Armoring on Puget Sound: Progress towards a better baseline

The construction of seawalls and similar structures along Puget Sound’s shoreline impacts geomorphic processes and ecological functions. The extent of shoreline armor has been adopted by the Puget Sound Partnership as a vital sign indicator, is used by local, state, and federal groups as a measure of ecosystem function, and has been employed as a tool for prioritizing restoration actions. As a result, we recognized the importance of accurately characterizing the extent, character, and distribution of shoreline armor. The objectives of our project were to review existing data sources, assess methodologies, identify gaps in data quality or coverage, and to recommend steps for developing a reliable baseline for future monitoring and analyses. Previous efforts have suggested that approximately 27% of the region’s 4000 km of shoreline is armored, but our ability to answer important questions has been hampered by the quality and consistency of datasets, poorly documented methodologies, and the ability to relate armor with other shoreline information. In particular, we had difficulty associating armor with its geomorphic setting – bluffs and spits, small estuaries, river deltas, and artificial human landscapes – which greatly influences ecological impacts, management decisions, and restoration strategies. We noted the need for clear definitions and protocols for mapping and characterizing shoreline structures. Some attributes, such as condition and waterward extent, are ecologically important but difficult to measure. Environmentally friendlier soft or hybrid structures are particularly hard to identify and categorize. Our preliminary results provide a clearer picture of where armoring occurs and where there remain significant problems with data reliability and geographic consistency. We have begun a collaborative process to develop a high quality regional dataset of shoreline armor that will provide better understanding of the impacts of existing armor, a reliable baseline for assessing future change, and a tool to support prioritization for protection and restoration

From Marxan to management: ocean zoning with stakeholders for Tun Mustapha Park in Sabah, Malaysia

Tun Mustapha Park, in Sabah, Malaysia, was gazetted in May 2016 and is the first multiple-use park in Malaysia where conservation, sustainable resource use and development co-occur within one management framework. We applied a systematic conservation planning tool, Marxan with Zones, and stakeholder consultation to design and revise the draft zoning plan. This process was facilitated by Sabah Parks, a government agency, and WWF-Malaysia, under the guidance of the Tun Mustapha Park steering committee and with support from the University of Queensland. Four conservation and fishing zones, including no-take areas, were developed, each with representation and replication targets for key marine habitats, and a range of socio-economic and community objectives. Here we report on how decision-support tools informed the reserve design process in three planning stages: prioritization, government review, and community consultation. Using marine habitat and species representation as a reporting metric, we describe how the zoning plan changed at each stage of the design process. We found that the changes made to the zoning plan by the government and stakeholders resulted in plans that compromised the achievement of conservation targets because no-take areas were moved away from villages and the coastline, where unique habitats are located. The design process highlights a number of lessons learned for future conservation zoning, which we believe will be useful as many other places embark on similar zoning processes on land and in the sea

Understanding person acquisition using an interactive activation and competition network

Face perception is one of the most developed visual skills that humans display, and recent work has attempted to examine the mechanisms involved in face perception through noting how neural networks achieve the same performance. The purpose of the present paper is to extend this approach to look not just at human face recognition, but also at human face acquisition. Experiment 1 presents empirical data to describe the acquisition over time of appropriate representations for newly encountered faces. These results are compared with those of Simulation 1, in which a modified IAC network capable of modelling the acquisition process is generated. Experiment 2 and Simulation 2 explore the mechanisms of learning further, and it is demonstrated that the acquisition of a set of associated new facts is easier than the acquisition of individual facts in isolation of one another. This is explained in terms of the advantage gained from additional inputs and mutual reinforcement of developing links within an interactive neural network system. <br/

The empirical replicability of task-based fMRI as a function of sample size

Replicating results (i.e. obtaining consistent results using a new independent dataset) is an essential part of good science. As replicability has consequences for theories derived from empirical studies, it is of utmost importance to better understand the underlying mechanisms influencing it. A popular tool for non-invasive neuroimaging studies is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While the effect of underpowered studies is well documented, the empirical assessment of the interplay between sample size and replicability of results for task-based fMRI studies remains limited. In this work, we extend existing work on this assessment in two ways. Firstly, we use a large database of 1400 subjects performing four types of tasks from the IMAGEN project to subsample a series of independent samples of increasing size. Secondly, replicability is evaluated using a multi-dimensional framework consisting of 3 different measures: (un)conditional test-retest reliability, coherence and stability. We demonstrate not only a positive effect of sample size, but also a trade-off between spatial resolution and replicability. When replicability is assessed voxelwise or when observing small areas of activation, a larger sample size than typically used in fMRI is required to replicate results. On the other hand, when focussing on clusters of voxels, we observe a higher replicability. In addition, we observe variability in the size of clusters of activation between experimental paradigms or contrasts of parameter estimates within these

Predicting change trajectories of neuroticism from baseline brain structure using whole brain analyses and latent growth curve models in adolescents

International audienceAbstract Adolescence is a vulnerable time for personality development. Especially neuroticism with its link to the development of psychopathology is of interest concerning influential factors. The present study exploratorily investigates neuroanatomical signatures for developmental trajectories of neuroticism based on a voxel-wise whole-brain structural equation modelling framework. In 1,814 healthy adolescents of the IMAGEN sample, the NEO-FFI was acquired at three measurement occasions across five years. Based on a partial measurement invariance second-order latent growth curve model we conducted whole-brain analyses on structural MRI data at age 14 years, predicting change in neuroticism over time. We observed that a reduced volume in the pituitary gland was associated with the slope of neuroticism over time. However, no relations with prefrontal areas emerged. Both findings are discussed against the background of possible genetic and social influences that may account for this result

Peer victimization and its impact on adolescent brain development and psychopathology

Chronic peer victimization has long-term impacts on mental health; however, the biological mediators of this adverse relationship are unknown. We sought to determine whether adolescent brain development is involved in mediating the effect of peer victimization on psychopathology. We included participants (n = 682) from the longitudinal IMAGEN study with both peer victimization and neuroimaging data. Latent profile analysis identified groups of adolescents with different experiential patterns of victimization. We then associated the victimization trajectories and brain volume changes with depression, generalized anxiety, and hyperactivity symptoms at age 19. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed time-by victimization interactions on left putamen volume (F = 4.38, p = 0.037). Changes in left putamen volume were negatively associated with generalized anxiety (t = −2.32, p = 0.020). Notably, peer victimization was indirectly associated with generalized anxiety via decreases in putamen volume (95% CI = 0.004–0.109). This was also true for the left caudate (95% CI = 0.002–0.099). These data suggest that the experience of chronic peer victimization during adolescence might induce psychopathology-relevant deviations from normative brain development. Early peer victimization interventions could prevent such pathological changes