Environmental determinants of perch (Perca fluviatilis) growth in gravel pit lakes and the relative performance of simple versus complex ecological predictors

Growth of fish is an important contributor to individual fitness as well as fish production. Explaining and predicting growth variation across populations is thus important from fundamental and applied perspectives, which requires knowledge about the ecological factors involved in shaping growth. To that end, we estimated environment-dependent von Bertalanffy growth models for 13 gravel pit lake populations of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) from north-western Germany. To identify the main drivers of perch growth, we evaluated the performance of 16 different biotic or abiotic lake variables in explaining growth variation among lakes. In addition, we compared growth predictions from the best-performing model incorporating “complex” variables that require intensive sampling effort, with a model using only “simple”, easily measurable lake variables (e.g. shoreline development factor). The derivation of a simple model aimed at future applications in typically data-poor inland fisheries, predicting expected growth potential from easily measurable lake variables. A model combining metabolic biomass of predators, maximum depth and shoreline development factor performed best in predicting perch growth variation across gravel pits. All three parameters in this model were positively related to perch growth. The best-performing simple model consisted only of the shoreline development factor. Length-at-age predictions from both models were largely identical, highlighting the utility of shoreline development factor in approximating growth potential of perch in gravel pits similar to our study lakes. Our results can be used to inform fisheries management and restoration efforts at existing or newly excavated gravel pit lakes.Bundesamt für Naturschutz http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100010415Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100010198Peer Reviewe

Bioinformatics of Corals: Investigating Heterogeneous Omics Data from Coral Holobionts for Insight into Reef Health and Resillience

Coral reefs are home to over 2 million species and provide habitat for roughly 25% of all marine animals, but they are being severely threatened by pollution and climate change. A large amount of genomic, transcriptomic and other -omics data from different species of reef building corals, the uni-cellular dinoagellates, plus the coral microbiome (where corals have possibly the most complex microbiome yet discovered, consisting of over 20,000 different species), is becoming increasingly available for corals. This new data present an opportunity for bioinformatics researchers and computational biologists to contribute to a timely, compelling, and urgent investigation of critical factors that influence reef health and resilience. This paper summarizes the content of the Bioinformatics of Corals workshop, that is being held as part of PSB 2021. It is particularly relevant for this workshop to occur at PSB, given the abundance of and reliance on coral reefs in Hawaii and the conference’s traditional association with the region

Response of technical-biological bank protection to ship-generated wave actions – first results

River morphodynamics and sediment transportBank erosion and protectio

EDITING OF EKA SABARA’S MANUSCRIPT “PARA ULAMA DAN TOKOH LOLOAN ABAD 19 MASEHI: SYARIF TUE DAN ENCIK YA’KUB”: A DOCUMENTATION OF LOLOAN ISLAMIC FIGURES IN JEMBRANA, BALI

Editing of Eka Sabara’s manuscript entitled Para Ulama dan Tokoh Loloan Abad ke-19 Masehi: Syarif Tue dan Encik Ya’kub (or in brief, Para Ulama dan Tokoh Loloan) is the second work of the efforts to document cultural legacy of the Loloan islamic community, of Jembrana, west Bali. This second manuscript focuses on the Loloan moslem figures of the 19th century, the time of which was thought to be the second landmark of the spread of Islamic faith and community in the area. In contrast to the first manuscript editing of the same author, i.e. of Eka Sabara’s Daeng Nachoda (2018), the editing of Para Ulama dan Tokoh Loloan manuscript involves significant addition of information to the original manuscript. The problems raised in the editing process comprises: (1) what are the characteristics of Eka Sabara’s manuscript entitled Para Ulama dan Tokoh Loloan?, and (2) what are editing strategies necessary to produce a coherent and cohesive text? The editing is based on Blanchard dan Root’s (1997) guides on editing academic texts, and content analysis method and editing techniques are conducted on the first draft (the manuscript) to suit the theme and purpose of the manuscript. The editing result shows that the manuscript needs to undergo major addition of chapters to meet the theme and to include other religious figures who also took part in the spread of Islamic faith and development of Loloan moslem community in Jembrana. Other editing techniques include addition, omission, rearrangement of information, all of which are used to produce a coherent, theme-suppporting text. The result of the editing process is a ready manuscript to be registered in the national library catalogue (with ISBN number) and then to be published as the document of a legacy of values and wisdom held and lived by the historical islamic figures in the Loloan community in Jembrana

Restrictions in cell cycle progression of adult vestibular supporting cells in response to ectopic cyclin d1 expression

Peer reviewe

Psychometric evaluation of the Health-Risk Attitude Scale (HRAS-13)

__Objectives:__ The aim of this study was to assess the reliability, dimensionality and validity of the self-report questionnaire Health-Risk Attitude Scale (HRAS-13) in a sample of the general population and a patient population. __Methods:__ Sample 1 (_n_ = 930) was recruited from the general population aged 18–65 years in the Netherlands. Sample 2 (_n_ = 486) was recruited from the population of knee and hip osteoarthritis patients aged 45 and over, also from the Netherlands. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, average inter-item correlation and item-total correlations. Dimensionality was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), principal component analysis (PCA) and bifactor analysis. Validity was assessed by performing known-group analysis using ANOVA tests. __Results:__ Cronbach’s alphas of the HRAS-13 were 0.73 in sample 1 and 0.69 in sample 2. Reliability and dimensionality analyses differed slightly between the samples, and suggest that a short version of the HRAS may capture a general component of health-risk attitude. Validity assessment of known groups showed that the HRAS-13 and a likely HRAS-6 distinguished between subgroups of respondents based on most of the assessed characteristics, but not all. __Discussion:__ These findings are a preliminary indication that the HRAS-13 is a promising multidimensional instrument for measuring health-risk attitude. However, further research in various samples on decisions where health risks play a role is warranted to confirm the dimensionality of the HRAS-13 and the items to be retained in a full or a shorter version