To reduce fire risk and meet climate targets, over 300 scientists call for stronger land clearing laws

Australia’s high rates of forest loss and weakening land clearing laws are increasing bushfire risk, and undermining our ability to meet national targets aimed at curbing climate change. This dire situation is why we are among the more than 300 scientists and practitioners who have signed a declaration calling for governments to restore, or better strengthen regulations to protect native vegetation

Clinical utilization of genomics data produced by the international Pseudomonas aeruginosa consortium

The International Pseudomonas aeruginosa Consortium is sequencing over 1000 genomes and building an analysis pipeline for the study of Pseudomonas genome evolution, antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. Metadata, including genomic and phenotypic data for each isolate of the collection, are available through the International Pseudomonas Consortium Database (http://ipcd.ibis.ulaval.ca/). Here, we present our strategy and the results that emerged from the analysis of the first 389 genomes. With as yet unmatched resolution, our results confirm that P. aeruginosa strains can be divided into three major groups that are further divided into subgroups, some not previously reported in the literature. We also provide the first snapshot of P. aeruginosa strain diversity with respect to antibiotic resistance. Our approach will allow us to draw potential links between environmental strains and those implicated in human and animal infections, understand how patients become infected and how the infection evolves over time as well as identify prognostic markers for better evidence-based decisions on patient care

Understanding recovery in the context of lived experience of personality disorders: a collaborative, qualitative research study

Background Concepts of recovery increasingly inform the development and delivery of mental health services internationally. In the UK recent policy advocates the application of recovery concepts to the treatment of personality disorders. However diagnosis and understanding of personality disorders remains contested, challenging any assumption that mainstream recovery thinking can be directly translated into personality disorders services. Methods In a qualitative interview-based study understandings of recovery were explored in extended, in-depth interviews with six people purposively sampled from a specialist personality disorders’ service in the UK. An interpretive, collaborative approach to research was adopted in which university-, clinical- and service user (consumer) researchers were jointly involved in carrying out interviews and analysing interview data. Results Findings suggested that recovery cannot be conceptualised separately from an understanding of the lived experience of personality disorders. This experience was characterised by a complexity of ambiguous, interrelating and conflicting feelings, thoughts and actions as individuals tried to cope with tensions between internally and externally experienced worlds. Our analysis was suggestive of a process of recovering or, for some, discovering a sense of self that can safely coexist in both worlds. Conclusions We conclude that key facilitators of recovery – positive personal relationships and wider social interaction – are also where the core vulnerabilities of individuals with lived experience of personaility disorders can lie. There is a role for personality disorders services in providing a safe space in which to develop positive relationships. Through discursive practice within the research team understandings of recovery were co-produced that responded to the lived experience of personality disorders and were of applied relevance to practitioners

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Book review of "Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change" by Mark B. Bush and John R. Flenley, Springer, and "The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge" by Kirstin Dow and Thomas E. Dowling, University of California Press

[Extract] The first (edited) book, comprising 15 chapters from 26 contributing authors, brings together a collection of chapters concerned with how tropical rainforest ecology is altered by climate change, rather than simply how plan communities are altered. The strongly geographical approach emphasises interactions among humans, climate and forest ecology over time scales that recognise significant, long-term effects of human habitation of tropical forest systems

Cyclones Larry and Monica: ecological effects of two major disturbance events

[Extract] Tropical cyclones (also known as hurricanes and typhoons) occur in seven ocean basins of the world. Northern Australia is affected each year between November and May by tropical cyclones forming in two of these: the southwest Pacific and southeast Indian basins. Tropical Cyclones act as a major ecological drivers in northern Australia. Both patterns and processes are regularly affected in rainforest and savanna ecosystems, especially near the coast. However, our northern arid ecosystems occasionally feel the physical effects of cyclones as they move inland and form into major rain depressions

Climate change adaptation options, tools and vulnerability.\ud Contribution of Work Package 4 to the Forest Vulnerability Assessment

The assessment of the vulnerability of Australian forests to climate change is an initiative of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC). The National Climate\ud Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) was approached to carry out such a comprehensive Forest Vulnerability Assessment (FVA). NCCARF engaged four research\ud groups to investigate distinct aspects in relation to the vulnerability of forests, each of which has produced a report. In addition a fifth group was engaged to create a summary and synthesis report of the project. This report – Climate change adaptation options, tools and\ud vulnerability - is the fourth report in the series.\ud Through semi-structured stakeholder interviews, a social learning workshop with industry, and a review of published and unpublished literature, this part of the FVA project considers the adaptation options and strategies available for the forest sector to deal with climate change\ud and the vulnerability of Australia's forests. This includes tools and guidance available to inform planning and policy for climate change adaptation in government and the private\ud forestry sector. A conceptual framework for understanding the vulnerability of Australia's forests to climate\ud change was used. This provides that the impact of climate change depends on both the magnitude of climate change in the particular location (exposure) and how strongly each unit change in climate impacts that activity (sensitivity). However, since forest managers are likely to take actions in response to these changes (adaptation), the potential impacts are likely to be modified through their actions. This "adaptive capacity" will be a function of the operating\ud context of the forest system, the knowledge and options of the forestry sector and individual capability. In other words, the vulnerability of forests to climate change is dependent not just on the potential biophysical impacts but also on the way people respond and their potential to\ud minimise any adverse impacts. In the first and second parts of the FVA project the exposure and sensitivity of Australia’s forests were considered. Here we focus on adaptive capacity and adaptation options and actions

Living in a Dynamic Tropical Forest Landscape

[Extract] This book brings together a wealth of scientific findings and ecological knowledge to survey what we have learned about the "Wet Tropics" rainforests of North Queensland, Australia. This interdisciplinary text is the first book to provide such a holistic view of any tropical forest environment, including the social and economic dimensions

Tourism and tropical rainforests: opportunity or threat?

[Extract] Since the publication of the United Nations World Commission for Environment and Development Report (WCED 1987), commonly known as the Brundtland Report, the concept of sustainability has become the fundamental principle in decision making in the twenty-first century and has been adopted by governments throughout the world. The concept requires the integration of ecological, economic, social, and cultural considerations. Sadly, this principle does not appear to have been adopted in many countries with tropical forests where short-term financial gains have been made at the expense of these forests and the biodiversity and ecosystem services they sustain