| 1. |
- Bunce, R. G. H., et al.
(författare)
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A standardized procedure for surveillance and monitoring European habitats and provision of spatial data
- 2008
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Ingår i: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 23, s. 11-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both science and policy require a practical, transmissible, and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of European habitats, which can produce statistics integrated at the landscape level. Over the last 30 years, landscape ecology has developed rapidly, and many studies now require spatial data on habitats. Without rigorous rules, changes from baseline records cannot be separated reliably from background noise. A procedure is described that satisfies these requirements and can provide consistent data for Europe, to support a range of policy initiatives and scientific projects. The methodology is based on classical plant life forms, used in biogeography since the nineteenth century, and on their statistical correlation with the primary environmental gradient. Further categories can therefore be identified for other continents to assist large scale comparisons and modelling. The model has been validated statistically and the recording procedure tested in the field throughout Europe. A total of 130 General Habitat Categories (GHCs) is defined. These are enhanced by recording environmental, site and management qualifiers to enable flexible database interrogation. The same categories are applied to areal, linear and point features to assist recording and subsequent interpretation at the landscape level. The distribution and change of landscape ecological parameters, such as connectivity and fragmentation, can then be derived and their significance interpreted.
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| 2. |
- Daleke-Schermerhorn, Maria H., et al.
(författare)
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Decoration of Outer Membrane Vesicles with Multiple Antigens by Using an Autotransporter Approach
- 2014
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Ingår i: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - 0099-2240 .- 1098-5336. ; 80:18, s. 5854-5865
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are spherical nanoparticles that naturally shed from Gram-negative bacteria. They are rich in immunostimulatory proteins and lipopolysaccharide but do not replicate, which increases their safety profile and renders them attractive vaccine vectors. By packaging foreign polypeptides in OMVs, specific immune responses can be raised toward heterologous antigens in the context of an intrinsic adjuvant. Antigens exposed at the vesicle surface have been suggested to elicit protection superior to that from antigens concealed inside OMVs, but hitherto robust methods for targeting heterologous proteins to the OMV surface have been lacking. We have exploited our previously developed hemoglobin protease (Hbp) autotransporter platform for display of heterologous polypeptides at the OMV surface. One, two, or three of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens ESAT6, Ag85B, and Rv2660c were targeted to the surface of Escherichia coli OMVs upon fusion to Hbp. Furthermore, a hypervesiculating Delta tolR Delta tolA derivative of attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL3261 was generated, enabling efficient release and purification of OMVs decorated with multiple heterologous antigens, exemplified by the M. tuberculosis antigens and epitopes from Chlamydia trachomatis major outer membrane protein (MOMP). Also, we showed that delivery of Salmonella OMVs displaying Ag85B to antigen-presenting cells in vitro results in processing and presentation of an epitope that is functionally recognized by Ag85B-specific T cell hybridomas. In conclusion, the Hbp platform mediates efficient display of (multiple) heterologous antigens, individually or combined within one molecule, at the surface of OMVs. Detection of antigen-specific immune responses upon vesicle-mediated delivery demonstrated the potential of our system for vaccine development.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Collenteur, R. A., et al.
(författare)
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The failed-levee effect : Do societies learn from flood disasters?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Natural Hazards. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-030X .- 1573-0840. ; 76:1, s. 373-388
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human societies have learnt to cope with flood risks in several ways, the most prominent ways being engineering solutions and adaptive measures. However, from a more sustainable point of view, it can be argued that societies should avoid or at least minimize urban developments in floodplain areas. While many scientists have studied the impact of human activities on flood risk, only a few studies have investigated the opposite relationships, i.e. the impacts of past flood events on floodplain development. In this study, we make an initial attempt to understand the impact of the occurrence of flood disasters on the spatial distribution of population dynamics in floodplain areas. Two different methodologies are used to uncover this relationship, a large-scale study for the USA and a case-study analysis of the 1993 Mississippi flood. The large-scale analysis is performed at county level scale for the whole of the USA and indicates a positive relationship between property damage due to flood events and population growth. The case-study analysis examines a reach of the Mississippi river and the territory, which was affected by flooding in 1993. Contrary to the large-scale analysis, no significant relationship is found in this detailed study. However, a trend of dampened population growth right after the flood followed by an accelerated growth a decade later could be identified in the raw data and linked to explanations found in the literature.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Elgered, Gunnar, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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GNSS for global environmental Earth observation
- 2013
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This booklet is produced within the Gfg2 project, a three year coordination action, funded by the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission under the Environment theme. Its mission is to better assess the value of Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) for Global Environmental Earth Observation (GEEO) and GEOSS.
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| 7. |
- Elgered, Gunnar, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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GNSS för globala jordobservationer
- 2014
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Detta häfte har producerats av Gfg2-projektet, en treårig koordineringsaktivitet finansierad av Europeiska kommissionens sjunde ramprogram inom dess miljötema. Projektets uppgift är att belysa värdet av jordobservationer med hjälp av globala navigationssystem (GNSS = Global Navigational Satellite Systems) för Global Environmental Earth Observation (GEEO) och Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
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| 8. |
- Harrison, Paula A., et al.
(författare)
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Identifying and prioritising services in European terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems
- 2010
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Ingår i: Biodiversity and Conservation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0960-3115 .- 1572-9710. ; 19:10, s. 2791-2821
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystems are multifunctional and provide humanity with a broad array of vital services. Effective management of services requires an improved evidence base, identifying the role of ecosystems in delivering multiple services, which can assist policy-makers in maintaining them. Here, information from the literature and scientific experts was used to systematically document the importance of services and identify trends in their use and status over time for the main terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in Europe. The results from this review show that intensively managed ecosystems contribute mostly to vital provisioning services (e.g. agro-ecosystems provide food via crops and livestock, and forests provide wood), while semi-natural ecosystems (e.g. grasslands and mountains) are key contributors of genetic resources and cultural services (e.g. aesthetic values and sense of place). The most recent European trends in human use of services show increases in demand for crops from agro-ecosystems, timber from forests, water flow regulation from rivers, wetlands and mountains, and recreation and ecotourism in most ecosystems, but decreases in livestock production, freshwater capture fisheries, wild foods and virtually all services associated with ecosystems which have considerably decreased in area (e.g. semi-natural grasslands). The condition of the majority of services show either a degraded or mixed status across Europe with the exception of recent enhancements in timber production in forests and mountains, freshwater provision, water/erosion/natural hazard regulation and recreation/ecotourism in mountains, and climate regulation in forests. Key gaps in knowledge were evident for certain services across all ecosystems, including the provision of biochemicals and natural medicines, genetic resources and the regulating services of seed dispersal, pest/disease regulation and invasion resistance.
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| 9. |
- Wickert, J, et al.
(författare)
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GNSS for Global Earth Observation: The European coordination action Gfg²
- 2012
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Ingår i: Sixth FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Data Users' Workshop 30 October - 1 November 2012, Boulder, Colorado U.S.A..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Gfgsquared (GfG²) project is an international research related project with focus to the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) for Earth Observation in a more general sense. Within the project novel GNSS applications with outstanding social importance are identified. These applications can be classified by the nine Social Benefit Areas (SBA), which address the current crucial problems of mankind: disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture, biodiversity (see www.earthobservation.org). We give examples for GNSS applications in the different SBA. For several of these applications, GNSS radio occultation is a key observation technique with several applications in that context.
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