Rethinking False Spring Risk

Temperate plants are at risk of being exposed to late spring freezes. These freeze events - often called false springs - are one of the strongest factors determining temperate plants species range limits and can impose high ecological and economic damage. As climate change may alter the prevalence and severity of false springs, our ability to forecast such events has become more critical, and it has led to a growing body of research. Many false spring studies largely simplify the myriad complexities involved in assessing false spring risks and damage. While these studies have helped advance the field and may provide useful estimates at large scales, studies at the individual to community levels must integrate more complexity for accurate predictions of plant damage from late spring freezes. Here we review current metrics of false spring, and how, when and where plants are most at risk of freeze damage. We highlight how life stage, functional group, species differences in morphology and phenology, and regional climatic differences contribute to the damage potential of false springs. More studies aimed at understanding relationships among species tolerance and avoidance strategies, climatic regimes, and the environmental cues that underlie spring phenology would improve predictions at all biological levels. An integrated approach to assessing past and future spring freeze damage would provide novel insights into fundamental plant biology, and offer more robust predictions as climate change progresses, which is essential for mitigating the adverse ecological and economic effects of false springs

The hearing of fitness to practice cases by the General Medical Council: Current trends and future research agendas

Over the last three decades a risk-based model of medical regulation has emerged in the United Kingdom. To promote a risk-averse operational culture of transparency and professional accountability the regulatory state has intervened in medical governance and introduced best-evidenced practice frameworks, audit and performance appraisal, Against this background the paper analyses descriptive statistical data pertaining to the General Medical Council’s management of the process by which fitness to practice complaints against doctors are dealt with from initial receipt through to subsequent investigative and adjudication stages. Statistical trends are outlined regarding complaint data in relation to a doctor’s gender and race and ethnicity. The data shows that there has been an increase in rehabilitative and/or punitive action against doctors. In light of its findings the paper considers what the long-term consequences may be, for both patients and doctors, of the increasing use of risk-averse administrative systems to reform medical regulation and ensure professional accountability

The benefits of organic farming for biodiversity

Previous studies suggest widespread positive responses of biodiversity to organic farming. Many of these studies, however, have been small-scale. This project tested the generality of habitat and biodiversity differences between matched pairs of organic and non-organic farms containing cereal crops in lowland England on a large-scale across a range of taxa including plants, insects, birds and bats. The extent of both cropped and un-cropped habitats together with their composition and management on a range of scales were also compared. Organic farms was likely to favour higher levels of biodiversity and indeed organic farms tended to support higher numbers of species and overall abundance across most taxa. However, the magnitude of the response differed strikingly; plants showed stronger and more consistent responses than other taxa. Some, but not all, differences in biodiversity between systems appear to be a consequence of differences in habitat quantity

The night-sky at the Calar Alto Observatory II: The sky at the near infrared

We present here the characterization of the night sky-brightness at the near-infrared, the telescope seeing, and the fraction of useful time at the Calar Alto observatory. For this study we have collected a large dataset comprising 7311 near-infrared images taken regularly along the last four years for the ALHAMBRA survey (J, H and Ks-bands), together with a more reduced dataset of additional near-infrared images taken for the current study. In addition we collected the information derived by the meteorological station at the observatory during the last 10 years, together with the results from the cloud sensor for the last ~2 years. We analyze the dependency of the near-infrared night sky-brightness with the airmass and the seasons, studying its origins and proposing a zenithal correction. A strong correlation is found between the night sky-brightness in the Ks-band and the air temperature, with a gradient of ~ -0.08 mag per 1 C degree. The typical (darkest) night sky-brightness in the J, H and Ks-band are 15.95 mag (16.95 mag), 13.99 mag (14.98 mag) and 12.39 mag (13.55 mag), respectively. These values show that Calar Alto is as dark in the near-infrared as most of the other astronomical astronomical sites in the world that we could compare with. Only Mauna Kea is clearly darker in the Ks-band. The typical telescope seeing at the 3.5m is ~1.0" when converted to the V-band, being only slightly larger than the atmospheric seeing measured at the same time by the seeing monitor, ~0.9". Finally we estimate the fraction of useful time based on the relative humidity, gust wind speed and presence of clouds. This fraction, ~72%, is very similar to the one derived in Paper I, based on the fraction of time when the extinction monitor is working.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted to be published in PAS

Manifesto for a European research network into Problematic Usage of the Internet

Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The Internet is now all-pervasive across much of the globe. While it has positive uses (e.g. prompt access to information, rapid news dissemination), many individuals develop Problematic Use of the Internet (PUI), an umbrella term incorporating a range of repetitive impairing behaviours. The Internet can act as a conduit for, and may contribute to, functionally impairing behaviours including excessive and compulsive video gaming, compulsive sexual behaviour, buying, gambling, streaming or social networks use. There is growing public and National health authority concern about the health and societal costs of PUI across the lifespan. Gaming Disorder is being considered for inclusion as a mental disorder in diagnostic classification systems, and was listed in the ICD-11 version released for consideration by Member States (http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/revision/timeline/en/). More research is needed into disorder definitions, validation of clinical tools, prevalence, clinical parameters, brain-based biology, socio-health-economic impact, and empirically validated intervention and policy approaches. Potential cultural differences in the magnitudes and natures of types and patterns of PUI need to be better understood, to inform optimal health policy and service development. To this end, the EU under Horizon 2020 has launched a new four-year European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action Programme (CA 16207), bringing together scientists and clinicians from across the fields of impulsive, compulsive, and addictive disorders, to advance networked interdisciplinary research into PUI across Europe and beyond, ultimately seeking to inform regulatory policies and clinical practice. This paper describes nine critical and achievable research priorities identified by the Network, needed in order to advance understanding of PUI, with a view towards identifying vulnerable individuals for early intervention. The network shall enable collaborative research networks, shared multinational databases, multicentre studies and joint publications.Peer reviewe

Morphological traits can track coral reef responses to the Anthropocene

MD was supported by the John Templeton Foundation (60501) and JM was supported by the Australian Research Council (FT110100609) during the period this research was undertaken.1. Susceptibility to human-driven environmental changes is mediated by species traits. Therefore, identifying traits that predict organism performance, ecosystem function and response to changes in environmental conditions can help forecast how ecosystems are responding to the Anthropocene. 2. Morphology dictates how organisms interact with their environment and other organisms, partially determining the environmental and biological contexts in which they are successful. Morphology is important for autogenic ecosystem engineering organisms, such as reef-building corals, because it determines the shape of the structures they create and by extension the communities they support. 3. Here, we present six morphological traits that capture variation in volume compactness, surface complexity and top-heaviness. With support from the literature, we propose causal links between morphology and a performance–function–response framework. 4. To illustrate these concepts, we combine 3D scanning and coral survey data to predict morphological traits from in situ colonies. We present a case study that examines how assemblage-scale morphological traits have responded to two cyclones and the 2016 mass bleaching event—two phenomena predicted to increase in severity in the Anthropocene—and discuss how these changes may impact ecosystem function. 5. The morphological traits outlined here offer a generalised and hypothesis-driven approach to tracking how reefs respond to the Anthropocene. The ability to predict these traits from field data and the increasing use of photogrammetry makes them readily applicable across broad spatiotemporal scales.PostprintPeer reviewe