| 1. |
- Ronquist, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Completing Linnaeus’s inventory of the Swedish insect fauna: only 5,000 species left?
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite more than 250 years of taxonomic research, we still have only a vague idea about the true size and composition of the faunas and floras of the planet. Many biodiversity inventories provide limited insight because they focus on a small taxonomic subsample or a tiny geographic area. Here, we report on the size and composition of the Swedish insect fauna, thought to represent roughly half of the diversity of multicellular life in one of the largest European countries. Our results are based on more than a decade of data from the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative and its massive inventory of the country’s insect fauna, the Swedish Malaise Trap Project The fauna is considered one of the best known in the world, but the initiative has nevertheless revealed a surprising amount of hidden diversity: more than 3,000 new species (301 new to science) have been documented so far. Here, we use three independent methods to analyze the true size and composition of the fauna at the family or subfamily level: (1) assessments by experts who have been working on the most poorly known groups in the fauna; (2) estimates based on the proportion of new species discovered in the Malaise trap inventory; and (3) extrapolations based on species abundance and incidence data from the inventory. For the last method, we develop a new estimator, the combined non-parametric estimator, which we show is less sensitive to poor coverage of the species pool than other popular estimators. The three methods converge on similar estimates of the size and composition of the fauna, suggesting that it comprises around 33,000 species. Of those, 8,600 (26%) were unknown at the start of the inventory and 5,000 (15%) still await discovery. We analyze the taxonomic and ecological composition of the estimated fauna, and show that most of the new species belong to Hymenoptera and Diptera groups that are decomposers or parasitoids. Thus, current knowledge of the Swedish insect fauna is strongly biased taxonomically and ecologically, and we show that similar but even stronger biases have distorted our understanding of the fauna in the past. We analyze latitudinal gradients in the size and composition of known European insect faunas and show that several of the patterns contradict the Swedish data, presumably due to similar knowledge biases. Addressing these biases is critical in understanding insect biomes and the ecosystem services they provide. Our results emphasize the need to broaden the taxonomic scope of current insect monitoring efforts, a task that is all the more urgent as recent studies indicate a possible worldwide decline in insect faunas.
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| 2. |
- Johansson, Ronnie, et al.
(författare)
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On the Definition and Scope of Information Fusion as a Field of Research
- 2022
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Ingår i: ISIF Perspectives on Information Fusion. - : International Society of Information Fusion (ISIF). - 2831-4824 .- 2831-4832. ; 5:1, s. 3-12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A definition of information fusion (IF) as a field of research can benefit researchers within the field, who may use such a definition when motivating their own work and evaluating the contributions of others. Moreover, it can enable researchers and practitioners outside the field to more easily relate their own work to the field and more easily understand the scope of IF techniques and methods. Based on strengths and weaknesses of existing definitions, a definition is proposed that is argued to effectively fulfill the requirements that can be put on a definition of IF as a field of research. Although the proposed definition aims to be precise, it does not fully capture the richness and versatility of the IF field. To address that limitation, we highlight some topics to explore the scope of IF, covering the systems perspective of IF and its relation to ma-chine learning, optimization, robot behavior, opinion aggregation, and databases.
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| 3. |
- Boström, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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On the Definition of Information Fusion as a Field of Research
- 2007
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A more precise definition of the field of information fusion can be of benefit to researchers within the field, who may use uch a definition when motivating their own work and evaluating the contribution of others. Moreover, it can enable researchers and practitioners outside the field to more easily relate their own work to the field and more easily understand the scope of the techniques and methods developed in the field. Previous definitions of information fusion are reviewed from that perspective, including definitions of data and sensor fusion, and their appropriateness as definitions for the entire research field are discussed. Based on strengths and weaknesses of existing definitions, a novel definition is proposed, which is argued to effectively fulfill the requirements that can be put on a definition of information fusion as a field of research.
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| 4. |
- Jasilionis, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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AmiP from hyperthermophilic Thermus parvatiensis prophage is a thermoactive and ultrathermostable peptidoglycan lytic amidase
- 2023
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Ingår i: Protein Science. - : Wiley. - 1469-896X .- 0961-8368. ; 32:3, s. 4585-4585
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bacteriophages encode a wide variety of cell wall disrupting enzymes that aid the viral escape in the final stages of infection. These lytic enzymes have accumulated notable interest due to their potential as novel antibacterials for infection treatment caused by multiple-drug resistant bacteria. Here, the detailed functional and structural characterization of Thermus parvatiensis prophage peptidoglycan lytic amidase AmiP, a globular Amidase_3 type lytic enzyme adapted to high temperatures is presented. The sequence and structure comparison with homologous lytic amidases reveals the key adaptation traits that ensure the activity and stability of AmiP at high temperatures. The crystal structure determined at a resolution of 1.8 Å displays a compact α/β-fold with multiple secondary structure elements omitted or shortened compared with protein structures of similar proteins. The functional characterization of AmiP demonstrates high efficiency of catalytic activity and broad substrate specificity toward thermophilic and mesophilic bacteria strains containing Orn-type or DAP-type peptidoglycan. The here presented AmiP constitutes the most thermoactive and ultrathermostable Amidase_3 type lytic enzyme biochemically characterized with a temperature optimum at 85°C. The extraordinary high melting temperature Tm 102.6°C confirms fold stability up to approximately 100°C. Furthermore, AmiP is shown to be more active over the alkaline pH range with pH optimum at pH 8.5 and tolerates NaCl up to 300 mM with the activity optimum at 25 mM NaCl. This set of beneficial characteristics suggests that AmiP can be further exploited in biotechnology.
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| 5. |
- Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide meta-analysis uncovers novel loci influencing circulating leptin levels
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Leptin is an adipocyte-secreted hormone, the circulating levels of which correlate closely with overall adiposity. Although rare mutations in the leptin (LEP) gene are well known to cause leptin deficiency and severe obesity, no common loci regulating circulating leptin levels have been uncovered. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of circulating leptin levels from 32,161 individuals and followed up loci reaching P<10(-6) in 19,979 additional individuals. We identify five loci robustly associated (P<5 × 10(-8)) with leptin levels in/near LEP, SLC32A1, GCKR, CCNL1 and FTO. Although the association of the FTO obesity locus with leptin levels is abolished by adjustment for BMI, associations of the four other loci are independent of adiposity. The GCKR locus was found associated with multiple metabolic traits in previous GWAS and the CCNL1 locus with birth weight. Knockdown experiments in mouse adipose tissue explants show convincing evidence for adipogenin, a regulator of adipocyte differentiation, as the novel causal gene in the SLC32A1 locus influencing leptin levels. Our findings provide novel insights into the regulation of leptin production by adipose tissue and open new avenues for examining the influence of variation in leptin levels on adiposity and metabolic health.
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| 9. |
- Carlsson, Bo
(författare)
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Säkring av efterbehandlingsåtgärders effekt över tiden
- 2007
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Förord Ett av riksdagens miljömål är Giftfri miljö, och i detta mål ingår att efterbehandla och sanera förorenade områden. Brist på kunskap om risker med förorenade områden och hur de bör hanteras har identifierats som hinder för ett effektivt saneringsarbete. Naturvårdsverket har därför initierat kunskapsprogrammet Hållbar Sanering. Denna rapport redovisar projektet ”Långsiktig effekt av efterbehandling” som har genomförts inom Naturvårdsverkets kunskapsprogram Hållbar sanering. Projektet omfattar tekniska och administrativa efterbehandlingsåtgärder utförda i områden där föroreningar lämnas kvar. Projektets övergripande mål är att analysera behovet av och möjligheterna till att säkra efterbehandlingsåtgärders effekt över tiden genom att definiera betydelsefulla processer, faktorer och skeenden rörande förutsättningar för, egenskaper hos samt kontroll och eventuella korrigeringar av tekniska och administrativa åtgärder. Projektets tyngdpunkt ligger således på att analysera viktiga frågeställningar som på något sätt bör tas upp och behandlas i efterbehandlingsprojekt rörande efterbehandlingens funktion över tiden. Avsikten är dock inte att projektet ska forma någon handbok. I projektgruppen har medverkat Bo Carlsson, Tom Lundgren, Per Östlund och Pär Elander vid Envipro Miljöteknik (Hifab AB) samt Bo Svensson, Tema Vatten vid Linköpings universitet. Bo Carlsson har fungerat som projektledare och är huvudförfattare till rapporten. Grundmaterialet till kapitel 3 (föroreningskällans biogeokemiska processer) är framtaget av Bo Svensson och Per Östlund, kapitel 5 (föroreningskällans fysikaliska egenskaper) av Bo Carlsson och Pär Elander, kapitel 7 (omgivningsförändringar) av Tom Lundgren samt kapitel 8 (tekniska åtgärder) och kapitel 10 och 11 (övervakning, kontroll och korrigering respektive deponering) av Bo Carlsson. Lisa Ledskog (Envipro Miljöteknik) har väsentligt bidragit till kapitel 9 (administrativa åtgärder). Som underlag för diskussionerna har utredningsmaterial och erfarenheter från ett antal genomförda efterbehandlingar använts där föroreningar, skyddade av barriärer, kvarlämnats och där frågor om beständighet i ett längre tidsperspektiv varit centrala. Projektet har fått värdefulla synpunkter av en referensgrupp bestående av Per Gullbring, länsstyrelsen i Halland län, Mikael Hägglöf, Fröberg och Lundholm advokatbyrå, Gunnar Karlsson, GK-resurs/Envipro Miljöteknik (tidigare miljöchef vid Swedish Tissue) samt Hållbar sanerings kontaktperson Tommy Hammar, länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län. Mikael Hägglöf har granskat de juridiska frågorna som tagits upp i de olika kapitlen. Projektgruppen vill tacka dessa och alla andra som bidragit med information och synpunkter. Naturvårdsverket har inte tagit ställning till innehållet i rapporten. Författarna svarar ensamma för innehåll, slutsatser och eventuella rekommendationer. Naturvårdsverket november 2007
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