Digital Skills in the Global South: Gaps, Needs, and Progress

The arrival of AI-powered chatbots has made many people think once again about the skills needed for the "digital future of work." Any efforts to improve digital skills are addressing a moving target, which implies that teaching the appropriate skills is not a trivial matter. What is certain, though, is that there is a very considerable digital skills gap between richer and poorer countries. The demand for digital skills is very heterogeneous, ranging from basic digital literacy that enables individuals to effectively use simple digital tools to the advanced digital skills necessary to participate in the "global division of digital labour." The limited data available suggest that levels of digital literacy are relatively low in countries of the Global South. Low-income countries exhibit extremely low levels of digital literacy, while the gaps between middle-income and high-income countries are also very considerable. The evidence on the use of digital technologies in schools suggests that most middle-income countries lag far behind high-income countries, particularly in schools with students with low socio-economic status. This may cause digital skills gaps to persist or even grow. Digital skills training programmes are proliferating, without having proven their effectiveness in terms of enhancing digital skills. Some evidence indicates that job referrals or training in the use of professional online platforms may be as important as digital training in improving employment prospects. Our assessment of digital skills in the Global South calls for policy action to address the yawning digital skills gap between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries. This is a precondition for equitably harnessing the potential gains of digitalisation. Such policies will need to rest on a considerably expanded knowledge base regarding "digital skills," how to acquire them, and their labour market relevance

Divergence and adaptive capacity of marine keystone species

Hedendaagse menselijke activiteiten en omgevingsveranderingen zetten mariene organismen onder druk. Kennis over populatiedivergentie, populatiegroottes en lokale adaptieve capaciteiten vormt een belangrijke uitgangswaarde voor het ontwerpen van duurzame managementmaatregelen. In deze these heb ik een populatiegenetische aanpak toegepast om de drie bovenstaande kenmerken in kaart te brengen voor drie hoeksteensoorten van de Noord-Atlantische en Baltische mariene ecosystemen. Hoofdstuk 1 onderzocht de processen die de kolonisatie, extinctie en herkolonisatie van twee ondersoorten van de grijze zeehond aanstuurden in de Baltische Zee en de Noordzee. Dit werk laat bijvoorbeeld zien dat divergentie tussen de historische ondersoorten in de Baltische Zee en Noordzee waarschijnlijk aangestuurd wordt door een combinatie van menselijke invloeden en omgevingsveranderingen. Hoofdstuk 2 richtte zich op Noord-Atlantische bultrugwalvissen en laat zien dat de Kaapverdische broedpopulatie zich tegenwoordig op een niveau net op of onder de minimum levensvatbare grootte van de populatie bevindt. Bovendien is de genetische uitwisseling met de enige andere Noord-Atlantische broedpopulatie in West-Indië beperkt, op een niveau vergelijkbaar met de genetische differentiatie tussen bultrugwalvissen in de verschillende oceanen. Hoofdstuk 3 werpt licht op patronen in de genoombrede divergentie tussen twee zandspieringsoorten in de Baltische Zee en de Noordzee. Deze studie ging één stap verder dan alleen maar een focus op het genoom door ook te kijken naar darmbacteriegemeenschappen en omgevingsbacteriegemeenschappen in zeewater. Het kan dienen als referentiekader voor toekomstig werk waarin populatiegenomische en darmmicrobiomische data worden gecombineerd om de ecologische adaptieve potentie van organismen te onderzoeken

Mind the gut:Genomic insights to population divergence and gut microbial composition of two marine keystone species

BACKGROUND: Deciphering the mechanisms governing population genetic divergence and local adaptation across heterogeneous environments is a central theme in marine ecology and conservation. While population divergence and ecological adaptive potential are classically viewed at the genetic level, it has recently been argued that their microbiomes may also contribute to population genetic divergence. We explored whether this might be plausible along the well-described environmental gradient of the Baltic Sea in two species of sand lance (Ammodytes tobianus and Hyperoplus lanceolatus). Specifically, we assessed both their population genetic and gut microbial composition variation and investigated not only which environmental parameters correlate with the observed variation, but whether host genome also correlates with microbiome variation. RESULTS: We found a clear genetic structure separating the high-salinity North Sea from the low-salinity Baltic Sea sand lances. The observed genetic divergence was not simply a function of isolation by distance, but correlated with environmental parameters, such as salinity, sea surface temperature, and, in the case of A. tobianus, possibly water microbiota. Furthermore, we detected two distinct genetic groups in Baltic A. tobianus that might represent sympatric spawning types. Investigation of possible drivers of gut microbiome composition variation revealed that host species identity was significantly correlated with the microbial community composition of the gut. A potential influence of host genetic factors on gut microbiome composition was further confirmed by the results of a constrained analysis of principal coordinates. The host genetic component was among the parameters that best explain observed variation in gut microbiome composition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have relevance for the population structure of two commercial species but also provide insights into potentially relevant genomic and microbial factors with regards to sand lance adaptation across the North Sea-Baltic Sea environmental gradient. Furthermore, our findings support the hypothesis that host genetics may play a role in regulating the gut microbiome at both the interspecific and intraspecific levels. As sequencing costs continue to drop, we anticipate that future studies that include full genome and microbiome sequencing will be able to explore the full relationship and its potential adaptive implications for these species

Reviewing the ecosystem services, societal goods, and benefits of marine protected areas

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are globally important environmental management tools that provide protection from the effects of human exploitation and activities, supporting the conservation of marine biological diversity, habitats, ecosystems and the processes they host, as well as resources in a broad sense. Consequently, they are also expected to manage and enhance marine ecosystem services and material, non-material, consumptive and non-consumptive goods, and benefits for humans. There is however certain confusion on what constitutes an ecosystem service, and it is not always easy to distinguish between them and societal benefits. The main nuance is that an ecosystem service is the aptitude an ecosystem has or develops naturally or as consequence of a management action, and that manifests through its own properties (productivity, diversity, stability, quality of its key parameters, etc.), while a societal benefit is the economic or other profitability (emotional, educational, scientific, etc.) that humans obtain from said service or quality. In this work, 268 publications, together with our own experiences in the different investigations carried out in the MPAs that are part of the BiodivERsA3-2015-21 RESERVEBENEFIT European project, have been selected, reviewed and discussed to analyze the knowledge status of the expected ecosystem services of MPAs and the societal benefits derived from them, sometimes providing information on their evidence, when they exist. We define and classify the effects of protection, ecosystem services and societal benefits and elaborate a conceptual model of the cause-effect relationships between them

Control control control : a reassessment and comparison of GenBank and chromatogram mtDNA sequence variation in Baltic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus)

This study was funded by an ‘EU bonus’ award given to MTP Gilbert by the University of Copenhagen.Genetic data can provide a powerful tool for those interested in the biology, management and conservation of wildlife, but also lead to erroneous conclusions if appropriate controls are not taken at all steps of the analytical process. This particularly applies to data deposited in public repositories such as GenBank, whose utility relies heavily on the assumption of high data quality. Here we report on an in-depth reassessment and comparison of GenBank and chromatogram mtDNA sequence data generated in a previous study of Baltic grey seals. By re-editing the original chromatogram data we found that approximately 40% of the grey seal mtDNA haplotype sequences posted in GenBank contained errors. The re-analysis of the edited chromatogram data yielded overall similar results and conclusions as the original study. However, a significantly different outcome was observed when using the uncorrected dataset based on the GenBank haplotypes. We therefore suggest disregarding the existing GenBank data and instead using the correct haplotypes reported here. Our study serves as an illustrative example reiterating the importance of quality control through every step of a research project, from data generation to interpretation and submission to an online repository. Errors conducted in any step may lead to biased results and conclusions, and could impact management decisions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Illegal shark fishing in the Galápagos Marine Reserve

Illegal shark fishing is thought to occur globally, including within “shark sanctuaries”, marine reserves and even inside UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Galápagos Islands. Presumably, this is due to poor local enforcement coupled with the growing international demand (and high economic incentives) for shark and other wildlife products. Understanding illegal shark fishing practices, and specifically catch composition, is important as poaching is identified as a causal factor of global declines in shark populations. Unfortunately, reliable quantitative data on illegal shark fishing are scarce. Here, the catch onboard an illegal shark fishing vessel seized within the borders of the Galápagos Marine Reserve was documented. A total of 379 sharks from seven shark species were found onboard the vessel. A large fraction of the illegal catch was comprised of both female and juvenile sharks (64% and 89%, respectively). Despite numerous recent advances in shark conservation worldwide, this study demonstrates illegal shark fishing is an ongoing concern and that stricter enforcement and legislation is urgently needed, particularly in areas of high biodiversity

Data from: Global population structure and demographic history of the grey seal

Although the grey seal Halichoerus grypus is one of the most familiar and intensively studied of all pinniped species, its global population structure remains to be elucidated. Little is also known about how the species as a whole may have historically responded to climate-driven changes in habitat availability and anthropogenic exploitation. We therefore analysed samples from over 1500 individuals collected from 22 colonies spanning the Western and Eastern Atlantic and the Baltic Sea regions, represented by 350bp of the mitochondrial hypervariable region and up to nine microsatellites. Strong population structure was observed at both types of marker, and highly asymmetrical patterns of gene flow were also inferred, with the Orkney islands being identified as a source of emigrants to other areas in the Eastern Atlantic. The Baltic and Eastern Atlantic regions were estimated to have diverged a little over 10,000 years ago, consistent with the last proposed isolation of the Baltic Sea. Approximate Bayesian computation also identified genetic signals consistent with postglacial population expansion across much of the species range, suggesting that grey seals are highly responsive to changes in habitat availability. The data package contains two datasets: - Excel file with data of 9 microsatellites loci of 22 populations. - Excel data file with complete data set of the mitochondrial control region sequences