The impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on a network of 276 international organizations

Global sustainability governance is marked by a highly fragmented system of distinct clusters of international organizations, along with states and other actors. Enhancing inter-organizational coordination and cooperation is thus often recognized as an important reform challenge in global sustainability governance. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, agreed by the United Nations in 2015, thus explicitly aim at advancing policy coherence and institutional integration among the myriad international institutions. Yet, have these goals been effective in this regard? We assess here the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the network structure of 276 international organizations in the period 2012–2019, that is, four years before and four years after the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals. The network structure was approximated by analyzing data from the websites of these 276 international organizations that were joined by more than 1.5 million hyperlinks, which we collected using a custom-made web crawler. Our findings are contrary to what is widely expected from the Sustainable Development Goals: we find that fragmentation has in fact increased after the Sustainable Development Goals came into effect. In addition, silos are increasing around the 17 SDGs as well as around the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development

Nutritional status and prey energy density govern reproductive success in a small cetacean

A variety of mammals suppress reproduction when they experience poor physical condition or environmental harshness. In many marine mammal species, reproductive impairment has been correlated to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the most frequently measured chemical pollutants, while the relative importance of other factors remains understudied. We investigate whether reproductively active females abandon investment in their foetus when conditions are poor, exemplified using an extensively studied cetacean species; the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Data on disease, fat and muscle mass and diet obtained from necropsies in The Netherlands were used as proxies of health and nutritional status and related to pregnancy and foetal growth. This was combined with published life history parameters for 16 other areas to correlate to parameters reflecting environmental condition: mean energy density of prey constituting diets (MEDD), cumulative human impact and PCB contamination. Maternal nutritional status had significant effects on foetal size and females in poor health had lower probabilities of being pregnant and generally did not sustain pregnancy throughout gestation. Pregnancy rates across the Northern Hemisphere were best explained by MEDD. We demonstrate the importance of having undisturbed access to prey with high energy densities in determining reproductive success and ultimately population size for small cetaceans

UtrechtUniversity/animal-sounds: Pre-release v0.0.1-alpha

Pre-release for publication purposes.</p

UtrechtUniversity/iBridges-SteppingStone: Test publication

Transferring data from Yoda to a destination server through a stepping stone server in the middle

Seed Dispersal as A Search Strategy: Dynamic and Fragmented Landscapes Select for Multi-Scale Seed Dispersal

Background – Plant dispersal is a critical factor driving ecological responses to global changes. Knowledge on the mechanisms of dispersal is rapidly advancing, but selective pressures responsible for the evolution of dispersal strategies remain elusive. Recent advances in animal movement ecology identied general strategies that may optimize eciency in animal searches for food or habitat. We here explore the potential for evolution of similar general movement strategies for plants. Methods – We propose that seed dispersal in plants can be viewed as a strategic search for suitable habitat, where the probability of nding such locations has been optimized through evolution of appropriate dispersal kernels. Using model simulations, we demonstrate how dispersal strategies can optimize key dispersal trade-offs between nding habitat, avoiding kin competition, and colonizing new patches. These trade-offs depend strongly on the landscape, resulting in a tight link between optimal dispersal strategy and spatiotemporal habitat distribution. Results – Our ndings reveal that multi-scale seed dispersal strategies that combine short-distance and long-distance dispersal, including Lévy-like dispersal, are optimal across a wide range of dynamic and patchy landscapes. Static patchy landscapes select for short-distance dominated dispersal strategies, while uniform and highly unpredictable landscapes both select for long-distance dominated dispersal strategies. Conclusions – By viewing plant seed dispersal as a strategic search for suitable habitat, we provide a reference framework for the analysis of plant dispersal data. This reference framework helps identify plant species’ dispersal strategies, the evolutionary forces determining these strategies and their ecological consequences, such as a potential mismatch between plant dispersal strategy and altered spatiotemporal habitat dynamics due to land use change. Our perspective opens up directions for future studies, including exploration of composite search behaviour and ‘informed searches’ in plant species with directed dispersal.This research was funded by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientic Research (NWO-ALW, Vidi grant to MBS).Peer reviewe

Seed dispersal as a search strategy: dynamic and fragmented landscapes select for multi-scale movement strategies in plants

BACKGROUND: Plant dispersal is a critical factor driving ecological responses to global changes. Knowledge on the mechanisms of dispersal is rapidly advancing, but selective pressures responsible for the evolution of dispersal strategies remain elusive. Recent advances in animal movement ecology identified general strategies that may optimize efficiency in animal searches for food or habitat. Here we explore the potential for evolution of similar general movement strategies for plants. METHODS: We propose that seed dispersal in plants can be viewed as a strategic search for suitable habitat, where the probability of finding such locations has been optimized through evolution of appropriate dispersal kernels. Using model simulations, we demonstrate how dispersal strategies can optimize key dispersal trade-offs between finding habitat, avoiding kin competition, and colonizing new patches. These trade-offs depend strongly on the landscape, resulting in a tight link between optimal dispersal strategy and spatiotemporal habitat distribution. RESULTS: Our findings reveal that multi-scale seed dispersal strategies that combine a broad range of dispersal scales, including Lévy-like dispersal, are optimal across a wide range of dynamic and patchy landscapes. At the extremes, static and patchy landscapes select for dispersal strategies dominated by short distances, while uniform and highly unpredictable landscapes both select for dispersal strategies dominated by long distances. CONCLUSIONS: By viewing plant seed dispersal as a strategic search for suitable habitat, we provide a reference framework for the analysis of plant dispersal data. Consideration of the entire dispersal kernel, including distances across the full range of scales, is key. This reference framework helps identify plant species' dispersal strategies, the evolutionary forces determining these strategies and their ecological consequences, such as a potential mismatch between plant dispersal strategy and altered spatiotemporal habitat dynamics due to land use change. Our perspective opens up directions for future studies, including exploration of composite search behaviour and 'informed searches' in plant species with directed dispersal

Seed Dispersal as a Search Strategy: Dynamic and Fragmented Landscapes Select for Multi-scale Movement Strategies in Plants

Background – Plant dispersal is a critical factor driving ecological responses to global changes. Knowledge on the mechanisms of dispersal is rapidly advancing, but selective pressures responsible for the evolution of dispersal strategies remain elusive. Recent advances in animal movement ecology identified general strategies that may optimize efficiency in animal searches for food or habitat. Here we explore the potential for evolution of similar general movement strategies for plants. Methods – We propose that seed dispersal in plants can be viewed as a strategic search for suitable habitat, where the probability of finding such locations has been optimized through evolution of appropriate dispersal kernels. Using model simulations, we demonstrate how dispersal strategies can optimize key dispersal trade-offs between finding habitat, avoiding kin competition, and colonizing new patches. These trade-offs depend strongly on the landscape, resulting in a tight link between optimal dispersal strategy and spatiotemporal habitat distribution. Results – Our findings reveal that multi-scale seed dispersal strategies that combine a broad range of dispersal scales, including Lévy-like dispersal, are optimal across a wide range of dynamic and patchy landscapes. At the extremes, static and patchy landscapes select for dispersal strategies dominated by short distances, while uniform and highly unpredictable landscapes both select for dispersal strategies dominated by long distances. Conclusions – By viewing plant seed dispersal as a strategic search for suitable habitat, we provide a reference framework for the analysis of plant dispersal data. Consideration of the entire dispersal kernel, including distances across the full range of scales, is key. This reference framework helps identify plant species’ dispersal strategies, the evolutionary forces determining these strategies and their ecological consequences, such as a potential mismatch between plant dispersal strategy and altered spatiotemporal habitat dynamics due to land use change. Our perspective opens up directions for future studies, including exploration of composite search behaviour and ‘informed searches’ in plant species with directed dispersal.This research was funded by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientic Research (NWO-ALW, Vidi grant to MBS).Peer reviewe

Seed dispersal distributions resulting from landscape-dependent daily movement behaviour of a key vector species, Anas platyrhynchos

Dispersal via animals (zoochory) is a primary mechanism for seed exchange between habitat patches. Recent studies have established that many plant species can survive waterbird gut passage. To quantify the patterns and consequences of waterbird-mediated dispersal, information on ingestion and gut passage must be combined with bird movement data. Such analysis has recently revealed seed dispersal kernels by migrating waterbirds. However, since many waterbird populations are largely resident, and migrating populations spend only a minor part of the main dispersal season (autumn–winter) on active migration, daily regional-scale movements probably cause more frequent dispersal. We synthesized high-resolution empirical data on landscape-scale movements and seed gut passage times in a key disperser species, the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), using a spatially explicit, mechanistic model to quantify dispersal distributions resulting from daily autumn–winter movements. We evaluated how landscape composition and seed traits affect these dispersal patterns. The model indicates that mallards generate highly clumped seed deposition patterns, dispersing seeds primarily between core areas used for foraging and resting. Approximately 34% of all dispersed seeds are transported to communal roost areas, which may function as reservoirs for mallard-dispersed species, and 7% are transported between foraging areas. Landscape-dependent movement patterns strongly affect the dispersal distributions, resulting in multi-modal dispersal kernels, with dispersal distances increasing with fragmentation of freshwater foraging habitat. Seed size-related gut retention times determine the proportion of seeds being dispersed away from the ingestion area, with larger seeds (20 mm3) having a 8–10% higher potential for long-distance dispersal than smaller seeds (0·2 mm3), if surviving gut passage. However, twice as many small seeds will finally accomplish long-distance dispersal due to their higher gut passage survival. Synthesis. Firstly, this study reveals how seed dispersal patterns resulting from daily waterfowl movements are shaped by landscape-dependent differences in movement patterns. Secondly, seed survival appears more important than retention time in determining the scale of long-distance dispersal by non-migrating mallards. We conclude that the frequent flights of staging waterbirds result in directed dispersal over distances inversely related to wetland availability, indicating that they maintain landscape connectivity across a range from wet to increasingly dry landscapes

Introducing a Central African Primate Vocalisation Dataset for Automated Species Classification

Automated classification of animal vocalisations is a potentially powerful wildlife monitoring tool. Training robust classifiers requires sizable annotated datasets, which are not easily recorded in the wild. To circumvent this problem, we recorded four primate species under semi-natural conditions in a wildlife sanctuary in Cameroon with the objective to train a classifier capable of detecting species in the wild. Here, we introduce the collected dataset, describe our approach and initial results of classifier development. To increase the efficiency of the annotation process, we condensed the recordings with an energy/change based automatic vocalisation detection. Segmenting the annotated chunks into training, validation and test sets, initial results reveal up to 82% unweighted average recall test set performance in four-class primate species classification

Data from: Costs and benefits of non-random seed release for long distance dispersal in wind-dispersed plant species

The dispersal ability of plants is a major factor driving ecological responses to global change. In wind-dispersed plant species, non-random seed release in relation to wind speeds has been identified as a major determinant of dispersal distances. However, little information is available about the costs and benefits of non-random abscission and the consequences of timing for dispersal distances. We asked: 1) To what extent is non-random abscission able to promote long-distance dispersal and what is the effect of potentially increased pre-dispersal risk costs? 2) Which meteorological factors and respective timescales are important for maximizing dispersal? These questions were addressed by combining a mechanistic modelling approach and field data collection for herbaceous wind-dispersed species. Model optimization with a dynamic dispersal approach using measured hourly wind speed showed that plants can increase long-distance dispersal by developing a hard wind speed threshold below which no seeds are released. At the same time, increased risk costs limit the possibilities for dispersal distance gain and reduce the optimum level of the wind speed threshold, in our case (under representative Dutch meteorological conditions) to a threshold of 5-6 m s-1. The frequency and predictability (auto-correlation in time) of pre-dispersal seed-loss had a major impact on optimal non-random abscission functions and resulting dispersal distances. We observed a similar, but more gradual, bias towards higher wind speeds in six out of seven wind-dispersed species under natural conditions. This confirmed that non-random abscission exists in many species and that, under local Dutch meteorological conditions, abscission was biased towards winds exceeding 5-6 m s-1. We conclude that timing of seed release can vastly enhance dispersal distances in wind-dispersed species, but increased risk costs may greatly limit the benefits of selecting wind conditions for long-distance dispersal, leading to moderate seed abscission thresholds, depending on local meteorological conditions and disturbances