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- Viljur, Mari-Liis, et al.
(author)
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The effect of natural disturbances on forest biodiversity : an ecological synthesis
- 2022
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In: Biological Reviews. - : Wiley. - 1464-7931 .- 1469-185X. ; 97:5, s. 1930-1947
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Disturbances alter biodiversity via their specific characteristics, including severity and extent in the landscape, which act at different temporal and spatial scales. Biodiversity response to disturbance also depends on the community characteristics and habitat requirements of species. Untangling the mechanistic interplay of these factors has guided disturbance ecology for decades, generating mixed scientific evidence of biodiversity responses to disturbance. Understanding the impact of natural disturbances on biodiversity is increasingly important due to human-induced changes in natural disturbance regimes. In many areas, major natural forest disturbances, such as wildfires, windstorms, and insect outbreaks, are becoming more frequent, intense, severe, and widespread due to climate change and land-use change. Conversely, the suppression of natural disturbances threatens disturbance-dependent biota. Using a meta-analytic approach, we analysed a global data set (with most sampling concentrated in temperate and boreal secondary forests) of species assemblages of 26 taxonomic groups, including plants, animals, and fungi collected from forests affected by wildfires, windstorms, and insect outbreaks. The overall effect of natural disturbances on α-diversity did not differ significantly from zero, but some taxonomic groups responded positively to disturbance, while others tended to respond negatively. Disturbance was beneficial for taxonomic groups preferring conditions associated with open canopies (e.g. hymenopterans and hoverflies), whereas ground-dwelling groups and/or groups typically associated with shady conditions (e.g. epigeic lichens and mycorrhizal fungi) were more likely to be negatively impacted by disturbance. Across all taxonomic groups, the highest α-diversity in disturbed forest patches occurred under moderate disturbance severity, i.e. with approximately 55% of trees killed by disturbance. We further extended our meta-analysis by applying a unified diversity concept based on Hill numbers to estimate α-diversity changes in different taxonomic groups across a gradient of disturbance severity measured at the stand scale and incorporating other disturbance features. We found that disturbance severity negatively affected diversity for Hill number q = 0 but not for q = 1 and q = 2, indicating that diversity–disturbance relationships are shaped by species relative abundances. Our synthesis of α-diversity was extended by a synthesis of disturbance-induced change in species assemblages, and revealed that disturbance changes the β-diversity of multiple taxonomic groups, including some groups that were not affected at the α-diversity level (birds and woody plants). Finally, we used mixed rarefaction/extrapolation to estimate biodiversity change as a function of the proportion of forests that were disturbed, i.e. the disturbance extent measured at the landscape scale. The comparison of intact and naturally disturbed forests revealed that both types of forests provide habitat for unique species assemblages, whereas species diversity in the mixture of disturbed and undisturbed forests peaked at intermediate values of disturbance extent in the simulated landscape. Hence, the relationship between α-diversity and disturbance severity in disturbed forest stands was strikingly similar to the relationship between species richness and disturbance extent in a landscape consisting of both disturbed and undisturbed forest habitats. This result suggests that both moderate disturbance severity and moderate disturbance extent support the highest levels of biodiversity in contemporary forest landscapes.
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- Gorbunova, A, et al.
(author)
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Reference Values of the QOLIBRI from General Population Samples in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands
- 2020
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In: Journal of clinical medicine. - : MDPI AG. - 2077-0383. ; 9:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Quality of Life after Traumatic Brain Injury (QOLIBRI) instrument is an internationally validated patient-reported outcome measure for assessing disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, no reference values for general populations are available yet for use in clinical practice and research in the field of TBI. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to establish these reference values for the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands (NL). For this purpose, an online survey with a reworded version of the QOLIBRI for general populations was used to collect data on 4403 individuals in the UK and 3399 in the NL. This QOLIBRI version was validated by inspecting descriptive statistics, psychometric criteria, and comparability of the translations to the original version. In particular, measurement invariance (MI) was tested to examine whether the items of the instrument were understood in the same way by different individuals in the general population samples and in the TBI sample across the two countries, which is necessary in order to establish reference values. In the general population samples, the reworded QOLIBRI displayed good psychometric properties, including MI across countries and in the non-TBI and TBI samples. Therefore, differences in the QOLIBRI scores can be attributed to real differences in HRQoL. Individuals with and without a chronic health condition did differ significantly, with the latter reporting lower HRQoL. In conclusion, we provided reference values for healthy individuals and individuals with at least one chronic condition from general population samples in the UK and the NL. These can be used in the interpretation of disease-specific HRQoL assessments after TBI applying the QOLIBRI on the individual level in clinical as well as research contexts.
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- Chubarenko, B., et al.
(author)
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Converting beach wrack into a resource as a challenge for the Baltic Sea (an overview)
- 2021
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In: Ocean and Coastal Management. - : Elsevier. - 0964-5691 .- 1873-524X. ; 200, s. 1-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper distinguishes beach wrack, the marine generated organic part of beach cast, as a separate management object and discusses research questions related to its management and economically viable use. Based on experiences from the Baltic Sea and existing practices from countries with different management systems clear distinction between the management of natural and anthropogenic components of cast material is seen as an essential prerequisite for developing sustainable product chains that allow beach wrack to be used as a resource of commercial value. Presenting and discussing examples from Denmark (Koge Municipality), Germany (Kuhlungsborn, Rugen and Poel Island), Poland (Gulf of Gdansk), Russia (Curonian and Vistula spits) and Sweden (Kalmar municipality and Oland), social, ecological, and economic consequences of beach wrack removal are analysed to improve the attractiveness of beaches for recreational purposes. It also includes potential contribution to Baltic Sea water restoration processes through the removal of the organic part of beach cast, where indeed more studies about the chemical (nutrients, metals) composition of beach wrack are required for reliable calculation of a depuration rate. For local economies within the Baltic Sea region, the organic part of beach cast (beach wrack and terrestrial debris) has reasonable economic prospects as a renewable natural resource, e.g. for soil improvement products, in fertilisers and bio-coal production, for landfill covers (contributing to climate change mitigation), biogas generation, and even for coastal protection by providing humus-like material for accelerated dune vegetation succession. For all these recycling options the development of cost-efficient technologies for collecting beach cast on sandy as well as stony beaches and also for separating the organic part from sand and anthropogenic litter (mainly plastic), is urgently required. Amendments of legal regulations, that better reflect the dualism of beach cast are also required. In essence, dualism results from the fact that beach wrack is a part of nature (or a natural resource) when it remains on a beach. However, beach wrack immediately becomes legally categorised as waste once humans collect it irrespective of its litter content. Another legal aspect being dealt with originates from the migration of the beach wrack between water and beach, whilst it is an object of epleagl cleaning operations only at the beach it onto the beach, but not whilst in the water.
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- Gorbunova, Anna S., et al.
(author)
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Prognostic signature based on mitochondria quality control proteins for the prediction of lung adenocarcinoma patients survival
- 2023
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In: Cell Death Discovery. - : Springer Nature. - 2058-7716. ; 9:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In recent years, the incidence of lung cancer subtype lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) has steadily increased. Mitochondria, as a pivotal site of cell bioenergetics, metabolism, cell signaling, and cell death, are often dysregulated in lung cancer cells. Mitochondria maintenance and integrity depend on mitochondrial quality control proteins (MQCPs). During lung cancer progression, the levels of MQCPs could change and promote cancer cell adaptation to the microenvironment and stresses. Here, univariate and multivariate proportional Cox regression analyses were applied to develop a signature based on the level of MQCPs (dimeric form of BNIP3, DRP1, and SIRT3) in tumorous and non-tumorous samples of 80 patients with LUAD. The MQCP signature could be used to separate the patients with LUAD into high- and low-risk groups. Survival analysis indicated that patients in the high-risk group had dramatically shorter overall survival compared with the low-risk patients. Moreover, a nomogram combining clinicopathologic features and the MQCP signature was constructed and validated to predict 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival of the patients. Thus, this study presents a novel signature based on MQCPs as a reliable prognostic tool to predict overall survival for patients with LUAD.
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