Trends op basis van de Algemene Broedvogelmonitoring Vlaanderen (ABV)

Gestandaardiseerde rapportage van de trends op basis van de Algemene Broedvogel Monitoring Vlaanderen (ABV

Gender-Specific Modulation of the Response to Arterial Injury by Soluble Guanylate Cyclase α1

Objective: Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), a heterodimer composed of α and β subunits, synthesizes cGMP in response to nitric oxide (NO). NO modulates vascular tone and structure but the relative contributions of cGMP-dependent versus cGMP-independent mechanisms remain uncertain. We studied the response to vascular injury in male (M) and female (F) mice with targeted deletion of exon 6 of the sGCα1 subunit (sGCα1-/-), resulting in a non-functional heterodimer. Methods: We measured aortic cGMP levels and mRNA transcripts encoding sGC α1, α2, and β1 subunits in wild type (WT) and sGCa1-/- mice. To study the response to vascular injury, BrdU-incorporation and neointima formation (maximum intima to media (I/M) ratio) were determined 5 and 28 days after carotid artery ligation, respectively. Results: Aortic cGMP levels were 4-fold higher in F than in M mice in both genotypes, and, within each gender, 4-fold higher in WT than in sGCa1-/-. In contrast, sGCα1, sGCα2, and sGCβ1 mRNA expression did not differ between groups. 3H-thymidine incorporation in cultured sGCa1-/- smooth muscle cells (SMC) was 27%±12% lower than in WT SMC and BrdU-incorporation in carotid arteries 5 days after ligation was significantly less in sGCa1-/- M than in WT M. Neointima area and I/M 28 days after ligation were 65% and 62% lower in sGCa1-/- M than in WT M mice (p<0,05 for both) but were not different in F mice. Conclusion: Functional deletion of sGCa1 resulted in reduced cGMP levels in male sGCa1-/- mice and a gender-specific effect on the adaptive response to vascular injury

Long-term and large-scale multispecies dataset tracking population changes of common European breeding birds

Around fifteen thousand fieldworkers annually count breeding birds using standardized protocols in 28 European countries. The observations are collected by using country-specific and standardized protocols, validated, summarized and finally used for the production of continent-wide annual and long-term indices of population size changes of 170 species. Here, we present the database and provide a detailed summary of the methodology used for fieldwork and calculation of the relative population size change estimates. We also provide a brief overview of how the data are used in research, conservation and policy. We believe this unique database, based on decades of bird monitoring alongside the comprehensive summary of its methodology, will facilitate and encourage further use of the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme results.publishedVersio

Sampling framework for the common breeding bird survey in Flanders, Belgium

&lt;p&gt;The sampling framework is based on 1 x 1 km UTM squares in Flanders. We determined the landscape composition of every square at the start of the survey in 2007. The Biological Valuation Map (Vriens et al., 2011) served as the basis for the landscape composition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The file contains the following fields&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;`UTM`: the UTM code of the square&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Stratum`: the stratum assigned to the square&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Oppervlakte`: the surface area of the square (in km²) contained within Flanders.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Landbouw`: the fraction of aggriculture land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Urbaan`: the fraction of urban land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Bos`: the fraction of forest land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Suburbaan`: the fraction of suburban land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`HeideDuin`: the fraction of heather or dunes land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`MoerasWater`: the fraction of heather or dunes land use within `Oppervlakte`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;We distinguish six different strata based on the rules below.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Landbouw`: at least 80% `Landbouw`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Urbaan`: at least 80% `Urbaan`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Bos`: at least 80% `Bos`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Suburbaan`: at least 80% `Suburbaan`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Heide en duin`: at least 20% `HeideDuin`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;`Moeras en water`: at least 20% `MoerasWater`.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;References&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vriens L., Bosch H., De Knijf G., De Saeger S., Guelinckx R., Oosterlynck P., Van Hove M. &amp; Paelinckx D. (2011). De biologische waarderingskaart: biotopen en hun verspreiding in vlaanderen en het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest. Mededelingen van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Nr. INBO.M.2011.1. Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, België.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt

Can we predict the distribution of heathland butterflies with heathland bird data ?

National or regional conservation strategies are usually based on available species distribution maps. However, very few taxonomic groups achieve a full coverage of the focal region. Distribution data of well-mapped taxonomic groups could help predict the distribution of less well-mapped groups and thus fill gaps in distribution maps. Here, we predict the distribution of five heathland butterflies in Flanders (north Belgium) using typical heathland bird distribution data as predictor variables. We compare predictions with those using only biotope or a combination of both biotope and bird data as variables. In addition, we test the transferability of ‘bird’, biotope and combined models to the Netherlands, an ecologically similar region. Transferability was tested in three separate sandy regions in the Netherlands at different distances from the region in which the models were built. For each of the five heathland butterflies, we applied logistic regressions on ten random model sets and tested the models on ten random evaluation sets within Flanders. We used the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) plots to estimate model accuracy. Overall, bird models performed significantly better than biotope models but were not significantly different from the combined models in Flanders. In the Netherlands, the transferred biotope and the combined models performed better than the transferred ‘bird models’. We conclude that on a local scale, birds can, to some extent, serve as proxies for biotope quality, but that biotope models are more robust when transferred to another region

Gender-specific modulation of baseline vascular function and the response to arterial injury by soluble guanylate cyclase

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