Occurrence of selected lower urinary tract symptoms in patients of a day hospital for neurotic disorders

Aim. To assess the occurrence of selected lower urinary tract symptoms in the population of patients with neurotic and personality disorders. Material and methods. This was a retrospective analysis of occurrence, co-existence and severity of two selected lower urinary tract symptoms in 3,929 patients in a day hospital for neurotic disorders. The KO “O” symptom checklist was used to measure the study variables. Results. Although the symptoms associated with micturition are not the most prevalent symptoms of neurotic disorders, neither are they the most typical ones, the prevalence of urinary frequency referring to the last week before psychotherapy evaluated among the patients of a day hospital, was approximately 50%. Involuntary micturition, a symptom with a significant implication on the self-esteem and social functioning was much less common; it was reported by approximately 5% relatively healthy and young group of patients. Major bother from urinary frequency was reported by 9–14% of patients, whereas from involuntary micturition by only 0.6%–1% of the surveyed patients. Conclusions. Selected urological symptoms seem to be prevalent among the patients with neurotic and personality disorders, and are independent of the specific diagnosis or patients’ gender. Their co-existence with other symptoms of neurotic disorders reported by the patients indicates their strongest relationship with the somatoform, dissociative, sexual and agoraphobic disorders

Associations of selected lower urinary tract symptoms with biographical context in patients of a day hospital for neurotic disorders

Aim. To assess the correlation of subjectively estimated biographical context and lower urinary tract symptoms reported by patients with neurotic and personality disorders. Methods. This was a retrospective analysis of the biographical context of co-existence of urinary frequency and urinary incontinence reported by 3,929 patients in a day hospital for treatment of neurotic disorders. The symptom checklists KO “0” were completed by patients prior to any treatment. Results. Urinary frequency reported by patients in a day hospital for treatment of neurotic disorders was associated with the difficulties from their childhood and adolescence (i.e. with perception of inferiority with regard to one’s family and among siblings, parents’ low education level), as well as the disparities in terms of sexual education and troubled relationships. Conclusions. In the studied group of patients with neurotic and personality disorders, selected lower urinary tract symptoms were associated with adverse life circumstances from childhood and adolescence (which can show the tendency towards regression and protracted character to experience of family’s dysfunction due to feeling of being neglected or abandoned), as well as, to a larger or a smaller degree, their consequences – dysfunctions in adulthood, relationship/marriage, functioning at work and dealing with finances. These associations indicated the probable significance of experiencing these aspects of life in patients, not only in day hospitals or psychiatric hospitals which reported “pseudo-urological complaints”, but also in at least part of urological patients – going to hospitals due to neurotic disorders, particularly those occurring in a somatic form

Responses of competitive understorey species to spatial environmental gradients inaccurately explain temporal changes

Understorey plant communities play a key role in the functioning of forest ecosystems. Under favourable environmental conditions, competitive understorey species may develop high abundances and influence important ecosystem processes such as tree regeneration. Thus, understanding and predicting the response of competitive understorey species as a function of changing environmental conditions is important for forest managers. In the absence of sufficient temporal data to quantify actual vegetation changes, space-for-time (SFT) substitution is often used, i.e. studies that use environmental gradients across space to infer vegetation responses to environmental change over time. Here we assess the validity of such SFT approaches and analysed 36 resurvey studies from ancient forests with low levels of recent disturbances across temperate Europe to assess how six competitive understorey plant species respond to gradients of overstorey cover, soil conditions, atmospheric N deposition and climatic conditions over space and time. The combination of historical and contemporary surveys allows (i) to test if observed contemporary patterns across space are consistent at the time of the historical survey, and, crucially, (ii) to assess whether changes in abundance over time given recorded environmental change match expectations from patterns recorded along environmental gradients in space. We found consistent spatial relationships at the two periods: local variation in soil variables and overstorey cover were the best predictors of individual species’ cover while interregional variation in coarse-scale variables, i.e. N deposition and climate, was less important. However, we found that our SFT approach could not accurately explain the large variation in abundance changes over time. We thus recommend to be cautious when using SFT substitution to infer species responses to temporal changes.</p

Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming

Climate warming is causing a shift in biological communities in favor of warm-affinity species (i.e., thermophilization). Species responses often lag behind climate warming, but the reasons for such lags remain largely unknown. Here, we analyzed multidecadal understory microclimate dynamics in European forests and show that thermophilization and the climatic lag in forest plant communities are primarily controlled by microclimate. Increasing tree canopy cover reduces warming rates inside forests, but loss of canopy cover leads to increased local heat that exacerbates the disequilibrium between community responses and climate change. Reciprocal effects between plants and microclimates are key to understanding the response of forest biodiversity and functioning to climate and land-use changes

Replacements of small- by large-ranged species scale up to diversity loss in Europe’s temperate forest biome

The loss of biodiversity at the global scale has been difficult to reconcile with observations of no net loss at local scales. Vegetation surveys across European temperate forests show that this may be explained by the replacement of small-ranged species with large-ranged ones, driven by nitrogen deposition. Biodiversity time series reveal global losses and accelerated redistributions of species, but no net loss in local species richness. To better understand how these patterns are linked, we quantify how individual species trajectories scale up to diversity changes using data from 68 vegetation resurvey studies of seminatural forests in Europe. Herb-layer species with small geographic ranges are being replaced by more widely distributed species, and our results suggest that this is due less to species abundances than to species nitrogen niches. Nitrogen deposition accelerates the extinctions of small-ranged, nitrogen-efficient plants and colonization by broadly distributed, nitrogen-demanding plants (including non-natives). Despite no net change in species richness at the spatial scale of a study site, the losses of small-ranged species reduce biome-scale (gamma) diversity. These results provide one mechanism to explain the directional replacement of small-ranged species within sites and thus explain patterns of biodiversity change across spatial scales

Observer and relocation errors matter in resurveys of historical vegetation plots

Aim: Revisits of non-permanent, relocatable plots first surveyed several decades ago offer a direct way to observe vegetation change and form a unique and increasingly used source of information for global change research. Despite the important insights that can be obtained from resurveying these quasi-permanent vegetation plots, their use is prone to both observer and relocation errors. Studying the combined effects of both error types is important since they will play out together in practice and it is yet unknown to what extent observed vegetation changes are influenced by these errors. Methods: We designed a study that mimicked all steps in a resurvey study and that allowed determination of the magnitude of observer errors only vs the joint observer and relocation errors. Communities of vascular plants growing in the understorey of temperate forests were selected as study system. Ten regions in Europe were covered to explore generality across contexts and 50 observers were involved, which deliberately differed in their experience in making vegetation records. Results: The mean geographic distance between plots in the observer+relocation error data set was 24m. The mean relative difference in species richness in the observer error and the observer+relocation data set was 15% and 21%, respectively. The mean pseudo-turnover between the five records at a quasi-permanent plot location was on average 0.21 and 0.35 for the observer error and observer+relocation error data sets, respectively. More detailed analyses of the compositional variation showed that the nestedness and turnover components were of equal importance in the observer data set, whereas turnover was much more important than nestedness in the observer+relocation data set. Interestingly, the differences between the observer and the observer+relocation data sets largely disappeared when looking at temporal change: both the changes in species richness and species composition over time were very similar in these data sets. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that observer and relocation errors are non-negligible when resurveying quasi-permanent plots. A careful interpretation of the results of resurvey studies is warranted, especially when changes are assessed based on a low number of plots. We conclude by listing measures that should be taken to maximally increase the precision and the strength of the inferences drawn from vegetation resurveys

<scp>ReSurveyEurope</scp>: A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

AbstractAimsWe introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions.ResultsReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun‐Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020.ConclusionsReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine‐scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well‐established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome.</jats:sec

VESTA – resurvey of natural, non-forest vegetation (Central Europe)

“VESTA - resurvey of natural, non-forest vegetation (Central Europe)” is a thematic, resurvey database focused on documentation of changes in natural, non-forest communities. Currently, the database includes 549 relevés (231 replots for 84 sites) corresponding to the classes Asplenietea trichomanis (incl. Polypodietea), Koelerio-Corynephoretea (rocky grasslands), Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea and Betulo carpaticae-Alnetea viridis. The project is continuous in character. It is based on the phytosociological relevés from own field studies which have been carried out in the Sudetes Mts. and their foothills since 1989. The subject of research have been all types of rocky communities (chasmophytic, grasslands, thickets), mountain and submountain tall-herb communities, subalpine thickets and heathlands. Relevés are collected according to the standard Braun-Blanquet method (species coverage scale: r, +, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and on rectangular or square-shaped surfaces with possible adjustment to the shape of the rocky outcrops. Initially (until 2008), the location of plots was marked on maps and field sketches. However, the fact that all relevés were collected by the owners of the database made it easier to revisit all plots and assigned a location compatible with GPS with SiRFstar III chipset. The accuracy of position measurements varies between 2 and 15 meters (on average 10 meters). Aspect is determined using electronic compass linked to GPS. Altitude is obtained from Google Earth and corrected with landmarks from topographical maps if necessary. The shading of the plots has been visually assessed so far. The bedrock type is derived from a Detailed Geological Map of the Sudetes (http://sudety.pgi.gov.pl/). Subsequent resurveys of the plots are conducted during field visits planned specifically for this purpose or during other research carried out in the same area