International Whaling Commission–Southern Ocean GLOBEC/CCAMLR collaboration. Scientific Committee document SC/55/E10, International Whaling Commission, May-June 2003, Berlin, Germany

Collaboration between the International Whaling Commission, and national programs conducting multidisciplinary ecosystem research in the Antarctic under Southern Ocean Global Ecosystem Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) program and the Commission for the Convention on Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) occurred during five research cruises between April 2002 and April 2003. Visual survey, passive acoustic and tissue biopsy work was conducted by IWC observers and collaborating passive acoustics scientists. Reported here are the preliminary results from these cruises: mapped distribution patterns of cetaceans from visual survey sighting data; individual photo identification records; species identification and positions of animals recorded on sonobuoys; and descriptions of environmental conditions observed or recorded as part of the multidisciplinary effort

An algorithm to reduce the occupational space in gender segregation studies

This paper presents an algorithm based on the bootstrap to select an admissible aggregation level, that is, the minimum number of occupational categories that yield a gender segregation value not significantly smaller than that obtained from the large number of occupational categories usually available in any data set. The approach is illustrated using labour force survey data for Spain for the comparison of gender segregation in 1977 and 1992, as well as 1994 and 2000. To measure gender segregation, an additively decomposable segregation index based on the entropy concept is used. Despite a substantial simplification in the size of the occupation space, the decrease in the segregation index is very small and not significant, regardless of the year. Consequently, intertemporal changes in gender segregation can be studied using a greatly reduced classification of occupations that permits an easier interpretation of results.Publicad

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The ‘Biomes of Australian Soil Environments’ (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Background: Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The 'Biomes of Australian Soil Environments' (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function. Findings: BASE currently provides amplicon sequences and associated contextual data for over 900 sites encompassing all Australian states and territories, a wide variety of bioregions, vegetation and land-use types. Amplicons target bacteria, archaea and general and fungal-specific eukaryotes. The growing database will soon include metagenomics data. Data are provided in both raw sequence (FASTQ) and analysed OTU table formats and are accessed via the project's data portal, which provides a user-friendly search tool to quickly identify samples of interest. Processed data can be visually interrogated and intersected with other Australian diversity and environmental data using tools developed by the 'Atlas of Living Australia'. Conclusions: Developed within an open data framework, the BASE project is the first Australian soil microbial diversity database. The database will grow and link to other global efforts to explore microbial, plant, animal, and marine biodiversity. Its design and open access nature ensures that BASE will evolve as a valuable tool for documenting an often overlooked component of biodiversity and the many microbe-driven processes that are essential to sustain soil function and ecosystem services

Incorporating non-equilibrium dynamics into demographic history inferences of a migratory marine species

ELC was supported while writing this paper by a EU Horizon 2020 Marie Slodowska Curie Fellowship, project BEHAVIOUR-CONNECT, by a Newton Fellowship from the Royal Society of London and Bayesian statistical training was supported by National Science Foundation (award DEB- 1145200). Laboratory analyses conducted by ELC were funded by a small grant from the British Ecological Society 5076 / 6118 and Bayesian analysis was supported by training from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-1145200. OEG was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) funded by the Scottish Founding Council (grant reference HR09011). Genetic data from the South African right whale samples were generated by MB and PJP with the support of UC Berkeley, University of Stockholm and University of Groningen. Computational Biology analyses were supported by the University of St Andrews Bioinformatics Unit which is funded by a Wellcome Trust ISSF award.Understanding how dispersal and gene flow link geographically separated populations over evolutionary history is challenging, particularly in migratory marine species. In southern right whales (SRWs, Eubalaena australis), patterns of genetic diversity are likely influenced by the glacial climate cycle and recent history of whaling. Here we use a dataset of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences (n=1,327) and nuclear markers (17 microsatellite loci, n=222) from major wintering grounds to investigate circumpolar population structure, historical demography, and effective population size. Analyses of nuclear genetic variation identify two population clusters that correspond to the South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific ocean basins that have similar effective breeder estimates. In contrast, all wintering grounds show significant differentiation for mtDNA, but no sex-biased dispersal was detected using the microsatellite genotypes. An approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) approach with microsatellite markers compared scenarios with gene flow through time, or isolation and secondary contact between ocean basins, while modeling declines in abundance linked to whaling. Secondary-contact scenarios yield the highest posterior probabilities, implying that populations in different ocean basins were largely isolated and came into secondary contact within the last 25,000 years, but the role of whaling in changes in genetic diversity and gene flow over recent generations could not be resolved. We hypothesis that these findings are driven by factors that promote isolation, such as female philopatry, and factors that could promote dispersal, such oceanographic changes. These findings highlight the application of ABC approaches to infer connectivity in mobile species with complex population histories and currently low levels of differentiation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) return to a former wintering calving ground: Fowlers Bay, South Australia

© 2019 Society for Marine Mammalogy Southern right whales (SRW), Eubalaena australis, have reoccupied historically important winter habitat ranges (calving grounds) in recent years along the southern Australian coast. Here we present findings of increased abundance of SRW at Fowlers Bay, South Australia, a previous shore-based whaling station. This study investigates: SRW inter- and intraseasonal trends in relative abundance; changes to the relative proportion of the southwestern subpopulation represented by SRW at Fowlers Bay; distribution; and occupancy. Sighting and photo identification data were collected during annual aerial (1993–2016) and vessel surveys (2014–2016). The total number of female and calf pairs was 3 during 1993–2003 and 63 during 2004–2014. Despite high variability in annual relative abundance, the rate of mean increase from 1993 to 2016 (29.0%/yr, 95% CI = 0, 54.2) exceeded the maximum biological rate for the species (6%–7%/yr). Peak relative abundance was recorded in July and August. SRW at Fowlers Bay represent an increasing proportion of the southwestern subpopulation (range = 0.9%–7.4%). Mean occupancy was 23 d (range = 1–75) for female and calf pairs and 2 d (range = 1–15) for unaccompanied adults. Reduced sightings in 2015 and 2016 demonstrate plasticity in SRW abundance at Fowlers Bay. Research into the movement and connectivity of SRW is needed to understand drivers of habitat dispersal in Australia

Sustainable development must account for pandemic risk

The United Nations (UN) launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to address an ongoing crisis: human pressure leading to unprecedented environmental degradation, climatic change, social inequality, and other negative planet-wide consequences. This crisis stems from a dramatic increase in human appropriation of natural resources to keep pace with rapid population growth, dietary shifts toward higher consumption of animal products, and higher demand for energy (1, 2). There is an increased recognition that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are linked to one another (3, 4), and priorities such as food production, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation cannot be considered in isolation (5⇓⇓–8). Hence, understanding those dynamics is central to achieving the vision of the UN 2030 Agenda

Towards global data products of essential biodiversity variables on species traits

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) allow observation and reporting of global biodiversity change, but a detailed framework for the empirical derivation of specific EBVs has yet to be developed. Here, we re-examine and refine the previous candidate set of species traits EBVs and show how traits related to phenology, morphology, reproduction, physiology and movement can contribute to EBV operationalization. The selected EBVs express intra-specific trait variation and allow monitoring of how organisms respond to global change. We evaluate the societal relevance of species traits EBVs for policy targets and demonstrate how open, interoperable and machine-readable trait data enable the building of EBV data products. We outline collection methods, meta(data) standardization, reproducible workflows, semantic tools and licence requirements for producing species traits EBVs. An operationalization is critical for assessing progress towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable development goals and has wide implications for data-intensive science in ecology, biogeography, conservation and Earth observation