Search results for "extinction"
showing 8 items of 458 documents
Solar radiative effects of a Saharan dust plume observed during SAMUM assuming spheroidal model particles
2011
The solar optical properties of Saharan mineral dust observed during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) were explored based on measured size-number distributions and chemical composition. The size-resolved complex refractive index of the dust was derived with real parts of 1.51–1.55 and imaginary parts of 0.0008–0.006 at 550 nm wavelength. At this spectral range a single scattering albedo ω o and an asymmetry parameter g of about 0.8 were derived. These values were largely determined by the presence of coarse particles. Backscatter coefficients and lidar ratios calculated with Mie theory (spherical particles) were not found to be in agreement with independently measured lidar data.…
Aircraft measurements of aerosol particles and trace gases over the Southern Baltic Sea during the BALTIC'15 campaign in 2015
2019
During the BALTIC'15 campaign, conducted in August 2015 over the Southern Baltic Sea, trace gasses (CO2/O3/NOy/SO2) and aerosol particles (number concentration of total/non-volatile/Aitken mode/ Accumulation mode/Coarse mode/refractory black carbon, aerosol extinction coefficient, mass concentration of refractory black carbon were measured). Observations were performed on board of the Alfred Wegener Institute research aircraft Polar 5 during 4 flights: - Scientific flight 1 (SF1) 26 August 2015 - Scientific flight 2 (SF2) 28 August 2015 - Scientific flight 3 (SF3) 28 August 2015 - Scientific flight 4 (SF4) 30 August 2015
Are Red Lists really useful for plant conservation? The New Red List of the Italian Flora in the perspective of national conservation policies
2013
La nuova Lista Rossa della flora Italiana comprende tutte le "policy" specie italiane e altre specie di nota conservazione e comprende 400 taxa di cui il 65% sono minacciate di estinzione. La Lista Rossa si basa su un enorme data-set georeferenziato utile per gli scopi di conservazione. - The New Red List of the Italian Flora includes all the Italian policy species and other species of known conservation concerns for a total of 400 taxa, 65% of which are threatened with extinction. The Red List is based on a huge georeferenced data-set useful for conservation purposes. -
Buffer strips can pre-empt extinction debt in boreal streamside habitats
2013
Background. Conservation of biological diversity and economical utilization of natural resources form an almost inevitable confrontation between the two. In practice, however, a balance between the two ought to be found, and in managed boreal forests, preservation of woodland key habitats is increasingly used strategy to safeguard biological diversity. According to the Finnish Forests Act, certain Forest Act habitat (FAH) types must be safeguarded, provided they are clearly distinguishable from their surroundings. Furthermore, once the habitat has been identified as a FAH, its special characteristics must not be altered. Both of these aspects contain ambiguities that potentially undermine t…
Verifying the predicted risk of extinction based on ecological characteristics
2021
Red List status of species should reflect species extinction risk. Because data are limited and species response has a time lag, species may be threatened by extinction even if they are not Red‐Listed. The ability to predict species risk of extinction from ecological characteristics holds promises for proactively targeting conservation measures to species at high risk. In 2005, the risk of extinction from ecological characteristics was predicted for 81 species of Finnish butterflies. Now, after 15 years and two additional national Red List assessments, these predictions are verified. Species with a higher risk of extinction according to the original ecological extinction risk rank (EERR) ha…
Semi-natural habitats in boreal Europe: a rise of a social-ecological research agenda
2021
The European continent contains substantial areas of semi-natural habitats, mostly grasslands, which are among the most endangered habitats in Europe. Their continued existence depends on some form of human activity, for either production or conservation purposes, or both. We examined the share of semi-natural grasslands within the general grassland areas in boreal Europe. We reviewed research literature across the region to compile evidence on semi-natural grasslands and other semi-natural habitats, such as wooded pastures, in respect to a range of topics such as ecology, land-use change, socioeconomics, and production. We also explored drivers of the research agenda and outlined future re…
Alarmist by bad design: Strongly popularized unsubstantiated claims undermine credibility of conservation science
2019
“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades.” or “Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world's insect species over the next few decades.” These are verbatim conclusions of the recent paper by Sánchez-Bayoa and Wyckhuys (2019) in Biological Conservation. Because of fundamental methodological flaws, their conclusions are unsubstantiated. Like noted by The Guardian, the conclusions of the paper were set out in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper. The current case…
Visual Contrast Modulates Operant Learning Responses in Larval Zebrafish.
2018
The larval zebrafish is a promising vertebrate model organism to study neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory due to its small brain and rich behavioral repertoire. Here, we report on a high-throughput operant conditioning system for zebrafish larvae, which can simultaneously train 12 fish to associate a visual conditioned pattern with electroshocks. We find that the learning responses can be enhanced by the visual contrast, not the spatial features of the conditioned patterns, highlighted by several behavioral metrics. By further characterizing the learning curves as well as memory extinction, we demonstrate that the percentage of learners and the memory length increase as the co…