Long-term population dynamics and decline of the Tree Sparrow Passer montanus in Baden-Württemberg

Die Forstverwaltung Baden-Württemberg dokumentiert seit fast 60 Jahren die Ergebnisse ihrer Nistkastenkontrollen. Die Zahl der kontrollierten Nistkästen stieg von 40.000 um 1950 auf bis zu 180.000 in den 1980/1990er Jahren an. Die hier vorgestellte Auswertung bezieht sich auf 80.412 erfolgreiche Bruten des Feldsperlings Passer montanus, die dem Datenbestand von insgesamt 3,4 Millionen bis 1996 dokumentierten Nistkastenkontrollen entnommen wurden. Da die Feldsperlinge zwar in Wald(rand)nistkästen brüteten, ihre Nahrung aber fast ausschließlich im Agrarland suchten, dürften die Ergebnisse den allgemeinen Trend der Art in SW-Deutschland recht gut widergeben. Bis 1971 waren die Nistkästen in konstanten, aber regional unterschiedlichen Raten (0,5 bis 5 %) durch Feldsperlinge besetzt. Danach stieg ihr Anteil an. Im Rheintal erreichte er 15 %, regional über 30 % der Nistkastenbesetzungen. Großräumig betrug er in den Wäldern der Forstdirektion (FD) Karlsruhe (= Nordbaden) maximal 7 %, 1,7 % in der FD Tübingen (= Südwürttemberg) und 1 % im Bereich der FD Stuttgart (= Nordwürttemberg). Nach 1980 brach die Nistkastenpopulation zusammen; im landwirtschaftlich intensiv genutzten Rheintal von 15 % auf 2 %, in Gebieten mit überwiegender Grünlandnutzung dagegen nur unwesentlich. Harte Winter hatten kurzfristig deutliche Bestandseinbrüche zur Folge, doch trotz milder Winter seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre erholten sich die Bestände nicht. Der Bestandsanstieg in den 1970er Jahren wird mit dem DDT-Verbot ab 1971 in Verbindung gebracht. Für den seit 1980 permanent anhaltenden Rückgang der Feldsperlingsbestände dürfte die Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft mitverantwortlich sein, denn Gebiete mit intensivster Landwirtschaft (< 200 m ü. NN) weisen die höchsten Bestandsrückgänge auf. Vergleiche mit zwei Langstreckenziehern, die aktuell positive Bestandstrends zeigen (Gartenrotschwanz Phoenicurus phoenicurus und Halsbandschnäpper Ficedula albicollis), lassen einen Mangel an Winternahrung bedingt durch veränderte landwirtschaftliche Nutzungsformen und Herbizideinsatz als wahrscheinlichste Ursache vermuten. Ungeklärt ist der Einfluss der im selben Zeitraum angestiegenen Bestände des Sperbers Accipiter nisus als Prädator und die Frage, weshalb auch die Corviden als Konkurrenten des Feldsperlings mit ähnlichen Nahrungsansprüchen zeitgleich stark zunahmen.For almost 60 years the Baden-Württemberg forestry administration has been documenting the results of its nestbox monitoring scheme. The number of boxes rose from 40,000 around 1950 to 180,000 in the 1980s/1990s. For this study, 80,412 successful nests of the Tree Sparrow Passer montanus were evaluated out of the 3,4 million nestboxes monitored up to 1996. Literature from largely the same period was consulted during preparation of this analysis. Since the Tree Sparrows in this survey mostly breed at woodland edges, but forage almost exclusively in agricultural land, the results reflect the general trend for the species in SW Germany. Until 1971 the species bred with constant occupancy rates that varied regionally between 0.5 and 5 % of all nestboxes. After that year the proportion increased, reaching rates of 15 % in the Rhine Valley and regionally of more than 30 %. In larger areas the rates in forests reached a maximum of 7 % in the forestry directorate (FD) Karlsruhe (= Nordbaden), 1.7 % in FD Tübingen (= Südwürttemberg), and 1% in FD Stuttgart (= Nordwürttemberg). After 1980 the nestbox population collapsed; the drop in the intensively cultivated Rhine Valley was from 15 % to 2 %. On the other hand, in areas with a preponderance of grassland only slight decreases were noted. Hard winters led to severe population declines in the short term, but despite milder winters since the mid-1980s the numbers have not recovered. The increase in the 1970s is thought to have resulted from the prohibition of DDT. The permanent and continuing decline since 1980 indicates that developments in agriculture have been responsible for the later long-term negative population trend. Areas of intensive agriculture below an altitude of 200 m show the highest rates of decline. Comparisons with two species of long-distance migrants whose numbers are currently increasing indicate that a shortage of winter food, caused by changes in agricultural practice and herbicides, is the most likely reason. The influence of the Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (which has increased in numbers in the same period) as a predator, and why the Corvidae (competitors with similar food requirements as the Tree Sparrow) have also increased, remain unclear

Taxonomic status of the Liberian Greenbul Phyllastrephus leucolepis and the conservation importance of the Cavalla Forest, Liberia

We thank Jochen Martens for his long-lasting patience in dealing with the specimen of leucolepis, and Brian Hillcoat for comments and advice. It is hardly possible to thank by name all those who have supported WG over the past 30 years and more since 1981 in the fields of forest ecology and ornithology in eastern Liberia. In particular, we express gratitude to Alex Peal and Theo Freeman, both Heads of Wildlife and National Parks, for their many years of cooperation, and the Silviculture Officers Wynn Bryant, Momo Kromah and Steve Miapeh. The knowledge of the tree experts Joe Keper and Daniel Dorbor helped us to gain insights into the ecological complexities of the relationship between man, birds and trees. William Toe worked for three years as bird trapper and assistant in bird banding. WG’s attachment to the University of Liberia and to the students who so often accompanied him was made possible by Ben Karmorh from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and University of Liberia. NABU, the German Conservation Society, has supported the Liberian projects for almost 30 years now. We also thank Nigel Collar, Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire and Hannah Rowland for comments and advice. We thank the African Bird Club and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for helping to fund the 2013 expedition to the Cavalla Forest, in particular Alice Ward-Francis, Robert Sheldon, Alan Williams and Keith Betton. We also are extremely grateful to Michael Garbo and staff of the Society for the Conservation of Nature in Liberia for all manner of help with the expedition, to Harrison Karnwea and colleagues at the Forest Development Authority of Liberia for permissions and other support, as well as to Emmanuel Loqueh, Trokon Grimes, Flomo Molubah and Amos ‘Dweh’ Dorbor for being such excellent companions in the field. YL performed the genetic work as part of her M.Sc. (Genetics) at the University of Aberdeen, whose support is acknowledged.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Betriebliche Verrentungspraktiken zwischen arbeitsmarkt- und rentenpolitischen Interessen (The retirement practices of firms caught between labour market and retirement policy interests)

"The particularly large decrease in the labour force participation of older workers since the mid-70s in the Federal Republic of Germany is primarily due to institutional policy factors. To contract the current problems of mass unemployment, legislators demanded policies for reducing the overall economic supply of labour. Regulations for 'externalising', i.e. shedding older workers through laws such as the 'Retirement Pensions for the Unemployed' or the 'Law on Early Retirement played an essential role here. However, the cost burdens on the statutory pension schemes resulting from these early retirement policies and the expected demographic development have more recently led legislators to enact measures in the opposite direction, in other words, to extend working life. The 'Pension Reform Act of 1992', including amongst other things a new regulation of the additional earnings limit through the introduction of partial pensions, has led to a competitive situation in the legal regulations, which is geared either to labour market policy needs or to retirement policy standpoints. This paper studies how the existing retirement schemes can be used at the micro-level by individual firms. The most important results from the social sciences literature were first compiled. Then the results from two of our own exploratory surveys on the staff reduction policies and the employment policies of insurance firms were included. The studies show that older workers are being shed early on a large scale by the firms - irregardless of the situation of individual firms, their specific sector or the qualification structure of their workforce. An extension of working life, on the other hand, plays no role at the moment. Acommon basis is found in the shedding of older employees both from the point of view of the firm as well as of the employee: The point of staff reduction for employers is to create a 'younger' workforce. Anumber of the older employees is happy to leave the firms 'treadmill', others succumb to social pressure from their younger colleagues and the members of the works' council to accept the alternative status of the financially very secure 'early pensioner' and hence contribute to the preservation of jobs for younger colleagues. The partial pension as a means of extending working life has played no role up to now in the insurance firms studied, because it is financially unattractive and the requirements for claiming it are too high. Instead, the workforce is 'relieved' through early retirement by a financially much more attractively structured early retirement agreement. The firm's management is in favour of retiring older workers early in order to improve their qualification structure by hiring younger workers. Who will suffer most from these policies of shedding workers cannot be calculated by the desicion- makers in the firms. They use the existing legal instruments for the needs of their res-pective firms, which are not (yet) directed toward preserving the labour force potential. As a consequence, measures for prolonging working life are not likely to be applied in firms, as long as employment policy pressures can yield to management policies of shedding workers, because financially more attractively structured instruments are available from the legislators (through the Employment Promotion Act) or from management and labour representatives (through early retirement agreements)." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))ältere Arbeitnehmer, Berufsausstieg, Vorruhestand, gleitender Ruhestand, Rentenpolitik, Personalabbau, Teilrente, Arbeitsmarktpolitik

A Dunántúli-középhegység felső kréta telérkalcitjainak genetikai vizsgálata = Genesis of late Cretaceous calcite dykes from the Transdanubium Central Range

A Dunántúli-középhegységben számos helyen felfedezett vörös kalcit előfordulások genetikájának további tisztázásához járult hozzá a Vértesben található édesvizi mészkőkúp és hat további kalcit kibukkanás kőzettani és geokémiai vizsgálata. A karbonát tipusos travertinó szövettel rendelkezik, jellemző akcesszóriái: cirkon, monacit és xenotim, amelyek mélységi fluidumokhoz köthetők. A minták szén- és oxigénizotóp értékei, valamint az izotóp-tartománya arra utal, hogy magmás eredetű CO2-nak fontos szerepe volt a karbonát keletkezésében. A további vörös kalcit telérek és karbonát előfordulások (Pilisjászfalu, Keselő-hegy, Mindszentpuszta, Csáki-vár és Nagykovácsi) szöveti jellege hasonló. Járulékos ásványaik: Fe-oxid, Fe-szulfid, szfalerit, rutil, ilmenit, cirkon, apatit, monacit, xenotim és csillám. A stabilizotóp-geokémiai adatok összhangban vannak a korábban vizsgált minták adataival. A folyadékzárványok kis szalinitásúak (max. 3.4 wt% NaCl ekv.) és a homogenizációs hőmérsékletük kicsi (100-180 ºC). Előzetes irodalmi adatok, valamint kőzettani és geokémiai vizsgálataink (SEM+EDX, stabilizotóp-geokémia, mikrotermometria) alapján a vizsgált karbonát előfordulások hidrotermás rendszerekhez köthetők, amelyek az esetek többségében kapcsolatba hozhatók a terület lamprofíros magmatizmusával. | Petrographic and geochemical studies of a travertine cone and six calcite vein occurrences (in Vértes Mts.) were carried out to understand formation of the widely spread red calcite occurrences. The carbonate investigated has a typical travertine texture, the characteristic accessory minerals: zircon, monacite, and xenotime can be related to deep-derived fluids. Their stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions and the isotopic ranges indicate that magmatic CO2 played an important role during the carbonate formation. The other red calcite veins and carbonate occurrences studied (Pilisjászfalu, Keselő-hegy, Mindszentpuszta, Vitányvár, Csáki-vár, Nagykovácsi) show similar textural features. Accessory minerals are: Fe-oxide, Fe- sulfide, sphalerite, rutile, ilmenite, zircon, apatite, monazite, xenotime and mica. Their stable isotopic compositions are in agreement with the previously studied calcite dykes. The fluid inclusions have low salinity (max. 3.4 wt% NaCl eq.) and low homogenization temperature (between 100-180 ºC). Based on previous and our petrography and geochemical measurements (SEM+EDX, stable isotope studies and microthermometry), the studied carbonate occurrences were originated from a hydrothermal system and in most of cases magmatic fluids, may be associated with lamprophyre dykes, were also recognized in the area

Mechanism of active targeting in solid tumors with transferrin-containing gold nanoparticles

PEGylated gold nanoparticles are decorated with various amounts of human transferrin (Tf) to give a series of Tf-targeted particles with near-constant size and electrokinetic potential. The effects of Tf content on nanoparticle tumor targeting were investigated in mice bearing s.c. Neuro2A tumors. Quantitative biodistributions of the nanoparticles 24 h after i.v. tail-vein injections show that the nanoparticle accumulations in the tumors and other organs are independent of Tf. However, the nanoparticle localizations within a particular organ are influenced by the Tf content. In tumor tissue, the content of targeting ligands significantly influences the number of nanoparticles localized within the cancer cells. In liver tissue, high Tf content leads to small amounts of the nanoparticles residing in hepatocytes, whereas most nanoparticles remain in nonparenchymal cells. These results suggest that targeted nanoparticles can provide greater intracellular delivery of therapeutic agents to the cancer cells within solid tumors than their nontargeted analogs

Conflicts of Interest in International Human Drug Research and the Insufficiency of International Protections

The problem of financial conflicts of interest in human subjects research is international in scope as drug manufacturers conduct trials in countries outside of the U.S., Japan, and the European Union, thereby side-stepping domestic regulation of conflicts of interest. Because such out-sourcing of human drug trials results in exporting risks associated with financial conflicts of interest, this essay examines the primary international sources for regulating those conflicts. These sources include the World Health Organization’s Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice for Trials on Pharmaceutical Products, the Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice adopted by the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, and the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects adopted by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences. Each source fails to adequately guard against the harm that financial conflicts of interest can do, and there is reason to believe this inadequacy results from the interest that drug manufacturers in the three largest drug-manufacturing and drug-consuming markets have to keep conflict of interest regulation to a minimum. Strategies for improving international standards are discussed

New Algorithms for Fast and Economic Assembly: Advances in Transcriptome and Genome Assembly

Great efforts have been devoted to decipher the sequence composition of the genomes and transcriptomes of diverse organisms. Continuing advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have led to a decline in associated costs, facilitating a rapid increase in the amount of available genetic data. In particular genome studies have undergone a fundamental paradigm shift where genome projects are no longer limited by sequencing costs, but rather by computational problems associated with assembly. There is an urgent demand for more efficient and more accurate methods. Most recently, “hybrid” methods that integrate short- and long-read data have been devised to address this need. LazyB is a new, low-cost hybrid genome assembler. It starts from a bipartite overlap graph between long reads and restrictively filtered short-read unitigs. This graph is translated into a long-read overlap graph. By design, unitigs are both unique and almost free of assembly errors. As a consequence, only few spurious overlaps are introduced into the graph. Instead of the more conventional approach of removing tips, bubbles, and other local features, LazyB extracts subgraphs whose global properties approach a disjoint union of paths in multiple steps, utilizing properties of proper interval graphs. A prototype implementation of LazyB, entirely written in Python, not only yields significantly more accurate assemblies of the yeast, fruit fly, and human genomes compared to state-of-the-art pipelines, but also requires much less computational effort. An optimized C++ implementation dubbed MuCHSALSA further significantly reduces resource demands. Advances in RNA-seq have facilitated tremendous insights into the role of both coding and non-coding transcripts. Yet, the complete and accurate annotation of the transciptomes of even model organisms has remained elusive. RNA-seq produces reads significantly shorter than the average distance between related splice events and presents high noise levels and other biases The computational reconstruction remains a critical bottleneck. Ryūtō implements an extension of common splice graphs facilitating the integration of reads spanning multiple splice sites and paired-end reads bridging distant transcript parts. The decomposition of read coverage patterns is modeled as a minimum-cost flow problem. Using phasing information from multi-splice and paired-end reads, nodes with uncertain connections are decomposed step-wise via Linear Programming. Ryūtōs performance compares favorably with state-of-the-art methods on both simulated and real-life datasets. Despite ongoing research and our own contributions, progress on traditional single sample assembly has brought no major breakthrough. Multi-sample RNA-Seq experiments provide more information which, however, is challenging to utilize due to the large amount of accumulating errors. An extension to Ryūtō enables the reconstruction of consensus transcriptomes from multiple RNA-seq data sets, incorporating consensus calling at low level features. Benchmarks show stable improvements already at 3 replicates. Ryūtō outperforms competing approaches, providing a better and user-adjustable sensitivity-precision trade-off. Ryūtō consistently improves assembly on replicates, demonstrable also when mixing conditions or time series and for differential expression analysis. Ryūtōs approach towards guided assembly is equally unique. It allows users to adjust results based on the quality of the guide, even for multi-sample assembly.:1 Preface 1.1 Assembly: A vast and fast evolving field 1.2 Structure of this Work 1.3 Available 2 Introduction 2.1 Mathematical Background 2.2 High-Throughput Sequencing 2.3 Assembly 2.4 Transcriptome Expression 3 From LazyB to MuCHSALSA - Fast and Cheap Genome Assembly 3.1 Background 3.2 Strategy 3.3 Data preprocessing 3.4 Processing of the overlap graph 3.5 Post Processing of the Path Decomposition 3.6 Benchmarking 3.7 MuCHSALSA – Moving towards the future 4 Ryūtō - Versatile, Fast, and Effective Transcript Assembly 4.1 Background 4.2 Strategy 4.3 The Ryūtō core algorithm 4.4 Improved Multi-sample transcript assembly with Ryūtō 5 Conclusion & Future Work 5.1 Discussion and Outlook 5.2 Summary and Conclusio