More resources needed to protect birds in Germany

Citizen scientists enable Göttingen University researchers to analyse effectiveness of protected areas

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Göttingen

 

image: 

Bucking the trend: the corn bunting is one of the few field birds to experience improvement – particularly in protected areas.

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Credit: Johannes Kamp

Member states of the European Union are obliged to designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as part of the Natura 2000 network. These areas are designed to guarantee the preservation and restoration of bird populations. However, due to the paucity of data about rare species, it was not known how well these areas worked. Researchers at the University of Göttingen and Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) developed citizen science platforms as a new data source to evaluate the effectiveness of the 742 protected areas for birds across Germany. This research shows that although these areas are well placed, their effectiveness varies greatly. When  protected areas were compared with unprotected sites that showed similar geographical characteristics, only a few species thrived better inside the SPAs. The results were published in the journal Biological Conservation.

 

Citizen science platforms enable thousands of people to contribute to research with their observations – whether a single blackbird at a bird feeder or a long list of species seen during a day trip to the seashore. The study used the platform www.ornitho.de, which contains more than 90 million records. The advantage of such platforms is that they provide almost complete coverage of the country. However, the poorly standardised and unsystematic data collection process means that there are multiple sources of error. For this reason, the researchers limited their analysis just to particularly valuable, complete lists that provide information on all birds registered during an observation. To find out how the protected areas fared, the researchers compared them with areas that were not protected but had similar natural features.

 

The analyses showed that 62 per cent of the species studied were more likely to be found in a Special Protection Area than outside it. Dr Femke Pflüger, first author of the study, based at the DDA and Göttingen University’s Department of Conservation Biology, highlights these positive findings: “Conservationists obviously did a good job in selecting the right areas in the 2000s.” However, a comparison over time showed more mixed results and she adds: “For the period 2012 to 2022, we were only able to identify positive developments in protected areas for 17 per cent of the species. These concerned mainly meadow birds such as black-tailed godwits and curlews, which have benefited from targeted habitat management.” For 83 per cent of the species, there was either no measurable effect or the development was less favourable inside the protected areas than outside. The study also defined situations as ‘effective protection’ if the probability of finding a species decreased over time, both inside and outside the protected areas, but to a lesser extent within them.

 

Professor Johannes Kamp, Head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Göttingen who led the analyses, says: “This shows that designating a Special Protection Area is not enough to stop a downward trend. The areas need better staffing and funding to restore habitats and to target measures specifically to support endangered species.” Dr Jakob Katzenberger, who coordinates the DDA's research, is delighted that thousands of citizens contributed: “We were able to show that collecting biodiversity data from online platforms has huge potential. It was possible to track large-scale changes in birdlife really effectively.”

 

This research was made possible thanks to funding by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) as part of the project ‘Implementation of measures for nationwide harmonised bird monitoring in EU special protection areas’.

 

Original publication: Pflüger, F.J. et al: “Semi-structured citizen science data reveal mixed effectiveness of EU Special Protection Areas (SPA) in Germany.” Biological Conservation 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110801

 

 

Contact:

Professor Johannes Kamp

University of Göttingen

Department of Conservation Biology

Bürgerstraße 50, 37073 Göttingen

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25207

Email: johannes.kamp@uni-goettingen.de

www.uni-goettingen.de/conservation

 

Dr Femke Pflüger

Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) and

University of Göttingen

Department of Conservation Biology

Bürgerstraße 50, 37073 Göttingen

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25207

Email: fpflueg@gwdg.de

www.dda-web.de/dda/team/mitarbeiter/Pfl%C3%BCger,Femke

 

Member states of the European Union are obliged to designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as part of the Natura 2000 network. These areas are designed to guarantee the preservation and restoration of bird populations. However, due to the paucity of data about rare species, it was not known how well these areas worked. Researchers at the University of Göttingen and Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) developed citizen science platforms as a new data source to evaluate the effectiveness of the 742 protected areas for birds across Germany. This research shows that although these areas are well placed, their effectiveness varies greatly. When  protected areas were compared with unprotected sites that showed similar geographical characteristics, only a few species thrived better inside the SPAs. The results were published in the journal Biological Conservation.

 

Citizen science platforms enable thousands of people to contribute to research with their observations – whether a single blackbird at a bird feeder or a long list of species seen during a day trip to the seashore. The study used the platform www.ornitho.de, which contains more than 90 million records. The advantage of such platforms is that they provide almost complete coverage of the country. However, the poorly standardised and unsystematic data collection process means that there are multiple sources of error. For this reason, the researchers limited their analysis just to particularly valuable, complete lists that provide information on all birds registered during an observation. To find out how the protected areas fared, the researchers compared them with areas that were not protected but had similar natural features.

 

The analyses showed that 62 per cent of the species studied were more likely to be found in a Special Protection Area than outside it. Dr Femke Pflüger, first author of the study, based at the DDA and Göttingen University’s Department of Conservation Biology, highlights these positive findings: “Conservationists obviously did a good job in selecting the right areas in the 2000s.” However, a comparison over time showed more mixed results and she adds: “For the period 2012 to 2022, we were only able to identify positive developments in protected areas for 17 per cent of the species. These concerned mainly meadow birds such as black-tailed godwits and curlews, which have benefited from targeted habitat management.” For 83 per cent of the species, there was either no measurable effect or the development was less favourable inside the protected areas than outside. The study also defined situations as ‘effective protection’ if the probability of finding a species decreased over time, both inside and outside the protected areas, but to a lesser extent within them.

 

Professor Johannes Kamp, Head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Göttingen who led the analyses, says: “This shows that designating a Special Protection Area is not enough to stop a downward trend. The areas need better staffing and funding to restore habitats and to target measures specifically to support endangered species.” Dr Jakob Katzenberger, who coordinates the DDA's research, is delighted that thousands of citizens contributed: “We were able to show that collecting biodiversity data from online platforms has huge potential. It was possible to track large-scale changes in birdlife really effectively.”

 

This research was made possible thanks to funding by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) as part of the project ‘Implementation of measures for nationwide harmonised bird monitoring in EU special protection areas’.

 

Original publication: Pflüger, F.J. et al: “Semi-structured citizen science data reveal mixed effectiveness of EU Special Protection Areas (SPA) in Germany.” Biological Conservation 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110801

 

Black-tailed godwits benefit from targeted measures to shape their habitat in protected areas

Hans Glader

 

Contact:

Professor Johannes Kamp

University of Göttingen

Department of Conservation Biology

Bürgerstraße 50, 37073 Göttingen

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25207

Email: johannes.kamp@uni-goettingen.de

www.uni-goettingen.de/conservation

 

Dr Femke Pflüger

Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) and

University of Göttingen

Department of Conservation Biology

Bürgerstraße 50, 37073 Göttingen

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25207

Email: fpflueg@gwdg.de

www.dda-web.de/dda/team/mitarbeiter/Pfl%C3%BCger,Femke

 

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Journal

Biological Conservation

DOI

10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110801 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Semi-structured citizen science data reveal mixed effectiveness of EU Special Protection Areas (SPA) in Germany

Article Publication Date

1-Nov-2024

 

Bee gene specifies collective behavior

Bee research: publication in Science Advances

Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf

 

image: 

Each honeybee is labelled with a QR code so that their individual behaviour can be tracked. (Photo: HHU / Christoph Kawan)

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Credit: HHU / Christoph Kawan

Embargoed: Not for Release Until 2:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time Friday, 01 November 2024.

Researchers at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) are collaborating with colleagues from Frankfurt/Main, Oxford and Würzburg to investigate how the complex, cooperative behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera) is genetically programmed so that it can be passed on to subsequent generations. As they explain in the scientific journal Science Advances, they found an answer in what is known as the doublesex gene (dsx).

Behavioural interactions between organisms are fundamental and often inherited. Every human being and every animal interacts with other individuals in its social group in one way or another through its behaviour. In the animal kingdom, this has considerable advantages in collective foraging for food, defence against predators and the rearing of offspring.

In some animals, such as honeybees, the social behaviour bonds are so strong that the individual members form a tight-knit society that function collectively as a single “superorganism”. Through their individual behaviour, thousands of worker bees protect the entire colony, feed it and care for the brood.

Professor Dr Martin Beye, who heads the Institute of Evolutionary Genetics at HHU and is the corresponding author of the study that has now been published in Science Advances, emphasises: “The behavioural repertoire of the individual bees and their function in the colony are not learned, but rather inherited. Until now, it was not known how such complex behaviours were genetically encoded.”

Together with colleagues from the universities in Frankfurt/Main, Oxford and Würzburg, the team of researchers at HHU led by Beye and first author Dr Vivien Sommer has now discovered that a special gene known as dsx specifies worker bee-specific behaviour.

Sommer: “The gene programmes whether a worker bee takes up a task in the colony and for how long. This includes collective tasks such as caring for the larvae or foraging for food and social exchanges on food sources, for example.”

The biologists used the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors in their investigations to modify or switch off the dsx gene in selected bees. They attached a QR code to the manipulated bees, then monitored their behaviour in the hive with cameras. The resulting video sequences were analysed with the support of artificial intelligence to determine the bees’ individual behavioural patterns.

Sommer: “Our central question was whether and how the inherited behavioural patterns changed as a result of the gene modification. Such changes must be reflected in the nervous system of the worker bees where the specific behaviour is controlled.”

The researchers introduced green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the dsx sequence so that GFP was produced together with the dsx protein. The neuronal circuits could then be viewed using fluorescence microscopy, in both the unmodified bees and in those with genetic modifications. “We were able to use these tools to see exactly which neural pathways the dsx gene creates in the brain and how this gene in turn specifies the inherited behavioural patterns of honeybees,” explains doctoral researcher Jana Seiler, who is also a co-author of the study.

“Our findings indicate a fundamental genetic programme that determines the neuronal circuitry and behaviour of worker bees,” says Professor Dr Wolfgang Rössler from the Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, who led the study at the University of Würzburg.

In the next step, the researchers now want to move from the level of the individual honeybee to the bee colony superorganism. Alina Sturm, who is also a doctoral researcher at HHU and study co-author, adds: “We hope to find the link between individual programming and the coordinated behaviour of many individuals.”

The neuronal network in the bee’s brain appears in green. (Image: HHU / Institute for Evolutionary Genetics)

Credit

HHU / Institute for Evolutionary Genetics

Original publication:

Vivien Sommer, Jana Seiler, Alina Sturm, Sven Köhnen, Anna Wagner, Christina Blut, Wolfgang Rössler, Stephen F. Goodwin, Bernd Grünewald, Martin Beye. Dedicated developmental programing for group-supporting behaviors in eusocial honeybees. Science Advances (2024).

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp3953

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adp3953 

Article Title

Dedicated developmental programing for group-supporting behaviors in eusocial honeybees

Article Publication Date

1-Nov-2024

 

Change of ownership in home health agencies may lead to increased Medicare spending and reduced staffing levels, according to UTHealth Houston research

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

 

image: 

Yucheng Hou, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health

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Credit: UTHealth Houston

Medicare-certified home health agencies, which are key to allowing older adults to age in place, are increasingly going through ownership changes, raising concerns about health care spending, workforce, and quality of care, according to a study by UTHealth Houston.

The research was published in JAMA Health Forum, part of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“The ownership change in health care sectors — including various forms of acquisitions by health systems, insurers, private equity firms, and other corporate investors — is increasingly reshaping U.S. health care system and causing concerns about quality of care,” said Yucheng Hou, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. “Some types of the ownership changes, such as private equity firms’ acquisition of health care organizations, could shift organizations’ focus to short-term profit generating instead of providing high-quality care.”

While other studies have looked at implications after ownership changes in hospitals, physician practices, and nursing homes, this is one of the first studies to examine home health agencies, Hou said.

The researchers looked at 294 Medicare-certified home health agencies through change-of-ownership files linked to publicly available Medicare data from 2016 to 2019. They were compared with 2,330 matched controls before and after the ownership transaction.

In the three years after ownership changes, quarterly star ratings increased by 0.18 relative to controls, with greater increases seen among home health agencies that converted from nonprofit/public to for-profit. Per-capita payments from Medicare also increased within two years of the ownership change. Sixty-day hospital admission rates and emergency department visits, however, remained the same.

The increased home health spending per patient, Hou said, could be because home health agencies are shifting resources toward more profitable services or treating patients for multiple home health episodes following the ownership change, which highlights the need for future research.

“Although we find an increase in the home health star rating, this measure is mostly composed of self-reported quality measures from the home health agencies, so there might be room for upcoding,” Hou said. “The more objective claims-based quality measures, such as 60-day hospital admissions and outpatient emergency room visits, did not change.”

Most concerning, Hou said, was the reduction in staffing levels: down 17% in nurses and 26% in home health aides. There was also a reduction in per-visit minutes for patients: down 5% for skilled nursing, 3% for physical therapy, and 11% for home health aide care.

“Overall, our results are consistent with the growing evidence of corporate consolidation in other health care sectors, which paints concerning implications of ownership changes on the quality of care,” Hou said.

Co-first authors were Zhanji Zhang, MSc, of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and Kun Li, PhD, postdoctoral associate at Duke University. Co-authors were Siyi Wang, BS, of Rice University, and Shekinah Fashaw-Walters, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

 

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Journal

JAMA Health Forum

DOI

10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.3767 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Change of Ownership and Quality of Home Health Agency Care

Article Publication Date

1-Nov-2024

 

Exposure to particular sources of air pollution is harmful to children’s learning and memory, a USC study shows

Research contributes to mounting cvidence that shows that fine particulates PM2.5 are detrimental for memory and cognition for people of all ages.

University of Southern California

A new USC study involving 8,500 children from across the country reveals that a form of air pollution, largely the product of agricultural emissions, is linked to poor learning and memory performance in 9- and 10-year-olds.

The specific component of fine particle air pollution, or PM2.5, ammonium nitrate, is also implicated in Alzheimer’s and dementia risk in adults, suggesting that PM2.5 may cause neurocognitive harm across the lifespan. Ammonium nitrate forms when ammonia gas and nitric acid, produced by agricultural activities and fossil fuel combustion, respectively, react in the atmosphere.

The findings appear in Environmental Health Perspectives.

“Our study highlights the need for more detailed research on particulate matter sources and chemical components,” said senior author Megan Herting, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “It suggests that understanding these nuances is crucial for informing air quality regulations and understanding long-term neurocognitive effects.”

For the last several years, Herting has been working with data from the largest brain study across America, known as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, or ABCD, to understand how PM2.5 may affect the brain.

PM2.5, a key indicator of air quality, is a mixture of dust, soot, organic compounds and metals that come in a range of particle sizes less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. PM2.5 can travel deep into the lungs, where these particles can pass into the bloodstream, and bypass the blood-brain barrier, causing serious health problems.

Fossil fuel combustion is one of the largest sources of PM2.5, especially in urban areas, but sources like wildfires, agriculture, marine aerosols and chemical reactions are also important.

In 2020, Herting and her colleagues published a paper in which they looked at PM2.5 as a whole, and its potential impact on cognition in children, and did not find a relationship.

For this study, they used special statistical techniques to look at 15 chemical components in PM2.5 and their sources. That’s when ammonium nitrate — which is usually a result of agricultural and farming operations — in the air appeared as a prime suspect.

“No matter how we examined it, on its own or with other pollutants, the most robust finding was that ammonium nitrate particles were linked to poorer learning and memory,” Herting said. “That suggests that overall PM2.5 is one thing, but for cognition, it’s a mixture effect of what you’re exposed to.”

For their next project, the researchers hope to look at how these mixtures and sources may map on to individual differences in brain phenotypes during child and adolescent development.

In addition to Herting, other study authors include Rima Habre, Kirthana Sukumaran, Katherine Bottenhorn, Jim Gauderman, Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, Rob McConnell and Hedyeh Ahmadi, all of the Keck School of Medicine; Daniel A. Hackman of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work; Kiros Berhane of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Shermaine Abad of University of California, San Diego; and Joel Schwartz of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health [NIEHS R01ES032295, R01ES031074, P30ES007048] and the Environmental Protection Agency [RD 83587201, RD 83544101].

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Journal

Environmental Health Perspectives

DOI

10.1289/EHP14418 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Associations between Fine Particulate Matter Components, Their Sources, and Cognitive Outcomes in Children Ages 9–10 Years Old from the United States

Article Publication Date

30-Oct-2024

 

Gentrification can leave residents feeling powerless and alienated in their own neighborhood, research shows

A new study reveals the complex impact of state-led urban change on residential communities in Korea

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

 

image: 

(Left) Aerial view of Sangwangsimni. (Right) Changsin-Sungin

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Credit: (Left) Križnik/Fakulteta za družbene vede; (right) Kim et al. doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105433

In East Asia, a silent shift is taking place: gentrification.

Urban neighbourhoods are undergoing huge transformations as once-affordable areas become hotspots for upscale living.

This process, which aims to make neighbourhoods more attractive to affluent residents, can force longtime residents out of their homes or neighbourhoods as the places they've known and loved become expensive or unfamiliar.

While direct displacement has recently declined, new forms of displacement are emerging.

In a study published in The Developing Economies, Dr Kon Kim from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), China, and Dr Blaž Križnik from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, have uncovered the intricate effects of gentrification in Seoul through a comparative analysis of two distinct urban renewal models: state-led urban regeneration and property-led redevelopment driven by the private sector.

The findings suggest that state-led urban regeneration, while appearing more inclusive, can still lead to the emotional displacement of residents who experience a growing sense of alienation from their communities even if they remain in the same neighbourhood.

(In)Directly displaced residents

The study examines property-led redevelopment in Sangwangsimni and state-led regeneration in Changsin-Sungin and offers fresh insights into neighbourhood transformation and resident displacement.

Dr Kim says: "In the case of Sangwangsimni, we found that redevelopment led to residential gentrification, directly displacing residents and replacing the industrial clusters with large-scale high-rise residential construction.

"This contrasts sharply with Changsin-Sungin, where state-led regeneration allowed residents to remain, preserving and partially revitalising the industrial area.

"However, even though residents remain in place, there's a rise of indirect displacement causing them to have feelings of powerlessness and emotional distress, because their surroundings have changed significantly."

A resident from Changsin-Sungin who was interviewed for the study said she feels like she is treated like an animal in a zoo when tourists watch or take photos of how she works in her sewing factory. However, she cannot imagine leaving the area because this has long been her place of work and life.

Another interviewee said about the regeneration: "It made me feel the kind of classy vibe of this place that never existed before. This is good for me because the new vibe sometimes lets me refresh my mind instantly.

"However, I heard that new shop owners are trying to buy other buildings and expand similar businesses. I love a few classy shops for refreshment, but do not want them overspreading our neighbourhood."

Toward more equitable urban policies

Dr Kim says that this empirical evidence helps redefine the scope of gentrification in South Korea and broader East Asia, emphasising indirect or symbolic displacement.

"The motivation behind our study stems from the long-standing issue of displacement in South Korea's urban development. We aimed to address the gap in understanding the emerging forms of displacement that have not been widely discussed, even as direct eviction and displacement have declined over the past decade," he explains.

"The study's findings are significant not only for the academic field but also for the wider public, particularly for those affected by gentrification. It offers a clearer picture of the complex interplay between tangible and intangible factors in neighbourhood transformation and displacement, providing an empirical basis for more equitable urban development policies," adds Dr Kim.

Dr Kim and Dr Križnik plan to expand their research to include state-civil society relations and grassroots resistance against state-facilitated gentrification. Their future work will explore the state's role in facilitating displacement and the significance of grassroots movements in promoting more inclusive cities across East Asia.

Changing Scope of Gentrification in Seoul? (IMAGE)

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Recent commercial development in Changsin-Sungin

Credit

Dr Kon Kim

Usage Restricti

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Journal

The Developing Economies

DOI

10.1111/deve.12420 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Changing Scope of Gentrification in Seoul? Neighborhood Transformation and Displacement in Sangwangsimni and Changsin-Sungin Industrial Clusters