| 1. |
- Hudson, Lawrence N., et al.
(author)
-
The PREDICTS database : a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts
- 2014
-
In: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 4:24, s. 4701-4735
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - ). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- De Frenne, Pieter, et al.
(author)
-
Microclimate moderates plant responses to macroclimate warming
- 2013
-
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 110:46, s. 18561-18565
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent global warming is acting across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems to favor species adapted to warmer conditions and/or reduce the abundance of cold-adapted organisms (i.e., thermophilization of communities). Lack of community responses to increased temperature, however, has also been reported for several taxa and regions, suggesting that climatic lags may be frequent. Here we show that microclimatic effects brought about by forest canopy closure can buffer biotic responses to macroclimate warming, thus explaining an apparent climatic lag. Using data from 1,409 vegetation plots in European and North American temperate forests, each surveyed at least twice over an interval of 12-67 y, we document significant thermophilization of ground-layer plant communities. These changes reflect concurrent declines in species adapted to cooler conditions and increases in species adapted to warmer conditions. However, thermophilization, particularly the increase of warm-adapted species, is attenuated in forests whose canopies have become denser, probably reflecting cooler growing-season ground temperatures via increased shading. As standing stocks of trees have increased in many temperate forests in recent decades, local microclimatic effects may commonly be moderating the impacts of macroclimate warming on forest understories. Conversely, increases in harvesting woody biomass-e.g., for bioenergy-may open forest canopies and accelerate thermophilization of temperate forest biodiversity.
|
|
| 5. |
- de Rooy, Diederik P. C., et al.
(author)
-
Genetic studies on components of the Wnt signalling pathway and the severity of joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis
- 2013
-
In: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ. - 1468-2060 .- 0003-4967. ; 72:5, s. 769-775
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Progression of joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is partly heritable; knowledge of genetic factors may increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying joint destruction. The activity of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway influences osteoblast differentiation. Dickkopf-1 (Dkk-1) and sclerostin (Sost) are negative regulators and lipoprotein receptor-related protein-5 (LRP-5) and Kremen-1 are transmembrane receptors involved in this pathway. Objective To study variants in the genes encoding these proteins in relation to progression of joint destruction. Methods 1418 patients with RA of four cohorts with 4885 sets of hands and feet x-rays were studied. Explorative analyses were performed on 600 patients with RA from Leiden on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tagging Dkk-1, Sost, Kremen-1 and LRP-5. SNPs significantly associating with joint damage progression were subsequently genotyped in cohorts from Groningen (NL), Sheffield (UK) and Lund (Sweden). Data were summarised in meta-analyses. Serum levels of functional Dkk-1 and sclerostin were measured and studied in relation to genotypes. Results In the first cohort, six Dkk-1, three Sost, one Kremen-1 and 10 LRP-5 SNPs were significantly associated with radiological progression of joint destruction. Three Dkk-1 SNPs were associated significantly with progression of joint damage in the meta-analysis, also after correction for multiple testing (rs1896368, rs1896367 and rs1528873). Two Sost SNPs tended to significance (rs4792909 and rs6503475, p=0.07 after false discovery rate correction). Gene-gene interactions between SNPs on Dkk-1 and Sost were seen. Serum levels of Dkk-1 were significantly correlated with the genotypes in rs1896368 (p=0.02). Conclusions Patients with RA carrying risk alleles of genetic variants in Dkk-1 have higher serum levels of functional Dkk-1 and more progressive joint destruction over time.
|
|
