Search results for "JA"
showing 10 items of 44567 documents
Exploring the unknowns : State of the art in qualitative forest-based sector foresight research
2022
The forest-based sector is facing one the greatest transitions in its history in the face of global megatrends. Globalization, sustainability challenges and the ICT sector have put the world in a new light. Whereas some of the recent developments have resulted in challenges for the traditional forest industry, many positive expectations and opportunities are also seen to arise in the form of the transition to a sustainable bio-economy. However, to be able to fully seize the opportunity, the industry has to navigate through contingency where preparedness can have a major impact. Foresight as a strategic approach can help to prepare and sensitize decision-makers to be prepared for the future.…
Eliciting expert knowledge to inform stock status for data-limited stock assessments
2019
Data-limited fisheries are a major challenge for stock assessment analysts, as many traditional data-rich models cannot be implemented. Approaches based on stock reduction analysis offer simple ways to handle low data availability, but are particularly sensitive to assumptions on relative stock status (i.e., current biomass compared to unperturbed biomass). For the vast majority of data-limited stocks, stock status is unmeasured. The present study presents a method to elicit expert knowledge to inform stock status and a novel, user-friendly on-line application for expert elicitation. Expert opinions are compared to stock status derived from data-rich models. Here, it is evaluated how expert…
Decoding Group Vocalizations: The Acoustic Energy Distribution of Chorus Howls Is Useful to Determine Wolf Reproduction
2016
Population monitoring is crucial for wildlife management and conservation. In the last few decades, wildlife researchers have increasingly applied bioacoustics tools to obtain information on several essential ecological parameters, such as distribution and abundance. One such application involves wolves (Canis lupus). These canids respond to simulated howls by emitting group vocalizations known as chorus howls. These responses to simulated howls reveal the presence of wolf litters during the breeding period and are therefore often used to determine the status of wolf populations. However, the acoustic structure of chorus howls is complex and discriminating the presence of pups in a chorus i…
Gray plumage color is more cryptic than brown in snowy landscapes in a resident color polymorphic bird
2020
Abstract Camouflage may promote fitness of given phenotypes in different environments. The tawny owl (Strix aluco) is a color polymorphic species with a gray and brown morph resident in the Western Palearctic. A strong selection pressure against the brown morph during snowy and cold winters has been documented earlier, but the selection mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, we hypothesize that selection favors the gray morph because it is better camouflaged against predators and mobbers in snowy conditions compared to the brown one. We conducted an online citizen science experiment where volunteers were asked to locate a gray or a brown tawny owl specimen from pictures taken in snowy and snow…
Bridging Ecology and Evolution
2017
Already by the early dawn of evolutionary biology, it was appreciated that ecological differences among species’ habitats, resources, and environments were key drivers of evolution and speciation. Thus, research on interactions between ecology and evolution is not a novel endeavor. It has, however, become increasingly popular to provide these interactions with ‘a new wrapping’, that is, the study of eco-evolutionary dynamics [1]. Consequently, eco-evolutionary dynamics is not a newly developed theory but rather a novel framework within which to study the interplay of ecology and evolution.
Vertical sediment migrations of dominant midge species in subtropical lakes with implications for bioassessment
2018
Abstract Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a dominant species in numerous eutrophic lakes and they could burrow into deep sediments (>30 cm) during summer months. However, common-used grab samplers are efficient in collecting surface-dwelling species (
Antibiotics accelerate growth at the expense of immunity
2021
Antibiotics have long been used in the raising of animals for agricultural, industrial or laboratory use. The use of subtherapeutic doses in diets of terrestrial and aquatic animals to promote growth is common and highly debated. Despite their vast application in animal husbandry, knowledge about the mechanisms behind growth promotion is minimal, particularly at the molecular level. Evidence from evolutionary research shows that immunocompetence is resource-limited, and hence expected to trade off with other resource-demanding processes, such as growth. Here, we ask if accelerated growth caused by antibiotics can be explained by genome-wide trade-offs between growth and costly immunocompete…
Chemical composition, herbicidal and antifungal activity of Satureja cuneifolia essential oils from Spain
2016
The chemical composition of essential oils from Satureja cuneifolia growing in east Spain was analyzed by GC, GC/MS. Forty-five compounds accounting for 99.1% of the total oil were identified. Camphor (47.6%), followed by camphene (13.6%) were the main compounds. Their herbicidal and antifungal activity was tested in vitro against three weeds (Amaranthus hybridus, Portulaca oleracea and Conyza canadensis) and eleven common pathogenic or saprophytic fungi (Phytophthora citrophthora, P. palmivora, Pythium litorale, Verticillium dahlia, Rhizoctonia solani, Penicillium hirsutum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Phaeoacremonium aleophilum, Phaemoniella chlamydospora, Cylindrocarpon liriodendri a…
Convergences and divergences between scientific and Indigenous and Local Knowledge contribute to inform carnivore conservation
2021
There is increasing recognition that diverse knowledge systems can work in mutually enriching ways and that Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) can enhance biodiversity conservation. However, studies using scientific knowledge and ILK in a complementary manner, and acknowledging convergent and especially divergent insights have remained limited. In this study, we contrasted proxies of abundances and trends of threatened and conflict-prone carnivores (caracal, cheetah, jackal, lion, leopard, spotted hyaena, striped hyaena) derived separately from scientific knowledge and ILK. We conducted camera trapping, track surveys and semi-structured interviews with local pastoralists from northern Ken…
A new species and a new synonymy of the plant bug genusiFulvius/ifrom Japan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Cylapinae).
2017
Fulvius Stål (Cylapinae: Fulviini) is a large plant bug genus, with more than 80 described species distributed throughout the world (Schuh, 1995; 2002–2014). In Japan, five species listed below have been recorded mostly from the subtropical Ryukyu arc (Yasunaga, 2000, 2001; Yasunaga & Miyamoto, 2006; Yasunaga et al., 2012). Our recent closer examinations of these Japanese species suggest that (1) what was previously identified as Fulvius dimidiatus Poppius represents an undescribed species, and (2) F. nakatai Yasunaga & Miyamoto described from Okinawa Island is evidently conspecific with F. subnitens Poppius that was described from New Guinea but is now known from pantropical zones …