recorders mounted on a low-cost quadcopter UAS (DJI Phantom 3 Pro). The proposed methodological workflow can be straightforwardly replicated in other contexts to test the impact of other UAS bioacoustic recording platforms in relation to the targeted species and the specific UAS design. This protocol allows one to evaluate the sensitivity of UAS approaches through the estimate of the effective detection radius for the different species investigated at several flight heights. The results of this study suggest a strong potential for the bioacoustic monitoring of birds but are more contrasted for bat recordings, mainly due to quadcopter noise (i.e., electronic speed controller (ESC) noise) but also, in a certain manner, to the experimental design (use of a directional speaker with limited call intensity). Technical developments, such as the use of a winch to safely extent the distance between the UAS and the recorder during UAS sound recordings or the development of an innovative platform, such as a plane–blimp hybrid UAS, should make it possible to solve these issues.

scholarly journals Inequality, policy polarization and the income gap in turnout

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110119
Author(s):  
Matthew Polacko
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Previous research into the relationship between income inequality and turnout inequality has produced mixed results, as consensus is lacking whether inequality reduces turnout for all income groups, low-income earners, or no one. Therefore, this paper builds on this literature by introducing supply-side logic, through the first individual-level test of the impact that income inequality (moderated by policy manifesto positions) has on turnout. It does so through multilevel logistic regressions utilizing mixed effects, on a sample of 30 advanced democracies in 102 elections from 1996 to 2016. It finds that higher levels of income inequality significantly reduce turnout and widen the turnout gap between rich and poor. However, it also finds that when party systems are more polarized, low-income earners are mobilized the greatest extent coupled with higher inequality, resulting in a significantly reduced income gap in turnout. The findings magnify the negative impacts income inequality can exert on political behavior and contribute to the study of policy offerings as a key moderating mechanism in the relationship.

scholarly journals Water quality drives the regional patterns of an algal metacommunity in interconnected lakes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Sung Kim ◽  
Seok Hyun Ahn ◽  
In Jae Jeong ◽  
Tae Kwon Lee
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Algal Community ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Algal Communities ◽  
Species Sorting ◽  
Metacommunity Structure

AbstractThe metacommunity approach provides insights into how the biological communities are assembled along the environmental variations. The current study presents the importance of water quality on the metacommunity structure of algal communities in six river-connected lakes using long-term (8 years) monitoring datasets. Elements of metacommunity structure were analyzed to evaluate whether water quality structured the metacommunity across biogeographic regions in the riverine ecosystem. The algal community in all lakes was found to exhibit Clementsian or quasi-Clementsian structure properties such as significant turnover, grouped and species sorting indicating that the communities responded to the environmental gradient. Reciprocal averaging clearly classified the lakes into three clusters according to the geographical region in river flow (upstream, midstream, and downstream). The dispersal patterns of algal genera, including Aulacoseira, Cyclotella, Stephanodiscus, and Chlamydomonas across the regions also supported the spatial-based classification results. Although conductivity, chemical oxygen demand, and biological oxygen demand were found to be important variables (loading > |0.5|) of the entire algal community assembly, water temperature was a critical factor in water quality associated with community assembly in each geographical area. These results support the notion that the structure of algal communities is strongly associated with water quality, but the relative importance of variables in structuring algal communities differed by geological regions.

scholarly journals Assessing Habitat Vulnerability and Loss of Naturalness: Applying the GLOBIO3 Model in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5355
Author(s):  
Vilém Pechanec ◽  
Ondřej Cudlín ◽  
Miloš Zapletal ◽  
Jan Purkyt ◽  
Lenka Štěrbová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
New Equation ◽  
The Impact

Global and regional biodiversity loss is caused by several drivers including urban development, land use intensification, overexploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. The main aim of our study was to adapt the GLOBIO3 model to the conditions of the Czech Republic (CR) to assess loss of naturalness and biodiversity vulnerability at the habitat level on a detailed scale across the entire CR. An additional aim was to assess the main drivers affecting the biodiversity of habitat types. The GLOBIO3 model was adapted to CZ-GLOBIO by adapting global to local scales and using habitat quality and naturalness data instead of species occurrence data. The total mean species abundance (MSA) index of habitat quality, calculated from the spatial overlay of the four MSA indicators by our new equation, reached the value 0.62. The total value of MSA for natural and near-natural habitats was found to be affected mainly by infrastructure development and fragmentation. Simultaneously, intensity of land use change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition contributed primarily to the low total value of MSA for distant natural habitats. The CZ-GLOBIO model can be an important tool in political decision making to reduce the impact of the main drivers on habitat biodiversity in the CR.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document