Scientific foundations for an ecosystem goal, milestones and indicators for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Despite substantial conservation efforts, the loss of ecosystems continues globally, along with related declines in species and nature's contributions to people. An effective ecosystem goal, supported by clear milestones, targets and indicators, is urgently needed for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and beyond to support biodiversity conservation, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and efforts to abate climate change. Here, we describe the scientific foundations for an ecosystem goal and milestones, founded on a theory of change, and review available indicators to measure progress.

Using machine learning to understand the implications of meteorological conditions for fish kills.

Fish kills, often caused by low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), involve with complex interactions and dynamics in the environment. In many places the precise cause of massive fish kills remains uncertain due to a lack of continuous water quality monitoring. In this study, we tested if meteorological conditions could act as a proxy for low levels of DO by relating readily available meteorological data to fish kills of grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) using a machine learning technique, the self-organizing map (SOM).

Explore the relationship between fish community and environmental factors by machine learning techniques.

In the face of multiple habitat alterations originating from both natural and anthropogenic factors, the fast-changing environments pose significant challenges for maintaining ecosystem integrity. Machine learning is a powerful tool for modeling complex non-linear systems through exploratory data analysis. This study aims at exploring a machine learning-based approach to relate environmental factors with fish community for achieving sustainable riverine ecosystem management.

Signals of stream fish homogenization revealed by AI-based clusters.

Risks of stream fish homogenization are attributable to multiple variables operating at various spatial and temporal scales. However, understanding the mechanisms of homogenization requires not only watershed-scale, but also exhaustive fish community structure shifts representing detailed local functional relationships essential to homogenization potentials. Here, we demonstrate the idea of applying AI-based clusters to reveal nonlinear responses of homogenization risks among heterogeneous hydro-chemo-bio variables in space and time.

Conservation of groundwater from over-exploitation-Scientific analyses for groundwater resources management.

Groundwater over-exploitation has produced many critical problems in the southern Taiwan. The accumulated stresses and demands make groundwater management a complex issue that needs innovative scientific analyses for deriving better water management strategies. In this study, we aimed to provide scientific analyses of the groundwater systems in the Pingtung Plain through soft-computing techniques to explore its spatial-temporal and hydro-geological characteristics for the elaboration of future groundwater management plans and in decision-making process.

A data-mining framework for exploring the multi-relation between fish species and water quality through self-organizing map.

The steep slopes of rivers can easily lead to large variations in river water quality during typhoon seasons in Taiwan, which may poses significant impacts on riverine eco-hydrological environments. This study aims to investigate the relationship between fish communities and water quality by using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for comprehending the upstream eco-hydrological system in northern Taiwan. We collected a total of 276 heterogeneous datasets with 8 water quality parameters and 25 fish species from 10 sampling sites.

Assessing the natural and anthropogenic influences on basin-wide fish species richness.

Theory predicts that the number of fish species increases with river size in natural free-flowing rivers, but the relationship is lost under intensive exploitation of water resources associated with dams and/or landscape developments. In this paper, we aim to identify orthomorphic issues that disrupt theoretical species patterns based on a multi-year, basin-wide assessment in the Danshuei River Watershed of Taiwan. We hypothesize that multiple human-induced modifications fragment habitat areas leading to decreases of local fish species richness.

Negatively charged ions on Mg(0001) surfaces: appearance and origin of attractive adsorbate-adsorbate interactions.

Adsorption of electronegative elements on a metal surface usually leads to an increase in the work function and decrease in the binding energy as the adsorbate coverage rises. Using density-functional theory calculations, we show that Cl adsorbed on a Mg(0001) surface complies with these expectations, but adsorption of {N,O,F} causes a decrease in the work function and an increase in the binding energy. Analyzing the electronic structure, we show that the presence of a highly polarizable electron spill-out in front of Mg(0001) causes this unusual adsorption behavior and is responsible for the appearance of a hitherto unknown net-attractive lateral electrostatic interaction between same charged adsorbates.

The PhosphoGRID Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein phosphorylation site database: version 2.0 update.

PhosphoGRID is an online database that curates and houses experimentally verified in vivo phosphorylation sites in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteome (www.phosphogrid.org).

Cdk8 regulates stability of the transcription factor Phd1 to control pseudohyphal differentiation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The yeast Saccharomyces differentiates into filamentous pseudohyphae when exposed to a poor source of nitrogen in a process involving a collection of transcription factors regulated by nutrient signaling pathways. Phd1 is important for this process in that it regulates expression of most other transcription factors involved in differentiation and can induce filamentation on its own when overproduced. In this article, we show that Phd1 is an unstable protein whose degradation is initiated through phosphorylation by Cdk8 of the RNA polymerase II mediator subcomplex.

Organizational constraints on Ste12 cis-elements for a pheromone response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Ste12 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae binds to pheromone-response cis-elements (PREs) to regulate several classes of genes. Genes induced by pheromones require multimerization of Ste12 for binding of at least two PREs on responsive promoters. We have systematically examined nucleotides of the consensus PRE for binding of wild-type Ste12 to DNA in vitro, as well as the organizational requirements of PREs to produce a pheromone response in vivo.

PhosphoGRID: a database of experimentally verified in vivo protein phosphorylation sites from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Protein phosphorylation plays a central role in cellular regulation. Recent proteomics strategies for identifying phosphopeptides have been developed using the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and consequently, when combined with studies of individual gene products, the number of reported specific phosphorylation sites for this organism has expanded enormously. In order to systematically document and integrate these various data types, we have developed a database of experimentally verified in vivo phosphorylation sites curated from the S.

Disintegrator vectors for single-copy yeast chromosomal integration.

Vectors were developed for two-step chromosomal integration of reporter genes or expression constructs. With these vectors, integration produces a disruption of the ADE8, LYS2, MET15, LEU2, HIS3 or FCY1 genes, and integrants can be easily identified by replica-plating on selective media. Integration using these 'disintegrator' vectors produces a single-copy integration of the construct of interest at the junction of the marker deletion, and removes the additional plasmid sequences.