Search results for "Landscape"

Dynamic Animal Populations in Managed Forests: Species Ecological Requirements and Sustainable Harvesting

2015

Forest management has altered forested environments and provoked stress to many natural habitats and biodiversity. The goal of biodiversity management is the long-term persistence of populations in human-modified environments. We demonstrate a spatio-temporal modeling approach to address the relationship between various management objectives and population persistence in the long-term in a commercial forest landscape. We used the flying squirrel (Pteromys volans), the three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus) and the long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) as example species. They are all forest species but they have distinctly different habitat requirements. In the model, forest growth, f…

Disparate movement behavior and feeding ecology in sympatric ecotypes of Atlantic cod

2021

Abstract Coexistence of ecotypes, genetically divergent population units, is a widespread phenomenon, potentially affecting ecosystem functioning and local food web stability. In coastal Skagerrak, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) occur as two such coexisting ecotypes. We applied a combination of acoustic telemetry, genotyping, and stable isotope analysis to 72 individuals to investigate movement ecology and food niche of putative local “Fjord” and putative oceanic “North Sea” ecotypes—thus named based on previous molecular studies. Genotyping and individual origin assignment suggested 41 individuals were Fjord and 31 were North Sea ecotypes. Both ecotypes were found throughout the fjord. Seven …

Reference-point-independent dynamics of molecular liquids and glasses in the tensorial formalism.

2002

We apply the tensorial formalism to the dynamics of molecular liquids and glasses. This formalism separates the degrees of freedom into translational and orientational ones. Using the Mori-Zwanzig projection formalism, the equations of motion for the tensorial density correlators S(lmn,l'm'n')(q-->,t) are derived. For this we show how to choose the slow variables such that the resulting Mori-Zwanzig equations are covariant under a change of the reference point of the body fixed frame. We also prove that the memory kernels obtained from mode-coupling theory (MCT) including all approximations preserve the covariance. This covariance makes, e.g., the glass transition point, the two universal s…

Exploration of the Potential Energy Landscape of Aniline Using CASSCF and XMCQDPT2 Electronic Structure Calculations

2016

In this chapter, the tools introduced in Chap. 2 are applied to the study of the photochemistry of aniline. This work has been initiated during a six-month fellowship in the group of Professor Helen Fielding in the Chemistry Department of University College London, in the framework of the FASTQUAST Initial Training Network.

The power of formalization and abstraction in evolutionary biologyThe Geometry of Evolution: Adaptive Landscapes and Theoretical Morphospaces. (2006)…

2007

Stochastic model predicts evolving preferences in the Iowa gambling task

2014

Learning under uncertainty is a common task that people face in their daily life. This process relies on the cognitive ability to adjust behavior to environmental demands. Although the biological underpinnings of those cognitive processes have been extensively studied, there has been little work in formal models seeking to capture the fundamental dynamic of learning under uncertainty. In the present work, we aimed to understand the basic cognitive mechanisms of outcome processing involved in decisions under uncertainty and to evaluate the relevance of previous experiences in enhancing learning processes within such uncertain context. We propose a formal model that emulates the behavior of p…

Towards (dis)continuity of agricultural wetlands: Latvia’s polder landscapes after Soviet productivism

2017

The concepts of agricultural regimes in advanced economies, such as productivism or non/neo/post-productivism, have been critically debated over the last decades to understand the transition and diversity of modern agriculture. We explore these concepts to understand the environmentally vulnerable landscape of agricultural wetlands in Latvia that, during the era of Soviet high modernism (productivist agricultural regime), have been converted into polders as part of a mass drainage movement. Today, these post-Soviet agro-polders can be characterised as antipodes in relation to integrity of heritage, ecology and the socio-economics of agricultural concerns. Building on case studies, wider pol…

Form, figure and landscape for nature in the city.

2014

The article “Form, Figure and Landscape for Nature in the city” describes, through a sequence of steps, the urban and territorial threshold that give structure to the Piacenza southern area. It analyzes in detail the elements that define three “rooms” at different scales: - at the territorial scale, the farmhouses define a system of elements as focal point overlooking the agricultural surface, interpreted as background; - at the urban scale, the reconfiguration of the morphological tissue of the INA Casa neighborhoods allows to read a district itself as a specific “room” inside Piacenza urban fabric; - at the architectural scale, the gardens of interior courtyards of via Francigena building…

Il paesaggio come materia fondativa del progetto

2017

Il contributo affronta il tema del rapporto tra architettura e natura attraverso il ruolo strutturante che il paesaggio antropizzato riveste per quel tipo di progetto che basa la propria essenza costitutiva sulla dimensione fisica e spirituale dei luoghi; in tal senso, il paesaggio è inteso quale finalità principale dell’architettura. Ad esplicitazione dei concetti espressi, si prendono in esame gli esiti della ricerca progettuale condotta dall’autore nell’ambito del proprio laboratorio di progettazione architettonica, destinato allo sviluppo delle tesi di laurea, incentrato sul tema L’architettura nella roccia e operante intorno ai concetti dello scavo, della sottrazione, del progetto del …

Unraveling the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Mechanism Using Multiscale DFT/MM Methods

2020

<p>We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the reaction mechanism of proteolysis catalyzed by the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Using multiscale simulation methods, we have characterized the interactions stablished by a peptidic substrate in the active site and then we have explored the free energy landscape associated to the acylation and de-acylation steps of the proteolysis reaction, characterizing the transition states of the process. Our mechanistic proposals can explain most of the experimental observations made on the highly similar ortholog protease of SARS-CoV. We point out to some key interactions that may facilitate the acylation process and thus can be crucial in the …