Impact of cyclones on hard coral and metapopulation structure, connectivity and genetic diversity of coral reef fish

Cyclones have one of the greatest effects on the biodiversity of coral reefs and the associated species. But it is unknown how stochastic alterations in habitat structure influence metapopulation structure, connectivity and genetic diversity. From 1993 to 2018, the reefs of the Capricorn Bunker Reef group in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef were impacted by three tropical cyclones including cyclone Hamish (2009, category 5). This resulted in substantial loss of live habitat-forming coral and coral reef fish communities. Within 6–8 years after cyclones had devastated, live hard corals recovered by 50–60%. We show the relationship between hard coral cover and the abundance of the neon damselfish (Pomacentrus coelestis), the first fish colonizing destroyed reefs. We present the first long-term (2008–2015 years corresponding to 16–24 generations of P. coelestis) population genetic study to understand the impact of cyclones on the meta-population structure, connectivity and genetic diversity of the neon damselfish. After the cyclone, we observed the largest change in the genetic structure at reef populations compared to other years. Simultaneously, allelic richness of genetic microsatellite markers dropped indicating a great loss of genetic diversity, which increased again in subsequent years. Over years, metapopulation dynamics were characterized by high connectivity among fish populations associated with the Capricorn Bunker reefs (2200 km2); however, despite high exchange, genetic patchiness was observed with annual strong genetic divergence between populations among reefs. Some broad similarities in the genetic structure in 2015 could be explained by dispersal from a source reef and the related expansion of local populations. This study has shown that alternating cyclone-driven changes and subsequent recovery phases of coral habitat can greatly influence patterns of reef fish connectivity. The frequency of disturbances determines abundance of fish and genetic diversity within species

Diminished growth and vitality in juvenile Hydractinia echinata under anticipated future temperature and variable nutrient conditions

In a warming climate, rising seawater temperatures and declining primary and secondary production will drastically affect growth and fitness of marine invertebrates in the northern Atlantic Ocean. To study the ecological performance of juvenile hydroids Hydractinia echinata we exposed them to current and predicted water temperatures which reflect the conditions in the inter- and subtidal in combination with changing food availability (high and low) in laboratory experiments. Here we show, that the interplay between temperature stress and diminished nutrition affected growth and vitality of juvenile hydroids more than either factor alone, while high food availability mitigated their stress responses. Our numerical growth model indicated that the growth of juvenile hydroids at temperatures beyond their optimum is a saturation function of energy availability. We demonstrated that the combined effects of environmental stressors should be taken into consideration when evaluating consequences of climate change. Interactive effects of ocean warming, decreasing resource availability and increasing organismal energy demand may have major impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function

Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2021

The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2021 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile metadata_heluwobs_2021_hydrography.pd

Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2022

The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2022 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile metadata_heluwobs_2022_hydrography.pdf

Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2015

The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2015 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile metadata_heluwobs_2015_hydrography.pd

Ein digital und virtuell unterstützter „Flipped Classroom“ zur Ausbildung von Medizinstudierenden in Basic Life Support

Eickelmann A-K, Wattenberg I, Hornberg C, Falk-Dulisch M, Liebau L, Lätzsch R. Ein digital und virtuell unterstützter „Flipped Classroom“ zur Ausbildung von Medizinstudierenden in Basic Life Support. In: Stoevesandt D, im Auftrag der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung, eds. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA) 15.09. - 17.09.2022, Halle (Saale). 2022

Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2020

The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2020 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile "Metadata_description_heluwobs_data_2020.pdf

Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2019

The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2019 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile "metadata_heluwobs_2019_hydrography.pdf

Effects of Measuring Devices and Sampling Strategies on the Interpretation of Monitoring Data for Long-Term Trend Analysis

A thorough and reliable assessment of changes in sea surface water temperatures (SSWTs) is essential for understanding the effects of global warming on long-term trends in marine ecosystems and their communities. The first long-term temperature measurements were established almost a century ago, especially in coastal areas, and some of them are still in operation. However, while in earlier times these measurements were done by hand every day, current environmental long-term observation stations (ELTOS) are often fully automated and integrated in cabled underwater observatories (UWOs). With this new technology, year-round measurements became feasible even in remote or difficult to access areas, such as coastal areas of the Arctic Ocean in winter, where measurements were almost impossible just a decade ago. In this context, there is a question over what extent the sampling frequency and accuracy influence results in long-term monitoring approaches. In this paper, we address this with a combination of lab experiments on sensor accuracy and precision and a simulated sampling program with different sampling frequencies based on a continuous water temperature dataset from Svalbard, Arctic, from 2012 to 2017. Our laboratory experiments showed that temperature measurements with 12 different temperature sensor types at different price ranges all provided measurements accurate enough to resolve temperature changes over years on a level discussed in the literature when addressing climate change effects in coastal waters. However, the experiments also revealed that some sensors are more suitable for measuring absolute temperature changes over time, while others are more suitable for determining relative temperature changes. Our simulated sampling program in Svalbard coastal waters over 5 years revealed that the selection of a proper sampling frequency is most relevant for discriminating significant long-term temperature changes from random daily, seasonal, or interannual fluctuations. While hourly and daily sampling could deliver reliable, stable, and comparable results concerning temperature increases over time, weekly sampling was less able to reliably detect overall significant trends. With even lower sampling frequencies (monthly sampling), no significant temperature trend over time could be detected. Although the results were obtained for a specific site, they are transferable to other aquatic research questions and non-polar regions

Digitale und virtuell unterstützte fallbasierte Lehr‐/Lernszenarien in den Gesundheitsberufen – Implementierung, Evaluation, Reflexion

Strecker M, Oldak A, Lätzsch R, et al. Digitale und virtuell unterstützte fallbasierte Lehr‐/Lernszenarien in den Gesundheitsberufen – Implementierung, Evaluation, Reflexion. Innovative Lehr-/Lernszenarien in den Pflege- und Gesundheitsberufen. Working Paper-Reihe der Projekte DiViFaG und ViRDiPA. Vol 5. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2023.Im Zuge des Projektes ist es ein Ziel, digitale und virtuell unterstützte Lehr-/Lernszenarien in verschiedenen Institutionen, Studiengängen und Kohorten zu implementieren und zu evaluieren. Die Evaluation erfolgte sowohl mittels quantitativer als auch qualitativer Methoden. Bei letzteren wurden teilnehmende Beobachtungen und qualitative Interviews durchgeführt. Gemäß der methodischen Durchführung wurden deskriptive statistische Verfahren für den quantitativen Fragebogen bzw. qualitative Inhaltsanalysen nach Mayring und Kuckartz angeschlossen. Aus der Evaluation geht als zentrales Ergebnis hervor, dass sich die Potentiale der digitalen Lehr-/Lernszenarien insbesondere in der Aneignung von Basisfähigkeiten, im Erlernen und Festigen von Handlungsabläufen und einer erhöhten Lernmotivation manifestieren. Grenzen zeigen sich hier in der Möglichkeit des Erlernens haptischer Fähigkeiten sowie sozial-kommunikativer Kompetenzen. Außerdem ist die Auswahl geeigneter Inhalte für die Umsetzung in VR eine Gelingensvoraussetzung. Zudem hat sich gezeigt, dass die Nutzung digitaler Lehr-Lernszenarien mit Unterstützung von VR-Technik mit einem erhöhten personellen und organisatorischen Aufwand einhergeht. Die Ergebnisse sind vor dem Hintergrund sehr kleiner Stichproben und einer Abhängigkeit von den institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen der Implementierung zu bewerten.In the course of the project, one goal is to implement and evaluate digital and virtually supported teaching and learning scenarios in different institutions, study programs and cohorts. The evaluation was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. In the latter, participant observations and qualitative interviews were conducted. According to the methodological implementation, descriptive statistical procedures for the quantitative questionnaire or qualitative content analyses according to Mayring and Kuckartz were applied. The central result of the evaluation is that the potential of the digital teaching and learning scenarios manifests itself in particular in the acquisition of basic skills, in the learning and consolidation of action sequences and in increased motivation to learn. Limitations can be seen in the possibility of learning haptic skills as well as social-communicative competencies and the restriction with regard to suitable content for implementation in VR. In addition, it has been shown that the use of digital teaching-learning scenarios with the inclusion of VR technology is accompanied by an increased personnel and organizational effort. The results have to be evaluated against the background of very small samples and a dependence on the institutional framework conditions of the implementation