A global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

The use of functional information in the form of species traits plays an important role in explaining biodiversity patterns and responses to environmental changes. Although relationships between species composition, their traits, and the environment have been extensively studied on a case-by-case basis, results are variable, and it remains unclear how generalizable these relationships are across ecosystems, taxa and spatial scales. To address this gap, we collated 80 datasets from trait-based studies into a global database for metaCommunity Ecology: Species, Traits, Environment and Space; “CESTES”. Each dataset includes four matrices: species community abundances or presences/absences across multiple sites, species trait information, environmental variables and spatial coordinates of the sampling sites. The CESTES database is a live database: it will be maintained and expanded in the future as new datasets become available. By its harmonized structure, and the diversity of ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, and spatial scales it covers, the CESTES database provides an important opportunity for synthetic trait-based research in community ecology

Landgoed Steenenburg : Inventarisatie naar het voorkomen van beschermde natuurwaarden op landgoed Steenenburg

In de gemeente Heusden bevindt zich het landgoed van het voormalig kasteel d’Oultremont, ook wel bekend als kasteel Steenenburg. De gemeente Heusden heeft een ontwikkelingsplan opgemaakt dat als leidraad gaat dienen voor de ontwikkeling van landgoed Steenenburg en in samenspraak met de Keldersgroup en de Arec-DBM Groep is de gemeente Heusden voornemens om op landgoed Steenenburg een onderzoeks- en researchcentrum te realiseren. De gemeente Heusden heeft Wageningen Environmental Research gevraagd om eventueel beschermde natuurwaarden, van de verschillende faunagroepen en flora, op landgoed Steenenburg in beeld te brengen en deze worden in de voorliggende rapportage gepresenteerd

Leefbaarheid op het platteland: uiteenlopen van idylles en werkelijkheden : Een literatuuronderzoek naar wat we denken te begrijpen van leefbaarheid op het platteland

In a motion MP Epping asked for a study into keeping the countryside liveable, in view of the relocation of basic facilities to cities. The aim of this study is to indicate the assumptions and knowledge on which government interventions to maintain or enhance the quality of life in rural areas are based, while paying attention to different perspectives, times and knowledge gaps. Basic facilities ensure encounters, and encounters feed the social capital in the community. The symbolic value of basic facilities lies in the status, strength, and vitality that rural residents derive from the presence of a village hall and a supermarket. It gives a sense of pride and confidence when they have remained there. Proximity to public facilities ensures that people meet each other (schoolyard, village hall), as well as care and transport. This proximity forms the basis of a self-reliant society, which has confidence in the collective and government, and can build broad prosperity. Deterioration of quality of life is a self-reinforcing process, caused by the depoliticization of decision-making and a lack of insight into chain effects. The final conclusion is that quality of life should be seen as a foundation and treated as such, on which initiatives for broad prosperity can flourish

Wettelijke Audit Basisregistratie Topografie 2020 : Resultaten van de vierde externe audit op de kwaliteit van de BRT

For the fourth time an external audit has been performed on the quality of the Key Register Topography (BRT). The following quality aspects have been rated: logical consistency, positional accuracy, temporal quality, completeness and thematic accuracy. Most of the quality scores are better compared to the previous external audit or are the same and without errors. The only quality aspect that does not meet the norm of 95% right, is the positional accuracy of the object class ‘Registrative area’. All other quality aspects meet the norm. Based on the findings, recommendations are made with regard to the data, the catalog and the methodology used for this audit