Queensland University of Technology

About: Queensland University of Technology is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14188 authors who have published 55022 publications receiving 1496237 citations. The organization is also known as: QUT.

Zero tolerance ecology: improving ecological inference by modelling the source of zero observations

Abstract: A common feature of ecological data sets is their tendency to contain many zero values. Statistical inference based on such data are likely to be inefficient or wrong unless careful thought is given to how these zeros arose and how best to model them. In this paper, we propose a framework for understanding how zero-inflated data sets originate and deciding how best to model them. We define and classify the different kinds of zeros that occur in ecological data and describe how they arise: either from 'true zero' or 'false zero' observations. After reviewing recent developments in modelling zero-inflated data sets, we use practical examples to demonstrate how failing to account for the source of zero inflation can reduce our ability to detect relationships in ecological data and at worst lead to incorrect inference. The adoption of methods that explicitly model the sources of zero observations will sharpen insights and improve the robustness of ecological analyses.

Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe

Abstract: Soil microorganisms are critical to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of soil fertility. However, despite global increases in the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to ecosystems due to human activities, we lack a predictive understanding of how microbial communities respond to elevated nutrient inputs across environmental gradients. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of marker genes to elucidate the responses of soil fungal, archaeal, and bacterial communities using an N and P addition experiment replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites. We also sequenced metagenomes from a subset of the sites to determine how the functional attributes of bacterial communities change in response to elevated nutrients. Despite strong compositional differences across sites, microbial communities shifted in a consistent manner with N or P additions, and the magnitude of these shifts was related to the magnitude of plant community responses to nutrient inputs. Mycorrhizal fungi and methanogenic archaea decreased in relative abundance with nutrient additions, as did the relative abundances of oligotrophic bacterial taxa. The metagenomic data provided additional evidence for this shift in bacterial life history strategies because nutrient additions decreased the average genome sizes of the bacterial community members and elicited changes in the relative abundances of representative functional genes. Our results suggest that elevated N and P inputs lead to predictable shifts in the taxonomic and functional traits of soil microbial communities, including increases in the relative abundances of faster-growing, copiotrophic bacterial taxa, with these shifts likely to impact belowground ecosystems worldwide.

Ambient Air Pollution Exposure Estimation for the Global Burden of Disease 2013

Abstract: Exposure to ambient air pollution is a major risk factor for global disease. Assessment of the impacts of air pollution on population health and evaluation of trends relative to other major risk factors requires regularly updated, accurate, spatially resolved exposure estimates. We combined satellite-based estimates, chemical transport model simulations, and ground measurements from 79 different countries to produce global estimates of annual average fine particle (PM2.5) and ozone concentrations at 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution for five-year intervals from 1990 to 2010 and the year 2013. These estimates were applied to assess population-weighted mean concentrations for 1990-2013 for each of 188 countries. In 2013, 87% of the world's population lived in areas exceeding the World Health Organization Air Quality Guideline of 10 μg/m(3) PM2.5 (annual average). Between 1990 and 2013, global population-weighted PM2.5 increased by 20.4% driven by trends in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Decreases in population-weighted mean concentrations of PM2.5 were evident in most high income countries. Population-weighted mean concentrations of ozone increased globally by 8.9% from 1990-2013 with increases in most countries-except for modest decreases in North America, parts of Europe, and several countries in Southeast Asia.

It Is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Abstract: The following scientists reviewed the document: Jonathan Abbatt, John Adgate, Alireza Afshari, KangHo Ahn, Francis Allard, Joseph Allen, Celia Alves, Meinrat O. Andreae, Isabella Annesi-Maesano, Ahmet Arisoy, Andrew P. Ault, Gwi-Nam Bae, Gabriel Beko, Scott C. Bell, Allan Bertram, Mahmood Bhutta, Seweryn Bialasiewicz, Merete Bilde, Tami Bond, Joseph Brain, Marianna Brodach, David M. Broday, Guangyu Cao, Christopher D. Cappa, Annmarie Carlton, Paul K. S. Chan, Christopher Chao, Kuan-Fu Chen, Qi Chen, Qingyan Chen, David Cheong, Per Axcel Clausen, Ross Crawford, Derek Clements-Croome, Geo Clausen, Ian Clifton, Richard L. Corsi, Benjamin J. Cowling, Francesca Romana d'Ambrosio, Ghassan Dbaibo, Richard de Dear, Gianluigi de Gennaro, Peter DeCarlo, Philip Demokritou, Hugo Destaillats, Joanna Domagala-Kulawik, Neil M. Donahue, Caroline Duchaine, Marzenna R. Dudzinska, Dominic E. Dwyer, Greg Evans, Delphine K. Farmer, Kevin P. Fennelly, Richard Flagan, Janine Frohlich-Nowoisky, Manuel Gameiro da Silva, Christian George, Marianne Glasius, Allen H. Goldstein, Joao Gomes, Michael Gormley, Rafal Gorny, David Grimsrud, Keith Grimwood, Charles N. Haas, Fariborz Haghighat, Michael Hannigan, Roy Harrison, Ulla HaverinenShaughnessy, Philippa Howden-Chapman, Per Heiselberg, Daven K. Henze, Jean-Michel Heraud, Hartmut Herrmann, Philip K. Hopke, Ray Horstman, Wei Huang, Alex Huffman, David S. Hui, Tareq Hussein, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Jouni J.K. Jaakkola, Matti Jantunen, Lance Jennings, Dennis Johansson, Jan Kaczmarczyk, George Kallos, David Katoshevski, Frank Kelly, Soren Kjaergaard, Luke D. Knibbs, Henrik N. Knudsen, GwangPyo Ko, Evelyn S.C. Koay, Jen Kok, Nino Kuenzli, Markku Kulmala, Kazukiyo Kumagai, Prashant Kumar, Kazumichi Kuroda, Kiyoung Lee, Nelson Lee, Barry Lefer, Vincent Lemort, Xianting Li, Dusan Licina, Chao-Hsin Lin, Junjie Liu, Kam Lun E. Hon, John C. Little, Li Liu, Janet M. Macher, Ebba Malmqvist, Corinne Mandin, Ivo Martinac, Dainius Martuzevicius, Mark J. Mendell, David Miller, Claudia Mohr, Luisa T. Molina, Glenn Morrison, Roya Mortazavi, Edward Nardell, Athanasios Nenes, Mark Nicas, Zhi Ning, Jianlei Niu, Hidekazu Nishimura, Colin O'Dowd, Bjarne W. Olesen, Paula J. Olsiewski, Spyros Pandis, Daniel Peckham, Tuukka Petaja, Zbigniew Popiolek, Ulrich Poschl, Wayne R. Ott, Kimberly Prather, Andre S. H. Prevot, Hua Qian, Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate, James L. Repace, Tiina Reponen, Ilona Riipinen, Susan Roaf, Allen L. Robinson, Yinon Rudich, Manuel Ruiz de Adana, Masayuki Saijo, Reiko Saito, Paulo Saldiva, Tunga Salthammer, Joshua L. Santarpia, John H. Seinfeld, Gary S. Settles, Siegfried Schobesberger, Paul T. J. Scheepers, Max H. Sherman, Alan Shihadeh, Manabu Shiraiwa, Jeffrey Siegel, Torben Sigsgaard, Brett C. Singer, James N. Smith, Armin Sorooshian, Jerzy Sowa, Brent Stephens, Huey-Jen Jenny Su, Jordi Sunyer, Jason D. Surratt, Kazuo Takahashi, Nobuyuki Takegawa, Jorn Toftum, Margaret A. Tolbert, Euan Tovey, Barbara J. Turpin, Annele Virtanen, John Volckens, Claire Wainwright, Lance A. Wallace, Boguang Wang, Chia C. Wang, Michael Waring, John Wenger, Charles J. Weschler, Brent Williams, Mary E. Wilson, Armin Wisthaler, Kazimierz Wojtas, Douglas R. Worsnop, Ying Xu, Naomichi Yamamoto, Xudong Yang, Hui-Ling Yen, Hiroshi Yoshino, Hassan Zaraket, Zhiqiang (John) Zhai, Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Qi Zhang, Jensen Zhang, Yinping Zhang, Bin Zhao, Tong Zhu.