A new EU BON acknowledging data article provides a virtual species set as a valuable tool in biodiversity monitoring. 

Abstract

Predicting species potential and future distribution has become a relevant tool in biodiversity monitoring and conservation. In this data article we present the suitability map of a virtual species generated based on two bioclimatic variables, and a dataset containing more than 700,000 random observations at the extent of Europe. The dataset includes spatial attributes such as: distance to roads, protected areas, country codes, and the habitat suitability of two spatially clustered species (grassland and forest species) and a wide-spread species.

Original Source:

Garzon-Lopez, C.X., Bastin, L., Foody, G.M., Rocchini, D. (2016). A virtual species set for robust and reproducible Species Distribution Modelling tests. Data in Brief, 7: 476-479. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2016.02.058

A new position for "Researcher and Scientific Project Manager" is opened by the Doing it Together science (DITOs) project, running under the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) within the H2020 framework, and led by the UCL London.

The DITOs project aims to elevate public engagement with science across Europe from passive engagement with the process of developing science to an active one.

Deadline: 23.05.2016

For more information on how to apply and requirements for this position, please download the Official Job Offer.

Established under the auspices of the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/CMS), the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS) is an Intergovernmental Agreement aimed at achieving and maintaining a favorable conservation status for cetaceans though the implementation of coordinated measures.

The Secretariat of ACCOBAMS, based in Monaco, ensures the coordination of the Agreement implementation and provides assistance to the Contracting Parties. In this context, the Secretariat is working on the development of an initiative aimed at responding to the ACCOBAMS strategic objective on improving the understanding of the conservation status of cetaceans at the Mediterranean/Black Sea macroregional level (the "ACCOBAMS Survey Initiative" – ASI).

A new opinion piece published in the journal Global Change Biology looks at the development of biodiversity scenarios and their inclusion of  future land-use changes.

Abstract: 

A new research paper Linking Earth Observation and taxonomic, structural and functional biodiversity: Local to ecosystem perspectives published in the journal Ecological Indicators looks at the ways in which earth observation (EO) techniques may provide a solution to overcome shortcomings in biodiversity monitoring by measuring entities of interest at different spatial and temporal scales. 

Abstract: 

Impacts of human civilization on ecosystems threaten global biodiversity. In a changing environment, traditional in situ approaches to biodiversity monitoring have made significant steps forward to quantify and evaluate BD at many scales but still, these methods are limited to comparatively small areas. Earth observation (EO) techniques may provide a solution to overcome this shortcoming by measuring entities of interest at different spatial and temporal scales.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the role of EO to detect, describe, explain, predict and assess biodiversity. Here, we focus on three main aspects related to biodiversity taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and structural diversity, which integrate different levels of organization molecular, genetic, individual, species, populations, communities, biomes, ecosystems and landscapes. In particular, we discuss the recording of taxonomic elements of biodiversity through the identification of animal and plant species. We highlight the importance of the spectral traits (ST) and spectral trait variations (STV) concept for EO-based biodiversity research.

Furthermore we provide examples of spectral traits/spectral trait variations used in EO applications for quantifying taxonomic diversity, functional diversity andstructural diversity. We discuss the use of EO to monitor biodiversity and habitat quality using differ-ent remote-sensing techniques. Finally, we suggest specifically important steps for a better integrationof EO in biodiversity research.EO methods represent an affordable, repeatable and comparable method for measuring, describing,explaining and modelling taxonomic, functional and structural diversity. Upcoming sensor developmentswill provide opportunities to quantify spectral traits, currently not detectable with EO, and will surelyhelp to describe biodiversity in more detail. Therefore, new concepts are needed to tightly integrate EOsensor networks with the identification of biodiversity. This will mean taking completely new directionsin the future to link complex, large data, different approaches and models.

Original reseach:

A. Lausch, L. Bannehr, M. Beckmann, C. Boehm, H. Feilhauer, J.M. Hacker, M. Heurich, A. Jung, R. Klenke, C. Neumann, M. Pause, D. Rocchini, M.E. Schaepman, S. Schmidtlein, K. Schulz, P. Selsam, J. Settele, A.K. Skidmore, A.F. Cord, Linking Earth Observation and taxonomic, structural and functional biodiversity: Local to ecosystem perspectives, Ecological Indicators, Volume 70, November 2016, Pages 317-339, ISSN 1470-160X, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.06.022

The planetary boundaries framework attempts to set limits for biodiversity loss within which ecological function is relatively unaffected. In a recent article in Science Newbold et al. present a quantitative global analysis of the extent to which the proposed planetary boundary has been crossed. 

Abstract: 

Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary ("safe limit"). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness—the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems—beyond its recently proposed planetary boundary across 58.1% of the world’s land surface, where 71.4% of the human population live. Biodiversity intactness within most biomes (especially grassland biomes), most biodiversity hotspots, and even some wilderness areas is inferred to be beyond the boundary. Such widespread transgression of safe limits suggests that biodiversity loss, if unchecked, will undermine efforts toward long-term sustainable development.

The study is available at http://dx.doi/10.1126/science.aaf2201

Are protected areas working when it comes to promoting biodivesity? A new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that local biodiversity is actually higher within, rather than outside protected areas.

Abstract: 

Protected areas are widely considered essential for biodiversity conservation. However, few global studies have demonstrated that protection benefits a broad range of species. Here, using a new global biodiversity database with unprecedented geographic and taxonomic coverage, we compare four biodiversity measures at sites sampled in multiple land uses inside and outside protected areas. Globally, species richness is 10.6% higher and abundance 14.5% higher in samples taken inside protected areas compared with samples taken outside, but neither rarefaction-based richness nor endemicity differ significantly. Importantly, we show that the positive effects of protection are mostly attributable to differences in land use between protected and unprotected sites. Nonetheless, even within some human-dominated land uses, species richness and abundance are higher in protected sites. Our results reinforce the global importance of protected areas but suggest that protection does not consistently benefit species with small ranges or increase the variety of ecological niches.

Original Source:

The original article is openly accessible at:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12306

Key in ensuring the effectiveness of conservation efforts and maintaining ecosystem health, measuring biodiversity can benefit greatly when remote sensing data comes into the equation. A new EU BON related paper, published in the journal Ecological Indicators, proposes open source solutions for measuring the important Rao's Q index, when it comes to remote sensing data.

Abstract: 

Measuring biodiversity is a key issue in ecology to guarantee effective indicators of ecosystem health at different spatial and time scales. However, estimating biodiversity from field observations might present difficulties related to costs and time needed. Moreover, a continuous data update for biodiversity monitoring purposes might be prohibitive. From this point of view, remote sensing represents a powerful tool since it allows to cover wide areas in a relatively low amount of time. One of the most common indicators of biodiversity is Shannon's entropy H′, which is strictly related to environmental heterogeneity, and thus to species diversity. However, Shannon's entropy might show drawbacks once applied to remote sensing data, since it considers relative abundances but it does not explicitly account for distances among pixels’ numerical values. In this paper we propose the use of Rao's Q applied to remotely sensed data, providing a straightforward R-package function to calculate it in 2D systems. We will introduce the theoretical rationale behind Rao's index and then provide applied examples based on the proposed R function.

Original Source: 

Rocchini, D., Marcantonio, M., Ricotta, C. (2017). Measuring Rao's Q diversity index rom remote sensing: an open source solution. Ecological Indicators, 72: 234-238. [5years-IF: 3.649] DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.039

A new EU BON derived paper, publsihed recently in the journal Remote Sensing, introduces eHabitat+, a habitat modelling service supporting the European Commission’s Digital Observatory for Protected Areas.

Abstract:

Protected areas (PAs) need to be assessed systematically according to biodiversity values and threats in order to support decision-making processes. For this, PAs can be characterized according to their species, ecosystems and threats, but such information is often difficult to access and usually not comparable across regions. There are currently over 200,000 PAs in the world, and assessing these systematically according to their ecological values remains a huge challenge. However, linking remote sensing with ecological modelling can help to overcome some limitations of conservation studies, such as the sampling bias of biodiversity inventories. The aim of this paper is to introduce eHabitat+, a habitat modelling service supporting the European Commission’s Digital Observatory for Protected Areas, and specifically to discuss a component that systematically stratifies PAs into different habitat functional types based on remote sensing data. eHabitat+ uses an optimized procedure of automatic image segmentation based on several environmental variables to identify the main biophysical gradients in each PA. This allows a systematic production of key indicators on PAs that can be compared globally. Results from a few case studies are illustrated to show the benefits and limitations of this open-source tool.

Original Source: 

Martínez-López, J.; Bertzky, B.; Bonet-García, F.J.; Bastin, L.; Dubois, G. Biophysical Characterization of Protected Areas Globally through Optimized Image Segmentation and Classification. Remote Sens. 2016, 8, 780. DOI: 0.3390/rs8090780

A new editorial, published in the Journal of Apllied Ecology looks at modelling and monitoring as methods for adaptive biodiversity management in the 21st century.

Abstract: 

With increasing threats on biodiversity, informed conservation decisions need to be based on currently observed and future predicted trends of biodiversity (Pereira, Navarro & Martins 2012; Guisan et al. 2013). In this regard, two essential components supporting informed biodiversity conservation decisions are good monitoring data to assess recent and ongoing trends (Collen et al. 2013; Pereira et al. 2013) and robust models to anticipate possible future trends (Pereira et al. 2010a; Akc
akaya et al. 2016). Models benefit from robust monitoring data sets, that is repeated observations of biodiversity, as they need data to be fitted or validated, but models can also help assess data representativeness (e.g. by highlighting any bias), support proper data collection (e.g. covering the relevant gradients) or be used to make more effective use of biodiversity observations (Guisan et al. 2006, 2013; Ferrier 2011).

Read more in the open access paper.

Until Tuesday, abortion rights advocates had prevailed on all seven measures that have appeared on statewide ballots since the fall of Roe.

The post Abortion rights advocates win in 7 states and clear way to overturn Missouri ban but lose in 3 appeared first on Boston.com.

President-elect Donald Trump has encouraged him to “go wild on health” but has not made clear what role Kennedy will play.

The post Robert F. Kennedy Jr., foe of drugmakers and regulators, is poised to wield new power appeared first on Boston.com.

International observers will determine if the right to defense and impartial trial are respected

VILAWEB

18-12-2018

A group of judicial and human rights experts, as well as professors throughout Spain, have set up a platform called ‘International Trial Watch – Catalan Referendum case’ to supervise the trial against independence leaders, presented on Monday.

At the event, criminal law professor Iñaki Rivera stated that they are creating reports to determine if the “right to defense, the existence and duration of pre-trial incarceration, and impartial trial, balance between parties, and the taking of evidence” are respected, along with the competency of the Supreme Court in the trial.

Student loan cancellation was not a focus of the campaign for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, who steered clear of the issue at her political events.

The post Trump’s win brings uncertainty to borrowers hoping for student loan forgiveness appeared first on Boston.com.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson were spotted on the set of "The Drama," a new movie filming in the Boston area this fall.

The post Robert Pattinson and Zendaya are back in Boston filming ‘The Drama’ appeared first on Boston.com.

"The Drama," set to film in Boston throughout the fall, is seeking extras with "distinctive faces" now through the end of November.

The post The new Zendaya and Robert Pattinson movie filming in Boston needs extras appeared first on Boston.com.

The former Sports Hub host was allowed to design his own show at WZLX, but budget cuts and dismal ratings doomed him.

The post Rich Shertenlieb is dismissed at WZLX less than six months after his show debuted appeared first on Boston.com.

Ratings were dismal, and nothing Shertenlieb did with the program since launching in May suggested it was going to get better.

The post The reasons for Rich Shertenlieb’s show already getting the axe at WZLX are not complicated appeared first on Boston.com.

Benjamin Van Mooy is a new MacArthur Fellow, the foundation announced on Thursday.

The post Mass. plankton expert awarded $800K ‘genius grant’ appeared first on Boston.com.

Under the federal law, nearly all hourly workers in the U.S. are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours a week. But many salaried workers are exempt from that requirement — unless they earn below a certain level.

The post Biden administration finalizes rule to grant overtime for millions more salaried workers appeared first on Boston.com.

The stars have been spotted around Boston filming A24 movie, “The Drama.”

The post What are your favorite Zendaya, Robert Pattinson movies and shows? appeared first on Boston.com.

The couple joined in on the Norwegian DJ's track "Stargazing."

The post Watch: Gronk and Camille Kostek join Kygo onstage at Boston concert appeared first on Boston.com.

An unauthorized Muslim immigrant from Uzbekistan was offered a deal by the FBI: You can remain in the US, but only if you'll spy on your fellow Muslims. He did, but then he decided he wanted to stop.

Also, the Trump administration declassified thousands of documents that reveal details of Argentina's so called ‘dirty war’; In Northern Thailand, the grandchildren of one-time CIA backed Chinese rebels transformed what used to be a secret hideaway to a tea-drinking tourist haven; and the FBI has had agents dedicated to fighting war crimes, but now that team is being disbanded.

(The J. Edgar Hoover Building of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, DC. Credit: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

Concerns about how movie studios will use AI helped fuel last year’s film and television strikes by the union, which lasted four months.

The post Robert Downey Jr. says he ‘intends to sue’ all future executives who use his AI replica appeared first on Boston.com.

Back in 2011, Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, now a soloist at the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded an album containing harp arrangements of Chopin’s and Liszt’s most ... Read more

The post 3 Questions with Anneleen Lenaerts, Principal Harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic appeared first on CMUSE.

This week Zorba and Karl discuss how certain foods can improve your mood, and they talk about the FDA claiming a decongestant in popular cold medicines doesn’t work at all. […]

Author Mark Gregston has been working with teens for over 40 years. His years as a youth minister and area director for Young Life inform his expertise and passion for helping teens through their most turbulent years. He and his wife Jan have opened their home to those in need of guidance, or even just a warm hug from a caring parent. After moving their family to Texas, Greg and Jan started Heartlight, a residential counseling center for struggling teens and families in crisis. Now, after years...

GUT HEALTH  Dr. Don Colbert maintains that people can take control of their health. As he likes to put it, “Your genetics may load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.” Our choices can change our genetics, he adds. Dr. Colbert is often asked why the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is so important. He says it’s because it’s considered the “second brain” due its complex neural network. “The gut-brain axis is a fascinating and intricate connection that highlights the two-way communication between...

Today, I felt compelled to reach out to you all with a message of unity and hope, inspired by Daniel 7:27 (NKJV)— Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. In a world often divided by political differences, I believe we can find common ground in our shared humanity and our collective aspiration for a better world. Regardless of our individual faiths or beliefs, we all seek peace,...

How Florida lawmakers’ attempt to make property insurance more affordable could affect your business.

Third-party contractor accreditation programs are required in specifications around the world. Special inspection agencies and their inspectors are required to demonstrate competence and relevant experience. This is demonstrated by passing a Firestop Exam.

On Sept. 17, JLG introduced new features for its ES electric scissor lifts, E18 vertical lifts and E18 stock picker, including standard AC drive motors, lithium-ion battery options and a range-extending genset charging option.

CertainTeed, a leading North American manufacturer of building materials, today announced the launch of Terminus Transitions and Terminus Glazing Channels as new product extensions to the company’s Terminus Perimeter Trim line. The Terminus Perimeter Trim line is a premier suspension system accessory that allows for easy installation of suspended ceilings with exposed edges, including clouds, peninsulas and islands.

Raths, Raths & Johnson Inc. assists clients nationwide under one central office in Willowbrook, Ill.

New for fall ’24, KEEN Utility’s Overton is a versatile, throwback-inspired work shoe that is safe, comfortable and unexpected.

The Metal Construction Association is reinvigorating its MCM System Fabricator Certification program. Through the program, companies that fabricate metal composite material panels for architectural use can earn certification by meeting requirements for experience, services, MCM system performance and financial strength.

It was a year or so ago when my article intimated to a result, to a given test, to a controversial subject, to confirm what us plasterers have known for years. When it comes to control joints in relation to cracking in stucco, let me boldly state: Lath cut or continuous performs the same.

The QuickSpan Locking Drywall Grid System from Certainteed Gypsum is an innovative ceiling grid system that provides the industry’s longest unsupported spans for flat drywall. It’s engineered and designed for quick, easy installation of spans for drywall ceilings in hallways and corridors.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and, since 2020, CertainTeed and Susan G. Komen have partnered to fight off the disease, which impacts millions of lives.

Tumwater, WA — The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has published a hazard alert on the risks of worker exposure to silica dust.

Washington — A new OSHA initiative is aimed at protecting workers in the engineered stone fabrication and installation industries from silica exposure.

GiftingHumanity was already part of the Charity Commission’s ‘double defaulters’ class inquiry for failing to file financial documents on time

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance is now offering two topics from the upcoming third edition of FenestrationMasters, its flagship education program, for individual purchase. The two à la carte modules cover the North American Fenestration Standard, including the NAFS Canadian Supplement and Fundamentals of Insulating Glass.