Effect of climate on traits of dominant and rare tree species in the world's forests.

Species' traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. The extent to which traits of dominant and rare tree species differ remains untested across a broad environmental range, limiting our understanding of how species traits and the environment shape forest functional composition. We use a global dataset of tree composition of >22,000 forest plots and 11 traits of 1663 tree species to ask how locally dominant and rare species differ in their trait values, and how these differences are driven by climatic gradients in temperature and water availability in forest biomes across the globe.

Physical structure and biological composition of canopies in tropical secondary and old-growth forests.

The area of tropical secondary forests is increasing rapidly, but data on the physical and biological structure of the canopies of these forests are limited. To obtain such data and to measure the ontogeny of canopy structure during tropical rainforest succession, we studied patch-scale (5 m2) canopy structure in three areas of 18-36 year-old secondary forest in Costa Rica, and compared the results to data from old-growth forest at the same site. All stands were sampled with a stratified random design with complete harvest from ground level to the top of the canopy from a modular portable tower.

Tropical tree size-frequency distributions from airborne lidar.

In tropical rainforests, tree size and number density are influenced by disturbance history, soil, topography, climate, and biological factors that are difficult to predict without detailed and widespread forest inventory data. Here, we quantify tree size-frequency distributions over an old-growth wet tropical forest at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica by using an individual tree crown (ITC) algorithm on airborne lidar measurements. The ITC provided tree height, crown area, the number of trees >10 m height and, predicted tree diameter, and aboveground biomass from field allometry.

Addressing the opioid crisis: social and behavioral research contributions at the National Institutes of Health.

This commentary highlights current NIH efforts aimed at addressing the opioid crisis, specifically activities related to behavioral and social science research. Implications for this commentary will inform researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on current endeavors and future funding opportunities.

Three decades of annual growth, mortality, physical condition, and microsite for ten tropical rainforest tree species.

In lowland tropical rainforest, hundreds of tree species typically occur within mesoscale landscapes (50-500 ha). There is no consensus ecological theory that accounts for the coexistence of so many species with similar morphologies and the same fundamental requirements of light, nutrients, water, and physical space. In part this is due to the limited understanding of post-establishment ecology for the vast majority of tropical tree species.

Impact of hemophilia B on quality of life in affected men, women, and caregivers-Assessment of patient-reported outcomes in the B-HERO-S study.

Introduction: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is impaired in patients with hemophilia; however, the impact in mild/moderate hemophilia B and affected women is not well characterized.

Objective: To evaluate factors that affect HRQoL in adults with hemophilia B and caregivers of affected children.

Methods: US adult patients and caregivers of affected children completed distinct ~1-hour online surveys including patient-reported outcome instruments.

Multidecadal stability in tropical rain forest structure and dynamics across an old-growth landscape.

Have tropical rain forest landscapes changed directionally through recent decades? To answer this question requires tracking forest structure and dynamics through time and across within-forest environmental heterogeneity. While the impacts of major environmental gradients in soil nutrients, climate and topography on lowland tropical rain forest (TRF) structure and function have been extensively analyzed, the effects of the shorter environmental gradients typical of mesoscale TRF landscapes remain poorly understood. To evaluate multi-decadal performance of an old-growth TRF at the La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, we established 18 0.

Management of US men, women, and children with hemophilia and methods and demographics of the Bridging Hemophilia B Experiences, Results and Opportunities into Solutions (B-HERO-S) study.

The Bridging Hemophilia B Experiences, Results and Opportunities Into Solutions (B-HERO-S) initiative was launched in an effort to address specific gaps in the understanding of the psychosocial impact of mild-moderate-severe hemophilia B. The original Hemophilia Experiences, Results and Opportunities (HERO) qualitative study evaluated the needs of people with hemophilia A or B in multiple countries; however, a majority of participants had the more common moderate-severe hemophilia A. The B-HERO-S study was designed in collaboration with the hemophilia community to evaluate the needs of adults with hemophilia B and caregivers of children with hemophilia B, including affected women and caregivers of girls with hemophilia.

Impact of mild to severe hemophilia on engagement in recreational activities by US men, women, and children with hemophilia B: The Bridging Hemophilia B Experiences, Results and Opportunities into Solutions (B-HERO-S) study.

The psychosocial impact of hemophilia on activities was recently investigated in the Hemophilia Experiences, Results and Opportunities (HERO) study (675 people with hemophilia and 561 caregivers of children with hemophilia in 10 countries). The impact of hemophilia B may not be accurately reflected in the HERO results, as ~75% of respondents described issues affecting males with hemophilia A. To address the needs of this population, the Bridging Hemophilia B Experiences, Results and Opportunities Into Solutions (B-HERO-S) was developed as a pilot study in the United States in collaboration with the hemophilia community.

Mental Health Issues and Special Care Patients.

Mental illness is a major health issue in the world today, yet often remains misunderstood, unrecognized, and undertreated. Patients suffering from severe psychiatric disorders generally display poor oral health, often as a consequence of both lifestyle and avoidant-type behaviors that become exacerbated by their illness. Individuals with severe mental illness display a greater incidence of oral disease compared with a similar demographic not dealing with these particular disorders.

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species.

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼ 40,000 and ∼ 53,000, i.e.

Response of an old-growth tropical rainforest to transient high temperature and drought.

Tropical rainforests have experienced episodes of severe heat and drought in recent decades, and climate models project a warmer and potentially drier tropical climate over this century. However, likely responses of tropical rainforests are poorly understood due to a lack of frequent long-term measurements of forest structure and dynamics. We analyzed a 12-year record (1999-2010) of 47 817 annual measurements of canopy height to characterize the response of an old-growth Neotropical rainforest to the severe heat and drought associated with the 1997-1998 El Niño.

Compositional shifts in Costa Rican forests due to climate-driven species migrations.

Species are predicted to shift their distributions upslope or poleward in response to global warming. This prediction is supported by a growing number of studies documenting species migrations in temperate systems but remains poorly tested for tropical species, and especially for tropical plant species. We analyzed changes in tree species composition in a network of 10 annually censused 1-ha plots spanning an altitudinal gradient of 70-2800 m elevation in Costa Rica.

Local technicians in long-term research projects: evaluation of 25 years experience in an active tropical research station.

Most field ecology is conceived and financed by scientists from urban areas but is actually carried out in rural areas. Field staff can either be imported from urban areas or recruited from local residents. We evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of involving rural residents as local technicians over a 25- year period at active field research site in Costa Rica.

A novel statistical method for classifying habitat generalists and specialists.

We develop a novel statistical approach for classifying generalists and specialists in two distinct habitats. Using a multinomial model based on estimated species relative abundance in two habitats, our method minimizes bias due to differences in sampling intensities between two habitat types as well as bias due to insufficient sampling within each habitat. The method permits a robust statistical classification of habitat specialists and generalists, without excluding rare species a priori.

Rural and Urban Differences in Kentucky DUI Offenders.

Objectives: : Recent national data suggest that the prevalence of driving under the influence (DUI) is higher in rural areas than in more urbanized areas of the United States. However, little is known about rural DUI offenders, particularly those living in very remote areas. This study was conducted to examine the similarities and differences between rural and urban DUI offenders.

Height is more important than light in determining leaf morphology in a tropical forest.

Both within and between species, leaf physiological parameters are strongly related to leaf dry mass per area (LMA, g/m2), which has been found to increase from forest floor to canopy top in every forest where it has been measured. Although vertical LMA gradients in forests have historically been attributed to a direct phenotypic response to light, an increasing number of recent studies have provided evidence that water limitation in the upper canopy can constrain foliar morphological adaptations to higher light levels. We measured height, light, and LMA of all species encountered along 45 vertical canopy transects across a Costa Rican tropical rain forest.

Measuring Fluorescent Dye in the Bubbly and Sediment-Laden Surfzone.

Decisions about recreational beach closures would be enhanced if better estimates of surfzone contaminant transport and dilution were available. In situ methods for measuring fluorescent Rhodamine WT dye tracer in the surfzone are presented, increasing the temporal and spatial resolution over previous surfzone techniques. Bubbles and sand suspended by breaking waves in the surfzone interfere with in situ optical fluorometer dye measurements, increasing the lower bound for dye detection ( approximately 1 ppb) and reducing (quenching) measured dye concentrations.

Substance abuse problem severity among rural and urban female DUI offenders.

Objectives: Although there has been an overall decline in the rates of driving under the influence (DUI) over the past two decades, this decrease has not occurred uniformly across all groups of DUI offenders. For example, the proportion of female DUI offenders has significantly increased. Furthermore, DUI arrest rates remain higher in less populated areas of the country.

Pervasive canopy dynamics produce short-term stability in a tropical rain forest landscape.

A fundamental property of all forest landscapes is the size frequency distribution of canopy gap disturbances. But characterizing forest structure and changes at large spatial scales has been challenging and most of our understanding is from permanent inventory plots. Here we report the first application of light detection and ranging remote sensing to measurements of canopy disturbance and regeneration in an old-growth tropical rain forest landscape.

Characteristics of DUI offenders convicted in wet, dry, and moist counties.

Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of local alcohol sales policies on reducing the incidence of driving under the influence (DUI), less is known about whether characteristics of DUI offenders convicted in alcohol-restricted areas differ from those convicted in areas where alcohol is more readily available. A total of 21,647 DUI assessment records were divided into four groups based on the alcohol sales policy of the county of conviction and were compared. DUI offenders convicted in counties that limit or ban the sale of alcohol were more likely to be male, have more drug problems, meet DSM-IV-TR substance abuse or dependence criteria, and have multiple DUI convictions.

Explaining variation in tropical plant community composition: influence of environmental and spatial data quality.

The degree to which variation in plant community composition (beta-diversity) is predictable from environmental variation, relative to other spatial processes, is of considerable current interest. We addressed this question in Costa Rican rain forest pteridophytes (1,045 plots, 127 species). We also tested the effect of data quality on the results, which has largely been overlooked in earlier studies.

First direct landscape-scale measurement of tropical rain forest Leaf Area Index, a key driver of global primary productivity.

Leaf Area Index (leaf area per unit ground area, LAI) is a key driver of forest productivity but has never previously been measured directly at the landscape scale in tropical rain forest (TRF). We used a modular tower and stratified random sampling to harvest all foliage from forest floor to canopy top in 55 vertical transects (4.6 m(2)) across 500 ha of old growth in Costa Rica.