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Context: Landscape composition and configuration, as well as seasonal landscape dynamics shape the behaviour, movement and energy expenditure of animals, i.e. foraging, hiding or fleeing, and ultimately survival. Especially in highly modified agricultural systems, it is crucial to understand how animal behaviour is influenced by landscape context to develop sustainable land management concepts. Objectives: We show how landscape composition and configuration, together with seasonal dynamics affect animal behavioural types, accounting for the different life-history events in both sexes. Methods: We investigated 34 European hares in two contrasting agricultural landscapes (a simple and a complex landscape) by using tri-axial accelerometer data to classify the animals' behaviour into five categories: resting, foraging, moving, grooming and standing upright (i.e. vigilance behaviour). We tested whether the amount of behaviours per category changed with landscape composition and configuration, season and sex. Results: During peak breeding, hares in areas of high habitat diversity rested more, moved less and spent less time searching for resources. During winter, hares moved more and rested less. Females rested less and foraged more in areas with large agricultural fields. Conclusions: A complex landscape is particularly important during the breeding season, allowing animals to allocate enough energy into reproduction. In winter, hares in areas of low habitat diversity may not find enough thermal and anti-predator shelter to move as much as they would need to meet their requirements. Hence, high habitat diversity and small field sizes guarantee species persistence in human-altered agricultural areas throughout the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Roads are ubiquitous in human inhabited landscapes, and can impact animal movement and population dynamics, due to barrier effects, road mortality, but also by providing resources at road verges. Thus, we need a better understanding of how roads, in interaction with seasonal changes in habitat structure, affect space use and habitat selection of the animals that persist in these landscapes. Objectives: Here, we used the European hare (Lepus europaeus) as model species to investigate how human-induced changes in landscape composition—measured as road density, land cover type, and field size—affect home range location, seasonal habitat selection and road crossings, which are likely to correlate with wildlife-vehicle collision risk. Methods: We collected > 240,000 GPS positions of 90 hares from three populations (one in Denmark and two in Germany) that differed regarding agricultural intensification and road density. Using this data, we analyzed home range location and habitat selection (using step-selection functions) in relation to roads, habitat composition, and seasonality, and quantified how these factors affected road crossings by hares. Results: In comparatively more heterogeneous landscapes, hares established home ranges in areas with lower road densities compared to the surrounding area, but not in more simple landscapes. Moreover, hares generally avoided main roads and selected for minor roads during the vegetation growth seasons, especially in areas with comparatively less heterogeneous habitat structure. Hares crossed more main roads when moving greater distances, with movement distances being comparatively larger in simpler landscapes. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize that it is important to distinguish between road types, as different roads can have different impacts on animals (e.g., small roads providing foraging opportunities via roadside vegetation and large roads being avoided). Moreover, animals in comparatively more heterogeneous landscapes are better able to adjust their habitat selection to avoid main roads than animals inhabiting simpler landscapes. More generally, homogenous landscapes increase the space use requirements of animals, leading to increased probability of road crossings, which in turn might affect population dynamics via increased road mortality risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In arid and semi-arid ecosystems, rainfall and rainfall temporal distribution shape species communities and multi-trophic interactions. Whereas the relationship between climate change-induced decline of precipitation and plants is well know, there is little knowledge of these relationships with consumers, such as arthropods of different trophic levels. In a 6-year period we studied precipitation effects and microhabitat conditions on multi-trophic interactions of ground-dwelling arthropods in an arid savannah. We analysed the effects of seasonal rainfall, plant cover and soil texture on community composition and activity density of arthropods of different trophic levels and investigated the critical window of vegetation and occurrence arthropods in relation to rainfall. Our result show, that arthropod community composition was determined by seasonal rainfall and plant cover. Soil texture did not explain arthropod response sufficiently. Especially detritivorous arthropods were strongly affected by precipitation and can therefore serve as indicators of droughts. Further, multi-trophic interactions can better be explained by short-term rainfall pulses, rather than by seasonal patterns, with a window of seven days being most suitable to explain the influence of rainfall. Plant cover responded immediately after the rainfall, followed by herbivorous and predatory arthropods, and with a lag of 23 days omnivorous arthropods. This highlights the importance of short-term rain pulses for multi-trophic interactions among arthropods and emphasized the relevance of studying detailed precipitation effects for the arthropod diversity and ecosystem stability in arid ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species demanding specific habitat requirements suffer, particularly under environmental changes. The smallest owl of Africa, the Sokoke Scops Owl (Otus ireneae), occurs exclusively in East African coastal forests. To understand the movement behaviour and habitat demands of O. ireneae, we combined data from radio-tracking and remote sensing to calculate Species Distribution Models across the Arabuko Sokoke forest in southern Kenya. Based on these data, we estimated the local population size and projected the distribution of current suitable habitats. We found that the species occurs only in Cynometra woodland with large old trees and dense vegetation. Based on home range sizes and the distribution of suitable forest habitats, the local population size was estimated at < 400 pairs. Ongoing selective logging of hard-wood trees and the production of charcoal are reducing habitat quality of which will reduce the low numbers of O. ireneae, and of other specialist forest species, even further. Due to their close connection with intact Cynometra forest, O. ireneae is an excellent indicator of intact forest remnants. In addition, this species is a suitable flagship for the promotion and conservation of the last remaining coastal forests of East Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Biological weed control by seed predators is an ecosystem service reducing weed population densities in agricultural landscapes. Drivers of seed predation are manifold and may change with spatial scales considered. Objectives: We aimed at identifying the functional identity of seed predators, food web interactions and feeding links between weed and wheat seeds, considering the causal relationships between local and landscape-scale patterns. Methods: We investigated direct and indirect effects of local management intensity in winter wheat fields (organic vs. conventional farming), local crop characteristics (wheat density and height), edge effects, landscape composition (measured as land-use diversity) and configuration (edge length) on carabid beetles of different body size (large vs. small carabids), and removal of weed and wheat seeds. Results: We showed the importance of indirect local- and landscape-scale effects for weed seed removal via the activity density, but not assemblage composition, of large, but not small carabids, which was driven by few ubiquitous species. The activity density of large carabids increased with decreasing wheat density and increasing wheat height, which was highest in organic fields and in landscapes with low compositional and configurational heterogeneity. Further, the availability of nutrient-rich wheat seeds enhanced weed seed removal rates. Conclusions: We found highest weed seed removal via large carabids in organic fields in large-scale agricultural landscapes. Predator body size and species identity as well as the availability of additional food items need to be taken into account for better predicting the biological weed control potential and reducing the use of plant protection products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of nature conservation strongly depends on the attitudes and awareness of people, as well as on the level of poverty, land scarcity, communication gaps, and governance structures. In this commentary we elaborate potential effects of inter-community differences on peoples´ attitudes towards nature conservation and the role of land management, communication and governance in nature conservation for three forest regions in south-eastern Kenya. We considered the following areas: the riparian forests in the semi-arid Kitui county, the Arabuko Sokoke coastal forest, and the cloud forests of the Taita Hills. In all three areas, the remaining forests are strongly fragmented and forest habitat quality is degraded, yet still supports outstanding diversity of plant and animal species richness. Despite current efforts to conserve these ecosystems, its degradation continues due to various reasons: (1) Population and economic pressure; (2) Limited land availability and insecure land tenure systems; (3) Inconsistencies between the legislation and governance; and, (4) Communication gaps and a lack of information flow among stakeholders from the national to the local level. Here we identify and present common and diverging coherences among the three study regions. We found that people´s awareness and willingness play a rather marginal role to turn nature conservation into successful management, but shortcomings in policies and governance are the main drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Context: Human land use intensified over the last century and simultaneously, extreme weather events have become more frequent. However, little is known about the interplay between habitat structure, direct short-term weather effects and indirect seasonal effects on animal space use and behavior. Objectives: We used the European hare (Lepus europaeus) as model to investigate how habitat structure and weather conditions affect habitat selection and home range size, predictors for habitat quality and energetic requirements. Methods: Using > 100,000 GPS positions of 60 hares in three areas in Denmark and Germany, we analyzed habitat selection and home range size in response to seasonally changing habitat structure, measured as vegetation height and agricultural field size, and weather. We compared daily and monthly home ranges to disentangle between direct short-term weather effects and indirect seasonal effects of climate. Results: Habitat selection and home range size varied seasonally as a response to changing habitat structure, potentially affecting the availability of food and shelter. Overall, habitat structure and seasonality were more important in explaining hare habitat selection and home range size compared to direct weather conditions. Nevertheless, hares adjusted habitat selection and daily home range size in response to temperature, wind speed and humidity, possibly in response to thermal constrains and predation risk. Conclusions: For effective conservation, habitat heterogeneity should be increased, e.g. by reducing agricultural field sizes and the implementation of set-asides that provide both forage and shelter, especially during the colder months of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies describe and estimate the regional economic effects of sports clubs, most of which concentrate on estimating the monetary effects. In contrast to these studies, this present paper focuses on the intangible regional effects of sports clubs. More precisely, the aim is to analyse whether image effects extending from a professional sports club to a city can be identified, and whether personal characteristics moderate the relationship between club and city image. The city of Moenchengladbach and the well-known German Football Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbach are used as an example. The data for the analysis of these effects was gathered through surveys conducted in the autumn of 2013. The results of descriptive statistics and regression analysis suggest that there is indeed a positive image transfer from the club to the city. In the competition of cities for target groups such as companies, residents, workers and tourists, a positive image can be a decisive factor. As the decisions of these groups codetermine regional economic development, a football club can evidently facilitate regional economic development beyond regional multiplier effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug combinations may elevate the risk of proarrhythmia. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether combinations of non-cardiovascular agents induce an additive increase in the proarrhythmic risk. In 12 female rabbit hearts, a drug combination of cotrimoxazole (300 µM), ondansetron (5 µM) and domperidone (1 µM) was infused after obtaining baseline data. In another 13 hearts, a combination of cotrimoxazole (300 µM), ondansetron (5 µM) and erythromycin (300 µM) was infused. Monophasic action potentials and ECG displayed a significant QT prolongation in all groups. This was accompanied by a significant increase in action potential duration. Of note, addition of each drug resulted in a further increase in the QT interval. Furthermore, a significant elevation of spatial dispersion of repolarization was observed. Lowering of potassium concentration in bradycardic AV-blocked hearts provoked early afterdepolarizations and torsade de pointes (TDP) in both study groups. Under baseline conditions, no episodes of TDP recorded. After administration of the first agent, TDP occurred in 5 of 12 hearts (37 episodes) and 5 of 13 hearts (26 episodes), respectively. After additional infusion of the second drug, TDP were recorded in 7 of 12 hearts (55 episodes) and 8 of 13 hearts (111 episodes). After additional infusion of the third drug, TDP occurred in 11 of 12 hearts (118 episodes) and 9 of 13 hearts (88 episodes). Combined treatment with several non-cardiovascular QT-prolonging agents resulted in a remarkable occurrence of proarrhythmia. An additive and significant prolongation of cardiac repolarization combined with an increased spatial dispersion of repolarization represents the underlying electrophysiological mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of ondansetron and domperidone, both clinically established antiemetic agents, to increase the QT-interval has been described in several case reports. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether these drugs may provoke polymorphic ventricular tachycardia in a sensitive experimental model of drug-induced proarrhythmia. In 10 female rabbits, ondansetron (1, 5 and 10 µM, n = 10) or domperidone (0.5, 1 and 2 µM, n = 8) was infused after obtaining baseline data. Eight endo- and epicardial monophasic action potentials and a simultaneously recorded 12-lead ECG reproduced the clinically observed QT-prolongation (ondansetron: 1 µM:+17 ms, 5 µM:+41 ms, 10 µM:+78 ms, p < 0.01; domperidone: 0.5 µM:+57 ms, 1 µM:+79 ms, 2 µM:+99 ms, p < 0.01). This was accompanied by a significant increase in action potential duration at 90% of repolarization. Administration of both agents also increased dispersion of repolarization (ondansetron: 1 µM:+12 ms, 5 µM:+17 ms; 10 µM:+18 ms, p < 0.05; domperidone: 0.5 µM:+19 ms, 1 µM:+27 ms; 2 µM:+23 ms p < 0.05). Lowering of potassium concentration in bradycardic AV-blocked hearts provoked early afterdepolarizations (EADs) in 9 of 10 ondansetron-treated hearts and induced polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) resembling torsade de pointes in 7 of 10 ondansetron-treated hearts (86 episodes). Under the influence of domperidone, EAD and polymorphic VT occurred in 7 of 8 hearts (131 episodes). In the present study, both ondansetron and domperidone demonstrated a severe proarrhythmic potential. A significant prolongation of cardiac repolarization as well as a marked increase in spatial dispersion of repolarization represents the underlying electrophysiologic mechanisms. These results imply that application of ondansetron should be handled carefully. For regular administration, ECG monitoring should be mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts between human needs and nature conservation are exceptionally pronounced along rivers in tropical Kenya, where riparian ecosystems create important retreats for many endangered species, but also provide important ecosystem services for the local human population. This situation has led to a landscape mosaic consisting of dense thickets and agricultural plots. We assessed the occurrence of the Kenyan endemic riparian bird species Hindes´ Babbler Turdoides hindei along three rivers in south-east Kenya. We analysed the landscape coverage within habitat circles of 220 m radius, which are occupied and unoccupied (the latter randomly selected along the rivers) by our targeted bird species. Based on these data we calculated habitat preferences and population structure of T. hindei. Our data reveal that its occurrence probability increased with coverage of thickets. Furthermore, geographic distances among local populations of T. hindei decreased with thicket coverage and vice versa. These data reveal the relevance of thicket coverage as a key factor for the occurrence of T. hindei, influencing its population structure. However, most of the thicket patches mapped along the three rivers are small and geographically isolated from each other. Further deforestation might lead to additional reduction of the population size and abundance of T. hindei, and may ultimately lead to local extinction of this, and other endangered species adapted on riparian thickets. This example underlines the need to extend nature conservation to areas being densely populated by humans-beyond prime areas of nature conservation in East Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural intensification is one of the key factors leading to the recent global biodiversity crisis. Especially farmland species are negatively affected by both, agricultural intensification and abandonment. The nocturnal Little Owl Athene noctua inhabits low-intensity agricultural landscapes and showed severe population declines over Central Europe during the past decades. In this study we analysed the effects of land-use changes on the Little Owl between 2001 and 2010 across Western Luxembourg. We assessed the occurrence of A. noctua and tested for the species´ habitat use and the effects of nesting boxes. In total we analysed 63 occupied and unoccupied study sites over a 20 km × 40 km study region located in Western Luxembourg. Our data indicate a transformation of pastures with single trees into arable land during the past 10 years. As a response to a perceived decline of the species in the region a total of 450 nesting boxes were installed in high stem orchards which are considered potentially suitable habitats, in areas with and without past A. noctua occurrence. We tested how nesting boxes and various habitat structures in the surrounding (e.g. percentage of high stem orchards, habitat heterogeneity) affected the occurrence of A. noctua. Despite agricultural intensification, the presence of A. noctua increased, most likely as a result of the installation of nesting boxes. We found that land-use parameters such as arable land, forests, pastures and pastures with trees had a negligible impact on the occurrence of A. noctua. Our findings suggest that the conservation of the little owl can be supported with comparatively simple and convenient measures, such as the installation of nesting boxes, even in an intensively used environment, provided that sufficient prey is available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural intensification may result in important shifts in insect community composition and function, but this remains poorly explored. Studying how groups of species with shared traits respond to local and landscape scale land-use management can reveal mechanisms behind such observed impacts. We tested if ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) divided into trait groups based on body sizes, wing morphologies and dietary preferences respond differently to farming practise (organic and conventional), farming intensity (measured as yield) and landscape complexity (measured as the proportion of arable land within a 1,000 m radius) across Europe. We used data from 143 farms in five regions in northern and central Europe. Organic farms did not differ in abundance or richness of any trait group compared to conventional farms. As farm scale intensity (yield) increased, overall abundance of beetles decreased, but abundances of small and medium sized beetles, as well as that of wingless beetles, were unaffected. Overall species richness was not affected by yield, whereas consideration of traits revealed that phytophagous and omnivorous beetles were less species rich on farms with high yields. Increasing the proportion of arable land in the landscape increased overall beetle abundance. This was driven by an increase in omnivorous beetles. The total species richness was not affected by an increase in the proportion arable land, although the richness of wingless beetles was found to increase. Potential effects on ecosystem functioning need to be taken into account when designing schemes to maintain agricultural biodiversity, because species with different ecological traits respond differently to local management and landscape changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural intensification in terms of decreasing landscape complexity and connectivity has negatively affected biodiversity. Linear landscape elements composed of woody vegetation like hedges may counteract this negative trend by providing habitats and enhancing habitat connectivity for different organisms. Here, we tested the impacts of habitat type (forest edges vs. hedges) and hedges' isolation (connected vs. isolated hedges) from forests as well as microhabitat conditions (percentage of bare ground and width) on trait-specific occurrence of ground-dwelling arthropods, namely spiders and carabids. Arthropods were grouped by habitat specialisation (forest vs. open-habitat species vs. generalists), hunting strategy (web-building or hunting spiders) and dispersal ability (wing morphology of carabids). Spider and carabid assemblage composition was strongly influenced by habitat type and isolation, but not by microhabitat conditions. Activity density of forest species and brachypterous carabids was higher in forest edges compared to hedges, whereas open-habitat species and macropterous carabids showed reverse patterns, with no effects of isolation. Occurrence of generalist carabids, but not spiders, was higher in hedges compared to forest edges. Habitat type and isolation did not affect spiders with different hunting strategy. Microhabitat conditions were less important for spider and carabid occurrence. Our study concludes that on a landscape scale, type of linear woody habitat is more important for arthropod occurrence than isolation effects and microhabitat conditions, depending on traits. Hedges provide refuges for species specialised to open habitats and species with high dispersal ability, such as macropterous carabids. Forest edges enhance persistence of species specialised to forests and species with low dispersal ability, such as brachypterous carabids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In eight European study sites (in Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Sweden), abundance of breeding farmland bird territories was obtained from 500 × 500 m survey plots (30 per area, N = 240) using the mapping method. Two analyses were performed: (I) a Canonical Correspondence Analysis of species abundance in relation to geographical location and variables measuring agricultural intensification at field and farm level to identify significant intensification variables and to estimate the fractions of total variance in bird abundance explained by geography and agricultural intensification; (II) several taxonomic and functional community indices were built and analysed using GLM in relation to the intensification variables found significant in the CCA. The geographical location of study sites alone explains nearly one fifth (19.5%) of total variation in species abundance. The fraction of variance explained by agricultural intensification alone is much smaller (4.3%), although significant. The intersection explains nearly two fifths (37.8%) of variance in species abundance. Community indices are negatively affected by correlates of intensification like farm size and yield, whereas correlates of habitat availability and quality have positive effects on taxonomic and functional diversity of assemblages. Most of the purely geographical variation in farmland bird assemblage composition is associated to Mediterranean steppe species, reflecting the bio-geographical singularity of that assemblage and reinforcing the need to preserve this community. Taxonomic and functional diversity of farmland bird communities are negatively affected by agricultural intensification and positively affected by increasing farmland habitat availability and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is an important prognostic indicator of cardiovascular outcomes. It is used clinically to determine the indication for several therapeutic interventions. LVEF is most commonly derived using in-line tools and some manual assessment by cardiologists from standardized echocardiographic views. LVEF is typically documented in free-text reports, and variation in LVEF documentation pose a challenge for the extraction and utilization of LVEF in computer-based clinical workflows. To address this problem, we developed a computerized algorithm to extract LVEF from echocardiography reports for the identification of patients having heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) for therapeutic intervention at a large healthcare system. We processed echocardiogram reports for 57,158 patients with coded diagnosis of Heart Failure that visited the healthcare system over a two-year period. Our algorithm identified a total of 3910 patients with reduced ejection fraction. Of the 46,634 echocardiography reports processed, 97% included a mention of LVEF. Of these reports, 85% contained numerical ejection fraction values, 9% contained ranges, and the remaining 6% contained qualitative descriptions. Overall, 18% of extracted numerical LVEFs were ≤ 40%. Furthermore, manual validation for a sample of 339 reports yielded an accuracy of 1.0. Our study demonstrates that a regular expression-based approach can accurately extract LVEF from echocardiograms, and is useful for delineating heart-failure patients with reduced ejection fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]