Analysis of biophysical and anthropogenic variables and their relation to the regional spatial variation of aboveground biomass illustrated for North and East Kalimantan, Borneo.

Background: Land use and land cover change occurring in tropical forest landscapes contributes substantially to carbon emissions. Better insights into the spatial variation of aboveground biomass is therefore needed. By means of multiple statistical tests, including geographically weighted regression, we analysed the effects of eight variables on the regional spatial variation of aboveground biomass.

Breaking the link between environmental degradation and oil palm expansion: a method for enabling sustainable oil palm expansion.

Land degradation is a global concern. In tropical areas it primarily concerns the conversion of forest into non-forest lands and the associated losses of environmental services. Defining such degradation is not straightforward hampering effective reduction in degradation and use of already degraded lands for more productive purposes.

MyD88 innate immune function in a zebrafish embryo infection model.

Innate immunity signaling mechanisms during vertebrate embryogenesis are largely unknown. To study Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling function in the zebrafish embryo model, we designed an experimental setup for antisense morpholino knockdown under conditions of bacterial infection. Clearance of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium Ra bacteria was significantly impaired after knockdown of myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), a common adaptor protein in TLR and interleukin-1 receptor signaling.