scholarly journals Making the Most of Ecological Data from the LTER Site: Manager’s Point of View

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Genua-Olmedo ◽  
Ana Isabel Lillebø
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Ria De Aveiro

Climate change is affecting the ecosystems and the services they provide for human well-being. For a better understanding of the causes and effects of this change in the functioning of ecosystems, detailed information of environmental parameters needs to be considered. Researchers generate multiple databases in their academic disciplines but often this data collection is not openly available nor does it fulfill the FAIR principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (Wilkinson et al. 2016). In this regard, Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) plays an important role as an open research infrastructure that helps to integrate in-situ data, remote sensing products and modelling efforts, related to biodiversity and geodiversity. Within LTER networks, the Dynamic Ecological Information Management System – Site and Dataset Registry (DEIMS-SDR), is used as the central site catalogue to provide information about facilities, ecosystems and environmental parameters in an openly available and standardized way (Wohner et al. 2019), organized by each location’s site. These LTER sites from all around the globe, receive a special protection status due to their ecological value, which through research and observation, enhances the protection and conservation of these areas. The LTER Ria de Aveiro site in Portugal (DEIMS.ID; LTER website), classified under the Natura 2000 network, is of paramount importance for the regional and national economy, agriculture, commercial fisheries, aquaculture, manufacturing, tourism, sports and recreational activities (e.g. Lillebø et al. 2019). Since the establishment of the LTER Ria de Aveiro site in 2011, its research has focused on the contribution to the effective implementation of the Water Framework Directive and European Union Biodiversity Strategy targets. Studies have been developed to target key policies within Natura 2000 areas, Action 5 including habitat mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services, data collection of important fauna groups, and engagement of stakeholders and common frameworks for the conservation of biodiversity. Currently, the site is part of the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity (PORBIOTA), being aligned with the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (LifeWatch-ERIC). The LTER site team infrastructure includes laboratory facilities for field observation and environmental monitoring of water quality and environmental parameters that are used to feed models. A recently obtained Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as drone, will contribute to ecological observations, generating data to provide biodiversity monitoring in space and time. As LTER site managers and data providers, we have to deal with how to make the transition from our metadata to FAIR ecological data. Our aim is to deal with the implementation of standardized data profiles in our own data. For instance, to upload data files to the central repositories (e.g. DEIMS-SDR), to store and publish our raw data (e.g. B2Share), to create online distribution links and digital object identifiers (DOIs), and to use a convenient vocabulary (e.g. Environmental Thesaurus) to be understandable by everyone (Pérez-Luque et al. 2019). This substantially will increase the potential of databases in the scientific community, and will contribute to a successful building of LTER.

scholarly journals Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ungar ◽  
Linda Theron ◽  
Kathleen Murphy ◽  
Philip Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Transition Analysis ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Hair Samples

In contexts of exposure to atypical stress or adversity, individual and collective resilience refers to the process of sustaining wellbeing by leveraging biological, psychological, social and environmental protective and promotive factors and processes (PPFPs). This multisystemic understanding of resilience is generating significant interest but has been difficult to operationalize in psychological research where studies tend to address only one or two systems at a time, often with a primary focus on individual coping strategies. We show how multiple systems implicated in human resilience can be researched in the same study using a longitudinal, six-phase transformative sequential mixed methods study of 14- to 24-year-olds and their elders in two communities dependent on oil and gas industries (Drayton Valley, Canada, and Secunda/eMbalenhle, South Africa). Data collection occurred over a 5-year period, and included: (1) community engagement and the identification of youth health and well-being priorities; (2) participatory youth-centric qualitative research using one-on-one semi-structured interviews and arts-based methods; (3) survey of 500 youth at three time points to assess psychosocial health indicators and outcomes; (4) collection of hair samples to assess stress biomarkers (cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-DHEA) over time; (5) youth-led ecological data collection and assessment of historical socio-economic development data; and (6) community resource mapping with community elders. Analyzing data from these multiple systems will allow us to understand the interrelationship and impact of PPFPs within and across systems. To date, we have undertaken thematic and narrative qualitative analyses, and descriptive analyses of the preliminary ecological and survey data. As we proceed, we will combine these and grounded theory approaches with innovative techniques such as latent transition analysis and network analysis, as well as modeling of economic conditions and spatial analysis of human geographies to understand patterns of PPFPs and their inter-relationships. By analyzing the complexity of data collected across systems (including cultural contexts) we are demonstrating the possibility of conducting multisystemic resilience research which expands the way psychological research accounts for positive development under stress in different contexts. This comprehensive examination of resilience may offer an example of how the study of resilience can inform socially and contextually relevant interventions and policies.

Coastal monitoring and data management for restoration in Louisiana

Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 92-101
Author(s):  
Richard Raynie ◽  
Syed Khalil ◽  
Charles Villarrubia ◽  
Ed Haywood
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Document Retrieval ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
System Level ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Coastal Louisiana

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) of Louisiana was created after the devastating hurricanes of 2005 (Katrina and Rita) and is responsible for planning and implementing projects that will either reduce storm-induced losses (protection) or restore coastal ecosystems that have been lost or are in danger of being lost (restoration). The first task of the CPRA board was to develop Louisiana’s first Coastal Master Plan (CPRA 2007), which formally integrates and guides the protection and restoration of Louisiana’s coast. The System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) was subsequently developed as a long-term monitoring program to ensure that a comprehensive network of coastal data collection activities is in place to support the planning, development, implementation, and adaptive management of the protection and restoration program and projects within coastal Louisiana. SWAMP includes both natural-system and human-system components and also incorporates the previously-developed Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS), the Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) program, and fisheries data collected by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) in addition to other aspects of system dynamics, including offshore and inland water-body boundary conditions, water quality, risk status, and protection performance, which have historically not been the subject of CPRA-coordinated monitoring. This program further facilitates the integration of project-specific data needs into a larger, system-level design framework. Monitoring and operation of restoration and protection projects will be nested within a larger hydrologic basin-wide and coast-wide SWAMP framework and will allow informed decisions to be made with an understanding of system conditions and dynamics at multiple scales. This paper also provides an update on the implementation of various components of SWAMP in Coastal Louisiana, which began as a Barataria Basin pilot implementation program in 2015. During 2017, the second phase of SWAMP was initiated in the areas east of the Mississippi River. In 2019, development of SWAMP design was completed for the remaining basins in coastal Louisiana west of Bayou Lafourche (Figure 1). Data collection is important to inform decisions, however if the data are not properly managed or are not discoverable, they are of limited use. CPRA is committed to ensuring that information is organized and publicly available to help all coastal stakeholders make informed, science-based decisions. As a part of this effort, CPRA has re-engineered its data management system to include spatial viewers, tabular download web pages, and a library/document retrieval system along with a suite of public-facing web services providing programmatic access. This system is collectively called the Coastal Information Management System (CIMS). CPRA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are also developing a proposal to create an interface for CIMS data to be exported to a neutral template that could then be ingested into NOAA’s Data Integration Visualization, Exploration and Reporting (DIVER) repository, and vice versa. DIVER is the repository that the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) program is using to manage NRDA-funded project data throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Linking CIMS and DIVER will make it easier to aggregate data across Gulf states and look at larger, ecosystem-level changes.

Children with cerebral palsy: Family and parent demographic characteristics and family strengths in Greece and Italy

2020 ◽  
pp. 135910531990027
Author(s):  
Assimina Tsibidaki
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Family Strengths ◽  
Biological Child ◽  
The Family ◽  
Children With Cerebral Palsy ◽  
High Sense

The study focuses on families raising a child with cerebral palsy to investigate family strengths and their association with family and parent demographic characteristics in Greece and Italy. Participants were 120 parents raising a biological child with cerebral palsy. Data collection used a self-report questionnaire and the Family Strengths Inventory. According to the findings, families share a high sense of family strengths, which is mainly represented in the high sense of ‘pride’ and ‘accord’. In addition, demographic characteristics seem to be important predictors of well-being and strengthen parents and families raising a child with cerebral palsy.

Implementation of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) to analyses of environmental parameters and phytoplankton biomass in a macrotidal estuary and artificial lake

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roksana Jahan ◽  
Hyu Chang Choi ◽  
Young Seuk Park ◽  
Young Cheol Park ◽  
Ji Ho Seo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phytoplankton Biomass ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Suspended Solids ◽  
Inorganic Nitrogen ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Self Organizing Maps ◽  
Macrotidal Estuary ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities ◽  
Self Organizing

Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) have been used for patterning and visualizing ten environmental parameters and phytoplankton biomass in a mactrotidal (>10 m) Gyeonggi Bay and artificial Shihwa Lake during 1986–2004. SOM segregated study areas into four groups and ten subgroups. Two strikingly alternative states are frequently observed: the first is a diverse non-eutrophic state designated by three groups (SOM 1–3), and the second is a eutrophic state (SOM 4: Shihwa Lake and Upper Gyeonggi Bay; summer season) characterized by enhanced nutrients (3 mg l−1 dissolved inorganic nitrogen, 0.1 mg l−1 PO4) that act as a signal and response to that signal as algal blooms (24 µg chlorophyll-a l−1). Bloom potential in response to nitrification is affiliated with high temperature (r = 0.26), low salinity (r = −0.40) and suspended solids (r = –0.27). Moreover, strong stratification in the Shihwa Lake has accelerated harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. The non-eutrophic states (SOM 1–3) are characterized by macro-tidal estuaries exhibiting a tolerance to pollution with nitrogen-containing nutrients and retarding any tendency toward stratification. SOM 1 (winter) is more distinct from SOM 4 due to higher suspended solids (>50 mg l−1) caused by resuspension that induces light limitation and low chlorophyll-a (<5 µg l−1). In addition, eutrophication-induced shifts in phytoplankton communities are noticed during all the seasons in Gyeonggi Bay. Overall, SOM showed high performance for visualization and abstraction of ecological data and could serve as an efficient ecological map that can specify blooming regions and provide a comprehensive view on the eutrophication process in a macrotidal estuary.

scholarly journals The network social support experience of people involved in home care

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Meireles Gomes ◽  
Maria Ribeiro Lacerda ◽  
Nen Nalú Alves das Mercês
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Theory Method ◽  
Grounded Theory Method ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Different Populations

Objective: To build a theoretical model to configure the network social support experience of people involved in home care. Method: A quantitative approach research, utilizing the Grounded Theory method. The simultaneous data collection and analysis allowed the interpretation of the phenomenon meaning The network social support of people involved in home care. Results: The population passive posture in building their well-being was highlighted. The need of a shared responsibility between the involved parts, population and State is recognized. Conclusion: It is suggested for nurses to be stimulated to amplify home care to attend the demands of caregivers; and to elaborate new studies with different populations, to validate or complement the proposed theoretical model.


scholarly journals Cohort profile: the Men and Parenting Pathways (MAPP) Study: a longitudinal Australian cohort study of men’s mental health and well-being at the normative age for first-time fatherhood

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e047909
Author(s):  
Jacqui A Macdonald ◽  
Lauren M Francis ◽  
Helen Skouteris ◽  
George J Youssef ◽  
Liam G Graeme ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Depressive Symptom Severity ◽  
Health And Well Being

PurposeThe Men and Parenting Pathways (MAPP) Study is a prospective investigation of men’s mental health and well-being across the normative age for transitioning to fatherhood. This includes trajectories and outcomes for men who do and do not become fathers across five annual waves of the study.ParticipantsAustralian resident, English-speaking men aged 28–32 years at baseline were eligible. Recruitment was over a 2-year period (2015–2017) via social and traditional media and through engagement with study partners. Eight hundred and eighteen eligible men consented to participate. Of these, 664 men completed the first online survey of whom 608 consented to ongoing participation. Of the ongoing sample, 83% have participated in at least two of the first three annual online surveys.Findings to dateThree waves of data collection are complete. The first longitudinal analysis of MAPP data, published in 2020, identified five profiles that characterise men’s patterns of depressive symptom severity and presentations of anger. Profiles indicating pronounced anger and depressive symptoms were associated with fathers’ lack of perceived social support, and problems with coparenting and bonding with infants. In a second study, MAPP data were combined with three other Australian cohorts in a meta-analysis of associations between fathers’ self-reported sleep problems up to 3 years postpartum and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Adjusted meta-analytic associations between paternal sleep and mental health risk ranged from 0.25 to 0.37.Future plansMAPP is an ongoing cohort study. Waves 4 and 5 data will be ready for analyses at the end of 2021. Future investigations will include crossed-lagged and trajectory analyses that assess inter-relatedness and changing social networks, mental health, work and family life. A nested study of COVID-19 pandemic-related mental health and coping will add two further waves of data collection in a subsample of MAPP participants.

Designing the eLTER Research Infrastructure: representativity, priority regions and recommendations for development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Ohnemus ◽  
Hannes Mollenhauer ◽  
Michael Mirtl ◽  
Steffen Zacharias
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Statistical Criterion ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Site Network ◽  
Combining Information

&lt;p&gt;The integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI) was accepted onto the ESFRI roadmap in 2018. While several existing thematic environmental RIs in Europe focus on impacts of climate change and/or other elements of environmental change, eLTER RI will be the only research infrastructure embracing holistically the integrated impacts of such stressors on a wide variety of European benchmark ecosystems (major geo-eco-sociological systems across the continent&amp;#8217;s ecoclimatological zones and Earth&amp;#8217;s critical zone). In the beginning of 2020 eLTER RI entered the preparatory phase aiming at the development of the legal, financial and technical maturity required for an ESFRI Research Infrastructure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The core of the eLTER RI will be ca. 200 selected sites covering all biogeographical zones in Europe, where biological, biogeochemical, hydrological and socio-ecological data will be collected - according to common standards - and analyzed. The European landscape of LTER sites and national networks has mainly been developed in a bottom-up manner. The sites have mostly been established for different monitoring and research purposes and are heterogeneous in terms of investigated ecosystem types, scales of investigation, complexity and instrumentation. Consequently, the transformation of the selected elements of the eLTER RI into a harmonized, high-performance, complementary and interoperable infrastructure is one of the key challenges of eLTER. Achieving the best possible representativity is on the major building blocks in eLTER&amp;#8217;s design strategy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To evaluate the representativity of eLTER a novel statistical approach combining information on biogeographical, ecological and socio-economic gradients with the management-relevant distribution of established sites was developed aiming at &amp;#160;i) identification of areas in Europe that are geographically underrepresented by the existing eLTER RI site network, ii) definition of priority regions for the geographical extension of the eLTER site network and, iii) development of suggestions for conceptual and infrastructural upgrades for existing less developed eLTER sites.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reference datasets depicting biogeographical, ecological and socio-economical gradients were used to describe underrepresentation with a summation parameter called Aggregated Representedness. This statistical criterion was then used to classify five types of &amp;#8220;priority regions&amp;#8221; from very low to very high priority for geographical and/or conceptual extension. In a second step this information on priority regions was refined using additional information describing the geographical distribution based on Euclidean distances between established eLTER sites. &amp;#160;The combination of these two analyses allowed to identify less developed eLTER sites most suitable for conceptual and infrastructural upgrades. Thus, the presented analysis provides important information for the development of the design strategy for eLTER RI on the continental scale.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Concluding, a novel approach combining information on biogeographical, ecological and socio-economic gradients with the management-relevant information on the geographical distribution of established sites was developed. This tool allows to evaluate the strategies for further extension of established site networks.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Physiological Parameters of Pigs Raised with and without Environmental Enrichment

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Carlos Syllas Monteiro Luz ◽  
Leonardo Atta Farias ◽  
José Luiz Leonardo Araujo Pimenta ◽  
Joisiane Da Silva Santos ◽  
Richard Átila De Sousa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Weight Gain ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Blood Parameters ◽  
Physiological Parameters ◽  
Pig Farming ◽  
Randomized Block Design ◽  
Morning Shift

Ethical and commercial issues are associated with animal welfare in pig farming, in that sense, the objective of this work was to evaluate physiological and blood parameters in addition to weight gain in pigs raised with and without sunlight and environmental enrichment (EE), as well as to correlate physiological and environmental parameters as welfare indicators. Twenty-four pigs distributed in a randomized block design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement were used. Blocks were represented by shifts (morning and afternoon), and factors by the presence or absence of EE and sunlight. Blood and environmental parameters of thermal comfort, in addition to weight gain, were registered. Physiological parameters showed to be shift dependent (p < 0.05), with the afternoon shift being superior when compared to the morning shift, thus indicating climate influence. Weight gain showed significant interactions (p < 0.05) in the presence and absence of sunlight and EE in the stalls. Temperature correlated positively with the physiological parameters. Moisture showed negative correlations with physiological parameters. The packed cell volume was lower (p < 0.05) in the presence of EE. The EE provides physiological well-being and weight gain for pigs in the nursery stage, especially when sunlight was absent in the stalls.

scholarly journals Data-based, synthesis-driven: setting the agenda for computational ecology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothée Poisot ◽  
Richard Labrie ◽  
Erin Larson ◽  
Anastasia Rahlin
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Field Computation ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
Credit Data ◽  
Computational Ecology ◽  
The Way

AbstractComputational thinking is the integration of algorithms, software, and data, to solve general questions in a field. Computation ecology has the potential to transform the way ecologists think about the integration of data and models. As the practice is gaining prominence as a way to conduct ecological research, it is important to reflect on what its agenda could be, and how it fits within the broader landscape of ecological research. In this contribution, we suggest areas in which empirical ecologists, modellers, and the emerging community of computational ecologists could engage in a constructive dialogue to build on one another’s expertise; specifically, about the need to make predictions from models actionable, about the best standards to represent ecological data, and about the proper ways to credit data collection and data reuse. We discuss how training can be amended to improve computational literacy.

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