Within team sports, match outcomes and events depend on the interaction between thousands of individual actions governed by each team's overriding style of play. Within Australian football, identifying playing styles allows coaches to improve match preparation due to an improved knowledge base that influences decisions involving training sessions, match tactics, and team selection. This study presents the clustering of teams in the Australian Football League (AFL) into playing styles based on match performance indicators extracted from games played between 2013 and 2019. Using k-means clustering, three offensive, two transitional and two scoring styles were identified, combining to create 12 playing styles. The offensive play was grouped into contested, uncontested, and non-distinct styles. The transitional play was clustered into forward half-pressure and defensive half-intercept styles. The scoring play was clustered into stoppage scoring and possession gain scoring styles. The linear model predicting the winning match margin from the explanatory variables of team playing styles and performance indicators had a lower RMSE by 64% compared to models with only playing style explanatory variables and 1.83% to models with only performance indicator explanatory variables. Identifying team playing styles allows coaches to make better-informed decisions regarding match analysis, opposition analysis, and training planning.

Questions Livestock management in rangelands depends on the production of plant biomass. Biomass production is driven by the temporal and spatial variability in precipitation, but our understanding of how precipitation variability mediates grazing effects on biomass production is still fragmented. Along a 600-km precipitation gradient we extracted biomass data to ask the questions: (a) what are the effects of grazing intensity on biomass production; (b) does grazing intensity interact with plant species richness to affect biomass production; and (c) how do plant functional groups respond to grazing and precipitation? Location Mongolia. Methods Biomass was sampled along 15 grazing intensity transects within the precipitation gradient over two consecutive years. We modeled spatial variability in above-ground plant biomass using mixed-effects models. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data were combined with field-sampled biomass data to correct for inter-annual precipitation variation. The effects of species richness were modeled with respect to possible interactions with grazing intensity, and the composition of plant functional groups was modeled with respect to possible interactions between grazing intensity and precipitation. Results Biomass was negatively correlated with grazing intensity and this effect increased as precipitation increased. Biomass was positively correlated with species richness in both years, but the strength of this effect and the interaction between species richness and grazing intensity differed between 2014 and 2015 in line with highly variable precipitation between both years. The plant functional groups grasses, sedges, legumes, wormwood and forbs had contrasting responses to grazing and precipitation. Conclusion Biomass production in drylands is more vulnerable to changes in precipitation variability and grazing intensities in relatively moist and productive rangelands than in dry and unproductive ones. Future rangeland management needs to address potentially increasing precipitation variability in order to promote desired forage plants, and to preserve the positive effects of biodiversity for biomass production.

Field-based sports require athletes to run sub-maximally over significant distances, often while contending with dynamic perturbations to preferred coordination patterns. The ability to adapt movement to maintain performance under such perturbations appears to be trainable through exposure to task variability, which encourages movement variability. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which various wearable resistance loading magnitudes alter coordination and induce movement variability during running. To investigate this, 14 participants (three female and 11 male) performed 10 sub-maximal velocity shuttle runs with either no weight, 1%, 3%, or 5% of body weight attached to the lower limbs. Sagittal plane lower limb joint kinematics from one complete stride cycle in each run were assessed using functional data analysis techniques, both across the participant group and within-individuals. At the group-level, decreases in ankle plantarflexion following toe-off were evident in the 3% and 5% conditions, while increased knee flexion occurred during weight acceptance in the 5% condition compared with unloaded running. At the individual-level, between-run joint angle profiles varied, with six participants exhibiting increased joint angle variability in one or more loading conditions compared with unloaded running. Loading of 5% decreased between-run ankle joint variability among two individuals, likely in accordance with the need to manage increased system load or the novelty of the task. In terms of joint coordination, the most considerable alterations to coordination occurred in the 5% loading condition at the hip-knee joint pair, however, only a minority of participants exhibited this tendency. Coaches should prescribe wearable resistance individually to perturb preferred coordination patterns and encourage movement variability without loading to the extent that movement options become limited.

Physical testing-based draft combines are undertaken across various sporting codes to inform talent selection. To determine the explanatory power of the Australian football league (AFL) draft combine, participants drafted between 1999-2016 (n= 1488) were assessed. Testing performance, draft selection order and playing position, AFL matches played, AFL player ranking points and AFL player rating points were collected as career outcomes. Boosted regression tree analysis revealed that position and draft selection order were the most explanatory variables of career outcomes. Linear modelling based on testing results is able to explain 4% of matches played and 3% of in-game performance measures. Each individual combine test explained <2% of the matches played outcome. Draft selection order demonstrated mixed results for career outcomes relative to playing position. For instance, key forwards and draft selection order were observed as a slight negative relationship using the AFL Player Ranking points career outcome measure. These findings indicate that the AFL draft combine is a poor measure for informing talent selection, thus providing minimal utility for the practices investigated in this study.

Privatization is, since Hardin, often promoted as a solution to many natural resource management challenges, particularly in common-pool resource systems. However, novel forms of privatization are being implemented in unexamined ways. In this article we explore how privatization affects natural resource management from the perspective of multi-dimensional social-ecological systems. We critique the notion that privatization is desirable due to its pure efficiency, and argue that efficiency must be relative to achieving other normative societal goals, in particular, sustainability. While sustainability outcomes often cannot be fully actualized, the processes through which privatization attempts to achieve them are more tangible criteria. First, we draw on (1) distributional and (2) procedural justice as normative societal goals to assess effectiveness of different forms of privatization. Second, we analyze the broader implications of privatization for social-ecological system functioning considering (3) path dependency and (4) spillover effects. We apply these four concepts to examine three different cases of privatization: eco-certification in fisheries, seed patents in agriculture and property rights in rangelands. We argue that the evaluative criteria for the success of privatization are often oversimplified, and highlight how privatization can influence social-ecological systems and the achievement of normative goals in largely unexamined ways.

BACKGROUND:Learning transfer is defined as an individual's capability to apply prior learnt perceptual, motor, or conceptual skills to a novel task or performance environment. In the sport sciences, learning transfers have been investigated from an athlete-specific perspective. However, sport scientists should also consider the benefits of cross-disciplinary learning to aid critical thinking and metacognitive skill gained through the interaction with similar quantitative scientific disciplines.OBJECTIVE:Using team sports performance analysis as an example, this study aimed to demonstrate the utility of a common analytical technique in ecology in the sports sciences, namely, nonmetric multidimensional scaling.METHODS:To achieve this aim, three novel research examples using this technique are presented, each of which enables the analysis and visualization of athlete (organism), team (aggregation of organisms), and competition (ecosystem) behaviors.RESULTS:The first example reveals the technical behaviors of Australian Football League Brownlow medalists from the 2001 to 2016 seasons. The second example delineates dissimilarity in higher and lower ranked National Rugby League teams within the 2016 season. Lastly, the third example shows the evolution of game play in the basketball tournaments between the 2004 and 2016 Olympic Games.CONCLUSIONS:In addition to the novel findings of each example, the collective results demonstrate that, by embracing cross-disciplinary learning and drawing upon an analytical technique common to ecology, novel solutions to pertinent research questions within sports performance analysis could be addressed in a practically meaningful way. Cross-disciplinary learning may subsequently assist sport scientists in the analysis and visualization of multivariate datasets.

Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements. However, spatial information on Indigenous lands has never been aggregated globally. Here, using publicly available geospatial resources, we show that Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over at least ~38 million km2 in 87 countries or politically distinct areas on all inhabited continents. This represents over a quarter of the world’s land surface, and intersects about 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes (for example, boreal and tropical primary forests, savannas and marshes). Our results add to growing evidence that recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land, benefit sharing and institutions is essential to meeting local and global conservation goals. The geospatial analysis presented here indicates that collaborative partnerships involving conservation practitioners, Indigenous Peoples and governments would yield significant benefits for conservation of ecologically valuable landscapes, ecosystems and genes for future generations. Land management and ownership by Indigenous Peoples are critical components of conservation strategies, but information on these has previously never been aggregated. Here, global data is compiled to show that Indigenous Peoples have tenure rights or manage a quarter of the world’s land area and 40% of all protected areas and intact ecosystems.

The food-biodiversity nexus is a concept that defines and characterizes the complex interactions between agricultural systems and biodiversity conservation. Here we use a social-ecological systems approach that combines fuzzy cognitive mapping and graph theoretic analyses to uncover system properties that determine food security and biodiversity outcomes at a landscape scale. We studied a rice-based agricultural landscape system situated in Mbeliling district of West Flores, Indonesia. A graphical representation of the Mbeliling district food-biodiversity nexus was created by local experts. The representation revealed system properties that help reconcile the trade-offs between food security and biodiversity conservation. The graph represented a diverse set of food security and biodiversity nodes, and showed that there is not a simple dichotomy between ‘production and protection’. The analysis captured greater complexity than popular academic concepts such as land sparing–land sharing or sustainable intensification. Three major themes emerged from the graph. We found distinct clusters of factors influencing biodiversity and food security. We named these sources of influence (1) Modernisation and sustainable farming; (2) Knowledge and management; and (3) Governance and processes. Component 2 was the most representative of emergent system properties that contribute positively to managing a sustainable food-biodiversity nexus in the Mbeliling landscape. The key determinants of outcomes were: improving agronomic practices, diversifying production, maintaining forest cover and connectivity, and using knowledge and natural resource management processes to mitigate the main drivers of change. Our approach highlights the complexities in the food-biodiversity nexus, and could have wide application in other locations.

​In team sport, classifying playing position based on a players' expressed skill sets can provide a guide to talent identification by enabling the recognition of performance attributes relative to playing position. Here, elite junior Australian football players were a priori classified into 1 of 4 common playing positions; forward, midfield, defence, and ruck. Three analysis approaches were used to assess the extent to which 12 in-game skill performance indicators could classify playing position. These were a linear discriminant analysis (LDA), random forest, and a PART decision list. The LDA produced classification accuracy of 56.8%, with class errors ranging from 19.6% (midfielders) to 75.0% (ruck). The random forest model performed at a slightly worse level (51.62%), with class errors ranging from 27.8% (midfielders) to 100% (ruck). The decision list revealed 6 rules capable of classifying playing position at accuracy of 70.1%, with class errors ranging from 14.4% (midfielders) to 100% (ruck). Although the PART decision list produced the greatest relative classification accuracy, the technical skill indicators reported were generally unable to accurately classify players according to their position using the 3 analysis approaches. This player homogeneity may complicate recruitment by constraining talent recruiter's ability to objectively recognise distinctive positional attributes.

Integrating food security and biodiversity conservation is an important contemporary challenge. Traditionally, food security and biodiversity conservation have been considered as separate or even incompatible policy goals. However, there is growing recognition of their interdependence, as well as of the need to coordinate solutions across multiple policy sectors and levels of governance. Despite such recognition, there has been no empirical analysis of governance networks that specifically integrates food security and biodiversity. Focusing on southwestern Ethiopia, this paper used social network analysis to investigate three main questions: how stakeholders interact in the governance of food security and biodiversity in a multi-level governance context; how the goals of food security and biodiversity are integrated in such a multi-level governance context; and which stakeholders are popular and play connecting roles between stakeholders in the governance network. The study was conducted in a subsistence dominated farming landscape, where we interviewed 244 stakeholders ranging from local to national levels. We found that the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation was strongly hierarchical, with virtually no horizontal linkages between adjacent districts, and very few vertical direct interactions of stakeholders spanning two or more levels of governance. Introducing a novel analytical distinction of collaborative vs individual integration, we found that only a minority of the collaborations between stakeholders took both food security and biodiversity into account, despite the majority of actors being individually involved in both sectors. Stakeholders with positional power, sociological power (popularity) and formal authority played a liaison role in the governance network. To further improve integration of food security and biodiversity conservation, a governance network that harnesses stakeholder collaboration across sectors and governance levels is essential. However, given the central role of many government administrative organizations, possible problems of power capture by some stakeholders need to be carefully managed.

Cultural landscapes provide essential ecosystem services to local communities, especially in poor rural settings. However, potentially negative impacts of ecosystems—or disservices—remain inadequately understood. Similarly, how benefit–cost outcomes differ within communities is unclear, but potentially important for cultural landscape management.

Providing universal food security and conserving biodiversity are prominent challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Typically, these challenges are believed to involve a trade‐off, especially in farming landscapes of the Global South. We conducted a multivariate analysis of social–ecological data from 110 landscapes in the Global South, and found that different system characteristics lead to partly predictable outcomes, resulting either in trade‐offs or, unexpectedly, in synergies (mutual benefits) between food security and biodiversity. Specifically, these synergies are fostered by social equity, by reliable access to local land, and by increasing social capital (eg maintenance of traditions) and human capital (eg health). In contrast, we also found high degrees of food security in landscapes with adequate infrastructure, market access, and financial capital, but this increased security came at the expense of biodiversity. Our findings demonstrate that a social–ecological systems perspective can help to identify previously unrecognized synergies between food security and biodiversity conservation.

Food security and biodiversity conservation are key challenges of the twenty-first century. While traditionally these two challenges were addressed separately, recently, papers have begun to specifically address the nexus of food security and biodiversity conservation. We conducted a structured literature review of 91 papers addressing this nexus. To ascertain how a given paper approached the topic, we assessed to what extent it covered 68 potentially relevant issues. The resulting dataset was analyzed using cluster analysis. Two main branches of literature, containing a total of six clusters of papers, were identified. The "biophysical-technical" branch (clusters: "sustainable intensification" and "production focus") was dominated by the natural sciences, focused strongly on the production aspect of food security, and sought general solutions. In contrast, the "social-political" branch (clusters: "social-ecological development"; "empowerment for food security"; "agroecology and food sovereignty"; and "social-ecological systems") often drew on the social sciences and emphasized social relations and governance, alongside broader considerations of sustainability and human well-being. While the biophysical-technical branch was often global in focus, much of the social-political branch focused on specific localities. Two clusters of papers, one from each branch, stood out as being particularly broad in scope-namely the clusters on "sustainable intensification" and "agroecology and food sovereignty." Despite major differences in their conceptual basis, we argue that exchange between these two research clusters could be particularly helpful in generating insights on the food-biodiversity nexus that are both generally applicable and sufficiently nuanced to capture key system-specific variables.

Given the serious limitations of production-oriented frameworks, we offer here a new conceptual framework for how to analyze the nexus of food security and biodiversity conservation. We introduce four archetypes of social-ecological system states corresponding to win-win (e.g., agroecology), win-lose (e.g., intensive agriculture), lose-win (e.g., fortress conservation), and lose-lose (e.g., degraded landscapes) outcomes for food security and biodiversity conservation. Each archetype is shaped by characteristic external drivers, exhibits characteristic internal social-ecological features, and has characteristic feedbacks that maintain it. This framework shifts the emphasis from focusing on production only to considering social-ecological dynamics, and enables comparison among landscapes. Moreover, examining drivers and feedbacks facilitates the analysis of possible transitions between system states (e.g., from a lose-lose outcome to a more preferred outcome).

This study investigated the evolution of game-play manifested via team performance indicator characteristics in the Australian Football League (AFL) from the 2001 to 2015 seasons. The mean values for 18 performance indicators were collated for every AFL team over 15-seasons. A multivariate analysis was used to uncover temporal trends in the dataset. Compared to the 2004 season, the 2005 to 2010 seasons were characterised by large growth in the counts of handballs (d=0.83; 90% CI=0.22-1.43), disposals (d=1.24; 90% CI=0.59-1.87), uncontested possessions (d=1.37; 90% CI=0.71-2.01), clangers (d=2.14; 90% CI=1.39-2.86) and marks (d=1.43; 90% CI=0.76-2.07). Contrastingly, the effective disposal percentage declined rapidly during the same period. The number of inside 50m counts remained stable throughout the 15-season period. The ordination plot of league-wide performance indicator characteristics illustrated a distinct cluster from the 2001 to 2004 seasons, an abrupt shift from the 2005 to 2009 seasons, and an emergent (re)stabilisation from the 2010 to 2015 seasons. The results demonstrate the synchronous league-wide evolution of game-play in the AFL from the 2001 to 2015 seasons. Amongst other constituents, this evolution likely reflects the introduction of modernised coaching strategies, rule changes and changing perceptions of rule interpretations.

OBJECTIVES:Analysing the dissimilarity of seasonal and team profiles within elite sport may reveal the evolutionary dynamics of game-play, while highlighting the similarity of individual team profiles. This study analysed seasonal and team dissimilarity within the National Rugby League (NRL) between the 2005 to 2016 seasons. DESIGN:Longitudinal. METHODS:Total seasonal values for 15 performance indicators were collected for every NRL team over the analysed period (n=190 observations). Non-metric multidimensional scaling was used to reveal seasonal and team dissimilarity. RESULTS:Compared to the 2005 to 2011 seasons, the 2012 to 2016 seasons were in a state of flux, with a relative dissimilarity in the positioning of team profiles on the ordination surface. There was an abrupt change in performance indicator characteristics following the 2012 season, with the 2014 season reflecting a large increase in the total count of 'all run metres' (d=1.21; 90% CI=0.56-1.83), 'kick return metres' (d=2.99; 90% CI=2.12-3.84) and decrease in 'missed tackles' (d=-2.43; 90% CI=-3.19 to -1.64) and 'tackle breaks' (d=-2.41; 90% CI=-3.17 to -1.62). Interpretation of team ordination plots showed that certain teams evolved in (dis)similar ways over the analysed period. CONCLUSIONS:It appears that NRL match-types evolved following the 2012 season and are in a current state of flux. The modification of coaching tactics and rule changes may have contributed to these observations. Coaches could use these results when designing prospective game strategies in the NRL.

We thank Seppelt et al. [ 1 Seppelt R. et al. Searching for win–win archetypes in the food-biodiversity challenge: A response to Fischer et al.. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2017; 32: 630-632 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar ] for their thoughts on our paper, and welcome debate regarding how to best move forward in harmonizing food security and biodiversity conservation. We consider it useful to exchange ideas, including in areas where there may be disagreement, recognizing that reflection will help the scientific community to identify constructive ways forward. On the topic of food security and biodiversity conservation, we believe that what is needed, most of all, is qualitative change – we need to think in an entirely different, more holistic, and more visionary way about how to achieve good outcomes for both food security and biodiversity conservation. It is with this overall outlook in mind that we respond to the concerns raised by Seppelt et al. [ 1 Seppelt R. et al. Searching for win–win archetypes in the food-biodiversity challenge: A response to Fischer et al.. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2017; 32: 630-632 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar ].

ABSTRACT This study investigated the extent to which position in the Australian Football League (AFL) national draft is associated with individual game performance metrics. Physical/technical skill performance metrics were collated from all participants in the 2014 national under 18 (U18) championships (18 games) drafted into the AFL (n = 65; 17.8 ± 0.5 y); 232 observations. Players were subdivided into draft position (ranked 1–65) and then draft round (1–4). Here, earlier draft selection (i.e., closer to 1) reflects a more desirable player. Microtechnology and a commercial provider facilitated the quantification of individual game performance metrics (n = 16). Linear mixed models were fitted to data, modelling the extent to which draft position was associated with these metrics. Draft position in the first/second round was negatively associated with “contested possessions” and “contested marks”, respectively. Physical performance metrics were positively associated with draft position in these rounds. Correlations weakened for the third/fourth rounds. Contested possessions/marks were associated with an earlier draft selection. Physical performance metrics were associated with a later draft selection. Recruiters change the type of U18 player they draft as the selection pool reduces. juniors with contested skill appear prioritised.

This study examined the relative influence of anatomical and neuromuscular variables on maximal isometric and concentric knee extensor torque and provided a comparative dataset for healthy young males.

Food security and biodiversity conservation are key challenges of the twenty-first century. While traditionally these two challenges were addressed separately, recently, papers have begun to specifically address the nexus of food security and biodiversity conservation. We conducted a structured literature review of 91 papers addressing this nexus. To ascertain how a given paper approached the topic, we assessed to what extent it covered 68 potentially relevant issues. The resulting dataset was analyzed using cluster analysis. Two main branches of literature, containing a total of six clusters of papers, were identified. The “biophysical-technical” branch (clusters: “sustainable intensification” and “production focus”) was dominated by the natural sciences, focused strongly on the production aspect of food security, and sought general solutions. In contrast, the “social-political” branch (clusters: “social-ecological development”; “empowerment for food security”; “agroecology and food sovereignty”; and “social-ecological systems”) often drew on the social sciences and emphasized social relations and governance, alongside broader considerations of sustainability and human well-being. While the biophysical-technical branch was often global in focus, much of the social-political branch focused on specific localities. Two clusters of papers, one from each branch, stood out as being particularly broad in scope—namely the clusters on “sustainable intensification” and “agroecology and food sovereignty.” Despite major differences in their conceptual basis, we argue that exchange between these two research clusters could be particularly helpful in generating insights on the food–biodiversity nexus that are both generally applicable and sufficiently nuanced to capture key system-specific variables.