Species composition and spatial and temporal distribution of occasional fishes in Haizhou Bay, Shandong, China

Occasional species are often neglected in community ecology studies due to low abundance and frequence. However, they are closely related to biodiversity maintenance and marine conservation. We used index of relative importance (IRI), distribution center of gravity and Mann-Kendall trend test to elucidate the spatial and temporal distributions and changing trends of occasional fishes in Haizhou Bay based on the fishery resources survey data collected from 2013 to 2019. The occasional fishes in Haizhou Bay was identified based on IRI. Nine of the occasional species were selected to analyze the spatial distribution and interannual trends of relative biomass and occurrence frequency. The results showed that a total of 93 fish species were recorded in the multi-year survey in Haizhou Bay. Among which, 61 species had IRI<10, indicating the existence of a large number of occasional fishes in Haizhou Bay. The nine selected occasional species had distinctive spatial distribution characteristics. Erisphex pottii, Azuma emmnion, and Raja porosa were mainly distributed in the eastern part of Haizhou Bay, with a wide habitat range. Sphyraena pinguis, Coilia nasus, and Zebrias zebra were distributed in the western and southern parts, respectively. The rest species were mainly distributed in the southwestern part. In terms of interannual variation, the biomass and occurrence frequency of Coilia mystus, R. porosa, A. emmnion, and S. pinguis showed fluctuating changes, while Odontamblyopus rubicundus and Ctenotrypauchen microcephalus showed an increasing trend. The biomass and occurrence of Z. zebra, C. nasus and E. pottii gradually decreased with no catch in recent years. This study would contribute to the understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of occasional species, and provide guidance for the conservation of occasional biological resources and species diversity, especially for the establishment of marine protected areas.

National trends in distribution of underrepresented minorities within United States general surgery residency programs: A longitudinal panel study

BACKGROUND

Cultural affinity with a provider improves satisfactoriness of healthcare. We examined 2005-2019 trends in racial/ethnic diversity/inclusion within general surgery residency programs.

METHODS

We triangulated 2005-2019 race/ethnicity data from Association of American Medical Colleges surveys of 4th-year medical students, the Electronic Residency Application Service, and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-affiliated general surgery residencies. Temporal trends in minority representation were tested for significance.

RESULTS

Underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities in medicine (URiMs) increased among graduating MDs from 7.6% in 2005 to 11.8% in 2019 (p < 0.0001), as did their proportion among surgery residency applicants during 2005-2019 (p < 0.0001). However, proportions of URiMs among general surgery residents (≈8.5%), and of programs without URiMs (≈18.8%), stagnated.

CONCLUSIONS

Growing URiM proportions among medical school graduates and surgery residency applicants did not improve URiM representation among surgery trainees nor shrink the percentage of programs without URiMs. Deeper research into motivators underlying URiMs' residency program preferences is warranted.

Spatiotemporal variability of land surface temperature in north-western Ethiopia

The aggravating deforestation, industrialization, and urbanization are becoming the principal causes for environmental challenges worldwide. As a result, satellite-based remote sensing helps to explore the environmental challenges spatially and temporally. This investigation analyzed the spatiotemporal variability in land surface temperature (LST) and its link with elevation in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST data (2001-2020) were used. The pixel-based linear regression model was used to explore the spatiotemporal variability of LST changes. Furthermore, Sen's slope and Mann-Kendall trend test were used to determine the magnitude of temporal shifts of the areal average LST and evaluate trends in areal average LST, respectively. Coefficient of variation (CV) was also used to analyze spatial and temporal variability in seasonal and annual LST. The seasonal LST CV varied from 1.096-10.72%, 0.7-11.06%, 1.29-14.76%, and 2.19-10.35% for average autumn (September to November), summer (June to August), spring (March to May), and winter (December to February) seasons, respectively. The highest inter-annual variability was observed in the eastern, northern, and south-western districts than that in the other parts. The seasonal spatial LST trend varied from -0.7-0.16, -0.4-0.224, 0.6-0.19, and -0.6-0.32 for average autumn, summer, spring, and winter seasons, respectively. Besides, the annual spatial LST slope varied from -0.58 to 0.17. Negative slopes were found in the central, mid-western, and mid-northern districts in annual LST, unlike the other parts. The annual variations of mean areal LST decreased insignificantly at the rate of 0.046°C year^-1 (P<0.05). However, the inter-annual variability trend of annual LST increased significantly. Generally, the LST is tremendously variable in space and time and negatively correlated with elevation.

Major Natural Disasters in China, 1985-2014: Occurrence and Damages

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of natural disasters and associated losses from 1985 to 2014. The Mann-Kendall method was used to detect any long-term trends and abrupt changes. Hotspot analysis was conducted to detect the spatial clusters of disasters. We found an increasing trend in the occurrence of integrated natural disasters (tau = 0.594, p < 0.001), particularly for floods (tau = 0.507, p < 0.001), landslides (tau = 0.365, p = 0.009) and storms (tau = 0.289, p = 0.032). Besides, there was an abrupt increase of natural disasters in 1998–2000. Hotspots of droughts, floods, landslides and storms were identified in central, southern, southwest and southeast areas of China, respectively. Annual deaths from integrated natural disasters were decreasing (tau = −0.237, p = 0.068) at about 32 persons/year, decreasing at 17 persons/year for floods (tau = −0.154, p = 0.239), and decreasing at approximately 12 persons/year for storms (tau = −0.338, p = 0.009). No significant trend was detected in inflation-adjusted damages while a declining trend was detected in the ratio of year damage against GDP (gross domestic product). In conclusion, there has been an increasing trend in occurrence of natural disasters in China with the absence of an increase in life and economic losses. Despite the progress in the disaster adaption, there will be great challenges in disaster control for China in the future.