Search results for "ECONOMICS"
showing 10 items of 14389 documents
Use of Inverse Spatial Conservation Prioritization to Avoid Biological Diversity Loss Outside Protected Areas
2013
Globally expanding human land use sets constantly increasing pressure for maintenance of biological diversity and functioning ecosystems. To fight the decline of biological diversity, conservation science has broken ground with methods such as the operational model of systematic conservation planning (SCP), which focuses on design and on-the-ground implementation of conservation areas. The most commonly used method in SCP is reserve selection that focuses on the spatial design of reserve networks and their expansion. We expanded these methods by introducing another form of spatial allocation of conservation effort relevant for land-use zoning at the landscape scale that avoids negative ecol…
How Long Is Too Long in Contemporary Peer Review? Perspectives from Authors Publishing in Conservation Biology Journals
2015
Delays in peer reviewed publication may have consequences for both assessment of scientific prowess in academics as well as communication of important information to the knowledge receptor community. We present an analysis on the perspectives of authors publishing in conservation biology journals regarding their opinions on the importance of speed in peer-review as well as how to improve review times. Authors were invited to take part in an online questionnaire, of which the data was subjected to both qualitative (open coding, categorizing) and quantitative analyses (generalized linear models). We received 637 responses to a total of 6,547 e-mail invitations sent. Peer-review speed was gene…
Estimation of fitness from energetics and life-history data: An example using mussels.
2017
Changing environments have the potential to alter the fitness of organisms through effects on components of fitness such as energy acquisition, metabolic cost, growth rate, survivorship, and reproductive output. Organisms, on the other hand, can alter aspects of their physiology and life histories through phenotypic plasticity as well as through genetic change in populations (selection). Researchers examining the effects of environmental variables frequently concentrate on individual components of fitness, although methods exist to combine these into a population level estimate of average fitness, as the per capita rate of population growth for a set of identical individuals with a particul…
Interspecific variation of inflorescence scents and insect visitors in Allium (Amaryllidaceae: Allioideae)
2019
Allium is a large monocotyledonous genus, with many species of high economic importance. Knowledge of the pollination biology and the chemical ecology of pollination in this genus is far from being complete. We studied flower visitors of some Allium species in their native habitat and how these interaction partners communicate by olfactory cues. Floral volatiles of five Mediterranean species were investigated by dynamic headspace and thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS). Floral visitors were observed and captured. The physiological activity of scent components in antennae of flower visitors and congeneric species was tested by gas chromatographic/electroantenno…
The effects of oil spills on marine fish: Implications of spatial variation in natural mortality.
2017
The effects of oil spills on marine biological systems are of great concern, especially in regions with high biological production of harvested resources such as in the Northeastern Atlantic. The scientific studies of the impact of oil spills on fish stocks tend to ignore that spatial patterns of natural mortality may influence the magnitude of the impact over time. Here, we first illustrate how spatial variation in natural mortality may affect the population impact by considering a thought experiment. Second, we consider an empirically based example of Northeast Arctic cod to extend the concept to a realistic setting. Finally, we present a scenario-based investigation of how the degree of …
Spatial Context of Breeding Ponds and Forest Management Affect the Distribution and Population Dynamics of the Great Crested Newt
2016
Intensive forest management and landscape degradation are threats to amphibian populations. We modelled and compared the extinction and colonization dynamics of the great crested newt in four different spatial contexts that describe landscape change from past to present and future forest landscapes in eastern Finland. In future landscape scenarios, we explored the effects of two forest use intensities with different logging rotation times. The introduction of fish into breeding ponds has been the main cause of local extinctions of the great crested newt. In the future, intensifying land-use and shorter logging rotation will decrease the connectivity between ponds the most. In conservation p…
Taxonomic investigations on Psoralea palaestina (Fabaceae), a critical species of Mediterranean flora
2016
Psoralea palaestina is a critical and unappreciated species described from Palestinian territories, and currently treated as synonym of P. bituminosa, nowadays known as Bituminaria bituminosa. Nomenclatural investigations allowed to ascertain that it was validly described for the first time by Bassi (1768) and not by Gouan (1773), as previously thought. Extensive taxonomic investigations revealed that this very peculiar legume is morphologically well differentiated from the other allied known species. Therefore, it has to be properly treated at specific level and transferred to the genus Bituminaria, thus proposing a new combination: Bituminaria palaestina. Based on literature, herbarium an…
Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia
2021
Simple Summary A study in the bordering region of Latvia took place in order to investigate wild plant food uses. In total 72 interviewees reported food uses. The most represented uses of recorded plants were recreational tea; for jam; as snacks and soup; and drink. Interviewees also reported loss of foraging practice due to the habitat change as for example in case of caraway and chamomile. The results indicated that part of the reason for the main use of wild plants were linked to diet diversification. Abstract Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to …
Dealing with physical barriers in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) distribution
2019
Abstract Worldwide, cetacean species have started to be protected, but they are still very vulnerable to accidental damage from an expanding range of human activities at sea. To properly manage these potential threats we need a detailed understanding of the seasonal distributions of these highly mobile populations. To achieve this goal, a growing effort has been underway to develop species distribution models (SDMs) that correctly describe and predict preferred species areas. However, accuracy is not always easy to achieve when physical barriers, such as islands, are present. Indeed, SDMs assume, if only implicitly, that the spatial effect is stationary, and that correlation is only depende…
Current and future suitability of wintering grounds for a long-distance migratory raptor
2017
Conservation of migratory species faces the challenge of understanding the ecological requirements of individuals living in two geographically separated regions. In some cases, the entire population of widely distributed species congregates at relatively small wintering areas and hence, these areas become a priority for the species’ conservation. Satellite telemetry allows fine tracking of animal movements and distribution in those less known, often remote areas. Through integrating satellite and GPS data from five separated populations comprising most of the breeding range, we created a wide habitat suitability model for the Eleonora’s falcon on its wintering grounds in Madagascar. On this…