Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae reduce soil erosion by surface water flow in a greenhouse experiment

This research was funded by the SMART Joint Doctoral Programme (Erasmus Mundus Programme of the European Union) and the DRS HONORS Fellowship programme of Freie Universität Berlin. This study is a contribution to an EU Marie Curie Career Integration Grant to T.C. (EC FP7-631399-SENSE

Understanding processes of island development on an island braided river over timescales from days to decades

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gurnell, A. M., Bertoldi, W., Francis, R. A., Gurnell, J., and Mardhiah, U. ( 2019) Understanding processes of island development on an island braided river over timescales from days to decades. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms, 44: 624– 640. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4494., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4494. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsBar colonization by vegetation and subsequent island formation is a key bio‐geomorphological process in fluvial landscape evolution. Here we investigate morphological and ecological evolution of river islands over timescales from single floods to decades, focusing on islands initiated by deposited trees that sprout to form vegetated patches. On a braided reach of the high‐energy Tagliamento River, Italy, we monitored 30 pioneer islands of 1 to 17 years age in comparison with unvegetated bar surfaces, open areas between islands, and established island surfaces. We integrated morphological, surface sediment and vegetation properties of islands initiated by different flood events, combining evidence from remotely‐sensed and ground observations, flow and climate time series. At a decadal timescale, pioneer islands aggrade rapidly to the elevation of the mean annual flood, showing a steady increase in vegetation canopy height, fining of surface sediments from predominantly gravel to silty‐sand with a notable clay and organic fraction. The standing vegetation included over 130 species, with the largest number on island surfaces of intermediate elevation and flood disturbance. As islands age, standing vegetation becomes comprised mainly of competitor species with transient seed banks and typical of woodland, scrub, pasture and wetland habitats, whereas the winter seedbank is dominated on all surfaces by ruderal species with persistent seedbanks, mainly associated with aquatic, wetland, pasture, arable and wasteland habitats. At shorter timescales, the biogeomorphological trajectory of pioneer islands is initiated by large flood events that control the elevation of deposited trees, and subsequent flows that control tree survival and establishment. Island morphological evolution depends on the frequency‐magnitude of sediment and seed delivery and redistribution by flood and possibly wind events, whereas island ability to retain sediments reflects the degree of vegetation establishment, which in the short‐term may vary with seasonal to annual moisture supply, substrate characteristics and climatic growth conditions.Ulfah Mardhiah's research was funded by the SMART Joint Doctoral Programme (Science for MAnagement of Rivers and their Tidal systems), which is financed by the Erasmus Mundus Programme of the European Union

Catch per unit effort dynamic of Yellowfin Tuna related to sea surface temperature and chlorophyll in southern Indonesia

Tuna fisheries are the most valuable fisheries in the world, with an estimated market value of at least US$42 billion in 2018. Indonesia plays an important role in the global tuna fisheries and has committed to improve its fisheries management; therefore, a pilot of long-term spatial-temporal data bases was developed in 2012, however none have utilized data to have better understanding for management improvement. In this study, the annual and seasonal variation of large (≥10 kg) Yellowfin Tuna (YFT) catch per unit effort (CPUE) have been investigated and the influence of sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a on these variables examined. We used fish landing data from West Nusa Tenggara recorded every month between 2012 and 2017 and analyzed using generalized linear models and generalized additive models. We found a seasonal and annual pattern of tuna abundance affected by SST and chlorophyll-a (chl a) and related to upwelling and El Nino event. These results also suggest that a two-month closure to fishing in August and September in southern Lombok is worth considering by the Government to maximize conservation of stocks due to a high abundance of juveniles emerging during the upwelling months from June to August

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Catch abundance and fishing season from vulnerable and endangered Elasmobranch species in Tanjung Luar Fishery

The elevated extinction risk of elasmobranchs is proportional with the increase of fishing mortality due to overfishing. Indonesia is the biggest shark fishing country in the world, with Tanjung Luar as a fishing village specifically targeting sharks. More than 30 species of sharks and rays that have been landed in Tanjung Luar recently received increased conservation status under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This research aimed to analyze the catch abundance of vulnerable or endangered elasmobranchs in Tanjung Luar and identify the fishing seasons. Four years of landing monitoring data from 2014-2017 were analyzed the fishing seasons and fisheries pattern of vulnerable or endangered elasmobranchs species in Tanjung Luar, calculated Catch per Unit Effort (CPUE) based on fishing power index and also fishing season index. The CPUE of sharks and rays from 2014 to 2017 fluctuated but was not significantly different. We found that shark fishing season occurred in six months and ray fishing season occurred only in four months. The results suggested that management measures should focus on gear control and spatio-temporal closures which could have significant benefits for the conservation of elasmobranch species, and may help to improve the overall sustainability of the fishery

Quantifying vulnerability of sharks and rays species in Indonesia: Is biological knowledge sufficient enough for the assessment?

Sharks and rays are vulnerable species, which are highly exploited in Indonesian waters but lacked of detailed information on their ecology and fisheries status. This research aims to assess the level of vulnerability of sharks and rays to overfishing using the maximum intrinsic rate of population increase (r), derived from the Euler-Lotka equation, as a proxy of extinction risk. It is calculated based on several biological parameters including fecundity, maximum age, age at maturity, and the number of offspring. Using rmax calculation adapted to shark and ray life history traits by accounting for survival to maturity, we were able to calculate rmax values for 26 out of 208 sharks and rays species present in Indonesia. This includes vulnerable species such as Mobula alfredi, Prionace glauca, and Pristis zijsron. This result showed that r is a valuable tool which can be used to quantify extinction risk with some level of precision, but it also highlights the necessity to collect important biological information of the most vulnerable species to further estimate their status. This approach requires complementary information related to external threats such as habitat degradation, species economic value and threat level from local fishing effort and related fishing gears