Cost-effective Monitoring Method Research Articles

Assessment of real-time PCR test in oral fluid samples for screening the serotypes of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae circulating in swine herds

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the etiological agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, causing remarkable economic losses in the global swine industry. The diversity of A. pleuropneumoniae is generally determined through serotype identification, which is commonly employed for control strategies and surveillance. However, serological methods currently in use still have significant limitations. This study explores the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to detect circulating serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae in non-diseased swine herds through testing of oral fluids.The study included three A. pleuropneumoniae-positive and three A. pleuropneumoniae-negative farms located in Quebec, Canada. Tonsil brushings, microbiological growths, and oral fluids were analyzed using qPCR to detect A. pleuropneumoniae and its distinct serotypes. Serological tests were performed using the LPS ELISA available at that time. In negative farms the absence of A. pleuropneumoniae and any serotype confirmed the specificity of the method. Positive farms, on the other hand, confirmed also the sensitivity of the analysis, with oral fluid samples consistently yielding positive results for the serotypes identified by ELISA.The qPCR test conducted on oral fluids offers a noninvasive and cost-effective method for monitoring, complementing traditional serological techniques. It provides qualitative information about serotype distribution, facilitating proactive surveillance and control strategies.

Comparison of active measurements, lichen biomonitoring, and passive sampling for atmospheric mercury monitoring

The number of atmospheric mercury (Hg) monitoring stations is growing globally. However, there are still many regions and locations where Hg monitoring is limited or non-existent. Expansion of the atmospheric Hg monitoring network could be facilitated by the use of cost-effective monitoring methods. As such, biomonitoring and passive monitoring offer a unique alternative to well-established monitoring by active measurements, since they do not require a power supply and require minimal workload to operate. The use of biomonitoring (lichens and mosses) and passive air samplers (PASs) (various designs with synthetic materials) has been reported in the literature, and comparisons with active measurement methods have also been made. However, these studies compared either biomonitoring or PASs (not both) to only one type of active measurement. In our work, we used transplanted (7 sampling sites) and in situ lichens (8 sampling sites) for biomonitoring, two PASs from different producers (3 sampling sites), and two different active measurement types (continuous and discontinuous active measurements, 1 and 8 sampling sites, respectively) to evaluate their effectiveness as monitoring methods. In the 9-month sampling campaign, 3 sampling locations with different characteristics (unpolluted, vicinity of a cement plant, and vicinity of a former Hg mine) were used. The results obtained with lichens and PASs clearly distinguished between sampling locations with different Hg concentrations; using both PASs and lichens together increased the confidence of our observations. The present work shows that biomonitoring and passive sampling can be effectively used to identify areas with elevated atmospheric Hg concentrations. The same can be said for discontinuous active measurements; however, the discrepancy between atmospheric Hg concentrations derived from PASs and discontinuous active measurements should be further investigated in the future.Graphical

Cost-Effectiveness of Remote Cardiac Monitoring With the CardioMEMS Heart Failure System: A Systematic Review.

Heart Failure (HF) imposes a relevant burden and a considerable health concern, with high prevalence and mortality rates. This study was conducted to assess the cost-effectiveness of remote cardiac monitoring with the CardioMEMS Heart Failure System. In the present systematic review, several scholarly databases were searched and updated from inception up to September 20, 2022. The objective of the present review was formulated according to the patient/population, intervention, comparison and outcomes format. Mortality rate, hospitalization rate, quality-adjusted life year (QALY), total costs, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio regarding the use of the CardioMEMS System were the key outcomes of the present study. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards 2022 (CHEERS) checklist. Finally, 5 articles were retained and analyzed in the present systematic review. All studies employed the Markov and decision tree models. Results show that the CardioMEMS system reduced mortality and hospitalization rate and created a higher QALY. In all selected countries the CardioMEMS method is a more expensive method than the standard of care (SoC), with the highest cost in the United States (US) ($201,437) and the lowest cost in the United Kingdom ($25,963), respectively. the highest willingness to pay in the US and the lowest in Italy ($100,000 and $33,000 per QALY), respectively. Results showed that the most cost per QALY for the CardioMEMS system was in the US and the lowest was in the Netherlands ($46,622 and $26,615 per QALY), respectively. In all selected countries, CardioMEMS is a cost-effective method for monitoring and managing pulmonary artery pressures in HF patients. Strategies such as CardioMEMS, which decrease the rate of hospitalization, are likely to be only more cost-effective in the future.

Internet of things based agricultural drought detection system: case study Southern Somalia

Drought is defined as a protracted lack of precipitation that lasts at least a season, resulting in a water deficit that affects plants, animals, and humans. It is a widespread and repeating feature of climate change in practically all temperate zones, ranging from excessively wet to burned. In Somalia, the government and farmers lack the technological skills to identify and monitor recurrent environmental issues. Our research created a technique for detecting droughts early on to reduce their impact. Using internet of things (IoT) devices, we created a system that measures temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. We then examined the data and used a line chart to show it in a web application (PHP and MySQL). The device reads these environmental parameters using an Arduino Uno, a DHT11 sensor, and a soil moisture sensor. The system deployed provides a real-time, cost-effective method for monitoring and controlling drought in modern agriculture.

Optimizing monitoring of an endemic terrestrial salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii): comparing cost-effectiveness of different methods for abundance estimation

In order to correctly plan conservation and management of animal populations, it is fundamental to obtain reliable information on population abundance using cost-effective monitoring methods. In the case of small terrestrial vertebrates, capture–mark–recapture, removal sampling and counts of unmarked individuals have proven to be reliable techniques to estimate population abundance. In the present study, we applied a multinomial N-mixture modelling approach, performed through a double-observer sampling protocol, to estimate population size of the endemic terrestrial salamander Speleomantes ambrosii. We aimed at comparing cost-effectiveness of this protocol with those of other estimation methods (i.e., capture–mark–recapture and removal sampling), with particular attention to management and monitoring guidelines. The double-observer multinomial N-mixture protocol was the most cost-effective among the different methods: given its ease of application and cost-effectiveness, we encourage its employment for long-term monitoring and conservation plans of the near-threatened plethodontid salamander Speleomantes ambrosii.

Aquaphotomics for monitoring of groundwater using short-wavelength near-infrared spectroscopy

Water spectrum of any aqueous system contains information about OH covalent and hydrogen bonds that are highly influenced by the environment and the rest of the molecules in the system. When aquaphotomics is used to analyze the water near infrared (NIR) spectra, the information about the water molecular structure can be obtained as a function of internal and external factors.The objective of this research is to apply aquaphotomics analysis to evaluate different groundwaters by using their NIR unique spectral pattern, robust to external influences of temperature and humidity, that can potentially be used for water type identification and screening practice. Two groundwaters obtained at different depths and their mixture, differing in mineral content and molecular structure were monitored on a daily basis using portable visible/NIR (vis/NIR) spectrometer during three consecutive years. The spectra were pre-processed by smoothing and multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) to remove noise and baseline effects. Results showed that NIR spectral patterns of groundwater samples were affected by changes in environmental factors – temperature, humidity, time and others. The water absorbance bands which are highly influenced by humidity and temperature in short wavelength NIR region were identified. Their avoidance resulted in obtaining consistent spectral patterns during the entire monitoring period, unique for each groundwater, that can be used as its fingerprint and monitored over time.Consistency and uniqueness of the spectral pattern for each groundwater provide a potential to use the deviation of spectral pattern as an indicator of changes in the water. These results confirm that vis/NIR spectral pattern can be used as an integrative marker of water status, stable over time, providing the basis for an efficient cost-effective method for monitoring of water functionality.

Comparising DNA extraction from environmental DNA samples to reveal the diversity of freshwater metazoans

Environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring has gained popularity in the last decade as one of the most sensitive and cost-effective monitoring methods. However, information regarding the type of DNA extraction used still needs to be studied, especially for metazoan in fresh water samples. This parameter is also critical for a project's experimental design. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of two extraction kits between DNeasy® Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagen) silica column-based and ZymoBIOMICS 96 MagBead DNA Kit (Zymo Research) magnetic bead-based. The quantity of DNA extracts was measured using a spectrophotometer at 260/280 nm. Following that, we continued the metazoa PCR procedure. Qiagen has higher mean value of DNA concentration (88.48 ng/μl) than Zymo (20.89 ng/μl). For DNA purity, Zymo has higher mean value of DNA purity (1.84) than the Qiagen (1.59). However, both kits were equally successful in amplifying universal metazoan primers. We recommend that the use of these types of kits appears to be the least important consideration. Other important factors that may have a major impact on DNA extraction such as water volume, membrane type, sampling strategy need to be investigated in freshwater samples.

Data Augmentation for Inertial Sensor Data in CNNs for Cattle Behavior Classification

Cattle behavior monitoring is critical for understanding cattle welfare and health status. One of the most powerful and cost-effective monitoring methods is a neural network-based monitoring system that analyzes time series data from inertial sensors attached to cows. However, while deep learning has achieved many successes in pattern recognition, large-scale datasets are often required. When given a limited number of data, data augmentation is an extremely useful and low-cost preprocessing step for neural network-based systems. Data augmentation for inertial sensor data, however, has yet to be thoroughly investigated. This letter proposes several inertial sensor data augmentation methods in a manner that fits the characteristics of cattle behavioral data. The proposed approaches are applied to the task of cattle behavior classification with convolutional neural networks, which is challenging given limited data. The classification performance increases from 83.07 to 94.43% with appropriate augmentation steps. In conclusion, the data augmentation approaches presented here can help to improve deep learning performance regarding cattle behavior classification and decrease the overall system cost stemming from data acquisition and labeling.

Evaluating scat surveys as a tool for population and community assessments

Abstract Context Reliable, cost-effective monitoring methods are essential for managing wildlife populations. Scat-and-sign surveys (i.e. monitoring defecation, animal scratching, footprints, food remains) are a rapid, low-cost, non-invasive monitoring approach, but unquantified biases and uncertainties associated with these methods have caused researchers to doubt their reliability. Aims We sought to quantify how richness, occupancy and activity estimates derived from a long-term camera-trap study differed from those of scat surveys in the same locations, to determine scat-survey reliability and model bias corrections. Methods We used transect-based scat surveys at 110 sites in the temperate forests of southern Tasmania (Australia), to estimate occupancy, activity and community richness for common, ground-dwelling vertebrates. These results were compared with estimates derived from a long-term passive camera-trap study at the same sites. In addition, time-lapse imagery taken with the camera traps was used to monitor the persistence of rufous-belled pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) and Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) scats in relation to environmental correlates. Key results Scat persistence differed between these two species. The half-life of S. harrisii scats was 113 days, compared with 63 days for T. billardierii. Generalised linear modelling showed that scat surveys were most efficacious at sites with little disturbance and homogenous substrates. Overall, scat surveys consistently underestimated site occupancy and richness relative to the camera traps (μ = 2.7:1), but this bias was inconsistent, with the ratio exceeding 15 for the arboreal brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Scats were most reliably detected for large, trail-using mammals such as S. harrisii, T. billardierii, and common wombat (Vombatus ursinus). Scat surveys were less useful for the surveillance of low-density and arboreal species. Scats were uncommon for the two bird species examined, but alternative superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) signs were detected reliably. Conclusions Scat surveys reliably detected large, trail-using mammals. However, estimates of activity were poorly correlated between camera traps and scat surveys. Implications When used appropriately, scat surveys can provide an effective and cheap ‘snapshot’ index for wildlife monitoring, especially if the species-specific biases have been calibrated for the vertebrate community and environment under monitoring.

Population reconstruction as an informative tool for monitoring chamois populations

Knowledge of population trends is of key importance for sustainable management of wildlife and finding reliable and cost–effective monitoring methods is therefore of great interest. In two populations of Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra, we collected data on mortality from 12 424 individuals hunted or found dead and population size data based on ground counts over a period of 28 years. Our study had three aims: 1) we investigated if changes in population size obtained with a simple deterministic population reconstruction (DPR) approach using hunting and natural mortality covary with population size estimates obtained from ground count data. 2) We investigated if the performance of DPR is affected by the removal of natural mortality data. 3) We assessed how many years of mortality data are needed to obtain consistent population trends using DPR. Our results suggested that 1) population abundance from mortality data using DPR significantly and positively correlated with population abundance obtained with ground counts. 2) DPR without natural mortality data performed similarly as compared to DPR using full data (hunting and natural mortality). 3) Consistent estimates of population trends can be obtained with ≥10 years of mortality data, however, this time span was influenced by the mean age at death, which in turn was affected by the local hunting regime. Our results suggest that DPR and ground counts perform similarly for the estimation of temporal trends in Alpine chamois abundance. The consistence of ground counts and DPR supports the use of these methods as reliable tools for tracking abundance of chamois populations over time. However, the reliability of abundance estimates using DPR may vary between populations and the influence of different hunting regimes must be considered for the correct interpretation of results.

Measuring and reporting treatment adherence: What can we learn by comparing two respiratory conditions?

Medication non-adherence, defined as any deviation from the regimen recommended by their healthcare provider, can increase morbidity, mortality and side effects, while reducing effectiveness. Through studying two respiratory conditions, asthma and tuberculosis (TB), we thoroughly review the current understanding of the measurement and reporting of medication adherence. In this paper, we identify major methodological issues in the standard ways that adherence has been conceptualised, defined and studied in asthma and TB. Between and within the two diseases there are substantial variations in adherence reporting, linked to differences in dosing intervals and treatment duration. Critically, the communicable nature of TB has resulted in dose-by-dose monitoring becoming a recommended treatment standard. Through the lens of these similarities and contrasts, we highlight contemporary shortcomings in the generalised conceptualisation of medication adherence. Furthermore, we outline elements in which knowledge could be directly transferred from one condition to the other, such as the application of large-scale cost-effective monitoring methods in TB to resource-poor settings in asthma. To develop a more robust evidence-based approach, we recommend the use of standard taxonomies detailed in the ABC taxonomy when measuring and discussing adherence. Regimen and intervention development and use should be based on sufficient evidence of the commonality and type of adherence behaviours displayed by patients with the relevant condition. A systematic approach to the measurement and reporting of adherence could improve the value and generalisability of research across all health conditions.

SU8/glass microchip capillary electrophoresis integrated with Pt electrodes for separation and simultaneous detection of phenylephrine and acetaminophen.

Introduction: A new microfluidic-based method with electrochemical detection was developed for the simultaneous quantification of acetaminophen (AP) and phenylephrine (PHE) pharmaceuticals in the human blood and pharmaceuticals (e.g. tablet and drop). Methods: The separation was achieved on a SU8/glass microchip with a 100 µm Pt working electrode that was positioned out of the channel and 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid was used as a running buffer (pH 7, 10 mM). Home designed modulated high voltage power supply and dual time switcher was used for controlling the injection and separation of the analytes in the unpinched injection mode. Results: The injection was carried out using +750 V for 7 seconds, and the separation and detection voltages were set at +1000 V and +0.9 V, respectively. Critical parameters such as detection potential, buffer concentration, injection, and separation voltage were studied in terms of their effects on the resolution, peak height, and migration times. For each analyte, the correlation coefficients were over 0.99 (n = 6). The developed microchip was able to detect AP and phenylephrine simultaneously with the limit of detection of 7.9 and 5.2 (µg/mL) respectively for PHE and AP and excellent linear range of 10-200 (µg/mL). The recovery of the drugs ranged from 96% to 103%, while the repeatability of the method through inter- and intra-day was lower than 7%. Conclusion: The developed method offers several advantages, including easy sample pretreatment process, simplicity, very fast analysis compared to other typical chromatographic methods. Thus, the proposed microfluidic-based method is proposed to be used as a time- and cost-effective monitoring method for the analysis of AP and PHE.

Trade-offs between sampling effort and data quality in habitat monitoring

The transect method has been widely used to monitor habitat conservation status and has been recently recommended as the best tool to monitor steep ecological gradients, such as those in coastal systems. Despite that, the effectiveness of the transect approach can be limited when considering the sampling effort in terms of time needed for sampling. Our work aimed at evaluating the efficacy of the transect approach in a Mediterranean coastal system. Specifically we aimed at evaluating the sampling effort versus the completeness of datasets obtained by performing belt transects in different ways specifically designed to progressively reduce the sampling effort: (i) sampling plots adjacently (“adjacent-plot transect”); (ii) sampling plots alternately (“alternate-plot transect”); (iii) sampling one plot at each plant community along the vegetation zonation (“zonation-plot transect”). We evaluated method efficiency in terms of number and type of habitats identified, spatial extent, species richness and composition, through multivariate analyses, null models and rarefaction curves. The sampling effort was measured in terms of time needed for sampling. The zonation-plot transect had the lowest sampling effort, but provided only an approximation of the state of the dunal communities. The alternate-plot transect showed the best trade-off between the sampling effort and the completeness of information obtained, and may be considered as a efficient option in very wide coastal systems. Our research provides guidelines that can be used in other coastal systems to choose the most cost-effective monitoring method thereby maximising the efficient use of monitoring resources.

Territory monitoring of Tawny Owls Strix aluco using playback calls is a reliable population monitoring method

ABSTRACTCapsule: Territory monitoring using playback of calls is a reliable approach for assessing population trends of Tawny Owls Strix aluco, particularly when human resources are limited or survey areas are difficult to access.Aims: To explore whether response calls of Tawny Owls towards broadcast conspecific and heterospecific male owl playback calls would provide similar estimates of population size and trends over time as nest-box monitoring.Methods: Between 1998 and 2017, Tawny Owls were monitored in a predominantly forested area of central Slovenia. Throughout the year, territories were monitored using a playback protocol comprising silent listening during five minutes before and after ten minutes of broadcasting male Tawny Owl. Seasonal variation in response rate was examined and results from the playback method were compared to data on occupancy rate of nest-boxes.Results: Territory monitoring using playback calls showed a similar direction of population trends as nest-box monitoring but a different population dynamics pattern. The overall response rate in occupied territories to conspecific playback calls at first visits was 70%. This was significantly higher than for heterospecific playback calls and the frequency of spontaneous vocalizations. The response rate to conspecific playback calls when including two visits rose to nearly 90%. There was no difference in response rate between seasons. The average time to respond to conspecific playback calls was five minutes.Conclusions: Compared to nest-box monitoring of breeding pairs, territory monitoring of breeding and non-breeding Tawny Owls using playback provides a robust and cost-effective method for monitoring. We recommend conducting territory monitoring between January and May during the breeding season, with two visits to each site using conspecific playback of territorial male hoot calls using the 5 + 10 + 5 minutes protocol.

Monitoring the stability of tailings dam walls with ambient seismic noise

Tailings dams are massive structures designed to contain the waste slurry remaining after processing ore at open pit and underground mines. These structures fail far more regularly than normal water-storage dams. In recent years, catastrophic tailings dam failures have occurred, causing significant damage to the environment and even loss of life. To mitigate these catastrophic events in the future, there is an urgent need to develop cost-effective methods to monitor the structural stability of these constructions over time. The lack of current cost-effective monitoring methods prompted us to investigate whether ambient seismic noise can be used to detect internal changes in a tailings dam wall during a period of heavy rainfall. We recorded three weeks of continuous seismic data with 10 short-period geophones at a tailings dam in Tasmania, Australia. Seismic interferometry was used on ambient noise to create virtual seismic sources. With these virtual source signals, small changes in seismic velocity were measured daily and compared to rainfall, seepage flow rates, and fluid pore pressure. The observed velocity changes were driven by fluid saturation, ground water level, increased loading from increased dam water level, and a sudden increase in fluid pore pressure in a section of the dam wall. The results suggest that this relatively inexpensive method can be used to monitor and locate small changes in the interior of the tailings dam wall, providing a valuable tool to remotely monitor the structural stability of tailings dam walls over time.

Long-term acoustic monitoring of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in marine protected areas in the Spanish Mediterranean Sea

The presence of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) was monitored with echolocation loggers (T-POD) for 12 months in seven Spanish Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPA). Differences and particularities in dolphin seasonal occurrence and habitat use in each MPA are discussed. While bottlenose dolphins were detected year round and at all hours of the day in most of these MPAs, there was a clear preference for the winter period and the night time. At least two of these MPAs provided a more suitable foraging habitat than their surrounding environments. This monitoring method was precise enough to describe the sensitivity of bottlenose dolphins to human activities in and around MPAs. Anthropogenic activities considered in this study included fish farming, presence of commercial trawling, artisanal set nets, and recreational activities (i.e. SCUBA diving and anchoring vessels). MPAs with fish farms or nearby fish trawling activity yielded highest levels of dolphin presence due to an increase in the concentration of prey resources. Diel patterns in dolphin presence were presumably affected by set netting, where dolphins predated on net catches but avoided encounters with fishermen. An inverse relationship between dolphin presence and average intensity of recreational activities was found. A preference for months and times of day of low intensity of recreational activity suggests that human presence in these MPAs might displace bottlenose dolphins. The cost-effective monitoring method presented in this study could help developing required monitoring programs in Spanish Mediterranean protected waters under the European Union Habitats Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Vocal Activity as a Low Cost and Scalable Index of Seabird Colony Size

Although wildlife conservation actions have increased globally in number and complexity, the lack of scalable, cost-effective monitoring methods limits adaptive management and the evaluation of conservation efficacy. Automated sensors and computer-aided analyses provide a scalable and increasingly cost-effective tool for conservation monitoring. A key assumption of automated acoustic monitoring of birds is that measures of acoustic activity at colony sites are correlated with the relative abundance of nesting birds. We tested this assumption for nesting Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri) in San Francisco Bay for 2 breeding seasons. Sensors recorded ambient sound at 7 colonies that had 15-111 nests in 2009 and 2010. Colonies were spaced at least 250 m apart and ranged from 36 to 2,571 m(2) . We used spectrogram cross-correlation to automate the detection of tern calls from recordings. We calculated mean seasonal call rate and compared it with mean active nest count at each colony. Acoustic activity explained 71% of the variation in nest abundance between breeding sites and 88% of the change in colony size between years. These results validate a primary assumption of acoustic indices; that is, for terns, acoustic activity is correlated to relative abundance, a fundamental step toward designing rigorous and scalable acoustic monitoring programs to measure the effectiveness of conservation actions for colonial birds and other acoustically active wildlife.

A cost-effective monitoring method using digital time-lapse cameras for detecting temporal and spatial variations of snowmelt and vegetation phenology in alpine ecosystems

Alpine ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Although long-term and detailed monitoring is required to conserve alpine ecosystems, field surveillance and satellite remote sensing have difficulties in providing wide coverage or frequent observation in mountain areas. In this study, a new method for monitoring alpine ecosystems by digital cameras was developed in order to detect both snow-cover areas and vegetation phenology at the plant community or species level. We used images from cameras that have been installed at mountain lodges in the northern Japanese Alps (at elevations around 2350–3100m). Red, green, and blue (RGB) digital numbers were derived from each pixel within the images. The snow-cover and snow-free pixels were statistically classified by analysis of variance of gray-level histograms. A flexible threshold was determined for each image to maximize the between-class variance. The temporal variations of the snowmelt rate showed site-specific characteristics and yearly variations. The snowmelt times reflected the local microtopography and differed among the habitats of various functional types of vegetation (i.e., evergreen dwarf pine, deciduous shrubs, evergreen Sasa, tall forbs, and snowbed plants). In addition, the vegetation phenology was quantified by using a vegetation index (green ratio) calculated from RGB digital numbers. An increase in the green ratio indicated the start of the growing period following snowmelt and a decrease indicated leaf senescence. By using pixel-based analysis of the temporal variations of the green ratio, local distributions of the start and end dates and length of the growing period were illustrated at the plant species level for the first time. The distribution of the start of the growing period strongly corresponded to the snowmelt gradient, whereas the end of the growing period was related to the vegetation type. Our results suggest that the length of the growing period mainly corresponded to the snowmelt gradient in relation to the local microtopography. Thus, commercially available digital time-lapse cameras enabled us to clarify the snow–vegetation relationships and the growing period at high temporal and spatial resolutions. This monitoring method should greatly improve our understanding of alpine ecosystems and help to assess the influence of future climate change.

Towards a new, ecologically targeted approach to monitoring wild bird populations for avian influenza viruses

Prevalence monitoring of avian influenza in wild bird populations is important to estimate risks for the occurrence of potentially zoonotic and economically disastrous outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (AIV) in poultry worldwide. A targeted, cost-effective monitoring method for AIV in wild birds was developed, which is based on monitoring results for AIV in Germany and information on the distribution and abundance of wild bird species in selected habitat types. Spatial data were combined with virological and outbreak data for the period of 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2010. Using Germany as an example, we identified 11 indicator species. By concentrating monitoring efforts on these species in spatially confined locations, we propose a targeted and more cost-effective risk-based AIV monitoring approach that can be adapted universally for the identification of wild bird indicator species worldwide with the perspective of reducing sample sizes (and costs) without impairing the validity of the results.

Surveying drainage culvert use by carnivores: sampling design and cost–benefit analyzes of track-pads vs. video-surveillance methods

Environmental assessment studies often evaluate the effectiveness of drainage culverts as habitat linkages for species, however, the efficiency of the sampling designs and the survey methods are not known. Our main goal was to estimate the most cost-effective monitoring method for sampling carnivore culvert using track-pads and video-surveillance. We estimated the most efficient (lower costs and high detection success) interval between visits (days) when using track-pads and also determined the advantages of using each method. In 2006, we selected two highways in southern Portugal and sampled 15 culverts over two 10-day sampling periods (spring and summer). Using the track-pad method, 90% of the animal tracks were detected using a 2-day interval between visits. We recorded a higher number of crossings for most species using video-surveillance (n = 129) when compared with the track-pad technique (n = 102); however, the detection ability using the video-surveillance method varied with type of structure and species. More crossings were detected in circular culverts (1 m and 1.5 m diameter) than in box culverts (2 m to 4 m width), likely because video cameras had a reduced vision coverage area. On the other hand, carnivore species with small feet such as the common genet Genetta genetta were detected less often using the track-pad surveying method. The cost-benefit analyzes shows that the track-pad technique is the most appropriate technique, but video-surveillance allows year-round surveys as well as the behavior response analyzes of species using crossing structures.