Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (31484)
- Part of Periodical (11568)
- Book (8325)
- Doctoral Thesis (5736)
- Part of a Book (3969)
- Working Paper (3387)
- Review (2940)
- Contribution to a Periodical (2368)
- Preprint (2235)
- Report (1560)
Language
- German (42872)
- English (29729)
- French (1060)
- Portuguese (840)
- Spanish (309)
- Croatian (302)
- Multiple languages (263)
- Italian (198)
- mis (174)
- Turkish (168)
Has Fulltext
- yes (76239) (remove)
Keywords
- Deutsch (1076)
- Literatur (868)
- taxonomy (768)
- Deutschland (553)
- Rezension (511)
- new species (453)
- Rezeption (354)
- Frankfurt <Main> / Universität (341)
- Übersetzung (329)
- Geschichte (300)
Institute
- Medizin (7777)
- Präsidium (5215)
- Physik (4594)
- Extern (2738)
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften (2698)
- Gesellschaftswissenschaften (2374)
- Biowissenschaften (2198)
- Biochemie und Chemie (1978)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) (1775)
- Center for Financial Studies (CFS) (1630)
The small leucine-rich proteoglycan biglycan (Bgn) is a part of the extracellular matrix providing structure and enhancing fibril stability. In its soluble form, biglycan is able to bind and signal via the innate immune receptors Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and 4, thereby activating MAP-kinases and the NF-κB pathway. In macrophages soluble biglycan induces the secretion of several cytokines and chemokines, including TNF-α, CCL2, CXCL5 and CXCL13. A unique feature of biglycan is its ability to stimulate the secretion of mature IL-1β. By orchestrating TLR2 and 4 with the purinergic P2X4 and P2X7 receptor signalling biglycan triggers the activation of the NLRP3/ASC inflammasome, which in turn activates caspase-1 to cleave pro-IL-1β to mature IL-1β. Furthermore, in several inflammatory diseases an upregulated biglycan expression is found. Enhanced levels of biglycan could be measured in plasma and inflamed tissue. In mouse models of sepsis, lupus nephritis and renal ischemic reperfusion injury, biglycan-deficiency improved the disease outcome. Overexpression of soluble biglycan on the other hand increased immune cell infiltration into the kidney by inducing cytokine and chemokine expression in a TLR2/4-dependent manner. These studies emphasise its importance in inflammatory processes, especially in the kidney. Furthermore, the pro-inflammatory effects on macrophages and diseases established biglycan as a danger signalling molecule, yet its role as a soluble molecule in plasma was not further investigated.
Although an increase of soluble biglycan in the circulation could be seen in several inflammatory diseases, the source is not fully unravelled. Previously it could be shown that macrophages and dendritic cells secrete soluble biglycan after stimulation with IL-6 and TGF-β1. However, since these cell are resident in organs and do not circulate in the blood stream their contribution to soluble biglycan levels in plasma is likely minor. Therefore, monocytes as precursor of both macrophages and dendritic cells were investigated as a possible source of circulating biglycan. Analysis of blood from septic patients revealed elevated soluble biglycan levels as well as an increased number of monocytes. Isolated monocytes from healthy volunteers incubated with the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and TGF-β1 displayed increased biglycan mRNA expression and secretion of soluble biglycan into the supernatant, revealing monocytes as a producer of soluble biglycan in blood. Therefore this work was directed to further investigate the influence of soluble biglycan on circulating monocytes, with regard to sepsis.
Monocytes can be classified into three subtypes, while the classical monocytes express CD14 (CD14++CD16low), intermediate monocytes express both CD14 and CD16 (CD14++CD16+) and non-classical monocytes express mainly CD16 (CD14lowCD16++). The intermediate and non-classical monocytes make up about 10 % of all monocytes and are referred to as CD16-positive subtypes. The CD16-positive monocytes express higher levels of TNF-α and IL-1β upon stimulation and display different migration behaviour. In most inflammatory diseases an expansion of CD16-positive monocytes is observed, especially an increased number of intermediate monocytes frequently correlate with disease severity and mortality. Since septic patients had increased circulating biglycan levels and augmented CD16-positive monocytes, a possible correlation between these two parameters was investigated. Using FACS analysis of biglycan-stimulated monocytes from healthy donors revealed a significant shift from classical to intermediate and non-classical monocytes. This shift was mediated by increased expression of CD14 and CD16 on mRNA and protein levels upon biglycan treatment. Furthermore, biglycan induced the mRNA expression of the adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and ELAM-1 in CD14-positive monocytes. Four hours after biglycan stimulation an increased ICAM-1 protein expression on the cell surface of classical and intermediate monocytes was observed. Additionally, biglycan-treated CD14-positive monocytes rolled and attached to pre-stimulated endothelial cells to a greater extent compared to untreated monocytes. This demonstrates that biglycan not only triggers the expression of CD14 and CD16 but also induces a functional shift of monocytes. ...
Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region.
Over the last several decades, spinel-structured minerals with the chemical formula AB2O4 (where A and B stand for divalent and trivalent cations, respectively) have attracted more and more attention, particularly with regards to their breakdown at high pressures and temperatures and the nature of the so-called "post-spinel" phases. Spinel-structured phases with different endmember compositions, like magnetite (Fe3O4), hercynite (FeAl2O4) or spinel (MgAl2O4), are known to breakdown differently at high pressure-temperature conditions (e.g., Akaogi et al. 1999; Schollenbruch et al. 2010; Woodland et al. 2012). Such phases are of particular interest when they incorporate ferric (Fe3+) and ferrous (Fe2+) cations as this makes their stability sensitive to redox conditions. Since magnetite and magnesioferrite (MgFe3+ 2O4) have been found as inclusions in diamond (e.g., Stachel et al. 1998; Harte et al. 1999; Wirth et al. 2014; Palot et al. 2016; Jacob et al. 2016), understanding their phase relations is important for setting constraints on the conditions of their formation.
This study aimed to experimentally investigate the phase relations of Fe-Mg spinel-structured phases at conditions of the deep upper mantle and transition zone. Exploring the stability of new post-spinel phases and their characterization were also major goals of this study. Approaching a pyrolitic mantle composition by adding amounts of SiO2 in the system allowed constraints on the relevance of Fe-Mg post-spinel phases coexisting with mantle silicates to be made. ...
Reactive oxygen species are produced transiently in response to cell stimuli, and function as second messengers that oxidize target proteins. Protein-tyrosine phosphatases are important reactive oxygen species targets, whose oxidation results in rapid, reversible, catalytic inactivation. Despite increasing evidence for the importance of protein-tyrosine phosphatase oxidation in signal transduction, the cell biological details of reactive oxygen species-catalyzed protein-tyrosine phosphatase inactivation have remained largely unclear, due to our inability to visualize protein-tyrosine phosphatase oxidation in cells. By combining proximity ligation assay with chemical labeling of cysteine residues in the sulfenic acid state, we visualize oxidized Src homology 2 domain-containing protein-tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP2). We find that platelet-derived growth factor evokes transient oxidation on or close to RAB5+/ early endosome antigen 1− endosomes. SHP2 oxidation requires NADPH oxidases (NOXs), and oxidized SHP2 co-localizes with platelet-derived growth factor receptor and NOX1/4. Our data demonstrate spatially and temporally limited protein oxidation within cells, and suggest that platelet-derived growth factor-dependent “redoxosomes,” contribute to proper signal transduction.
Bone losses are common as a consequence of unloading and also in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although hypoxia has been implicated as an important factor to drive bone loss, its interaction with unloading remains unresolved. The objective therefore was to assess whether human bone loss caused by unloading could be aggravated by chronic hypoxia.
In a cross-over designed study, 14 healthy young men underwent 21-day interventions of bed rest in normoxia (NBR), bed rest in hypoxia (HBR), and hypoxic ambulatory confinement (HAmb). Hypoxic conditions were equivalent to 4000 m altitude. Bone metabolism (NTX, P1NP, sclerostin, DKK1) and phospho-calcic homeostasis (calcium and phosphate serum levels and urinary excretion, PTH) were assessed from regular blood samples and 24-hour urine collections, and tibia and femur bone mineral content was assessed by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT).
Urinary NTX excretion increased (P < 0.001) to a similar extent in NBR and HBR (P = 0.69) and P1NP serum levels decreased (P = 0.0035) with likewise no difference between NBR and HBR (P = 0.88). Serum total calcium was increased during bed rest by 0.059 (day D05, SE 0.05 mM) to 0.091 mM (day D21, P < 0.001), with no additional effect by hypoxia during bed rest (P = 0.199). HAmb led, at least temporally, to increased total serum calcium, to reduced serum phosphate, and to reduced phosphate and calcium excretion.
In conclusion, hypoxia did not aggravate bed rest-induced bone resorption, but led to changes in phospho-calcic homeostasis likely caused by hyperventilation. Whether hyperventilation could have mitigated the effects of hypoxia in this study remains to be established.
A great challenge in life sciences remains the site-specific modification of proteins with minimal perturbation for in vitro as well as in vivo studies. Therefore, different chemoselective reactions and semi-synthetic techniques such as native chemical ligation or intein-mediated protein splicing have been established. They enable a site-specific incorporation of chemical reporters into proteins, such as organic fluorophores or unnatural amino acids. In this PhD Thesis, protein trans-splicing was guided by minimal high-affinity interaction pairs to trace proteins in mammalian cells. In addition, the temporal modulation of cellular processes by photo-cleavable viral immune evasins was achieved.
Protein trans-splicing mediated by split inteins is a powerful technique for site-specific and 'traceless' protein modifications. Despite recent developments there is still an urgent need for ultra-small high-affinity intein tags for in vitro and in vivo approaches. So far, only a very few in-cell applications of protein trans-splicing are reported, all limited to C-terminal protein modifications. Here, a strategy for covalent N-terminal intein-mediated protein labeling at sub-nanomolar probe concentrations was developed. Combined with the minimalistic Ni-trisNTA/His-tag interaction pair, the affinity between the intein fragments was increased 50-fold (KD ~ 10 nM). Site-specific and efficient 'traceless' protein modification by high-affinity trans-splicing is demonstrated at nanomolar concentrations in mammalian cells.
High background originating from non-reacted, 'always-on' fluorescent probes still is a crucial issue in life sciences. Covalent labeling approaches with simultaneous activation of fluorescence are advantageous to increase sensitivity and to reduce background signal. Therefore, high-affinity protein trans-splicing was combined with fluorophore/quencher pairs for online detection of covalent N-terminal protein labeling in cellular environments. Substantial fluorescence enhancement at nanomolar probe concentrations was achieved. This ultra-small fluorogenic high-affinity split intein system is an unprecedented example for real-time monitoring of the trans-splicing reaction in cell-like environments as well as for protein labeling with fluorogenic probes at nanomolar concentrations.
To extend the field of chemical immunology and to address spatiotemporal aspects in adaptive immune response, new tools to control antigen processing are required. Therefore, synthetic photo-conditional viral immune evasins were designed to modulate antigen processing on demand. By using light, the time and dose controlled antigen translocation by the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) was triggered with response in the second regime. Peptide delivery and loading by the peptide-loading complex (PLC) was rendered inactive, whereas blocking was abolished in a light-controlled fashion to inactivate the synthetic viral immune evasin ICP47 along with simultaneous activation of the antigen presentation pathway. Lightresponsive peptide translocation by the TAP complex was assayed in vitro by utilizing microsomes isolated from professional antigen presenting B-cell lymphomas (Raji). To extend these studies, suppression and photo-controlled rescue of antigen presentation was examined at single-cell resolution in human primary immune cells.
Native chemical ligation interconnects peptide chemistry with recombinantly expressed proteins. This technique was applied to generate the semi-synthetic full-length ICP47. Although this approach was realized, the low product yield was not sufficient for further functional studies. Therefore, full-length ICP47 was consecutively generated by utilizing a full synthetic four-fragment ligation approach. However, this synthetic viral immune evasin was not able to block peptide translocation in a robust way.
Die vorliegende Arbeit hat das Ziel, Plasmen koaxialer Beschleuniger in Hinblick auf die Erzeugung hoher Elektronendichten sowie als intensive UV/VUV-Backlighterquelle zu untersuchen. Hierzu wurde zunächst die Geometrie eines einzelnen Beschleunigers charakterisiert und optimiert, um die bestmöglichen Voraussetzungen für die anschließend durchgeführten Untersuchungen zur Kollision und Kompression der erzeugten Plasmen zu schaffen.
Das Funktionsprinzip des verwendeten Plasmabeschleunigers basiert auf einer Lorentzkraft, die aus dem Stromfluss zwischen zwei koaxial angeordneten Elektroden und dem damit verbundenen Magnetfeld resultiert. Da weder Stromdichte noch Magnetfeld homogen sind, wirkt auch die Lorentzkraft inhomogen auf die Plasmaschicht. Unter Einbeziehung von Simulationen wurde der Abstand zwischen den Elektroden auf 2,5 mm gesetzt, sodass die Ausprägung dieser Inhomogenität möglichst gering gehalten wird. Um ein Pinchen des Plasmas am Ende der Elektroden zu vermeiden haben die Elektroden im Gegensatz zu Plasma Focus Devices die gleiche Länge. Der mit 130 nH niederinduktive elektrische Aufbau ermöglicht die zur Ausbildung einer Plasmaschicht erforderlichen Stromanstiegsraten in der Größenordnung von 10^11 A/s.
Die Messung der Geschwindigkeit der Plasmaschicht erfolgte mit einem Array aus sechs Dioden, die gleichzeitig die Geschwindigkeitsabnahme im Rezipienten dokumentieren. Zusätzlich wurden die Messungen mit Kameraaufnahmen verglichen. Bei einer Elektrodenlänge von 100 mm konnten mit dem verwendeten Heliumgas Schichtgeschwindigkeiten von bis zu (79,49 ± 7,98) km/s erreicht werden. Die Untersuchung von Elektroden mit 200 mm Länge verfolgte das Ziel, durch die größere Beschleunigungszeit höhere Geschwindigkeiten und kinetische Energien der austretenden Plasmaschicht zu erreichen. Es zeigte sich jedoch, dass es hierbei zur Ausbildung einer zweiten Entladung und einer damit verbundenen Abbremsung des Initialplasmas kommt. Die Untersuchungen ergaben, dass die optimale Elektrodenlänge dadurch gegeben ist, dass der Austritt des Plasmas aus dem Beschleuniger zum Zeitpunkt des ersten Stromnulldurchgangs erfolgt. Für die Berechnung der optimalen Elektrodenlänge wurde ein Skalierungsgesetz gefunden, die auf experimentellen Ergebnissen und Simulationen basiert.
Mit spektroskopische Messungen der Stark-Verbreiterung der Hβ-Linie konnte die Elektronendichte des Plasmas zeit- und ortsintegriert bestimmt werden. Die hierbei erzielte Maximaldichte von (6,83 ± 0,83) · 10^15 cm^-3 wurde bei 9 kV und 70 mbar gemessen. Die nach der Boltzmann-Methode zeit- und ortsintegriert bestimmten Elektronentemperaturen bewegt sich bei etwa 1 eV.
Nach ausreichender Charakterisierung des Einzelbeschleunigers wurde das Experiment um einen zweiten, baugleichen Plasmabeschleuniger erweitert, um die planare Kollision zweier Plasmen zu untersuchen. Die maximal gemessene Elektronendichte von n max e = (1,36 ± 0,21) · 10^16 cm^-3 bei 9 kV und 70 mbar stellt im Vergleich zum Einzelplasma eine Steigerung um einen Faktor von 2,48 dar und ist mit einer Temperaturerhöhung einhergehend. Diese Elektronendichteerhöhung lässt sich nicht durch einfaches Durchdringen der Schichten erklären. Vielmehr muss es in der Kollisionszone zu Wechselwirkungsprozesse in Form von Kompression, zur Erzeugung neuer Ladungsträger oder der Kombination aus beidem kommen.
Das Spektrum im UV/VUV-Bereich weist Linien von ab 85 nm auf. Dies stellt eine Verbesserung gegenüber dem Einzelbeschleuniger dar, bei dem die hochenergetischste Spektrallinie erst bei 97 nm gemessen wurde. In der Kollisionskonfiguration mit einem Beschleunigerabstand von 30 mm steigt die integrierte Gesamtintensität des Spektrums bis 300 nm zudem um einen Faktor von etwa 5,2.
Als Alternative zur Plasmakollision wurde die Kompression des Plasmas des Einzelbeschleunigers durch unterschiedliche Trichtergeometrien untersucht. Die untersuchten Trichter der ersten und zweiten Generation unterscheiden sich im Wesentlichen im Durchmesser der kleineren Öffnung. Dieser wurde basierend auf Simulationen von 5 mm auf 0,5 mm reduziert. Die Dichtediagnostik der ersten Trichtergeneration erfolgte hierbei über Hα-Linie, da die Verbreiterung der Hβ-Linie zu stark und daher nicht mehr anwendbar war. Die Auswertung der Halbwertsbreiten der Hα-Linie führt zu Elektronendichten in der Größenordnung von bis zu 1018 cm−3 bei Spannungen von 9 kV. Diese Steigerung um 1,5 bis 2,5 Größenordnungen im Vergleich zum Einzelbeschleuniger ist deutlich höher als das Verhältnis der Flächen des initialen Plasmas bzw. dem Ende des Trichters von etwa acht.
Der Trichter mit verringerter Öffnung wurde bei 5 kV und 5 mbar vermessen, um die mechanische Belastung durch den hohen Druck gering zu halten. Die Bestimmung der Elektronendichte erfolgte durch die Verbreiterung der Kupferlinie bei 479,4 nm nach den quadratischen Stark-Effekt. Trotz der im Vergleich zur ersten Trichtergeneration reduzierten Entladungsenergie und verringertem Druck sind die gemessenen Elektronendichten ebenfalls bei bis zu 10^18 cm^-3.
Durch die Kompression des Plasmas weist das Spektrum im UV/VUV-Bereich bereits Linien ab Wellenlängen etwa 53 nm auf, wobei es unter Berücksichtigung der Transmissionsgrenze von Helium bei 50 nm denkbar ist, dass das Plasma noch niedrigere Wellenlängen emittiert.
Aufgrund der gesammelten Ergebnisse lässt sich festhalten, dass sich die Elektronendichte sowohl durch die Kollision zweier Plasmen als auch durch die Kompression in Trichtergeometrien steigern lässt. Der Verdichtungseffekt der Trichterkompression ist hierbei um ein vielfaches höher, als bei der Plasmakollision. Dies spiegelt sich auch im UV/VUV-Spektrum wider. Beide Versuchsanordnungen eignen sich als Linienstrahler, allerdings weist das Spektrum der Trichterkompression Linien deutlich höherer Anregungszustände auf.
Indian Ocean came into existence with the breakup of Gondwana in the Mesozoic era. The presence of complex aseismic ridges and plateaus in the Indian Ocean makes it the least-understood of all the oceans. Mascarene Plateau, apart from Central Indian Ridge (CIR) running north-south between 2◦N and 25◦S in the Indian Ocean, is one such complex feature in the Indian Ocean that consists of Seychelles microcontinent in the north and the volcanic islands of Mauritius, La Réunion and Rodrigues in the south.
Most of the previous seismological studies on the islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Seychelles are restricted as each of them has only one operational permanent station. In the current study, I present the results obtained from the investigations of the seismological data obtained from the deployment of temporary seismic network on Mauritius (November, 2012–August, 2014) and Seychelles (March, 2013–March, 2015) under Réunion Hotspot and Upper Mantle–Réunions Unterer Mantel (RHUM–RUM) project and later in Rodrigues (September, 2014–June, 2016) under a collaborative project between Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany and Mauritius Oceanography Institute (MOI), Mauritius. Additional data from the permanent stations were also used in this study. The investigations and results are presented under three themes, namely: (1) crustal structure beneath Mauritius, (2) upper mantle anisotropy below Mauritius, Rodrigues and Seychelles and (3) intraplate seismicity in the Rodrigues–CIR region.
Upper mantle anisotropy in south-west Indian Ocean region are very limited, especially from the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues. With the new data from the seismic stations deployed in Mauritius and Seychelles, under RHUM–RUM, and permanent stations in Rodrigues, I constrain the upper mantle flow pattern beneath these islands. From the joint-splitting analysis, I obtain fast-polarisation direction (φ) dominant in N80◦E and delay time (δt) of ≈0.85 s for Mauritius and φ tending east–west in Rodrigues with δt of ≈1.1 s. Parabolic asthenospheric flow model explains the orientation of the fast-polarisation direction beneath Mauritius, whereas deep mantle circulation patterns best explain the horizontal alignment of the fast-polarisation direction in Rodrigues. From Seychelles data, the results show φ trending NE and δt ≈0.74 s, even for the island close to Amirante Ridge, suggesting an asthenospheric deformation induced by relative motion between the plate and the deep mantle flow.
It has recently been suggested that the volcanic island of Mauritius may be underlain by a remnant of continental origin termed “Mauritia.” To constrain the crustal thickness beneathMauritius, I analysed data from 11 land stations, 10 of which were deployed recently under the RHUM–RUM project. From the recordings, I obtained 382 P-receiver functions. On the obtained receiver functions, I applied the H–κ stacking technique and derived the crustal thickness of ≈10–15 km. I observe a considerable variation in the VP/VS ratio caused by a lack of clear multiples. Using forward modelling of receiver functions, I show that the lack of clear multiples can be explained by a transitional Moho, where the velocity increases gradually. The modelling further indicates that the thickness of this gradient zone is estimated to be ≈10 km. I argue that my findings suggest oceanic crust thickened by crustal underplating due to the mantle plume currently located beneath La Réunion.
Seismicity around Rodrigues Island is generally associated with events recorded by the global networks along the CIR. Using seismological array techniques on the data collected by the temporary deployment of seismic array on Rodrigues Island for a period of 22 months (September, 2014–June 2016), 62 new events were located, which were not reported by any global network. Determination of backazimuth and apparent velocity were performed by applying array methods in the time-domain instead of the more conventional frequency-domain analysis. Event distances were calculated using a 1-D velocity model and the measured travel-time differences between S- and P-wave arrivals. Local magnitudes of the events were obtained by removing the velocity response from the seismographs and then convolving with Wood–Anderson transfer function to obtain ground motion in nanometers. Most of the newly-detected events are located off the ridge axis and can be classified as intraplate events. Three different seismic clusters were observed around the island. Most of the events were localised in the north-east of Rodrigues at a distance of ≈138 km from the reference station. A distinguishable swarm of earthquakes was observed on the west of the spreading segment from March to April 2015. The local magnitudes (ML) of the events varied between 1.6 and 3.7.
This study introduces a simple generic model, the Generic Pest Forecast System (GPFS), for simulating the relative populations of non-indigenous arthropod pests in space and time. The model was designed to calculate the population index or relative population using hourly weather data as influenced by evelopmental rate, high and low temperature mortalities and wet soil moisture mortality. Each module contains biological parameters derived from controlled experiments. The hourly weather data used for the model inputs were obtained from the National Center of Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (NCEP-CFSR) at a 38 km spatial resolution. A combination of spatial and site-specific temporal data was used to validate the GPFS models. The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), was selected as a case study for this research because it is climatically driven and a major pest of fruit production. Results from the GPFS model were compared with field B. dorsalis survey data in three locations: 1) Bangalore, India; 2) Hawaii, USA; and 3) Wuhan, China. The GPFS captured the initial outbreaks and major population peaks of B. dorsalis reasonably well, although agreement varied between sites. An index of agreement test indicated that GPFS model simulations matched with field B. dorsalis observation data with a range between 0.50 and 0.94 (1.0 as a perfect match). Of the three locations, Wuhan showed the highest match between the observed and simulated B. dorsalis populations, with indices of agreement of 0.85. The site-specific temporal comparisons implied that the GPFS model is informative for prediction of relative abundance. Spatial results from the GPFS model were also compared with 161 published observations of B. dorsalis distribution, mostly from East Asia. Since parameters for pupal overwintering and survival were unknown from the literature, these were inferred from the distribution data. The study showed that GPFS has promise for estimating suitable areas for B. dorsalis establishment and potentially other non-indigenous pests. It is concluded that calibrating prediction models with both spatial and sitespecific temporal data may provide more robust and reliable results than validations with either data set alone.
Decision tools have been advocated to assist the prioritization of management areas for preventing and mitigating exotic invasions into native ecosystems. Currently, most tools have been created for specific invaders/regions and are thus often not sufficient to address the complex range of invasion scenarios that managers encounter. As exotic invasions continue to be a major issue, science-based, information-driven tools are pressingly needed. In this study, we explore the potential of utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), one of the information-driven tools, to flexibly prioritize various invasion scenarios by incorporating a broad spectrum of management data. We tested the flexibility of the AHP management tool with two distinct invasion-stage-specific prioritizations for Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). The AHP tool successfully created two management prioritizations from contrasting invasion scenarios of established Amur honeysuckle invasion versus a hypothetical scenario of newly invading populations. The flexibility of AHP allowed users to alter input based on the stage of invasion in each scenario. In the established scenario, management priority was assigned to removing Amur honeysuckle from the most ecologically significant areas. For the new invasion scenario, priority was shifted to removing the invader from areas of most recent invasions. The two contrasting prioritizations demonstrate the flexibility of AHP as a management tool. We conclude that the flexible AHP tool could be useful for prioritizing management of exotic plant invasions.