Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Ecological Informatics: translating ecological data into knowledge and decisions in a rapidly changing world: ICEI 2018

The Conference Proceedings are an impressive display of the current scope of Ecological Informatics. Whilst Data Management, Analysis, Synthesis and Forecasting have been lasting popular themes over the past nine biannual ICEI conferences, ICEI 2018 addresses distinctively novel developments in Data Acquisition enabled by cutting edge in situ and remote sensing technology. The here presented ICEI 2018 abstracts captures well current trends and challenges of Ecological Informatics towards: • regional, continental and global sharing of ecological data, • thorough integration of complementing monitoring technologies including DNA-barcoding, • sophisticated pattern recognition by deep learning, • advanced exploration of valuable information in ‘big data’ by means of machine learning and process modelling, • decision-informing solutions for biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem management in light of global changes

Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Ecological Informatics: translating ecological data into knowledge and decisions in a rapidly changing world: ICEI 2018

The Conference Proceedings are an impressive display of the current scope of Ecological Informatics. Whilst Data Management, Analysis, Synthesis and Forecasting have been lasting popular themes over the past nine biannual ICEI conferences, ICEI 2018 addresses distinctively novel developments in Data Acquisition enabled by cutting edge in situ and remote sensing technology. The here presented ICEI 2018 abstracts captures well current trends and challenges of Ecological Informatics towards: • regional, continental and global sharing of ecological data, • thorough integration of complementing monitoring technologies including DNA-barcoding, • sophisticated pattern recognition by deep learning, • advanced exploration of valuable information in ‘big data’ by means of machine learning and process modelling, • decision-informing solutions for biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem management in light of global changes

The chemical mechanisms of plant-soil interactions

The interaction between plants and soils is too often oversimplified for its importance to life on earth. The chemical complexity of this interaction is enormous, but many soil scientists, ecologists, and biogeochemists reduce it to single compounds. This dissertation looks to explore the complexity of the interface of plant roots and soils, termed the rhizosphere, in an effort to better understand the chemical forces that shape terrestrial ecosystems. In two chapters I explore how small genetic differences in plants can lead to vast differences in surrounding soil enzymes and thousands of other metabolites. I show that the trait variation within a plant species can alter pedogenesis (The formation of soils) that may have feedbacks on future generations of plants. In the third chapter I explicitly explore this feedback by examining how plant chemical phenotypes change when exposed to live soils which have been conditioned by populations of a plant with unique phenotypes. As soil metabolomics is a new field, I used my final chapter as a review of the current methods of data analysis with the hope that future soil scientists will join me in exploring the chemical complexity of the soil instead of ignoring it

Do all roads lead to Rome? Exploring community trajectories in response to anthropogenic salinization and dilution of rivers

Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterations, we hypothesize that a single trajectory of change occurs when trait-based assembly prevails, while multiple trajectories of change arise when dispersal-related processes modify colonization and trait-filtering dynamics. Here, we tested these hypotheses using aquatic macroinvertebrates from rivers exposed to gradients of natural salinity and artificially diluted or salinized ion contents. Our results showed that trait-filtering was important in driving community assembly in natural and diluted rivers, while dispersal-related processes seemed to play a relevant role in response to salinization. Salinized rivers showed novel communities with different trait composition, while natural and diluted communities exhibited similar taxonomic and trait compositional patterns along the conductivity gradient. Our findings suggest that the artificial modification of chemical stressors can result in different biological communities, depending on the direction of the change (salinization or dilution), with trait-filtering, and organism dispersal and colonization dynamics having differential roles in community assembly. The approach presented here provides both empirical and conceptual insights that can help in anticipating the ecological effects of global change, especially for those stressors with both natural and anthropogenic origins

New Pathways to support social-ecological Systems in Change

Klimawandel und Biodiversitätsverlust sowie Verstädterung und demografischer Wandel haben tiefgreifende Auswirkungen auf Städte und ihre Ökosysteme und damit auf die Lebensbedingungen der Mehrheit der Menschheit. Die Geschwindigkeit des Wandels und die Dringlichkeit der Folgen macht Umweltmonitoring zu einem potentiell interessanten Tool für nachhaltige und resiliente Stadtentwicklung. Der erste Artikel gibt einen Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der Fernerkundung in Bezug auf Stadtökologie und zeigt, dass Fernerkundung relevant für nachhaltige Stadtplanung ist. Es bestehen jedoch bestehen Mängel, da viele Studien nicht direkt umsetzbar sind. Der zweite Artikel zeigt, dass eine wachsende Stadt Möglichkeiten für den Ausbau der grünen Infrastruktur bieten kann. Im dritten Artikel wird untersucht, wie sich die städtische Dichte auf die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemdienstleistungen der grünen Infrastruktur auswirkt. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine hohe Siedlungsdichte nicht zwangsläufig zu einem geringeren Biodiversitätspotenzial oder einer geringeren Kühlkapazität führt. Allerdings sind dicht bebaute Gebiete mit geringer Vegetationsbedeckung besonders auf grüne Infrastruktur angewiesen. Der vierte Artikel befasst sich mit der Frage, wie naturbasierte Lösungen durch eine bessere Vernetzung der Beteiligten gestärkt werden können. Auf der Grundlage einer gezielten Literaturrecherche über Informationstechnologie zur Unterstützung sozial-ökologischer Systeme wird ein Instrument zur Entscheidungshilfe entwickelt. Dieses kombiniert ökologische und soziale Indikatoren, um Klimawandeladaption in Übereinstimmung mit den sozio-ökologischen Bedingungen entwickeln zu können. Der fünfte Artikel bietet eine grundsätzliche Perspektive zur Unterstützung der städtischen Nachhaltigkeit, die auf dem ökologischen-Trait Konzept basiert. Zusammen bieten die fünf Artikel Wege für die Fernerkundungswissenschaft und die angewandte Raumplanung für nachhaltige und resiliente Entwicklungen in Städten.Climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as urbanisation and demographic change, are major global challenges of the 21st century. These trends have profound impacts on cities and their ecosystems and thus on the living conditions of the majority of humanity. This raises the need for timely environmental monitoring supporting sustainable and resilient urban developments. The first article is an overview of the state of the art of remote sensing science in relation to urban ecology. The review found that remote sensing can contribute to sustainable urban policy, still insufficiencies remain as many studies are not directly actionable. The second article shows that a growing city can provide opportunities for an increase in green infrastructure. Here, remote sensing is used for long-term analysis of land-use in relation to urban forms in Berlin. The third article examines how urban density affects ecosystem service provision of urban green infrastructure. It is shown that residential density does not necessarily lead to poor biodiversity potential or cooling capacity. However, dense areas with low vegetation cover are particularly dependent on major green infrastructure. The fourth article explores ways to reinforce nature-based solutions by better connecting and informing stakeholders. Based on a focussed literature review on information technology supporting urban social-ecological systems, a decision support tool is developed. The tool combines indicators based on ecological diversity and performance with population density and vulnerability. This way, climate change adaptation can be developed in accordance with socio-ecological conditions. The concluding fifth article offers an outlook on a larger framework in support of urban sustainability, based on the ecological trait concept. Together the five research papers provide pathways for urban remote sensing science and applied spatial planning that can support sustainable and resilient developments in cities

The coevolution of industries and national institutions: Theory and evidence

A survey across space and time reveals that leading firms operating in global industries often cluster in one or a few countries. The paper argues that nations differ in how successful they are in a particular industry because coevolutionary processes linking a particular industry and national institutions powerfully shape the path of an industry.s development. Across a wide range of contexts, scientific progress and industrial leadership reinforce each other in spirals of cumulative national advantage. A historical case study of synthetic dyes from 1857 to 1914 provides a dramatic example of how these positive feedback processes gave German organic chemistry and German dye firms a dominant position in the world. Over time, the relative strength of a nation in a particular industry and the capability of the country in a relevant scientific or engineering discipline display a strong positive correlation. Additional shorter case studies of agriculture, packaged software, and biotechnology support this induced hypothesis. We argue that the exchange of personnel between industry and academic institutions, the formation of commercial ties between them, lobbying on each other.s behalf and direct support from state agencies constitute causal mechanisms that can explain why successful firms often cluster in particular countries. -- Die führenden Unternehmen eines Industriezweiges konzentrieren sich, obwohl sie auf einem internationalen oder globalen Markt agieren, oft nur in einer eng begrenzten Anzahl von Ländern . oder in nur einem Land. Auf der Grundlage verschiedener Fallstudien werden in diesem Artikel spezifische Verknüpfungen von Industrie und national geprägter Wissenschaftslandschaft aufgezeigt, die in einem Prozess enger gegenseitiger Einflussnahme zu einer jeweils herausragenden . dominanten . wirtschaftlichen Position führten. Die Untersuchung der internationalen Dominanz Deutschlands auf dem Gebiet der Herstellung synthetischer Farbstoffe vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg zeigt eine starke positive Wechselwirkung zwischen der Forschung auf dem Gebiet der organischen Chemie und der Marktstellung der farbstoffproduzierenden Unternehmen. Der Aufstieg bedeutender Unternehmen wie Bayer, BASF und Hoechst steht dabei über personellen Austausch, kommerzielle Beziehungen und gemeinsames Lobbying in so enger Verbindung zu den relevanten akademischen Institutionen und ihrer Entwicklung, daß von einem koevolutionären Prozess gesprochen werden kann. Eine derartige positive Korrelation und ein daraus entstehender spezifischer Vorteil wird durch die Betrachtung des Marktes für Computer-Software oder des derzeit vieldiskutierten Bereichs der Biotechnologie untermauert.Industry evolution,national institution,science-industry interface

Pedotransfer functions in Earth system science: challenges and perspectives

Soil, through its various functions, plays a vital role in the Earth's ecosystems and provides multiple ecosystem services to humanity. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) are simple to complex knowledge rules that relate available soil information to soil properties and variables that are needed to parameterize soil processes. In this paper, we review the existing PTFs and document the new generation of PTFs developed in the different disciplines of Earth system science. To meet the methodological challenges for a successful application in Earth system modeling, we emphasize that PTF development has to go hand in hand with suitable extrapolation and upscaling techniques such that the PTFs correctly represent the spatial heterogeneity of soils. PTFs should encompass the variability of the estimated soil property or process, in such a way that the estimation of parameters allows for validation and can also confidently provide for extrapolation and upscaling purposes capturing the spatial variation in soils. Most actively pursued recent developments are related to parameterizations of solute transport, heat exchange, soil respiration and organic carbon content, root density and vegetation water uptake. Further challenges are to be addressed in parameterization of soil erosivity and land use change impacts at multiple scales. We argue that a comprehensive set of PTFs can be applied throughout a wide range of disciplines of Earth system science, with emphasis on land surface models. Novel sensing techniques provide a true breakthrough for this, yet further improvements are necessary for methods to deal with uncertainty and to validate applications at global scale

Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity

This Open Access volume aims to methodologically improve our understanding of biodiversity by linking disciplines that incorporate remote sensing, and uniting data and perspectives in the fields of biology, landscape ecology, and geography. The book provides a framework for how biodiversity can be detected and evaluated—focusing particularly on plants—using proximal and remotely sensed hyperspectral data and other tools such as LiDAR. The volume, whose chapters bring together a large cross-section of the biodiversity community engaged in these methods, attempts to establish a common language across disciplines for understanding and implementing remote sensing of biodiversity across scales. The first part of the book offers a potential basis for remote detection of biodiversity. An overview of the nature of biodiversity is described, along with ways for determining traits of plant biodiversity through spectral analyses across spatial scales and linking spectral data to the tree of life. The second part details what can be detected spectrally and remotely. Specific instrumentation and technologies are described, as well as the technical challenges of detection and data synthesis, collection and processing. The third part discusses spatial resolution and integration across scales and ends with a vision for developing a global biodiversity monitoring system. Topics include spectral and functional variation across habitats and biomes, biodiversity variables for global scale assessment, and the prospects and pitfalls in remote sensing of biodiversity at the global scale

PREDICTING COMPLEX PHENOTYPE-GENOTYPE RELATIONSHIPS IN GRASSES: A SYSTEMS GENETICS APPROACH

It is becoming increasingly urgent to identify and understand the mechanisms underlying complex traits. Expected increases in the human population coupled with climate change make this especially urgent for grasses in the Poaceae family because these serve as major staples of the human and livestock diets worldwide. In particular, Oryza sativa (rice), Triticum spp. (wheat), Zea mays (maize), and Saccharum spp. (sugarcane) are among the top agricultural commodities. Molecular marker tools such as linkage-based Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Multiple Marker Assisted Selection (MMAS), and Genome Selection (GS) techniques offer promise for understanding the mechanisms behind complex traits and to improve breeding programs. These methods have shown some success. Often, however, they cannot identify the causal genes underlying traits nor the biological context in which those genes function. To improve our understanding of complex traits as well improve breeding techniques, additional tools are needed to augment existing methods. This work proposes a knowledge-independent systems-genetic paradigm that integrates results from genetic studies such as QTL mapping, GWAS and mutational insertion lines such as Tos17 with gene co-expression networks for grasses--in particular for rice. The techniques described herein attempt to overcome the bias of limited human knowledge by relying solely on the underlying signals within the data to capture a holistic representation of gene interactions for a species. Through integration of gene co-expression networks with genetic signal, modules of genes can be identified with potential effect for a given trait, and the biological function of those interacting genes can be determined