Classification of Grassland Successional Stages Using Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery

Plant communities differ in their species composition, and, thus, also in their functional trait composition, at different stages in the succession from arable fields to grazed grassland. We examine whether aerial hyperspectral (414–2501 nm) remote sensing can be used to discriminate between grazed vegetation belonging to different grassland successional stages. Vascular plant species were recorded in 104.1 m2 plots on the island of Öland (Sweden) and the functional properties of the plant species recorded in the plots were characterized in terms of the ground-cover of grasses, specific leaf area and Ellenberg indicator values. Plots were assigned to three different grassland age-classes, representing 5–15, 16–50 and >50 years of grazing management. Partial least squares discriminant analysis models were used to compare classifications based on aerial hyperspectral data with the age-class classification. The remote sensing data successfully classified the plots into age-classes: the overall classification accuracy was higher for a model based on a pre-selected set of wavebands (85%, Kappa statistic value = 0.77) than one using the full set of wavebands (77%, Kappa statistic value = 0.65). Our results show that nutrient availability and grass cover differences between grassland age-classes are detectable by spectral imaging. These techniques may potentially be used for mapping the spatial distribution of grassland habitats at different successional stages

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Author correction : a global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

Correction to: Scientific Data https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7, published online 08 January 202

Particle density fluctuations

Event-by-event fluctuations in the multiplicities of charged particles and photons at SPS energies are discussed. Fluctuations are studied by controlling the centrality of the reaction and rapidity acceptance of the detectors. Results are also presented on the event-by-event study of correlations between the multiplicity of charged particles and photons to search for DCC-like signals.Comment: Talk presented at Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, Franc

Annelid phylogeny and the status of Sipuncula and Echiura

BACKGROUND: Annelida comprises an ancient and ecologically important animal phylum with over 16,500 described species and members are the dominant macrofauna of the deep sea. Traditionally, two major groups are distinguished: Clitellata (including earthworms, leeches) and "Polychaeta" (mostly marine worms). Recent analyses of molecular data suggest that Annelida may include other taxa once considered separate phyla (i.e., Echiura, and Sipuncula) and that Clitellata are derived annelids, thus rendering "Polychaeta" paraphyletic; however, this contradicts classification schemes of annelids developed from recent analyses of morphological characters. Given that deep-level evolutionary relationships of Annelida are poorly understood, we have analyzed comprehensive datasets based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and have applied rigorous testing of alternative hypotheses so that we can move towards the robust reconstruction of annelid history needed to interpret animal body plan evolution. RESULTS: Sipuncula, Echiura, Siboglinidae, and Clitellata are all nested within polychaete annelids according to phylogenetic analyses of three nuclear genes (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, EF1α; 4552 nucleotide positions analyzed) for 81 taxa, and 11 nuclear and mitochondrial genes for 10 taxa (additional: 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, ATP8, COX1-3, CYTB, NAD6; 11,454 nucleotide positions analyzed). For the first time, these findings are substantiated using approximately unbiased tests and non-scaled bootstrap probability tests that compare alternative hypotheses. For echiurans, the polychaete group Capitellidae is corroborated as the sister taxon; while the exact placement of Sipuncula within Annelida is still uncertain, our analyses suggest an affiliation with terebellimorphs. Siboglinids are in a clade with other sabellimorphs, and clitellates fall within a polychaete clade with aeolosomatids as their possible sister group. None of our analyses support the major polychaete clades reflected in the current classification scheme of annelids, and hypothesis testing significantly rejects monophyly of Scolecida, Palpata, Canalipalpata, and Aciculata. CONCLUSION: Using multiple genes and explicit hypothesis testing, we show that Echiura, Siboglinidae, and Clitellata are derived annelids with polychaete sister taxa, and that Sipuncula should be included within annelids. The traditional composition of Annelida greatly underestimates the morphological diversity of this group, and inclusion of Sipuncula and Echiura implies that patterns of segmentation within annelids have been evolutionarily labile. Relationships within Annelida based on our analyses of multiple genes challenge the current classification scheme, and some alternative hypotheses are provided

Azimuthal Anisotropy of Photon and Charged Particle Emission in Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 A GeV/c

The azimuthal distributions of photons and charged particles with respect to the event plane are investigated as a function of centrality in Pb + Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c in the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. The anisotropy of the azimuthal distributions is characterized using a Fourier analysis. For both the photon and charged particle distributions the first two Fourier coefficients are observed to decrease with increasing centrality. The observed anisotropies of the photon distributions compare well with the expectations from the charged particle measurements for all centralities.Comment: 8 pages and 6 figures. The manuscript has undergone a major revision. The unwanted correlations were enhanced in the random subdivision method used in the earlier version. The present version uses the more established method of division into subevents separated in rapidity to minimise short range correlations. The observed results for charged particles are in agreement with results from the other experiments. The observed anisotropy in photons is explained using flow results of pions and the correlations arising due to the decay of the neutral pion

Interferometry of Direct Photons in Central 280Pb+208Pb Collisions at 158A GeV

Two-particle correlations of direct photons were measured in central 208Pb+208Pb collisions at 158 AGeV. The invariant interferometric radii were extracted for 100<K_T<300 MeV/c and compared to radii extracted from charged pion correlations. The yield of soft direct photons, K_T<300 MeV/c, was extracted from the correlation strength and compared to theoretical calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Suppression of High-p_T Neutral Pion Production in Central Pb+Pb Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV Relative to p+C and p+Pb Collisions

Neutral pion transverse momentum spectra were measured in p+C and p+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.4 GeV at mid-rapidity 2.3 < eta_lab < 3.0 over the range 0.7< p_T < 3.5 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to pi0 spectra measured in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV in the same experiment. For a wide range of Pb+Pb centralities (N_part < 300) the yield of pi0's with p_T > 2 GeV/c is larger than or consistent with the p+C or p+Pb yields scaled with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions (N_coll), while for central Pb+Pb collisions with N_part > 350 the pi0 yield is suppressed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Search for DCC in 158A GeV Pb+Pb Collisions

A detailed analysis of the phase space distributions of charged particles and photons have been carried out using two independent methods. The results indicate the presence of nonstatistical fluctuations in localized regions of phase space.Comment: Talk at the PANIC99 Conference, June 9-16, 199