Response of Orthoptera assemblages to management of montane grasslands in the Western Carpathians

Biologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimíra Fabriciusová ◽  
Peter Kaňuch ◽  
Anton Krištín
Keyword(s):  
Function Analysis ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Grassland Management ◽  
Conservation Policy ◽  
Western Carpathians ◽  
Correct Classification Rate ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
Characteristic Species ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMontane grassy habitats in the Western Carpathians are relatively well preserved, maintain high species richness and are often important in accordance to the nature conservation policy in Europe. However, knowledge about the impact of farming on the habitat quality there is rather poor. The influence of various management types (permanent sheep pen, irregular grazing, mowing) on Orthoptera diversity and species determining assemblages of these habitats were analysed on 72 plots in Poľana Mts Biosphere Reserve. Altogether, 36 Orthoptera species (15 Ensifera, 21 Caelifera) were found, whereas the highest number of species was found on plots with irregular grazing (28 species), followed by plots with mown grass (17) and permanent sheep pens (14). All four measures of the assemblages’ diversity confirmed significant differences. Using Discriminant Function Analysis, correct classification rate of Orthoptera assemblages was unambiguous according to the type of management. Each form of the management harboured several characteristic species. Thus implications regarding the biodiversity conservation and grassland management were given.

scholarly journals The Use of Artificial Neural Networks and a General Discriminant Analysis for Predicting Culling Reasons in Holstein-Friesian Cows Based on First-Lactation Performance Records

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Adamczyk ◽  
Wilhelm Grzesiak ◽  
Daniel Zaborski
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Artificial Neural Networks ◽  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Multilayer Perceptrons ◽  
Correct Classification ◽  
Correct Classification Rate ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
Holstein Friesian ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
Friesian Cows

The aim of the present study was to verify whether artificial neural networks (ANN) may be an effective tool for predicting the culling reasons in cows based on routinely collected first-lactation records. Data on Holstein-Friesian cows culled in Poland between 2017 and 2018 were used in the present study. A general discriminant analysis (GDA) was applied as a reference method for ANN. Considering all predictive performance measures, ANN were the most effective in predicting the culling of cows due to old age (99.76–99.88% of correctly classified cases). In addition, a very high correct classification rate (99.24–99.98%) was obtained for culling the animals due to reproductive problems. It is significant because infertility is one of the conditions that are the most difficult to eliminate in dairy herds. The correct classification rate for individual culling reasons obtained with GDA (0.00–97.63%) was, in general, lower than that for multilayer perceptrons (MLP). The obtained results indicated that, in order to effectively predict the previously mentioned culling reasons, the following first-lactation parameters should be used: calving age, calving difficulty, and the characteristics of the lactation curve based on Wood’s model parameters.

scholarly journals Fatty Acid Composition of Cosmetic Argan Oil: Provenience and Authenticity Criteria

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (18) ◽  
pp. 4080
Author(s):  
Milena Bučar Miklavčič ◽  
Fouad Taous ◽  
Vasilij Valenčič ◽  
Tibari Elghali ◽  
Maja Podgornik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Trans Fatty Acids ◽  
Correct Classification ◽  
Fatty Acid Profiles ◽  
Correct Classification Rate ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
Argan Oil ◽  
Geographical Regions

In this work, fatty-acid profiles, including trans fatty acids, in combination with chemometric tools, were applied as a determinant of purity (i.e., adulteration) and provenance (i.e., geographical origin) of cosmetic grade argan oil collected from different regions of Morocco in 2017. The fatty acid profiles obtained by gas chromatography (GC) showed that oleic acid (C18:1) is the most abundant fatty acid, followed by linoleic acid (C18:2) and palmitic acid (C16:0). The content of trans-oleic and trans-linoleic isomers was between 0.02% and 0.03%, while trans-linolenic isomers were between 0.06% and 0.09%. Discriminant analysis (DA) and orthogonal projection to latent structure—discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were performed to discriminate between argan oils from Essaouira, Taroudant, Tiznit, Chtouka-Aït Baha and Sidi Ifni. The correct classification rate was highest for argan oil from the Chtouka-Aït Baha province (90.0%) and the lowest for oils from the Sidi Ifni province (14.3%), with an overall correct classification rate of 51.6%. Pairwise comparison using OPLS-DA could predictably differentiate (≥0.92) between the geographical regions with the levels of stearic (C18:0) and arachidic (C20:0) fatty acids accounting for most of the variance. This study shows the feasibility of implementing authenticity criteria for argan oils by including limit values for trans-fatty acids and the ability to discern provenance using fatty acid profiling.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of contracting and expanding rainforest in initiating cycles of speciation across the Isthmus of Panama

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3520-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tilston Smith ◽  
Amei Amei ◽  
John Klicka
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Isthmus Of Panama ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact

Climatic and geological changes across time are presumed to have shaped the rich biodiversity of tropical regions. However, the impact climatic drying and subsequent tropical rainforest contraction had on speciation has been controversial because of inconsistent palaeoecological and genetic data. Despite the strong interest in examining the role of climatic change on speciation in the Neotropics there has been few comparative studies, particularly, those that include non-rainforest taxa. We used bird species that inhabit humid or dry habitats that dispersed across the Panamanian Isthmus to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of speciation across this barrier. Here, we show that these two assemblages of birds exhibit temporally different speciation time patterns that supports multiple cycles of speciation. Evidence for these cycles is further corroborated by the finding that both assemblages consist of ‘young’ and ‘old’ species, despite dry habitat species pairs being geographically more distant than pairs of humid habitat species. The matrix of humid and dry habitats in the tropics not only allows for the maintenance of high species richness, but additionally this study suggests that these environments may have promoted speciation. We conclude that differentially expanding and contracting distributions of dry and humid habitats was probably an important contributor to speciation in the tropics.

A modified production function analysis of changing southern forest productivity

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1278-1287 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Production Function ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Public Lands ◽  
Forest Productivity ◽  
Southern States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lower Productivity ◽  
Aggregate Production Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Productivity Gains

The analysis in this paper measures changes in forest productivity for 12 southern states using a modified, aggregate production function. The function combines cross section – time series, biological, and acreage data to estimate the shift in productivity, measured as either standing inventory plus removals or changes in inventory plus removals, over the past 4 decades. The annual shift in productivity is estimated to be approximately 0.5% for the standing volume measures used. However, productivity gains in the region have virtually stopped during the past decade. The largest contributions to productivity gains were from industrially owned lands and land managed as planted pine. Mixed pine–hardwood stands and public lands (except for plantations) showed lower productivity impacts. These results present an essential component for understanding the impact of technical change on aggregate forest productivity in the southern United States.

Communicating water-related climate change hazards to local stakeholders

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Müller ◽  
Petra Döll
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Impact ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Hydrological Models ◽  
Model Ensemble ◽  
Hydrological Hazards ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
The Impact

<p>Due to climate change, the water cycle is changing which requires to adapt water management in many regions. The transdisciplinary project KlimaRhön aims at assessing water-related risks and developing adaptation measures in water management in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Rhön in Central Germany. One of the challenges is to inform local stakeholders about hydrological hazards in in the biosphere reserve, which has an area of only 2433 km² and for which no regional hydrological simulations are available. To overcome the lack of local simulations of the impact of climate change on water resources, existing simulations by a number of global hydrological models (GHMs) were evaluated for the study area. While the coarse model resolution of 0.5°x0.5° (55 km x 55 km at the equator) is certainly problematic for the small study area, the advantage is that both the uncertainty of climate simulations and hydrological models can be taken into account to provide a best estimate of future hazards and their (large) uncertainties. This is different from most local hydrological climate change impact assessments, where only one hydrological model is used, which leads to an underestimation of future uncertainty as different hydrological models translate climatic changes differently into hydrological changes and, for example, mostly do not take into account the effect of changing atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> on evapotranspiration and thus runoff.   </p><p>The global climate change impact simulations were performed in a consistent manner by various international modeling groups following a protocol developed by ISIMIP (ISIMIP 2b, www.isimip.org); the simulation results are freely available for download. We processed, analyzed and visualized the results of the multi-model ensemble, which consists of eight GHMs driven by the bias-adjusted output of four general circulation models. The ensemble of potential changes of total runoff and groundwater recharge were calculated for two 30-year future periods relative to a reference period, analyzing annual and seasonal means as well as interannual variability. Moreover, the two representative concentration pathways RCP 2.6 and 8.5 were chosen to inform stakeholders about two possible courses of anthropogenic emissions.</p><p>To communicate the results to local stakeholders effectively, the way to present modeling results and their uncertainty is crucial. The visualization and textual/oral presentation should not be overwhelming but comprehensive, comprehensible and engaging. It should help the stakeholder to understand the likelihood of particular hazards that can be derived from multi-model ensemble projections. In this contribution, we present the communication approach we applied during a stakeholder workshop as well as its evaluation by the stakeholders.</p>

Monitoring of small rock pools reveals differential effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on birds and mammals in the Calakmul region, southern Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Carlos M. Delgado-Martínez ◽  
Fredy Alvarado ◽  
Melanie Kolb ◽  
Eduardo Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Bird Diversity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Rock Pools ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Wildlife Species ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Great attention has been drawn to the impacts of habitat deforestation and fragmentation on wildlife species richness. In contrast, much less attention has been paid to assessing the impacts of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife species composition and behaviour. We focused on natural small rock pools (sartenejas), which concentrate vertebrate activity due to habitat’s water limitation, to assess the impact of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the species richness, diversity, composition, and behaviour of medium and large-sized birds and mammals in the highly biodiverse forests of Calakmul, southern Mexico. Camera trapping records of fauna using sartenejas within and outside the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR) showed that there were no effects on species richness, but contrasts emerged when comparing species diversity, composition, and behaviour. These effects differed between birds and mammals and between species: (1) bird diversity was greater outside the CBR, but mammal diversity was greater within and (2) the daily activity patterns of birds differed slightly within and outside the CBR but strongly contrasted in mammals. Our study highlights that even in areas supporting extensive forest cover, small-scale chronic anthropogenic disturbances can have pervasive negative effects on wildlife and that these effects contrast between animal groups.

Alzheimer's Disease Classification Based on Multi-feature Fusion

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuwan Madusanka ◽  
Heung-Kook Choi ◽  
Jae-Hong So ◽  
Boo-Kyeong Choi
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Feature Fusion ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Correct Classification ◽  
Mr Images ◽  
Correct Classification Rate ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
Morphometric Features

Background: In this study, we investigated the fusion of texture and morphometric features as a possible diagnostic biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Methods: In particular, we classified subjects with Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Normal Control (NC) based on texture and morphometric features. Currently, neuropsychiatric categorization provides the ground truth for AD and MCI diagnosis. This can then be supported by biological data such as the results of imaging studies. Cerebral atrophy has been shown to correlate strongly with cognitive symptoms. Hence, Magnetic Resonance (MR) images of the brain are important resources for AD diagnosis. In the proposed method, we used three different types of features identified from structural MR images: Gabor, hippocampus morphometric, and Two Dimensional (2D) and Three Dimensional (3D) Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The experimental results, obtained using a 5-fold cross-validated Support Vector Machine (SVM) with 2DGLCM and 3DGLCM multi-feature fusion approaches, indicate that we achieved 81.05% ±1.34, 86.61% ±1.25 correct classification rate with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) falls between (80.75-81.35) and (86.33-86.89) respectively, 83.33%±2.15, 84.21%±1.42 sensitivity and 80.95%±1.52, 85.00%±1.24 specificity in our classification of AD against NC subjects, thus outperforming recent works found in the literature. For the classification of MCI against AD, the SVM achieved a 76.31% ± 2.18, 78.95% ±2.26 correct classification rate, 75.00% ±1.34, 76.19%±1.84 sensitivity and 77.78% ±1.14, 82.35% ±1.34 specificity. Results and Conclusion: The results of the third experiment, with MCI against NC, also showed that the multiclass SVM provided highly accurate classification results. These findings suggest that this approach is efficient and may be a promising strategy for obtaining better AD, MCI and NC classification performance.

scholarly journals The challenge of abandonment for the sustainable management of Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands

Hacquetia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orsolya Valkó ◽  
Stephen Venn ◽  
Michał Żmihorski ◽  
Idoia Biurrun ◽  
Rocco Labadessa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Grassland Management ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Core ◽  
Natural Grasslands ◽  
Biomass Removal ◽  
Management Regimes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Grassland Biodiversity

Abstract Disturbance by biomass removal is a crucial mechanism maintaining the diversity of Palaearctic grasslands, which are unique biodiversity hotspots. The century-long traditional land use of mowing, grazing and burning, has been fundamentally changed in many parts of the Palaearctic. Due to socio-economic changes, large areas of former pastures and meadows have been abandoned, leading to a succession towards secondary scrublands or forest and the encroachment of competitor grass species, all leading to a decrease in biodiversity. Here we report the causes and consequences of the cessation of traditional grassland management regimes, provide strategies for reducing the impact of abandonment and consider these from the perspective of sustainability. We consider the possibilities for initiating sustainable management regimes in the contemporary socio-economic environment, and discuss the prospects and limitation of alternative management regimes in the conservation of grassland biodiversity. These themes are also the core topics of this Special Feature, edited by the EDGG. We hope that this Special Feature will encourage steps towards more sustainable strategies for the conservation of Palaearctic grasslands and the integration of the sustainability perspective into their conservation.

scholarly journals Structure of Harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) Communities in Different, Anthropically Disturbed Beech Ecosystems (Western Carpathians, Slovakia)

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Mihál ◽  
Ľ. Černecká
Keyword(s):  
Abundant Species ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Western Carpathians ◽  
Forest Clearing ◽  
Forestry Management ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Closed Canopy ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The authors evaluate the impact of different types of forestry management, and other anthropic disturbances, on harvestmen (Opiliones) communities in sub-mountain beech stands in the Western Carpathians. Harvestmen were studied in three main localities, consisting of nine partial plots (Žiar nad Hronom - (1) control closed canopy stand; Jalná - (2) control stand, (3) thinning stand, (4) 11-year old forest clearing, and (5) 2-year old forest clearing; Kováčová - (6) control stand, (7) coppice, (8) 10-year old forest clearing, and (9) 3-year old forest clearing). In total, 16 harvestmen species were found, representing 45.7 % of the 35 harvestmen species range known in Slovakia to date. Th e most abundant species, i. e., those with the highest dominance values (D), were Lophopilio palpinalis (D = 22.8%), Trogulus nepaeformis (D = 17.9%), Lacinius ephippiatus (D = 12.2%), Trogulus tricarinatus (D = 11.3%), Oligolophus tridens (D = 10.5%), and Nemastoma lugubre (D = 6.7%). At the partial plot of the 3-year old forest clearing, we found eight harvestmen species and noticed a high number of specimens (5.49) caught in one individual trap, and this was also the highest number among all the nine sites.

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