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Johannes Leiner,1,2 Sven Hohenstein,2 Vincent Pellissier,2 Sebastian König,1,2 Claudia Winklmair,3 Irit Nachtigall,4 Andreas Bollmann,1,2,5 Ralf Kuhlen3,5,6 On behalf of the scientific advisory board of the Initiative of Quality Medicine (IQM)1Heart Centre Leipzig at University of Leipzig, Department of Electrophysiology, Leipzig, Germany; 2Real World Evidence and Health Technology Assessment at Helios Health Institute, Berlin, Germany; 3Initiative of Quality Medicine, Berlin, Germany; 4Department of Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention, HELIOS Hospital Emil-von-Behring, Berlin, Germany and Charité - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Berlin, Germany; 5Helios Health Institute, Berlin, Germany; 6Helios Health, Berlin, GermanyCorrespondence: Ralf Kuhlen, Initiative Qualitaetsmedizin e.V, Alt-Moabit 104, Berlin, 10559, Germany, Tel +49 30 7262 152 - 0, Email ralf.kuhlen@initiative-qualitaetsmedizin.deIntroduction: Reliable surveillance systems to monitor trends of COVID-19 case numbers and the associated healthcare burden play a central role in efficient pandemic management. In Germany, the federal government agency Robert-Koch-Institute uses an ICD-code-based inpatient surveillance system, ICOSARI, to assess temporal trends of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and COVID-19 hospitalization numbers. In a similar approach, we present a large-scale analysis covering four pandemic waves derived from the Initiative of Quality Medicine (IQM), a German-wide network of acute care hospitals.Methods: Routine data from 421 hospitals for the years 2019– 2021 with a “pre-pandemic” period (01– 01-2019 to 03– 03-2020) and a “pandemic” period (04– 03-2020 to 31– 12-2021) was analysed. SARI cases were defined by ICD-codes J09-J22 and COVID-19 by ICD-codes U07.1 and U07.2. The following outcomes were analysed: intensive care treatment, mechanical ventilation, in-hospital mortality.Results: Over 1.1 million cases of SARI and COVID-19 were identified. Patients with COVID-19 and additional codes for SARI were at higher risk for adverse outcomes when compared to non-COVID SARI and COVID-19 without any coding for SARI. During the pandemic period, non-COVID SARI cases were associated with 28%, 23% and 27% higher odds for intensive care treatment, mechanical ventilation and in-hospital mortality, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic SARI.Conclusion: The nationwide IQM network could serve as an excellent data source to enhance COVID-19 and SARI surveillance in view of the ongoing pandemic. Future developments of COVID-19/SARI case numbers and associated outcomes should be closely monitored to identify specific trends, especially considering novel virus variants.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: initiative of quality medicine, Germany, COVID-19, SARI, inpatient, hospital network

Background Little is known about delivery of neurosurgical care, complication rate and outcome of patients with high-grade glioma (HGG) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Methods This observational, retrospective cohort study analyzed routine administrative data of all patients admitted for neurosurgical treatment of an HGG within the Helios Hospital network in Germany. Data of the Covid-19 pandemic (March 1, 2020—May 31, 2022) were compared to the pre-pandemic period (January 1, 2016—February 29, 2020). Frequency of treatment and outcome (in-hospital mortality, length of hospital stay [LOHS], time in intensive care unit [TICU] and ventilation outside the operating room [OR]) were separately analyzed for patients with microsurgical resection (MR) or stereotactic biopsy (STBx). Results A total of 1763 patients underwent MR of an HGG (648 patients during the Covid-19 pandemic; 1115 patients in the pre-pandemic period). 513 patients underwent STBx (182 [pandemic]; 331 patients [pre-pandemic]). No significant differences were found for treatment frequency (MR: 2.95 patients/week [Covid-19 pandemic] vs. 3.04 patients/week [pre-pandemic], IRR 0.98, 95% CI: 0.89–1.07; STBx (1.82 [Covid-19 pandemic] vs. 1.86 [pre-pandemic], IRR 0.96, 95% CI: 0.80–1.16, P > .05). Rates of in-hospital mortality, infection, postoperative hemorrhage, cerebral ischemia and ventilation outside the OR were similar in both periods. Overall LOHS was significantly shorter for patients with MR and STBx during the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusions The Covid-19 pandemic did not affect the frequency of neurosurgical treatment of patients with an HGG based on data of a large nationwide hospital network in Germany. LOHS was significantly shorter but quality of neurosurgical care and outcome was not altered during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aims Utilizing administrative data may facilitate risk prediction in heart failure inpatients. In this short report, we present different machine learning models that predict in-hospital mortality on an individual basis utilizing this widely available data source. Methods and results Inpatient cases with a main discharge diagnosis of heart failure hospitalized between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018 in one of 86 German Helios hospitals were examined. Comorbidities were defined by ICD-10 codes from administrative data. The data set was randomly split into 75/25% portions for model development and testing. Five algorithms were evaluated: logistic regression [generalized linear models (GLMs)], random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), single-layer neural network (NNET), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). After model tuning, the receiver operating characteristics area under the curves (ROC AUCs) were calculated and compared with DeLong’s test. A total of 59 074 inpatient cases (mean age 77.6 ± 11.1 years, 51.9% female, 89.4% NYHA Class III/IV) were included and in-hospital mortality was 6.2%. In the test data set, calculated ROC AUCs were 0.853 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.842–0.863] for GLM, 0.851 (95% CI 0.840–0.862) for RF, 0.855 (95% CI 0.844–0.865) for GBM, 0.836 (95% CI 0.823–0.849) for NNET, and 0.856 (95% CI 9.846–0.867) for XGBoost. XGBoost outperformed all models except GBM. Conclusion Machine learning-based processing of administrative data enables the creation of well-performing prediction models for in-hospital mortality in heart failure patients.

Objectives SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RAT) provide fast identification of infectious patients when RT-PCR results are not immediately available. We aimed to develop a prediction model for identification of false negative (FN) RAT results. Methods In this multicenter trial, patients with documented paired results of RAT and RT-PCR between October 1st 2020 and January 31st 2021 were retrospectively analyzed regarding clinical findings. Variables included demographics, laboratory values and specific symptoms. Three different models were evaluated using Bayesian logistic regression. Results The initial dataset contained 4,076 patients. Overall sensitivity and specificity of RAT was 62.3% and 97.6%. 2,997 cases with negative RAT results (FN: 120; true negative: 2,877; reference: RT-PCR) underwent further evaluation after removal of cases with missing data. The best-performing model for predicting FN RAT results containing 10 variables yielded an area under the curve of 0.971. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for 0.09 as cut-off value (probability for FN RAT) were 0.85, 0.99, 0.7 and 0.99. Conclusion FN RAT results can be accurately identified through ten routinely available variables. Implementation of a prediction model in addition to RAT testing in clinical care can provide a decision guidance for initiating appropriate hygiene measures and therefore helps avoiding nosocomial infections., Graphical abstract Image, graphical abstract

BACKGROUND Mobile health (mHealth) approaches are already having a fundamental impact on clinical practice in cardiovascular medicine. A variety of different health apps and wearable devices for capturing health data such as electrocardiograms (ECGs) exist. However, most mHealth technologies focus on distinct variables without integrating patients’ quality of life, and the impact on clinical outcome measures of implementing those digital solutions into cardiovascular health care is still to be determined. OBJECTIVE Within this document, we describe the TeleWear project, which was recently initiated as an approach for contemporary patient management integrating mobile-collected health data and the standardized mHealth-guided measurement of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with cardiovascular disease. METHODS The specifically designed mobile app and clinical frontend form the central elements of our TeleWear infrastructure. Because of its flexible framework, the platform allows far-reaching customization with the possibility to add different mHealth data sources and respective questionnaires (patient-reported outcome measures). RESULTS With initial focus on patients with cardiac arrhythmias, a feasibility study is currently carried out to assess wearable-recorded ECG and PRO transmission and its evaluation by physicians using the TeleWear app and clinical frontend. First experiences made during the feasibility study yielded positive results and confirmed the platform’s functionality and usability. CONCLUSIONS TeleWear represents a unique mHealth approach comprising PRO and mHealth data capturing. With the currently running TeleWear feasibility study, we aim to test and further develop the platform in a real-world setting. A randomized controlled trial including patients with atrial fibrillation that investigates PRO- and ECG-based clinical management based on the established TeleWear infrastructure will evaluate its clinical benefits. Widening the spectrum of health data collection and interpretation beyond the ECG and use of the TeleWear infrastructure in different patient subcohorts with focus on cardiovascular diseases are further milestones of the project with the ultimate goal to establish a comprehensive telemedical center entrenched by mHealth.

Aims Several reports indicate lower rates of emergency admissions in the cardiovascular sector and reduced admissions of patients with chronic diseases during the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate numbers of admissions in incident and prevalent atrial fibrillation and flutter (AF) and to analyse care pathways in comparison to 2019.Methods A retrospective analysis of claims data of 74 German Helios hospitals was performed to identify consecutive patients hospitalized with a main discharge diagnosis of AF. A study period including the start of the German national protection phase (13 March 2020 to 16 July 2020) was compared to a previous year control cohort (15 March 2019 to 18 July 2019), with further sub-division into early and late phase. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated. Numbers of admission per day (A/day) for incident and prevalent AF and care pathways including readmissions, numbers of transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE), electrical cardioversion (CV), and catheter ablation (CA) were analysed.Results During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant decrease in total AF admissions both in the early (44.4 vs. 77.5 A/day, IRR 0.57 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54–0.61], P Conclusion During the COVID-19 pandemic, AF admission rates declined significantly, with a more pronounced reduction in incident than in prevalent AF. Overall AF care was maintained during early and late pandemic phases with only minor changes, namely less frequent use of TEE. Confirmation of these findings in other study populations and identification of underlying causes are required to ensure optimal therapy in patients with AF during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aims: Taller forest canopies may harbour higher biodiversity by providing more and varied resources. No previous studies have assessed whether forest canopy height shapes the taxonomic and functional diversity of terrestrial vertebrates at global and regional scales. Here, we examine the roles of forest canopy height and other environmental variables in shaping global and regional patterns of species richness and functional diversity of mammals and birds. Location: Global. Time period: Present day. Major taxa studied: Terrestrial mammals and birds. Methods: Global forest canopy height data at 1 km spatial resolution were used to measure forest vertical structure. Species richness, functional richness and functional dispersion of mammals and birds were calculated using range maps and trait data. Spatial simultaneous autoregressive error models were used to evaluate associations between species richness and functional diversity and their predictors, including mean canopy height, standard deviation of canopy height, net primary productivity, current climate and historical climate stability, topography and human activities. Results: Mean canopy height emerged as one of two predictors most associated with species richness of mammals and birds as well as mammal functional richness. However, mean canopy height had little explanatory power for functional dispersion. Mean annual temperature and net primary productivity contributed most to explain global-scale mammal and bird functional dispersion. At the regional scale, mean canopy height, net primary productivity and mean annual temperature were the variables most associated with the species richness and functional diversity of mammals and birds. Main conclusions: Forest canopy height is an important predictor of species richness and functional diversity of terrestrial vertebrates at both global and regional scales, at a similar overall level to productivity and temperature. Our study highlights the crucial role of the complex vertical structure in shaping the global and regional patterns of vertebrate diversity.

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phyto- coenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems.

QUESTIONS: Which environmental factors influence fine-grain beta diversity of vegetation and do they vary among taxonomic groups? LOCATION: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. METHODS: We extracted 4,654 nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes between 0.0001 m² and 1,024 m² from the GrassPlot database, covering a wide range of different grassland and other open habitat types. We derived extensive environmental and structural information for these series. For each series and four taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, all), we calculated the slope parameter (z-value) of the power law species–area relationship (SAR), as a beta diversity measure. We tested whether z-values differed among taxonomic groups and with respect to biogeographic gradients (latitude, elevation, macroclimate), ecological (site) characteristics (several stress–productivity, disturbance and heterogeneity measures, including land use) and alpha diversity (c-value of the power law SAR). RESULTS: Mean z-values were highest for lichens, intermediate for vascular plants and lowest for bryophytes. Bivariate regressions of z-values against environmental variables had rather low predictive power (mean R² = 0.07 for vascular plants, less for other taxa). For vascular plants, the strongest predictors of z-values were herb layer cover (negative), elevation (positive), rock and stone cover (positive) and the c-value (U-shaped). All tested metrics related to land use (fertilization, livestock grazing, mowing, burning, decrease in naturalness) led to a decrease in z-values. Other predictors had little or no impact on z-values. The patterns for bryophytes, lichens and all taxa combined were similar but weaker than those for vascular plants. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that productivity has negative and heterogeneity positive effects on z-values, while the effect of disturbance varies depending on type and intensity. These patterns and the differences among taxonomic groups can be explained via the effects of these drivers on the mean occupancy of species, which is mathematically linked to beta diversity. The Bavarian Research Alliance (via the BayIntAn scheme) and the Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER) funded the initial GrassPlot workshop during which the database was established and the current paper was initiated (grants to JDe). WU acknowledges support from the Polish National Science Centre (grant 2017/27/B/NZ8/00316). IB, JAC and IG-M were funded by the Basque Government (IT936-16). GF carried out the research in the frame of the MIUR initiative "Department of excellence" (Law 232/2016). SBa was supported by the GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00019 project. CM was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 19-28491X) and the Basque Government (IT936-16). ID was supported by the Polish National Science Centre (grant DEC-2013/09/N/NZ8/03234) and by a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship for Postdocs (ESKAS No. 2019.0491). MJ was supported by the Slovak Academy of Sciences (grant VEGA 02/0095/19). AN was supported by a " Master Plan Project" in the University of Mazandaran, Iran. DS was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 20-29554X). AK, IV and DV were supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (project no. 2020.01/0140). JDo was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA17-19376S) and LTAUSA18007 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

BackgroundAfter the first Covid-19 infection wave, a constant increase of pulmonary embolism (PE) hospitalizations not linked with active PCR-confirmed Covid-19 has been observed but potential contributors to this observation are unclear. Therefore, we analyzed associations between changes in PE hospitalizations and (1) the incidence of non-Covid-19 pneumonia, (2) the use of computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA), (3) volume depletion and (4) preceding Covid-19 infection numbers in Germany.MethodsClaims data of Helios hospitals in Germany were used and consecutive cases with a hospital admission between May 6 and December 15, 2020 (PE surplus period) were analyzed and compared to corresponding periods covering the same weeks in 2016–2019 (control period). We analyzed the number of PE cases in the target period with multivariable Poisson general linear mixed models (GLMM) including (a) cohorts of 2020 versus 2016– 2019, (b) the number of cases with pneumonia, (c) CTPA, and (d) volume depletion and adjusted for age and sex. In order to associate the daily number of PE cases in 2020 with the number of preceding SARS-CoV-2 infections in Germany, we calculated the average number of daily infections (divided by 10,000) occurring 14 up to 90 days with increasing window sizes before PE cases and modelled the data with Poisson regression.ResultsThere were 2,404 PE hospitalizations between May 6 and December 15, 2020 as opposed to 2,112 – 2,236 (total 8,717) in the corresponding 2016 – 2019 control periods. (crude rate ratio [CRR] 1.10, 95% CI 1.05 – 1.15, PPPPPConclusionsThere is an increase in PE cases since early May 2020 compared to corresponding periods in 2016 – 2019. This surplus was significant even when controlling for changes in potential modulators such as demographics, volume depletion, non-Covid-19 pneumonia, CTPA use and preceding Covid-19 infections. Future studies are needed (1) to investigate a potential causal link for increased risk of delayed PE with preceding SARS-CoV-2 infection, and (2) to define optimal screening for SARS-CoV-2 in patients presenting with pneumonia and PE.

BackgroundWhile there are numerous reports that describe emergency care during the early Covid-19 pandemic, there is scarcity of data for later stages. This study analyzes hospitalization rates for 37 emergency-sensitive conditions in the largest German-wide hospital network during different pandemic phases.MethodsUsing claims data of 80 hospitals, consecutive cases between January 1 and November 17, 2020 were analyzed and compared to a corresponding period in 2019. Incidence-rate ratios (IRR) comparing the both periods were calculated using Poisson regression to model the number of hospitalizations per day.ResultsThere was a hospitalization deficit between March 12 and June 13, 2020 (coinciding with the 1st pandemic wave) with 32,807 hospitalizations as opposed to 39,379 in 2019 (IRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.82 – 0.85, Pnd wave), hospitalizations were reduced from 63,799 in 2019 to 59,910 in 2020, but this reduction was not that pronounced (IRR 0.94, 95% CI 0.93 – 0.95, Pst wave during which hospitalizations had been reduced for those conditions. In contrast, hospitalizations for sepsis, pneumonia, obstructive pulmonary disease, and intracranial injuries were reduced during the entire pandemic.ConclusionsThere was an overall reduction of hospitalizations for emergency-sensitive conditions in Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic with heterogeneous effects on different disease categories. The increase of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, aortic aneurism/dissection and pulmonary embolism is an alarming signal that requires attention and further studies.KEY MESSAGESWhat is already known on this subjectThere has been a reduction in emergency room visits and hospital admissions for several emergent medical and surgical conditions during the early Covid-19 pandemic (1st wave).What this study addsUsing claims data of 80 German-wide Helios hospitals, we found an overall reduction of hospitalizations for emergency-sensitive conditions in Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic until mid November 2020 with heterogeneous effects on different disease categories. While hospitalizations for sepsis, pneumonia, obstructive pulmonary disease, and intracranial injuries were reduced during the entire pandemic. There was an alarming increase of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, aortic aneurism/dissection and pulmonary embolism after the 1st wave.

International audience; The Natura 2000 protected area network (N2000), implemented under the Birds and Habitats Directives (respectively, Special Protection Areas, SPA, and Special Areas of Conservation, SAC), constitutes a key tool for the conservation of European biodiversity. To date, few studies have looked at its long-term effect on biodiversity and even fewer on common species. Here, using citizen science data, we investigated this effect on the temporal trends of widespread and common bird species in France, over the period 2002–2016. We found results consistent with previous findings demonstrating a significant decline of common bird populations in France. However, we show that this decline is less steep within N2000 areas than outside, especially for farmland specialists. While SPAs and SACs contribute to the overall effect on bird populations, SACs contribute most to the less steep decline of farmland species within N2000 network. Despite generally more diverse bird communities within N2000 areas, their designation has not prevented their ongoing functional biotic homogenization. We conclude that, common bird species - not directly targeted by the Directives - may have benefited from the N2000 protection or management measures. However, the positive but limited effect of the N2000 network suggests that it is not able to reverse negative population trends either because the land management or spatially extent are insufficient. As such, we suggest that improving management plans, expanding existing PA, establishing new ones, are the priority actions that may help improve N2000 effectiveness.

Background Treatment numbers of various cardiovascular diseases were reduced throughout the early phase of the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic. Aim of this study was to (a) expand previous study periods to examine the long‐term course of hospital admission numbers, (b) provide data for in‐ and outpatient care pathways, and (c) illustrate changes of numbers of cardiovascular procedures. Methods and Results Administrative data of patients with ICD‐10‐encoded primary diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases (heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease) and in‐ or outpatient treatment between March, 13th 2020 and September, 10th 2020 were analyzed and compared with 2019 data. Numbers of cardiovascular procedures were calculated using OPS‐codes. The cumulative hospital admission deficit (CumAD) was computed as the difference between expected and observed admissions for every week in 2020. In total, 80 hospitals contributed 294 361 patient cases to the database without relevant differences in baseline characteristics between the studied periods. There was a CumAD of −10% to −16% at the end of the study interval in 2020 for all disease groups driven to varying degrees by both reductions of in‐ and outpatient case numbers. The number of performed interventions was significantly reduced for all examined procedures (catheter ablations: −10%; cardiac electronic device implantations: −7%; percutaneous cardiovascular interventions: −9%; cardiovascular surgery: −15%). Conclusions This study provides data on the long‐term development of cardiovascular patient care during the COVID‐19 pandemic demonstrating a significant CumAD for several cardiovascular diseases and a concomitant performance deficit of cardiovascular interventions.

The European Union's Natura 2000 (N2000) is among the largest international networks of protected areas. One of its aims is to secure the status of a predetermined set of (targeted) bird and butterfly species. However, nontarget species may also benefit from N2000. We evaluated how the terrestrial component of this network affects the abundance of nontargeted, more common bird and butterfly species based on data from long-term volunteer-based monitoring programs in 9602 sites for birds and 2001 sites for butterflies. In almost half of the 155 bird species assessed, and particularly among woodland specialists, abundance increased (slope estimates ranged from 0.101 [SD 0.042] to 3.51 [SD 1.30]) as the proportion of landscape covered by N2000 sites increased. This positive relationship existed for 27 of the 104 butterfly species (estimates ranged from 0.382 [SD 0.163] to 4.28 [SD 0.768]), although most butterflies were generalists. For most species, when land-cover covariates were accounted for these positive relationships were not evident, meaning land cover may be a determinant of positive effects of the N2000 network. The increase in abundance as N2000 coverage increased correlated with the specialization index for birds, but not for butterflies. Although the N2000 network supports high abundance of a large spectrum of species, the low number of specialist butterflies with a positive association with the N2000 network shows the need to improve the habitat quality of N2000 sites that could harbor open-land butterfly specialists. For a better understanding of the processes involved, we advocate for standardized collection of data at N2000 sites.Efectos de Natura 2000 sobre las Especies No Focales de Aves y Mariposas con Base en Datos de Ciencia Ciudadana Resumen La red Natura 2000 (N2000) de la Unión Europea está entre las redes internacionales más grandes de áreas protegidas. Uno de sus objetivos es asegurar el estado de un conjunto predeterminado de especies de aves y mariposas (focales). Sin embargo, las especies no focales también pueden beneficiarse con la N2000. Evaluamos cómo el componente terrestre de esta red afecta la abundancia de las especies de aves y mariposas no focales más comunes con base en los datos de programas de monitoreo voluntario a largo plazo en 9,602 sitios para aves y en 2,001 sitios para mariposas. En casi la mitad de las 155 especies de aves evaluadas, particularmente entre aquellas especies especialistas en zonas boscosas, la abundancia incrementó (los estimaciones de la pendiente variaron desde 0.101 [DS 0.042] hasta 3.51 [DS 1.30]) conforme incrementó la proporción del paisaje cubierto por sitios de la N2000. Esta relación positiva existió en 27 de las 104 especies de mariposas (con una variación de estimaciones desde 0.382 [DS 0.163] hasta 4.28 [DS 0.768]), aunque la mayoría de las especies de mariposas fueron generalistas. Cuando se consideraron las covarianzas de cobertura de suelo estas relaciones positivas no fueron evidentes para la mayoría de las especies, lo que significa que la cobertura de suelo puede ser una determinante de los efectos positivos de la red N2000. El incremento en la abundancia conforme aumentó la cobertura de la N2000 estuvo correlacionado con el índice de especialización de las aves, pero no el de las mariposas. Aunque la red N2000 sostiene la abundancia alta de un espectro amplio de especies, el bajo número de mariposas especialistas con una asociación positiva a la red N2000 demuestra la necesidad de mejorar la calidad del hábitat de los sitios N2000 que podrían albergar a mariposas especialistas de campo abierto. Para un mejor entendimiento de los procesos involucrados, promovemos una recolección estandarizada de datos en los sitios de la red N2000.欧盟的 Natura 2000(N2000) 是全球最大的保护地网络之一, 它的目标之一是保护一批目标鸟类和蝴蝶物种的现状。不过, 非目标物种也可能从 N2000 中获益。本研究评估了该网络陆地保护区如何影响更为常见的非目标鸟类和蝴蝶的丰度, 所用数据来自长期的志愿者监测项目, 包括了 9602 个鸟类监测点和 2001 个蝴蝶监测点。在评估的 155 种鸟类中, 几乎一半的鸟类, 特别是林地专性种, 在 N2000 位点覆盖的景观比例上升时数量增加 (斜率估计值在 0.101 [SD 0.042] 到3.51 [SD 1.30] 之间) 。虽然大多数蝴蝶都是广幅种, 但 104 种蝴蝶中也有 27 种存在这种正相关关系 (斜率估计值在 0.382 [SD 0.163] 到 4.28 [SD 0.768]) 。对于大多数物种来说, 当考虑土地覆盖协变量时, 这样的正相关关系并不明显, 这意味着土地覆盖可能是 N2000 网络能否对物种产生积极影响的关键因素。物种的丰度随着 N2000 覆盖度增加而增加的现象与鸟类的生境特化指数相关, 而在蝴蝶中则无关。虽然 N2000 网络使许多物种得以维持较高丰度, 但获得其积极影响的蝴蝶专性种数量仍较少, 这说明需要在 N2000 网络中提高专性生活在开阔地的蝴蝶的生境质量。为了更好地理解其中的过程, 我们建议收集更多标准化的 N2000 位点数据。 【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】.

Throughout the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it has been critical to understand not only the viral disease itself but also its implications for the overall health care system. Reports about excess mortality in this regard have mostly focused on overall death counts during specific pandemic phases.To investigate hospitalization rates and compare in-hospital mortality rates with absolute mortality incidences across a broad spectrum of diseases, comparing 2020 data with those of prepandemic years.Retrospective, cross-sectional, multicentric analysis of administrative data from 5 821 757 inpatients admitted from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020, to 87 German Helios primary to tertiary care hospitals.Exposure to SARS-CoV-2.Administrative data were analyzed from January 1, 2016, to March 31, 2021, as a consecutive sample for all inpatients. Disease groups were defined according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10; German modification) encoded main discharge diagnoses. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for hospital admissions and hospital mortality counts, as well as relative mortality risks (RMRs) comparing 2016-2019 with 2020 (exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic), were calculated with Poisson regression with log-link function.Data were examined for 5 821 757 inpatients (mean [SD] age, 56.4 [25.3] years; 51.5% women), including 125 807 in-hospital deaths. Incidence rate ratios for hospital admissions were associated with a significant reduction for all investigated disease groups (IRR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.79-0.86; P .001). After adjusting for age, sex, the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index score, and SARS-CoV-2 infections, RMRs were associated with an increase in infectious diseases (RMR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.21-1.34; P .001), musculoskeletal diseases (RMR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.04-1.36; P = .009), and respiratory diseases (RMR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.05-1.14; P .001) but not for the total cohort (RMR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99-1.02; P = .66). Regarding in-hospital mortality, IRR was associated with an increase within the ICD-10 chapter of respiratory diseases (IRR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.13-1.46; P .001) in comparing 2020 with 2016-2019, in contrast to being associated with a reduction in IRRs for the overall cohort and several other subgroups. After exclusion of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections, IRRs were associated with a reduction in absolute in-hospital mortality for the overall cohort (IRR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.72-0.84; P .001) and the subgroup of respiratory diseases (IRR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.92; P .001).This cross-sectional study of inpatients from a multicentric German database suggests that absolute in-hospital mortality for 2020 across disease groups was not higher compared with previous years. Higher IRRs of in-hospital deaths observed in patients with respiratory diseases were likely associated with individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Let P be a point set in ℝ d , and let M be a function that maps any subset of P to a positive real. We examine the problem of computing the mean and variance of M when a subset in P is selected according to a random distribution. We consider two distributions; in the first distribution (the Bernoulli distribution), each point p in P is included in the random subset independently, with probability π( p ). In the second distribution (the fixed-size distribution), exactly s points are selected uniformly at random among all possible subsets of s points in P . We present efficient algorithms for computing the mean and variance of several geometric measures when point sets are selected under one of the described random distributions. We also implemented four of those algorithms: an algorithm that computes the mean 2D bounding box volume in the Bernoulli distribution, an algorithm for the mean 2D convex hull area in the fixed-size distribution, an algorithm that computes the exact mean and variance of the mean pairwise distance (MPD) for d -dimensional point sets in the fixed-size distribution, and an (1 − ε)-approximation algorithm for the same measure. We conducted experiments where we compared the performance of our implementations with a standard heuristic approach, and we show that our implementations are very efficient. We also compared the implementation of our exact MPD algorithm and the (1 − ε)-approximation algorithm; the approximation method performs faster on real-world datasets for point sets of up to 13 dimensions, and provides high-precision approximations.

Aim Species-area relationships (SARs) are fundamental scaling laws in ecology although their shape is still disputed. At larger areas, power laws best represent SARs. Yet, it remains unclear whether SARs follow other shapes at finer spatial grains in continuous vegetation. We asked which function describes SARs best at small grains and explored how sampling methodology or the environment influence SAR shape. Location Palaearctic grasslands and other non-forested habitats. Taxa Vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Methods We used the GrassPlot database, containing standardized vegetation-plot data from vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens spanning a wide range of grassland types throughout the Palaearctic and including 2,057 nested-plot series with at least seven grain sizes ranging from 1 cm(2) to 1,024 m(2). Using nonlinear regression, we assessed the appropriateness of different SAR functions (power, power quadratic, power breakpoint, logarithmic, Michaelis-Menten). Based on AICc, we tested whether the ranking of functions differed among taxonomic groups, methodological settings, biomes or vegetation types. Results The power function was the most suitable function across the studied taxonomic groups. The superiority of this function increased from lichens to bryophytes to vascular plants to all three taxonomic groups together. The sampling method was highly influential as rooted presence sampling decreased the performance of the power function. By contrast, biome and vegetation type had practically no influence on the superiority of the power law. Main conclusions We conclude that SARs of sessile organisms at smaller spatial grains are best approximated by a power function. This coincides with several other comprehensive studies of SARs at different grain sizes and for different taxa, thus supporting the general appropriateness of the power function for modelling species diversity over a wide range of grain sizes. The poor performance of the Michaelis-Menten function demonstrates that richness within plant communities generally does not approach any saturation, thus calling into question the concept of minimal area. We thank all vegetation scientists who carefully collected multi‐ scale plant diversity data from Palaearctic Grasslands available in GrassPlot. The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) sup‐ ported the EDGG Field Workshops, which generated a core part of the GrassPlot data. The Bavarian Research Alliance (grant BayIntAn_UBT_2017_58) and the Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER) funded the initial GrassPlot workshop during which the database was established and the cur‐ rent paper was initiated. A.N. acknowledges support by the Center for International Scientific Studies and Collaboration (CISSC), Iran. C.M., I.B., I.G.‐M and J.A.C. were funded by the Basque Government (IT936‐16). D.V. carried out the research supported by a grant of the State Fund For Fundamental Research Ф83/53427. G.F. carried out the research in the frame of the MIUR initiative ‘Department of excellence' (Law 232/2016). I.D. was supported by the Polish National Science Centre (grant DEC‐2013/09/N/NZ8/03234). J.Do. was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA 17‐19376S). M.J. was supported by grant by Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA 02/0095/19). W.U. ac‐ knowledges support from the Polish National Science Centre (grant 2017/27/B/NZ8/00316).

A major challenge of using multiple-source populations in reintroductions for restoration and species conservation is to adequately assess the trade-off between the benefits of counteracting inbreeding depression via heterosis, and the risks of maladaptation and reduced fitness through outbreeding depression. In the 1990s, populations of the perennial plant Arenaria grandiflora rapidly declined and were nearing extinction in the Fontainebleau forest, France. This was likely due to inbreeding depression and/or fixation of deleterious alleles. To restore A. grandiflora in the Fontainebleau forest, a reintroduction experiment was conducted in 1999 using transplants from both local and non-local populations. Eight and twelve years later, we carried out a genetic study using microsatellite markers to assess the temporal dynamics of the genetic composition of reintroduced populations. We show that genetic diversity increased significantly in the reintroduced populations compared to the local-source population and that this increased diversity has been maintained for over ten years, highlighting the benefits of mixing individuals of multiple-source populations for restoration of small and inbred populations. Our results also suggest that the level of individual admixture between local and non-local genetic sources might affect individual fitness, which is influenced by the opposing effects of heterosis, inbreeding and outbreeding depressions and local adaptation.

Aim: Niche theory proposes that increases in species richness along an environmental gradient are associated with a packing of species inside the niche space or an expansion of the niche space. We test whether and under what conditions an increase in bird species richness along a gradient of resource availability is associated with an expansion or packing of the niche as measured based on traits related to resource use.Location: Global.Time period: Current.Major taxa studied: Birds.Methods: We measured birds' realized niche space as the standardized departure between observed total trait range and its null expectation (functional richness: SES.FRic) in 12,188 cells worldwide. We first correlated both species richness and this measurement along the global net primary productivity (NPP) gradient using linear regressions. Second, we investigated the non‐stationarity of the species richness–NPP relationship with Lee's bivariate correlation, a measure of the spatial association of two variables. We then assessed the number of cells exhibiting a significant positive species richness–NPP association and a significant negative or positive SES.FRic. Third, we assessed whether species of species‐rich assemblages occur within or outside the niche space of species‐poor assemblages.Results: At a global scale, we found that species richness and SES.FRic increased with NPP. We also showed that cells with a significant positive association between species richness and NPP exhibited niche packing (1,699 assemblages out of 12,188) more than niche expansion (five assemblages). Niche packing was associated with complex biomes such as tropical rain forests. Finally, by showing that species in species‐rich assemblages predominantly occur within the niche space of species‐poor assemblages, we showed that the increase in SES.FRic with NPP contributed little to the increase in species richness.Main conclusion: Although niche volume increases with species richness along an NPP gradient, we confirmed that niche packing is the pattern most associated with the species richness–NPP relationship at a global scale.

International audience; The Natura 2000 network is the largest conservation effort in Europe. However, despite the known importance of conserving common and widespread biodiversity, criteria used to designate a Natura 2000 site are oriented toward rare and/or emblematic biodiversity. In this study, we took advantage of the fact that the management of Natura 2000 is just beginning to assess whether the five most common bat (Chiroptera) species and one genus in France exhibit a greater relative abundance within rather than outside Natura 2000 boundaries, and three bats communities index: total relative abundance, species richness, Community Habitat specialization index. We model the relative abundance of each taxa and indices using data from a nationwide volunteer-based acoustic survey. We found that three of the six taxa studied exhibit greater relative abundance within Natura 2000 sites (this increase is noteworthy for E. serotinus (× 2.1) and Myotis ssp. (× 3.6)). We also provide evidence that total relative abundance of bat activity and richness are globally higher in Natura 2000 sites (respectively + 24% and + 14%) and on average communities are more specialized within Natura 2000 sites. In addition, when the effect of Natura 2000 is adjusted to the main land use types, a significant positive effect of Natura 2000 remains for most metrics. The positive Natura 2000 effect appears relatively small compared to the main land use pressure: intensive agriculture and artificial light at night. However, Natura 2000 has a comparable sized effect as habitat widely recognized as having a positive impact on bats, such as streams.

Humans are changing the biosphere by exerting pressure on land via different land uses with variable intensities. Quantifying the relative importance of the land-use composition and intensity for communities may provide valuable insights for understanding community dynamics in human-dominated landscapes. Here, we evaluate the relative importance of the land-use composition versus land-use intensity on the bird community structure in the highly human-dominated region surrounding Paris, France. The land-use composition was calculated from a land cover map, whereas the land-use intensity (reverse intensity) was represented by the primary productivity remaining after human appropriation (NPPremaining), which was estimated using remote sensing imagery. We used variance partitioning to evaluate the relative importance of the land-use composition versus intensity for explaining bird community species richness, total abundance, trophic levels, and habitat specialization in urban, farmland, and woodland habitats. The land-use composition and intensity affected specialization and richness more than trophic levels and abundance. The importance of the land-use intensity was slightly higher than that of the composition for richness, specialization, and trophic levels in farmland and urban areas, while the land-use composition was a stronger predictor of abundance. The intensity contributed more to the community indices in anthropogenic habitats (farmland and urban areas) than to those in woodlands. Richness, trophic levels, and specialization in woodlands tended to increase with the NPPremaining value. The heterogeneity of land uses and intensity levels in the landscape consistently promoted species richness but reduced habitat specialization and trophic levels. This study demonstrates the complementarity of NPPremaining to the land-use composition for understanding community structure in anthropogenic landscapes. Our results show, for the first time, that the productivity remaining after human appropriation is a determinant driver of animal community patterns, independent of the type of land use.

Urban densification is often considered has a green planning policy. However, its effects on woodland arthropods have been rarely analysed. To fill this gap, a multi-taxa approach using three ground-dwelling arthropod assemblages was conducted on 11 woodlands located along an urbanisation gradient. The gradient range from rural areas to one of the most urbanized cities in the world: Paris (France). Spiders, ground beetles and rove beetles were sampled with pitfall traps. We addressed the two following questions: (i) do the responses to urbanisation differ between taxa and/or between trait groups (habitat affinity to woodlands and dispersal capability) along the gradient? (ii) do the richness and abundance show a linear or an intermediate response? Our results showed a replacement of forest and non-flying species by generalist species and flying species with an increasing level of urbanisation. In term of species richness and abundance, the response varied between taxonomical and also trait groups. Some groups showed a strong linear decrease like forest carabids but other groups like spiders showed maximum values at intermediate levels of urbanisation. However, after a threshold of 70 % of built-in area, urbanisation negatively affected the species richness of all taxa and almost all trait groups, with a stronger effect on forest species. We suggest that the urban densification strongly impacted the assemblages of ground-dwelling arthropods by modifying both landscape and local properties of woodlands. To be considered as a green planning policy, the deleterious effects of urban densification should be mitigated.

Biodiversity monitoring at large spatial and temporal scales is greatly needed in the context of global changes. Although insects are a species-rich group and are important for ecosystem functioning, they have been largely neglected in conservation studies and policies, mainly due to technical and methodological constraints. Sound detection, a nondestructive method, is easily applied within a citizen-science framework and could be an interesting solution for insect monitoring. However, it has not yet been tested at a large scale. We assessed the value of a citizen-science program in which Orthoptera species (Tettigoniidae) were monitored acoustically along roads. We used Bayesian model-averaging analyses to test whether we could detect widely known patterns of anthropogenic effects on insects, such as the negative effects of urbanization or intensive agriculture on Orthoptera populations and communities. We also examined site-abundance correlations between years and estimated the biases in species detection to evaluate and improve the protocol. Urbanization and intensive agricultural landscapes negatively affected Orthoptera species richness, diversity, and abundance. This finding is consistent with results of previous studies of Orthoptera, vertebrates, carabids, and butterflies. The average mass of communities decreased as urbanization increased. The dispersal ability of communities increased as the percentage of agricultural land and, to a lesser extent, urban area increased. Despite changes in abundances over time, we found significant correlations between yearly abundances. We identified biases linked to the protocol (e.g., car speed or temperature) that can be accounted for ease in analyses. We argue that acoustic monitoring of Orthoptera along roads offers several advantages for assessing Orthoptera biodiversity at large spatial and temporal extents, particularly in a citizen science framework. El Uso de Monitoreos Acusticos a Gran Escala para Estudiar las Presiones Antropogenicas sobre Comunidades de Orthoptera Resumen El monitoreo de la biodiversidad a grandes escalas espaciales y temporales es una necesidad en el contexto de cambios globales. Aunque los insectos son un grupo rico en especies y son importantes para el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas, han sido ignorados en estudios y politicas de conservacion, principalmente debido a restricciones tecnicas y metodologicas. La deteccion sonora, un metodo no destructivo, se aplica facilmente dentro de un marco de ciencia ciudadana y podria ser una resolucion interesante para el monitoreo de insectos, sin embargo no se ha probado a gran escala. Estudiamos el valor de un programa de ciencia ciudadana en el que especies de Orthoptera (Tettigoniidae) fueron monitoreadas acusticamente a lo largo de las carreteras. Usamos analisis bayesianos de promedio de modelos para probar si podiamos detectar patrones ampliamente conocidos de efectos antropogenicos sobre insectos, como los efectos negativos de la urbanizacion o de la agricultura intensiva sobre poblaciones y comunidades de Orthoptera. Tambien examinamos correlaciones sitio- abundancia entre anos y estimamos los sesgos en la deteccion de especies para evaluar y mejorar el protocolo. La urbanizacion y los paisajes de agricultura intensiva afectaron negativamente a la riqueza de especies de Orthoptera asi como a la diversidad y la abundancia. Este hallazgo va de acuerdo con los resultados de estudios previos sobre Orthoptera, vertebrados, carabidos y mariposas. La masa promedio de comunidades disminuyo conforme incremento la urbanizacion. La habilidad de dispersion de las comunidades incremento conforme incrementaba el porcentaje de tierra agricola, y en una menor cantidad, el area urbana. A pesar de los cambios en abundancias a lo largo del tiempo encontramos correlaciones significativas entre abundancias anuales. Identificamos los sesgos vinculados con el protocolo (p.ej.: velocidad del auto o temperatura) que pueden senalarse facilmente en los analisis. Proponemos que el monitoreo acustico de Orthoptera a lo largo de las carreteras ofrece varias ventajas para estudiar la biodiversidad en extensiones grandes tanto espaciales como temporales, particularmente en un marco de ciencia ciudadana.

Background: The plant pollination service provided by pollinators is crucial for ecosystem maintenance, especially in highly fragmented landscapes, such as urban areas. Aims: We assessed at multiple spatial scales the influence of the degree of urbanisation on pollinator communities and pollination success. Methods: Artificial populations of Lotus corniculatus (Fabaceae) were established along an urbanisation gradient in gardens where pollinator communities were surveyed. We described the plant and pollinator composition of gardens (local scale) and measured landscape structure in nested buffers (small and large landscape scales). Results: At the local scale, species richness and abundance of pollinators increased with the number of spontaneous plants and the size of semi-natural areas, while at the large landscape scale pollinators were more diverse and abundant in diversified landscapes with extensive green space and low cover of impervious surfaces. At the small landscape scale, the pollination success...

Natura 2000 (N2000) is a network of European sites focused on the conservation of specific species and habitats. Despite the known importance of common biodiversity in ecosystem functioning, common species are currently not explicitly targeted by conservation initiatives in France. In this study, we investigated whether the N2000 network contributes to the protection of common breeding bird species. In particular, we focused on species abundance and species specialization, community specialization and community trophic levels. We also determined the effects of N2000 on temporal trends of specialist and generalist bird groups. We studied 100 species in 1461 plots monitored by the French Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) between 2001 and 2010. We found that species abundance increased for 54 species with the proportion of the plot covered by N2000 areas in the plot. The bird species with the abundances that were most influenced by proportion of the plot covered by N2000 areas were predominantly habitat specialists. Bird communities inside N2000 sites were more specialized and exhibited higher trophic indices than communities outside N2000 sites. We found no differences in the temporal trends of farmland and woodland birds inside and outside N2000 sites, but the temporal trend of generalist species was positive outside N2000 sites and stable inside. We concluded that N2000 sites showed greater abundance of a majority of common bird species but that the network was established too recently to assess its influence on population trends. The French BBS has proved to be an efficient tool in assessing protected area networks.

BackgroundSpace-for-time substitution-that is, the assumption that spatial variations of a system can explain and predict the effect of temporal variations-is widely used in ecology. However, it is questionable whether it can validly be used to explain changes in biodiversity over time in response to land-cover changes.HypothesisHere, we hypothesize that different temporal vs spatial trajectories of landscape composition and configuration may limit space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology. Land-cover conversion changes not just the surface areas given over to particular types of land cover, but also affects isolation, patch size and heterogeneity. This means that a small change in land cover over time may have only minor repercussions on landscape composition but potentially major consequences for landscape configuration.MethodsUsing land-cover maps of the Paris region for 1982 and 2003, we made a holistic description of the landscape disentangling landscape composition from configuration. After controlling for spatial variations, we analyzed and compared the amplitudes of changes in landscape composition and configuration over time.ResultsFor comparable spatial variations, landscape configuration varied more than twice as much as composition over time. Temporal changes in composition and configuration were not always spatially matched.SignificanceThe fact that landscape composition and configuration do not vary equally in space and time calls into question the use of space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology studies. The instability of landscapes over time appears to be attributable to configurational changes in the main. This may go some way to explaining why the landscape variables that account for changes over time in biodiversity are not the same ones that account for the spatial distribution of biodiversity.

Maintaining biodiversity in urbanised landscapes has become a conservation issue. Although numerous studies have shown that avifauna decreases according to urbanisation level, little is known about the influence of urban characteristics on avifauna in densely urbanised areas. This study took place in the centre of a highly urbanised area, Paris, France, where we defined a grid of 94 cells of 1 km(2) each. Using Bayesian model averaging, we examined the variation of diversity and abundance of breeding birds (41 species) through their feeding and nesting behaviours. We then analysed the responses of these guilds to composition (proportion of different types of buildings and green spaces) and configuration (heterogeneity, spatial arrangement of green spaces). The abundance of omnivorous and tree nester species was influenced by urban characteristics such as building heterogeneity. The positive influence of shrub cover on insectivorous species abundance was greater in areas with a high density of medium-height buildings. Omnivorous species abundance increased with the juxtaposition of vegetation when the bare soil cover was low, and decreased otherwise. Globally, the abundance of omnivorous, ground and tree nester species was sensitive to building characteristics, whereas insectivorous and granivorous species as well as roof nesters may benefit from green space management. We concluded that urban planning can also promote avifauna abundance in the city centre by varying the heights of buildings in urban renewal projects rather than clustering buildings of similar height, or by focusing on the spatial configuration of green spaces (especially their proximity) rather than their area. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ACL (avec facteur d'impact); International audience; This study aims to identify the potential benefits of a landscape description that encompasses both preferred and non-preferred habitats, to study biodiversity response to landscape characteristics. The 'landscape-centred approach' (LCA) is meant to overcome important issues in landscape ecology: (i) describing the complexity and heterogeneity inherent in anthropogenic landscapes, (ii) disentangling composition and configuration effects without multicollinearity, and (iii) allowing the simultaneous study of species with different ecological requirements. In this paper, we evaluate the capacity of the LCA, which includes all land covers, (i) to provide better fitted models explaining the spatial distribution of ecologically distinct species and (ii) to allow a better understanding of the relationships between species distribution and landscape characteristics, compared to a classical 'habitat-centred approach' (HCA) focused on the preferred habitat. We used a dataset of 47 ecologically distinct bird species (generalist, specialist of farmland, forest or urban areas) distributed on 841 observation plots to compare the performances and results in species distribution modelling between LCA-models and HCA-models. LCA-models had a lower AIC for 72% of the species. Based on AIC, the LCA performed better for a majority of species in each of the four groups (69% of farmland species, 56% of forest species, 72% of urban species and 86% of generalist species). For about 25% of the species, the LCA revealed species sensitivity to landscape composition while the HCA did not. With the LCA, responses to the amount and configuration of land covers other than the preferred habitat were found for 70% and 55% of all specialist species, respectively. Our results show that providing a unique landscape description relevant for ecologically distinct species is possible. Beyond potential implications for designing multi-species conservation projects, we suggest that the LCA could thus allow analysing species interactions and other mechanisms underlying community structure. Furthermore, the LCA allows understanding with more accuracy the respective influence of different landscape facets, which is crucial in widespread anthropogenic landscapes characterised by high heterogeneity.

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [TR1_IRSTEA]SEDYVIN; Questions How does the presence of understorey plant species vary with distance-to-edge along very large periphery-to-interior and forest patch size gradients? Can forest core and periphery species profiles be identified? What life-history traits can discriminate between forest core and forest periphery species? Location Temperate forests in the northern half of France. Methods Local climate, soil, stand characteristics and landscape metrics were collected on 19 989 plots in 1801 forest patches using data from the French National Forest Inventory. Very large distance-to-edge (31096 m) and patch size gradients (327100 000 ha) were explored. Four logistic regression models were compared to determine the response patterns of 214 species to distance-to-edge, while controlling for patch size and local habitat quality (soil, climate and stand). The maximum distance of correlation between species occurrence and distance-to-edge was assessed using response curve characteristics. The relationships between life-history traits (habitat preference, preference for ancient forests, reproduction mode, dispersal mode, life form and autecology) and species profile according to distance-to-edge were tested. Results Of the 214 species analysed, 40 had a core profile and 38 a periphery profile. The maximum distance of correlation was on average 748 m. Core species were more often species reproducing both by seed and vegetatively, ancient forest species, anemochores, bryophytes, pteridophytes, hemicryptophytes and acidophiles, whereas peripheral species were more often species reproducing by seed only, endozoochores, phanerophytes, thermophiles, basophiles, nitrogen-demanding and heliophiles. Conclusions Significant periphery-to-core patterns of distribution were detected over much larger ranges than hitherto recognized for common understorey plant species. Plant traits differentiated forest core from forest periphery species. This deep gradient cannot be solely explained by the usual edge-related biotic and abiotic factors. We hypothesized that it was due to edge displacement following general reforestation since ca. 1830. This edge shift created recent forests with new habitats on former agricultural lands where dispersal-limited core species had slowly expanded and forest edge species regressed at variable speeds. This long periphery-to-interior gradient of presence has important implications for forest plant species distribution, dynamics and conservation.