The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe
Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with the proportions of crop and non-crop habitats, and species’ dietary, dispersal and overwintering traits led to contrasting responses to landscape variables. O…
Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements
Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T17:44:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-01-26 Robert Bosch Foundation Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-…
Harnessing the biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland
A large proportion of European biodiversity today depends on habitat provided by low‐intensity farming practices, yet this resource is declining as European agriculture intensifies. Within the European Union, particularly the central and eastern new member states have retained relatively large areas of species‐rich farmland, but despite increased investment in nature conservation here in recent years, farmland biodiversity trends appear to be worsening. Although the high biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland has long been reported, the amount of research in the international literature focused on farmland biodiversity in this region remains comparatively ti…
Putative identification of an amphipathic alpha-helical sequence in hemolysin of Escherichia coli (HlyA) involved in transmembrane pore formation.
Abstract Escherichia coli hemolysin is a pore-forming protein belonging to the RTX toxin family. Cysteine scanning mutagenesis was performed to characterize the putative pore-forming domain of the molecule. A single cysteine residue was introduced at 48 positions within the sequence spanning residues 170–400 and labeled with the polarity-sensitive dye badan. Spectrofluorimetric analyses indicated that several amino acids in this domain are inserted into the lipid bilayer during pore formation. An amphipathic α-helix spanning residues 272–298 was identified that may line the aqueous pore. The importance of this sequence was highlighted by the introduction of two prolines at positions 284 and…
Data from: The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agro-ecosystem services across Europe
[Usage Notes] Martin et al_2019_datatables Data used in Martin et al. (2019) compiled from 49 studies and 1,515 landscapes across Europe. Includes data on the abundance of arthropod species per site and data on pollination, natural pest control and yields in crops across Europe. Martin et al_2019_data tables_300319.xlsx Martin et al_2019_traits database Functional traits data for 2088 species (morphospecies, individuals) from 144 arthropod families sampled in agricultural landscapes across Europe. All traits are categorical and based on published literature or expert knowledge. They are described in Table 1 and Appendix S1 of Martin et al. (2019). The traits included are: feeding habit ('Fu…
Data from: Moving in the Anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements
Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects no…