Spatially structured environmental filtering of collembolan traits in late successional salt marsh vegetation

Both the environment and the spatial configuration of habitat patches are important factors that shape community composition and affect species diversity patterns. Species have traits that allow them to respond to their environment. Our current knowledge on environment to species traits relationships is limited in spite of its potential importance for understanding community assembly and ecosystem function. The aim of our study was to examine the relative roles of environmental and spatial variables for the small-scale variation in Collembola (springtail) communities in a Dutch salt marsh. We used a trait-based approach in combination with spatial statistics and variance partitioning, between environmental and spatial variables, to examine the important ecological factors that drive community composition. Turnover of trait diversity across space was lower than for species diversity. Most of the variation in community composition was explained by small-scale spatial variation in topography, on a scale of 4-6 m, most likely because it determines the effect of inundation, which restricts where habitat generalists can persist. There were only small pure spatial effects on species and trait diversity, indicating that biotic interactions or dispersal limitation probably were less important for structuring the community at this scale. Our results suggest that for springtails, life form (i.e. whether they live in the soil or litter or on the surface/in vegetation) is an important and useful trait to understand community assembly. Hence, using traits in addition to species identity when analysing environment-organism relationships results in a better understanding of the factors affecting community composition

Estación Experimental de Aula Dei. Memoria anual 2014

67 Pags.Esta memoria recoge la actividad científica de la Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC) durante el año 2014, conteniendo información específica sobre las siguientes actividades de la EEAD-CSIC: Publicaciones (ISI y no ISI; Actas de congresos; Libros y Capítulos de Libro), Transferencia tecnológica, Tesis, Congresos, Cursos, Seminarios, Estancias, Actividades de cultura científica, Eventos. Incluye, además, un informe de financiación, directorio del personal en activo durante el año y tabla-resumen de las estadísticas relacionadas con los procesos técnicos y servicios de la Unidad Técnica de Biblioteca y Documentación.Peer reviewe

Exploring Innovative Solutions for Quality of Life and Care of Bed-Ridden Nursing Home Residents through Codesign Sessions

Bed-ridden nursing home residents are in need of environments which are homelike and facilitate the provision of care. Design guidance for this group of older people is limited. This study concerned the exploration and generation of innovative environmental enrichment scenarios for bed-ridden residents. This exploration was conducted through a combination of participatory action research with user-centred design involving 56 professional stakeholders in interactive work sessions. This study identified numerous design solutions, both concepts and products that are available on the marketplace and that on a higher level relate to improvements in resident autonomy and the supply of technological items and architectural features. The methodology chosen can be used to explore the creative potential of stakeholders from the domain of healthcare in product innovation