tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22120033944861388962024-03-14T20:00:13.314+11:00Biosecurity and Invasive SpeciesI have been appointed to <a href="http://f1000biology.com/">F1000</a> as an Associate Faculty Member to help <a href="http://www.csiro.au/people/Mark.Lonsdale.html">Dr Mark Lonsdale</a> (Chief of CSIRO Entomology, Australia) evaluate the literature around Biosecurity and Invasive Species. So, I thought I might as well blog about it. I will be posting our reviews here as well as other items of interest I come across in my research.
The text of the reviews for F1000 is copyrighted to F1000.fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-68449288110905372092016-11-25T10:32:00.000+11:002016-11-25T10:37:24.027+11:00The value of open access<div dir="ltr">
Back in 2012 I published a couple of book chapters on a similar topic: 'large scale agent-based simulations'. Both were published by Springer. The first was for the Encyclopedia of Complex Systems, and as such set out some definitions and what I thought to be some insightful guidelines on approaching the challenges of large agent-based models. And by 'large' I generally mean models with large numbers of agents and or significant complexity that basically grind standard PCs to a halt... </div>
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The other chapter was for a book 'Agent-based models of geographical systems' edited by a good friend and colleague (and now recently professor) Alison Heppenstall at Leeds, with Mike Bithell (Cambridge) as co-author. That went into more depth with examples, especially around the why and how you might parallelise agents vs spatial decomposition across processors when taking a parallel computing approach. </div>
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Recently I was invited to submit an updated version of the former (Encyclopedia) chapter to Springer. So, will I accept?</div>
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Now a little further on in my career I don't immediately leap at such opportunities as I did in the past, and I am forced to weigh up the benefits against the ever growing backlog of half written papers I should have published and the list of topics I would like to start work on. So, instead, I ask myself some questions, which are something like this:</div>
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- is this going to move my career further towards where I want to be heading?<br />
- Will this be a significant contribution to my field?<br />
- Is this book likely to be well read and cited?</div>
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In this case, the answers were:<br />
- well, quite a few methodological papers came out of my PhD, but today I think I need to publish a lot more on the scientific understanding gained from my models as that is where the true value lies in 'modelling' for my career now. <br />
- I think there are some significant advances made in this area since that book chapter, most notably <a href="https://repast.github.io/repast_hpc.html">Repast HPC</a> which is designed specifically as a library to facilitate agent based modelling in parallel. I think this still focuses on parallelising agents rather than space, though it does have spatial modelling capabilities so its well worth exploring... However, on the whole I feel my 'guidelines' and suggested approaches still hold up well today, and revising may not add a great deal.<br />
- I actually had no idea how well cited that Encyclopedia chapter was. Turns out, not very: 6 citations according to Google Scholar! Very dissapointing, particularly compared to the contemporary chapter I wrote with Dr Bithell that has been cited a much more respectable 28 times. One factor, likely a big one, is the accessibility. Now I have looked at these again on Google Scholar I realise the latter can easily be downloaded from there, but not the former!</div>
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Overall, I think I will decline unless it really will be a quick job to revise. But thinking through my response has been useful, particularly to consider making sure all my publications are as easily accessible as possible so they get read and cited! </div>
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If you are interested, here are the two book chapters to download:</div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8QpEZK2zWCjZmZIdFFqU1o2Vzg/view?usp=sharing">Parry (2012) Agent Based Modeling, Large Scale Simulations</a></div>
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<a href="https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP101628&dsid=DS4">Parry and Bithell (2012) Large scale agent-based modelling: a review and guidelines for model scaling.</a></div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-65266199380266569262016-09-17T22:46:00.000+10:002016-09-17T22:46:36.347+10:00Introducing our symposium at ICE 2016!What do you get if you cross two field ecologists with a spatial simulation modeller...?<br />
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our symposium at ICE! <br />
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For some time now I have been thinking about the relationships between field ecology and modelling and how one can relate to the other more effectively particularly when it comes to relate movement ecology to population distributions (one thing that got me thinking about that was a 2012 paper by Oliver Restif et al. in Ecology Letters '<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01836.x/abstract;jsessionid=C397DA7D213F0BAEECBEBD51C63F4ADE.f03t01">Model-Guided Fieldwork</a>'... ). At the same time, a key aspect of the spatial ecology work we do in the <a href="https://grdc.com.au/Media-Centre/Hot-Topics/Pest-suppressive-landscapes">Pest Suppressive Landscapes</a> team at CSIRO is consider how small scale observations and processes relate to larger scale phenomena, particularly of insect behaviour in agricultural landscapes. <br />
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And so, Nancy Schellhorn, Cate Paull and myself bring you our <a href="http://ice2016orlando.org/">International Congress of Entomology (ICE)</a> symposium for 2016:<br />
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<b>Arthropod movement in agro-ecosystems: linking individual behaviours and population patterns across spatio-temporal scales. Just what does emerge?</b><br />
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With only a week to go before we depart Brisbane, Australia for Orlando, Florida, USA we are getting very excited about the conference, our symposium and our fantastic set of speakers! So I thought I'd give you a run-down of what our symposium is all about here on my blog. <br />
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First, the official overview:<br />
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Speakers will consider how landscape-level patterns (e.g. population distributions, migration events) emerge from proximate movement behaviours (e.g. fitness seeking, oviposition behaviour, habitat selection, mating and predation), with application to arthropod pest management in agricultural landscapes. Both theoreticians and empiricists are invited to this session, with the aim to foster cross-disciplinary discussion on how we might better combine models and empirical data to reveal emergent patterns from movement ecology in agro-ecosystems at multiple spatio-temporal scales. We ask researches to draw on case studies from their work where specific emergent properties were identified, how the link was established between individual behaviours and emergent patterns, and at what scale, and to comment on what the results mean for area-wide management of arthropods in agro-ecosystems. </blockquote>
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and the program (NB <b>its on Tuesday afternoon</b>) - please click to enlarge:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOmnisCiyEw4DNahfLOtguMtK9zR3Nkx_LHs4YTOmM3wllBDMC_lMUCDmFwAPIr-XkpdA34omyCK1JihBN3YXy_07tYCwKoVjYAn5TYQ_lv_lK959EuaWz2UuTJF3CP7mmWgBstb1Wt8/s1600/program+entry.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOmnisCiyEw4DNahfLOtguMtK9zR3Nkx_LHs4YTOmM3wllBDMC_lMUCDmFwAPIr-XkpdA34omyCK1JihBN3YXy_07tYCwKoVjYAn5TYQ_lv_lK959EuaWz2UuTJF3CP7mmWgBstb1Wt8/s640/program+entry.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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and to get you even more excited (so that we hopefully see you there!) here is the lowdown on each of our fabulous international speakers... (for full abstracts, please see the ICE website <a href="https://esa.confex.com/esa/ice2016/meetingapp.cgi">here</a>):<br />
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First up is symposium co-organizer, CSIRO science leader and ICE Ecology and Population Dynamics Section Convener <a href="http://people.csiro.au/S/N/Nancy-Schellhorn">Nancy Schellhorn</a> from Brisbane, Australia, who will be speaking about resource exploitation: the role of movement, oviposition, and the landscape context. Nancy will bring together results from multiple studies of different insects in both urban and rural environments to make an interesting observation that the further mobile arthropods have to move to encounter a resource, the more likely they will exploit the resource once found. <br />
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Second, we have Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture <a href="http://www.hort.vt.edu/People/ORourke.html">Megan O'Rourke</a> from Virginia Tech, who is presenting a study she has conducted with <a href="https://entomology.cals.cornell.edu/people/katja-poveda">Katja Poveda</a> of Cornell Univ.: Linking herbivore dispersal and population
dynamics in complex landscapes. Megan and Katja make the observation that while there are dozens of studies relating land-use patterns to insect populations, there is relatively little clarity about whether landscape diversification could be used to suppress insect pests in agricultural systems. They aim to gain some clarity by presenting a conceptual framework for how land-use patterns can affect herbivore populations directly by mediating their ability to disperse in the landscape,supported by examples from the literature and an analysis of landscape-herbivore data. <br />
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Next up is Assistant Professor of Entomology <a href="http://entomology.wsu.edu/david-crowder/">David Crowder</a> from Washington State University, talking about factors affecting movement of arthropods
that transmit plant pathogens and implications for
pathogen spread. The work of his lab shows that movement of insect vectors at local and landscape scales is influenced by community composition, in turn influencing the dynamics of infectious insect-vectored pathogens. The community ecology of infectious disease has been grossly understudied, and their work suggests a need for more research into how the composition of ecological communities impacts vector movement and resulting pathogen transmission in agro-ecosystems.<br />
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Fourth, we introduce <a href="http://www.slu.se/en/departments/ecology/contact/personal-webbpages/jonsson-mattias-/">Mattias Jonsson</a> a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. He presents work conducted with a number of colleagues that seeks to synthesize poorly understood mechanistic linkages between land use, biodiversity and ecosystem service provision in agricultural landscapes. In particular, he presents a model to map biological control services of aphids across cereal fields in a Swedish agricultural region with varying landscape complexity.<br />
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Next is <a href="http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/directory/show/spencer1">Joseph Spencer</a> of Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, presenting work conducted with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Hughson/citations">Sarah Hughson</a>. In their abstract they state that 'we must pay attention to what insects actually do in the field'! When observations and empirical data contradict the conventional wisdom, we should pay attention to the stories that the insects tell... drawing on 20 years studying the rotation-resistant (and now Bt-resistant) western corn rootworm in Illinois, Joseph tells us of the challenges local movement, mating, and dispersal poses for resistance management plans.<br />
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Before the break, we introduce PhD student from Rothamsted Research (UK) Aislinn Pearson and her <a href="http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/agroecology">team of supervisors.</a> Aislinn will be presenting her work investigating the effect that pathogen load has on insect movement behaviours: hosts may be unaffected by infection, they might evade infection by escaping contaminated habitats or infected insects may die during migration. The pathogen too may be affected by the migratory effort of its host, yet few studies have attempted to classify the relationship in this way. She is getting some interesting results from her flight mill studies of fall armyworm, including that males but not females changing their flight behaviour in response to sublethal viral infection.<br />
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After the break is a second talk from Rothamsted Research, by research scientist <a href="http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/day-life-dr-chris-jones">Christopher Jones</a> and his colleagues from the <a href="http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/insect-migration-and-spatial-ecology">Insect Migration and Spatial Ecology group</a>. Chris takes us right down to the molecular level to gain a better understanding of large scale movement: connecting migration of pests to the genes and and biochemical pathways that drive this phenomenon, which are poorly understood. Chris focuses on the flight propensity of cotton bollworm, where targeted sequencing and SNP analyses have revealed genetic variation in candidate genes that could contribute to key adaptations that drive long-range movement in <i>H. armigera. </i><br />
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Continuing the cotton bollworm theme, the second of the symposium co-organizers, CSIRO researcher <a href="http://cassavawhitefly.org/people/75-cate-paull">Cate Paull</a> from Brisbane, Australia, will tell us about her work with colleagues Andy Hulthen and Nancy Schellhorn on the landscape ecology of this pest in Australia. Cate has been seeking to understand key spatio-temporal drivers explaining their abundance across a region and over multiple seasons. A key result of these studies has been to uncover that significant variation in <i>H. armigera</i> and <i>H. punctigera</i> moths caught in <i>Bt</i> cotton was explained by increasing proportions of <i>Bt </i>cotton at a landscape scale, illuminating male moth behaviour in agricultural landscapes with implications for resistance management. <br />
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Then its me, <a href="http://people.csiro.au/P/H/Hazel-Parry.aspx">Hazel Parry</a>, research scientist at CSIRO, Brisbane, Australia. Also continuing the cotton bollworm theme, but this time with simulation modelling. Obtaining empirical evidence on the efficacy of 'refuges', the cornerstone of the current resistance management system, is difficult: processes operate at multiple spatio-temporal scales, complex interactions exist, <i>Helicoverpa </i>are highly mobile and we must consider both the dynamics of the refuge and the landscape, as well as the pest. Agent-based simulation modelling allows us to explore emergent egg distribution patterns and landscape use by <i>Helicoverpa </i>based on empirical studies of underlying processes, such as movement and oviposition behaviour. I present the results from my modelling, validated against data from the field... and the model has something to say about refuge efficacy in space and time in relation to insect behaviours.<br />
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In fact, from my talk onward the rest of the symposium is primarily modelling! Next up is a fellow antipodean from the University of Lincoln (New Zealand) <a href="http://bioprotection.org.nz/users/audrey-lustig">Audrey Lustig</a>, a PhD student supervised by Associate Professor <a href="http://bioprotection.org.nz/users/sue-worner">Sue Worner</a>. Audrey is using modelling to understand mechanisms that control invasive insect invasion, which are poorly understood. She presents a general modelling framework for efficient evaluation of the relative influence of species life traits, propagule pressure and spatial heterogeneity effects on biological invasion. This uses landscape measures to establish a quantitative relationship between landscape structure and population dynamics, and the pattern of invasion by multiple species are used to infer key drivers of invasion.<br />
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Taking an honourable penultimate 'double spot' in our symposium is researcher <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/people/researchandtechnical/becher/">Matthias Becher</a>, presenting his work and that of Professor <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/people/academicandhonorary/osborne/#d.en.280114">Juliet Osborne</a> (who sadly couldn't join us), both from the Environment & Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter, UK. The 'extra' time will allow Matthias to cover both the modelling and field ecology aspects of their work on bees, although as the modeller in the duo I anticipate he will focus primarily on his model, BEESCOUT. He will discuss how detection probabilities of food patches in the landscape affect colony growth and survival and address the differences between honeybees (large colonies, recruitment to specific sites via waggle dances) and bumblebees (small colonies, no sophisticated recruitment) in terms of their susceptibility to find food sources.<br />
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Then, to our final talk. Last but not least post-doctoral research associate in Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University <a href="http://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/people/tyler-grant">Tyler Grant</a> and colleagues (including myself - his Monarch model originates from my agent-based model of Helicoverpa). Tyler will present the model of monarch butterfly movement and egg-laying in an Iowa landscape. Effective conservation efforts in Iowa and the Upper Midwest of the USA will require information on how spatial arrangements of created or restored milkweed habitat influence monarch host plant seeking behavior and egg-laying. He uses the model to identify characteristics of habitat patches predicted to have higher egg densities, which will inform future conservation efforts.<br />
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What an afternoon this is going to be!fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-60302114344899492872015-10-01T14:15:00.000+10:002015-10-01T14:27:55.490+10:00Why does a beehive represent the ‘anthropocene’? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I was inspired by the forthcoming event at UQ's GCI <a href="http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=21425a33c4d5d2d879313b6f6&id=5a12c4c6a5">'Anthropocene Slam'</a> and got thinking about what object I would choose to represent the anthropocene.... a beehive!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF1EKgQeTzrz2oTvrF9h6_wqZQAm7KNsCByIV_VmM7ZFL20_aZyzCpOpmbkcZELRWC8BQDk67un8Nb1SAGeAFDxbc4oRTNAiY1-rUCdMvqWClwR3noPfgCdsXfJIDU0InWkYy8DRRHneo/s1600/beekeeper-941688_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF1EKgQeTzrz2oTvrF9h6_wqZQAm7KNsCByIV_VmM7ZFL20_aZyzCpOpmbkcZELRWC8BQDk67un8Nb1SAGeAFDxbc4oRTNAiY1-rUCdMvqWClwR3noPfgCdsXfJIDU0InWkYy8DRRHneo/s400/beekeeper-941688_1280.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bee
hives have only really been in mass use since the industrial revolution in the
mid-19<sup>th</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its no
coincidence that the intensification/industrialization of honey production
occurred at this time, along with many other things!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A beehive represents humans controlling a
natural ecological system, intensifying it, and exploiting it. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Honey
production is just one aspect of honey beekeeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other is crop pollination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For our mass global intensive agricultural
systems that have developed over the past century we are now dependent on honey
bees: e.g. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Honey bees enable the production of at least
90 commercially grown crops in North America according to the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-economic-challenge-posed-declining-pollinator-populations">White House</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some crops, such as almonds, are almost
exclusively pollinated by honey bees, and many crops rely on honey bees for
more than 90% of their pollination. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">However,
like many of our natural systems and ecosystem services that are being
stretched to the max by intensive human use, honey bees are under serious
threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Diseases such as colony collapse
disorder and the pest varroa mite threaten to wipe out vast numbers across the
globe.<span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> <span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
causes of the losses of bee colonies are multiple – like many of our ‘anthropocene’
wicked problems, but most can be traced back to human resource (over)exploitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loss of forage habitat, loss of genetic
diversity, exposure to pesticides… </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There
are also spillover effects of the problems in the human-managed bee populations,
such as the pests and viruses of honeybees also affecting native
pollinators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Overall, beehives have allowed us to manipulate
a natural ecosystem service to intensify our agriculture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this has left our food production
system very vulnerable now that beehives and honeybees are experiencing serious
problems at a massive scale, posing a threat to our global food security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is a reflection of so many other
ways in which humans have exploited a single natural resource to enable our
population to expand, but have now taken it to a point where our ability to
continue to expand our population to 9 bn and counting by 2050 is threatened by our very singular reliance on that exploitation and the effect it has … (cf. coal mining, deforestation…) </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">but don't stop keeping bees! On the contrary, we need to continue to support and improve conditions for both managed and wild pollinators, making sure we have diversity and resilience in our pollination systems both locally (in our gardens) and at an industrial scale. </span>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-16200362184015138052015-08-27T16:44:00.000+10:002015-08-27T16:44:01.462+10:00Invasion HotspotsThe latest review for F1000 by Mark Lonsdale and myself, on F1000 <a href="http://f1000.com/prime/725687118">here</a><br />
(yes, I am still doing those!! But I rarely get time to post on the blog!)<br />
<br />
Review of: <br />
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<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134665">Modelling Hotspots for Invasive Alien Plants in India</a>. by D Adhikari, R Tiwary and SK Barik</div>
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PLoS ONE 2015; 10(7):e0134665</div>
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Risk assessment for invasive species in the past has
tended to focus mainly on species’ attributes, rather than the role of the
invaded ecosystem. This paper explores the concept of invasion hotspots -
regions that are potentially vulnerable to invasion - using a large set of open
access species distribution datasets available from the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility (GBIF). A novel aspect of their approach is that they
don’t simply take into account the climatic niche, they also consider human ‘influences’
known to facilitate invasion processes by delineating ‘anthropogenic biomes’.
Where climatic suitability combines with vulnerable ecoregions and
anthropogenic biomes, this is considered a ‘hotspot’. The authors find that
biodiversity hotspots in India are especially vulnerable as invasion hotspots,
an important finding - especially so, as the regional status of invasive
species in India has been comparatively little studied. It also illustrates the
value for ecological science of mining open access biodiversity data. It would,
however, have been useful to see scale factors explored a little more; for
example, many invasion hotspots the authors identify are actually in protected
areas, though these are presumably within anthropogenic biomes.</div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-70658537054196126952015-08-24T11:50:00.004+10:002015-08-24T11:52:34.530+10:00Exciting job opportunity for a post-doc to work with me in Brisbane, please apply! <span itemprop="description">CSIRO Agriculture currently have an
exciting opportunity for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellow to join
the "Pest Suppressive Landscapes" team based in Brisbane, Queensland.
The team seeks to address the broad question: why does landscape context
matter for the control of pests and diseases? By combining empirical
ecological studies with mathematical modelling, the team aims to gain
knowledge that will help address the global challenges of food security
and health crises at the landscape scale. In this role you will be
specifically focused on the spatial simulation modelling of fruit fly in
agricultural landscapes, in order to estimate release rates of
factory-produced sterile insects for effective area-wide pest
management.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Brisbane%2C-QLD-Postdoctoral-Fellowship-in-ecological-modelling/289079300/">https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Brisbane%2C-QLD-Postdoctoral-Fellowship-in-ecological-modelling/289079300/</a>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-75252642245501523392014-01-16T13:21:00.000+11:002014-01-16T13:21:12.783+11:00Bees have a chip on their shoulderExciting developments in micro tracking devices now allows CSIRO scientists to put <a href="http://csironewsblog.com/2014/01/15/tiny-technology-creates-a-buzz/">tracking devices on bees</a>. A lot of 'buzz' has surrounded this news story, and its easy to see why - the potential for this sort of technology in understanding movement and behaviour of a wide range of arthropods is very exciting, no other methods currently come close. They will continue to shrink the devices down, so who knows - maybe we will put some on aphids sooner or later!!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xdk9Bh8W4js?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-37937612511769601192014-01-03T14:57:00.000+11:002014-01-03T17:12:40.077+11:00Cereal aphid movement: general principles and simulation modelling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6265433832_e44ab4ea9b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6265433832_e44ab4ea9b_b.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.movementecologyjournal.com/content/1/1/14">Cereal aphid movement: general principles and simulation modelling</a>
Parry HR. Movement Ecology 2013, 1:14<br />
<br />
I'm really going in for the open access thing, this is my second publication in that format! As aphids are widely studied and modelled, I hope that having open access to this review article will help people navigate the literature much more easily. There is an enormous amount of study out there on both the biology and ecology of aphid flight as well as many examples of models that address the different phases of movement. So, I put together a review of principles, parameters and methodologies to construct
mechanistic simulation models of cereal aphid flight: including uplift,
transportation, deposition and subsequent spread. I've chosen to publish in the new journal 'Movement Ecology' as I think it will be an important scientific journal in a rapidly growing field going into the future, and I'm truly honoured to be one of the first papers published there. <br />
<br />
Many thanks to<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandnine/sets/"> Andy Jensen</a>, Eagle, Idaho, U.S.A. for the image of an alate<i> R. padi </i>shown above, that has been used as the thumbnail for the paper on the journal homepage. Andy takes great aphid photos and kindly allowed me to use this image, thank you. fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-8858241899311665332014-01-03T14:27:00.000+11:002014-01-03T14:27:07.782+11:00A new year - time to catch-up on last year's F1000 reviews!<br />
<br />
I've had a very busy few months trying to get more of my own work out there in the scientific literature that I've had little time for much else. However, I have continued to write reviews for F1000, but haven't found time until now to update this blog. So, please read on for the reviews we did in the second half of 2013!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Back in May(!) we wrote a review on a paper that caught my eye, mainly because I'm quite a fan of trees and I really like the idea of trying to prove '<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379712008045">The relationship between trees and human health</a>' by Donovan GH, Butry DT, Michael YL, Prestemon JP, Liebhold AM, Gatziolis D and Mao M (2013) American Journal of Preventative Medicine 44(2) 139-145. The authors use the case study of the spread of Emerald Ash borer, a major invasive pest in the USA, to try to establish the importance of the loss of trees due to the insect damage in terms of human health impacts.<br />
<br />
<b>Our review: </b><a href="http://f1000prime.com/718015790#eval793477745">F1000Prime.com/718015790#eval793477745 </a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A unique combination of ecological, geographical and public health data from across the USA is analysed in order to reach a sobering conclusion: the loss of trees due to the invasive insect pest Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) has had a measurable impact on human mortality rates due to cardiovascular and lower respiratory tract illness in 15 US states from 1990-2007. Given that the pest has effectively only just begun its onslaught (although 100 million ash trees have already been killed, there are 7.5 billion potential victims), this should be a major cause for concern. The mechanism is unclear because this was an observational study, but could be related to factors such as reduced air quality with declining tree canopy or reduced recreational activity in parks with dead trees.<br />
<br />
Understanding impacts of biological invasions is a current challenge, as impacts are often difficult to evaluate, uncertain and delayed {1}. This study shows that, when the environmental impact and loss of species due to a biological invasion is extreme and widespread, then such loss may indirectly have serious consequences for human health.
<br />
<br />
<i>References</i>
<br />
1.
Impacts of biological invasions: what's what and the way forward.
Simberloff D, Martin JL, Genovesi P, Maris V, Wardle DA, Aronson J, Courchamp F, Galil B, García-Berthou E, Pascal M, Pyšek P, Sousa R, Tabacchi E, Vilà M. Trends Ecol Evol 2013 Jan; 28(1):58-66
PMID: 22889499 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.07.013</blockquote>
<br />
In August we came across a paper in Ecology, that used a meta-analysis approach to answer a big question: '<a href="http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-1810.1">Do invasive species perform better in their new ranges</a>?' JD Parker <i>et al. </i>2013 Ecology 94 985–994.<br />
<br />
<b>Our review:</b> <a href="http://f1000prime.com/718046893#eval793481375">F1000Prime.com/718046893#eval793481375 </a> <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This is a major study, using a rigorous meta-analysis to provide a very rare test of one of the assumptions of invasion biology - that invasive species perform better in their introduced range than the native range. The study is very valuable because it is surprising how rarely this assumption has been tested – indeed, the authors point out that they were not able to find comparative data for 60% of species labelled as the world’s worst invaders. They found that while half of the species tested were indeed performing better in their introduced ranges, for the other half, there was no obvious difference.<br />
<br />
In truth, the idea that the impact of invasive species is felt through their size, greater fecundity, or greater abundance is just part of the picture: some species have an impact by simply introducing a novel life-form into a system in sufficient abundance (not necessarily greater than that in their native range) to make a difference to ecosystem function in the new range (e.g. Gamba grass in northern Australia, which has modified the fire regime to one of later, hotter fires {1}). It is also worth noting that the graphical presentation in the paper (as natural logarithms of the introduced range performance over the native range performance) visually underplays some of the substantial differences in performance shown by some of the species here.<br />
<br />
The authors rightly call for more international research networks and partnerships to build data on invasive species from the native range. This is long overdue.
<br />
<br />
<i>References</i>
<br />
1.<span class="title reference">Testing the grass-fire cycle: alien grass invasion in the tropical savannas of northern Australia
</span>
<span class="authors authors-reference">
Rossiter N, Setterfield S, Douglas M, Hutley L.
</span>
<span class="publication reference">Divers Distrib 2003 May; 9(3):169-176</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1472-4642.2003.00020.x" target="_blank">10.1046/j.1472-4642.2003.00020.x</a>
</blockquote>
<br />
Our latest review, submitted in November, is a modelling paper: we don't often review modelling papers (which is surprising, given my role as an Ecological Modeller)! I soon realised why, its much harder to distill the complexity of the methods!! Hopefully we succeeded with this one, certainly its a very interesting approach: <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/110/33/13428">Agent-based Bayesian approach to monitoring the progress of invasive species eradication programs</a> Keith, JM and Spring, D (2013) PNAS 110(3) <span class="doi">doi: 10.1073/pnas.1216146110 </span>
<br />
<br />
<b>Our review:</b> <a href="http://f1000prime.com/718045292#eval793486891">F1000Prime.com/718045292#eval793486891</a> <br />
<div class="evaluationText">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This paper combines
agent-based simulation with Bayesian inference to develop a model that
not only would allow control efforts to be targeted in space but also
show how the management strategy should adapt over time, as control
measures take effect on the invasion trajectory in space and time.
<br />
<br />
Developing a simulation model of an invasive species incursion is a
difficult task: dispersal processes act at multiple temporal and spatial
scales and we are often faced with a multitude of constraints including
a short timeframe, limited data availability or knowledge, high
uncertainty and of course, budget (for a recent overview see Parry et
al. {1}). The use of an agent-based approach allows for the model to
capture more detail than a commonly used grid-based approach, and this
proves critical to understanding the persistence of the outbreak of
imported fire ants in Brisbane. These details include capturing the
effects of long-distance founding events and simulating explicitly the
formation of individual nests.
<br />
<br />
The use of Bayesian inference combined with a Markov chain Monte
Carlo method allows the authors to construct a likelihood model that
incorporates a range of unknown parameters including the number and
location of undetected nests during the study period and the phylogeny
of the nests, and the authors test the importance of prior knowledge of
these, which overall they find not to be very important to the trend of
the estimated invasion trajectory besides knowledge of the recent
decline in fire ant nest numbers.
<br />
<br />
The application of this method enabled the authors to determine
which aspect of the eradication strategy had a strong influence on the
success of eradication (killing immature nests before they reach
maturity) and also whether the current management strategy is likely to
succeed. However, although the authors are confident that their spatial
model shows the range of the invasion has never declined even under
management, they advise some caution: uncertainty increases over time
and so spatial projections over a long time frame may show an expanding
invasion front where there may be none (it is simply that uncertainty
increases). Thus, density 'heat maps' should be used with caution beyond
inferring current distributions. Overall, the results of the model show
that a moderate increase in early treatment during the initial stages
of the invasion would have contained it to a much smaller area with a
much greater chance of eradication, and the model can now be used to
inform ongoing eradication decisions.
<br />
<br />
<i>References</i>
<br />
<div class="opinion">
1.<span class="title reference"> Practical guidelines for modelling post-entry spread in invasion ecology
</span>
<span class="authors authors-reference">
Parry H, Sadler R, Kriticos D.
</span>
<span class="publication reference">NEOBIOTA18:41-66</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.18.4305" target="_blank">10.3897/neobiota.18.4305</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="references">
<div>
</div>
</div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-91859656342911180942013-09-15T20:59:00.001+10:002013-09-15T21:01:08.910+10:00Practical guidelines for modelling post-entry spread in invasion ecologyMy first open-access journal article has just been published! It is part of a special issue in the new journal 'Neobiota':<br />
<br />
Parry HR, Sadler RJ, Kriticos DJ (2013) <a href="http://www.pensoft.net/journals/neobiota/article/4305/abstract/practical-guidelines-for-modelling-post-entry-spread-in-invasion-ecology">Practical guidelines for modelling post-entry spread in invasion ecology</a>. In: Kriticos DJ, Venette RC (Eds) Advancing risk assessment models to address climate change, economics and uncertainty. NeoBiota 18: 41–66. doi: 10.3897/neobiota.18.4305<br />
<br />
If you follow the link above it takes you to the paper on the journal's website, and from there you can download the pdf. This paper has evolved over the past couple of years out of discussion with the co-authors and other members of the <a href="http://www.pestrisk.org/">International Pest Risk Mapping Workgroup</a>, so quite a bit of discussion and thought went into it over time. We try to give something of a 'roadmap' for modellers faced with a wide range of pest risk management questions relating to post-entry spread in invasion ecology, taking into account considerations such as spatial and temporal scales but also constraints such as, inevitably, time and money. In the end I hope we have come up with something that is useful!<br />
<br />
The following diagram (figure 4 in the paper) is a good summary of some of the paper's concepts, but requires a fair bit of explanation that can be found in the paper, along with a lot more exciting stuff, like dealing with uncertainty!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZNGE-pzehDCObYg0FTnw_C93DOxz46OaKqQmP_3Rtvh4dVaSuCuw0FSIP_YmuJ2oBX2nj8boJhcbI3Y6O7gPmJs8jlvBAgxOQP8QsT-UMy1yinasbDm25cneDBa-mJAJ7JWkcB0ixLc/s1600/Fig+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZNGE-pzehDCObYg0FTnw_C93DOxz46OaKqQmP_3Rtvh4dVaSuCuw0FSIP_YmuJ2oBX2nj8boJhcbI3Y6O7gPmJs8jlvBAgxOQP8QsT-UMy1yinasbDm25cneDBa-mJAJ7JWkcB0ixLc/s400/Fig+4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>Flow diagram to illustrate the modelling process with concepts from the paper (please click on image to enlarge).</i>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-14286506175451385112013-07-05T16:21:00.000+10:002013-07-07T21:14:46.205+10:00Presentation at the 2013 Australian Summer Grains ConferenceI recently presented some of the 'hot off the press' findings from our <a href="http://www.grdc.com.au/">Grains Research and Development Corporation</a> project <b><a href="http://www.nipi.com.au/research/pest-suppressive-landscapes/">'Pest Suppressive Landscapes'</a>. </b>The talk was given at the <a href="http://www.australiansummergrains.com.au/conference-proceedings/tuesday-18th-june.html">Australian Summer Grains Conference 2013</a> and uploaded to their website as part of the proceedings. This is a fantastic way to share the work that we are doing and they have made a great job of the recording. <br />
<br />
<b>Hazel Parry</b><br />
<i>Pest suppressive landscapes: <span style="line-height: 1.6;">Understanding the role of habitat </span><span style="line-height: 1.6;">on Rutherglen Bug populations</span></i><br />
<iframe class="sproutvideo-player" frameborder="0" height="273" src="http://videos.sproutvideo.com/embed/d49bd8b11c18e6c55c/a61c5fb9812bcd04?type=sd" type="text/html" width="430"></iframe><br />
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-62412926291431863132013-07-02T17:00:00.000+10:002013-07-02T17:00:07.607+10:00Plant invasions and extinction debtsI am rather behind on posting reviews to this blog, apologies! We continue to review papers for F1000 and I will continue to do so with Mark Lonsdale even though his role is now changing at CSIRO (he has stepped down as chief of Ecosystem Sciences after serving a long and successful 'chiefdom'!) . <br />
<br />
At the end of April we highlighted the following article, particularly because it questions the timeframe over which we consider 'invasions' to play out: they are probably much longer than many of us have been thinking!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/110/5/1744">Gilbert B and Levine JM, <b>
</b><span class="journalname"><b>Plant invasions and extinction debts</b>. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A </span>
<span class="pubdate">2013</span>,
<span class="volume">110</span>(<span class="issue">5</span>):</a><span class="fpage"><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/110/5/1744">1744-9 </a></span><br />
<br />
<span class="fpage">Our review: </span><span class="fpage"><a href="http://f1000prime.com/718000610#eval793474985">F1000Prime.com/718000610#eval793474985 </a> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="evaluationText">
<div class="opinion">
The idea that invasive
species are a distinct threat to biodiversity has been disputed in
recent times. One of the lines of evidence adduced has been the paucity
of examples of invasives driving native plant species to extinction [1].
This paper uses a combination of metapopulation modelling and field
experiments to show that, for a suite of Californian native grasses,
extinction due to competition from invasive grasses is a real
possibility – it just takes time.
<br />
<br />The authors demonstrate experimentally that the native grass
populations retreat to refugia of ever smaller size and less favourable
conditions, while the habitat between these refugia becomes less
hospitable for seed production and establishment through competition
with the invasives. Metapopulation models show that the populations
become increasingly vulnerable to local extinction with less likelihood
of recolonisation because of the distance from other viable seed
sources.
<br />
<br />Their modelling suggests that these extinctions may take hundreds of
years to play out. While this is slow by comparison with direct habitat
destruction and the likely impact of climate change, extinction is a
long-term consequence of present, profound, and insidious changes to
ecosystem processes.</div>
</div>
<div class="references">
<b> </b></div>
<div class="references">
<b>References</b>
<div>
<div class="referenceArticleDetails">
1.<span class="title reference"> Don't judge species on their origins.
</span>
<span class="authors authors-reference">
<span class="authors-collapsed">Davis MA, Chew MK, Hobbs RJ, Lugo AE, ..., Ehrenfeld JG, Grime JP, Mascaro J, Briggs JC.</span>
</span>
<span class="publication reference">Nature 2011 Jun 9; 474(7350):153-4</span><span class="contributorPreviewReferenceNormal"></span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-89171424484803239582013-03-06T11:06:00.003+11:002013-03-21T15:27:15.417+11:00The march of the Cane toadsDespite the name of my blog, its not often I write a post about Cane toads! But recently a study came out that uses modelling to propose an interesting solution to halt the progress of the Cane Toad across North-western Australia.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12021/abstract">Identifying optimal barriers to halt the invasion of cane toads.</a>Tingley R, Phillips B, Letnic M, Brown G, Shine R, Baird S.
J Appl Ecol. 2013 Feb; 50(1):129-37<br />
<br />
Our Review: Lonsdale M and Parry H, 2013.<br />
<a href="http://f1000prime.com/717979948#eval793471458">F1000Prime.com/717979948#eval793471458</a><br />
Cane toads! Is there any way of stopping their march across northern Australia? This paper uses spatial modeling to suggest an economically and technically feasible solution. The model shows not only the potential importance of man-made waterholes to the invasion process, but suggests a control strategy that targets just these key points in the landscape.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Although this approach doesn't take into account landscape heterogeneity in the dispersal kernel, it does acknowledge that dispersal is not a uniform process, in this case driven by a series of waterbodies as foci of the invasion front. The authors feel their estimates may be conservative due to their treatment of rainfall variability, but it could also be argued that they may underestimate spread from vehicle movement (particularly with the expansion of mining in the region), and the model assumes colonization is very rapid following the presence of two toads at a site. Both of these issues simply highlight the complexity of the simulation of invasion spread. The stochastic approach taken here, that allows for an exploration of the most likely scenarios in relation to a potential management solution, is a good one that could easily be extended both to incorporate more complexity and to simulate other biological invasions.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTmr7wwtAnjJ9mSjAKHqXSKuEW3DkRVp4z7d3k1uc1om_g30aOdFZsTjN6i5m2etcjykSModJDIZ2RT6RnfRXduH15svhqfuoSPjZAfKDo9ErAwSVQYwNOJOW5I4MBbxpCmymLJ8DzOg/s1600/blog_cane_toad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTmr7wwtAnjJ9mSjAKHqXSKuEW3DkRVp4z7d3k1uc1om_g30aOdFZsTjN6i5m2etcjykSModJDIZ2RT6RnfRXduH15svhqfuoSPjZAfKDo9ErAwSVQYwNOJOW5I4MBbxpCmymLJ8DzOg/s1600/blog_cane_toad.png" /></a></div>
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Image from the paper (figure 1): "The study area in Western Australia. The black arrow in the lower
left-hand corner shows the location of the De Gray River, which was used
as an endpoint in all simulations. The dark grey region below the black
arrow shows the extent of the Pilbara region. In the inset, only
waterbodies that lie within the predicted distribution of toads (grey
shading) are depicted."fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-6899280405516814172013-02-21T13:12:00.002+11:002013-02-21T13:12:25.212+11:00The 100 worstThe Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is a global network of
scientific and policy experts on invasive species. They have developed a method of scoring invasive species to come up with a list of the 100 worst. This was recently reduced to 99, as Rinderpest virus has been eradicated ('from the wild'). That leaves a spot remaining! So, how to fill it? Well, this is open for public debate on their <a href="http://max2.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/pages/The100th/index.html">website</a> to find the new 100th villain. Their criteria?
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Firstly, they developed a shortlist of 50, from: </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- Species with a high number of appearances on current 'hit lists', both international and national</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">- Emerging threats: potential major impacts or rapid spread rates of species not currently problematic.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">From these, they assigned a score of (i) spread - the number of continents already invaded, and (ii) impact: either ecological, economic and/or health. Then, they eliminated those whose genus is already represented in the top 100, or those whose value can also be 'positive' (economic, ecological or health). This leaves just <a href="http://max2.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/pages/The100th/Species.html">10 candidates</a>...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I think my vote would probably go to the triffid-like Giant Hogweed</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <i>Heracleum
mantegazzianum</i></span>, although the aquatic plants on the list also sound particularly threatening. <br />
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<a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/images/lands_forests_images/ghwholeplant2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dec.ny.gov/images/lands_forests_images/ghwholeplant2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
However, it was a surprise to find the beautiful Lionfish <i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pterois
volitans</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><i> </i>on there - I have often admired this in large aquariums although I was aware it is not one you would easily keep at home, being rather poisonous! If this </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span class="Info">piscivorous fish</span> becomes more widespread it's impact on populations of reef fish is anticipated to be enormous - as if there weren't enough threats to coral reefs already with climate change and coral bleaching. </span><br />
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<a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/101213596_ca45c51525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/101213596_ca45c51525.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-34632520724534777942013-02-13T13:17:00.002+11:002013-02-13T13:17:38.437+11:00Radio Interview: Pest Suppressive LandscapesMy first radio interview! This is a summary of where we are at so far with our project on 'Pest Suppressive Landscapes'. Particularly the relationship between insect pests and predators with non-crop vegetation in the landscape, and how this might be managed to better promote predators.<br />
<br />
Please click <a href="http://www.grdc.com.au/Media-Centre/~/media/DB337A2B0698438CAD2B2BA7EA32EF72.mp3">here</a> to access the mp3 of the interview.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizV79Wi5FhZoXvmDtzXToOnAQDF55kb2AeaF0UE5Hyt7T1kTBz4_V6m2N59ljK9pPOse5Nkx65lQWWZxpTJqIpH5XG1V0ezHpZgJieJwVGNb-S9zJI8jmWNYbFN91vp0zRNoD6aKivJa4/s1600/QLD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizV79Wi5FhZoXvmDtzXToOnAQDF55kb2AeaF0UE5Hyt7T1kTBz4_V6m2N59ljK9pPOse5Nkx65lQWWZxpTJqIpH5XG1V0ezHpZgJieJwVGNb-S9zJI8jmWNYbFN91vp0zRNoD6aKivJa4/s320/QLD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Image shows two of the 7km radius landscapes (circles) that we studied in Queensland. We have four more landscapes, two in New South Wales and two in Western Australia. </div>
fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-16797245044883008382012-10-05T09:51:00.000+10:002012-10-05T09:51:11.365+10:00CSIRO TVCSIRO TV has just launched:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/vwvl1GVziLY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
This first episode showcases some of the great work by my fellow CSIRO scientists. It includes an explanation of the role of CSIRO's deep space complex at Tidbinbilla in the recent Mars landing; a new invention of a safer cattle gate; details of one of the many important reports that CSIRO have produced on climate change, this one on the effects on the marine environment; and a showcase of some of the remote technology CSIRO has developed. CSIRO has also developed remote technology for biosecurity through the <a href="http://anic.ento.csiro.au/virtual/index.html">virtual taxonomy laboratory</a> at the Australian National Insect Collection. This uses remote microscopes to link species identification requirements in remote locations with experts here in Australia. <br />
<br />
Stay tuned for more monthly video highlights of news and events from across the organization!fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-85336833406668068572012-08-13T11:21:00.001+10:002012-08-13T11:21:55.251+10:00The publication strategy dilemaWith the rise of open-access, rapidly publishing online journals academics publication strategy is becoming even more important. These new journals do not necessarily have an <a href="http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/free/essays/impact_factor/">impact factor</a> but may well lead to high citations for individual articles given their more easily accessible nature. The dilemma of where to publish to advance your academic career has never been greater. This is well summarized in a recent article and subsequent reviews on F1000.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00STBRY20vhyphenhyphenh0fDy_oO8rHvTr18-X_ZfBBLJXTdQZ8IrmLhshnm_21Xc7jBAzKpCu2k0diJ_vGdmqOyfx48EgYr8eDHHko17AWYaQbHFTw6pbsfgj8utuv43faFokjuBFZFNKFWdcjE/s640/phd091411s.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00STBRY20vhyphenhyphenh0fDy_oO8rHvTr18-X_ZfBBLJXTdQZ8IrmLhshnm_21Xc7jBAzKpCu2k0diJ_vGdmqOyfx48EgYr8eDHHko17AWYaQbHFTw6pbsfgj8utuv43faFokjuBFZFNKFWdcjE/s320/phd091411s.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/IEE/article/view/4351">On plummeting manuscript acceptance rates by the main ecological journals and the progress of ecology.</a><br />
<div class="publication display">
Wardle DA.<span class="journalname">Ideas Ecol Evol.</span>
<span class="pubdate">2012 May 29</span>;
<span class="volume">5</span>:<span class="fpage">13-5</span>
</div>
<br />
<a href="http://f1000.com/717950080#evaluations">Reviews on F1000:</a><br />
Hector A: 2012. <a href="http://f1000.com/717950080#eval793153059">F1000.com/717950080#eval793153059 </a><br />
Norton D: 2012. <a href="http://f1000.com/717950080#eval793458341">F1000.com/717950080#eval793458341 </a><br />
<br />
I particularly like the questions raised in the reviews as they are pertinent to my own publication dilemmas, where as an early career researcher I'm aware that I'm likely to be judged not only on the number of papers but also the impact factor or rank of the journal I publish in. <br />
<ul>
<li>Is high selectivity (and rejection rates) at journals the best system
for advancing science? </li>
<li>Should a paper be judged by the journal it is in
or would article-level metrics do a better job? </li>
<li>Do we need journals any
more or would we be better with a repository in the Cloud? </li>
<li>Should all
publicly-funded research be open access (as is increasingly the case in
medicine)? </li>
<li>Are new initiatives, such as PLoS, Frontiers, eLife, and
Faculty of 1000's new publishing initiative <a href="http://f1000research.com/">F1000 Research</a>, the way forward? </li>
<li>Should academics in the 'more mature'
stages of their careers, and for whom promotion is less of an issue, endeavor to publish research through these new publishing initiatives to counter the institutionalized emphasis on impact factor? </li>
<li> why are we so focused on quantity and what happened to the in-depth
research projects or reviews of key issues that used to be published?</li>
</ul>
I also appreciate David Norton's comment about the value of books, particularly as I have recently published a couple of book chapters and have the opportunity for more - but they tend to be viewed as somehow less worthy than papers: <br />
<br />
"I was concerned recently to hear a colleague say that a book was less
important than a traditional published paper in terms of research
quality – but a book might reflect the results of many years work and
provide a synthesis of a considerable body of research, including much
reflection; surely this is of more value to ecology than simply
publishing the latest bit of data that reaches publishable size that can
squeezed out of an experiment or field trial?"fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-51922826957833560212012-08-09T10:04:00.000+10:002012-08-09T10:04:15.907+10:00An important articleIts not often we highlight an article as 'exceptional', but we felt this refutation that eloquently counters some of the rather wild articles published recently which essentially tell us to stop making so much fuss about invasive species is an important one. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/11-1232.1"><b>The natives are restless, but not often and mostly whendisturbed.</b></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
D Simberloff, L Souza, MA Nuñez, MN Barrios-Garcia and W
Bunn Ecology. 2012 Mar; 93(3): 598-607</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Our Review: </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Parry H, Lonsdale M: 2012. <a href="http://f1000.com/717952323#eval793457754%20">F1000.com/717952323#eval793457754 </a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
This paper provides some counter-evidence to the argument
that native species are as likely to become problematic invaders as
non-indigenous species. The authors examined the literature on plant invasions
in the United States and found that a member of the naturalised non-native pool
is 40 times more likely than the native species to be perceived as invasive.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
It is important to note that, while 'invasive' means
different things to different researchers in the literature, these authors are
using it to mean spreading from the point of introduction into the natural or
semi-natural habitat and having an effect on the resident species in the
habitat. The authors used Web of Science literature searches to determine for
the United States the proportion of native and non-native plant species that
were recorded as invasive and to glean the reasons for invasions by native
species. In addition to demonstrating that non-native species have far greater
invasion risk than native species, they also found that the typical cause for
invasiveness of native species was mainly anthropogenic environmental change,
such as altered fire regimes and grazing regimes. In other words, it was
unusual for native species to spontaneously invade under natural, unmodified
environmental conditions.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
All this provides an important counter-argument to the
proposal that there is nothing special about non-native species per se, which
has arisen in recent literature (e.g. [1]). According to Simberloff et al.,
non-native species clearly have a greater propensity to cause damage than
natives, and we should use this information strategically, rather than ignore
this important trait.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
References:</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
[1] <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7350/full/474153a.html">Don't judge species on their origins.</a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Davis MA, Chew MK, Hobbs RJ, Lugo AE, ...,
Ehrenfeld JG, Grime JP, Mascaro J, Briggs JC Nature. 2011 Jun 9; 474(7350):
153-4</span><div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-1232198297240962772012-07-11T06:42:00.002+10:002012-07-11T06:42:52.810+10:00F1000 July review: Invasion and phenology<span style="background-color: white;">This month we chose to review a Nature paper, which presents data that perhaps poses more intriguing questions than it actually answers.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<b><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7398/full/nature11056.html">Extended leaf phenology and the autumn niche in deciduous forest invasions.</a> </b>Fridley JD.
Nature. 2012; 485(7398):359-62<br />
<br />
Our review:<br />
Parry H, Lonsdale M: 2012.<a href="http://f1000.com/716398006#eval793002852"> F1000.com/716398006#eval793002852</a>
<br />
<br />
<b>Invasion ecologists have invoked phenology as one explanation of the apparent success of non-indigenous forest species compared to native species. This paper shows that the invasion of forest species with canopies that persist later into autumn is resulting in a seasonal change in primary productivity that may rival climate change in size and extent. </b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This paper shows a clear difference in autumn leaf fall timing for these two groups of species, where non-native invasives maintain their leaves for longer. In spring there is also more rapid bud/leaf formation by non-native invasives before canopy shading. This paper discusses whether this would constitute a competitive advantage (increased annual tree growth) or, in fact, a disadvantage (lack of nutrient resorption in autumn due to frost damage of leaves and subsequent nutrient loss). It would be interesting to compare the data from this study to the behaviour of these same non-native trees in their native range. They do not necessarily behave the same way – there may have been a selection process, or phenotypic plasticity, at play here. The role of phenotypic plasticity in invasion ecology had been suggested a long time ago {1} and has been the subject of recent literature {2}, with some novel suggestions on how it may operate geographically (e.g. see ref {3}). </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a>References<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">1.Characteristics and modes of origin of weeds. In: The genetics of colonizing species.
Baker HG
New York: Academic Press, 1965: 147-69
Baker HG, Stebbins GL (eds)
ISBN:9780120751501 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">2.<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01596.x/abstract">Do invasive species show higher phenotypic plasticity than native species and, if so, is it adaptive?</a> A meta-analysis.
Davidson AM, Jennions M, Nicotra AB
Ecol Lett 2011 Apr; 14(4): 419-31 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">3.<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032323">Phenotypic plasticity influences the size, shape and dynamics of the geographic distribution of an invasive plant.</a>
Pichancourt JB, van Klinken RD
PLoS One 2012 Feb 27; 7(2): e32323 </span>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-38928767980164760322012-04-10T09:47:00.000+10:002012-04-10T09:47:05.534+10:00The Geography of Yellow dwarf viruses and aphid vectors in AustraliaI have to admit, it has been a long time since I have had a first-author paper published - I've had several on the boil for quite a while and I'm hoping this year I can pump out a few. So, I'm really pleased to hear my paper has just been published: <a href="http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s13313-012-0133-7%20">The geographical distribution of Yellow dwarf viruses and their aphid vectors in Australian grasslands and wheat</a>, which I wrote with <a href="http://www.csiro.au/">CSIRO</a> co-authors <a href="http://www.csiro.au/en/Organisation-Structure/Divisions/Ecosystem-Sciences/SarinaMacfadyen.aspx">Sarina Macfadyen </a>and<a href="http://www.csiro.au/en/Organisation-Structure/Divisions/Ecosystem-Sciences/DarrenKriticos.aspx"> Darren Kriticos</a> for the Springer journal <a href="http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/plant+sciences/journal/13313">Australasian Plant Pathology</a>. <br />
<br />
It is quite a challenge to review one's own work, so probably I should leave that to others. However, in summary I have taken on quite a lot with this paper, because I felt there was a real need to bring the knowledge about Yellow dwarf viruses and their aphid vectors across the country together in one place - trawling through the literature was quite a task! Hopefully this will save many people the effort and provide a useful snapshot of the state of knowledge in Australia today. I also give my thoughts on the potential impacts of Climate change and other future threats. For example, under climate change transmission efficiency of aphids may alter, and some aphid species may undergo range shifts (e.g. R. maidis may shift south from Queensland). I have tried to summarize these geographical implications of climate change that will impact on aphid/YDV populations in a map (below), although the text in the paper gives a much fuller description of the implications and really this diagram should be seen in relation to that. I also discuss the potential for the interaction of YDVs with emerging viruses, such as Wheat streak mosaic virus. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK0JsMCaGMik7SCVcWH8eAgFTHBmIaLmF7hGmFa4ZQn5ZKwYWrpMFX3mBqfIW2gJQlHaoP9GKbfMMiTM2D9NcWvbV2vPV0CG4lQKEgty-5ioi_WcNc4GrBU80IX5ws4niKFYS1Xab64Vw/s1600/cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK0JsMCaGMik7SCVcWH8eAgFTHBmIaLmF7hGmFa4ZQn5ZKwYWrpMFX3mBqfIW2gJQlHaoP9GKbfMMiTM2D9NcWvbV2vPV0CG4lQKEgty-5ioi_WcNc4GrBU80IX5ws4niKFYS1Xab64Vw/s400/cc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-865031605383964322012-02-01T11:31:00.002+11:002012-02-01T11:41:59.998+11:00The Biodiversity Fund<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/gmi/lowres/gmin184l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/gmi/lowres/gmin184l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I read with interest <a href="http://theconversation.edu.au/the-biodiversity-fund-another-missed-opportunity-4889">this article </a>on the recent call for proposals for the new Australian<a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cleanenergyfuture/biodiversity-fund/index.html"> 'Biodiversity Fund'</a>, which is offering $946m over the next six years in much needed conservation and climate change related funding. However, the first call has attracted much controversy, which is clearly described by well known scientists <a href="http://theconversation.edu.au/profiles/emma-burns-6287">Emma Burns</a> and <a href="http://theconversation.edu.au/profiles/david-lindenmayer-4848">David Lindenmayer </a>of the Australian National University. I myself put in a proposal to this fund, despite advice that the fund was looking for 'practical, on the ground action', my proposal was focused on the 'enabling technologies' component of the call, which is the only place I felt there was scope to propose a spatial planning tool that aims to increase capabilities and success in implementing plantings. Many plantings are likely to have to provide multiple ecosystem services, such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration, control of invasives and spray buffering, for example. The question of how best to ensure that plantings provide these services is complex, and requires a strategic landscape scale approach. Without funding strategic proposals before on the ground action, I totally agree that there is unlikely to be much impact from ad hoc plantings - although, equally, without funding for ongoing monitoring to measure success, it will be hard to judge!fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-29567831375936116932012-01-19T16:31:00.000+11:002012-01-19T16:31:52.029+11:00F1000 January review: Science can be practical!Its always nice to find an example of where a great scientific theory can be tested and prove useful! In this case, ideas about how timing of watering regimes can give a phenological advantage to invaders but could then also be manipulated to give a disadvantage and so suppress invading populations. Ideas like this have existed in weed control in agriculture for a long time, but its interesting to see this kind of thinking emerging in a new context.<br />
<br />
Wainwright CE, Wolkovich EM, Cleland EE (2011) <b>Seasonal priority effects: implications for invasion and restoration in a semi-arid system.</b> J App Ecol. 49:234-41 <br />
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Our review: <br />
<br />
Parry H, Lonsdale M: 2012. <a href="http://f1000.com/13480958">http://f1000.com/13480958</a><br />
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<div class="evaluationMeta"> <div class="article-rating"> <strong class="rating-score"><br />
</strong><span class="rating-description"></span> </div></div><div class="opinion"><b>This is a good example of hypothesis-driven research in invasion ecology. A concept of phenologically driven seasonal ‘priority advantage’ is introduced, which can be used to explain the success of an invasive species. Having shown that the concept is applicable to exotic annual grasses in California, the authors go a step further and show how an understanding of phenology can be a powerful weapon in restoring invaded ecosystems.</b></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="mainFindingAndContext"> The paper provides experimental evidence that earlier establishment of exotic seedlings under a normal watering regime gives them a ‘priority advantage’. The ‘priority advantage’ is turned into a ‘priority disadvantage’ for the invader when an early season watering regime is introduced. This stimulates early germination of the invasive before true growing season rains, resulting in reduced survival throughout the season as the early seedlings die and a depleted seed bank for later germination. The possibility that this can be used to manage the invader is posed – a suggestion foreshadowed by an older literature for agronomic weeds on the manipulation of the seed bank [1]. However, the study does not isolate the direct effects of phenology and environmental stress from other factors, such as the presence of herbivores; the authors argue that the herbivores simply act to augment the stress impacts of the early season watering strategy and are simply a component of the ‘priority disadvantage’. To implement such a management strategy for vegetation in reality, not only the water regime but also the presence of herbivores should likely be optimised. </div><div class="mainFindingAndContext"><br />
</div><div class="mainFindingAndContext">[1] Egley GH, Rev Weed Sci 1986, 2:67-89 </div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-51706458186325548942012-01-04T10:24:00.000+11:002012-01-04T10:24:25.762+11:00Mutant killer fungusOur latest review is of a study that reveals something close to science fiction in the interactions between a bark beetle, a fungus and the host plant. It is a very good paper that presents a well executed study, that includes multiple methods to consider the question: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Do novel genotypes drive the success of an invasive bark beetle-fungus complex? Implications for potential reinvasion.</blockquote><br />
Lu M, Wingfield MJ, Gillette N and Sun JH, Ecology. 2011 92(11):2013-9<br />
<br />
Our Review: Parry H, Lonsdale M: 2011. <a href="http://f1000.com/13416967%20">F1000.com/13416967 </a><br />
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<br />
<div class="evaluationMeta"></div><div class="opinion"><b>This fascinating paper explores the emergence of a mutant, killer fungus as a result of an unholy alliance between the fungus, its beetle vector, and its host plant. It is important for invasion ecologists because it emphasises the role of novel genotypes in invasion success and it does so in the context of a three-way interspecific interaction.</b></div><div class="opinion"></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="mainFindingAndContext"> The paper describes a feedback loop whereby introduced bark beetles are attracted to a chemical given off by fungus-infected pines, spreading a novel fungal genotype that suppresses the growth of competing fungi and increases the release of the attractant, so attracting yet more beetles to increase the dispersal of the novel genotype. The results from the study show that the novel genotype has emerged post-invasion. The paper contains a nice mix of biotechnology, pathology and insect behavioural experiments to tease out the interaction. <br />
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The implications of the findings are that a novel genotype that is more pathogenic to pine trees has evolved in the introduced range (China) and now poses a threat to the native range (North America).</div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-82321817548865024602011-11-22T16:06:00.001+11:002011-11-22T16:06:51.601+11:00Biosecurity research efforts will be well funded in AustraliaNews just out - the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has won its rebid, second time lucky! Here is a link to the previous, related, <a href="http://www.crcplantbiosecurity.com.au/">CRC for National Plant Biosecurity</a> for whom I spent 2 years working as a post-doc. Alongside <a href="http://www.csiro.au/partnerships/NRF.html">CSIRO's new Biosecurity Flagship</a>, funding support for research into Biosecurity in Australia has never been stronger, exciting times.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://plantbio.boab.info/themes/black_getsred/images/header2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="55" src="http://plantbio.boab.info/themes/black_getsred/images/header2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-50613401834491824782011-11-17T10:33:00.000+11:002011-11-17T10:33:13.482+11:00A meta-analysis of the impacts of alien plantsOur latest review is of a meta-analysis that examines a wide range of studies from across the globe (including invasive animals, as well as plants) to try and identify some general impacts invasive species have on species, communities and ecosystems. <br />
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Vilà, M., Espinar, J. L., Hejda, M., Hulme, P. E., Jarošík, V., Maron, J. L., Pergl, J., Schaffner, U., Sun, Y. and Pyšek, P. (2011), <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01628.x/abstract">Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta-analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems.</a> Ecology Letters, 14: 702–708. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01628.x <br />
<br />
Our Review: Parry H, Lonsdale M: 2011. <a href="http://f1000.com/13365971">F1000.com/13365971</a><br />
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<div class="opinion"><b>This comprehensive meta-analysis of over 500 articles illuminates some key future research directions for the ecology of alien plant introductions. The authors draw some conclusions on the general relative impacts of alien plants on ecosystems. These impacts range from species, through community, up to ecosystem-level, including changes in nutrient levels and cycling.</b></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="mainFindingAndContext"> Over the last ten years, since Parker <i>et al.</i> published a review that sought to understand the general impacts of invaders on ecosystems [1], there has been an explosion of literature on this subject. This article provides a well executed and timely summary of a wide range of studies, drawing some conclusions on the relative general ecosystem impacts of both non-native plants and animals. These conclusions primarily indicate important directions for future research in plant invasions. This includes a need to: (a) investigate further 'island' effects and the importance of scale in measuring impact; (b) consider sampling effects when exploring relationships between the impacts of alien species on native plant diversity and production; and (c) explore more thoroughly the direct and indirect ecosystem impacts of alien species. <br />
<br />
Despite equal effort in surveying the literature on animal species and communities, one shortcoming is that this study doesn’t conclude similar future directions for animal research. Some interesting perspectives on the bias in the literature are also gained by such a study. Here, we see that there is a bias in plant research towards trees and shrubs, as well as to certain regions such as Australia. We cannot draw on a long history of research in this area as the studies are nearly all from the last ten years. </div><div class="references"><br />
</div><div class="references">References: <br />
[1] <a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/l4l50605m41l2782/">Parker et al. Biol Invasions 1999, 1:3-19</a> </div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2212003394486138896.post-75603496730538443542011-11-07T17:20:00.001+11:002011-11-07T17:21:38.527+11:00What is this blog about?Well, I created a word cloud using <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">Wordle</a> to tell you!<br />
(if you click the picture below you will see it more clearly)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQS3xEmItpAKF1Rz305hJbeAHZ513ZZrho4fyW3XnHTOUtL679rXf0-onWYSvQ8Y0ufgGZmRKnyyFE7MPY3qVyD1TrGB1UVIIYALA_GvIbLyw6uAn4YiBSZqTXS098nrTcxpBNFcsIkQE/s1600/blogwords.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQS3xEmItpAKF1Rz305hJbeAHZ513ZZrho4fyW3XnHTOUtL679rXf0-onWYSvQ8Y0ufgGZmRKnyyFE7MPY3qVyD1TrGB1UVIIYALA_GvIbLyw6uAn4YiBSZqTXS098nrTcxpBNFcsIkQE/s400/blogwords.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>fnkykntrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11388578295643116030noreply@blogger.com0