| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Viljur, Mari-Liis, et al.
(author)
-
The effect of natural disturbances on forest biodiversity : an ecological synthesis
- 2022
-
In: Biological Reviews. - : Wiley. - 1464-7931 .- 1469-185X. ; 97:5, s. 1930-1947
-
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.
|
|
| 3. |
- Sandholm, Niina, et al.
(author)
-
New susceptibility loci associated with kidney disease in type 1 diabetes
- 2012
-
In: PLOS Genetics. - San Francisco, USA : Public Library of Science, PLOS. - 1553-7390 .- 1553-7404. ; 8:9, s. e1002921-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Diabetic kidney disease, or diabetic nephropathy (DN), is a major complication of diabetes and the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) that requires dialysis treatment or kidney transplantation. In addition to the decrease in the quality of life, DN accounts for a large proportion of the excess mortality associated with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Whereas the degree of glycemia plays a pivotal role in DN, a subset of individuals with poorly controlled T1D do not develop DN. Furthermore, strong familial aggregation supports genetic susceptibility to DN. However, the genes and the molecular mechanisms behind the disease remain poorly understood, and current therapeutic strategies rarely result in reversal of DN. In the GEnetics of Nephropathy: an International Effort (GENIE) consortium, we have undertaken a meta-analysis of genomewide association studies (GWAS) of T1D DN comprising similar to 2.4 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) imputed in 6,691 individuals. After additional genotyping of 41 top ranked SNPs representing 24 independent signals in 5,873 individuals, combined meta-analysis revealed association of two SNPs with ESRD: rs7583877 in the AFF3 gene (P = 1.2 x 10(-8)) and an intergenic SNP on chromosome 15q26 between the genes RGMA and MCTP2, rs12437854 (P = 2.0 x 10(-9)). Functional data suggest that AFF3 influences renal tubule fibrosis via the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta 1) pathway. The strongest association with DN as a primary phenotype was seen for an intronic SNP in the ERBB4 gene (rs7588550, P = 2.1 x 10(-7)), a gene with type 2 diabetes DN differential expression and in the same intron as a variant with cis-eQTL expression of ERBB4. All these detected associations represent new signals in the pathogenesis of DN.
|
|
| 4. |
- Agirre, Jon, et al.
(author)
-
The CCP4 suite: integrative software for macromolecular crystallography
- 2023
-
In: Acta Crystallographica Section D. - : INT UNION CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. - 2059-7983. ; 79, s. 449-461
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Collaborative Computational Project No. 4 (CCP4) is a UK-led international collective with a mission to develop, test, distribute and promote software for macromolecular crystallography. The CCP4 suite is a multiplatform collection of programs brought together by familiar execution routines, a set of common libraries and graphical interfaces. The CCP4 suite has experienced several considerable changes since its last reference article, involving new infrastructure, original programs and graphical interfaces. This article, which is intended as a general literature citation for the use of the CCP4 software suite in structure determination, will guide the reader through such transformations, offering a general overview of the new features and outlining future developments. As such, it aims to highlight the individual programs that comprise the suite and to provide the latest references to them for perusal by crystallographers around the world.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Gumberidze, Alexandre, et al.
(author)
-
Angular Distribution of Characteristic Radiation Following the Excitation of He-Like Uranium in Relativistic Collisions
- 2021
-
In: Atoms. - : MDPI AG. - 2218-2004. ; 9:2
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we present an experimental and theoretical study of excitation processes for the heaviest stable helium-like ion, that is, He-like uranium occurring in relativistic collisions with hydrogen and argon targets. In particular, we concentrate on angular distributions of the characteristic K alpha radiation following the K -> L excitation of He-like uranium. We pay special attention to the magnetic sub-level population of the excited 1s2l(j) states, which is directly related to the angular distribution of the characteristic K alpha radiation. We show that the experimental data can be well described by calculations taking into account the excitation by the target nucleus as well as by the target electrons. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time an important influence of the electron-impact excitation process on the angular distributions of the K alpha radiation produced by excitation of He-like uranium in collisions with different targets.
|
|
