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  1. Article ; Online: Impacts of zoning and landscape structure on the relative abundance of wild boar assessed through a Bayesian N-mixture model.

    Martijn, Bollen / Thomas, Neyens / Natalie, Beenaerts / Jim, Casaer

    The Science of the total environment

    2023  Volume 911, Page(s) 168546

    Abstract: Increasing human-wild boar interactions have led to damage to agricultural crops, traffic collisions and disease transmissions. Dividing natural areas in zones with differential hunting pressure is one of the currently adopted management strategies. ... ...

    Abstract Increasing human-wild boar interactions have led to damage to agricultural crops, traffic collisions and disease transmissions. Dividing natural areas in zones with differential hunting pressure is one of the currently adopted management strategies. However, the effectiveness of this approach is under debate. Hence, there is a need to better understand how to mitigate negative human-wild boar interactions effectively. Camera traps are cost-efficient, and non-invasive tools to monitor animal populations. N-mixture models can reliably estimate spatial variation in relative abundances when animals are imperfectly detected and/or cannot be individually identified. Thus, they are useful tools to infer the impacts of several factors on the land-use intensity of wild boar, based on camera trap data. In a nature area in central Belgium, we compare "summer" (April-September) land-use intensity of wild boar from 2018 until 2021 between three zones: a hunting free core zone, a winter hunting zone where hunting only takes place between November and March, and a year-round hunting zone. The latter is also close to the forest edge, agricultural crops and settlements. We compare spatial abundance models that capture these zone effects, or attractive effects of croplands, repulsive effects of hunting and repulsive effects of non-lethal human disturbances. We reveal between zone differences in wild boar land-use intensities across all summers. Additionally, we find that non-lethal human disturbance and croplands also explain variation in wild boar land-use intensity, but do not find negative associations with hunting locations. Our results suggest that the effects of zoning on wild boar land-use patterns are relevant in medium-sized natural areas. Moreover, we identify the need to install additional cameras outside of the managed area in order to assess the impacts of hunting in combination with non-lethal human activities on wild boar to mitigate negative human-wild boar interactions in the future.
    MeSH term(s) Swine ; Animals ; Humans ; Sus scrofa ; Bayes Theorem ; Animals, Wild ; Forests ; Belgium
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-11-17
    Publishing country Netherlands
    Document type Journal Article
    ZDB-ID 121506-1
    ISSN 1879-1026 ; 0048-9697
    ISSN (online) 1879-1026
    ISSN 0048-9697
    DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168546
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  2. Article ; Online: Simulation-based assessment of the performance of hierarchical abundance estimators for camera trap surveys of unmarked species.

    Martijn, Bollen / Jim, Casaer / Natalie, Beenaerts / Thomas, Neyens

    Scientific reports

    2023  Volume 13, Issue 1, Page(s) 16169

    Abstract: Knowledge on animal abundances is essential in ecology, but is complicated by low detectability of many species. This has led to a widespread use of hierarchical models (HMs) for species abundance, which are also commonly applied in the context of nature ...

    Abstract Knowledge on animal abundances is essential in ecology, but is complicated by low detectability of many species. This has led to a widespread use of hierarchical models (HMs) for species abundance, which are also commonly applied in the context of nature areas studied by camera traps (CTs). However, the best choice among these models is unclear, particularly based on how they perform in the face of complicating features of realistic populations, including: movements relative to sites, multiple detections of unmarked individuals within a single survey, and low detectability. We conducted a simulation-based comparison of three HMs (Royle-Nichols, binomial N-mixture and Poisson N-mixture model) by generating groups of unmarked individuals moving according to a bivariate Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, monitored by CTs. Under a range of simulated scenarios, none of the HMs consistently yielded accurate abundances. Yet, the Poisson N-mixture model performed well when animals did move across sites, despite accidental double counting of individuals. Absolute abundances were better captured by Royle-Nichols and Poisson N-mixture models, while a binomial N-mixture model better estimated the actual number of individuals that used a site. The best performance of all HMs was observed when estimating relative trends in abundance, which were captured with similar accuracy across these models.
    MeSH term(s) Humans ; Animals ; Computer Simulation ; Models, Statistical ; CD40 Ligand ; Ecology ; Knowledge
    Chemical Substances CD40 Ligand (147205-72-9)
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-09-27
    Publishing country England
    Document type Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
    ZDB-ID 2615211-3
    ISSN 2045-2322 ; 2045-2322
    ISSN (online) 2045-2322
    ISSN 2045-2322
    DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-43184-w
    Database MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE

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  3. Article ; Online: Key risk factors associated with fractal dimension based geographical clustering of COVID-19 data in the Flemish and Brussels region, Belgium

    Yessika Adelwin Natalia / Christel Faes / Thomas Neyens / Naïma Hammami / Geert Molenberghs

    Frontiers in Public Health, Vol

    2023  Volume 11

    Abstract: IntroductionCOVID-19 remains a major concern globally. Therefore, it is important to evaluate COVID-19's rapidly changing trends. The fractal dimension has been proposed as a viable method to characterize COVID-19 curves since epidemic data is often ... ...

    Abstract IntroductionCOVID-19 remains a major concern globally. Therefore, it is important to evaluate COVID-19's rapidly changing trends. The fractal dimension has been proposed as a viable method to characterize COVID-19 curves since epidemic data is often subject to considerable heterogeneity. In this study, we aim to investigate the association between various socio-demographic factors and the complexity of the COVID-19 curve as quantified through its fractal dimension.MethodsWe collected population indicators data (ethnic composition, socioeconomic status, number of inhabitants, population density, the older adult population proportion, vaccination rate, satisfaction, and trust in the government) at the level of the statistical sector in Belgium. We compared these data with fractal dimension indicators of COVID-19 incidence between 1 January – 31 December 2021 using canonical correlation analysis.ResultsOur results showed that these population indicators have a significant association with COVID-19 incidences, with the highest explanatory and predictive power coming from the number of inhabitants, population density, and ethnic composition.ConclusionIt is important to monitor these population indicators during a pandemic, especially when dealing with targeted interventions for a specific population.
    Keywords Belgium ; canonical correlation analysis ; COVID-19 ; fractal dimension ; socio-demographic indicators ; Public aspects of medicine ; RA1-1270
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  4. Article ; Online: The COVID-19 wave in Belgium during the Fall of 2020 and its association with higher education.

    Yessika Adelwin Natalia / Christel Faes / Thomas Neyens / Geert Molenberghs

    PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss 2, p e

    2022  Volume 0264516

    Abstract: Soon after SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019, Belgium was confronted with a first COVID-19 wave in March-April 2020. SARS-CoV-2 circulation declined in the summer months (late May to early July 2020). Following a successfully trumped late July-August peak, ...

    Abstract Soon after SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019, Belgium was confronted with a first COVID-19 wave in March-April 2020. SARS-CoV-2 circulation declined in the summer months (late May to early July 2020). Following a successfully trumped late July-August peak, COVID-19 incidence fell slightly, to then enter two successive phases of rapid incline: in the first half of September, and then again in October 2020. The first of these coincided with the peak period of returning summer travelers; the second one coincided with the start of higher education's academic year. The largest observed COVID-19 incidence occurred in the period 16-31 October, particularly in the Walloon Region, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium. We examine the potential association of the higher education population with spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19, using Bayesian spatial Poisson models for confirmed test cases, accounting for socio-demographic heterogeneity in the population. We find a significant association between the number of COVID-19 cases in the age groups 18-29 years and 30-39 years and the size of the higher education student population at the municipality level. These results can be useful towards COVID-19 mitigation strategies, particularly in areas where virus transmission from higher education students into the broader community could exacerbate morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 among populations with prevalent underlying conditions associated with more severe outcomes following infection.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  5. Article ; Online: The COVID-19 wave in Belgium during the Fall of 2020 and its association with higher education

    Yessika Adelwin Natalia / Christel Faes / Thomas Neyens / Geert Molenberghs

    PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss

    2022  Volume 2

    Abstract: Soon after SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019, Belgium was confronted with a first COVID-19 wave in March-April 2020. SARS-CoV-2 circulation declined in the summer months (late May to early July 2020). Following a successfully trumped late July-August peak, ...

    Abstract Soon after SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019, Belgium was confronted with a first COVID-19 wave in March-April 2020. SARS-CoV-2 circulation declined in the summer months (late May to early July 2020). Following a successfully trumped late July-August peak, COVID-19 incidence fell slightly, to then enter two successive phases of rapid incline: in the first half of September, and then again in October 2020. The first of these coincided with the peak period of returning summer travelers; the second one coincided with the start of higher education’s academic year. The largest observed COVID-19 incidence occurred in the period 16–31 October, particularly in the Walloon Region, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium. We examine the potential association of the higher education population with spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19, using Bayesian spatial Poisson models for confirmed test cases, accounting for socio-demographic heterogeneity in the population. We find a significant association between the number of COVID-19 cases in the age groups 18–29 years and 30–39 years and the size of the higher education student population at the municipality level. These results can be useful towards COVID-19 mitigation strategies, particularly in areas where virus transmission from higher education students into the broader community could exacerbate morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 among populations with prevalent underlying conditions associated with more severe outcomes following infection.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  6. Article ; Online: Winter agri-environment schemes and local landscape composition influence the distribution of wintering farmland birds

    Thomas Neyens / Oana Petrof / Christel Faes / Wim Vandenrijt / Paula Ulenaers / Tom Artois / Natalie Beenaerts / Ruben Evens

    Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol 45, Iss , Pp e02533- (2023)

    2023  

    Abstract: Since 1992, the European Union puts in place agri-environment schemes (AES), such as unharvested set-aside fields with winter bird crops (WBC), to counteract farmland biodiversity declines that are associated with agricultural intensification since the ... ...

    Abstract Since 1992, the European Union puts in place agri-environment schemes (AES), such as unharvested set-aside fields with winter bird crops (WBC), to counteract farmland biodiversity declines that are associated with agricultural intensification since the second half of the 20th century. These measures aim at, among other things, improving habitat quality and food availability for farmland birds throughout the year. In this study in Dry Hesbaye, an agricultural region in eastern Flanders (Belgium), we use spatial generalized linear mixed models to investigate how species richness and the observation probability of ten bird species with different food diets are associated during winter (November - March) with WBC implementation in arable crop fields and the presence of landscape elements within 50 m of these fields. Our results show that species richness and the observation probabilities of nine out of ten wintering farmland bird species under study are increased at crop fields with WBC implementation. Species richness and observation probabilities are also associated with the presence of nearby landscape elements such as hedgerows, woodland, unpaved roads, or grass margins. We conclude that unharvested set-aside fields promote local diversity and observation probabilities of most of the species under study. In addition, AES measures should be implemented after considering the aforementioned natural or semi-natural nearby landscape elements, which also influence local diversity and species’ observation probability.
    Keywords Agri-environment schemes ; Farmland bird diversity ; Species richness ; Habitat composition ; Spatial generalized linear mixed model ; Ecology ; QH540-549.5
    Subject code 590
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-09-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Elsevier
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  7. Article ; Online: Pneumococcal vaccination coverage and adherence to recommended dosing schedules in adults

    Arne Janssens / Bert Vaes / Chloé Abels / Jonas Crèvecoeur / Pavlos Mamouris / Barbara Merckx / Pieter Libin / Gijs Van Pottelbergh / Thomas Neyens

    BMC Public Health, Vol 23, Iss 1, Pp 1-

    a repeated cross-sectional study of the INTEGO morbidity registry

    2023  Volume 15

    Abstract: Abstract Background Since 2014, Belgium’s Superior Health Council has recommended pneumococcal vaccination for adults aged 19–85 years at increased risk for pneumococcal diseases with a specific vaccine administration sequence and timing. Currently, ... ...

    Abstract Abstract Background Since 2014, Belgium’s Superior Health Council has recommended pneumococcal vaccination for adults aged 19–85 years at increased risk for pneumococcal diseases with a specific vaccine administration sequence and timing. Currently, Belgium has no publicly funded adult pneumococcal vaccination program. This study investigated the seasonal pneumococcal vaccination trends, evolution of vaccination coverage and adherence to the 2014 recommendations. Methods INTEGO is a general practice morbidity registry in Flanders (Belgium) that represents 102 general practice centres and comprised over 300.000 patients in 2021. A repeated cross-sectional study was performed for the period between 2017 and 2021. Using adjusted odds ratios computed via multiple logistic regression, the association between an individual’s characteristics (gender, age, comorbidities, influenza vaccination status and socioeconomic status) and schedule-adherent pneumococcal vaccination status was assessed. Results Pneumococcal vaccination coincided with seasonal flu vaccination. The vaccination coverage in the population at risk decreased from 21% in 2017 to 18.2% in 2018 and then started to increase to 23.6% in 2021. Coverage in 2021 was highest for high-risk adults (33.8%) followed by 50- to 85-year-olds with comorbidities (25.5%) and healthy 65- to 85-year-olds (18.7%). In 2021, 56.3% of the high-risk adults, 74.6% of the 50+ with comorbidities persons, and 74% of the 65+ healthy persons had an adherent vaccination schedule. Persons with a lower socioeconomic status had an adjusted odds ratio of 0.92 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.87–0.97) for primary vaccination, 0.67 (95% CI 0.60–0.75) for adherence to the recommended second vaccination if the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was administered first and 0.86 (95% CI 0.76–0.97) if the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was administered first. Conclusion Pneumococcal vaccine coverage is slowly increasing in Flanders, displaying seasonal peaks in sync with ...
    Keywords Adult pneumococcal vaccination ; Vaccination recommendations ; Vaccination schedule adherence ; General practice ; Equity ; Generalized linear model ; Public aspects of medicine ; RA1-1270
    Subject code 610
    Language English
    Publishing date 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher BMC
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  8. Article ; Online: Managing African Swine Fever

    Martijn Bollen / Thomas Neyens / Maxime Fajgenblat / Valérie De Waele / Alain Licoppe / Benoît Manet / Jim Casaer / Natalie Beenaerts

    Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Vol

    Assessing the Potential of Camera Traps in Monitoring Wild Boar Occupancy Trends in Infected and Non-infected Zones, Using Spatio-Temporal Statistical Models

    2021  Volume 8

    Abstract: The recent spreading of African swine fever (ASF) over the Eurasian continent has been acknowledged as a serious economic threat for the pork industry. Consequently, an extensive body of research focuses on the epidemiology and control of ASF. ... ...

    Abstract The recent spreading of African swine fever (ASF) over the Eurasian continent has been acknowledged as a serious economic threat for the pork industry. Consequently, an extensive body of research focuses on the epidemiology and control of ASF. Nevertheless, little information is available on the combined effect of ASF and ASF-related control measures on wild boar (Sus scrofa) population abundances. This is crucial information given the role of the remaining wild boar that act as an important reservoir of the disease. Given the high potential of camera traps as a non-invasive method for ungulate trend estimation, we assess the effectiveness of ASF control measures using a camera trap network. In this study, we focus on a major ASF outbreak in 2018–2020 in the South of Belgium. This outbreak elicited a strong management response, both in terms of fencing off a large infected zone as well as an intensive culling regime. We apply a Bayesian multi-season site-occupancy model to wild boar detection/non-detection data. Our results show that (1) occupancy rates at the onset of our monitoring period reflect the ASF infection status; (2) ASF-induced mortality and culling efforts jointly lead to decreased occupancy over time; and (3) the estimated mean total extinction rate ranges between 22.44 and 91.35%, depending on the ASF infection status. Together, these results confirm the effectiveness of ASF control measures implemented in Wallonia (Belgium), which has regained its disease-free status in December 2020, as well as the usefulness of a camera trap network to monitor these effects.
    Keywords African swine fever ; camera traps ; occupancy ; spatio-temporal ; Bayesian inference ; Stan ; Veterinary medicine ; SF600-1100
    Language English
    Publishing date 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  9. Article ; Online: Mapping species richness using opportunistic samples

    Thomas Neyens / Peter J. Diggle / Christel Faes / Natalie Beenaerts / Tom Artois / Emanuele Giorgi

    Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-

    a case study on ground-floor bryophyte species richness in the Belgian province of Limburg

    2019  Volume 11

    Abstract: Abstract In species richness studies, citizen-science surveys where participants make individual decisions regarding sampling strategies provide a cost-effective approach to collect a large amount of data. However, it is unclear to what extent the bias ... ...

    Abstract Abstract In species richness studies, citizen-science surveys where participants make individual decisions regarding sampling strategies provide a cost-effective approach to collect a large amount of data. However, it is unclear to what extent the bias inherent to opportunistically collected samples may invalidate our inferences. Here, we compare spatial predictions of forest ground-floor bryophyte species richness in Limburg (Belgium), based on crowd- and expert-sourced data, where the latter are collected by adhering to a rigorous geographical randomisation and data collection protocol. We develop a log-Gaussian Cox process model to analyse the opportunistic sampling process of the crowd-sourced data and assess its sampling bias. We then fit two geostatistical Poisson models to both data-sets and compare the parameter estimates and species richness predictions. We find that the citizens had a higher propensity for locations that were close to their homes and environmentally more valuable. The estimated effects of ecological predictors and spatial species richness predictions differ strongly between the two geostatistical models. Unknown inconsistencies in the sampling process, such as unreported observer’s effort, and the lack of a hypothesis-driven study protocol can lead to the occurrence of multiple sources of sampling bias, making it difficult, if not impossible, to provide reliable inferences.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Subject code 310
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Nature Publishing Group
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  10. Article ; Online: Author Correction

    Ruben Evens / Natalie Beenaerts / Thomas Neyens / Nele Witters / Karen Smeets / Tom Artois

    Scientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-

    Proximity of breeding and foraging areas affects foraging effort of a crepuscular, insectivorous bird

    2018  Volume 1

    Abstract: A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper. ...

    Abstract A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.
    Keywords Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
    Language English
    Publishing date 2018-06-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Nature Publishing Group
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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