Trade-Offs Between Carbon Stocks and Timber Recovery in Tropical Forests are Mediated by Logging Intensity

Forest degradation accounts for ~70% of total carbon losses from tropical forests. Substantial emissions are from selective logging, a land-use activity that decreases forest carbon density. To maintain carbon values in selectively logged forests, climate change mitigation policies and government agencies promote the adoption of reduced-impact logging (RIL) practices. However, whether RIL will maintain both carbon and timber values in managed tropical forests over time remains uncertain. In this study, we quantify the recovery of timber stocks and aboveground carbon at an experimental site where forests were subjected to different intensities of RIL (4, 8, and 16 trees/ha). Our census data span 20 years postlogging and 17 years after the liberation of future crop trees from competition in a tropical forest on the Guiana Shield, a globally important forest carbon reservoir. We model recovery of timber and carbon with a breakpoint regression that allowed us to capture elevated tree mortality immediately after logging. Recovery rates of timber and carbon were governed by the presence of residual trees (i.e., trees that persisted through the first harvest). The liberation treatment stimulated faster recovery of timber albeit at a carbon cost. Model results suggest a threshold logging intensity beyond which forests managed for timber and carbon derive few benefits from RIL, with recruitment and residual growth not sufficient to offset losses. Inclusion of the breakpoint at which carbon and timber gains outpaced postlogging mortality led to high predictive accuracy, including out-of-sample R2 values \u3e90%, and enabled inference on demographic changes postlogging. Our modeling framework is broadly applicable to studies that aim to quantify impacts of logging on forest recovery. Overall, we demonstrate that initial mortality drives variation in recovery rates, that the second harvest depends on old growth wood, and that timber intensification lowers carbon stocks

Cultural Norms Create a Preference for Traditional Birth Attendants and Hinder Health Facility-based Childbirth in Indonesia and Ethiopia: A Qualitative Inter-country Study

Cultural barriers to health facility-based childbirth are a common experience worldwide despite wide variations in context. Close-to-community (CTC) maternal health providers play an important role in bridging communities and health systems and their role in maternal health are particularly key. This study explored the views of CTC maternal health providers and other community members on the cultural barriers to health facility-based childbirth in two districts in Indonesia and six districts of Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia. Employing a qualitative approach, we conducted 110 semi-structured interviews (SSIs) and 7 focus group discussions (FGDs) in Indonesia; 44 SSIs and 14 FGDs in Ethiopia. Participants in both contexts included mothers, husbands, male community members, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), village heads, local administrators, district health officials, maternal health-care workers and CTC maternal health providers. Despite significant geographical and cultural differences, the main findings were similar in the two countries’ study areas. These included: strong cultural-religious beliefs; culture of shyness and privacy around pregnancy; highly gendered decision-making related to pregnancy and childbirth; and preference for the TBA care. TBAs’ close proximity at the time of childbirth and their adherence to traditional practices were important factors influencing preference for TBAs. These cultural barriers interplay with geographical, transportation and financial factors hindering pregnant women from giving birth at a health facility. Intensifying health promotion on health facility-based childbirth, increasing collaboration among CTC maternal health workers e.g. midwives, health extension workers and TBAs, and enhancing responsiveness to traditional practices may overcome cultural barriers to institutional childbirth in Indonesia and Ethiopia

Molecular prediction of disease risk and severity in a large Dutch Crohn's disease cohort

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis have a complex genetic background. We assessed the risk for both the development and severity of the disease by combining information from genetic variants associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). METHODS: We studied 2804 patients (1684 with Crohn's disease and 1120 with ulcerative colitis) and 1350 controls from seven university hospitals. Details of the phenotype were available for 1600 patients with Crohn's disease and for 800 with ulcerative colitis. Genetic association for disease susceptibility was tested for the nucleotide-binding and oligomerisation domain 2 gene (NOD2), the IBD5 locus, the Drosophila discs large homologue 5 and autophagy-related 16-like 1 genes (DLG5 and ATG16L1) and the interleukin 23 receptor gene (IL23R). Interaction analysis was performed for Crohn's disease using the most associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) for each locus. Odds ratios were calculated in an ordinal regression analysis with the number of risk alleles as an independent variable to analyse disease development and severity. RESULTS: Association with Crohn's disease was confirmed for NOD2, IBD5, DLG5, ATG16L1 and IL23R. Patients with Crohn's disease carry more risk alleles than controls (p = 3.85 x 10(-22)). Individuals carrying an increasing number of risk alleles have an increasing risk for Crohn's disease, consistent with an independent effects multiplicative model (trend analysis p = 4.25 x 10(-23)). Patients with Crohn's disease with a more severe disease course, operations or an age of onset below 40 years have more risk alleles compared to non-stricturing, non-penetrating behaviour (p = 0.0008), no operations (p = 0.02) or age of onset above 40 years (p = 0.028). CONCLUSION: Crohn's disease is a multigenic disorder. An increase in the number of risk alleles is associated with an increased risk for the development of Crohn's disease and with a more severe disease course. Combining information from the known common risk polymorphisms may enable clinicians to predict the course of Crohn's disease

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict thatmost of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century

Short-term effects of salpingectomy during laparoscopic hysterectomy on ovarian reserve: a pilot randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To examine the short-term effects of salpingectomy during laparoscopic hysterectomy on ovarian reserve when ovarian preservation is planned in view of determining the feasibility of conducting the study on a larger scale. DESIGN: Pilot randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Tertiary care, academic medical center. PATIENT(S): Thirty premenopausal women aged 18 to 45 years undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation for benign indications from April 2012 to September 2012. INTERVENTION(S): Bilateral salpingectomy (n = 15) versus no salpingectomy (n = 15) at the time of laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Antimüllerian hormone (AMH) measured preoperatively, at 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively, and at 3 months postoperatively, with operative time and estimated blood loss abstracted from the medical records. RESULT(S): The mean AMH levels were not statistically significantly different at baseline (2.26 vs. 2.25 ng/ml), 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively (1.03 vs. 1.25 ng/ml), or 3 months postoperatively (1.86 vs. 1.82 ng/ml) among women with salpingectomy versus no salpingectomy, respectively. There was also no statistically significant temporal change in the mean AMH level from baseline to 3 months postoperatively (-0.07 vs. -0.08 ng/ml) between the two groups. No difference in operative time (116 vs. 115 minutes) or estimated blood loss (70 vs. 91 mL) was observed. CONCLUSION(S): Salpingectomy at the time of laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation is a safe procedure that does not appear to have any short-term deleterious effects on ovarian reserve, as measured by AMH level. Conducting a trial of this nature that is adequately powered with long-term follow-up evaluation would be feasible and is required to definitively confirm these results

Modelling the distribution of Amazonian tree species in response to long-term climate change during the mid-late Holocene

Aim To (a) assess the environmental suitability for rainforest tree species of Moraceae and Urticaceae across Amazonia during the Mid‐Late Holocene and (b) determine the extent to which their distributions increased in response to long‐term climate change over this period. Location Amazonia. Taxon Tree species of Moraceae and Urticaceae. Methods We used MaxEnt and inverse distance weighting interpolation to produce environmental suitability and relative abundance models at 0.5‐degree resolution for tree species of Moraceae and Urticaceae, based on natural history collections and a large plot dataset. To test the response of the Amazon rainforest to long‐term climate change, we quantified the increase in environmental suitability and modelled species richness for both families since the Mid‐Holocene (past 6,000 years). To test the correlation between the relative abundance of these species in modern vegetation versus modern pollen assemblages, we analysed the surface pollen spectra from 46 previously published paleoecological sites. Results We found that the mean environmental suitability in Amazonia for species of Moraceae and Urticaceae showed a slight increase (6.5%) over the past 6,000 years, although southern ecotonal Amazonia and the Guiana Shield showed much higher increases (up to 68%). The accompanied modelled mean species richness increased by as much as 120% throughout Amazonia. The mean relative abundance of Moraceae and Urticaceae correlated significantly with the modern pollen assemblages for these families. Main Conclusions Increasing precipitation between the Mid‐ and Late Holocene expanded suitable environmental conditions for Amazonian humid rainforest tree species of Moraceae and Urticaceae, leading to rainforest expansion in ecotonal areas of Amazonia, consistent with previously published fossil pollen data

First‐Ever Complete List of Amazonian Timber Tree Species

We compiled and presented a dataset (named “MADERA”) for all timber species reported in the Amazon region from all nine South American Amazonian countries. This work was based on official information from every country and on two substantial scientific references. Our final Amazonian timber species dataset contains 1,112 unique species records, which belong to 337 genera and 72 families from the lowland Amazonian rainforest, with associated information related to population, conservation (IUCN Red list categories), and trade status (ITTO/CITES) of each species. The authors of this research expect that the information provided will be useful to strengthen sustainable forest management and scientific research in the Amazonian region