Assessing the vulnerability of freshwater crayfish to climate change

Aim: Climate change is a major threat to the persistence of biodiversity. Global assessments highlight the most climate vulnerable species and geographic regions based on species traits and measures of exposure to climate change. Yet the majority of climate change vulnerability assessments have focused on terrestrial and marine vertebrates and largely ignored the less well‐known freshwater species and invertebrates. We present the first global analysis of 574 species of freshwater crayfish (Families: Astacidae, Parastacidae and Cambaridae) using IUCN's trait‐based vulnerability assessment protocol. Location Global. Methods: We collected species‐specific information on sensitivity (eight traits), adaptive capacity (four traits) and exposure (five traits) to climate change and combined those dimensions to assess overall species vulnerability. Results: Our results predicted that 87% of freshwater crayfish species are highly sensitive to climate change (primarily due to habitat specialization), 35% have low adaptive capacity and 57% are highly exposed (based on an ensemble mean of four general circulation models for a moderate Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenario, RCP6.0). Combining sensitivity, low adaptive capacity and exposure, we assessed 87 species (15%) as vulnerable to climate change. These species are distributed globally with high concentrations in the south‐eastern USA (36 species), south‐eastern Australia (21 species) and Mexico (10 species), reflecting global patterns of crayfish species richness. Of the 91 species listed as threatened by climate change in the IUCN Red List, we predicted 18 species to be climate change vulnerable. Main conclusions: We identified hotspots of species vulnerable to climate change that require further conservation attention. The IUCN trait‐based protocol can help identify data gaps and key traits that should be investigated further and thus can help overcome knowledge shortfalls on the effects of climate change. Our study provides key insights for the application of climate change vulnerability assessment to data‐poor invertebrates, which remain underrepresented in global conservation priorities

A Review of the Tools Used for Marine Monitoring in the UK: Combining Historic and Contemporary Methods with Modeling and Socioeconomics to Fulfill Legislative Needs and Scientific Ambitions

Marine environmental monitoring is undertaken to provide evidence that environmental management targets are being met. Moreover, monitoring also provides context to marine science and over the last century has allowed development of a critical scientific understanding of the marine environment and the impacts that humans are having on it. The seas around the UK are currently monitored by targeted, impact-driven, programmes (e.g., fishery or pollution based monitoring) often using traditional techniques, many of which have not changed significantly since the early 1900s. The advent of a new wave of automated technology, in combination with changing political and economic circumstances, means that there is currently a strong drive to move toward a more refined, efficient, and effective way of monitoring. We describe the policy and scientific rationale for monitoring our seas, alongside a comprehensive description of the types of equipment and methodology currently used and the technologies that are likely to be used in the future. We contextualize the way new technologies and methodologies may impact monitoring and discuss how whole ecosystems models can give an integrated, comprehensive approach to impact assessment. Furthermore, we discuss how an understanding of the value of each data point is crucial to assess the true costs and benefits to society of a marine monitoring programme

A multicentre, randomised controlled trial to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment versus standard NHS Speech and Language Therapy versus control in Parkinson’s disease: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Abstract: Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects approximately 145,519 people in the UK. Speech impairments are common with a reported prevalence of 68%, which increase physical and mental demands during conversation, reliance on family and/or carers, and the likelihood of social withdrawal reducing quality of life. In the UK, two approaches to Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) intervention are commonly available: National Health Service (NHS) SLT or Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD®). NHS SLT is tailored to the individuals’ needs per local practice typically consisting of six to eight weekly sessions; LSVT LOUD® comprises 16 sessions of individual treatment with home-based practice over 4 weeks. The evidence-base for their effectiveness is inconclusive. Methods/design: PD COMM is a phase III, multicentre, three-arm, unblinded, randomised controlled trial. Five hundred and forty-six people with idiopathic PD, reporting speech or voice problems will be enrolled. We will exclude those with a diagnosis of dementia, laryngeal pathology or those who have received SLT for speech problems in the previous 2 years. Following informed consent and completion of baseline assessments, participants will be randomised in a 1:1:1 ratio to no-intervention control, NHS SLT or LSVT LOUD® via a central computer-generated programme, using a minimisation procedure with a random element, to ensure allocation concealment. Participants randomised to the intervention groups will start treatment within 4 (NHS SLT) or 7 (LSVT LOUD®) weeks of randomisation. Primary outcome: Voice Handicap Index (VHI) total score at 3 months. Secondary outcomes include: VHI subscales, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39; Questionnaire on Acquired Speech Disorders; EuroQol-5D-5 L; ICECAP-O; resource utilisation; adverse events and carer quality of life. Mixed-methods process and health economic evaluations will take place alongside the trial. Assessments will be completed before randomisation and at 3, 6 and 12 months after randomisation. The trial started in December 2015 and will run for 77 months. Recruitment will take place in approximately 42 sites around the UK. Discussion: The trial will test the hypothesis that SLT is effective for the treatment of speech or voice problems in people with PD compared to no SLT. It will further test whether NHS SLT or LSVT LOUD® provide greater benefit and determine the cost-effectiveness of both interventions. Trial registration: International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Number (ISRCTN) Registry, ID: 12421382. Registered on 18 April 2016