tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51959875660436914382024-02-19T18:22:56.374-08:00Bellis Chains and Cabbage LeeksAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-37998488687963066752015-12-29T09:10:00.001-08:002015-12-29T09:10:22.214-08:00A common plant survey of the vice counties of Durham and South Northumberland<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Many
people remark on the changes that are occurring in the countryside, the
disappearance of some species and the spread of others. Yet these anecdotes
cannot substitute for hard facts. There are also many suggested causes for all
these changes; a warmer climate, different agricultural practises,
eutrophication, alien species etc. Botanical observations tend to be biased. For
example, people often note the exceptional species but ignore the common ones.
So it is difficult to draw conclusions about plant abundance from casual
observations. What was needed was a dedicated survey with a clear repeatable
methodology. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Common
plant species are the mainstay of habitats, they create our woodlands,
hedgerows and <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPeWUy0EI28AyWa35Jl54_7PD63CsJ7qFVJBcJNvzDFhrk5ddWKfVnSyN-YESZScTuWi5vDU0jF8TeFmglfKIMy2vRVjzFDFhZvuXWT9z2sNKm7snrhP-til6M2UQbDc3_x9tef5uhzk/s1600/calluna.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPeWUy0EI28AyWa35Jl54_7PD63CsJ7qFVJBcJNvzDFhrk5ddWKfVnSyN-YESZScTuWi5vDU0jF8TeFmglfKIMy2vRVjzFDFhZvuXWT9z2sNKm7snrhP-til6M2UQbDc3_x9tef5uhzk/s320/calluna.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="BG" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The distribution of heather in Durham and<br />South Northumberland predicted<br />from the common
plant survey data.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
meadows; they provide the food for herbivores and pollinators and
they create homes for birds and mammals. Changes in the abundance of rare
species have little impact on other species, but change in the abundance of
common species can have cascading effects on whole ecosystems of which we are a
part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">For
these reasons volunteer botanists in the north-east of England conducted a four
year survey to benchmark the abundance of common plants. Led by the Botanical
Societies vice county recorders, John Durkin, John Richards and Quentin Groom
they surveying the plants in a randomly selected sample of 1km</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">2</sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> grid
squares in the vice counties of Durham and South Northumberland. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">They have created a solid foundation that can
be used to qualify the abundance of common species and be compare against previous
and future studies. The project was conducted over </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">four years and required
volunteers to go to all sorts of places. Some people surveyed post-industrial
brown-field sites, while other walked for miles across bleak moorland to reach sites
high in the hills. Although, these moors are arguable more wild and natural,
the industrial wastelands are far more biodiverse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
results of this survey have just been openly published, contributing an
additional 35,000 observations to the 200,000 observations collected by local
recorders since the turn of the millennium (</span><span lang="BG"><a href="http://bdj.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=7318"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Garamond Pro";">http://bdj.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=7318</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="normal0">
<br /></div>
<div class="normal0">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Botanical
surveying continues in the region despite the end of this project. Volunteers
continue to monitor rare plants in the region (</span><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1480492"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1480492</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">; </span><a href="http://www.bsbi.org.uk/County_Durham_Rare_Plants_Register_2013.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.bsbi.org.uk/County_Durham_Rare_Plants_Register_2013.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">) and are currently
working towards the next atlas of Britain and Ireland coordinated by the
Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (</span><a href="http://bsbi.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://bsbi.org.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">).</span></div>
<div class="normal0">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="normal0">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Good
biological conservation in the 21<sup>st</sup> century will be as much to do
with sensitive adaption to change as it is about preserving what we have. Human
memory is short and fickle and it is only with benchmark surveys, such as this,
that we can hope to understand and manage that change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-53384175247189341362015-06-30T01:33:00.000-07:002015-07-01T06:48:19.447-07:00We should drop the use of the word tetrad or at least learn what its area is!The word <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tetrad">tetrad</a> is used to describe a square area of land with sides of 2km it has an area of 4km<sup>2</sup>. The term tetrad is widely used in biological recording in the UK, but it often misunderstood both in the UK and abroad. Logically it is derived from the ancient Greek word for four. Likewise a monad has 1km sides and has an area of 1km<sup>2</sup> . A pentad and a hectad have sides of 5km and 10km respectively, but they have areas of 25km<sup>2</sup> and 100km<sup>2 </sup>so their name is based on the length of the side not their area. Outside the UK many people assume a tetrad has sides of 4km, because this follows logically, but lack of a logical series is perhaps why there are so many mistakes.<br />
<br />
Mistakes are not hard to find, below are some examples published in official publications where the area of a tetrad is wrong...<br />
<ul>
<li>In the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130804">PLOS One</a></li>
<li>Among <a href="http://www.mammal.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/SE%20Mammal%20Atlas-2%20(Rodents).pdf">mammal recorders</a></li>
<li>By the <a href="http://www.nbn.org.uk/Document-files/Enhancing-data-quality-of-bird-records-for-NBN-(1).aspx">British Trust for Ornithology</a></li>
<li>By the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Report1MonitoringinScotland_tcm9-357332.pdf">Royal Society for the Protection of Birds</a></li>
<li>By <a href="http://www.lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/ldbwschecklistintro.php">other birdwatchers</a></li>
<li>By the <a href="http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/jncc440_web.pdf">Joint Nature Conservation Committee </a></li>
<li>By a <a href="http://www.wildsheffield.com/sites/default/files/files/Final%20SRWT%20objection%20-%20Smithy%20Wood.pdf">Wildlife Trust</a></li>
<li>By a <a href="http://www.westsomersetonline.gov.uk/getattachment/Environment/Countryside/Biodiversity/West-Somerset-BAP-1999-Section-3.pdf.aspx">County Council</a></li>
</ul>
Perhaps it is time to drop the use of this ambiguous term!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-88229270401541491542015-04-18T02:48:00.000-07:002015-04-18T02:49:44.522-07:00Biological Observation Analysis and RepeatabilityThere has been considerable interest in the repeatability of scientific research. Ioannidis (2005) showed that most claimed research findings are false and Simmons et al. (2011) neatly demonstrate how simple methodological decisions made by an experimenter can increase the number of false-positive errors. Consider the case of an experimentalist who has various ‘<i>degrees of freedom</i>’ in the way that they conduct and analyse their experiment. These freedoms have a large influence on the conclusions draw from the results, particularly on the proportion of false-positive errors. For example, an experimenter can decide to increase the number of replicates if they do not have a significant result in their original experiment. They also have the flexibility to either include or exclude outlying values and set arbitrary thresholds for the inclusion of observations.<br />
<br />
Similarly, observers of organisms have similar freedoms that contribute to their errors. For example, if an observer expects to find an organism in a habitat they may continue surveying only until they find those organisms that they are anticipating will be present. Furthermore, if they expect certain organisms they are perhaps more likely to misidentify similar looking organisms as the organism they expect to see, thus simultaneously creating a false-positive and a false-negative observation. There are many other observer behaviors that can lead to errors. Observers do not disclose their taxonomic biases, such as ignoring grasses and sedges. Observers will vary in their treatment of dead organisms, with some people treating them as a sign of occupancy and others not. Observers will vary in their methodology, either in what they accept as evidence of occupancy and by the equipment they use. Such choices introduce biases even when the observers are diligently trying to conduct a survey to the best of their ability. Though there are undoubtedly also cases where observers consciously manipulate their findings or carelessly report them wrongly (Sabbagh 2001; John et al., 2012).<br />
The generation of false-positives among experimentalists also parallels biological observers in another characteristics. There is a well-known and widespread publication biases in the scientific literature towards positive results (Francis, 2012). Similarly, in my experience observers of biodiversity are much more likely to report observations of an unusual species, than ubiquitous species, particularly is that species is easily identifiable.<br />
<br />
There are many ways that field recording could be improved, but we will always rely on cleaver analysis techniques to extract information from our data. The question is, can we peel off the layers of biases to ever know anything biologically relevant from our observations. In analysis of botanical records there is a tendency to include every observation, but if doing that only increases the biases, then ignoring biased observations can improve repeatability. It might seem rash to ignore data, but be skeptical of methods that use all the available data, particularly where the data is aggregated to disguise the biases.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<h4>
References</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
Francis, G. (2012) Too good to be true: Publication bias in two
prominent studies from experimental psychology. <i>Psychonomic Bulletin & Review</i>, 19(2), 151-156. doi: <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-012-0227-9">10.3758/s13423-012-0227-9</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
Ioannidis J.P.A. (2005) Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.
PLoS Medicine 2(8), e124. doi:<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124">10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
John, L.K., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012) Measuring the
prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth
telling. <i>Psychological science</i>,
23(5), 524–532. doi: <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/5/524">10.1177/0956797611430953</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Sabbagh, K. (2001) A Rum Affair. A True Story
of Botanical Fraud. </span>1–276. Da Capo
Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
Simmons, J.P., Nelson, L.D. & Simonsohn, U. (2011) False-positive
psychology undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows
presenting anything as significant. <i>Psychological
science</i>, 22(11), 1359–1366. doi: <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/22/11/1359">10.1177/0956797611417632</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</span>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-85788218691081245132015-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:002015-01-19T07:33:44.186-08:00Why is it worth reading botany from 200 years ago?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
George Orwell wrote that “<i>Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.</i>”</blockquote>
<br />
And so it is with scientists. Until recently I was largely oblivious of the enormous corpus of botanical literature from the 18<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th</sup> centuries. Of course I was fully aware of the thousands of dusty volumes in libraries, but I stupidly assumed that they didn't contain much of worth. It wasn't until the <a href="http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/">Biodiversity Heritage Library</a> made these volumes digitally available and searchable that I realized what a precious mine of information they contained.<br />
<br />
Early Floras and Faunas are not just of historical interest; they contain descriptions of species, habitats and landscapes that give unique information on the biota of their time. This information is practically impossible to gather from any other source. The growth of trees can be examined using the width of their rings, and sometimes preserved remains can be found in bogs and in sediments, but for many plants there are no recent remains, except for what was written about them in books.<br />
<br />
Europe in particular has the most to gain from the digitization of this literature. It has, by far, the biggest legacy of biodiversity literature, starting with the ancient Greeks and herbalists through to Linnaeus and the great plant hunters.
<br />
<br />
Fully digitizing a book requires scanning; optical character recognition (OCR); manual correction of the OCR results and semantically enhancing the text with annotations, such as the modern names of species, coordinates of localities and linking references to their original source. This can take a lot of effort, but digitization is work that only needs to be done once, particularly if the results are made openly available for everyone to share.
<br />
<br />
I recently published a paper where I use biodiversity literature from over 200 years to examine habitat and distribution changes in the small, smelly, weed, stinking goosefoot (<i>Chenopodium vulvaria</i>) (<a href="https://peerj.com/articles/723/">https://peerj.com/articles/723/</a>). It was possible to show that the descriptions of this plant's habitat have changed with time. I look forward to the time when so much of our legacy literature is digitized that the same exercise can be conducted on hundreds of species so that the last two hundred year's changes in biodiversity can be reconstructed from what has been written. Obviously, those changes will be viewed through the filter of those hundreds of authors' words, but it nonetheless will be a unique resource for environmental history.<br />
<br />
If you’re interested in contributing to the digitization and transcription of biodiversity literature investigate the <a href="http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/">Biodiversity Heritage Library</a>; the transcription of books on <a href="https://wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikisource</a> and the full semantic publishing of legacy literature conducted by <a href="http://ab.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=4002">Pensoft</a>.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Below are graphs showing change in the use of various habitat categories that where used to describe the habitat of stinking goosefoot in literature and on specimen labels. The top four categories show significant changes, but the bottom four show no significant change.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="640" src="https://dfzljdn9uc3pi.cloudfront.net/2015/723/1/fig-2-2x.jpg" width="363" /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-41459980103867997122014-08-17T02:17:00.000-07:002014-08-17T02:34:03.839-07:00The problem of data discovery for invasive speciesAt a recent conference on invasive species someone from the audience requested that there should be fewer databases, to which there was a general muttering of agreement. Can you imagine if someone had said the same thing about books? Surely only an anti-intellectual would want fewer books. However, I perfectly understand the frustrations that lead to this request. All the time there are new launches of databases and websites on alien species, they never have precisely the same remit, but they will always have overlapping interests with other databases. For a time-pressed user, who is scouring the internet for a simple answer to a simple question, there is a bewildering array of data sources. Some are highly visible, others are hidden; some are nice looking, but superficial, while others are mines of information but hard to navigate. The same thing could be said of books, but people expect more of the internet where they were promised a bright future of connectedness and interoperability.<br />
<br />
Yet we are not going to get fewer databases any time soon, current funding models and the missions of providers restrict us. Funders want to see clear results from their investment and providers want to create something new for their effort. It is currently hard to achieve those aims if they are tied to a single product. There are other problems, too. Single products don't handle differences of opinion well and local issues related to culture and language are not well suited to a monolithic approach. Furthermore, data is best managed by the people with most interest in it. They have the most incentive to gather new data and they are the experts in their specialisms.<br />
<br />
We all want discoverable, accurate, up-to-date information on alien species that are sustainably managed, but for all the reasons I've mentioned we can't yet have fewer databases. Nevertheless, there are many things we can do to improve the situation, which include federation, openness and standardisation.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Federation</h4>
There is duplication of effort in our invasive species databases. Taxonomic names, common names, references, observation data and specimen data are repeatedly entered and curated by each database independently. This does not have to be the case. We can federate out some of our work to providers who specialise in those data. For example, all modern scientific publications have a Digital Object Identifier (<a href="http://www.doi.org/">DOI</a>). This simple, but unique identifier is the key to all the bibliographic information on a publication. DOIs are maintained by the publishing industry who will do a better job of looking after this domain of data than we will. In our databases it is only necessary to store the DOI and derive other information from the DOI resolvers. <a href="http://orcid.org/">ORCID</a>s are another example; they are an open, self administered system for uniquely identifying a scientist. They are administered by the scientists themselves who are best placed to do the job and we potentially only need to store the ORCID in our database.<br />
Federation has the potential to reduce costs, while at the same time improving standards, improving sustainability and helping us to concentrate on our core interest of invasion biology.<br />
Nevertheless, if we federate some services we need to trust those services to provide the information we need, at a price we can afford and for those services to be provided for the long term and reliably. DOIs and ORCIDs are supported by the publishing industry and by large academic institutions. Other infrastructures to which we could federate responsibilities might be the <a href="http://globalnames.org/">Global Names architecture </a>and the <a href="http://www.gbif.org/">GBIF</a>. These infrastructures need communities such as ours to justify their existence, but similarly we might benefit considerably from their domain expertise and investment.<br />
<h4>
Standards</h4>
Working within a framework of standards for data quality can be frustrating, particularly in an emerging discipline where standards often seem to be unnecessarily constraining. There is a temptation for everyone to invent their own ‘standard’, yet the advantages of standardization are numerous. We should always be looking to other disciplines to reuse and build upon their standards. Standards that are extensible can provide a flexible approach.<br />
The ability to combine digital resources is a fine goal of standardisation, but to do it we need to understand each other’s data. Wherever possible, we need to explain and annotate our data. Using common standards is a good first step, but we also need to ensure that the metadata is kept up-to-date and accurate. Many people will have noticed the problem of data aggregators where the meaning of data can subtly change as it is transferred from one database to another. The creation of domain <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_(information_science)">ontologies</a> can clarify the meaning of terms without necessarily constraining the development of new data sources. This is a comparatively new field within computer science, but one that should be explored for invasion biology.<br />
<h4>
Openness</h4>
Even if we don't want it, we get copyright automatically and are stuck with it for many years after our death, unless we ensure that each of our works is openly licensed. You can't deny the usefulness of open resources such as Wikipedia. And yet, it is perhaps most remarkable for its success in mobilizing data providers. However, scientists are often afraid of openness, thinking that others will ‘steal’ their work and not give them sufficient credit. However, often the reverse is true. Open licensing promotes data discovery and experts can use it to promote themselves through their expertise not the data they hold. Work still needs to be done on providing traceable citations for data, but scientists already have mechanisms for doing this, such as so-called data publications. Scientists also need to become more educated about copyright, as data <i>per se</i> can’t be copyrighted.<br />
<br />
To conclude, making data more accessible and discoverable is not an easy task, yet the tools and practises to do it are available to us. What is needed is a change in culture, not necessarily towards having monolithic databases, but towards sharing, openness and connectivity. It will take some investment of resources and progress might seem slow at first, but eventually we can build a global infrastructure for invasive species that satisfies our needs and we don’t necessarily need to have fewer databases to do it.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</span>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-65573282422540096562014-06-25T22:37:00.000-07:002014-06-27T23:29:23.250-07:00A third reason for the success of invasive species<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A recent paper by Colautti <i>et al</i>. (2014) stated that the success of invasive species can be explained by two views.</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i>intrinsic factors make some species inherently good invaders</i>”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i>species become invasive as a result of extrinsic ecological and genetic influences such as release from natural enemies, hybridization or other novel ecological and evolutionary interactions</i>”</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This is not an unusual view of invasion biology, but one that is based on a static view of the world. This philosophy views habitats as fixed entities and the invaders being imposed upon them. There is a third reason for the success of invasive species, that new habitat has been create for them. Take for example the simple case of oak gall wasps </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Andricus aries</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A. corruptrix</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A. grossulariae</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A. liginocolus</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A. lucidus</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A. quercuscalicis</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> which have all invaded northern Europe in the past 60 years. They all have a complex alternating life cycle requiring two oak species </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Quercus cerris</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Q. robur</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (Ozaki </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">et al</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">., 2006). However, only </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Q. robur</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> is native to northern Europe. </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Q. cerris</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> was introduced to northern Europe in the 18th century and was first found in the wild in the mid-19th century. It has, since then, continually been planted and has naturalised in many places. Thus, mankind created a habitat for these </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Andricus</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> species where both oaks lived side-by-side and after a short lag the wasps came and occupied it. There is no reason to think these wasps are particularly good invaders, though some have spread quicker than others. Nor have they managed to escape their parasitoids (Ellis, 2005). It is not known if some evolutionary process aided their spread, but why invoke such a mechanism when a more parsimonious one exists?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another, much less obscure, example is roadside halophytes. In recent years in the UK, roadside halophytes were amongst plants with the largest increase in range (Groom, 2013). Some plants such as Danish scurvy-grass (<i>Cochlearia danica</i>), reflexed saltmarsh grass (<i>Puccinellia distans</i>) and lesser sea-spurrey (<i>Spergularia marina</i>) have increased the quickest, but many different native saltmarsh plants can also be found by roadsides somewhere in Britain. There is no reason to think that halophytes are better invaders than other plants, nor is there any reason to believe that they have escaped natural enemies, as these are native plants. It is unlikely that all of them have undergone evolutionary changes or that there are “novel ecological and evolutionary interactions”. The main thing that has changed is the creation of large amounts of interconnected saline habitat at the side of roads.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Many other examples exist, C4 grasses are spreading in northern Europe due to changes in farming practises (Hoste & Verloove, 2001). Chasmophytes such as ivy-leaved toadflax (<i>Cymbalaria muralis</i>), buddleia (<i>Buddleja davidii</i>) and wall-rue (<i>Asplenium ruta-muraria</i>) are increasing in cities because of the large number of walls on which they can grow. In numerous cases of invasion the creation of new habitat precedes the invasion. Climate change, atmospheric nitrogen deposition, pollution, forestry, agricultural and cultural changes all alter habitats, potentially priming these species for invasion. If a new habitat is being created one can be fairly sure that some organism will come along and occupy it. I do not discount the other two reasons for invasions, but if we ignore mankind's role in priming the environment for invasion we misunderstand the invasion process of many species.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Cited Literature</b></span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Colautti, R.I., Parker, J.D., Cadotte, M.W., Pyšek, P., Brown, C.S., Sax, D.F. and Richardson, D.M. (2014) Quantifying the invasiveness of species. In: Capdevila-Argüelles L, Zilletti B (Eds) Proceedings of 7th NEOBIOTA conference, Pontevedra, Spain. NeoBiota 21: 7–27 <a href="http://www.pensoft.net/journals/neobiota/article/5310/abstract/quantifying-the-invasiveness-of-species">doi:10.3897/neobiota.21.5310</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ellis, H.A. (2005) Observations of the Agamic (Knopper Gall) of Andricus quercuscalicis and the associated inquilines and parasitoids in Northumberland. Cecidology 20: 12–27</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Groom Q.J. (2013) Some poleward movement of British native vascular plants is occurring, but the fingerprint of climate change is not evident. PeerJ 1:e77 <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.77">http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.77</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hoste, I. & Verloove, F. (2001) De opgang van C4-grassen (Poaceae, Paniceae) in de snel evoluerende onkruidvegetaties in maïsakkers tussen Brugge en Gent (Vlaanderen, België). Dumortiera 78: 2–11</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ozaki, K., Yukawa, J., Ohgushi, T. and Price, P.W. (2006) Galling Arthropods and Their Associates. Springer-Verlag, Tokyo</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="File:Knopper gall on oak (Quercus robur), induced by Andricus quercuscalicis (gall wasp), Arnhem, the Netherlands.jpg" height="240" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Knopper_gall_on_oak_%28Quercus_robur%29%2C_induced_by_Andricus_quercuscalicis_%28gall_wasp%29%2C_Arnhem%2C_the_Netherlands.jpg/800px-Knopper_gall_on_oak_%28Quercus_robur%29%2C_induced_by_Andricus_quercuscalicis_%28gall_wasp%29%2C_Arnhem%2C_the_Netherlands.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Knopper gall on oak (<i>Quercus robur</i>) induced by <i>Andricus quercuscalicis</i> (gall wasp) by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knopper_gall_on_oak_(Quercus_robur),_induced_by_Andricus_quercuscalicis_(gall_wasp),_Arnhem,_the_Netherlands.jpg">Bj.schoenmakers</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-2284880249660079442014-06-22T08:29:00.000-07:002014-06-22T11:45:57.189-07:00A request for material of Oxalis corniculata<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Oxalis corniculata</i> has become an almost ubiquitous weed of plant pots and borders. Its explosive capsules and sticky seeds let it jump, like a vegetable flea, from pot to pot. This phenomena is not unique to Britain and Ireland. All across Europe <i>O. corniculata</i> can be found in similar situations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Linnaeus first described the species from Europe, but it is not clear if it is native here. Close relatives exist in North America, Asia and Australasia. It has an extremely plastic phenotype depending on habitat. Characters such as hairiness, leaf size and habit all overlap between species in this group, even though these species do not hybridise readily. It is for this reason my colleagues and I at the Botanic Garden Meise (Belgium) are trying a molecular genetic approach to understanding the <i>O. corniculata</i> group. We are hoping to be able to unravel the phylogeny of these taxa and more precisely define the taxon boundaries. Perhaps we will even get indications of its geographic origins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are looking for specimens (fresh or rapidly dried) of plants in the <i>O. corniculata</i> group from as many places as possible. In addition to <i>O. corniculata</i> the corniculata group includes <i>O. corniculata </i>var.<i> atropurpurea</i>, <i>O. dillenii</i>, <i>O. exilis</i> and <i>O. stricta</i>. It doesn't matter if you can’t identify it with certainty, but it would help us match molecular and physical traits if you are able to provide a specimen with fruits and flowers. Nevertheless, even non-fruiting material will help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVh1bIDq5uRBOODiEvmyQ4pgXmTE4XKkEtYx5VLszK1PYryrsXzOL8KBaMuWGWXmNr6g0OCzUXN2AbkmXXCQdzA8hNDD6MLZ0-63lxb3JtnCsxI9m5VhFUTTCZecder-xsHWCFNBTcsvQ/s1600/Oxalis+corniculata+1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVh1bIDq5uRBOODiEvmyQ4pgXmTE4XKkEtYx5VLszK1PYryrsXzOL8KBaMuWGWXmNr6g0OCzUXN2AbkmXXCQdzA8hNDD6MLZ0-63lxb3JtnCsxI9m5VhFUTTCZecder-xsHWCFNBTcsvQ/s1600/Oxalis+corniculata+1a.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Contact me at quentin.groom@br.fgov.be</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-79881305915797983432014-06-14T01:17:00.001-07:002014-06-14T06:43:54.586-07:00The Bouchout Declaration for Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="The Bouchout Declaration for Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgbRIeC1x4ULzBgB3YZ8MMDsSdWtqKWzEaO4Esl9S0a7jXRca4w764PlnepBMZqE8DD13cOn9ApjgCJsVozg1v-6OywKR0vZdn8TE84PWQEDQI0y0RVCcHf3K3-EV8Oxo_5Ivl1QIQGs/s1600/bd_logo_cyan.png" height="74" title="The Bouchout Declaration for Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management Logo" width="320" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the 12<sup>th</sup> June 2014 the <a href="http://bouchoutdeclaration.org/" target="_blank">Bouchout Declaration</a> was launched at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouchout_Castle" target="_blank">Bouchout Castle</a> in the grounds of the <a href="http://www.br.fgov.be/" target="_blank">Botanical Garden Meise</a>, Belgium. The declaration aims to promote openness of biodiversity data and encourage digital access to those data. The original signatories included more than 50 institutions from all over the world. Many were influential institutions such as Kew Gardens in the UK; Berlin Botanic Garden in Germany; Naturalis in the Netherlands and the Natural History Museum, Paris.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I encourage you to sign up to the declaration and support its values, either as an institution or an individual.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Below I've given five reasons why you should sign the declaration and five Dos and Don’ts of data openness… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Five reasons to sign the The Bouchout Declaration</span></h3>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Good scientists show the evidence for their assertions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Modelling and protecting the biosphere is impossible without large amounts of high quality data</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We need evidence-based, not opinion-based, policies</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Small amounts of data have little value, but large amounts of pooled data are priceless</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These data should not be lost, they will have just as much value in the future</span></li>
</ol>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Five DOs of digital openness</span></h4>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Publish your data, so that people can cite you</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ensure your data is available in an agreed standard</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Make sure your data is well described so that it can be discovered and is useable</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Deposit your data in a long-term repository</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Promote the use of your data to others, who might not know how useful it is</span></li>
</ol>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Five DON'Ts of digital openness</span></h4>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t sit on your data for years because you think you might make use of it one day</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t display your data, but make it difficult for people to download</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t hold on to it because you think it has commercial value, unless you actually have a business plan for its exploitation</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t restrict access of your data to the IT literate</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don’t think your data is insignificant</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_618697471"></span><span id="goog_618697472"></span><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE0YHOlp32Z-onVspBIYUR5uo0x1qszLvhXNs8FNsk9Tcpf-Y9pETmyVwv-FtdWx-jtw3trs8VS_PGgMpW6fzlmB76cz-1hyXwVStQTO4C38jSN_NjScCuITHCZXYRZSjSPgvkvcm8tA/s1600/DSC_2348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE0YHOlp32Z-onVspBIYUR5uo0x1qszLvhXNs8FNsk9Tcpf-Y9pETmyVwv-FtdWx-jtw3trs8VS_PGgMpW6fzlmB76cz-1hyXwVStQTO4C38jSN_NjScCuITHCZXYRZSjSPgvkvcm8tA/s1600/DSC_2348.JPG" height="169" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Delegates of the pro-iBiosphere Final Event at Bouchout Castle</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-83108790691688488362014-04-06T06:42:00.000-07:002014-04-06T06:50:32.302-07:00A report of a trip I took to Corsica in 2004<h2>
A Continent-like Geography</h2>
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<st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> has a lot packed into a small area. It is 180
km long and 83 km wide. It covers an area only slightly larger than <st1:place w:st="on">North Yorkshire</st1:place>, but with less than half its population. Its
physical geography reads more like a continent than a small island. It has
about 1000 miles of coastline and more than 100 peaks over 2000m. Unlike many islands
in the Mediterranean, Corsica has rivers tha<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>low
all year round, fed by snow from the highest peaks. This makes <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> the sparsest populated and the most mountainous
island in the western <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place>. Habitats
of interest to botanists abound. Around the coast are marshes, lagoons, cliffs,
dunes, and beaches of sand and shingle. Cultivated land is typically Mediterranean,
with meadows, olive groves, chestnut plantations and vineyards. While an
impenetrable maquis covers uncultivated land at low elevations; at higher
altitude are large forests of Oak and Pine and ascending further still, you can
find a true alpine flora.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The mountains of <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> are built predominantly of granite and rhyolite
and though the island is geographically close to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region>, the mountains originate from
a thirty million year old chain of mountains that stretched across northern <st1:country-region w:st="on">Spain</st1:country-region>, through
the <st1:place w:st="on">Pyrenees</st1:place> and into the <st1:place w:st="on">Alps</st1:place>. Since then, the land mass that includes <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on">Sardinia</st1:place> has
moved south-eastwards and rotated anticlockwise to its present position. Though
the topography is dominated by igneous and metamorphic rocks there are some
sedimentary rocks, particularly along the east-coast. There are only three
small outcrops of limestone rocks, but these are disproportionately importan<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>or a number of endemic plants.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpSabVUL27QRDSezk0bSaK3MabCCNeJmYrNTxN7F8fc8xdbbgz55SNlwyhYOwR53nFGzvPAVeh7qqAckzZRqpbcmMjkijmtqG2GJUmqgxS1A0paEiGOfnZkU3yMct7TeJa-JHiDRv2GI/s1600/IMG_1749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpSabVUL27QRDSezk0bSaK3MabCCNeJmYrNTxN7F8fc8xdbbgz55SNlwyhYOwR53nFGzvPAVeh7qqAckzZRqpbcmMjkijmtqG2GJUmqgxS1A0paEiGOfnZkU3yMct7TeJa-JHiDRv2GI/s1600/IMG_1749.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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More than 130 plant
taxa are endemic <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> and another 75 are
only known from the Corsican-Sardinian archipelago. Amongst these are two endemic
monospecific genera (<i>Morisia monanthos</i>
and <i>Nananthea perpusilla</i>) and a
number of other paleoendemics. Some of these endemics are widespread within the
island, such as the Corsican Hellebore (<i>Helleborus
lividus</i> subsp. <i>corsicus</i>) and the
Corsican crocus (<i>Crocus corsicus</i>).
Others, such as <i>Brassica insularis</i>
and a number of <i>Limonium</i> and <i>Ophrys</i> species, are restricted to
limited lengths of coastline and to outcrops of limestone, respectively.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h4>
History Has Aided the Conservation of
<st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place></h4>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
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<st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> has frequently suffered as a pawn in the power
struggles of stronger neighbors. The Pisans, then the Genoese ruled the island
for a long time, but <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>'s strategic
importance and its vulnerability to seaborne invasion kept the political
position of the island unstable until the very end of the 18<sup>th</sup>
century. Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the <st1:place w:st="on">Island</st1:place>
from the British in 1796 and, although he was born of a Corsican <st1:personname w:st="on">family</st1:personname> and originally expressed ideas of Corsican
nationalism, he did as much as anyone to Gallicise the island. <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>'s problems have not all been created by external
powers. The code of the vendetta, which se<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>amily
agains<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>amily for generations,
reached a peak at the turn of the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> centuries.
At this time, official records show that about 900 people were being murdered
each year out of a population of about 120,000.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fighting over the
ownership of <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> and under-investment by
those rulers have encouraged emigration and has kept the population small. Between
the 8<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> centuries raids from pirates and slavers
forced people to inhabit villages away from the coast. Compounding the
political difficulties the mountainous terrain makes communication and transportation
difficult and restricts areas suitable for agriculture. Though potentially
destructive activities such as overgrazing, charcoal production and timber
extraction occur on <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> they have been
moderate, at least in comparison with other Mediterranean islands. Though these
geographic and political factors have protected Corsican wildlife to some
extent, they have done little to help the Corsican citizens, who have never
been wealthy and often favoured their own leaders and system of justice over
that of their overseas rulers.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoLO4DlEiEGpr0eWcChvPsPAxorI4T_E06BY5Viy9jwIE1b6YcERck9U5vDYa3ogKoEPfKM-r9F7uwVft_8NVMf73Y71UFojC6H3uqVhP_zq-r3CvIjtqAZvBXz-BP2Hkc_YBKMoXKZk/s1600/IMG_1794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoLO4DlEiEGpr0eWcChvPsPAxorI4T_E06BY5Viy9jwIE1b6YcERck9U5vDYa3ogKoEPfKM-r9F7uwVft_8NVMf73Y71UFojC6H3uqVhP_zq-r3CvIjtqAZvBXz-BP2Hkc_YBKMoXKZk/s1600/IMG_1794.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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A number of different
organisations are involved in conservation on the island, but the largest is
the organisation of the Parc Naturel Régional de Corse (PNRC). Founded in 1972
the PNRC covers almost a third of the island and protects an abundance of
wildlife. It has a much broader mission than wildlife conservation. It also
aims to protect the cultural heritage and the way of life of rural <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>, while attempting to stimulate enterprise in the much-abandoned
villages. While the PNRC oversees conservation in the mountainous centre of the
island, many coastal sites are protected by the Conservatoire du Littoral. This
is a national organisation dedicated to protecting coastal sites. Though there
are many reserves and areas of botanical interest, two in particular deserve
mention. Firstly, the Valley of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Fango</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>, which has been
designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO since 1977, and secondly, the
neighboring reserve of Scandola, which is almost entirely inaccessible by
land, but includes a large marine reserve. Together, these reserves contain
some of the best preserved habitats in the Mediterranean basin. Not only are
they importan<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>or their flora, but
also for their populations of birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians and mammals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h4>
Diverse Forests</h4>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> has some extensive forests of native pines and
oaks. Perhaps the most inspiring and emblematic are those of Corsican pine (<i>Pinus nigra </i>subsp<i>. larico</i>). These trees can grow to over 50m tall and can live for
many hundreds of years. They form forests at altitudes between 900m and 1800m,
which are important habitat not only for native plants, but also the endemic
and elusive Corsican Nuthatch (<i>Sitta
whiteheadi</i>). The variation in relief and rainfall around the island makes
for varied forests. On the hills and mountains, in addition to Corsican Pine,
are species such as Maritime Pine (<i>Pinus
pinaster</i>); Yew (<i>Taxus baccata</i>);
Flowering Ash (<i>Fraxinus ornus</i>); Holm
Oak (<i>Quercus ilex</i>); Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i>) and Silver Fir (<i>Abies alba</i>). While in wet areas there are
Alders (<i>Alnus glutinosa</i>), Willows (<i>Salix alba</i> etc) and the <span lang="EN">Narrow-leaved Ash (</span><i>Fraxinus
angustifolia</i>). There are also species
one might not expect on a Mediterranean island for example Fragrant Alder (<i>Alnus viridis</i> subsp. <i>suaveolens</i>) is an endemic taxa of a
species that is found in the mountains of central <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>,
northern <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place>. It does not grow to much more than 3m, so cannot be
called a forest tree, yet it does form dense stands in the sub-alpine zone
(1600m-2100m), frequently together with the taller Mountain Ash (<i>Sorbus aucuparia</i> subsp. <i>praemorsa</i>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4ENXzKdNLLt9v14V59Z7_kh7RUEAVOFDrjEQ-pXt6I7VLvbHZ-bFVyoir1w2rld9uEC7VpriEXbFxV4R8XiPNpFPTStBffdksgwWHgRKRQtOwyoRMQsFQdw5GY424dp-h52JZ8D9Xp0/s1600/osumda+regalis+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4ENXzKdNLLt9v14V59Z7_kh7RUEAVOFDrjEQ-pXt6I7VLvbHZ-bFVyoir1w2rld9uEC7VpriEXbFxV4R8XiPNpFPTStBffdksgwWHgRKRQtOwyoRMQsFQdw5GY424dp-h52JZ8D9Xp0/s1600/osumda+regalis+2.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Osumda regalis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<h4>
Wetlands</h4>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wetlands habitats do
not instantly spring to mind when thinking of the environment of Mediterranean
islands; yet they contribute greatly to the overall biodiversity of <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>. These habitats include coastal lagoons, marshes,
seasonal ponds, rivers, streams, alpine lakes and bogs. Along the east coast
are the largest lagoons, such as the Étang de Biguglia. A literal translation of the word "étang"
is "pond", though this is no pond, being 11km long and 2.5 km wide.
The Étang de Biguglia is an important reserve for all sorts of creeping, flying
and swimming wildlife, but it is also home to a number of rare plant species,
including <i>Kosteletzkya pentacarpos</i>, a
beautiful member of the Malvaceae. This species is found around the
Mediterranean basin, but only where suitable marshland habitat exists.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLuMqBi8RaOa_6GsU3CmP5zytHFlW0HlBGtL8l9OG3GL_Wd15RRRKLS8G-zOg6lSZ0hTI188yWV23_Gh2VPaO_pN-OMCe9a_f_ZMXDnnBXXsd21XdRVERqAHdODZLRb4TKTk7Jq6SwIg/s1600/IMG_1757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLuMqBi8RaOa_6GsU3CmP5zytHFlW0HlBGtL8l9OG3GL_Wd15RRRKLS8G-zOg6lSZ0hTI188yWV23_Gh2VPaO_pN-OMCe9a_f_ZMXDnnBXXsd21XdRVERqAHdODZLRb4TKTk7Jq6SwIg/s1600/IMG_1757.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Site Naturel de la Vallée du Fango</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tides around <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> do not amount to more than 40cm, so saltmarshes
like those on oceanic coasts are no<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>ound.
Nevertheless, there are a number of saline "wetland" habitats, known
in French as sansouire. These are characterised by winter inundation with seawater
and then drying in the summer. A number
of halophytes, particularly halophytic members of the Chenopodiaceae (<i>Salicornia</i>, <i>Sarcocornia</i> etc), populate these highly saline habitats. Also near
the coast are a number of freshwater ponds, some of which dry out during the
summer. Unusual plants such as <i>Baldellia
ranunculoides</i>, <i>Ranunculus
ophioglossifolius</i> and <i>Pilularia
minuta</i> can be found in these uncommon habitats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Royal Fern (<i>Osmunda</i> <i>regalis</i>), which has declined across northern <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>,
is still common along streams in <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> as
well as in inundated woodlands. It is a species of shady wet habitats on acidic
soils and in much of <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> it has been lost
where these habitats have been drained. <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>'s
rivers, streams and torrents are also home for several endemic species
including <i>Doronicum</i> <i>corsicum</i>, <i>Hypericum</i> <i>corsicum</i> and <i>Narthecium</i> <i>reverchonii</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisw67E7JX9FoJOMCbUJFcdS-w7CFoc7vNWnvGq9kJTeR7Tfq3yUBJwWUVwSvlLc7ETB_YKnx1uQuXgtPc1IJOQCxawHZSNVwUz7OuuyZ5YyVSr7FyR_gflOcdRGR3TSUlTVQPwsTEAysw/s1600/Narthecium+reverchonii.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisw67E7JX9FoJOMCbUJFcdS-w7CFoc7vNWnvGq9kJTeR7Tfq3yUBJwWUVwSvlLc7ETB_YKnx1uQuXgtPc1IJOQCxawHZSNVwUz7OuuyZ5YyVSr7FyR_gflOcdRGR3TSUlTVQPwsTEAysw/s1600/Narthecium+reverchonii.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Narthecium reverchonii </i>Celak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>One of the unique
wetland habitats of <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> are the pozzines,
which are found between altitudes of 1600m and 2200m. The pozzines are bogs that
are frequently traversed by serpentine streams and are pitted with circular
pools. These pools give the bogs their name, as the name possine is derived
from the Corsican word for pit (Pozzi). Some of the species found in these bogs
are more common in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern Europe</st1:place> than the <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place>, for example <i>Drosera rotundifolia</i> and <i>Menyanthes
trifoliata,</i> while others are unique to <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>
such as <i>Pinguicula corsica, Bellis
bernardii</i> and <i>Juncus requienii</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is interesting to
note that although the species epithets <i>corsicum,
corsicus </i>and <i>corsica</i> are used
extensively for the islands endemic plants, a number of other names are
frequently encountered, for example <i>soleirolii,
reverchonii</i>, <i>briquetii </i>and <i>conradii</i>. These names commemorate the botanists
Captain Joseph Francois Soleirol (1796-1863); <span lang="EN-US">Elisée</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Reverchon (1835-1914); John Briquet (1870-1931) and Marcelle Conrad
(1897-1990). Notice that these botanists were working at a time when the flora
of continental <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>
was largely described. Yet whole habitats such as the pozzines were unknown to
scientists until the latter half of the twentieth century.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h4>
Risks To The Flora</h4>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With large areas of
forests and scrub, fires are a serious issue on <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>.
Fires are usually started for one of three reasons. They may be unintentionally
started; they may be started maliciously, or they may be started intentionally to
clear land. At one time the European Union grant system for breeders of nursing
cows led to an increase in fires. Farmers were using fires to increase their
grazing land to comply with the requirements for subsidies; fortunately, these
grants have now been suspended. The EEC has actually made many positive contributions
to the island's economy including significan<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>unds
for fire prevention and protection on the island. There is a small army of
people involved in fire fighting and they possess an arsenal of modern
equipment such as recognisance planes and water bombers. Still, on average
about 8,200 hectares are burnt each year. While much of the vegetation of the <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place> can recover rapidly from fires, even these
habitats do not respond well to frequen<st1:personname w:st="on">t f</st1:personname>ires,
which contribute significantly to soil erosion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDXDg3xReHoccEQwcwMccID7rlvbgwgyg6mWGwvxEeP3Gvg2pY3cRk1RduuJw_TRdaOy3Qp0v33H0LTbOywG4Nndmlj1uMxPxRUG3s9H7FTHssENX2252pSo9-nL9sbsiRAUBhv1Jid0/s1600/IMG_1760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDXDg3xReHoccEQwcwMccID7rlvbgwgyg6mWGwvxEeP3Gvg2pY3cRk1RduuJw_TRdaOy3Qp0v33H0LTbOywG4Nndmlj1uMxPxRUG3s9H7FTHssENX2252pSo9-nL9sbsiRAUBhv1Jid0/s1600/IMG_1760.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">Opuntia ficus-indica</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alien plants have been
introduced to <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> since at least the Roman
period and many of those species, such as the Olive, are as much part of the
landscape as the native plants. Yet modern introductions, many from different
continents, present a threat to native plants. About 140 species have
naturalised on the island and many others are planted or are casual. Two of the
most destructive are the South African succulents <i>Carpobrotus</i> <i>edulis</i> and <i>C. acinaciformis</i>. These species form
mats over coastal rocks, eliminating all other plants. Another South African
introduction,<i> Cotula coronopifolia</i>,
poses a threat to wetlands. In places, this plant has become the dominant
species, eliminating practically all other herbs. A number of other potentially
damaging species have naturalised or are planted such as Prickly Pear (<i>Opuntia ficus-indica</i>); Bermuda buttercup
(<i>Oxalis per-caprae</i>) and several <i>Eucalyptus</i> species.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K002iPzqSztCPL5Ap5Ro9thpONTLAe4aDjuuktjeRa0kSZEFR8SyJtuSaNGXGscsIARvD4gaGPpiDEnR7lLzrt5PUKV2W3IrZp5CrWXWp1E5J81M7EUl-2WE1sFJitVP8Pxz4lCHOYo/s1600/IMG_1776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K002iPzqSztCPL5Ap5Ro9thpONTLAe4aDjuuktjeRa0kSZEFR8SyJtuSaNGXGscsIARvD4gaGPpiDEnR7lLzrt5PUKV2W3IrZp5CrWXWp1E5J81M7EUl-2WE1sFJitVP8Pxz4lCHOYo/s1600/IMG_1776.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Changes in farming
practices have had both positive and negative impacts on native plants. Since
world war two there has been continual migration out of villages and a decline
in traditional farming. The cultivation of chestnuts and the maintenance of
terraces have declined in the hills, whereas in the lowlands vineyards have
increased as has the growing of non-traditional crops such as kiwi fruit. At
one time, the annual movements of livestock, known as transhumance, were an
important element of agriculture in the mountains. However, these days the ancient
mountain trackways are more frequently used as hiking trails. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Improvements in the
roads and increased ownership of four wheel drive vehicles have made once
remote corners of the island accessible. Even high altitude has not protected
the pozzines from damage and popular hiking routes to the high mountain lakes have
been rerouted where damage was occurring. With jeeps and motorbikes, tourists
can visit once deserted beaches that are only accessible by rough tracks and these
days damage to dune systems by motor-sports is common. Other risks include the
collection of wild plants for gardens or for their medicinal properties.
Wetlands are particularly vulnerable as they can easily be drained or
overgrazed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
One should not
overplay the risks though. Corsicans, in general, are proud of their
environmental heritage and one can hardly deny the Corsicans the improvements
in lifestyle that decent roads and an adequate infrastructure bring. Here, I
can only give a flavour of the flora of <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>
and hint at the conservation challenges. I encourage you to learn more about <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>, even though you may need to learn some French to
do so. <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place>'s history has protected its
wildlife to some extent, but in the future, it will be a challenge to balance
the aspirations of the people with environmental protection. Still, in this
respect, <st1:place w:st="on">Corsica</st1:place> is not unique and it is
fortunate to have a population and institutions friendly towards environmental
protection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0Corsica42.413825346699717 8.903029318749986540.907540846699717 6.3212423187499862 43.920109846699717 11.484816318749987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-9815930791690515882014-03-18T05:56:00.002-07:002014-03-25T03:11:12.903-07:00Help conservation and science by being more proactive in managing your copyright<br />Botanical floras are subject to copyright, In the UK you are prohibited from copying someone's text until 70 years after their death, although there are some limited exceptions.<div>
Copyright is automatic and protects you from someone else profiting from your work without your permission. This concept works well for J.K. Rowling, but it is a disaster for science and conservation. Why? Well, I expect most people do not write floras for money, but to communicate to other interested people. Floras are usually printed in small volumes, often only in one edition. Once they are sold out, they can be very hard to obtain. If a person of 25 wrote a flora, then that volume could pass out of copyright more than 100 year from now.<br />What does this mean in practise? People who want to reuse floras for research and conservation can’t. Historical publications are essential for understanding change in our flora. They contain information about the present that will be an invaluable source of information in the future. Floras contains all sorts of useful information, keys, pictures, descriptions and observations. They only have scientific value, and no one will make money from them. Just look at how useful open resources such as Wikipedia and the Biodiversity Heritage Library are. If you are an author be more proactive in managing your copyrights. Think about publishing with the creative commons CC-BY licence or perhaps put an embargo period on your licencing, after which the work becomes open-access.</div>
<br />
This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</small>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-59798548666327235172013-09-24T12:14:00.000-07:002014-08-13T10:48:12.229-07:00<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 24pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 31px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s not blame climate change for all biogeographic change</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Large numbers of biogeographical studies have demonstrated recent poleward range shifts and movement up altitudinal gradients of a variety of organisms (Bebber, Marriott, Gaston, Harris, & Scotland, 2007; Chen, Hill, Ohlemüller, Roy, & Thomas, 2011; Devictor, Julliard, Couvet, & Jiguet, 2008; Forero-Medina, Terborgh, Socolar, & Pimm, 2011; Groom, 2013; Hickling, Roy, Hill, Fox, & Thomas, 2006; Holzinger, Hülber, Camenisch, & Grabherr, 2007; Kelly & Goulden, 2008; Lenoir, Gégout, Marquet, de Ruffray, & Brisse, 2008; Leonelli, Pelfini, Morra di Cella, & Garavaglia, 2010; Parmesan & Yohe, 2003; Root et al., 2003; Smith, 1994; Sturm et al., 2001; Thomas & Lennon, 1999; Velásquez-Tibatá, Salaman, & Graham, 2012). The results of these studies are often referred to as the fingerprint of climate change on biodiversity. However, there are many manmade and environmental factors that have undergone far larger recent change than climate. These changes, either individually or in combination, can also explain these range shifts and we should not be so quick to implicate the climate.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among the environmental factors that have changed significantly in the last 50-100 years are atmospheric nitrogen deposition; changes in grazing patterns, particularly in mountains; pollution changes, particularly acid rain and salt spreading; a doubling of the CO</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: sub; white-space: pre-wrap;">2</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> concentration of the atmosphere; a multifold increase in the distances and volume of the international horticultural trade; changes in land management; extensive greenhouse horticulture; heat islands caused by urbanization. In comparison to these factors, the climate has changed very little in the same period. All of these factors have been shown to affect organisms directly and many are known drivers of migration and/or extinction. Yet, papers continue to be published that stress the climate as an explanation.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mankind is by far the most important disperser of plants and probably also animals and microorganisms (Mack & Lonsdale, 2001). Manmade habitat disturbance impinges on practically all ecosystems of the earth. Even in the Artic, which has experienced the greatest climate change so far, acid rain and atmospheric nitrogen deposition have a significant impact on the vegetation (Bobbink et al., 2010; Sarah J. Woodin, 1997). Manmade disturbance is often portrayed as a destructive influence on natural habitats but in reality its influence is more often for change rather than destruction.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my own research on the native plants of Great Britain, northerly range shifts could be seen in many species since 1978 (Groom, 2013). However, these changes cannot be explained by the plant’s preferred climate envelope, but are more easily explained by other factors such as habitat change and pollution.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We should be careful about jumping to conclusions about the causes of biogeographic range shifts. It makes sense to look for explanations of change among the factors that have changed the most and only once these factors have been eliminated should one start looking for explanations elsewhere. While climate change will eventually have a large impact on the distribution of organisms, the focus on it as an explanation for all range shifts is obscuring other possible explanations and distorting our view of the changes in biogeography.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 23px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bebber, D. P., Marriott, F. H. C., Gaston, K. J., Harris, S. A., & Scotland, R. W. (2007). Predicting unknown species numbers using discovery curves. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">274</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1618), 1651–8. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0464</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bobbink, R., Hicks, K., Galloway, J., Spranger, T., Alkemade, R., Ashmore, M., Bustamante, M., et al. (2010). Global assessment of nitrogen deposition effects on terrestrial plant diversity: a synthesis. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ecological Applications</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">20</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1), 30–59. doi:10.1890/08-1140.1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chen, I., Hill, J. K., Ohlemüller, R., Roy, D. B., & Thomas, C. D. (2011). Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Science (New York, N.Y.)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">333</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(6045), 1024–6. doi:10.1126/science.1206432</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Devictor, V., Julliard, R., Couvet, D., & Jiguet, F. (2008). Birds are tracking climate warming, but not fast enough. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">275</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1652), 2743–8. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0878</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forero-Medina, G., Terborgh, J., Socolar, S. J., & Pimm, S. L. (2011). Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PloS one</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(12), e28535. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028535</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Groom, Q. J. (2013). Some poleward movement of British native vascular plants is occurring, but the fingerprint of climate change is not evident. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PeerJ</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, e77. doi:10.7717/peerj.77</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hickling, R., Roy, D. B., Hill, J. K., Fox, R., & Thomas. (2006). The distributions of a wide range of taxonomic groups are expanding polewards. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Global Change Biology</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(3), 450–455. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01116.x</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Holzinger, B., Hülber, K., Camenisch, M., & Grabherr, G. (2007). Changes in plant species richness over the last century in the eastern Swiss Alps: elevational gradient, bedrock effects and migration rates. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plant Ecology</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">195</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(2), 179–196. doi:10.1007/s11258-007-9314-9</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kelly, A. E., & Goulden, M. L. (2008). Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">105</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(33), 11823–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.0802891105</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lenoir, J., Gégout, J. C., Marquet, P. A., De Ruffray, P., & Brisse, H. (2008). A significant upward shift in plant species optimum elevation during the 20th century. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Science (New York, N.Y.)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">320</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(5884), 1768–71. doi:10.1126/science.1156831</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leonelli, G., Pelfini, M., Morra di Cella, U., & Garavaglia, V. (2010). Climate Warming and the Recent Treeline Shift in the European Alps: The Role of Geomorphological Factors in High-Altitude Sites. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AMBIO</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">40</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(3), 264–273. doi:10.1007/s13280-010-0096-2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mack, R. N., & Lonsdale, W. M. (2001). Humans as Global Plant Dispersers: Getting More Than We Bargained For. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BioScience</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">51</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(2), 95. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0095:HAGPDG]2.0.CO;2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Parmesan, C., & Yohe, G. (2003). A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">421</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(6918), 37–42. doi:10.1038/nature01286</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Root, T. L., Price, J. T., Hall, K. R., Schneider, S. H., Rosenzweig, C., & Pounds, J. A. (2003). Fingerprints of global warming on wild animals and plants. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">421</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(6918), 57–60. doi:10.1038/nature01333</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sarah J. Woodin. (1997). Effects of acid deposition on arctic vegetation. In S. J. Woodin & M. Marquiss (Eds.), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ecology of Arctic Environments 13th Special Symposium of the British Ecological Society</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (p. 292). Cambridge University Press.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith, R. (1994). Vascular plants as bioindicators of regional warming in Antarctica. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oecologia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, (January), 322–328. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00627745</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sturm, M., Racine, C., Tape, K., Cronin, T. W., Caldwell, R. L., & Marshall, J. (2001). Increasing shrub abundance in the Arctic. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">411</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(May), 546.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas, C., & Lennon, J. (1999). Birds extend their ranges northwards. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">399</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(May), 6505. Retrieved from http://docencia.izt.uam.mx/hcg/cursoact_CC/material_adicional/399213a0.pdf</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Velásquez-Tibatá, J., Salaman, P., & Graham, C. H. (2012). Effects of climate change on species distribution, community structure, and conservation of birds in protected areas in Colombia. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Regional Environmental Change</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">13</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(2), 235–248. doi:10.1007/s10113-012-0329-y</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Update 13 Aug. 2014: </b>An example of a publication implicating grazing changes in tree line movements </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; text-indent: -24pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aakala, T, Hari P, Dengel S, Newberry SL, Mizunuma T, Grace J (2014)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; text-indent: -24pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> prominent stepwise advance of the tree line in North-East Finland DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12308</span></div>
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This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-14229166972034181872013-09-11T00:11:00.001-07:002013-09-11T00:45:24.161-07:00Fueling botanical recording in England, Ireland, Scotland and WalesThe <a href="http://www.bsbi.org.uk/about_bsbi.html" target="_blank">Botanical Society</a>'s Recorder’s Conference is over for 2013, but this is not an end, just a pit stop in the collection of botanical data. Now that the field season draws to a close, this event is an opportunity for the botanists of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to share knowledge, argue about policies, meet friends and make new ones.<br />
At this year’s conference, some of the presentations were the taxonomy of <i>Dactylorhiza </i>and <i>Orchis</i>; on escaped alien ferns; on willows and poplars; on rare plants of Somerset; on the flora of Tristan da Cunha and on errors in botanical recording.<br />
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Britain and Ireland’s field botanists are a well-motivated, confident group whose work means that these are probably the best surveyed countries in the world and they do this largely out of their own pockets.<br />
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Now that I am botanically recharged I am confident in the continued progress the Botanical Society is making towards the study of the north-western European flora. We have many challenges ahead of us . We need to look forward to the next atlas of the flora; to the challenges of conservation; to monitoring change and to recruiting and training the next generation of field botanists. However, it is obvious at the conference that we have the people who can do the job and the enthusiasm to fuel it.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-68704862031345584882013-09-01T04:55:00.001-07:002013-09-01T05:09:22.998-07:00Taxonomy can't just be a glorified hobbyOne of my contributions to the <a href="http://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/" target="_blank">pro-iBiosphere</a> project is a report on the use of digital technology among taxonomists (<a href="http://figshare.com/articles/The_Use_of_e_Tools_among_Producers_of_Taxonomic_Knowledge/785738" target="_blank">Groom <i>et al.</i>, 2013</a>). In the preparation of this report I got to talk to many taxonomists about their work and their expectations for the future. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that all taxonomists are passionate and dedicated to what they do. Indeed, unlike most professions, if they weren't paid to do it they would do it for free. Many retired taxonomists continue their work unpaid and many employed taxonomists self-fund their own research.<br />
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Isn't this fantastic? We are told that there are literally millions of undescribed organisms and we have an enthusiastic group of people who don’t even need paying to do the work. Well of course there is a catch, people who are under-resourced, under-appreciated and expected to work based on their passion for the subject will do the work exactly in the way they want to. So it is not unusual for a taxonomist to publish their <i>magnum opus</i> in an obscure publication, with a print run of less than 100 with no digitally accessible version. Indeed, it is a particular quirk of the international codes for biological nomenclature that anyone can publish names for organisms, anywhere and without peer review. This certainly contributes to a general disrespect among scientists for taxonomy.<br />
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Yet, with no funding there is no requirement on taxonomists to work on economically important species; nor is there a requirement to publish taxonomy digitally and make it accessible to the people who need it, in language they can read. Furthermore, taxonomists have no incentive to maintain a stable or complete taxonomy free from ambiguity.<br />
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Moreover, codes of biological nomenclature are decided upon democratically within the taxonomic community, but without consultation with the users of taxonomy. In them are many rules to ensure that taxonomists get credit for describing new taxa, but few to ensure that taxonomic names act as a unique stable identifier of taxa in a digital world.<br />
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If the beneficiaries of taxonomy want a stable and a usable system of names for the life on earth then these users will have to start demanding this and paying for it. And if taxonomists want funding for their work and respect for their profession they have to start asking what the users want and start providing it.<br />
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Groom, Q., Agosti, D., Güntsch, A., Hovenkamp, P., Eralt, E., Mietchen, D., Paton, A. & Sierra, S. (2013) The Use of e-Tools among Producers of Taxonomic Knowledge. Figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.785738 Retrieved 09:51, Sep 01, 2013 (GMT)<br />
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This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</small></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-71043601475434559312013-08-24T15:08:00.000-07:002013-08-24T15:08:47.318-07:00A new site for a rare speciesYesterday, the family and I took a boat trip to the tiny island of <a href="https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=49.730901,-2.253488&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl" target="_blank">Burhou,</a> off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands. Burhou is a reserve for puffins (<i>Fratercula arctica</i>) and storm petrels (<i>Hydrobates pelagicus</i>). However, there weren't many birds to see as the puffins have already finished breeding and the storm petrels only return to their nests at night. Nevertheless, this gave me plenty of opportunity to look for plants, without disturbing nesting birds.<br />
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Fewer than 50 species of plant have ever been recorded from Burhou and nothing rare, so it it came as a surprise to me to not only find a new species for the island, but one of the rarest British species, <i>Rumex rupestris </i>(shore dock). Britain is the world stronghold for <i>Rumex rupestris</i>, but even here the total population is estimated to be less than 650 plants (see a full description of its status at the <a href="http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/species.asp?FeatureIntCode=S1441" target="_blank">JNCC website</a>). The last record of this species nearby was in 1958 on Alderney.<br />
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Below is a picture of <i>Rumex rupestris</i> showing its large smooth tubercules and <i>Rumex crispus</i> like leaves.<br />
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This <span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">work</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Quentin Groom</span> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.</small></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-47358704604716217292013-08-23T03:32:00.003-07:002016-10-03T21:31:49.179-07:00My (Lack of) Scientific Impact<div style="text-align: right;">
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With initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (<a href="http://am.ascb.org/dora/" target="_blank">DORA</a>) I look forward to the decline in use of the journal impact factor as a measure of <u>my</u> scientific worth, but it is not going to do me any good. Distributions of wealth in society invariable follow a Lorenz curve, such that a small proportion of the population holds the vast majority of the wealth. Scientific impact is no different, Darwin’s shopping list would have probably had more scientific impact than most of my publications.<br />
To see what my scientific impact looks like visit <a href="https://impactstory.org/u/0000-0002-0596-5376" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">my profile</a> at ImpactStory. Here ImpactStory have taken the publications linked to my <a href="http://orcid.org/" target="_blank">ORCID</a> and searched numerous social networks and bibliographic databases to discover the scientific impact those publications have had. It is an elegant assessment of my scientific career, though starkly honest. Reading it you get a good impression of the things I've apparently done wrong in my career...<br />
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<li>I shouldn't have kept changing my research field.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/rboha-oxidasa-pdf/" target="_blank">Molecular Biology</a>, <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/differential-effects-chilling-induced-photooxidation-redox-regulation-photosynthetic-enzymes/" target="_blank">Biochemistry</a>, <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/analysis-light-induced-depressions-photosynthesis-leaves-wheat-crop-during-winter/" target="_blank">Plant Physiology</a>, <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/77/" target="_blank">Ecology</a> etc.</li>
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<li>I shouldn't have taken breaks in my scientific career to follow different careers.</li>
<li>I shouldn't have written papers that no scientist would be interested in reading</li>
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<li>e.g <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/220039761_Observations_on_the_occurrence_of_Cirsium_hybridum_in_Belgium" target="_blank">Observations on the occurrence of Cirsium ×hybridum in Belgium</a></li>
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<li>I shouldn't have written papers for obscure journals.</li>
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<li>e.g. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216127884_A_comparison_of_species_lists_of_vascular_plants_points_to_recent_habitat_change_on_the_North_Frisian_Island_Amrum" target="_blank">Schriften des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schleswig-Holstein</a></li>
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<li>I shouldn't write for a non-scientific audience.</li>
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<li>e.g. <a href="http://bsbi.org.uk/VC67RPR2013.pdf" target="_blank">Rare and Scarce Plants of South Northumberland</a></li>
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<li>I <u>should</u> write blogs on social networking sites mentioning all my publications.</li>
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Nevertheless, citations and mentions on social networks still miss much of my impact on science, due to the work I've done on the internet. I get no credit for digitising and mobilising the <a href="http://www.br.fgov.be/RESEARCH/DATABASES/FOCA/" target="_blank"><i>Flore d'Afrique Centrale</i></a>, the <a href="http://www.bsbimaps.org.uk/atlas/main.php" target="_blank">Maps Scheme Database</a> of the <a href="http://www.bsbi.org.uk/" target="_blank">BSBI</a>, the <a href="http://www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/flora/vccc/index.html" target="_blank">Vice County Census Catalogue</a>, the <a href="http://www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/northumbria/index.asp" target="_blank">Flora of North-East England</a>, for <a href="http://www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/flora/index.html" target="_blank">Find Wild Flowers</a> etc. Obviously, scientific impact, even with internet-based metrics, is still geared to peer-reviewed scientific publications. Obviously, for each of these projects I could have written a citable paper describing the resource. One often sees such papers written for databases and software, but they rarely contain more information than the website itself.<br />
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So I can feel a bit better about my scientific impact in ImpactStory. It doesn't truly reflect all of my impact on science and it is a reminder to assess people's scientific worth broadly. I do not regret the more obscure, non-impactful things I've worked on, because I'm interested in them. However, if I want people to fund my research I need to work on things other people are interested in.<br />
Now that our impact can be judged more directly on the internet, each of us has to work to ensure our publications attract interest. Yet, we should not loose sight of the fact that, at the end of the day, it is the quality of the science that is really important, not your number of retweets.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-30616304610936954402013-08-21T02:54:00.001-07:002013-08-23T00:20:47.677-07:00GBIF should store gridded data and stop converting it to point-radiusWhy are modellers still coming to me for data, rather than taking it straight from Global Biodiversity Information Facility ( <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/106227283263725864447" target="_blank">+GBIF</a> )? I believe GBIF and the creators of the Darwin Core standard (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029715" target="_blank">Wieczorek <i>et al</i>., 2012</a>) made a mistake in judgment by adopting the point-radius method of location description above all other forms.<br />
<br />
Biodiversity locality data is collected in four forms...<br />
<ol>
<li>Point data, sometimes with an indication of the accuracy.</li>
<li>Gridded data, where the observation is located to within a predefined grid of a geographic coordinate system.</li>
<li>Area data, where the occurrence is located to a defined area such as a country, province, state, county, nature reserve etc.</li>
<li>Site description data. Ill-defined locality descriptions (e.g. 5 km west of Newcastle), which are often supported by one or more of the former forms of geographic locator.</li>
</ol>
On the face of it, point data is superior to all other forms of data as it accurately locates the individual and can seemingly be converted to any of the other three forms. This is perhaps why, when you download data from GBIF all the data is in this format. It is stored in the Darwin Core standard in the fields <a href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Location#decimalLatitude,_decimalLongitude" target="_blank">decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude</a>, <a href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Location#verbatimLatitude,_verbatimLongitude" target="_blank">verbatimLatitude, verbatimLongitude</a> and <a href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Location" target="_blank">coordinatePrecision</a>.<br />
The problem is that the vast majority of biodiversity observations are collected and analysed using gridded data. You couldn’t collect point data for every single individual. For the vast majority of organisms if there is one individual, it's fairly certain another one will be nearby<sup>1</sup>. Apart from a few rare species and for individual specimens there is little point and certainly no time to collect point data. Furthermore, almost all the environmental data for modelling such as climate, pollution, soil and land-cover are stored as gridded data. Indeed, even when they are not, they are interpolated and converted to gridded data for species distribution modelling.<br />
Unfortunately, GBIF takes gridded observation data and converts them to point data using the centre of the grid square and an error radius that encloses the grid square (i.e. a 36% larger area)<sup>2</sup>. So if you want to convert these data back to gridded data, you either have to choose a larger grid than the original to ensure that the point and the error radius are contained within the grid square<sup>3</sup>, or recalculate the edges of the square and the error using the radius of the circle as half the diameter of the grid square that contains it. Though you can only do this if you know that the data was gridded in the first place, otherwise you end up with squares that overlap each other.<br />
The origin of this approach stems from the requirements of one community, the museums and herbaria who geo-reference their collections using the point radius method (<a href="http://www.herpnet.org/herpnet/documents/biogeomancerguide.pdf" target="_blank">Chapman & Wieczorek, 2006</a>). It ignores the vast majority of data collectors and data users; the ecologists, conservationists and modellers. Indeed, the Darwin Core standard can handle gridded data, but rather clumsily using the <a href="http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/DarwinCore/WKTFootprint" target="_blank">footprintWKT</a> field<sup>4</sup>. Most databases containing gridded data hold the position of the south-west corner of the grid square, the size of the grid square and a description of the spatial reference system.<br />
GBIF surely wants to be a one-stop-shop for biodiversity modelling data so it should stop converting most of the data to a format that can’t be used without converting it back to the original format, if you are lucky enough to know which one it was in the first place.<br />
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<h4>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-2191d39e-9ff4-e627-c751-b59e9bbaea24"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Footnotes</span></b></h4>
1. This is Tobler's first law of geography, "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Tobler W., (1970) "A computer movie simulating urban growth in the Detroit region". Economic Geography, 46(2): 234-240.<br />
2. coordinatePrecision for gridded data in GBIF seems to have been interpreted in various ways and you have to study it from each data provider to understand what it means.<br />
3. If you use a larger grid for modelling you are not looking at data at a different scale as is sometimes suggested, you are just losing definition. If your computer monitor had bigger pixels you wouldn’t say you’re looking at the image at a different scale.<br />
4. The footprintWKT field is not available in GBIF downloads.
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<h4>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-2191d39e-9ff4-e627-c751-b59e9bbaea24">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References</span></b></h4>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-2191d39e-9ff4-e627-c751-b59e9bbaea24"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapman, A.D. and J. Wieczorek (eds). 2006. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guide to Best Practices for Georeferencing</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-2191d39e-9ff4-e627-c751-b59e9bbaea24">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wieczorek J, Bloom D, Guralnick R, Blum S, Döring M, et al. (2012) Darwin Core: An Evolving Community-Developed Biodiversity Data Standard. PLoS ONE7(1): e29715. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029715</span></b>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01823490603450519912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195987566043691438.post-59255197115920201112013-08-18T03:00:00.001-07:002013-09-09T00:40:27.989-07:00<br />
<h2>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">False positives are the worst kind of error</span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;">If in doubt leave it out</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Misidentifications and unnoticed species are quite common in botanical surveys. Both lead to errors and misinformation. Failing to observe a species, when it is in-fact present, is a false negative. False negatives are fairly easy to counteract by repeat surveying and using multiple observers. False negatives can even be used to quantify the abundance of a species, since the single largest determinant of observability is abundance (Royle & Nichols, 2003; Kéry, Royle & Schmid, 2005; Chen, 2009, Groom, 2012).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the other hand, false positives are a menace as they are much more difficult to resolve. They pollute our datasets and are impossible to refute with certainty. +<a href="http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/12/patternicity/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">MichaelShermer</span></a> suggests that the number of false positives are greater when there is a cost associated with a false negative. For example, if the risk of a false negative were to be eaten by a tiger it would be more advantageous to make a few false positive identifications.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the case of botanical surveying the costs are probably fairly well balanced between false negatives and false positives. However, under certain conditions one can imagine that the cost swings in either direction. For example, if a keen amateur wants to prove their botanical prowess, there is a cost to one’s ego associated with a false negative. On the other hand, a poorly paid professional ecologist may want to complete as many plots as possible in a short period, in which case the cost of a false negative reduces in comparison to a false positive.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">False positives arise from several different behaviors.</span></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">An over-reliance on jizz, leads to dismissive identification without due consideration.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Inexperience of recorders, unaware of all the possible taxa that might occur.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Inadequate reference material, not including all the possible taxa.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Poor navigation, so that surveyors are outside of the survey area.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So what can be done to reduce the number of false positives?</span></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Insist on a specimen for previously unobserved taxa. This can be done at a national and county level.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Training, not just in the identification of taxa, but also in navigation and in the consequences of misidentification.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When analyzing, grade observations by their sources and level of evidence (Molinari-Jobin <i>et al</i>., 2012).</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Survey in a group: groups create fewer false positives (Wolf <i>et al</i>., 2013).</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Don’t foster a culture where a long list is a good list. Foster a supportive, open, nonjudgmental culture where peer review is welcomed.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Using computer software that alerts the user if that taxon is new to the area. Never store records on paper or in spreadsheets.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Use a survey protocol whereby each new taxon has to be checked against at least one key character.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">False positives litter our databases. They are made by everyone and in-fact experienced botanists, particularly the most confident, can be the worst offenders. Once these errors are made they contaminate the data misleading researchers and leading to many waste hours of confusion, if in doubt leave it out.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>References</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Chen, G., Kéry, M., Zhang, J., & Ma, K. (2009). Factors affecting detection probability in plant distribution studies. <i>Journal of Ecology</i>, <b>97(6)</b>, 1383–1389. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01560.x</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Groom, Q. J. (2013). Estimation of vascular plant occupancy and its change using kriging. <i>New Journal of Botany</i>, <i>3(1)</i>, 33–46. doi:10.1179/2042349712Y.0000000014</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Kéry, M., Royle, J. A., & Schmid, H. (2005). Modeling Avian Abundance From Replicated Counts Using Binomial Mixture Models. <i>Ecological Applications</i>, <b>15(4)</b>, 1450–1461. doi:10.1890/04-1120</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Molinari-Jobin, A., Kéry, M., Marboutin, E., Molinari, P., Koren, I., Fuxjäger, C., … Breitenmoser, U. (2012). Monitoring in the presence of species misidentification: the case of the Eurasian lynx in the Alps. <i>Animal Conservation</i>, <b>15(3)</b>, 266–273. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00511.x</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Royle, J. A., & Nichols, J. D. (2003). Estimating Abundance From Repeated Presence–Absence Data or Point Counts. <i>Ecology</i>, <b>84(3)</b>, 777–790. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2003)084[0777:EAFRPA]2.0.CO;2</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Wolf, M., Kurvers, R. H. J. M., Ward, A. J. W., Krause, S., & Krause, J. (2013). Accurate decisions in an uncertain world: collective cognition increases true positives while decreasing false positives. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 280(1756), 20122777. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2777</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Addendum</span></b></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A presentation given to the Botanical Society of the British Isles on this subject is available<a href="http://figshare.com/articles/A_case_of_mistaken_identity_Using_FISC_results_to_examine_Type_1_errors_in_field_recording_/791617" target="_blank"> here. </a></span><br />
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