Publicaties
Gekozen filters:
Gekozen filters:
Spatial scales affecting termite diversity in tropical lowland rainforest: a case study in southeast Cameroon Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde van Antwerpen
Termites play a prominent role in the decomposer food web as `ecosystem engineers'. However, the effect of spatial scales on termite assemblages has, to date, been poorly studied. Here, we evaluate the contribution of two spatial levels [transects (100 m x 2 m) and sections within transects (5 m x 2 m)] on the local termite assemblage of a continuous mixed secondary lowland rainforest in southeast Cameroon. Standardized 100 m x 2 m transects ...
Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales Universiteit Hasselt Universiteit Antwerpen Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde Universiteit Gent Plantentuin Meise / Agentschap Plantentuin Meise KU Leuven Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi-)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scales at which this relationship has been investigated among studies. Comprehensive studies analysing ...
Cross-taxon congruence of taxonomic and functional beta-diversity facets across spatial and temporal scales Universiteit Gent
An intensively debated issue in ecology is whether the variations in the biodiversity patterns of different biological groups are congruent in space and time. In addition, ecologists have recognized the necessity of accounting for both taxonomic and functional facets when analysing spatial and temporal congruence patterns. This study aimed to determine how the cross-taxon congruence of taxonomic and functional beta diversity varies across space ...
Ecological divergence of wild strawberry DNA methylation patterns at distinct spatial scales KU Leuven Universiteit Gent
Epigenetic change is considered relatively unstable and short-lived, raising questions of its contribution to long-term adaptive potential. However, epigenetic modifications can accumulate in the presence of environmental stress, resulting in beneficial epigenetic memories where environments are challenging. Diverging epigenetic memories have been observed across large spatial scales, and can persist through multiple generations. It is unknown, ...
Elevational Gradients in beta-Diversity Reflect Variation in the Strength of Local Community Assembly Mechanisms across Spatial Scales KU Leuven
Despite long-standing interest in elevational-diversity gradients, little is known about the processes that cause changes in the compositional variation of communities (β-diversity) across elevations. Recent studies have suggested that β-diversity gradients are driven by variation in species pools, rather than by variation in the strength of local community assembly mechanisms such as dispersal limitation, environmental filtering, or local ...
Urbanisation lowers great tit Parus major breeding success at multiple spatial scales Universiteit Antwerpen Universiteit Gent
While numerous studies have reported negative effects of urbanisation on birds, few have examined the role of urban scale in influencing breeding success. Furthermore, many studies have relied on qualitative rather than quantitative assessments of urbanisation. This study sought to address these issues by testing the effects of urbanisation, measured at two spatial scales, on the breeding success of great tits Parus major. A nested study design, ...
Predicting soil organic carbon in cultivated land across geographical and spatial scales : integrating Sentinel-2A and laboratory Vis-NIR spectra Universiteit Gent
Digital mapping of soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential for visualizing the spatial distribution at different regions and scales. However, existing studies using remote sensing are limited by the low spectral resolution of multispectral data for accurate estimation of SOC, and the failure of laboratory visible and near-infrared and shortwave infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy to perform pixel-level mapping. To address these limitations, this ...
Where does land use matter most? Contrasting land use effects on river quality at different spatial scales KU Leuven Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Understanding the influence of land-use activities on river quality has been a key focus of river monitoring programs worldwide. However, defining which land-use spatial scale is relevant remains elusive. In this study, therefore, we contrasted the influence of land use on river quality using three types of land-use estimators, namely circular buffers around a monitoring site, circular buffers upstream of the monitoring site and the entire ...
Influence of spatial and temporal scales on statistical analyses of rainfall variability in the river Nile basin KU Leuven
In this study, empirical orthogonal function was applied to analyze rainfall variability in the Nile basin based on various spatio-temporal scales. The co-occurrence of rainfall variability and the variation in selected climate indices was analyzed based on various spatio-temporal scales. From the highest to the lowest, the cumulative amount of variance explained by the first two principal components (PCs) for any selected size of the spatial ...