Ecological research at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Annual report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1977-05-01

Research is organized around two major programs: thermal and aquatic stress and mineral cycling. These programs are strengthened by a previously established foundation of basic ecological knowledge. Research in basic ecology continues to be a major component of all SREL environmental programs. Emphasis in all programs has been placed upon field-oriented research relating to regional and local problems having broad ecological significance. For example, extensive research has been conducted in the Par Pond reservoir system and the Savannah River swamp, both of which have received thermal effluent, heavy metals, and low levels of radioisotopes. Furthermore, the availability of low levels of plutonium and uranium in both terrestrial and aquatic environments on the Savannah River Plant (SRP) has provided an unusual opportunity for field research in this area. The studies seek to document the effects, to determine the extent of local environmental problems, and to establish predictable relationships which have general applicability. In order to accomplish this objective it has been imperative that studies be carried out in the natural, environmentally unaffected areas on the SRP as a vital part of the overall program. Progress is reported in forty-nine studies.

Fifty important research questions in microbial ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Antwis, Rachael E; Griffiths, Sarah M; Harrison, Xavier A; Aranega-Bou, Paz; Arce, Andres; Bettridge, Aimee S; Brailsford, Francesca L; de Menezes, Alexandre; Devaynes, Andrew; Forbes, Kristian M; Fry, Ellen L; Goodhead, Ian; Haskell, Erin; Heys, Chloe; James, Chloe; Johnston, Sarah R; Lewis, Gillian R; Lewis, Zenobia; Macey, Michael C; McCarthy, Alan; McDonald, James E; Mejia-Florez, Nasmille L; O'Brien, David; Orland, Chloé; Pautasso, Marco; Reid, William D K; Robinson, Heather A; Wilson, Kenneth; Sutherland, William J

2017-05-01

Microbial ecology provides insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities underpinning every ecosystem on Earth. Microbial communities can now be investigated in unprecedented detail, although there is still a wealth of open questions to be tackled. Here we identify 50 research questions of fundamental importance to the science or application of microbial ecology, with the intention of summarising the field and bringing focus to new research avenues. Questions are categorised into seven themes: host-microbiome interactions; health and infectious diseases; human health and food security; microbial ecology in a changing world; environmental processes; functional diversity; and evolutionary processes. Many questions recognise that microbes provide an extraordinary array of functional diversity that can be harnessed to solve real-world problems. Our limited knowledge of spatial and temporal variation in microbial diversity and function is also reflected, as is the need to integrate micro- and macro-ecological concepts, and knowledge derived from studies with humans and other diverse organisms. Although not exhaustive, the questions presented are intended to stimulate discussion and provide focus for researchers, funders and policy makers, informing the future research agenda in microbial ecology. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Priorities for research in soil ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenhauer, Nico; Antunes, Pedro M; Bennett, Alison E; Birkhofer, Klaus; Bissett, Andrew; Bowker, Matthew A; Caruso, Tancredi; Chen, Baodong; Coleman, David C; de Boer, Wietse; de Ruiter, Peter; DeLuca, Thomas H; Frati, Francesco; Griffiths, Bryan S; Hart, Miranda M; Hättenschwiler, Stephan; Haimi, Jari; Heethoff, Michael; Kaneko, Nobuhiro; Kelly, Laura C; Leinaas, Hans Petter; Lindo, Zoë; Macdonald, Catriona; Rillig, Matthias C; Ruess, Liliane; Scheu, Stefan; Schmidt, Olaf; Seastedt, Timothy R; van Straalen, Nico M; Tiunov, Alexei V; Zimmer, Martin; Powell, Jeff R

2017-07-01

The ecological interactions that occur in and with soil are of consequence in many ecosystems on the planet. These interactions provide numerous essential ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of soils has attracted increasing scientific and public attention. Although soil ecology emerged as an independent field of research many decades ago, and we have gained important insights into the functioning of soils, there still are fundamental aspects that need to be better understood to ensure that the ecosystem services that soils provide are not lost and that soils can be used in a sustainable way. In this perspectives paper, we highlight some of the major knowledge gaps that should be prioritized in soil ecological research. These research priorities were compiled based on an online survey of 32 editors of Pedobiologia - Journal of Soil Ecology. These editors work at universities and research centers in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.The questions were categorized into four themes: (1) soil biodiversity and biogeography, (2) interactions and the functioning of ecosystems, (3) global change and soil management, and (4) new directions. The respondents identified priorities that may be achievable in the near future, as well as several that are currently achievable but remain open. While some of the identified barriers to progress were technological in nature, many respondents cited a need for substantial leadership and goodwill among members of the soil ecology research community, including the need for multi-institutional partnerships, and had substantial concerns regarding the loss of taxonomic expertise.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Annual technical progress report of ecological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, M.H.

1996-01-01

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA). The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts basic and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. Significant accomplishments were made during the past year in the areas of research, education and service. The Laboratory's research mission was fulfilled with the publication of two books and 143 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical and students, and visiting scientists. An additional three books and about 80 journal articles currently are in press. Faculty, technician and students presented 193 lectures, scientific presentations, and posters to colleges and universities, including minority institutions. Dr. J Vaun McArthur organized and conducted the Third Annual SREL Symposium on the Environment: New Concepts in Strewn Ecology: An Integrative Approach. Dr. Michael Newman conducted a 5-day course titled Quantitative Methods in Ecotoxicology, and Dr. Brian Teppen of The Advanced Analytical Center for Environmental Sciences (AACES) taught a 3-day short course titled Introduction to Molecular Modeling of Environmental Systems. Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin co-hosted a meeting of the Crocodile Special Interest Group. Dr. Rebecca Sharitz attended four symposia in Japan during May and June 1996 and conducted meetings of the Executive Committee and Board of the International Association for Ecology (ENTECOL)

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Annual technical progress report of ecological research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, M.H.

1996-07-31

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA). The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts basic and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. Significant accomplishments were made during the past year in the areas of research, education and service. The Laboratory`s research mission was fulfilled with the publication of two books and 143 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical and students, and visiting scientists. An additional three books and about 80 journal articles currently are in press. Faculty, technician and students presented 193 lectures, scientific presentations, and posters to colleges and universities, including minority institutions. Dr. J Vaun McArthur organized and conducted the Third Annual SREL Symposium on the Environment: New Concepts in Strewn Ecology: An Integrative Approach. Dr. Michael Newman conducted a 5-day course titled Quantitative Methods in Ecotoxicology, and Dr. Brian Teppen of The Advanced Analytical Center for Environmental Sciences (AACES) taught a 3-day short course titled Introduction to Molecular Modeling of Environmental Systems. Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin co-hosted a meeting of the Crocodile Special Interest Group. Dr. Rebecca Sharitz attended four symposia in Japan during May and June 1996 and conducted meetings of the Executive Committee and Board of the International Association for Ecology (ENTECOL).

Social learning research in ecological economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siebenhüner, Bernd; Rodela, Romina; Ecker, Franz

2016-01-01

Social learning studies emerged as part of the ecological economics research agenda rather recently. Questions of how human societies and organisations learn and transition on the basis of environmental knowledge relate to the core ideas of ecological economics with its pluralistic understanding

Towards improving the ethics of ecological research.

Science.gov (United States)

Crozier, G K D; Schulte-Hostedde, Albrecht I

2015-06-01

We argue that the ecological research community should develop a plan for improving the ethical consistency and moral robustness of the field. We propose a particular ethics strategy--specifically, an ongoing process of collective ethical reflection that the community of ecological researchers, with the cooperation of applied ethicists and philosophers of biology, can use to address the needs we identify. We suggest a particular set of conceptual (in the form of six core values--freedom, fairness, well being, replacement, reduction, and refinement) and analytic (in the forms of decision theoretic software, 1000Minds) tools that, we argue, collectively have the resources to provide an empirically grounded and conceptually complete foundation for an ethics strategy for ecological research. We illustrate our argument with information gathered from a survey of ecologists conducted at the 2013 meeting of the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution.

Integrating Social Science into the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Social Dimensions of Ecological Change and Ecological Dimensions of Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Charles L. Redman; J. Morgan Grove; Lauren H. Kuby; Lauren H. Kuby

2004-01-01

The integration of the social sciences into long-term ecological research is an urgent priority. To address this need, a group of social, earth, and life scientists associated with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have articulated a conceptual framework for understanding the human dimensions of ecological change...

[Strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of French research in trophic ecology].

Science.gov (United States)

Perga, Marie-Élodie; Danger, Michael; Dubois, Stanislas; Fritch, Clémentine; Gaucherel, Cédric; Hubas, Cedric; Jabot, Franck; Lacroix, Gérard; Lefebvre, Sébastien; Marmonier, Pierre; Bec, Alexandre

2018-05-30

The French National Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE) aims at fostering pluridisciplinarity in Environmental Science and, for that purpose, funds ex muros research groups (GDR) on thematic topics. Trophic ecology has been identified as a scientific field in ecology that would greatly benefit from such networking activity, as being profoundly scattered. This has motivated the seeding of a GDR, entitled "GRET". The contours of the GRET's action, and its ability to fill these gaps within trophic ecology at the French national scale, will depend on the causes of this relative scattering. This study relied on a nationally broadcasted poll aiming at characterizing the field of trophic ecology in France. Amongst all the unique individuals that fulfilled the poll, over 300 belonged at least partly to the field of trophic ecology. The sample included all French public research institutes and career stages. Three main disruptions within the community of scientist in trophic ecology were identified. The first highlighted the lack of interfaces between microbial and trophic ecology. The second evidenced that research questions were strongly linked to single study fields or ecosystem type. Last, research activities are still quite restricted to the ecosystem boundaries. All three rupture points limit the conceptual and applied progression in the field of trophic ecology. Here we show that most of the disruptions within French Trophic Ecology are culturally inherited, rather than motivated by scientific reasons or justified by socio-economic stakes. Comparison with the current literature confirms that these disruptions are not necessarily typical of the French research landscape, but instead echo the general weaknesses of the international research in ecology. Thereby, communication and networking actions within and toward the community of trophic ecologists, as planned within the GRET's objectives, should contribute to fill these gaps, by reintegrating microbes within

Ecological periodic tables for nekton and benthic macrofaunal community usage of estuarine habitats Slides

Science.gov (United States)

Ecological periodic tables for nekton and benthic macrofaunal community usage of estuarine habitats Steven P. Ferraro, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Newport, OR Background/Questions/Methods The chemical periodic table, the Linnaean system of classification, and the Her...

How Pollination Ecology research can help answer important questions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carvalheiro, Luisa G.

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Pollination Ecology is a dynamic field of scientific research constantly adopting novel methods and making progress in understanding the interactions between plants and their pollinators. A recent paper listed the main scientific questions in this field focussing on the ecological and biological system itself. Here, we follow up on that paper and present some ideas on how to broaden our perspective and explore the role that pollination research can play in answering both ecological and societal questions relevant to a range of different stakeholders. We hope this paper may be useful to researchers aiming at improving both the scientific and societal impact of their research.

[Research advances in ecological stoichiometry of marine plankton].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lei; Li, Chao-Lun

2014-10-01

Ecological stoichiometry can be simply defined as: The biology of elements from molecules to the biosphere, which spans all levels of the environment and of the life. It's a new idea to build a unified theory and becomes an inevitable trend to develop the ecological science. Marine ecosystems, which contribute to 50% of the biosphere biomass, are the important component of the global biogeochemical cycles. Marine zooplankton plays an important role in the material circulation and energy flow of marine ecosystems and serves as a connecting link between the preceding and the following in a more precise understanding of the key elemental cycles. However, research on ecological stoichiometry of marine plankton is fragmentary and rare. This article summarized the ecological phenomena and mechanisms of limiting elements affecting marine plankton, the response of biochemical substances to nutrition limitation, and the food chain transmission and feedback of nutrition limitation. Meanwhile, we also put forward some perspectives for future research of ecological stoichiometry of plankton in China' s seas.

Contrastive Research on Domestic and Foreign Ecological Agriculture Policies

OpenAIRE

Chen, Jianwei; Qi, Yan-bin; Zhao, Yufeng

2010-01-01

In the first place, the definitions of ecological agriculture defined by scholars both at home and abroad are introduced. In the second place, the domestic and foreign ecological agriculture policies are expounded. Through contrastive research on the domestic and foreign ecological agriculture polices, the problems in the development of ecological agriculture in China are found. By mirroring the western experiences in developing ecological agriculture, the countermeasures and relevant suggest...

[Basic theory and research method of urban forest ecology].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Xingyuan; Jin, Yingshan; Zhu, Wenquan; Xu, Wenduo; Chen, Wei

2002-12-01

With the development of world economy and the increment of urban population, the urban environment problem hinders the urban sustainable development. Now, more and more people realized the importance of urban forests in improving the quality of urban ecology. Therefore, a new subject, urban forest ecology, and correlative new concept frame in the field formed. The theoretic foundation of urban forest ecology derived from the mutual combination of theory relating to forest ecology, landscape ecology, landscape architecture ecology and anthrop-ecology. People survey the development of city from the view of ecosystem, and regard the environment, a colony of human, animals and plants, as main factors of the system. The paper introduces systematically the urban forest ecology as follows: 1) the basic concept of urban forest ecology; 2) the meaning of urban forest ecology; 3) the basic principle and theoretic base of urban forest ecology; 4) the research method of urban forest ecology; 5) the developmental expectation of urban forest ecology.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1998-01-01

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1998

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1998-12-31

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1997-01-01

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1997-12-31

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs.

Applying Place-Based Social-Ecological Research to Address Water Scarcity: Insights for Future Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio J. Castro

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Globally, environmental and social change in water-scarce regions challenge the sustainability of social-ecological systems. WaterSES, a sponsored working group within the Program for Ecosystem Change and Society, explores and compares the social-ecological dynamics related to water scarcity across placed-based international research sites with contrasting local and regional water needs and governance, including research sites in Spain and Sweden in Europe, South Africa, China, and Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas in the USA. This paper aims to provide a commentary on insights into conducting future solutions-oriented research on water scarcity based on the understanding of the social-ecological dynamics of water scarce regions.

Long-term ecological research in a human-dominated world

Science.gov (United States)

G. Philip Robertson; Scott L. Collins; David R. Foster; Nicholas Brokaw; Hugh W. Ducklow; Ted L. Gragson; Corinna Gries; Stephen K. Hamilton; A. David McGuire; John C. Moore; Emily H. Stanley; Robert B. Waide; Mark W. Williams

2012-01-01

The US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network enters its fourth decade with a distinguished record of achievement in ecological science. The value of long-term observations and experiments has never been more important for testing ecological theory and for addressing today’s most difficult environmental challenges. The network’s potential for tackling emergent...

Author contributions to ecological publications: What does it mean to be an author in modern ecological research?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John M Logan

Full Text Available Authorship is a central element of scientific research carrying a variety of rewards and responsibilities, and while various guidelines exist, actual author contributions are often ambiguous. Inconsistent or limited contributions threaten to devalue authorship as intellectual currency and diminish authors' responsibility for published content. Researchers have assessed author contributions in the medical literature and other research fields, but similar data for the field of ecological research are lacking. Authorship practices in ecological research are broadly representative of a variety of fields due to the cross-disciplinary nature of collaborations in ecological studies. To better understand author contributions to current research, we distributed a survey regarding co-author contributions to a random selection of 996 lead authors of manuscripts published in ecological journals in 2010. We obtained useable responses from 45% of surveyed authors. Reported lead author contributions in ecological research studies consistently included conception of the project idea, data collection, analysis, and writing. Middle and last author contributions instead showed a high level of individual variability. Lead authorship in ecology is well defined while secondary authorship is more ambiguous. Nearly half (48% of all studies included in our survey had some level of non-compliance with Ecological Society of America (ESA authorship guidelines and the majority of studies (78% contained at least one co-author that did not meet International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE requirements. Incidence of non-compliance varied with lead author occupation and author position. The probability of a study including an author that was non-compliant with ESA guidelines was lowest for professor-led studies and highest for graduate student and post doctoral researcher-led studies. Among studies with > two co-authors, all lead authors met ESA guidelines and only

The Importance of Harmony: An Ecological Metaphor for Writing Research

Science.gov (United States)

Fleckenstein, Kristie S.; Spinuzzi, Clay; Rickly, Rebecca J.; Papper, Carole Clark

2008-01-01

This essay argues for the value of an ecological metaphor in conceptualizing, designing, and enacting research in writing studies. Such a metaphor conceives of activities, actors, situations, and phenomena as interdependent, diverse, and fused through feedback. This ecological orientation invites composition scholars to research rhetorically: to…

Participatory scenario planning in place-based social-ecological research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rozas, Elisa Oteros; Martín-López, Berta; Daw, Tim M.

2015-01-01

Participatory scenario planning (PSP) is an increasingly popular tool in place-based environmental research for evaluating alternative futures of social-ecological systems. Although a range of guidelines on PSP methods are available in the scientific and grey literature, there is a need to reflect......, hence facilitating the appropriate uptake of such scenario tools in the future. We analyzed 23 PSP case studies conducted by the authors in a wide range of social-ecological settings by exploring seven aspects: (1) the context; (2) the original motivations and objectives; (3) the methodological approach...... of PSP, particularly when tailored to shared objectives between local people and researchers, has enriched environmental management and scientific research through building common understanding and fostering learning about future planning of social-ecological systems. However, PSP still requires greater...

[Heavy metal pollution ecology of macro-fungi: research advances and expectation].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Qi-xing; An, Xin-long; Wei, Shu-he

2008-08-01

Macro-fungi are the main component of biosphere and one of the ecological resources, and play very important roles in matter cycling and in maintaining ecological balances. This paper summarized and reviewed the research advances in the eco-toxicological effects of heavy metals on macro-fungi, the bioaccumulation function of macro-fungi on heavy metals, the ecological adaptation mechanisms of macro-fungi to heavy metal pollution, the role of macro-fungi as a bio-indicator of heavy metal pollution, and the potential of macro-fungi in the ecological remediation of contaminated environment. To strengthen the researches on the heavy metal pollution ecology of macro-fungi would be of practical significance in the reasonable utilization of macro-fungi resources and in the ecological remediation of contaminated environment.

Basic research in evolution and ecology enhances forensics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomberlin, Jeffery K; Benbow, M Eric; Tarone, Aaron M; Mohr, Rachel M

2011-02-01

In 2009, the National Research Council recommended that the forensic sciences strengthen their grounding in basic empirical research to mitigate against criticism and improve accuracy and reliability. For DNA-based identification, this goal was achieved under the guidance of the population genetics community. This effort resulted in DNA analysis becoming the 'gold standard' of the forensic sciences. Elsewhere, we proposed a framework for streamlining research in decomposition ecology, which promotes quantitative approaches to collecting and applying data to forensic investigations involving decomposing human remains. To extend the ecological aspects of this approach, this review focuses on forensic entomology, although the framework can be extended to other areas of decomposition. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Trends in ecological research during the last three decades--a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Carmel, Yohay; Kent, Rafi; Bar-Massada, Avi; Blank, Lior; Liberzon, Jonathan; Nezer, Oded; Sapir, Gill; Federman, Roy

2013-01-01

It is thought that the science of ecology has experienced conceptual shifts in recent decades, chiefly from viewing nature as static and balanced to a conception of constantly changing, unpredictable, complex ecosystems. Here, we ask if these changes are reflected in actual ecological research over the last 30 years. We surveyed 750 articles from the entire pool of ecological literature and 750 articles from eight leading journals. Each article was characterized according to its type, ecological domain, and applicability, and major topics. We found that, in contrast to its common image, ecology is still mostly a study of single species (70% of the studies); while ecosystem and community studies together comprise only a quarter of ecological research. Ecological science is somewhat conservative in its topics of research (about a third of all topics changed significantly through time), as well as in its basic methodologies and approaches. However, the growing proportion of problem-solving studies (from 9% in the 1980s to 20% in the 2000 s) may represent a major transition in ecological science in the long run.

Unifying Research on Social-Ecological Resilience and Collapse.

Science.gov (United States)

Cumming, Graeme S; Peterson, Garry D

2017-09-01

Ecosystems influence human societies, leading people to manage ecosystems for human benefit. Poor environmental management can lead to reduced ecological resilience and social-ecological collapse. We review research on resilience and collapse across different systems and propose a unifying social-ecological framework based on (i) a clear definition of system identity; (ii) the use of quantitative thresholds to define collapse; (iii) relating collapse processes to system structure; and (iv) explicit comparison of alternative hypotheses and models of collapse. Analysis of 17 representative cases identified 14 mechanisms, in five classes, that explain social-ecological collapse. System structure influences the kind of collapse a system may experience. Mechanistic theories of collapse that unite structure and process can make fundamental contributions to solving global environmental problems. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Annual Technical Progress Report of Ecological Research, June 30, 2002

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul M. Bertsch, (Director)

2002-06-30

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of The University of Georgia (UGA) and has been conducting ecological research on the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina for 50 years. The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts fundamental and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Laboratory's research mission during the 2002 fiscal year was fulfilled with the publication of 76 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical staff, students, and visiting scientists. An additional 50 journal articles have been submitted or are in press. Other noteworthy events took place as faculty members, staff, and graduate students received awards. These are described in the section titled Special Accomplishments of Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administration on page 51. Notable scientific accomplishments include work conducted on contaminant transport, stable isotopes, sandhills ecology, and phytoremediation: (1) A collaborative study between Dr. Tom Hinton at SREL and scientists at SRTC demonstrated the feasibility of using illite clay to sequester 137Cs in sediments along the P and R reactor cooling canal system, where approximately 3,000 acres of land are contaminated. Overall, the study showed significant decreases in cesium concentrations and bioavailability following the addition of illite with no sign of harm to the ecosystem. While the cesium remains sequestered from the biosphere, its radioactivity decays and the process progresses from contaminant immobilization to remediation. (2) SREL's stable isotope laboratory is now fully functional. Stable isotope distributions in nature can provide important insights into many historical and current environmental processes. Dr. Christopher Romanek is leading SREL's research

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Annual Technical Progress Report of Ecological Research, June 30, 2002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul M. Bertsch,

2002-01-01

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of The University of Georgia (UGA) and has been conducting ecological research on the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina for 50 years. The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts fundamental and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Laboratory's research mission during the 2002 fiscal year was fulfilled with the publication of 76 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical staff, students, and visiting scientists. An additional 50 journal articles have been submitted or are in press. Other noteworthy events took place as faculty members, staff, and graduate students received awards. These are described in the section titled Special Accomplishments of Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administration on page 51. Notable scientific accomplishments include work conducted on contaminant transport, stable isotopes, sandhills ecology, and phytoremediation: (1) A collaborative study between Dr. Tom Hinton at SREL and scientists at SRTC demonstrated the feasibility of using illite clay to sequester 137Cs in sediments along the P and R reactor cooling canal system, where approximately 3, 000 acres of land are contaminated. Overall, the study showed significant decreases in cesium concentrations and bioavailability following the addition of illite with no sign of harm to the ecosystem. While the cesium remains sequestered from the biosphere, its radioactivity decays and the process progresses from contaminant immobilization to remediation. (2) SREL's stable isotope laboratory is now fully functional. Stable isotope distributions in nature can provide important insights into many historical and current environmental processes. Dr. Christopher Romanek is leading SREL's research in this area

Advancing the integration of history and ecology for conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Szabó, Péter; Hédl, Radim

2011-08-01

The important role of humans in the development of current ecosystems was recognized decades ago; however, the integration of history and ecology in order to inform conservation has been difficult. We identified four issues that hinder historical ecological research and considered possible solutions. First, differences in concepts and methods between the fields of ecology and history are thought to be large. However, most differences stem from miscommunication between ecologists and historians and are less substantial than is usually assumed. Cooperation can be achieved by focusing on the features ecology and history have in common and through understanding and acceptance of differing points of view. Second, historical ecological research is often hampered by differences in spatial and temporal scales between ecology and history. We argue that historical ecological research can only be conducted at extents for which sources in both disciplines have comparable resolutions. Researchers must begin by clearly defining the relevant scales for the given purpose. Third, periods for which quantitative historical sources are not easily accessible (before AD 1800) have been neglected in historical ecological research. Because data from periods before 1800 are as relevant to the current state of ecosystems as more recent data, we suggest that historical ecologists actively seek out data from before 1800 and apply analytic methods commonly used in ecology to these data. Fourth, humans are not usually considered an intrinsic ecological factor in current ecological research. In our view, human societies should be acknowledged as integral parts of ecosystems and societal processes should be recognized as driving forces of ecosystem change. © 2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Long-Term Research in Ecology and Evolution (LTREE): 2015 survey data.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradford, Mark A; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Feinberg, Geoffrey; Rosenthal, Seth A; Lau, Jennifer A

2017-11-01

To systematically assess views on contributions and future activities for long-term research in ecology and evolution (LTREE), we conducted and here provide data responses and associated metadata for a survey of ecological and evolutionary scientists. The survey objectives were to: (1) Identify and prioritize research questions that are important to address through long-term, ecological field experiments; and (2) understand the role that these experiments might play in generating and applying ecological and evolutionary knowledge. The survey was developed adhering to the standards of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. It was administered online using Qualtrics Survey Software. Survey creation was a multi-step process, with questions and format developed and then revised with, for example, input from an external advisory committee comprising senior and junior ecological and evolutionary researchers. The final questionnaire was released to ~100 colleagues to ensure functionality and then fielded 2 d later (January 7 th , 2015). Two professional societies distributed it to their membership, including the Ecological Society of America, and it was posted to three list serves. The questionnaire was available through February 8th 2015 and completed by 1,179 respondents. The distribution approach targeted practicing ecologists and evolutionary biologists in the U.S. Quantitative (both ordinal and categorical) closed-ended questions used a predefined set of response categories, facilitating direct comparison across all respondents. Qualitative, open-ended questions, provided respondents the opportunity to develop their own answers. We employed quantitative questions to score views on the extent to which long-term experimental research has contributed to understanding in ecology and evolutionary biology; its role compared to other approaches (e.g., short-term experiments); justifications for and caveats to long-term experiments; and the relative importance

The Methodology of Psychological Research of Ecological Consciousness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina A. Shmeleva

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the methodological principles of the psychological study of ecological consciousness as one of the urgent interdisciplinary problems of XX–XXI century, caused by the aggravation of global ecological problems and the need for the realization of the “sustainable development”ideas. Ecological consciousness is considered as multilayered, dynamic, reflexive element of human consciousness, incorporating multivariate, holistic aspects of interaction of the human being as the H.S. and the Humanity representative with the environment and the Planet. The possibility of the more active introduction of Russian psychology in the process is argued for in connection with the existing conceptual approaches, which compose the methodological basis for ecological consciousness research. Among these approaches are considered: the principles of holistic study of the human being by B. Ananyev, the methodology of system psychological description by V. Gansen and G. Sukhodolsky, the idea of reflexivity of consciousness by S. Rubinstein, the humanitarian- ecological imperative of the development of consciousness by V. Zinchenko, the theory of relations by V. Myasishev, consideration of ecological consciousness as relation to nature by S. Deryabo and V. Yasvin, theories of consciousness by V. Petrenko, V. Allakhverdov and other Russian psychologists. The value component of ecological consciousness is distinguished as the most significant. The possibility of applying the Values’ theory of the by S. Schwartz for studying the ecological values is discussed along with the prognostic potential of the universalism value.

Evolution of collaboration within the US long term ecological research network

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffrey C. Johnson; Robert R. Christian; James W. Brunt; Caleb R. Hickman; Robert B. Waide

2010-01-01

The US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program began in 1980 with the mission of addressing long-term ecological phenomena through research at individual sites, as well as comparative and synthetic activities among sites. We applied network science measures to assess how the LTER program has achieved its mission using intersite publications as the measure of...

Ecological research and environmental management: We need different interfaces based on different knowledge types.

Science.gov (United States)

Gosselin, Frédéric; Cordonnier, Thomas; Bilger, Isabelle; Jappiot, Marielle; Chauvin, Christophe; Gosselin, Marion

2018-04-25

The role of ecological science in environmental management has been discussed by many authors who recognize that there is a persistent gap between ecological science and environmental management. Here we develop theory through different perspectives based on knowledge types, research categories and research-management interface types, which we combine into a common framework. To draw out insights for bridging this gap, we build our case by:We point out the complementarities as well as the specificities and limitations of the different types of ecological research, ecological knowledge and research-management interfaces, which is of major importance for environmental management and research policies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Empirical Research on Ecological Development Level of Resource-based Industries-Base on the data of the Silk Road Economic Belt Core Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei; Yan, Min

2017-11-01

Industrial ecology is the epitome of sustainable development in industry level, is one effective gateway to realizing green transformation. On the basis of industrial ecology development, including resource efficiency and environmental efficiency of ecological evaluation index system, this paper evaluates the level of industrial ecology development of resource-based industries in Xinjiang using entropy method. Research shows that the overall ecological development level of resource-based industries has remained at continuous improved trend with slow improvement in resource efficiency, and relative faster improvement in environmental efficiency. With economic development entering into the period of new normal at the end of the “twelfth five year plan”, the resource efficiency of ecological development of resource-based industries demonstrated a downward trend. The overall level of industrial ecology also faced with certain fluctuations, various ecological development level of resource-based industries also presented a downward trend. To promote ecological development of resource-based industries in Xinjiang, countermeasures and suggestions are initiated.

The Legacy of Biosphere 2 for Biospherics and Closed Ecological System Research

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, J.; Alling, A.; Nelson, M.

The unprecedented challenges of creating Biosphere 2, the world's first laboratory for biospherics, the study of global ecology and long-term closed ecological system dynamics led to breakthrough developments in many fields, and a deeper understanding of the opportunities and difficulties of material closure. This paper will review these accomplishments and challenges, citing some of the key research accomplishments and publications which have resulted from the experiments in Biosphere 2. Engineering accomplishments included development of a technique for variable volume to deal with pressure differences between the facility and outside environment, developing methods of leak detection and sealing, and achieving new standards of closure, with an annual atmospheric leakrate of less than 10%, or less than 300 ppm per day. This degree of closure permitted detailed tracking of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and trace gases such as nitrous oxide and ethylene over the seasonal variability of two years. Full closure also necessitated developing new approaches and technologies for complete air, water, and wastewater recycle and reuse within the facility. The development of a soil-based highly productive agricultural system was a first in closed ecological systems, and much was learned about managing a wide variety of crops using non-chemical means of pest and disease control. Closed ecological systems have different temporal b ogeochemical cycling and ranges ofi atmospheric components because of their smaller reservoirs of air, water and soil, and higher concentration of biomass, and Biosphere 2 provided detailed examination and modeling of these accelerated cycles over a period of closure which measured in years. Medical research inside Biosphere 2 included the effects on humans of lowered oxygen: the discovery that human productivity can be maintained down to 15% oxygen could lead to major economies on the design of space stations and planetary/lunar settlements. The improved

The use of mesocosms in marine oil spill - ecological research and development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reilly, T.J.

1999-01-01

This paper focuses on the design of mesocosms which are partly enclosed, bounded, outdoor experimental systems for simulating marine oil spill environments for use in examining the ecological impact of the spill response. System requirements for mesocosms in marine oil spill ecological research and development are discussed, and the question of scaling, and mesocosm tank features useful in coastal/nearshore ecological marine oil spill research are considered. Details are given of the MERL mesocosm facility at the University of Rhode Island, and the Coastal Oil-Spill Simulation System (COSS) multiple tank mesocosm facility in Texas, and recommendations for the design and use of marine mesocosms in oil spill ecological impact studies are presented. (UK)

School Psychology Research: Combining Ecological Theory and Prevention Science

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Matthew K.

2011-01-01

The current article comments on the importance of theoretical implications within school psychological research, and proposes that ecological theory and prevention science could provide the conceptual framework for school psychology research and practice. Articles published in "School Psychology Review" should at least discuss potential…

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AT THE US EPA'S GULF ECOLOGY DIVISION

Science.gov (United States)

The purpose of this talk was to present an overview of research activities at the US EPA's Office of Research and Development, Gulf Ecology Division located on Pensacola Beach, Florida. The talk was organized into three major sections. The first section covered my educational b...

Social-ecological research in urban natural areas: an emergent process for integration

Science.gov (United States)

Michelle L. Johnson; D. S. Novem Auyeung; Nancy F. Sonti; Clara C. Pregitzer; Heather L. McMillen; Richard Hallett; Lindsay K. Campbell; Helen M. Forgione; Mina Kim; Sarah Charlop-Powers; Erika S. Svendsen

2018-01-01

Understanding the structure and function of urban landscapes requires integrating social and ecological research. Here, we integrate parallel social and ecological assessments of natural areas within New York City. We examined social data (from a rapid assessment of park use and meaning, collected at a park zone level) alongside ecological data (froma plot-based...

Ecology under lake ice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hampton, Stephanie E.; Galloway, Aaron W. E.; Powers, Stephen M.; Ozersky, Ted; Woo, Kara H.; Batt, Ryan D.; Labou, Stephanie G.; O'Reilly, Catherine M.; Sharma, Sapna; Lottig, Noah R.; Stanley, Emily H.; North, Rebecca L.; Stockwell, Jason D.; Adrian, Rita; Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A.; Arvola, Lauri; Baulch, Helen M.; Bertani, Isabella; Bowman, Larry L., Jr.; Carey, Cayelan C.; Catalan, Jordi; Colom-Montero, William; Domine, Leah M.; Felip, Marisol; Granados, Ignacio; Gries, Corinna; Grossart, Hans-Peter; Haberman, Juta; Haldna, Marina; Hayden, Brian; Higgins, Scott N.; Jolley, Jeff C.; Kahilainen, Kimmo K.; Kaup, Enn; Kehoe, Michael J.; MacIntyre, Sally; Mackay, Anson W.; Mariash, Heather L.; Mckay, Robert M.; Nixdorf, Brigitte; Noges, Peeter; Noges, Tiina; Palmer, Michelle; Pierson, Don C.; Post, David M.; Pruett, Matthew J.; Rautio, Milla; Read, Jordan S.; Roberts, Sarah L.; Ruecker, Jacqueline; Sadro, Steven; Silow, Eugene A.; Smith, Derek E.; Sterner, Robert W.; Swann, George E. A.; Timofeyev, Maxim A.; Toro, Manuel; Twiss, Michael R.; Vogt, Richard J.; Watson, Susan B.; Whiteford, Erika J.; Xenopoulos, Marguerite A.

Winter conditions are rapidly changing in temperate ecosystems, particularly for those that experi-ence periods of snow and ice cover. Relatively little is known of winter ecology in these systems,due to a historical research focus on summer ‘growing seasons’. We executed the first global

A prototype system for multilingual data discovery of International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network data

Science.gov (United States)

Kristin Vanderbilt; John H. Porter; Sheng-Shan Lu; Nic Bertrand; David Blankman; Xuebing Guo; Honglin He; Don Henshaw; Karpjoo Jeong; Eun-Shik Kim; Chau-Chin Lin; Margaret O' Brien; Takeshi Osawa; Éamonn Ó Tuama; Wen Su; Haibo Yang

2017-01-01

Shared ecological data have the potential to revolutionize ecological research just as shared genetic sequence data have done for biological research. However, for ecological data to be useful, it must first be discoverable. A broad-scale research topic may require that a researcher be able to locate suitable data from a variety of global, regional and national data...

The application of f-elements in ecological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knaus, R.M.

1991-01-01

The utilization of f-elements has a relatively minor status as a research tool in the biological sciences, especially ecology, because they play neither positive nor deleterious roles in plant and animal nutrition. Additionally, detection and quantification via instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of environmental samples is not yet routine. At Louisiana State University, La, Sm, and Dy have been used successfully as activable stable tracers in a wide range of ecological studies including the quantification using Sm and Dy of short-term sedimentary and erosional processes in wetlands; and behavior studies using Sm on agricultural lands where radioisotopes are precluded; the sorption of Dy and La by roots of stream-side trees; and the quantification of exogenous Dy and Sm from animal decay products in streams. With advances in sample automation and standardization in INAA detection methods, the quantification of f-element tracers in complex biological matrices is within reach of ecological scientists

An assessment of long term ecosystem research activities across European socio-ecological gradients.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, M J; Bunce, R G H; van Eupen, M; Mirtl, M

2010-06-01

Integration of European long term ecosystem research (LTER) would provide important support for the management of the pan-European environment and ecosystems, as well as international policy commitments. This does require appropriate coverage of Europe and standardised frameworks and research methods between countries. Emerging interest in socio-ecological systems prompted the present assessment of the distribution of LTER activities across European socio-ecological gradients. This paper presents a European stratification with a 1 km(2) resolution, delineating 48 broad socio-ecological regions. The dataset is based on an existing biogeophysical stratification constructed using multivariate clustering of mainly climatic variables and a newly developed socio-economic stratification based on an economic density indicator. The coverage of European LTER facilities across the socio-ecological gradients is tested using this dataset. The analysis shows two strong biases in the present LTER effort. Firstly, urban and disturbed regions are consistently under-represented, illustrating a bias for traditional ecological research away from human activity. Secondly, the Mediterranean, for which some of the most extreme global change impacts are projected, is receiving comparatively little attention. Both findings can help guide future investment in the European LTER network - and especially in a Long Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) component- to provide a more balanced coverage. This will provide better scientific understanding of pan-European environmental concerns and support the management of natural resources and international policy commitments in the European Union. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of stable isotopes in ecological research : it's all elemental

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogers, K.M.

2005-01-01

Stable isotopes have been used traditionally in the physical sciences, primarily in geochemistry, sedimentology, and oceanography. Increasingly, however, stable isotopes are also being used in the biological sciences. Application of stable isotopes in ecological studies can provide new and innovative ways of examining a host of topics of fundamental importance to biologists. These topics include, among others, feeding ecology and food webs, nutrient flow and assimilation, habitat use, migration patterns, and distribution and discrimination of species subpopulations. Furthermore, ecological research with isotopes can be applied at many levels (i.e. tissue and organ, whole animal, population, community, and ecosystem). (author). 38 refs., 2 figs

Conduct Research on the Foraging Ecology of Beaked Whales in Hawaiian Waters

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-30

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Conduct Research on the Foraging Ecology of Beaked...number. 1. REPORT DATE 2012 2. REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED - 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Conduct Research on the Foraging Ecology of...R., Wiggins, S., and Hildebrand, J. (2008). “Temporal pattern in the acoustic signals of beaked whales at Cross Seamount .” Biol. Lett. 4, 208-211

[Research advances in heavy metals pollution ecology of diatom].

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Teng-Da; Ni, Wan-Min; Zhang, Jian-Ying

2012-03-01

Diatom, due to its high sensitivity to environmental change, is one of the bio-indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, and some typical diatom species have been applied to indicate the heavy metals pollution of water body. With the focus on the surface water heavy metals pollution, this paper reviewed the research advances in the toxic effect of heavy metals pollution on diatom, biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals by diatom, ecological adaptation mechanisms of diatom to heavy metals pollution, and roles of diatom as bio-indicator and in ecological restoration of heavy metals pollution. The growth tendency of diatom and the morphological change of frustule under heavy metals pollution as well as the differences in heavy metals biosorption and bioaccumulation by diatom, the ecological adaptation mechanisms of diatom on heavy metals surface complexation and ion exchange, and the roles of diatom as bio-indicator and in ecological restoration of heavy metals polluted water body were also discussed. This review could provide scientific evidences for the prevention of aquatic ecosystems heavy metals pollution and related early warning techniques.

Research on Lahu’s traditional sports culture from the perspective of cultural ecology

OpenAIRE

Wang Youfeng

2016-01-01

This paper mainly researches Lahu’s traditional sports culture from the perspective of cultural ecology and analyzes the characteristics of Lahu’s traditional sports culture, and analyzes the characteristics of Lahu’s traditional sports culture from three aspects: natural ecological environment, social ecological environment and spiritual ecology. What’ more, Lahu’ traditional sports culture is not only a concrete expression of Lahu’s production form and life style or a symbol of Lahu’s relig...

Environmental research programme. Ecological research. Annual report 1994. Urban-industrial landscapes, forests, agricultural landscapes, river and lake landscapes, terrestrial ecosystem research, environmental pollution and health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

In the annual report 1994 of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, the points of emphasis of the ecological research programme and their financing are discussed. The individual projects in the following subject areas are described in detail: urban-industrial landscapes, forests, agricultural landscapes, river and lake landscapes, other ecosystems and landscapes, terrestrial ecosystem research, environmental pollution and human health and cross-sectional activities in ecological research. (vhe) [de

Action Research in Landscape Ecology (Šumava Biosphere Reserve, Czech Republic Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kušová Drahomíra

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Current landscape ecological research applies trans-disciplinarity as a principle when considering the study of landscape as a multifunctional entity. The principle can be practically applied by use of participatory action research. The paper reports on the use of participatory action research in the process of step-by-step institutionalization of the Šumava Biosphere Reserve, as a complement to the state-conducted nature conservation, which took place in the period 1991−2016. To briefly summarize the main findings, we can suggest that the present institutional model of the Šumava Biosphere Reserve emerged primarily thanks to the ‘permanent jointly conducted experiment’ that followed the spiral scheme of action research, in which outputs of one implementation project served as a starting point to formulate, and subsequently realize the follow-up projects(s. The local community was engaged in the whole process, hence lessons learned became a part of local social and cultural capital, which since can be considered important endogenous developmental potential of the region.

Intentionality and Developing Researcher Competence on a UK Master's Course: An Ecological Perspective on Research Education

Science.gov (United States)

Stelma, Juup; Fay, Richard

2014-01-01

This paper presents an ecological perspective on the developing researcher competence of participants in the research education component of a professionally oriented master's course. There is a particular focus on the intentionality (as in "purpose") of the participants' research education activity. The data used to develop the…

Long-term ecological research in the Czech Republic - case study with a 3-year project

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jelínková, E.; Straškrábová, Viera

2001-01-01

Roč. 20, č. 2 (2001), s. 50-56 ISSN 1335-342X. [Long-Term Ecological Research Current State and Perspectives in the Central and Eastern Europe ILTER Regional Workshop /3./. Nitra, 23.05.2000-25.05.2000] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/98/0727 Keywords : long-term ecological research * acidification * eutrophication Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 0.192, year: 2001

Ecological Research on South African rivers - a preliminary synthesis

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

O'Keeffe, JH

1986-01-01

Full Text Available Ecological research on South African rivers has progressed in a number of phases. Until 1950 work was mainly taxonomic and descriptive, an essential prerequisite for more detailed studies. The realisation that South African rivers, a vital national...

Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

Science.gov (United States)

Root-Bernstein, Meredith; Jaksic, Fabián. M.

2017-07-01

We examine some unexpected epistemological conflicts that arise at the interfaces between ecological science, the ecosystem services framework, policy, and industry. We use an example from our own research to motivate and illustrate our main arguments, while also reviewing standard approaches to ecological science using the ecosystem services framework. While we agree that the ecosystem services framework has benefits in its industrial applications because it may force economic decision makers to consider a broader range of costs and benefits than they would do otherwise, we find that many alignments of ecology with the ecosystem services framework are asking questions that are irrelevant to real-world applications, and generating data that does not serve real-world applications. We attempt to clarify why these problems arise and how to avoid them. We urge fellow ecologists to reflect on the kind of research that can lead to both scientific advances and applied relevance to society. In our view, traditional empirical approaches at landscape scales or with place-based emphases are necessary to provide applied knowledge for problem solving, which is needed once decision makers identify risks to ecosystem services. We conclude that the ecosystem services framework is a good policy tool when applied to decision-making contexts, but not a good theory either of social valuation or ecological interactions, and should not be treated as one.

New developments in ecological hydrology expand research opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

D.A. Post; G. E. Grant; J. A. Jones

1998-01-01

Interdisciplinary research efforts to integrate the ecological aspects of water with its physical and societal roles have a long history as well as some interesting new developments. Small, paired, experimental watersheds, with their long-term monitoring systems for data collection and their integrated ecosystem approach to analysis, have been at the center of recent...

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending July 31, 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, M.H.

1995-07-01

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA). The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts basic and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a contract with the US Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. Significant accomplishments were made during the past year in the areas of research, education and service. Major additions to SREL Facilities were completed that will enhance the Laboratory's work in the future. Following several years of planning, opening ceremonies were held for the 5000 ft 2 multi-purpose conference center that was funded by the University of Georgia Research Foundation (UGARF). The center is located on 68 acres of land that was provided by the US Department of Energy. This joint effort between DOE and UGARF supports DOE's new initiative to develop partnerships with the private sector and universities. The facility is being used for scientific meetings and environmental education programs for students, teachers and the general public. A 6000 ft 2 office and library addition to S at sign s main building officially opened this year, and construction plans are underway on a new animal care facility, laboratory addition, and receiving building

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending July 31, 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, M.H.

1995-07-01

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA). The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts basic and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a contract with the US Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. Significant accomplishments were made during the past year in the areas of research, education and service. Major additions to SREL Facilities were completed that will enhance the Laboratory`s work in the future. Following several years of planning, opening ceremonies were held for the 5000 ft{sup 2} multi-purpose conference center that was funded by the University of Georgia Research Foundation (UGARF). The center is located on 68 acres of land that was provided by the US Department of Energy. This joint effort between DOE and UGARF supports DOE`s new initiative to develop partnerships with the private sector and universities. The facility is being used for scientific meetings and environmental education programs for students, teachers and the general public. A 6000 ft{sup 2} office and library addition to S@s main building officially opened this year, and construction plans are underway on a new animal care facility, laboratory addition, and receiving building.

The long-term ecological research community metada standardisation project: a progress report

Science.gov (United States)

Inigo San Gil; Karen Baker; John Campbell; Ellen G. Denny; Kristin Vanderbilt; Brian Riordan; Rebecca Koskela; Jason Downing; Sabine Grabner; Eda Melendez; Jonathan M. Walsh; Masib Kortz; James Conners; Lynn Yarmey; Nicole Kaplan; Emery R. Boose; Linda Powell; Corinna Gries; Robin Schroeder; Todd Ackerman; Ken Ramsey; Barbara Benson; Jonathan Chipman; James Laundre; Hap Garritt; Don Henshaw; Barrie Collins; Christopher Gardner; Sven Bohm; Margaret O' Brien; Jincheng Gao; Wade Sheldon; Stephanie Lyon; Dan Bahauddin; Mark Servilla; Duane Costa; James Brunt

2009-01-01

We describe the process by which the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network standardized their metadata through the adoption of the Ecological Metadata Language (EML). We describe the strategies developed to improve motivation and to complement the information technology resources available at the LTER sites. EML implementation is presented as a mapping process...

Ecological periodic tables for bentkhic macrofauna and nekton usage in estuarine habitats

Science.gov (United States)

In his presidential address to the British Ecological Society, T.R.E. Southwood (1977: Habitat, the templet for ecological strategies? Journal of Animal Ecology 46: 337-365; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3817) compared the situation in ecology to that in chemistry before the devel...

Does Gender Affect a Scientist's Research Output in Evolutionary Ecology?

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnet, Xavier; Shine, Richard; Lourdais, Olivier

To examine how an author's gender influences his or her research output, the authors analyzed (not simply scored) more than 900 published articles in nine leading scientific journals in the field of evolutionary ecology. Women were strongly underrepresented in all countries, but this bias is decreasing. Men and women differed significantly in their fields of research, with women preferentially conducting projects on behavior rather than evolution or ecology. Most aspects of the structure of published articles and the level of conceptual generality were unaffected by an author's gender. Because discriminatory practices by reviewers and editors can be manifested in attributes of the articles that survive the review process, the latter result suggests a lack of gender-based discrimination during the review process. Gender differences in research output presumably reflect a complex array of genetic and social influences; a clearer understanding of these causal factors may help identify (and thus reduce) gender-based discrimination.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Annual Technical Progress Report of Ecological Research, June 30, 2001

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bertsch, Paul M.; Janecek, Laura; Rosier, Brenda

2001-06-30

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA) and has been conducting ecological research on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for 50 years. The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts fundamental and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SRS near Aiken, South Carolina. The Laboratory's research mission during the 2001 fiscal year was fulfilled with the publication of one book and 83 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical staff, students, and visiting scientists. An additional 77 journal articles have been submitted or are in press. Other noteworthy events took place as faculty members and graduate students received awards. These are described in the section Special Accomplishments of Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administration on page 54. Notable scientific accomplishments include work conducted on contaminant transport, global reptile decline, phytoremediation, and radioecology. Dr. Domy Adriano authored the second edition of his book ''Trace Elements in Terrestrial Environments: Biogeochemistry, Bioavailability, and Risks of Metals'', which was recently published by Springer-Verlag. The book provides a comprehensive treatment of many important aspects of trace elements in the environment. The first edition of the book, published in 1986, has become a widely acclaimed and cited reference. International attention was focused on the problem of reptile species decline with the publication of an article on this topic in the journal ''Bioscience'' in August, 2000. The article's authors included Dr. Whit Gibbons and a number of other SREL herpetologists who researched the growing worldwide problem of decline of reptile species. Factors related

[Research progress on remote sensing of ecological and environmental changes in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Ming-jun; Zeng, Li-xiong; Xiao, Wen-fa; Zhou, Zhi-xiang; Huang, Zhi-lin; Wang, Peng-cheng; Dian, Yuan-yong

2014-12-01

The Three Gorges Reservoir area (TGR area) , one of the most sensitive ecological zones in China, has dramatically changes in ecosystem configurations and services driven by the Three Gorges Engineering Project and its related human activities. Thus, understanding the dynamics of ecosystem configurations, ecological processes and ecosystem services is an attractive and critical issue to promote regional ecological security of the TGR area. The remote sensing of environment is a promising approach to the target and is thus increasingly applied to and ecosystem dynamics of the TGR area on mid- and macro-scales. However, current researches often showed controversial results in ecological and environmental changes in the TGR area due to the differences in remote sensing data, scale, and land-use/cover classification. Due to the complexity of ecological configurations and human activities, challenges still exist in the remote-sensing based research of ecological and environmental changes in the TGR area. The purpose of this review was to summarize the research advances in remote sensing of ecological and environmental changes in the TGR area. The status, challenges and trends of ecological and environmental remote-sensing in the TGR area were further discussed and concluded in the aspect of land-use/land-cover, vegetation dynamics, soil and water security, ecosystem services, ecosystem health and its management. The further researches on the remote sensing of ecological and environmental changes were proposed to improve the ecosystem management of the TGR area.

About the Western Ecology Division (WED) of EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

The Western Ecology Division (WED) conducts innovative research on watershed ecological epidemiology and the development of tools to achieve sustainable and resilient watersheds for application by stakeholders.

What is dental ecology?

Science.gov (United States)

Cuozzo, Frank P; Sauther, Michelle L

2012-06-01

Teeth have long been used as indicators of primate ecology. Early work focused on the links between dental morphology, diet, and behavior, with more recent years emphasizing dental wear, microstructure, development, and biogeochemistry, to understand primate ecology. Our study of Lemur catta at the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar, has revealed an unusual pattern of severe tooth wear and frequent tooth loss, primarily the result of consuming a fallback food for which these primates are not dentally adapted. Interpreting these data was only possible by combining our areas of expertise (dental anatomy [FC] and primate ecology [MS]). By integrating theoretical, methodological, and applied aspects of both areas of research, we adopted the term "dental ecology"-defined as the broad study of how teeth respond to the environment. Specifically, we view dental ecology as an interpretive framework using teeth as a vehicle for understanding an organism's ecology, which builds upon earlier work, but creates a new synthesis of anatomy and ecology that is only possible with detailed knowledge of living primates. This framework includes (1) identifying patterns of dental pathology and tooth use-wear, within the context of feeding ecology, behavior, habitat variation, and anthropogenic change, (2) assessing ways in which dental development and biogeochemical signals can reflect habitat, environmental change and/or stress, and (3) how dental microstructure and macro-morphology are adapted to, and reflect feeding ecology. Here we define dental ecology, provide a short summary of the development of this perspective, and place our new work into this context. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The science of ecological economics: a content analysis of Ecological Economics, 1989-2004.

Science.gov (United States)

Luzadis, Valerie A; Castello, Leandro; Choi, Jaewon; Greenfield, Eric; Kim, Sung-kyun; Munsell, John; Nordman, Erik; Franco, Carol; Olowabi, Flavien

2010-01-01

The Ecological Economics journal is a primary source for inquiry on ecological economics and sustainability. To explore the scholarly pursuit of ecological economics, we conducted a content analysis of 200 randomly sampled research, survey, and methodological articles published in Ecological Economics during the 15-year period of 1989-2004. Results of the analysis were used to investigate facets of transdisciplinarity within the journal. A robust qualitative approach was used to gather and examine data to identify themes representing substantive content found within the span of sampled journal papers. The extent to which each theme was represented was counted as well as additional data, such as author discipline, year published, etc. Four main categories were revealed: (1) foundations (self-reflexive themes stemming from direct discussions about ecological economics); (2) human systems, represented by the themes of values, social indicators of well-being, intergenerational distribution, and equity; (3) biophysical systems, including themes, such as carrying capacity and scarcity, energy, and resource use, relating directly to the biophysical aspects of systems; and (4) policy and management encompassing themes of development, growth, trade, accounting, and valuation, as well as institutional structures and management. The results provide empirical evidence for discussing the future direction of ecological economic efforts.

Current ecological research towards completion criteria in Queensland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grigg, A.; Mulligan, D.; Bellairs, S.; Harwood, M. [University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld. (Australia). Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation

1998-12-31

There is a growing recognition of the need for criteria to determine when rehabilitation is successful or complete. Moreover, with the current emphasis on sustainability, criteria need to embrace a range of ecological attributes which in turn require an understanding of the ecosystems being created. This paper describes current research by the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation on ecosystem development at a number of operations throughout Queensland in the a bauxite, heavy mineral sands, gold and coal mining sectors. Case studies are presented which cover a number of ecological processes including nutrient cycling, vegetation succession and seedling recruitment. They are based in a range of different environments and encompass several different proposed end land uses. The paper demonstrates the utility of an hierarchical approach in assessing rehabilitation success, and that different elements within the hierarchy have differing levels of importance depending on specific minesite conditions. 22 refs., 3 figs.

Priorities for research in soil ecology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eisenhauer, N.; Antunes, P.M.; Bennett, A.E.; Birkhofer, K.; Bisset, A.; Bowker, M.A.; T., Caruso; B., Chen; Coleman, D.C.; W., De Boer; van Straalen, N.M.

2017-01-01

The ecological interactions that occur in and with soil are of consequence in many ecosystems on the planet. These interactions provide numerous essential ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of soils has attracted increasing scientific and public attention. Although soil ecology

Federal Highway Administration research and technology evaluation final report : Eco-Logical

Science.gov (United States)

2018-03-01

This report documents an evaluation of Federal Highway Administrations (FHWA) Research and Technology Programs activities on the implementation of the Eco-Logical approach by State transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizati...

The Invisible and Indeterminable Value of Ecology: From Malaria Control to Ecological Research in the American South.

Science.gov (United States)

Way, Albert G

2015-06-01

This essay tells the story of the Emory University Field Station, a malaria research station in southwest Georgia that operated from 1939 to 1958. Using the tools of environmental history and the history of science, it examines the station's founding, its fieldwork, and its place within the broader history of malaria control, eradication, and research. A joint effort of Emory University, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), this station was closely aligned with a broader movement of ideas about tropical diseases across the globe, but it also offers a case study of how science in the field can veer from mainstream thinking and official policy. As the CDC and other disease-fighting organizations were moving toward a global strategy of malaria eradication through the use of DDT, the Emory Field Station developed a postsanitarian approach to malaria. Drawing on resistance among American conservationists to environmental transformation in the name of malaria control, the station's staff embraced the science and worldview of ecology in an effort to lighten public health's hand on the land and to link human health to the environment in innovative, if sometimes opaque, ways. This essay, then, argues that the Emory Field Station represents an early confluence of ecology with the biomedical sciences, something very similar to what is now the important discipline of disease ecology.

Solving problems in social-ecological systems: definition, practice and barriers of transdisciplinary research.

Science.gov (United States)

Angelstam, Per; Andersson, Kjell; Annerstedt, Matilda; Axelsson, Robert; Elbakidze, Marine; Garrido, Pablo; Grahn, Patrik; Jönsson, K Ingemar; Pedersen, Simen; Schlyter, Peter; Skärbäck, Erik; Smith, Mike; Stjernquist, Ingrid

2013-03-01

Translating policies about sustainable development as a social process and sustainability outcomes into the real world of social-ecological systems involves several challenges. Hence, research policies advocate improved innovative problem-solving capacity. One approach is transdisciplinary research that integrates research disciplines, as well as researchers and practitioners. Drawing upon 14 experiences of problem-solving, we used group modeling to map perceived barriers and bridges for researchers' and practitioners' joint knowledge production and learning towards transdisciplinary research. The analysis indicated that the transdisciplinary research process is influenced by (1) the amount of traditional disciplinary formal and informal control, (2) adaptation of project applications to fill the transdisciplinary research agenda, (3) stakeholder participation, and (4) functional team building/development based on self-reflection and experienced leadership. Focusing on implementation of green infrastructure policy as a common denominator for the delivery of ecosystem services and human well-being, we discuss how to diagnose social-ecological systems, and use knowledge production and collaborative learning as treatments.

From Bathymetry to Bioshields: A Review of Post-Tsunami Ecological Research in India and its Implications for Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Nibedita; Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid; Kapoor, Vena; Arthur, Rohan; Koedam, Nico; Sridhar, Aarthi; Shanker, Kartik

2010-09-01

More than half a decade has passed since the December 26th 2004 tsunami hit the Indian coast leaving a trail of ecological, economic and human destruction in its wake. We reviewed the coastal ecological research carried out in India in the light of the tsunami. In addition, we also briefly reviewed the ecological research in other tsunami affected countries in Asia namely Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Maldives in order to provide a broader perspective of ecological research after tsunami. A basic search in ISI Web of Knowledge using keywords “tsunami” and “India” resulted in 127 peer reviewed journal articles, of which 39 articles were pertaining to ecological sciences. In comparison, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Maldives had, respectively, eight, four, 21 and two articles pertaining to ecology. In India, bioshields received the major share of scientific interest (14 out of 39) while only one study (each) was dedicated to corals, seagrasses, seaweeds and meiofauna, pointing to the paucity of research attention dedicated to these critical ecosystems. We noted that very few interdisciplinary studies looked at linkages between pure/applied sciences and the social sciences in India. In addition, there appears to be little correlation between the limited research that was done and its influence on policy in India. This review points to gap areas in ecological research in India and highlights the lessons learnt from research in other tsunami-affected countries. It also provides guidance on the links between science and policy that are required for effective coastal zone management.

Imbalance in individual researcher's peer review activities quantified for four British Ecological Society journals, 2003-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Petchey, Owen L; Fox, Jeremy W; Haddon, Lindsay

2014-01-01

Researchers contribute to the scientific peer review system by providing reviews, and "withdraw" from it by submitting manuscripts that are subsequently reviewed. So far as we are aware, there has been no quantification of the balance of individual's contributions and withdrawals. We compared the number of reviews provided by individual researchers (i.e., their contribution) to the number required by their submissions (i.e. their withdrawals) in a large and anonymised database provided by the British Ecological Society. The database covered the Journal of Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Functional Ecology from 2003-2010. The majority of researchers (64%) did not have balanced contributions and withdrawals. Depending on assumptions, 12% to 44% contributed more than twice as much as required; 20% to 52% contributed less than half as much as required. Balance, or lack thereof, varied little in relation to the number of years a researcher had been active (reviewing or submitting). Researchers who contributed less than required did not lack the opportunity to review. Researchers who submitted more were more likely to accept invitations to review. These finding suggest overall that peer review of the four analysed journals is not in crisis, but only due to the favourable balance of over- and under-contributing researchers. These findings are limited to the four journals analysed, and therefore cannot include researcher's other peer review activities, which if included might change the proportions reported. Relatively low effort was required to assemble, check, and analyse the data. Broader analyses of individual researcher's peer review activities would contribute to greater quality, efficiency, and fairness in the peer review system.

Annual report of ecological research at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1976-05-01

Studies on mineral cycling are concerned with availability of stable elements and radionuclides to the biota of the southeastern coastal plain; the role of primary producers, consumers, and detritivores in cycling processes; the factors that limit or regulate rate processes in southeastern ecosystems; the importance of interactions among energy flow, thermal environments, and mineral cycling processes on rates of biomass buildup and transfer within southeastern ecosystems; the extent to which transfer coefficients are modified by population processes that influence the temporal or spatial turnover of compartmental standing crops; and the validation of models of cycling processes in southeastern ecosystems at various sites on the southeastern coastal plain. Research in thermal ecology is being conducted on macrophytes, snails, fishes, high parasites, shrimp, crayfish, turtles, and alligators

CROSERF: Toward a standardization of oil spill cleanup agent ecological effects research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singer, M.; Tjeerdema, R.; Aurand, D.; Clark, J.; Sergy, G.

1995-01-01

The establishment in 1994 of the Chemical Response to Oil Spills Ecological Effects Research Forum (CROSERF) for the development of standardization of protocols used in ecological research of oil spills and remediation efforts was described. Background and the need for such an organization was discussed. Discussions at the two meetings of the forum to date (generation of scientific data for decision making in August 1994 at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and toxicity testing of the water-accommodated fraction of the oil in March 1995 at the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office in Baton Rouge) were summarized. A list of the organizations represented at the meetings was given. 5 refs

Pollination ecology in the 21st century: Key Questions for future research

OpenAIRE

STOUT, JANE CATHERINE

2011-01-01

PUBLISHED To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories repr...

Twenty-five years of research in hydro-ecology at the EDF research and development division

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosse, Ph.

1999-01-01

Hydro-ecology (or aquatic ecology) is the study of aquatic systems in their interacting aspects: physical, chemical and biological. The creation in 1974 of the Environment Department at EDF Research and Development Division marked the start in France of quantitative hydro-ecology applied to power generation installations. The studies developed around several main themes, determined both the expansion of the nuclear programme and by changes in French environmental regulations, in particular the 1976 law on impact studies, the 1984 fishing and hydro-biology law and the 1992 water law. In this framework, he effect of artificial warming of rivers, eutrophication of continental and marine waters, transfers of mineral micro-pollutants and radionuclides in rivers, and problems specific to hydropower installations such as guaranteed in stream flow or fish pass design, have been studies. This work, conducted in collaboration with many other laboratories, has led to the development of original quantitative approaches, notably in the field of numerical modelling. The paper selects several of the tools developed whose scope of application is wider than the environment and management of thermal or hydropower plants. Two major applications grouping the experience acquired in hydro-ecology are presented: the AGIRE software and the global environment study of the Singrauli area in India. (author)

Abstracts of the 15. annual workshop of the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG) : peatland event 2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG) deals with the integrated sustainable management of Canadian peatlands, with projects involving the development of ecological restoration of peatland ecosystems after peat mining; reclamation of abandoned peatlands; hydrology, geochemistry, microbiology of natural, harvested and restored peatlands; peatland conservation strategies; and Sphagnum moss ecology and productivity. The Group has established a method for the re-establishing vegetation on mined peatlands. Research by PERG has initiated the development of global peatland conservation strategies. This workshop featured 35 presentations, of which 9 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database

Terrestrial Soundscapes: Status of Ecological Research in Natural and Human-Dominated Landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pijanowski, Bryan Christopher

2016-01-01

Soundscape ecological research in terrestrial systems is relatively new. In this paper, I present a brief summary of the origins of this research area, describe research questions related to several research thrusts that are ongoing, summarize several soundscape projects that exist and how these relate to the research thrusts, and briefly describe the work of a global network of scientists, musicians, and engineers that are attempting to move this new field forward.

Participatory scenario planning in place-based social-ecological research: insights and experiences from 23 case studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Oteros-Rozas

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Participatory scenario planning (PSP is an increasingly popular tool in place-based environmental research for evaluating alternative futures of social-ecological systems. Although a range of guidelines on PSP methods are available in the scientific and grey literature, there is a need to reflect on existing practices and their appropriate application for different objectives and contexts at the local scale, as well as on their potential perceived outcomes. We contribute to theoretical and empirical frameworks by analyzing how and why researchers assess social-ecological systems using place-based PSP, hence facilitating the appropriate uptake of such scenario tools in the future. We analyzed 23 PSP case studies conducted by the authors in a wide range of social-ecological settings by exploring seven aspects: (1 the context; (2 the original motivations and objectives; (3 the methodological approach; (4 the process; (5 the content of the scenarios; (6 the outputs of the research; and (7 the monitoring and evaluation of the PSP process. This was complemented by a reflection on strengths and weaknesses of using PSP for the place-based social-ecological research. We conclude that the application of PSP, particularly when tailored to shared objectives between local people and researchers, has enriched environmental management and scientific research through building common understanding and fostering learning about future planning of social-ecological systems. However, PSP still requires greater systematic monitoring and evaluation to assess its impact on the promotion of collective action for transitions to sustainability and the adaptation to global environmental change and its challenges.

The early history of modern ecological economics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2004-01-01

is inspired by other studies of the emergence of new research areas done by sociologists and historians of science, and includes both cognitive and social aspects, macro trends and the role of individuals. The basis for the paper is a combination of literature studies and interviews with key researchers from...... were given modern formulations, but it took a long gestation period from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s, before ecological economics took shape. During this gestation period the personal relationships between the actors were formed, and the meetings that were decisive for the formal...

Critical Period of Weed Interference in Rainfed and Irrigated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Field trials were conducted to assess the critical period of weed interference in tomato on the farm of the Institute of Agricultural Research, Samaru (11011\\'N, 07038\\'E) in the Northern Guinea Savannah ecological zone of Nigeria in 1989 and 1990 wet seasons and at the Irrigation Research Station of the Institute of ...

Pollination ecology in the 21st century:key questions for future research

OpenAIRE

Mayer, Caroline; Adler, Lynn; Armbruster, W. Scott; Dafni, Amots; Eardley, Connal; Huang, Shuang-Quan; Kevan, Peter; Ollerton, Jeff; Packer, Laurence; Ssymank, Axel; Stout, Jane C.; Potts, Simon G.

2011-01-01

To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of p...

Book review: Behavioral ecology of the eastern red-backed salamander: 50 years of research

Science.gov (United States)

Walls, Susan; Mitchell, Joseph C.

2017-01-01

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the British Ecological Society, Sutherland et al. (2013) identified 100 questions of fundamental significance in “pure” (i.e., not applied) ecology. A somewhat unexpected outcome of these authors’ exercise was the realization that, after 100 years of comprehensive, intensive scientific research, there remained “profound knowledge

Integrating movement ecology with biodiversity research - exploring new avenues to address spatiotemporal biodiversity dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeltsch, Florian; Bonte, Dries; Pe'er, Guy; Reineking, Björn; Leimgruber, Peter; Balkenhol, Niko; Schröder, Boris; Buchmann, Carsten M; Mueller, Thomas; Blaum, Niels; Zurell, Damaris; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Wiegand, Thorsten; Eccard, Jana A; Hofer, Heribert; Reeg, Jette; Eggers, Ute; Bauer, Silke

2013-01-01

Movement of organisms is one of the key mechanisms shaping biodiversity, e.g. the distribution of genes, individuals and species in space and time. Recent technological and conceptual advances have improved our ability to assess the causes and consequences of individual movement, and led to the emergence of the new field of 'movement ecology'. Here, we outline how movement ecology can contribute to the broad field of biodiversity research, i.e. the study of processes and patterns of life among and across different scales, from genes to ecosystems, and we propose a conceptual framework linking these hitherto largely separated fields of research. Our framework builds on the concept of movement ecology for individuals, and demonstrates its importance for linking individual organismal movement with biodiversity. First, organismal movements can provide 'mobile links' between habitats or ecosystems, thereby connecting resources, genes, and processes among otherwise separate locations. Understanding these mobile links and their impact on biodiversity will be facilitated by movement ecology, because mobile links can be created by different modes of movement (i.e., foraging, dispersal, migration) that relate to different spatiotemporal scales and have differential effects on biodiversity. Second, organismal movements can also mediate coexistence in communities, through 'equalizing' and 'stabilizing' mechanisms. This novel integrated framework provides a conceptual starting point for a better understanding of biodiversity dynamics in light of individual movement and space-use behavior across spatiotemporal scales. By illustrating this framework with examples, we argue that the integration of movement ecology and biodiversity research will also enhance our ability to conserve diversity at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.

Possibilities of the Integration of the Method of the Ecologically Oriented Independent Scientific Research in the Study Process

Science.gov (United States)

Grizans, Jurijs; Vanags, Janis

2010-01-01

The aim of this paper is to analyse possibilities of the integration of the method of the ecologically oriented independent scientific research in the study process. In order to achieve the set aim, the following scientific research methods were used: analysis of the conceptual guidelines for the development of environmentally oriented entrepreneurship, interpretation of the experts' evaluation of the ecologically oriented management, analysis of the results of the students' ecologically oriented independent scientific research, as well as monographic and logically constructive methods. The results of the study give an opportunity to make conclusions and to develop conceptual recommendations on how to introduce future economics and business professionals with the theoretical and practical aspects of ecologically oriented management during the study process.

NEON's Mobile Deployment Platform: A research tool for integrating ecological processes across scales

Science.gov (United States)

Sanclements, M.

2016-12-01

Here we provide an update on construction of the five NEON Mobile Deployment Platforms (MDPs) as well as a description of the infrastructure and sensors available to researchers in the near future. Additionally, we include information (i.e. timelines and procedures) on requesting MDPs for PI led projects. The MDPs will provide the means to observe stochastic or spatially important events, gradients, or quantities that cannot be reliably observed using fixed location sampling (e.g. fires and floods). Due to the transient temporal and spatial nature of such events, the MDPs are designed to accommodate rapid deployment for time periods up to 1 year. Broadly, the MDPs are comprised of infrastructure and instrumentation capable of functioning individually or in conjunction with one another to support observations of ecological change, as well as education, training and outreach. More specifically, the MDPs include the capability to make tower based measures of ecosystem exchange, radiation, and precipitation in conjunction with baseline soils data such as CO2 flux, and soil temperature and moisture. An aquatics module is also available with the MDP to facilitate research integrating terrestrial and aquatic processes. Ultimately, the NEON MDPs provides a tool for linking PI led research to the continental scale data sets collected by NEON.

MillionTreesNYC, Green infrastructure, and urban ecology: building a research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Jacqueline W.T. Lu; Megan Shane; Erika Svendsen; Lindsay Campbell; Cristiana Fragola; Marianne Krasny; Gina Lovasl; David Maddox; Simon McDonnell; P. Timon McPhearson; Franco Montalto; Andrew Newman; Ellen Pehek; Ruth A. Rae; Richard Stedman; Keith G. Tidball; Lynne Westphal; Tom Whitlow

2009-01-01

MillionTreesNYC is a citywide, public-private initiative with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across New York City's five boroughs by 2017. The Spring 2009 workshop MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure, and Urban Ecology: Building a Research Agenda brought together more than 100 researchers, practitioners and New York City...

Social science in the context of the long term ecological research program

Science.gov (United States)

Ted L. Gragson; Morgan Grove

2006-01-01

This special issue of Society and Natural Resources brings the results of long-term ecological research with an explicit social dimension to the attention of the social scientific research community. Contributions are from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER, the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER, the Coweeta LTER and the Northern Temperate Lakes LTER. The range of practice...

How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management

Science.gov (United States)

Scott Franklin; Patrick Comer; Julie Evens; Exequiel Ezcurra; Don Faber-Langendoen; Janet Franklin; Michael Jennings; Carmen Josse; Chris Lea; Orie Loucks; Esteban Muldavin; Robert Peet; Serguei Ponomarenko; David Roberts; Ayzik Solomeshch; Todd Keeler-Wolf; James Van Kley; Alan Weakley; Alexa McKerrow; Marianne Burke; Carol. Spurrier

2015-01-01

The elegance of classification lies in its ability to compile and systematize various terminological conventions and masses of information that are unattainable during typical research projects. Imagine a discipline without standards for collection, analysis, and interpretation; unfortunately, that describes much of 20th-century vegetation ecology.

Missing ecology: integrating ecological perspectives with the social-ecological system framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graham Epstein

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The social-ecological systems framework was designed to provide a common research tool for interdisciplinary investigations of social-ecological systems. However, its origin in institutional studies of the commons belies its interdisciplinary ambitions and highlights its relatively limited attention to ecology and natural scientific knowledge. This paper considers the biophysical components of the framework and its epistemological foundations as it relates to the incorporation of knowledge from the natural sciences. It finds that the mixture of inductive and deductive reasoning associated with socially-oriented investigations of these systems is lacking on the ecological side, which relies upon induction alone. As a result the paper proposes the addition of a seventh core sub-system to the social-ecological systems framework, ecological rules, which would allow scholars to explicitly incorporate knowledge from the natural sciences for deductive reasoning. The paper shows, through an instructive case study, how the addition of ecological rules can provide a more nuanced description of the factors that contribute to outcomes in social-ecological systems.

How scientific visions matter: insights from three long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) platforms under construction in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mauz, I.; Peltola, T.; Granjou, C.; Bommel, van S.; Buijs, A.E.

2012-01-01

Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) has been introduced to change the current approach to ecology and turn it into a big science. LTSER Platforms are currently being created across Europe. They are expected to enhance ecology's capacity to produce useful knowledge for facing global

Key features for more successful place-based sustainability research on social-ecological systems: a Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Balvanera

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The emerging discipline of sustainability science is focused explicitly on the dynamic interactions between nature and society and is committed to research that spans multiple scales and can support transitions toward greater sustainability. Because a growing body of place-based social-ecological sustainability research (PBSESR has emerged in recent decades, there is a growing need to understand better how to maximize the effectiveness of this work. The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS provides a unique opportunity for synthesizing insights gained from this research community on key features that may contribute to the relative success of PBSESR. We surveyed the leaders of PECS-affiliated projects using a combination of open, closed, and semistructured questions to identify which features of a research project are perceived to contribute to successful research design and implementation. We assessed six types of research features: problem orientation, research team, and contextual, conceptual, methodological, and evaluative features. We examined the desirable and undesirable aspects of each feature, the enabling factors and obstacles associated with project implementation, and asked respondents to assess the performance of their own projects in relation to these features. Responses were obtained from 25 projects working in 42 social-ecological study cases within 25 countries. Factors that contribute to the overall success of PBSESR included: explicitly addressing integrated social-ecological systems; a focus on solution- and transformation-oriented research; adaptation of studies to their local context; trusted, long-term, and frequent engagement with stakeholders and partners; and an early definition of the purpose and scope of research. Factors that hindered the success of PBSESR included: the complexities inherent to social-ecological systems, the imposition of particular epistemologies and methods on the wider research group

Ecological Momentary Assessment Methodology in Chronic Pain Research: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

May, Marcella; Junghaenel, Doerte U; Ono, Masakatsu; Stone, Arthur A; Schneider, Stefan

2018-01-31

Self-reported pain intensity assessments are central to chronic pain research. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodologies are uniquely positioned to collect these data, and are indeed being used in the field. However, EMA protocols are complex, and many decisions are necessary in the design of EMA research studies. A systematic literature review identified 105 articles drawing from 62 quantitative EMA research projects examining pain intensity in adult chronic pain patients. Study characteristics were tabulated to summarize and describe the use of EMA, with an emphasis placed on various dimensions of decision-making involved in executing EMA methodologies. Most identified studies considered within-person relationships between pain and other variables, and a few examined interventions on chronic pain. There was a trend toward the use of smartphones as EMA data collection devices more recently, and completion rates were not reported in nearly one third of studies. Pain intensity items varied widely with respect to number of scale points, anchor labels, and length of reporting period; most used numeric rating scales. Recommendations are provided for reporting to improve reproducibility, comparability, and interpretation of results, and for opportunities to clarify the importance of design decisions. Studies that use EMA methodologies to assess pain intensity are heterogeneous. Aspects of protocol design, including data input modality and pain item construction, have the potential to influence the data collected. Thorough reporting on design features and completion rates therefore facilitates reproducibility, comparability, and interpretation of study results. Copyright © 2018 The American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research on Land Ecological Condition Investigation and Monitoring Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Chunyan; Guo, Xudong; Chen, Yuqi

2017-04-01

The ecological status of land reflects the relationship between land use and environmental factors. At present, land ecological situation in China is worrying. According to the second national land survey data, there are about 149 million acres of arable land located in forests and grasslands area in Northeast and Northwest of China, Within the limits of the highest flood level, at steep slope above 25 degrees; about 50 million acres of arable land has been in heavy pollution; grassland degradation is still serious. Protected natural forests accounted for only 6% of the land area, and forest quality is low. Overall, the ecological problem has been eased, but the local ecological destruction intensified, natural ecosystem in degradation. It is urgent to find out the situation of land ecology in the whole country and key regions as soon as possible. The government attaches great importance to ecological environment investigation and monitoring. Various industries and departments from different angles carry out related work, most of it about a single ecological problem, the lack of a comprehensive surveying and assessment of land ecological status of the region. This paper established the monitoring index system of land ecological condition, including Land use type area and distribution, quality of cultivated land, vegetation status and ecological service, arable land potential and risk, a total of 21 indicators. Based on the second national land use survey data, annual land use change data and high resolution remote sensing data, using the methods of sample monitoring, field investigation and statistical analysis to obtain the information of each index, this paper established the land ecological condition investigation and monitoring technology and method system. It has been improved, through the application to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, the northern agro-pastoral ecological fragile zone, and 6 counties (cities).

Exposing ecological and economic costs of the research-implementation gap and compromises in decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Kareksela, Santtu; Moilanen, Atte; Ristaniemi, Olli; Välivaara, Reima; Kotiaho, Janne S

2018-02-01

The frequently discussed gap between conservation science and practice is manifest in the gap between spatial conservation prioritization plans and their implementation. We analyzed the research-implementation gap of one zoning case by comparing results of a spatial prioritization analysis aimed at avoiding ecological impact of peat mining in a regional zoning process with the final zoning plan. We examined the relatively complex planning process to determine the gaps among research, zoning, and decision making. We quantified the ecological costs of the differing trade-offs between ecological and socioeconomic factors included in the different zoning suggestions by comparing the landscape-level loss of ecological features (species occurrences, habitat area, etc.) between the different solutions for spatial allocation of peat mining. We also discussed with the scientists and planners the reasons for differing zoning suggestions. The implemented plan differed from the scientists suggestion in that its focus was individual ecological features rather than all the ecological features for which there were data; planners and decision makers considered effects of peat mining on areas not included in the prioritization analysis; zoning was not truly seen as a resource-allocation process and not emphasized in general minimizing ecological losses while satisfying economic needs (peat-mining potential); and decision makers based their prioritization of sites on site-level information showing high ecological value and on single legislative factors instead of finding a cost-effective landscape-level solution. We believe that if the zoning and decision-making processes are very complex, then the usefulness of science-based prioritization tools is likely to be reduced. Nevertheless, we found that high-end tools were useful in clearly exposing trade-offs between conservation and resource utilization. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Pollination ecology in the 21st Century: key questions for future research\\ud

OpenAIRE

Mayer, Carolin; Adler, Lynn; Armbruster, W Scott; Dafni, Amots; Eardley, Connal; Huang, Shuang-Quan; Kevan, Peter G; Ollerton, Jeff; Packer, Laurence; Ssymank, Axel; Stout, Jane C; Potts, Simon G

2011-01-01

To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of p...

2001 Gordon Research Conference on Archaea: Ecology [sic], Metabolism. Final progress report [agenda and attendee list

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daniels, Charles

2001-08-10

The Gordon Research Conference on Archaea: Ecology, Metabolism [and Molecular Biology] was held at Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire, August 5-10, 2001. The conference was attended by 135 participants. The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field, coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, and included US and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate discussion about the key issues in the field today. Session topics included the following: Ecology and genetic elements; Genomics and evolution; Ecology, genomes and gene regulation; Replication and recombination; Chromatin and transcription; Gene regulation; Post-transcription processing; Biochemistry and metabolism; Proteomics and protein structure; Metabolism and physiology. The featured speaker addressed the topic: ''Archaeal viruses, witnesses of prebiotic evolution?''

Twitter Predicts Citation Rates of Ecological Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Peoples, Brandon K; Midway, Stephen R; Sackett, Dana; Lynch, Abigail; Cooney, Patrick B

2016-01-01

The relationship between traditional metrics of research impact (e.g., number of citations) and alternative metrics (altmetrics) such as Twitter activity are of great interest, but remain imprecisely quantified. We used generalized linear mixed modeling to estimate the relative effects of Twitter activity, journal impact factor, and time since publication on Web of Science citation rates of 1,599 primary research articles from 20 ecology journals published from 2012-2014. We found a strong positive relationship between Twitter activity (i.e., the number of unique tweets about an article) and number of citations. Twitter activity was a more important predictor of citation rates than 5-year journal impact factor. Moreover, Twitter activity was not driven by journal impact factor; the 'highest-impact' journals were not necessarily the most discussed online. The effect of Twitter activity was only about a fifth as strong as time since publication; accounting for this confounding factor was critical for estimating the true effects of Twitter use. Articles in impactful journals can become heavily cited, but articles in journals with lower impact factors can generate considerable Twitter activity and also become heavily cited. Authors may benefit from establishing a strong social media presence, but should not expect research to become highly cited solely through social media promotion. Our research demonstrates that altmetrics and traditional metrics can be closely related, but not identical. We suggest that both altmetrics and traditional citation rates can be useful metrics of research impact.

Twitter predicts citation rates of ecological research

Science.gov (United States)

Peoples, Brandon K.; Midway, Stephen R.; Sackett, Dana K.; Lynch, Abigail; Cooney, Patrick B.

2016-01-01

The relationship between traditional metrics of research impact (e.g., number of citations) and alternative metrics (altmetrics) such as Twitter activity are of great interest, but remain imprecisely quantified. We used generalized linear mixed modeling to estimate the relative effects of Twitter activity, journal impact factor, and time since publication on Web of Science citation rates of 1,599 primary research articles from 20 ecology journals published from 2012–2014. We found a strong positive relationship between Twitter activity (i.e., the number of unique tweets about an article) and number of citations. Twitter activity was a more important predictor of citation rates than 5-year journal impact factor. Moreover, Twitter activity was not driven by journal impact factor; the ‘highest-impact’ journals were not necessarily the most discussed online. The effect of Twitter activity was only about a fifth as strong as time since publication; accounting for this confounding factor was critical for estimating the true effects of Twitter use. Articles in impactful journals can become heavily cited, but articles in journals with lower impact factors can generate considerable Twitter activity and also become heavily cited. Authors may benefit from establishing a strong social media presence, but should not expect research to become highly cited solely through social media promotion. Our research demonstrates that altmetrics and traditional metrics can be closely related, but not identical. We suggest that both altmetrics and traditional citation rates can be useful metrics of research impact.

Comparing microarrays and next-generation sequencing technologies for microbial ecology research.

Science.gov (United States)

Roh, Seong Woon; Abell, Guy C J; Kim, Kyoung-Ho; Nam, Young-Do; Bae, Jin-Woo

2010-06-01

Recent advances in molecular biology have resulted in the application of DNA microarrays and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to the field of microbial ecology. This review aims to examine the strengths and weaknesses of each of the methodologies, including depth and ease of analysis, throughput and cost-effectiveness. It also intends to highlight the optimal application of each of the individual technologies toward the study of a particular environment and identify potential synergies between the two main technologies, whereby both sample number and coverage can be maximized. We suggest that the efficient use of microarray and NGS technologies will allow researchers to advance the field of microbial ecology, and importantly, improve our understanding of the role of microorganisms in their various environments.

Integrating chytrid fungal parasites into plankton ecology: research gaps and needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Frenken, Thijs; Alacid, Elisabet; Berger, Stella A; Bourne, Elizabeth C; Gerphagnon, Mélanie; Grossart, Hans-Peter; Gsell, Alena S; Ibelings, Bas W; Kagami, Maiko; Küpper, Frithjof C; Letcher, Peter M; Loyau, Adeline; Miki, Takeshi; Nejstgaard, Jens C; Rasconi, Serena; Reñé, Albert; Rohrlack, Thomas; Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor; Schmeller, Dirk S; Scholz, Bettina; Seto, Kensuke; Sime-Ngando, Télesphore; Sukenik, Assaf; Van de Waal, Dedmer B; Van den Wyngaert, Silke; Van Donk, Ellen; Wolinska, Justyna; Wurzbacher, Christian; Agha, Ramsy

2017-10-01

Chytridiomycota, often referred to as chytrids, can be virulent parasites with the potential to inflict mass mortalities on hosts, causing e.g. changes in phytoplankton size distributions and succession, and the delay or suppression of bloom events. Molecular environmental surveys have revealed an unexpectedly large diversity of chytrids across a wide range of aquatic ecosystems worldwide. As a result, scientific interest towards fungal parasites of phytoplankton has been gaining momentum in the past few years. Yet, we still know little about the ecology of chytrids, their life cycles, phylogeny, host specificity and range. Information on the contribution of chytrids to trophic interactions, as well as co-evolutionary feedbacks of fungal parasitism on host populations is also limited. This paper synthesizes ideas stressing the multifaceted biological relevance of phytoplankton chytridiomycosis, resulting from discussions among an international team of chytrid researchers. It presents our view on the most pressing research needs for promoting the integration of chytrid fungi into aquatic ecology. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ecological effects research related to oil spills and oil spill countermeasures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aurand, D.

1992-01-01

The Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) was created specifically to provide an improved response option for large marine oil spills in U.S. waters. As part of that capability, MSRC is committed to an extensive research and development program designed to improve the state-of-the-art for oil spill response. Within the mission, the goals of the Environmental Health Program are to ensure that ecological and human health effects of both oil and oil cleanup counter measures are well understood and that this information is made widely available for appropriate consideration in planning and implementing oil spill response efforts. This an applied program, and is intended to directly support the MSRC response mission. It does not include studies directly related to damage assessment, which is outside of the mission of MSRC. This paper focuses on the issues MSRC sees as critical in the area of ecological effects research, and addresses four topics: Why do we need to do more? What is it we hope to accomplish? What needs to be done? What is being planned or implemented?

René Dubos, tuberculosis, and the "ecological facets of virulence".

Science.gov (United States)

Honigsbaum, Mark

2017-09-01

Reflecting on his scientific career toward the end of his life, the French-educated medical researcher René Dubos presented his flowering as an ecological thinker as a story of linear progression-the inevitable product of the intellectual seeds planted in his youth. But how much store should we set by Dubos's account of his ecological journey? Resisting retrospective biographical readings, this paper seeks to relate the development of Dubos's ecological ideas to his experimental practices and his career as a laboratory researcher. In particular, I focus on Dubos's studies of tuberculosis at the Rockefeller Institute in the period 1944-1956-studies which began with an inquiry into the tubercle bacillus and the physiochemical determinants of virulence, but which soon encompassed a wider investigation of the influence of environmental forces and host-parasite interactions on susceptibility and resistance to infection in animal models. At the same time, through a close reading of Dubos's scientific papers and correspondence, I show how he both drew on and distinguished his ecological ideas from those of other medical researchers such as Theobald Smith, Frank Macfarlane Burnet, and Frank Fenner. However, whereas Burnet and Fenner tended to view ecological interactions at the level of populations, Dubos focused on the interface of hosts and parasites in the physiological environments of individuals. The result was that although Dubos never fully engaged with the science of ecology, he was able to incorporate ecological ideas into his thought and practices, and relate them to his holistic views on health and the natural harmony of man and his environment.

Research on green building design based on ecological concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Ping Qing

2016-01-01

Full Text Available At present, the protection of the ecological environment and the promotion of green building has been recognized and widely promoted.With the rapid development of the construction industry, Architecture design will inevitably require the resentation of its unique form and charm to reflect the ecological concept and ecological culture, because of the unique nature of the art and the particularity of the environment. To establish the ecological concept of green building design and vigorously develop the green green building has a complementary role to alleviate the pressure on resources,and to speed up the eco city planning design, and to realize the sustainable development of the city, and to protect the urban ecological environmental.

Social-ecological resilience and geomorphic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chaffin, Brian C.; Scown, Murray

2018-03-01

Governance of coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) and the underlying geomorphic processes that structure and alter Earth's surface is a key challenge for global sustainability amid the increasing uncertainty and change that defines the Anthropocene. Social-ecological resilience as a concept of scientific inquiry has contributed to new understandings of the dynamics of change in SESs, increasing our ability to contextualize and implement governance in these systems. Often, however, the importance of geomorphic change and geomorphological knowledge is somewhat missing from processes employed to inform SES governance. In this contribution, we argue that geomorphology and social-ecological resilience research should be integrated to improve governance toward sustainability. We first provide definitions of engineering, ecological, community, and social-ecological resilience and then explore the use of these concepts within and alongside geomorphology in the literature. While ecological studies often consider geomorphology as an important factor influencing the resilience of ecosystems and geomorphological studies often consider the engineering resilience of geomorphic systems of interest, very few studies define and employ a social-ecological resilience framing and explicitly link the concept to geomorphic systems. We present five key concepts-scale, feedbacks, state or regime, thresholds and regime shifts, and humans as part of the system-which we believe can help explicitly link important aspects of social-ecological resilience inquiry and geomorphological inquiry in order to strengthen the impact of both lines of research. Finally, we discuss how these five concepts might be used to integrate social-ecological resilience and geomorphology to better understand change in, and inform governance of, SESs. To compound these dynamics of resilience, complex systems are nested and cross-scale interactions from smaller and larger scales relative to the system of interest

The Human Ecology of the American Educational Research Association. Report No. 261.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, James M., Jr.

The concepts and methods of human ecology are applied to the geographic distribution of members of the American Educational Research Association. State characteristics are measured by five factors: (1) large-scale agriculture; (2) population size; (3) affluence-urbanization; (4) white predominance; (5) emphasis on specialized agriculture. City…

Integrating Ecological and Social Knowledge: Learning from CHANS Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruce Shindler

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Scientists are increasingly called upon to integrate across ecological and social disciplines to tackle complex coupled human and natural system (CHANS problems. Integration of these disciplines is challenging and many scientists do not have experience with large integrated research projects. However, much can be learned about the complicated process of integration from such efforts. We document some of these lessons from a National Science Foundation-funded CHANS project (Forests, People, Fire and present considerations for developing and engaging in coupled human and natural system projects. Certainly we are not the first to undertake this endeavor, and many of our findings complement those of other research teams. We focus here on the process of coming together, learning to work as an integrated science team, and describe the challenges and opportunities of engaging stakeholders (agency personnel and citizen communities of interests in our efforts. Throughout this project our intention was to foster dialogue among diverse interests and, thus, incorporate this knowledge into uncovering primary social and ecological drivers of change. A primary tool was an agent-based model, Envision, that used this information in landscape simulation, visualization models, and scenario development. Although integration can be an end in itself, the proof of value in the approach can be the degree to which it provides new insights or tools to CHANS, including closer interaction among multiple stakeholders, that could not have been reached without it.

Ecological research at the offshore windfarm alpha ventus. Challenges, results and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beiersdorf, Anika; Wollny-Goerke, Katrin

2014-01-01

At present and over the next few years, large-scale windfarms are being installed far off the coast of Germany in the North and Baltic Sea, making a major contribution to electricity generation from renewable energy sources. One of the German government's aims is to ensure the environmentally sound and sustainable development of offshore wind energy. Germany's first offshore test site, alpha ventus, was therefore accompanied from the construction phase to the first years of operation by an intensive environmental research programme, the StUKplus project, financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and coordinated by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. Marine and ecological aspects have been researched there for more than five years to improve the level of knowledge about the ecological impacts of offshore windfarms. This book provides a broad, richly illustrated overview of applied and new research methods and monitoring techniques. It summarises the key research findings on the impacts on benthic communities, fish, marine mammals and birds, also taking into account underwater sound and sediment measurements. Interpreting the results in the sense of lessons learned, new challenges and perspectives are discussed for future sustainable offshore development in German waters.

Ecological research at the offshore windfarm alpha ventus. Challenges, results and perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beiersdorf, Anika; Wollny-Goerke, Katrin (eds.)

2014-07-01

At present and over the next few years, large-scale windfarms are being installed far off the coast of Germany in the North and Baltic Sea, making a major contribution to electricity generation from renewable energy sources. One of the German government's aims is to ensure the environmentally sound and sustainable development of offshore wind energy. Germany's first offshore test site, alpha ventus, was therefore accompanied from the construction phase to the first years of operation by an intensive environmental research programme, the StUKplus project, financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and coordinated by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. Marine and ecological aspects have been researched there for more than five years to improve the level of knowledge about the ecological impacts of offshore windfarms. This book provides a broad, richly illustrated overview of applied and new research methods and monitoring techniques. It summarises the key research findings on the impacts on benthic communities, fish, marine mammals and birds, also taking into account underwater sound and sediment measurements. Interpreting the results in the sense of lessons learned, new challenges and perspectives are discussed for future sustainable offshore development in German waters.

Restoration in Its Natural Context: How Ecological Momentary Assessment Can Advance Restoration Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Femke Beute

2016-04-01

Full Text Available More and more people use self-tracking technologies to track their psychological states, physiology, and behaviors to gain a better understanding of themselves or to achieve a certain goal. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA also offers an excellent opportunity for restorative environments research, which examines how our physical environment (especially nature can positively influence health and wellbeing. It enables investigating restorative health effects in everyday life, providing not only high ecological validity but also opportunities to study in more detail the dynamic processes playing out over time on recovery, thereby bridging the gap between laboratory (i.e., short-term effects and epidemiological (long-term effects research. We have identified four main areas in which self-tracking could help advance restoration research: (1 capturing a rich set of environment types and restorative characteristics; (2 distinguishing intra-individual from inter-individual effects; (3 bridging the gap between laboratory and epidemiological research; and (4 advancing theoretical insights by measuring a more broad range of effects in everyday life. This paper briefly introduces restorative environments research, then reviews the state of the art of self-tracking technologies and methodologies, discusses how these can be implemented to advance restoration research, and presents some examples of pioneering work in this area.

Higher tier field research in ecological risk assessment: a case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faber, J. [Alterra, Wageningen (Netherlands)

2003-07-01

A newly developed basic procedure for site-specific ecological risk assessment in The Netherlands was followed in practice for the first time. In line with conventional Triade approaches, the procedure includes multidisciplinary parameters from environmental chemistry, toxicology and ecology to provide multiple weight of evidence. However, land use at the contaminated site and its vicinity is given more importance, and research parameters are selected in accordance to specific objectives for land use in order to test for harmful effects to underlying ecosystem services. Moreover, the approach is characterized by repetitive interactions between stakeholders and researching consultants, in particular with respect to the choice of parameters and criteria to assess the results. The approach was followed in an ecological risk assessment to test the assumptions underlying a soil management plant for a rural area in The Netherlands, called 'Krimpenerwaard'. Throughout this region some 5000 polder ditches have been filled with waste materials originating from local households, waterway sludge, industrial wastes, car shredders, and more. Several sites are severely polluted by heavy metals, cyanide, PAH or chlorinated hydrocarbons and require remediation or clean up. However, the exact distribution of these wastes over the entire region is scarcely known, and the Krimpenerwaard as a whole is treated as one case of serious soil pollution. A soil management plan was constructed by 13 stakeholding parties, aiming for a 'functional clean up' in view of land use, by means of covering 'suspected' categories of wastes with a 30-cm layer of local type soil. The ecological risk assessment aims to verify the assumptions in the soil management plan regarding the prevention of possible undesirable effects induced by the various waste materials. A tiered approach is followed, including a screening for bioavailable contaminants, a testing for general effects

Deliberative ecological economics: emergence and research issues

OpenAIRE

Zografos, Christos; Howarth, Richard B.

2010-01-01

We discuss the recent emergence of "deliberative ecological economics", a field that highlights the potential of deliberation for improving environmental governance. We locate the emergence of this literature in the long concern in ecological economics over the policy implications of limited views of human action and its encounter with deliberative democracy scholarship and the model of communicative rationality as an alternative to utilitarianism. Considering criticisms over methods used and...

Deliberative ecological economics : emergence and research issues

OpenAIRE

Zografos, Christos

2010-01-01

We discuss the recent emergence of "deliberative ecological economics", a field that highlights the potential of deliberation for improving environmental governance. We locate the emergence of this literature in the long concern in ecological economics over the policy implications of limited views of human action and its encounter with deliberative democracy scholarship and the model of communicative rationality as an alternative to utilitarianism. Considering criticisms over methods used and...

Biological collections and ecological/environmental research: a review, some observations and a look to the future.

Science.gov (United States)

Pyke, Graham H; Ehrlich, Paul R

2010-05-01

Housed worldwide, mostly in museums and herbaria, is a vast collection of biological specimens developed over centuries. These biological collections, and associated taxonomic and systematic research, have received considerable long-term public support. The work remaining in systematics has been expanding as the estimated total number of species of organisms on Earth has risen over recent decades, as have estimated numbers of undescribed species. Despite this increasing task, support for taxonomic and systematic research, and biological collections upon which such research is based, has declined over the last 30-40 years, while other areas of biological research have grown considerably, especially those that focus on environmental issues. Reflecting increases in research that deals with ecological questions (e.g. what determines species distribution and abundance) or environmental issues (e.g. toxic pollution), the level of research attempting to use biological collections in museums or herbaria in an ecological/environmental context has risen dramatically during about the last 20 years. The perceived relevance of biological collections, and hence the support they receive, should be enhanced if this trend continues and they are used prominently regarding such environmental issues as anthropogenic loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem function, global climate change, and decay of the epidemiological environment. It is unclear, however, how best to use biological collections in the context of such ecological/environmental issues or how best to manage collections to facilitate such use. We demonstrate considerable and increasingly realized potential for research based on biological collections to contribute to ecological/environmental understanding. However, because biological collections were not originally intended for use regarding such issues and have inherent biases and limitations, they are proving more useful in some contexts than in others. Biological

Ecological niche of plant pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ecaterina Fodor

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Disease ecology is a new approach to the understanding of the spread and dynamics of pathogens in natural and man-made environments. Defining and describing the ecological niche of the pathogens is one of the major tasks for ecological theory, as well as for practitioners preoccupied with the control and forecasting of established and emerging diseases. Niche theory has been periodically revised, not including in an explicit way the pathogens. However, many progresses have been achieved in niche modeling of disease spread, but few attempts were made to construct a theoretical frame for the ecological niche of pathogens. The paper is a review of the knowledge accumulated during last decades in the niche theory of pathogens and proposes an ecological approach in research. It quest for new control methods in what concerns forest plant pathogens, with a special emphasis on fungi like organisms of the genus Phytophthora. Species of Phytophthora are the most successful plant pathogens of the moment, affecting forest and agricultural systems worldwide, many of them being invasive alien organisms in many ecosystems. The hyperspace of their ecological niche is defined by hosts, environment and human interference, as main axes. To select most important variables within the hyperspace, is important the understanding of the complex role of pathogens in the ecosystems as well as for control programs. Biotic relationships within ecosystem of host-pathogen couple are depicted by ecological network and specific metrics attached to this. The star shaped network is characterized by few high degree nodes, by short path lengths and relatively low connectivity, premises for a rapid disturbance spread. 

Ecological niche of plant pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ecaterina Fodor

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Disease ecology is a new approach to the understanding of the spread and dynamics of pathogens in natural and man-made environments. Defining and describing the ecological niche of the pathogens is one of the major tasks for ecological theory, as well as for practitioners preoccupied with the control and forecasting of established and emerging diseases. Niche theory has been periodically revised, not including in an explicit way the pathogens. However, many progresses have been achieved in niche modeling of disease spread, but few attempts were made to construct a theoretical frame for the ecological niche of pathogens. The paper is a review of the knowledge accumulated during last decades in the niche theory of pathogens and proposes an ecological approach in research. It quest for new control methods in what concerns forest plant pathogens, with a special emphasis on fungi like organisms of the genus Phytophthora. Species of Phytophthora are the most successful plant pathogens of the moment, affecting forest and agricultural systems worldwide, many of them being invasive alien organisms in many ecosystems. The hyperspace of their ecological niche is defined by hosts, environment and human interference, as main axes. To select most important variables within the hyperspace, is important for the understanding of the complex role of pathogens in the ecosystems as well as for control programs. Biotic relationships within ecosystem of host-pathogen couple are depicted by ecological network and specific metrics attached to this. The star shaped network is characterized by few high degree nodes, by short path lengths and relatively low connectivity, premises for a rapid disturbance spread.

Materials of research-practical conference dedicated to 70-anniversary of sanitation, hygiene and occupational diseases research institute 'Actual problems of hygiene, sanitation and ecology'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iskandarov, T.I.; Kamil'dzhanov, A.Kh.

2004-01-01

The Research-practical conference dedicated to 70-anniversary of sanitation, hygiene and occupational diseases research institute 'Actual problems of hygiene, sanitation and ecology' was held on 2004 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Specialists discussed various aspects of actual problems of sanitation, hygiene, occupational diseases and ecology. They discussed also some aspects of radiology and nuclear medicine, radiation protection and dosimetry, radiation and other environmental pollutant effect on living organisms and biological materials. More than 250 talks were presented in the meeting. (k.m.)

Social-Ecological Correlates in Adult Autism Outcome Studies: A Scoping Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Kristy A; Roux, Anne M; Kuo, Alice; Shattuck, Paul T

2018-04-01

The transition into adulthood is a critical period in the life course that shapes later outcomes. Many adults on the autism spectrum fare poorly across a wide range of quality of life indicators. Understanding the multilevel factors that influence transition outcomes is necessary to develop strategies that promote better outcomes. In this scoping review, we characterize the use of social-ecological factors in adult autism outcome studies, identify understudied areas of research, and provide recommendations for future research. We conducted a literature search for studies in which the relationship between social-ecological factors and transition outcomes among transition-age youth with autism was assessed. We organized variables used in studies across 5 levels of influence: family-, interpersonal-, institutional-, community-, and policy-level factors. Our findings reveal that both breadth and depth of social-ecological factors usage in autism outcomes studies is limited because of the narrow inclusion of variables across social-ecological levels, the overreliance on a limited number of national data sets, and the overall lack of variation in research design. We propose 9 recommendations to inform the development of multilevel studies. Copyright © 2018 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Summaries of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Radioecology and Ecology Program research projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markham, O.D.

1987-06-01

This report provides summaries of individual research projects conducted by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Radioecology and Ecology Program. Summaries include projects in various stages, from those that are just beginning, to projects that are in the final publication stage

Ecological research in the large-scale biosphere-atmosphere experiment in Amazonia: early results

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keller, M.; Alencar, A.; Asner, G.P.; Braswell, B.; Bustamante, M.; Davidson, E.; Feldpausch, T.; Fernandes, E.; Goulden, M.; Kabat, P.; Kruijt, B.; Luizão, F.; Miller, S.; Markewitz, D.; Nobre, A.D.; Nobre, C.A.; Priante Filho, N.; Rocha, da H.; Silva Dias, P.; Randow, von C.; Vourlitis, G.L.

2004-01-01

The Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage,. nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes,

Landscape Ecology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Andreas Aagaard; Brandt, Jesper; Svenningsen, Stig Roar

2017-01-01

Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice that deals with the mutual association between the spatial configuration and ecological functioning of landscapes, exploring and describing processes involved in the differentiation of spaces within landscapes......, and the ecological significance of the patterns which are generated by such processes. In landscape ecology, perspectives drawn from existing academic disciplines are integrated based on a common, spatially explicit mode of analysis developed from classical holistic geography, emphasizing spatial and landscape...... pattern analysis and ecological interaction of land units. The landscape is seen as a holon: an assemblage of interrelated phenomena, both cultural and biophysical, that together form a complex whole. Enduring challenges to landscape ecology include the need to develop a systematic approach able...

Health-promotion research over three decades: The social-ecological model and challenges in implementation of interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wold, Bente; Mittelmark, Maurice B

2018-02-01

This debate paper traces the development of innovative methods for undertaking health promotion research with a socialecological orientation, with a few examples drawn from 30 years of research on adolescent health promotion research at the University of Bergen. We aim to show how the social-ecological model is becoming more evident as a guide to research, using three cases that illustrate progress and potential. The first case is the Norwegian part of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools. The second case is a project just underway, The COMPLETE study, which is a community-led effort to promote students' mental health and create a good psychosocial learning environment. The third case is a developing idea for the next generation of social-ecological research on adolescent well-being, using an asset approach to foster social inclusion and sense of community in multiple settings.

A movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research.

Science.gov (United States)

Nathan, Ran; Getz, Wayne M; Revilla, Eloy; Holyoak, Marcel; Kadmon, Ronen; Saltz, David; Smouse, Peter E

2008-12-09

Movement of individual organisms is fundamental to life, quilting our planet in a rich tapestry of phenomena with diverse implications for ecosystems and humans. Movement research is both plentiful and insightful, and recent methodological advances facilitate obtaining a detailed view of individual movement. Yet, we lack a general unifying paradigm, derived from first principles, which can place movement studies within a common context and advance the development of a mature scientific discipline. This introductory article to the Movement Ecology Special Feature proposes a paradigm that integrates conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and empirical frameworks for studying movement of all organisms, from microbes to trees to elephants. We introduce a conceptual framework depicting the interplay among four basic mechanistic components of organismal movement: the internal state (why move?), motion (how to move?), and navigation (when and where to move?) capacities of the individual and the external factors affecting movement. We demonstrate how the proposed framework aids the study of various taxa and movement types; promotes the formulation of hypotheses about movement; and complements existing biomechanical, cognitive, random, and optimality paradigms of movement. The proposed framework integrates eclectic research on movement into a structured paradigm and aims at providing a basis for hypothesis generation and a vehicle facilitating the understanding of the causes, mechanisms, and spatiotemporal patterns of movement and their role in various ecological and evolutionary processes. "Now we must consider in general the common reason for moving with any movement whatever." (Aristotle, De Motu Animalium, 4th century B.C.).

Ecology for a changing earth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, J.H.; Roughgarden, J.

1990-01-01

To forecast the ecological impact of global change, research initiatives are needed on the explicit role of humans in ecological systems, and on how ecological processes functioning at different spatial and temporal scales are coupled. Furthermore, to synthesize the results of ecological research for Congress, policymakers, and the general public, a new agency, called the United States Ecological Survey (USES) is urgently required. Also, a national commitment to environmental health, as exemplified by establishing a National Institutes of the Environment (NIE), should be a goal

Pollination ecology in the 21st Century: Key questions for future research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane C. Stout

2011-03-01

Full Text Available To inspire new ideas in research on pollination ecology, we list the most important unanswered questions in the field. This list was drawn up by contacting 170 scientists from different areas of pollination ecology and asking them to contribute their opinion on the greatest knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Almost 40% of them took part in our email poll and we received more than 650 questions and comments, which we classified into different categories representing various aspects of pollination research. The original questions were merged and synthesised, and a final vote and ranking led to the resultant list. The categories cover plant sexual reproduction, pollen and stigma biology, abiotic pollination, evolution of animal-mediated pollination, interactions of pollinators and floral antagonists, pollinator behaviour, taxonomy, plant-pollinator assemblages, geographical trends in diversity, drivers of pollinator loss, ecosystem services, management of pollination, and conservation issues such as the implementation of pollinator conservation. We focused on questions that were of a broad scope rather than case-specific; thus, addressing some questions may not be feasible within single research projects but constitute a general guide for future directions. With this compilation we hope to raise awareness of pollination-related topics not only among researchers but also among non-specialists including policy makers, funding agencies and the public at large.

Multiple Stressors and Ecological Complexity Require A New Approach to Coral Reef Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linwood Hagan Pendleton

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Ocean acidification, climate change, and other environmental stressors threaten coral reef ecosystems and the people who depend upon them. New science reveals that these multiple stressors interact and may affect a multitude of physiological and ecological processes in complex ways. The interaction of multiple stressors and ecological complexity may mean that the negative effects on coral reef ecosystems will happen sooner and be more severe than previously thought. Yet, most research on the effects of global change on coral reefs focus on one or few stressors and pathways or outcomes (e.g. bleaching. Based on a critical review of the literature, we call for a regionally targeted strategy of mesocosm-level research that addresses this complexity and provides more realistic projections about coral reef impacts in the face of global environmental change. We believe similar approaches are needed for other ecosystems that face global environmental change.

Behavioural ecology, distribution and conservation of the Javan Hawk-eagle Spizaetus bartelsi Stresemann, 1924

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sözer, Resit; Nijman, Vincent

1995-01-01

In the period December 1993 – January 1995 research on the behavioural ecology, distribution and conservation of the Javan Hawk-eagle Spizaetus bartelsi was carried out by R. Sözer and V. Nijman, under supervision of BirdLife International / PHPA – Indonesia Programme. This research was part of the

The role of ecological theory in microbial ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Prosser, James I; Bohannan, Brendan J M; Curtis, Tom P; Ellis, Richard J; Firestone, Mary K; Freckleton, Rob P; Green, Jessica L; Green, Laura E; Killham, Ken; Lennon, Jack J; Osborn, A Mark; Solan, Martin; van der Gast, Christopher J; Young, J Peter W

2007-05-01

Microbial ecology is currently undergoing a revolution, with repercussions spreading throughout microbiology, ecology and ecosystem science. The rapid accumulation of molecular data is uncovering vast diversity, abundant uncultivated microbial groups and novel microbial functions. This accumulation of data requires the application of theory to provide organization, structure, mechanistic insight and, ultimately, predictive power that is of practical value, but the application of theory in microbial ecology is currently very limited. Here we argue that the full potential of the ongoing revolution will not be realized if research is not directed and driven by theory, and that the generality of established ecological theory must be tested using microbial systems.

[Thirty years of US long-term ecological research: characteristics, results, and lessons learned of--taking the Virginia Coast Reserve as an example].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Gao-Ru; Porter, John H; Xu, Xue-Gong

2011-06-01

In order to observe and understand long-term and large-scale ecological changes, the US National Science Foundation initiated a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in 1980. Over the past 30 years, the US LTER program has achieved advances in ecological and social science research, and in the development of site-based research infrastructure. This paper attributed the success of the program to five characteristics, i.e., 1) consistency of research topics and data across the network, 2) long-term time scale of both the research and the program, 3) flexibility in research content and funding procedures, 4) growth of LTER to include international partners, new disciplines such as social science, advanced research methods, and cooperation among sites, and 5) sharing of data and educational resources. The Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site was taken as an example to illustrate how the US LTER works at site level. Some suggestions were made on the China long-term ecological research, including strengthening institution construction, improving network and inter-site cooperation, emphasizing data quality, management, and sharing, reinforcing multidisciplinary cooperation, and expanding public influence.

The status of coral reef ecology research in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Berumen, Michael L.

2013-06-21

The Red Sea has long been recognized as a region of high biodiversity and endemism. Despite this diversity and early history of scientific work, our understanding of the ecology of coral reefs in the Red Sea has lagged behind that of other large coral reef systems. We carried out a quantitative assessment of ISI-listed research published from the Red Sea in eight specific topics (apex predators, connectivity, coral bleaching, coral reproductive biology, herbivory, marine protected areas, non-coral invertebrates and reef-associated bacteria) and compared the amount of research conducted in the Red Sea to that from Australia\\'s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and the Caribbean. On average, for these eight topics, the Red Sea had 1/6th the amount of research compared to the GBR and about 1/8th the amount of the Caribbean. Further, more than 50 % of the published research from the Red Sea originated from the Gulf of Aqaba, a small area (<2 % of the area of the Red Sea) in the far northern Red Sea. We summarize the general state of knowledge in these eight topics and highlight the areas of future research priorities for the Red Sea region. Notably, data that could inform science-based management approaches are badly lacking in most Red Sea countries. The Red Sea, as a geologically "young" sea located in one of the warmest regions of the world, has the potential to provide insight into pressing topics such as speciation processes as well as the capacity of reef systems and organisms to adapt to global climate change. As one of the world\\'s most biodiverse coral reef regions, the Red Sea may yet have a significant role to play in our understanding of coral reef ecology at a global scale. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches.

Science.gov (United States)

Winemiller, Kirk O; Fitzgerald, Daniel B; Bower, Luke M; Pianka, Eric R

2015-08-01

Ecology is often said to lack general theories sufficiently predictive for applications. Here, we examine the concept of a periodic table of niches and feasibility of niche classification schemes from functional trait and performance data. Niche differences and their influence on ecological patterns and processes could be revealed effectively by first performing data reduction/ordination analyses separately on matrices of trait and performance data compiled according to logical associations with five basic niche 'dimensions', or aspects: habitat, life history, trophic, defence and metabolic. Resultant patterns then are integrated to produce interpretable niche gradients, ordinations and classifications. Degree of scheme periodicity would depend on degrees of niche conservatism and convergence causing species clustering across multiple niche dimensions. We analysed a sample data set containing trait and performance data to contrast two approaches for producing niche schemes: species ordination within niche gradient space, and niche categorisation according to trait-value thresholds. Creation of niche schemes useful for advancing ecological knowledge and its applications will depend on research that produces functional trait and performance datasets directly related to niche dimensions along with criteria for data standardisation and quality. As larger databases are compiled, opportunities will emerge to explore new methods for data reduction, ordination and classification. © 2015 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Environmental research concept for the period 2000 - 2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

This document published by the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) describes the concept for environmental research in Switzerland during the period 2000 - 2003. In a first part, the general state of environmental research is examined and the various public and private institutions involved are introduced. In the second part, the priorities for the period 2000 - 2003 are stated. The main points of focus, including the protection of the diversity of biological and landscape resources and their sustainable use, the protection of mankind and the environment from harmful substances and organisms, human behaviour, economical incentives and teaching systems, are discussed. Also, the targets of international agreements on environmental protection and the instruments to be used to implement them are examined. Finally, the report discusses the implementation of the declared research priorities and introduces the commission that is to watch over these activities. Figures are quoted on the funding necessary for the work and the importance of interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary co-operation is stressed

Applications Research of Microbial Ecological Preparation in Sea Cucumber Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jiahui; Wang, Guangyu

2017-12-01

At present, micro ecological preparation is widely applied in aquaculture with good effect. The application of micro ecological preparation in sea cucumber culture can effectively improve the economic benefits. The micro ecological preparation can play the role of inhibiting harmful bacteria, purifying water quality and saving culture cost in the process of sea cucumber culture. We should select appropriate bacteria, guarantee stable environment and use with long-term in the applications of microbial ecological preparation in sea cucumber culture to obtain good effects.

Reducing the ecological impact of field research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bezanson, Michelle; Stowe, Rochelle; Watts, Sean M

2013-01-01

Researchers and students at biological field stations, especially in remote areas, are subject to leaving "footprints," as we conduct research, work, and live in sensitive ecosystems. These footprints include travel, personal trash and waste, and field equipment (e.g. flagging, tree markers, plot markers, trail markers, monitoring devices, etc.). In this commentary, we argue that the field of primatology's commitment to minimum impact research should be more explicitly and visibly integrated into our ethical protocols with regard to field research and instruction in sensitive environments. We review current ethical codes and potential solutions to reducing our "researcher footprints" while conducting fieldwork. Using Costa Rica as an example, we address how sustainable fieldwork differs among varying cultural contexts and argue that researchers should be made responsible and accountable for how our presence, research, and teaching might impact the environment. We conclude by recommending a set of guidelines to be added to ethical protocols regarding research design, station policies, and the conduct of research and teaching in the field. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multi-scale research of time and space differences about ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the water resources

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiahong; Lei, Xiaohui; Fu, Qiang; Li, Tianxiao; Qiao, Yu; Chen, Lei; Liao, Weihong

2018-03-01

A multi-scale assessment framework for assessing and comparing the water resource sustainability based on the ecological footprint (EF) is introduced. The study aims to manage the water resource from different views in Heilongjiang Province. First of all, from the scale of each city, the water ecological carrying capacity (ECC) was calculated from 2000 to 2011, and map the spatial distribution of the recent 3 years which show that, the water ecological carrying capacity (ECC) is uneven and has a downward trend year by year. Then, from the perspective of the five secondary partition basins in Heilongjiang Province, the paper calculated the ecological carrying capacity (ECC), the ecological footprint (EF) and ecological surplus and deficit (S&D) situation of water resources from 2000 to 2011, which show that the ecological deficit situation is more prominent in Nenjiang and Suifenhe basins which are in an unsustainable development state. Finally, from the perspective of the province, the paper calculated the ecological carrying capacity (ECC), the ecological footprint (EF) and ecological S&D of water resources from 2000 to 2011 in Heilongjiang Province, which show that the ecological footprint (EF) is in the rising trend, and the correlation coefficient between the ecological carrying capacity (ECC) and the precipitation is 0.8. There are 5 years of unsustainable development state in Heilongjiang. The proposed multi-scale assessment of WEF aims to evaluate the complex relationship between water resource supply and consumption in different spatial scales and time series. It also provides more reasonable assessment result which can be used by managers and regulators.

A high school ecology curriculum employing currere: A critical postmodern approach to pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Doerr, Marilyn Noble

2000-10-01

This classroom research is a case study of a high school ecology curriculum based on William Pinar's currere. The author, both the practitioner in the classroom and the curriculum developer, uses the dissertation to analyze the success of the ecology course. A successful course, she feels, not only teaches the students the rudiments of ecology but also introduces them to the political and moral issues surrounding ecological principles. Currere is curriculum as autobiographical text. It is phenomenological, exploring students' lived experiences and their interpretations of those experiences. With the focus on introspection and hermeneutics, curriculum becomes something to be encountered and the student immerses her/himself in trying to understand that encounter. In this study, currere is adapted for use in an ecology classroom through what the author terms "the Environmental Autobiography," or EA. The paper explores qualitative data collected from the researcher and 50 students, mostly high school seniors, who took the class over a two-year period. The researcher analyzes and interprets a generous selection of excerpts from these EAs when considering the efficacy of using the currere process in this course. The researcher then examines five frequently-appearing themes in the writings: caring, insecurities and gender issues, egocentrism, politicization, and definitions of success. The researcher finds that the use of currere in this way brought a postmodern approach to the teaching of this most holistic of the sciences---ecology. This non-traditional method allowed students to begin to see ecological problems in context and to realize that knowledge is always partial. For many students this currere-based ecology curriculum moved them from "I know" to "I care," and on to "I want to do something about this." Finally, the researcher concludes that the EA gave a richness and energy to the class that was unlike any of her past teaching experiences. The paper explores

Pitfalls in ecological research - transgenerational effects

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Latzel, Vít

2015-01-01

Roč. 50, č. 1 (2015), s. 75-85 ISSN 1211-9520 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-06802S Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : ecology * epigenetics * evolution Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 1.433, year: 2015

Fostering Complexity Thinking in Action Research for Change in Social-Ecological Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin H. Rogers

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Complexity thinking is increasingly being embraced by a wide range of academics and professionals as imperative for dealing with today's pressing social-ecological challenges. In this context, action researchers partner directly with stakeholders (communities, governance institutions, and work resource managers, etc. to embed a complexity frame of reference for decision making. In doing so, both researchers and stakeholders must strive to internalize not only "intellectual complexity" (knowing but also "lived complexity" (being and practicing. Four common conceptualizations of learning (explicit/tacit knowledge framework; unlearning selective exposure; conscious/competence learning matrix; and model of learning loops are integrated to provide a new framework that describes how learning takes place in complex systems. Deep reflection leading to transformational learning is required to foster the changes in mindset and behaviors needed to adopt a complexity frame of reference. We then present three broad frames of mind (openness, situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the restraint/action paradox, which each encompass a set of habits of mind, to create a useful framework that allows one to unlearn reductionist habits while adopting and embedding those more conducive to working in complex systems. Habits of mind provide useful heuristic tools to guide researchers and stakeholders through processes of participative planning and adaptive decision making in complex social-ecological systems.

The promise and peril of intensive-site-based ecological research: insights from the Hubbard Brook ecosystem study

Science.gov (United States)

Timothy J. Fahey; Pamela H. Templer; Bruce T. Anderson; John J. Battles; John L. Campbell; Charles T. Driscoll; Anthony R. Fusco; Mark B. Green; Karim-Aly S. Kassam; Nicholas L. Rodenhouse; Lindsey Rustad; Paul G. Schaberg; Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur

2015-01-01

Ecological research is increasingly concentrated at particular locations or sites. This trend reflects a variety of advantages of intensive, site-based research, but also raises important questions about the nature of such spatially delimited research: how well does site based research represent broader areas, and does it constrain scientific discovery? We provide an...

About the Atlantic Ecology Division (AED) of EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

The Atlantic Ecology Division (AED), conducts innovative research and predictive modeling to assess and forecast the risks of anthropogenic stressors to near coastal waters and their watersheds, to develop tools to support resilient watersheds.

SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL THEORIES AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH. COMPARING SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTS IN ACTION

OpenAIRE

Bousquet, F.; Anderies, M.; Antona, M.; Bassett, T.; Benjaminsen, T.; Bonato, O.; Castro, M.; Gautier, D.; Gunderson, L.; Janssen, M.; Kinzig, A.; Lecoq, M.; Lynam, T.; Mathevet, R.; Perrings, C.

2015-01-01

Environmental problems, at local scale as well as global scale, are now considered as key issues and scientists are encouraged to be part of the process to address these issues. For the last decades, scholars have been focusing on the study of interactions between social dynamics and ecological processes and produced a set of concepts and scientific discourses aiming at framing the analysis of socio-ecological dynamics and eventually at orienting interventions. Scientific discourses are produ...

A Late Formative Period Occupation in El Oro, Ecuador: A Case for Ecological Catastrophe?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth J. Currie

1992-11-01

Full Text Available In the early 1970s shrimp farmersbegan an intensive and ecologically controversial exploitation of the coast of El Oro, constructing extensive and intricate systems of banks, dykes and lagoons ('camaroneras' within which to rear large tropical prawns for the international export market. This prawn-breeding industry in some ways represents a commercial elaboration of a process started in prehistory, when the capacity of the marine and mangrove environment to support large populations of people over long periods of time is attested by the numbers and size attained by many of the shell middens. Many consist almost exclusively of a species of large flat oyster ('Crassostera' now unknown to present-day inhabitants of the coast. In 1975 shrimp farmers operating near the mangrove coast to the north of the town of Santa Rosa near the Estero Guaramal, cut a deep profile through a shell mound, exposing the stratigraphy which revealed a clear environmental change, manifested by a replacement of shellfish species.

Accounting for the Ecological Dimension in Participatory Research and Development: Lessons Learned from Indonesia and Madagascar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yves Laumonier

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The lack of understanding on how to integrate ecological issues into so-called social-ecological natural resource management hampers sustainability in tropical forest landscape management. We build upon a comparison of three cases that show inverse gradients of knowledge and perceptions of the environment and human pressure on natural resources. We discuss why the ecological dimension currently lags behind in the management of tropical forest landscapes and to what extent participatory development can enhance the fit among ecological, socio-cultural, and economic systems. For each case study, socio-cultural and anthropological aspects of society and indigenous knowledge of the environment, the distribution of natural resources, classification, and management are documented in parallel with biophysical studies. Our results confirm that the ecological dimension remains weakly addressed and difficult to integrate into development actions when dealing with tropical forested landscape management in developing countries. We discuss three issues to understand why this is so: the disdain for traditional ecological knowledge and practices, the antagonism between economy and ecology, and the mismatch between traditional and modern governance systems. Participatory development shows potential to enhance the fit among ecological, socio-cultural, and economic systems through two dimensions: the generation and sharing of information to understand trends and the generation of new coordination practices that allow stakeholders to voice environmental concerns. In the absence of a "champion," institutions, and financial resources, the expected outcomes remain on paper, even when changes are negotiated. Future research in natural resource management must emphasize better integration at the interface of ecology and governance. Finally, we identify three challenges: the design of operational tools to reconcile ecology with social and economic concerns, the creation

Forest Fire Ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Zucca, Carol; And Others

1995-01-01

Presents a model that integrates high school science with the needs of the local scientific community. Describes how a high school ecology class conducted scientific research in fire ecology that benefited the students and a state park forest ecologist. (MKR)

Computational Ecology and Software (http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/online-version.asp

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ces@iaees.org

algorithms for computational ecology. The development and evaluation of apparatus, instruments and machines for ecological and environmental analysis, investigation and monitoring based on the software of computational ecology. •Methodological applications of computational ecology in the researches of ecology and environmental sciences. Authors can submit their works to the email box of this journal, ces@iaees.org. All manuscripts submitted to this journal must be previously unpublished and may not be considered for publication elsewhere at any time during review period of this journal. Authors are asked to read Author Guidelines before submitting manuscripts. In addition to free submissions from authors around the world, special issues are also accepted. The organizer of a special issue can collect submissions (yielded from a research project, a research group, etc. on a specific research topic, or submissions of a scientific conference for publication of special issue.

ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE LARGE-SCALE BIOSPHERE–ATMOSPHERE EXPERIMENT IN AMAZONIA: EARLY RESULTS.

Science.gov (United States)

M. Keller; A. Alencar; G. P. Asner; B. Braswell; M. Bustamente; E. Davidson; T. Feldpausch; E. Fern ndes; M. Goulden; P. Kabat; B. Kruijt; F. Luizao; S. Miller; D. Markewitz; A. D. Nobre; C. A. Nobre; N. Priante Filho; H. Rocha; P. Silva Dias; C von Randow; G. L. Vourlitis

2004-01-01

The Large-scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early...

Historical ecology: past, present and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Szabó, Péter

2015-11-01

The term 'historical ecology' has been used with various meanings since the first half of the 20th century. Studies labelled as historical ecology have been produced in at least four academic disciplines: history, ecology, geography and anthropology. Although all those involved seem to agree that historical ecology concerns the historical interconnectedness of nature and human culture, this field of study has no unified methodology, specialized institutional background and common publication forums. Knowledge of the development of historical ecology is also limited. As a result, the current multitude of definitions of historical ecology is accompanied by divergent opinions as to where the origins of the field are to be sought. In this review, I follow the development of historical ecology from the 18th century to the present. In the first part, I briefly describe some early examples of historical ecological investigations, followed by a description of the various scientific strands in the 20th century that contributed to the formation of historical ecology. In the second part, I discuss the past five decades of historical ecological investigations in more detail, focusing mostly (but not exclusively) on works that their respective authors identified as historical ecology. I also examine the appearance and interconnectedness of the two main trends (ecological and anthropological) in historical ecological research. In the last part, I attempt to outline the future of historical ecology based on common features in existing research. It appears that at present historical ecology is at a crossroads. With rapidly growing interest in historical ecological research, it may move towards institutionalization or remain an umbrella term. © 2014 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2014 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Microarrays in ecological research: A case study of a cDNA microarray for plant-herbivore interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gase Klaus

2004-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Microarray technology allows researchers to simultaneously monitor changes in the expression ratios (ERs of hundreds of genes and has thereby revolutionized most of biology. Although this technique has the potential of elucidating early stages in an organism's phenotypic response to complex ecological interactions, to date, it has not been fully incorporated into ecological research. This is partially due to a lack of simple procedures of handling and analyzing the expression ratio (ER data produced from microarrays. Results We describe an analysis of the sources of variation in ERs from 73 hybridized cDNA microarrays, each with 234 herbivory-elicited genes from the model ecological expression system, Nicotiana attenuata, using procedures that are commonly used in ecologic research. Each gene is represented by two independently labeled PCR products and each product was arrayed in quadruplicate. We present a robust method of normalizing and analyzing ERs based on arbitrary thresholds and statistical criteria, and characterize a "norm of reaction" of ERs for 6 genes (4 of known function, 2 of unknown with different ERs as determined across all analyzed arrays to provide a biologically-informed alternative to the use of arbitrary expression ratios in determining significance of expression. These gene-specific ERs and their variance (gene CV were used to calculate array-based variances (array CV, which, in turn, were used to study the effects of array age, probe cDNA quantity and quality, and quality of spotted PCR products as estimates of technical variation. Cluster analysis and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA were used to reveal associations among the transcriptional "imprints" of arrays hybridized with cDNA probes derived from mRNA from N. attenuata plants variously elicited and attacked by different herbivore species and from three congeners: N. quadrivalis, N. longiflora and N. clevelandii. Additionally, the PCA

Ecological Values of Mangrove Forest Ecosystem

OpenAIRE

Kusmana, Cecep

1996-01-01

Research on quantification of ecological values of mangrove forest ecosystem are urgently needed, due to its importance as the basics for utilization and management of resources. From the ecological point of vlew, the main prohlem of mangrove ecosystem is rarity and inconsistency of data and limited accurate methods inquantifying ecological values of that ecosystem. Results show that mangrove has the significant ecological values on coastal ecosystem. However, there must be further research t...

Online ecological and environmental data

CERN Document Server

Baldwin, Virginia Ann

2014-01-01

Discover important Internet resources for research data made public individually and collectively by researchers from a variety of entities in the fields of environmental studies and ecology Online Ecological and Environmental Data explores innovative projects from a diverse array of institutions that have made environmental and ecological research information freely available online. You will find a wealth of Web site listings with URLs and complete descriptions, data field descriptions, controlled vocabulary examples, and Web screen shots that demonstrate how to use a specific site. The book will help you locate the data, procedures, instruments, notes, and other descriptive information that scientists and engineers need for replicating and building on the research of others. With Online Ecological and Environmental Data, you''ll gain a better understanding of: * the cooperative design, development, and management of interdisciplinary data * cataloging multidisciplinary environmental data * data netw...

About the Mid-Continent Ecology Division (MED) of EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

The Mid-Continent Ecology Division (MED) conducts innovative research and predictive modeling to document and forecast the effects of pollutants on the integrity of watersheds and freshwater ecosystems.

Status of the Southern Carpathian forests in the long-term ecological research network

Science.gov (United States)

Ovidiu Badea; Andrzej Bytnerowicz; Diana Silaghi; Stefan Neagu; Ion Barbu; Carmen Iacoban; Corneliu Iacob; Gheorghe Guiman; Elena Preda; Ioan Seceleanu; Marian Oneata; Ion Dumitru; Viorela Huber; Horia Iuncu; Lucian Dinca; Stefan Leca; Ioan Taut

2012-01-01

Air pollution, bulk precipitation, throughfall, soil condition, foliar nutrients, as well as forest health and growth were studied in 2006–2009 in a long-term ecological research (LTER) network in the Bucegi Mountains, Romania. Ozone (O 3 ) was high indicating a potential for phytotoxicity. Ammonia (NH 3 ) concentrations rose to levels that could contribute to...

Use and Evaluation of FCM as a Tool for Long Term Socio Ecological Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wildenberg, Martin; Bachhofer, Michael; Isak, Kirsten Grovermann Qvist

2014-01-01

A halt in loss of biodiversity is an important issue in conservation management across Europe. As landscapes tend to be perceived as a combination of natural and social elements, and people’s values and attitudes, research supporting conservation management is dealing with landscapes as socio-ecological...

Sustaining Visitor Use in Protected Areas: Future Opportunities in Recreation Ecology Research Based on the USA Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Monz, Christopher A.; Cole, David N.; Leung, Yu-Fai; Marion, Jeffrey L.

2010-03-01

Recreation ecology, the study of environmental consequences of outdoor recreation activities and their effective management, is a relatively new field of scientific study having emerged over the last 50 years. During this time, numerous studies have improved our understanding of how use-related, environmental and managerial factors affect ecological conditions and processes. Most studies have focused on vegetation and soil responses to recreation-related trampling on trails and recreation sites using indicators such as percent vegetation cover and exposed mineral soil. This applied approach has and will continue to yield important information for land managers. However, for the field to advance, more attention needs to be given to other ecosystem attributes and to the larger aspects of environmental conservation occurring at landscape scales. This article is an effort at initiating a dialog on needed advances in the field. We begin by reviewing broadly generalizable knowledge of recreation ecology, to separate what is known from research gaps. Then, based on the authors’ perspective of research in the USA and North America, several research directions are suggested as essential for continued progress in this field including theoretical development, broadening scale, integration with other disciplines, and examination of synergistic effects.

A Critical Review of the Critical Period Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Scovel, Thomas

2000-01-01

Discusses how perspectives on the critical period hypothesis (CPH) have shifted over the last 20-20 years, because of the work of applied linguistics and other disciplines. Advises caution into translating CPH research into personal practice or public policy. (Author/VWL)

Environmental research programme. Ecological research. Annual report 1995. Urban-industrial landscapes, forests, agricultural landscapes, river and lake landscapes, terrestrial ecosystem research, environmental pollution and health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

In promoting ecology research, the federal ministry of science and technology (BMBF) pursues the aim to enhance understanding of the natural resources indispensable to the life of man, animals and plant societies and their interrelations, and to point out existing scope for action to preserve or replenish them. Consequently, ecology research makes an essential contribution towards effective nature conservancy and environmental protection. The interactions between climate and ecosystems also form an important part of this. With regard to topical environmental issues concerning agricultural landscapes, rivers and lakes, forests and urban-industrial agglomerations, system interrelations in representative ecosystems are investigated. The results are to be embodied in directives for the protection or appropriate use of these ecosystems in order to contribute towards a sustainable development of these types of landscapes. The book also evaluates and assesses which types of nuisances, interventions and modes of use represent hazards for the respective systems. (orig./VHE) [de

Epidemiology and Ecology of Tularemia in Sweden, 1984–2012

Science.gov (United States)

Desvars, Amélie; Furberg, Maria; Hjertqvist, Marika; Vidman, Linda; Sjöstedt, Anders; Rydén, Patrik

2015-01-01

The zoonotic disease tularemia is endemic in large areas of the Northern Hemisphere, but research is lacking on patterns of spatial distribution and connections with ecologic factors. To describe the spatial epidemiology of and identify ecologic risk factors for tularemia incidence in Sweden, we analyzed surveillance data collected over 29 years (1984–2012). A total of 4,830 cases were notified, of which 3,524 met all study inclusion criteria. From the first to the second half of the study period, mean incidence increased 10-fold, from 0.26/100,000 persons during 1984–1998 to 2.47/100,000 persons during 1999–2012 (ptularemia was higher than expected in the boreal and alpine ecologic regions (ptularemia in Sweden and illustrate that incidence is higher in locations near lakes and rivers. PMID:25529978

A data management proposal to connect in a hierarchical way nodes of the Spanish Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network

Science.gov (United States)

Fuentes, Daniel; Pérez-Luque, Antonio J.; Bonet García, Francisco J.; Moreno-LLorca, Ricardo A.; Sánchez-Cano, Francisco M.; Suárez-Muñoz, María

2017-04-01

The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network aims to provide the scientific community, policy makers, and society with the knowledge and predictive understanding necessary to conserve, protect, and manage the ecosystems. LTER is organized into networks ranging from the global to national scale. In the top of network, the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network coordinates among ecological researchers and LTER research networks at local, regional and global scales. In Spain, the Spanish Long Term Ecological Research (LTER-Spain) network was built to foster the collaboration and coordination between longest-lived ecological researchers and networks on a local scale. Currently composed by nine nodes, this network facilitates the data exchange, documentation and preservation encouraging the development of cross-disciplinary works. However, most nodes have no specific information systems, tools or qualified personnel to manage their data for continued conservation and there are no harmonized methodologies for long-term monitoring protocols. Hence, the main challenge is to place the nodes in its correct position in the network, providing the best tools that allow them to manage their data autonomously and make it easier for them to access information and knowledge in the network. This work proposes a connected structure composed by four LTER nodes located in southern Spain. The structure is built considering hierarchical approach: nodes that create information which is documented using metadata standards (such as Ecological Metadata Language, EML); and others nodes that gather metadata and information. We also take into account the capacity of each node to manage their own data and the premise that the data and metadata must be maintained where it is generated. The current state of the nodes is a follows: two of them have their own information management system (Sierra Nevada-Granada and Doñana Long-Term Socio-ecological Research Platform) and

Study on Remote Sensing Image Characteristics of Ecological Land: Case Study of Original Ecological Land in the Yellow River Delta

Science.gov (United States)

An, G. Q.

2018-04-01

Takes the Yellow River Delta as an example, this paper studies the characteristics of remote sensing imagery with dominant ecological functional land use types, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different image in interpreting ecological land use, and uses research results to analyse the changing trend of ecological land in the study area in the past 30 years. The main methods include multi-period, different sensor images and different seasonal spectral curves, vegetation index, GIS and data analysis methods. The results show that the main ecological land in the Yellow River Delta included coastal beaches, saline-alkaline lands, and water bodies. These lands have relatively distinct spectral and texture features. The spectral features along the beach show characteristics of absorption in the green band and reflection in the red band. This feature is less affected by the acquisition year, season, and sensor type. Saline-alkali land due to the influence of some saline-alkaline-tolerant plants such as alkali tent, Tamarix and other vegetation, the spectral characteristics have a certain seasonal changes, winter and spring NDVI index is less than the summer and autumn vegetation index. The spectral characteristics of a water body generally decrease rapidly with increasing wavelength, and the reflectance in the red band increases with increasing sediment concentration. In conclusion, according to the spectral characteristics and image texture features of the ecological land in the Yellow River Delta, the accuracy of image interpretation of such ecological land can be improved.

STUDY ON REMOTE SENSING IMAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF ECOLOGICAL LAND: CASE STUDY OF ORIGINAL ECOLOGICAL LAND IN THE YELLOW RIVER DELTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Q. An

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Takes the Yellow River Delta as an example, this paper studies the characteristics of remote sensing imagery with dominant ecological functional land use types, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different image in interpreting ecological land use, and uses research results to analyse the changing trend of ecological land in the study area in the past 30 years. The main methods include multi-period, different sensor images and different seasonal spectral curves, vegetation index, GIS and data analysis methods. The results show that the main ecological land in the Yellow River Delta included coastal beaches, saline-alkaline lands, and water bodies. These lands have relatively distinct spectral and texture features. The spectral features along the beach show characteristics of absorption in the green band and reflection in the red band. This feature is less affected by the acquisition year, season, and sensor type. Saline-alkali land due to the influence of some saline-alkaline-tolerant plants such as alkali tent, Tamarix and other vegetation, the spectral characteristics have a certain seasonal changes, winter and spring NDVI index is less than the summer and autumn vegetation index. The spectral characteristics of a water body generally decrease rapidly with increasing wavelength, and the reflectance in the red band increases with increasing sediment concentration. In conclusion, according to the spectral characteristics and image texture features of the ecological land in the Yellow River Delta, the accuracy of image interpretation of such ecological land can be improved.

Enhancing the Resilience of Human-Environment Systems: a Social Ecological Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Stokols

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Resilience studies build on the notion that phenomena in the real world should be understood as dynamic social-ecological systems. However, the scholarly community may not be fully aware that social ecology, as a conceptual framework, has a long intellectual history, nor fully cognizant of its foundational theory. In this article, we trace the intellectual roots and core principles of social ecology and demonstrate how these principles enable a broader conceptualization of resilience than may be found in much of the literature. We then illustrate how the resulting notion of resilience as transactional process and multi-capital formation affords new perspectives on diverse phenomena such as global financial crises and adaptation to environmental stresses to communities and ecosystems. A social-ecological analysis of resilience enables the study of people-environment transactions across varying dimensions, time periods, and scales. Furthermore, in its openness to experiential knowledge and action research, the social ecology framework coheres well with participative-collaborative modes of inquiry, which traverse institutional, epistemological, and scale-related boundaries.

Research productivity of Pakistan in medical sciences during the period 1996-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Meo, S A; Almasri, A A; Usmani, A M

2013-11-01

This study aimed to investigate the degree of research outcome in medical science subjects in Pakistan during the period 1996-2012. In this study, the research papers published in various global science journals during the period 1996-2012 were accessed. We recorded the total number of research documents having an affiliation with a Pakistan. The main source for information was Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, Thomson Reuters and SCI-mago/Scopus. In global science, Pakistan contributed 58133 research papers in all science and social sciences both in ISI and non ISI indexed journals. However, in medical sciences the total number of research papers from Pakistan are 25604, citable documents 23874, citations 128061, mean citations per documents 6.45 and mean Hirsch index is 35.33. In Pakistan, the upward trend of articles published in global medical science was from the period 1996-2008. However, from 2008 the trend is markedly declined. Pakistan significantly improved its international ranking positions in research during the period 2000-2008. However, the upward trend of research papers published in global medical science could not be retained and from the year 2008 the trend started declining. This trend of research papers further declined in year 2012 compared to year 2011. It is suggested that, Pakistan must take strategic steps to enhance the research culture and increase the research and development expenditure in the country.

Ecological economics and global change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maier-Rigaud, G.

1991-09-01

What is the subject of ecology? What is the primary concern of economics? How can the interface between ecology and economics be described? Is there a relationship between the two different sciences which constitutes a new research field? This book raises some of these basic questions and reflects on major misleading assumptions research in ecological economics unwittingly relies on. An outlook is given as to the aspects on which research in this field should now primarily concentrate. This publication addresses first of all natural scientists and politicians, though economists, too, might find some new aspects apart from traditional economic reasoning. (orig./KW)

Species traits and environmental constraints: entomological research and the history of ecological theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Statzner, B; Hildrew, A G; Resh, V H

2001-01-01

The role that entomology has played in the historical (1800s-1970s) development of ecological theories that match species traits with environmental constraints is reviewed along three lineages originating from the ideas of a minister (Malthus TR. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population. London: Johnson) and a chemist (Liebig J. 1840. Die Organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie. Braunschweig: Vieweg). Major developments in lineage 1 focus on habitat as a filter for species traits, succession, nonequilibrium and equilibrium conditions, and generalizations about the correlation of traits to environmental constraints. In lineage 2, we trace the evolution of the niche concept and focus on ecophysiological traits, biotic interactions, and environmental conditions. Finally, we describe the conceptual route from early demographic studies of human and animal populations to the r-K concept in lineage 3. In the 1970s, the entomologist Southwood merged these three lineages into the "habitat templet concept" (Southwood TRE. 1977. J. Anim. Ecol. 46:337-65), which has stimulated much subsequent research in entomology and general ecology. We conclude that insects have been a far more important resource for the development of ecological theory than previously acknowledged.

Pristine aquatic systems in a Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site of the Brazilian Cerrado.

Science.gov (United States)

Fonseca, Bárbara Medeiros; de Mendonça-Galvão, Luciana

2014-12-01

The maintenance of limnological monitoring programs in the Cerrado Domain is crucial as a provision of useful information about temporal variations in land use and their respective water quality responses, considering its importance as water source for different Brazilian hydrographic basins. The purpose of this research was to describe limnological variables of low-order lotic systems located in the Cerrado Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site (Environmental Protection Area (APA) Gama and Cabeça de Veado, Federal District of Brazil). Altogether, nine different streams were considered in this study. Samplings were conducted between 2010 and 2012, concentrated in the dry and rainy seasons. The sampling sites were generally characterized by low nutrient concentrations (e.g., medians, TP = 14.8 μg L(-1), TN = 20.0 μg L(-1), NO3 = 13.8 μg L(-1)) and slightly acidic waters (median, pH = 5.3), with quite low electrical conductivity values (median = 6.4 μS cm(-1)). However, water quality degradation as a response to diffuse pollution was reported in some sampling points (e.g., Onça and Gama streams), expressed by relatively higher N and P concentrations, which were probably highlighted by the good water quality of the data set as whole. Although there was a trend to higher values of nitrogen forms during the dry season, significant statistical differences between the seasonal periods were reported only for the variables temperature and dissolved silica, which were higher in the dry and rainy season, respectively. The streams located in the preserved areas inside the ecological stations of APA Gama and Cabeça de Veado can still be considered good examples of reference lotic systems in the Cerrado Domain; notwithstanding, this study reported incipient signs of water quality degradation which cannot be overlooked in future limnological monitoring.

Priorities for the next decade of research in radiation ecology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, F.O. Jr.; McCormick, J.F.

1987-01-01

Radiation ecology is the study of the fate and effects of ionizing radiations in the environment. The 1986 Chernobyl accident provides unprecedented opportunities to test models of the transport of a great variety of radionuclides in a variety of ecosystems under a variety of conditions throughout the world. International collaboration provides exciting opportunities to explore the fate of radionuclides on a global scale. Our understanding of ecological effects of ionizing radiations is based almost entirely upon results of point source gamma studies such as those described in this symposium. While results of these studies are incomplete and insufficient, even less is known of ecological effects resulting from high levels of radioactive fallout. High priority should be given to completing long term studies of previously irradiated ecosystems and to initiating studies of the ecological effects of radioactive fallout. The most challenging task is to improve and couple our knowledge of radionuclide transport, radiation dosimetry and ecological effects so that, for a given level of radioactivity released into specific ecosystems, we can predict immediate and long term consequences

[Applied ecology: retrospect and prospect].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Xingyuan; Zeng, Dehui

2004-10-01

Applied ecology is evolved into a principal part of modern ecology that rapidly develops. The major stimulus for the development of applied ecology roots in seeking the solutions for the problems of human populations, resources and environments. Through four decades, the science of applied ecology has been becoming a huge group of disciplines. The future for the applied ecology should concern more with human-influenced and managed ecosystems, and acknowledge humans as the components of ecosystems. Nowadays and in future, the top-priorities in applied ecology should include following fields: sustainable ecosystems and biosphere, ecosystem services and ecological design, ecological assessment of genetically modified organisms, ecology of biological invasions, epidemical ecology, ecological forecasting, ecological process and its control. The authors believe that the comprehensive and active research hotspots coupled some new traits would occur around these fields in foreseeable future.

Program on ecosystem change and society: An international research strategy for integrated social-ecological systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carpenter, S.R.; Folke, C.; Norström, A.V.; Olsson, O.; Schultz, L.; Agarwal, B.; Balvanera, P.; Campbell, B.; Castilla, J.C.; Cramer, W.; DeFries, R.; Eyzaguirre, P.; Hughes, T.P.; Polasky, S.; Sanusi, Z.A.; Scholes, R.J.; Spierenburg, M.J.

2012-01-01

The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global change programs, aims to integrate research on the stewardship of social-ecological systems, the services they generate, and the relationships among natural capital, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality

Program on ecosystem change and society: an international research strategy for integrated social–ecological systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carpenter, S.R; Folke, C.; Nordström, A.; Olsson, O.; Schultz, L.; Agarwal, B.; Balvanera, P.; Campbell, B.; Castilla, J.C.; Cramer, W.; DeFries, R.; Eyzaguirre, P.; Hughes, T.P.; Polasky, S.; Sanusi, Z.; Spierenburg, M.J.

2012-01-01

The Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), a new initiative within the ICSU global change programs, aims to integrate research on the stewardship of social-ecological systems, the services they generate, and the relationships among natural capital, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality

The big data-big model (BDBM) challenges in ecological research

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Y.

2015-12-01

The field of ecology has become a big-data science in the past decades due to development of new sensors used in numerous studies in the ecological community. Many sensor networks have been established to collect data. For example, satellites, such as Terra and OCO-2 among others, have collected data relevant on global carbon cycle. Thousands of field manipulative experiments have been conducted to examine feedback of terrestrial carbon cycle to global changes. Networks of observations, such as FLUXNET, have measured land processes. In particular, the implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), which is designed to network different kinds of sensors at many locations over the nation, will generate large volumes of ecological data every day. The raw data from sensors from those networks offer an unprecedented opportunity for accelerating advances in our knowledge of ecological processes, educating teachers and students, supporting decision-making, testing ecological theory, and forecasting changes in ecosystem services. Currently, ecologists do not have the infrastructure in place to synthesize massive yet heterogeneous data into resources for decision support. It is urgent to develop an ecological forecasting system that can make the best use of multiple sources of data to assess long-term biosphere change and anticipate future states of ecosystem services at regional and continental scales. Forecasting relies on big models that describe major processes that underlie complex system dynamics. Ecological system models, despite great simplification of the real systems, are still complex in order to address real-world problems. For example, Community Land Model (CLM) incorporates thousands of processes related to energy balance, hydrology, and biogeochemistry. Integration of massive data from multiple big data sources with complex models has to tackle Big Data-Big Model (BDBM) challenges. Those challenges include interoperability of multiple

[50 years anniversary of Research Institute for Occupational Medicine and Human Ecology with Siberian Division of RAMSc].

Science.gov (United States)

Rukavishnikov, V S; Shaiakhmetov, S F; Gus'kova, T M

2010-01-01

The article covers main steps of establishment and development of Research Institute for Occupational medicine and Human ecology with Siberian Division of RAMSc over 50 years of activities, major results of research, contribution of the Institute personnel into development of hygienic science and practical medicine in Siberia.

[Ecological carrying capacity and Chongming Island's ecological construction].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kaiyun; Zou, Chunjing; Kong, Zhenghong; Wang, Tianhou; Chen, Xiaoyong

2005-12-01

This paper overviewed the goals of Chongming Island's ecological construction and its background, analyzed the current eco-economic status and constraints of the Island, and put forward some scientific issues on its ecological construction. It was suggested that for the resources-saving and sustainable development of the Island, the researches on its ecological construction should be based on its ecological carrying capacity, fully take the regional characteristics into consideration, and refer the successful development modes at home and abroad. The carrying capacity study should ground on systemic and dynamic views, give a thorough evaluation of the Island's present carrying capacity, simulate its possible changes, and forecast its demands and risks. Operable countermeasures to promote the Island's carrying capacity should be worked out, new industry structure, population scale, and optimized distribution projects conforming to regional carrying capacity should be formulated, and effective ecological security alarming and control system should be built, with the aim of providing suggestions and strategic evidences for the decision-making of economic development and sustainable environmental resources use of the region.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1984 to the DOE Office of Energy Research. Part 2. Ecological sciences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Novich, C.M. (ed.)

1985-02-01

Research progress is reported in the following areas: (1) the terrestrial ecology of semi-arid sites; (2) marine sciences; (3) radionuclide fate and effects; (4) waste mobilization, fate and effects; and (5) theoretical research on environmental sampling. (ACR)

Food ecology of the Kalahari Lion Panthera leo vernayi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. C Eloff

1984-12-01

Full Text Available Aspects of the food ecology of the lion were researched in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. A survey based on 195 periods of 24 hours each, indicated that porcupines represented 32,3 and gemsbok 25 of lion kills. Because so many small or young mammals are being caught, a single Kalahari lion probably makes as many as 50 kills per year @ considerably more than anywhere else in Africa. The Kalahari lion covers a distance, on average, of 11,8 km per night in search of food. The hunting success of the Kalahari lion, the ecological division of predators, and the effect of food on mortality is discussed. Predation by lions seems to play an insignificant role in the regulation of prey population numbers.

[Ecology-economy harmonious development based on the ecological services value change in Yanqi Basin, Northwest China].

Science.gov (United States)

Mamat, Zulpiya; Halik, Umut; Aji, Rouzi; Nurmemet, Ilyas; Anwar, Mirigul; Keyimu, Maierdang

2015-03-01

In this paper, we used land use/cover ecosystem service value estimation model and ecological economic coordination degree model to analyze the changes of the ecosystem service value by the land use/cover changes during 1985, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2011 in Yanqi Basin, Xin-jiang. Then we evaluated the ecology-economy harmony and the regional differences. The results showed that during 1985-2011, there was an increasing trend in the areas of waters, wetland, sand, cultivated land and construction land in Yanqi Basin. In contrast, that of the saline-alkali land, grassland and woodland areas exhibited a decreasing trend. The ecosystem service value in Yanqi Basin during this period presented an increasing trend, among which the waters and cultivated land contributed most to the total value of ecosystem services, while the grassland and the woodland had obviously declined contribution to the total value of ecosystem services. The research showed that the development of ecological economy in the study area was at a low conflict and low coordination level. So, taking reasonable and effective use of the regional waters and soil resources is the key element to maintain the ecosystem service function and sustainable and harmonious development of economy in Yanqi Basin.

The next step in health behavior research: the need for ecological moderation analyses - an application to diet and physical activity at childcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Gubbels, Jessica S; Van Kann, Dave Hh; de Vries, Nanne K; Thijs, Carel; Kremers, Stef Pj

2014-04-17

The ecological perspective holds that human behavior depends on the interaction of different environmental factors and personal characteristics, but it lacks validation and operationalization. In the current paper, an ecological view was adopted to examine the interactive impact of several ecological systems on children's dietary intake and physical activity at childcare or similar facilities. The ecological view was operationalized into three types of interaction: 1) interaction between types of childcare environment (physical, social, political, economic); 2) interaction between micro-systems (the childcare and home environment) in meso-systems; and 3) interaction between childcare environment and child characteristics. The predictive value of each of these interactions was tested based on a systematic review of the literature. Several studies support the hypothesis that the influence of the childcare environment on children's physical activity and diet is moderated by child characteristics (age, gender), but interaction between environmental types as well as between micro-systems is hardly examined in the field of behavioral nutrition and physical activity. Qualitative studies and general child development research provide some valuable insights, but we advocate quantitative research adopting an ecological perspective on environmental influences. Empirical studies operationalizing a true ecological view on diet and physical activity are scarce. Theorizing and assessment of interaction is advocated to become common practice rather than an exception in behavioral nutrition and physical activity research, in order to move the field forward.

Determining the object structure of ecological and economic research and knowledge base for decision support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozulia, T.V.; Kozulia, M.M.

2017-01-01

The mathematical model of natural-technogenic objects is substantiated in the article. Natural-technogenic object of research is defined in form of a system model, which includes the economic, ecological and social components and processes system occurring in the selected systems and in their interaction. Basis for introduction systematic analysis methods for consistent problematic environmental safety tasks solution under conditions of uncertainty has been formed. The complex methods system includes entropy theory provisions on the objects state evaluation, the comparator identification method, substantively substantiated for solving complex environment quality assessment problems. An example of ecological state technogenically loaded landscape-geochemical complexes on the proposed methodological support studied in the work.

Developing interprofessional education online: An ecological systems theory analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bluteau, Patricia; Clouder, Lynn; Cureton, Debra

2017-07-01

This article relates the findings of a discourse analysis of an online asynchronous interprofessional learning initiative involving two UK universities. The impact of the initiative is traced over three intensive periods of online interaction, each of several-weeks duration occurring over a three-year period, through an analysis of a random sample of discussion forum threads. The corpus of rich data drawn from the forums is interpreted using ecological systems theory, which highlights the complexity of interaction of individual, social and cultural elements. Ecological systems theory adopts a life course approach to understand how development occurs through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between people and their environment. This lens provides a novel approach for analysis and interpretation of findings with respect to the impact of pre-registration interprofessional education and the interaction between the individual and their social and cultural contexts as they progress through 3/4 years of their programmes. Development is mapped over time (the chronosystem) to highlight the complexity of interaction across microsystems (individual), mesosystems (curriculum and institutional/care settings), exosystems (community/wider local context), and macrosystems (national context and culture). This article illustrates the intricacies of students' interprofessional development over time and the interactive effects of social ecological components in terms of professional knowledge and understanding, wider appreciation of health and social care culture and identity work. The implications for contemporary pre-registration interprofessional education and the usefulness and applicability of ecological systems theory for future research and development are considered.

Aesthetic Engagement, Ecosophy C, and Ecological Appreciation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Xiangzhan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available With the aim of healing the earth and sustain a healthy ecosystem for all life forms, not humankind alone, ecoaesthetics emerges as a critique of Enlightenment mentality and of modern aesthetics as it is embodied in it. This mentality contributes greatly to the global ecological crisis and to other problem areas, such as population, economic, political and religious ones. In my understanding of aesthetics, ecoaesthetics is defined as the theory of ecological aesthetic appreciation.[1] With ecoaesthetics as my research horizon, there are at least two reasons for me to pay special attention to American philosopher Arnold Berleant’s conception of aesthetic engagement and his aesthetic theory based on it, an aesthetics of engagement. The first is our shared theme, which is the critique of modern aesthetics. The second reason is more complex for it involves the crucial question of the proper manner of aesthetic appreciation. From the perspective of ecoaesthetics, the contemplation of objects by a separated perceiver, an approach that is based on the modern philosophical dualism of subject and object, is unsatisfactory and inadequate. Berleant’s aesthetic engagement is a more satisfactory account of appreciation that is aesthetic and ecological. This emphasizes the ecological continuity or interrelatedness between the human appreciator and objects. Of course, any theory can occasion critique and development. Based on Berleant’s idea of aesthetic engagement, I would like to propose Ecosophy C. This can be contrasted with Ecosophy T proposed by the Norwegian, Arne Naess, and with traditional Chinese aesthetic wisdom. In contrast with these, I would like to develop my own view of ecological understanding. In order to construct a more comprehensive and reasonable ecoaesthetics, my Ecosophy C contains eight points that are crucial in building an ecological model of aesthetic appreciation for this period of ecological crisis.

The ecological economics: An ecological economics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castiblanco R, Carmenza

2007-01-01

Ecological Economics arise as a scientific discipline aimed to integrate concepts of economics, ecology, thermodynamics, ethic and other natural and social sciences in order to incorporate a biophysical and integrated perspective of the inter dependences between economies and environment, from a plural conception and a methodology beyond disciplines. Ecological Economics studies the black box of economic processes usually excluded of the traditional economics: thermodynamics and ecology. Although it is relatively a new field of study, it has been strengthening its theoretical framework with scientific basis and analytic principles that lead to its identification as a new discipline that show a whole new paradigm. The scope of this article is to show the conceptual and methodological bases, the main founders, approaches and central debates of this new discipline. This brief introduction is a preamble to the papers of the meeting Ecological Economics: a perspective for Colombia included in this number, that took place on September 22 - 27 of 2007, at the National University of Colombia at Bogota. During tree days national and international experts, professors, researchers, workers of environmental sector and people interested on environmental issues joined together to know the conceptual and methodological achievements reached of this discipline; as well as to analyse and evaluate the environmental problems of the country, from the systemic, interdisciplinary and general perspective that it promotes

From forest fires to fisheries management: anthropology, conservation biology, and historical ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Braje, Todd J; Rick, Torben C

2013-01-01

Human-environmental relationships have long been of interest to a variety of scientists, including ecologists, biologists, anthropologists, and many others. In anthropology, this interest was especially prevalent among cultural ecologists of the 1970s and earlier, who tended to explain culture as the result of techno-environmental constraints. More recently researchers have used historical ecology, an approach that focuses on the long-term dialectical relationship between humans and their environments, as well as long-term prehuman ecological datasets. An important contribution of anthropology to historical ecology is that anthropological datasets dealing with ethnohistory, traditional ecological knowledge, and human skeletal analysis, as well as archeological datasets on faunal and floral remains, artifacts, geochemistry, and stratigraphic analysis, provide a deep time perspective (across decades, centuries, and millennia) on the evolution of ecosystems and the place of people in those larger systems. Historical ecological data also have an applied component that can provide important information on the relative abundances of flora and fauna, changes in biogeography, alternations in food webs, landscape evolution, and much more. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Monitoring dietary intake and physical activity electronically: feasibility, usability, and ecological validity of a mobile-based Ecological Momentary Assessment tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Spook, Jorinde Eline; Paulussen, Theo; Kok, Gerjo; Van Empelen, Pepijn

2013-09-24

Despite the growing body of research on complex lifestyle behaviors (eg, Dietary Intake [DI] and Physical Activity [PA]), monitoring of these behaviors has been hampered by a lack of suitable methods. A possible solution to this deficiency is mobile-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (mEMA), which enables researchers to collect data on participants' states in real-time by means of a smartphone application. However, feasibility, usability, and ecological validity need to be anticipated and managed in order to enhance the validity of mEMA. To examine the feasibility, usability, and ecological validity of a mEMA application (app) with regard to DI and PA among Dutch vocational education students. The students (n=30) participated in the mEMA study for seven consecutive days. They downloaded the mEMA app on their smartphone. Feasibility and usability of the mEMA app were evaluated by completing an online evaluation after seven days of participation. Ecological validity was measured by assessing the degree to which the content of the mEMA app approximated the real-world setting that was being examined, through several multiple-choice questions. Compliance rates, as registered by the mEMA app, declined 46% over a seven-day period, while self-reported compliance, as measured with an online evaluation questionnaire afterwards, indicated a smaller decrease in compliance (29%). The students evaluated the mEMA app as feasible and usable. Ecological validity analyses showed that all DI and almost all PA multiple-choice options were covered with the compound response categories. The mEMA app offers the opportunity to assess complex health behaviors (eg, DI and PA) in real-time settings, in which specifically routinized behaviors are involved. However, the mEMA app faced several challenges that needed to be overcome in order to improve its validity. Overall, the present study showed that the mEMA app is a usable and ecologically valid tool to measure DI and PA behaviors among

Meta-analysis in applied ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Gavin

2010-02-23

This overview examines research synthesis in applied ecology and conservation. Vote counting and pooling unweighted averages are widespread despite the superiority of syntheses based on weighted combination of effects. Such analyses allow exploration of methodological uncertainty in addition to consistency of effects across species, space and time, but exploring heterogeneity remains controversial. Meta-analyses are required to generalize in ecology, and to inform evidence-based decision-making, but the more sophisticated statistical techniques and registers of research used in other disciplines must be employed in ecology to fully realize their benefits.

The spatial optimism model research for the regional land use based on the ecological constraint

Science.gov (United States)

XU, K.; Lu, J.; Chi, Y.

2013-12-01

The study focuses on the Yunnan-Guizhou (i.e. Yunnan province and Guizhou province) Plateau in China. Since the Yunnan-Guizhou region consists of closed basins, the land resources suiting for development are in a shortage, and the ecological problems in the area are quite complicated. In such circumstance, in order to get the applicable basins area and distribution, certain spatial optimism model is needed. In this research, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and land use data are used to get the boundary rules of the basins distribution. Furthermore, natural risks, ecological risks and human-made ecological risks are integrated to be analyzed. Finally, the spatial overlay analysis method is used to model the developable basins area and distribution for industries and urbanization. The study process can be divided into six steps. First, basins and their distribution need to be recognized. In this way, the DEM data is used to extract the geomorphology characteristics. The plaque regions with gradient under eight degrees are selected. Among these regions, the total area of the plaque with the area above 8 km2 is 54,000 km2, 10% of the total area. These regions are selected to the potential application of industries and urbanization. In the later five steps, analyses are aimed at these regions. Secondly, the natural risks are analyzed. The conditions of the earthquake, debris flow and rainstorm and flood are combined to classify the natural risks. Thirdly, the ecological risks are analyzed containing the ecological sensibility and ecosystem service function importance. According to the regional ecologic features, the sensibility containing the soil erosion, acid rain, stony desertification and survive condition factors is derived and classified according to the medium value to get the ecological sensibility partition. The ecosystem service function importance is classified and divided considering the biology variation protection and water conservation factors. The fourth

Chemical ecology of the marine plankton.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Jessie S; Poulson-Ellestad, Kelsey L; Drew Sieg, R; Poulin, Remington X; Kubanek, Julia

2013-10-11

This review summarizes recent work in the chemical ecology of pelagic marine ecosystems. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of advances in the field over the period covered, we have organized this review by ecological interaction type beginning with intraspecific interactions, then interspecific interactions (including mutualism, parasitism, competition, and predation), and finally community- and ecosystem-wide interactions.

[Progress and prospects on evaluation of ecological restoration: a review of the 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration].

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Jing-Yi; Zhao, Wen-Wu

2014-09-01

The 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration was held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA on October 6-11, 2013. About 1200 delegates from more than 50 countries attended the conference, and discussed the latest developments in different thematic areas of ecological restoration. Discussions on evaluation of ecological restoration were mainly from three aspects: The construction for evaluation indicator system of ecological restoration; the evaluation methods of ecological restoration; monitoring and dynamic evaluation of ecological restoration. The meeting stressed the importance of evaluation in the process of ecological restoration and concerned the challenges in evaluation of ecological restoration. The conference had the following enlightenments for China' s research on evaluation of ecological restoration: 1) Strengthening the construction of comprehensive evaluation indicators system and focusing on the multi-participation in the evaluation process. 2) Paying more attentions on scale effect and scale transformation in the evaluation process of ecological restoration. 3) Expanding the application of 3S technology in assessing the success of ecological restoration and promoting the dynamic monitoring of ecological restoration. 4) Carrying out international exchanges and cooperation actively, and promoting China's international influence in ecological restoration research.

Ecology-driven stereotypes override race stereotypes

OpenAIRE

Williams, Keelah E. G.; Sng, Oliver; Neuberg, Steven L.

2015-01-01

Ecological features shape people’s goals, strategies, and behaviors. Our research suggests that social perceivers possess a lay understanding of ecology’s influence on behavior, resulting in ecology-driven stereotypes. Moreover, because race is confounded with ecology in the United States, Americans’ stereotypes about racial groups may actually reflect their stereotypes about these groups’ presumed home ecologies. In a series of studies, we demonstrate that (i) individuals possess ecology-dri...

Keragaman Dan Kelimpahan Jenis Kodok Serta Hubungannya Dengan Vegetasi Pada Lahan Basah "Ecology Park", Kampus Lipicibinong [Diversity and Abundance of Non-forest Frogs and Their Relationship with Wetland Vegetation in Ecology Park, Lipi Campus Cibinong

OpenAIRE

Kurniati, Hellen

2010-01-01

Previous ecological studies have revealed the types of non-forest frog commonly occupying habitats that have been modified by humans are still severely limited. For that purpose the research was conducted in the wetland area of Ecology Park in LIPI Campus Cibinong which is located at S 06" 29' 40.2"; E 106° 51' 06.3" with 165 meters altitude above sea level (asl) over seven months (May-November 2009) by monitoring 14 times during the study period (July-November).The transect method was used t...

SRS ecology: Environmental information document

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wike, L.D.; Shipley, R.W.; Bowers, J.A. [and others

1993-09-01

The purpose of this Document is to provide a source of ecological information based on the exiting knowledge gained from research conducted at the Savannah River Site. This document provides a summary and synthesis of ecological research in the three main ecosystem types found at SRS and information on the threatened and endangered species residing there.

SRS ecology: Environmental information document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wike, L.D.; Shipley, R.W.; Bowers, J.A.

1993-09-01

The purpose of this Document is to provide a source of ecological information based on the exiting knowledge gained from research conducted at the Savannah River Site. This document provides a summary and synthesis of ecological research in the three main ecosystem types found at SRS and information on the threatened and endangered species residing there

Laser spectroscopy applied to environmental, ecological, food safety, and biomedical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Svanberg, Sune; Zhao, Guangyu; Zhang, Hao; Huang, Jing; Lian, Ming; Li, Tianqi; Zhu, Shiming; Li, Yiyun; Duan, Zheng; Lin, Huiying; Svanberg, Katarina

2016-03-21

Laser spectroscopy provides many possibilities for multi-disciplinary applications in environmental monitoring, in the ecological field, for food safety investigations, and in biomedicine. The paper gives several examples of the power of multi-disciplinary applications of laser spectroscopy as pursued in our research group. The studies utilize mostly similar and widely applicable spectroscopic approaches. Air pollution and vegetation monitoring by lidar techniques, as well as agricultural pest insect monitoring and classification by elastic scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy are described. Biomedical aspects include food safety applications and medical diagnostics of sinusitis and otitis, with strong connection to the abatement of antibiotics resistance development.

Ecological research in conserved areas in the Orange Free State ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There is a need for the protection and scientific management of representative samples of each ecological area of the Orange Free State. Considerable progress has been made with the establishment of a large number of nature reserves by various authorities. Various ecological investigations have been undertaken in ...

Dancing with structure: research in Ecological Pedagogy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

dr René Butter

2011-01-01

Ecological Pedagogy is the “Pedagogy of the whole”. It assumes a continuous interaction between the individual and his or her environment (e.g. Bronfenbrenner (1977)). Traditionally, Pedagogy has been aimed at separate aspects, such as the school, the family, the neighbourhood or government

Ecological periodic tables: In principle and practice

Science.gov (United States)

The chemical periodic table, the Linnaean system of classification and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram are iconic information organizing structure in chemistry, biology and astronomy, respectively, because they are simple, exceptionally useful and they foster the expansion of sci...

Research on the Mechanism of Cross Regional Grassland Ecological Compensation

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Ran; Ma, Jun

2018-01-01

In recent years, grassland environmental damage has become serious, and grassland resources protection task has become heavy, grassland ecological compensation has become an effective way to solve this problem; but the current grassland ecological compensation standards were low, the effect is poor. The fundamental reason is the model of administrative division destroys the integrity of grassland. Based on the analysis of the status quo of grassland compensation, this paper tries to protect the grassland integrity, breaks the administrative division restriction, implements the space regulation, constructs the framework of cross-regional grassland ecological compensation mechanism, describes its operation process. It provides new way to realize the sustainable development of the grassland environment.

Establishing the Boundaries and Building Bridges: Research Methods Into the Ecology of the Refugee Parenting Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nombasa Williams

2010-10-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the suitability of the focus group method for conducting research early in post-resettlement among refugee parents and carers in South Australia. This method was employed to uncover the refugee parenting experience in pre-resettlement contexts. There were three refugee focus groups, consisting of a Sudanese women’s group, an African men’s group, and an Afghani and Iraqi women’s group. To illustrate each group’s differential parenting ecologies in milieus of forced migration ecological matrixes were devised which are presented in the results section. An ecological matrix was also developed to unpack, code and analyse transcripts. The matrix was designed to include categories and actions so as to construct meaning units and subsequent condensed meaning units to determine the concluding themes. These provided an analytical framework with which to illuminate the constructed meanings participants attributed to their refugee parenting experiences. The findings provide insights into the ecology of the refugee parenting experience and might be of considerable importance for Australian resettlement services and state systems of child protection seeking to develop culturally appropriate and relevant services.

Theoretical ecology as etiological from the start.

Science.gov (United States)

Donhauser, Justin

2016-12-01

The world's leading environmental advisory institutions look to ecological theory and research as an objective guide for policy and resource management decision-making. In addition to the theoretical and broadly philosophical merits of doing so, it is therefore practically significant to clear up confusions about ecology's conceptual foundations and to clarify the basic workings of inferential methods used in the science. Through discussion of key moments in the genesis of the theoretical branch of ecology, this essay elucidates a general heuristic role of teleological metaphors in ecological research and defuses certain enduring confusions about work in ecology. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An integrated conceptual framework for long-term social-ecological research

Science.gov (United States)

S.L. Collins; S.R. Carpenter; S.M. Swinton; D.E. Orenstein; D.L. Childers; T.L. Gragson; N.B. Grimm; J.M. Grove; S.L. Harlan; J.P. Kaye; A.K. Knapp; G.P. Kofinas; J.J. Magnuson; W.H. McDowell; J.M. Melack; L.A. Ogden; G.P. Robertson; M.D. Smith; A.C. Whitmer

2010-01-01

The global reach of human activities affects all natural ecosystems, so that the environment is best viewed as a social-ecological system. Consequently, a more integrative approach to environmental science, one that bridges the biophysical and social domains, is sorely needed. Although models and frameworks for social-ecological systems exist, few are explicitly...

Consumption and environment - ecological economic perspectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2006-01-01

motivation for dealing with consumption in ecological economics is presented. Basically, ecological economists agree that there are limits to the material growth of the economy, and that these limits have already been reached or exceeded. As there is an ethical challenge to increase environmental space......Consumption and environment – ecological economic perspectives Summary Research on issues related to consumption and environment has grown rapidly since the middle of the 1990s, and several disciplines as well as transdisciplinary fields have contributed to this development. The present papers...... constitute a small part of this wave of interest, and they are mostly framed as belonging to ecological economics. The collection starts with an introduction to the field of consumption research within ecological economics and then follows a series of papers on more specific issues. The introductionary...

Between Design and Ecology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørn, Mona Chor

such vegetation, based on concepts and theories in plant community ecology. If these communities are based on local forbs there is a continuum in anthropogenic intervention from designed and intensively maintained to semi-natural herbaceous vegetation. Results from a large field experiment show that, after three...... colonised by grasses and eventually woody species. This thesis adds useful basic knowledge in plant community ecology and species-specific growth, which are relevant to research and planning in landscape architecture and ecology....

A non-extensive thermodynamic theory of ecological systems

Science.gov (United States)

Van Xuan, Le; Khac Ngoc, Nguyen; Lan, Nguyen Tri; Viet, Nguyen Ai

2017-06-01

After almost 30 years of development, it is not controversial issue that the so-called Tsallis entropy provides a useful approach to studying the complexity where the non-additivity of the systems under consideration is frequently met. Also, in the ecological research, Tsallis entropy, or in other words, q-entropy has been found itself as a generalized approach to define a range of diversity indices including Shannon-Wiener and Simpson indices. As a further stage of development in theoretical research, a thermodynamic theory based on Tsallis entropy or diversity indices in ecology has to be constructed for ecological systems to provide knowledge of ecological macroscopic behaviors. The standard method of theoretical physics is used in the manipulation and the equivalence between phenomenological thermodynamics and ecological aspects is the purpose of the ongoing research. The present work is in the line of the authors research to implement Tsallis non-extensivity approach to obtain the most important thermodynamic quantities of ecological systems such as internal energy Uq and temperature Tq based on a given modeled truncated Boltzmann distribution of the Whittaker plot for a dataset. These quantities have their own ecological meaning, especially the temperature Tq provides the insight of equilibrium condition among ecological systems as it is well-known in 0th law of thermodynamics.

Ecological Perspectives in HCI

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blevis, Eli; Bødker, Susanne; Flach, John

The aim of the workshop is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss the present and future of ecological perspectives in HCI. The participants will reflect on the current uses and interpretations of “ecology” and related concepts in the field. The workshop will assess the p...... the potential of ecological perspectives in HCI for supporting rich and meaningful analysis, as well as innovative design, of interactive technologies in real-life contexts......The aim of the workshop is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss the present and future of ecological perspectives in HCI. The participants will reflect on the current uses and interpretations of “ecology” and related concepts in the field. The workshop will assess...

Ecological alarm system for Itaipu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faehser, L.

1984-05-01

At Itaipu, on the Rio Parana, Brazil and Paraguay are constructing the world's largest hydro-electric power plant with a capacity seven times as high as that of Assuan. An information system is intended to give fair warning in case of threatening ecological conditions. The computer-supported alarm system had four objectives: 1. presentation of the present ecological situation; 2. evaluation of the ecological risks; 3. warning about ecological deficits; 4. suggestions for establishing ecological stability. In a first step the available inventory data concerning soil, topography, vegetation and water were evaluated by expert groups according to their risk grade (0-4) and ecological weight (1-10). The product of these evaluations indicates the ecological deficit (0-40). At a threshold value of 30, the information system automatically signals ecological alarm and locates the centre of danger via computer-plotted maps and tables. The necessary data are supplied periodically by selected measurement stations. Quantification of ecological facts enables the persons who are responsible for decisions at Itaipu to recognize, avoid, or diminish elements of danger even if they have little or no ecological knowledge. The file of data that has been compiled so far should be extended parallel with the development in the Itaipu area. With the help of factor analysis connections of cause and effect can be detected in this extremely complex reservoir system which has hardly been explored yet.

The Ecology of Early Settlement in Northern Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The first volume presents new archaeological and ecological data and analyses on the relation between human subsistence and survival, and the natural history of North-Western Europe throughout the period 10000 – 6000 BC. The volume contains contributions from ecological oriented archaeologists...... and from the natural sciences, throwing new light on the physical and biotic/ecological conditions of relevance to the earliest settlement. Main themes are human subsistence, subsistence technology, ecology and food availability pertaining to the first humans, and demographic patterns among humans linked...

Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1983 to the DOE Office of Energy Research. Part 2. Ecological sciences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vaughan, B.E.

1984-02-01

The 1983 annual report highlights research in five areas funded by the Ecological Sciences Division of the Office of Energy Research. The five areas include: western semi-arid ecosystems; marine sciences; mobilization fate and effects of chemical wastes; radionuclide fate and effects; and statistical and quantitative research. The work was accomplished under 19 individual projects. Individual projects are indexed separately.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1983 to the DOE Office of Energy Research. Part 2. Ecological sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaughan, B.E.

1984-02-01

The 1983 annual report highlights research in five areas funded by the Ecological Sciences Division of the Office of Energy Research. The five areas include: western semi-arid ecosystems; marine sciences; mobilization fate and effects of chemical wastes; radionuclide fate and effects; and statistical and quantitative research. The work was accomplished under 19 individual projects. Individual projects are indexed separately

[Ecology and ecologies].

Science.gov (United States)

Valera, Luca

2011-01-01

Ecology (from the Greek words οιχοσ, "house" and λογια "study of") is the science of the "house", since it studies the environments where we live. There are three main ways of thinking about Ecology: Ecology as the study of interactions (between humans and the environment, between humans and living beings, between all living beings, etc.), Ecology as the statistical study of interactions, Ecology as a faith, or rather as a science that requires a metaphysical view. The history of Ecology shows us how this view was released by the label of "folk sense" to gain the epistemological status of science, a science that strives to be interdisciplinary. So, the aim of Ecology is to study, through a scientific methodology, the whole natural world, answering to very different questions, that arise from several fields (Economics, Biology, Sociology, Philosophy, etc.). The plurality of issues that Ecology has to face led, during the Twentieth-century, to branch off in several different "ecologies". As a result, each one of these new approaches chose as its own field a more limited and specific portion of reality.

Ecology and evolution of plant–pollinator interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Randall J.; Irwin, Rebecca E.; Flanagan, Rebecca J.; Karron, Jeffrey D.

2009-01-01

Background Some of the most exciting advances in pollination biology have resulted from interdisciplinary research combining ecological and evolutionary perspectives. For example, these two approaches have been essential for understanding the functional ecology of floral traits, the dynamics of pollen transport, competition for pollinator services, and patterns of specialization and generalization in plant–pollinator interactions. However, as research in these and other areas has progressed, many pollination biologists have become more specialized in their research interests, focusing their attention on either evolutionary or ecological questions. We believe that the continuing vigour of a synthetic and interdisciplinary field like pollination biology depends on renewed connections between ecological and evolutionary approaches. Scope In this Viewpoint paper we highlight the application of ecological and evolutionary approaches to two themes in pollination biology: (1) links between pollinator behaviour and plant mating systems, and (2) generalization and specialization in pollination systems. We also describe how mathematical models and synthetic analyses have broadened our understanding of pollination biology, especially in human-modified landscapes. We conclude with several suggestions that we hope will stimulate future research. This Viewpoint also serves as the introduction to this Special Issue on the Ecology and Evolution of Plant–Pollinator Interactions. These papers provide inspiring examples of the synergy between evolutionary and ecological approaches, and offer glimpses of great accomplishments yet to come. PMID:19482881

Ecology and evolution of plant-pollinator interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Randall J; Irwin, Rebecca E; Flanagan, Rebecca J; Karron, Jeffrey D

2009-06-01

Some of the most exciting advances in pollination biology have resulted from interdisciplinary research combining ecological and evolutionary perspectives. For example, these two approaches have been essential for understanding the functional ecology of floral traits, the dynamics of pollen transport, competition for pollinator services, and patterns of specialization and generalization in plant-pollinator interactions. However, as research in these and other areas has progressed, many pollination biologists have become more specialized in their research interests, focusing their attention on either evolutionary or ecological questions. We believe that the continuing vigour of a synthetic and interdisciplinary field like pollination biology depends on renewed connections between ecological and evolutionary approaches. In this Viewpoint paper we highlight the application of ecological and evolutionary approaches to two themes in pollination biology: (1) links between pollinator behaviour and plant mating systems, and (2) generalization and specialization in pollination systems. We also describe how mathematical models and synthetic analyses have broadened our understanding of pollination biology, especially in human-modified landscapes. We conclude with several suggestions that we hope will stimulate future research. This Viewpoint also serves as the introduction to this Special Issue on the Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Pollinator Interactions. These papers provide inspiring examples of the synergy between evolutionary and ecological approaches, and offer glimpses of great accomplishments yet to come.

Ecological and Economic Problems of Environmental Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mashchenko Maryna A.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at defining a common mechanism for assessing the ecological and economic threats and ecological losses on the basis of a long-term study to ensure the environmental security of the State. The necessity of a new approach to the State regulation through achievement of environmental security is displayed, that will allow to reduce tensions of the ecological-economic problems in Ukraine. For implementation of this approach, a general mechanism for estimation of ecological-economic threats and ecological losses is provided, which is carried out through formation of an integral costs system. The costs system is presented in the article in the form of an in-depth mechanism for estimating the ecological-economic threats on the example of ecological impacts. Structuring and preparation of the costs system for applied researches is the next stage of this prolonged research.

New ecological insights through the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON)

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Paul C.Hanson

2008-01-01

Sensor networks are playing an increasingly important role in ecology.Continual advances in affordable sensors and wireless communication are making the development of automated sensing systems with remote communication (i.e.,sensor networks) affordable for many ecological research programs (Porter et al.2005)[1].These in situ instruments provide high-frequency data of key variables that previously were measured intermittently and by hand.A number of federal research organizations have realized the potential of environmental sensor networks, and large-scale initiatives are under development.Independent of these initiatives,small sensor networks have emerged to meet the needs of the individual or small teams of ecologists.Ecologists are entering (or already have entered,in some cases) an era in which high temporal and spatial resolution in situ measurements are generating data at unprecedented rates.The use of sensor networks will dramatically increase the volume of ecological data generated in the next decade.

Ethical considerations for conducting health disparities research in community health centers: a social-ecological perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Boutin-Foster, Carla; Scott, Ebony; Melendez, Jennifer; Rodriguez, Anna; Ramos, Rosio; Kanna, Balavenkatesh; Michelen, Walid

2013-12-01

Community health centers (CHCs) provide optimal research settings. They serve a high-risk, medically underserved population in the greatest need of intervention. Low socioeconomic status renders this population particularly vulnerable to research misconduct. Traditional principles of research ethics are often applied to participants only. The social-ecological model offers a comprehensive framework for applying these principles across multiple levels (participants, providers, organizations, communities, and policy). Our experience with the Trial Using Motivational Interviewing, Positive Affect and Self-Affirmation in African-Americans with Hypertension, a randomized trial conducted in CHCs, led us to propose a new platform for discussing research ethics; examine the social, community, and political factors surrounding research conducted in CHCs; and recommend how future research should be conducted in such settings.

Interim balance: Ecology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kogon, E.; Jungk, R.

1981-01-01

Subjects: The ecology problem - world wide. Sectoral balances: The examples of energy, transportation, chemistry, agriculture and food industry, water supply. Destruction of nature and human discord. Conservatives in our political parties and their views on environmental protection. Alliance between reds and 'greens', integration between reds and greens. The Rhine initiative. Lead respects no borders, experiences of citizens' action groups in Lothringia and the Saar district. International airport Munich-II/comments by a protestant. 'Give priority to life'/A hearing on environmental protection. 4:96 - 'greens' in the Bremen Senate. Policy in a hard-hearing world/psychology of citizens' action groups. Critical ecological research and scientific establishment. Full productivity and ecology. The deluge to follow/Hints on how to build an ark. Symbiosis is more than coexistence/Ecologists' social theory. Throwing in two hundred elementary particles/on the way to an ecological concept of science. Scientific journals. Alternative literature. Teaching model for a teaching subject 'ecology'. (orig.) [de

Enhancing continental-scale understanding of agriculture: Integrating the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) with existing research networks to address global change.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, G.

2015-12-01

Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in the sustainability of the world's food system and its contributions to feeding the world's population as well as to ensuring environmental sustainability of the planet. The elements of this grand challenge are by now well known. Analysis of agricultural sustainability is made more challenging by the fact that the local responses to these global drivers of change are extremely variable in space and time due to the biophysical and geopolitical heterogeneity across the United States, and the world. Utilizing research networks allows the scientific community to leverage existing knowledge, models and data to develop a framework for understanding the interplay between global change drivers, regional, and continental sustainability of US agriculture. For example, well-established instrumented and calibrated research networks will allow for the examination of the potential tradeoffs between: 1) crop production, 2) land use and carbon emissions and sequestration, 3) groundwater depletion, and 4) nitrogen dynamics. NEON represents a major investment in scientific infrastructure in support of ecological research at a continental scale and is intended to address multiple ecological grand challenges. NEON will collect data from automated sensors and sample organisms and ecological variables in 20 eco-climatic domains. We will provide examples of how NEON's full potential can be realized when these data are combined with long term experimental results and other sensor networks [e.g., Ameriflux, Fluxnet, the Long-term Ecological Research Program (LTER), the Long-term Agroecosystem Research Network (LTAR)], Critical Zone Observatory (CZO).

Development of Ecological Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrius Keizikas

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The article presents research on ecological buildings and their influence on the constructional sphere. The aim of the paper is to reveal the essence of ecological architecture showing substantial progress and its potential to stimulate architectural and technological growth. The article also describes relations between the ideas of ecological buildings and the ‘passive house’ concepts and aspects of development as well as describes the possibilities of improving building sustainability and energy efficiency. Article in Lithuanian

The FP4026 Research Database on the fundamental period of RC infilled frame structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Asteris, Panagiotis G

2016-12-01

The fundamental period of vibration appears to be one of the most critical parameters for the seismic design of buildings because it strongly affects the destructive impact of the seismic forces. In this article, important research data (entitled FP4026 Research Database (Fundamental Period-4026 cases of infilled frames) based on a detailed and in-depth analytical research on the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures is presented. In particular, the values of the fundamental period which have been analytically determined are presented, taking into account the majority of the involved parameters. This database can be extremely valuable for the development of new code proposals for the estimation of the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures fully or partially infilled with masonry walls.

The FP4026 Research Database on the fundamental period of RC infilled frame structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panagiotis G. Asteris

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The fundamental period of vibration appears to be one of the most critical parameters for the seismic design of buildings because it strongly affects the destructive impact of the seismic forces. In this article, important research data (entitled FP4026 Research Database (Fundamental Period-4026 cases of infilled frames based on a detailed and in-depth analytical research on the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures is presented. In particular, the values of the fundamental period which have been analytically determined are presented, taking into account the majority of the involved parameters. This database can be extremely valuable for the development of new code proposals for the estimation of the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures fully or partially infilled with masonry walls.

Rich dynamics of discrete delay ecological models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Mingshu

2005-01-01

We study multiple bifurcations and chaotic behavior of a discrete delay ecological model. New form of chaos for the 2-D map is observed: the combination of potential period doubling and reverse period-doubling leads to cascading bubbles

Challenges for Social-Ecological Transformations: Contributions from Social and Political Ecology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Görg

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Transformation has become a major topic of sustainability research. This opens up new perspectives, but at the same time, runs the danger to convert into a new critical orthodoxy which narrows down analytical perspectives. Most research is committed towards a political-strategic approach towards transformation. This focus, however, clashes with ongoing transformation processes towards un-sustainability. The paper presents cornerstones of an integrative approach to social-ecological transformations (SET, which builds upon empirical work and conceptual considerations from Social Ecology and Political Ecology. We argue that a critical understanding of the challenges for societal transformations can be advanced by focusing on the interdependencies between societies and the natural environment. This starting point provides a more realistic understanding of the societal and biophysical constraints of sustainability transformations by emphasising the crisis-driven and contested character of the appropriation of nature and the power relations involved. Moreover, it pursues a transdisciplinary mode of research, decisive for adequately understanding any strategy for transformations towards sustainability. Such a conceptual approach of SET is supposed to better integrate the analytical, normative and political-strategic dimension of transformation research. We use the examples of global land use patterns, neo-extractivism in Latin America and the global water crisis to clarify our approach.

A non–extensive thermodynamic theory of ecological systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xuan, Le Van; Ngoc, Nguyen Khac; Lan, Nguyen Tri; Viet, Nguyen Ai

2017-01-01

After almost 30 years of development, it is not controversial issue that the so–called Tsallis entropy provides a useful approach to studying the complexity where the non–additivity of the systems under consideration is frequently met. Also, in the ecological research, Tsallis entropy, or in other words, q –entropy has been found itself as a generalized approach to define a range of diversity indices including Shannon–Wiener and Simpson indices. As a further stage of development in theoretical research, a thermodynamic theory based on Tsallis entropy or diversity indices in ecology has to be constructed for ecological systems to provide knowledge of ecological macroscopic behaviors. The standard method of theoretical physics is used in the manipulation and the equivalence between phenomenological thermodynamics and ecological aspects is the purpose of the ongoing research. The present work is in the line of the authors research to implement Tsallis non–extensivity approach to obtain the most important thermodynamic quantities of ecological systems such as internal energy U q and temperature T q based on a given modeled truncated Boltzmann distribution of the Whittaker plot for a dataset. These quantities have their own ecological meaning, especially the temperature T q provides the insight of equilibrium condition among ecological systems as it is well–known in 0th law of thermodynamics. (paper)

Shaping the future of marine socio-ecological systems research: when early-career researchers meet the seniors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drakou, Evangelia G.; Kermagoret, Charlène; Comte, Adrien; Trapman, Brita; Rice, Jake C.

2017-01-01

As the environmental issues facing our planet change, scientific efforts need to inform the sustainable management of marine resources by adopting a socio-ecological systems approach. Taking the symposium on “Understanding marine socio-ecological systems: including the human dimension in Integrated

Reporting Sexual Victimization During Incarceration: Using Ecological Theory as a Framework to Inform and Guide Future Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Kubiak, Sheryl Pimlott; Brenner, Hannah; Bybee, Deborah; Campbell, Rebecca; Fedock, Gina

2016-03-08

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 149,200 and 209,400 incidents of sexual victimization occur annually in prisons and jails. However, very few individuals experiencing sexual victimization during incarceration report these incidents to correctional authorities. Federal-level policy recommendations derived from the Prison Rape Elimination Act suggest mechanisms for improving reporting as well as standards for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of prison-based sexual victimization. Despite these policy recommendations, sexual assault persists in prisons and jails, with only 8% of prisoners who experience sexual assault reporting their victimization. This review focuses on gaps in the existing research about what factors influence whether adult victims in incarcerated systems will report that they have been sexually assaulted. Using ecological theory to guide this review, various levels of social ecology are incorporated, illuminating a variety of factors influencing the reporting of sexual victimization during incarceration. These factors include the role of individual-level behavior, assault characteristics, the unique aspects and processes of the prison system, and the social stigma that surrounds individuals involved in the criminal/legal system. This review concludes with recommendations for future research, policy, and practice, informed by an ecological conceptualization of reporting. © The Author(s) 2016.

Editorial: Entropy in Landscape Ecology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel A. Cushman

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics are the central organizing principles of nature, but the ideas and implications of the second law are poorly developed in landscape ecology. The purpose of this Special Issue “Entropy in Landscape Ecology” in Entropy is to bring together current research on applications of thermodynamics in landscape ecology, to consolidate current knowledge and identify key areas for future research. The special issue contains six articles, which cover a broad range of topics including relationships between entropy and evolution, connections between fractal geometry and entropy, new approaches to calculate configurational entropy of landscapes, example analyses of computing entropy of landscapes, and using entropy in the context of optimal landscape planning. Collectively these papers provide a broad range of contributions to the nascent field of ecological thermodynamics. Formalizing the connections between entropy and ecology are in a very early stage, and that this special issue contains papers that address several centrally important ideas, and provides seminal work that will be a foundation for the future development of ecological and evolutionary thermodynamics.

Achieving Closure for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems: Engineering and Ecological Challenges, Research Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Dempster, William; Allen, John P.

Closed systems are desirable for a number of purposes: space life support systems where precious life-supporting resources need to be kept inside; biospheric systems; where global ecological pro-cesses can be studied in great detail and testbeds where research topics requiring isolation from the outside (e.g. genetically modified organisms; radioisotopes) can be studied in isolation from the outside environment and where their ecological interactions and fluxes can be studied. But to achieve and maintain closure raises both engineering and ecological challenges. Engineering challenges include methods of achieving closure for structures of different materials, and devel-oping methods of allowing energy (for heating and cooling) and information transfer through the materially closed structure. Methods of calculating degree of closure include measuring degradation rates of inert trace gases introduced into the system. An allied problem is devel-oping means of locating where leaks are located so that they may be repaired and degree of closure maintained. Once closure is achieved, methods of dealing with the pressure differen-tials between inside and outside are needed: from inflatable structures which might adjust to the pressure difference to variable volume chambers attached to the life systems component. These issues are illustrated through the engineering employed at Biosphere 2, the Biosphere 2 Test Module and the Laboratory Biosphere and a discussion of methods used by other closed ecological system facility engineers. Ecological challenges include being able to handle faster cycling rates and accentuated daily and seasonal fluxes of critical life elements such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, macro-and mico-nutrients. The problems of achieving sustainability in closed systems for life support include how to handle atmospheric dynamics including trace gases, producing a complete human diet and recycling nutrients and maintaining soil fertility, healthy air and

Environmental research programme for Switzerland in the period 2000-2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-03-01

This is the Environmental Research Programme for Switzerland worked out by the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forestry and Landscape. The document reviews the present status with emphasis on the current main projects, the institutions involved, the financing available for them and the organisations and institutions in charge of research coordination and controlling. In a second part, the report defines the goals for the period 2000-2003. In particular, more interdisciplinary projects shall be conducted in co-operation with human sciences and future potential users of the research results, so that their introduction into practice is accelerated. The subjects to be dealt with regard both the global environmental destructions and the current acute issues for Switzerland. There are four topics of high priority: (i) conservation and sustainable usage of the biological and landscape diversity; (ii) mankind and environment protection from pollutants and dangerous organisms; (iii) human behaviours, economical incentives and education systems; (iv) the objectives of international agreements on environmental issues and the instruments they need to be applied. The authors assume that public support for environmental research in Switzerland will be around 850 millions USD for the four-years period considered in this document

Environmental research programme for Switzerland in the period 2000-2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-03-01

This is the Environmental Research Programme for Switzerland worked out by the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forestry and Landscape. The document reviews the present status with emphasis on the current main projects, the institutions involved, the financing available for them and the organisations and institutions in charge of research coordination and controlling. In a second part, the report defines the goals for the period 2000-2003. In particular, more interdisciplinary projects shall be conducted in co-operation with human sciences and future potential users of the research results, so that their introduction into practice is accelerated. The subjects to be dealt with regard both the global environmental destructions and the current acute issues for Switzerland. There are four topics of high priority: (i) conservation and sustainable usage of the biological and landscape diversity; (ii) mankind and environment protection from pollutants and dangerous organisms; (iii) human behaviours, economical incentives and education systems; (iv) the objectives of international agreements on environmental issues and the instruments they need to be applied. The authors assume that public support for environmental research in Switzerland will be around 850 millions USD for the four-years period considered in this document [fr

The transition to siblinghood: a developmental ecological systems perspective and directions for future research.

Science.gov (United States)

Volling, Brenda L

2005-12-01

The birth of a baby sibling is a normative life event for many children. Few studies address this important transition period and changes in the older sibling's adjustment and family relationships following the sibling's birth. The present article presents a developmental ecological systems model for studying changes in family life and the older child's adjustment following the birth of a baby sibling. Simultaneous changes occurring in the family and how these changes are interrelated over time to predict patterns of adaptation after the transition to siblinghood are underscored. Recommendations for designing longitudinal studies that take advantage of recent developments in multilevel modeling are also discussed. Copyright 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

The ecological production of cleans stock-breeding problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meldebekov, A.M.

2002-01-01

KazSRTIS have made researches on study of maintenance in cows' milk developed in Almaty's region, determination of heavy metal salts and radionuclides. It has been noted that maintenance of mercury, lead, cupper and zinc increased in suburb's housekeeping cows' milk, which was disposed nearly international highway and industry activities. It is known that entering radionuclides human organism happens by food chain 'soil - vegetable cover - animals product stock-breeding -person'. Animals transformer stern's plants energy at the in conclusion it allows to take the compare with initial vegetable exponent more ecological tidy products limits stream toxic elements in food series of person. It lets to study agricultural animals, how 'biological filter' in production ecological clean and healthy product of food. Changing structure and set stern's rationals, method contents the limit of animals stream manufacturing pollution from soil vegetable cover agricultural used in milk and in mead from 2 till 5 times. Utilisation tidy stern's in final period fatten meat cattle give possibility to clean the organs and tissue of animals which representative food's value from admixture to level, corresponding medical - hygienic standards. It is necessary to make analysis on compound investigation on the effect of radionuclides in agricultural animals, namely to utilize them, that really barrier migrate toxic elements in captured chain of person. The ways of solutions in ecological stock-breeding problems are next: to show up ecological tidy and ecological unsuccessful places; to study rules of transition in basic pollutions of food chains; toxic elements limitation rules in stock-breeding production; utilization manufactory-polluted territories from technological elements for stock-breeding

[Research on climatic factors of ecology suitability regionalization of atractylodis].

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Zhe-tian; Wang, Hao; Zhu, Shou-dong; Yan, Yu-ping; Guo, Lan-ping; Zheng, Yu-guang

2015-11-01

Through study on the correlation between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we research regionalization from climatic of five main producing provinces of the country, in order to provide a scientific basis for atractylodis' conscious cultivation. By sampling from 40 origins which from five main producing provinces of the country, we use SPSS to analysis variation of atractylodis lactones ingredient content in different conditions of climatic factors and the effect of each factors. Then according to the relationship between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we use ArcGIS to conduct ecological suitability regionalization based on climatic factors. The most suitable climatic condition for cultivation of atractylodis: the wettest month precipitation 220-230 mm, the warmest average temperature 25 degrees C, the average temperature of driest season 10 degrees C.

Ecological assessment of riparian forests in Benin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Natta, A.K.

2003-01-01

The present research deals with the flora, phytosociology and ecology of riparian forests. The overall objective of this research is to contribute to a better knowledge of the flora, diversity and ecology of riparian forests in

ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH-STUDIES REGARDING THE AVIFAUNA DURING THE HIEMAL PERIOD FROM THE BASINS AREA OF THE ARGEŞ RIVER BETWEEN 2000 AND 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian Mestecaneanu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The basins from the middle and upper part of the Argeş River are included in “The Basins of the Argeş River”, site ofthe Nature 2000 Network and Important Bird Area. The paper show some results of the International Waterbird Count,organized on international level by the Wetland International and on national level by the Romanian OrnithologicalSociety. The analyze was performed only for 2000 – 2010 period, the researches in area being done after 1990. 116994individuals and 73 birds’ species, which belong to 14 orders, were recorded. Regarding the number of families the bestrepresented was the Passeriformes order. 9 species are protected by the Annex I of the Birds Directive. In the area ofthe Piteşti Basin was observed the majority of the number of species and in the area of the Goleşti Basin was registeredthe biggest number of the observed individuals. The Anseriformes order had the most of observed individuals, on thefirs place being Anas platyrhynchos. The best similarity was between Piteşti and Budeasa basins (by Bray-Curtis indexand between Valcele and Budeasa basins (by Jaccard index. For the whole period, Anas platyrhynchos was the onlydominant species (by index of relations. Considerations are also effectuated in relation with other few ecologicalindexes.

Study on the Progress of Ecological Fragility Assessment in China

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Pei; Hou, Kang; Chang, Yue; Li, Xuxiang; Zhang, Yunwei

2018-02-01

The basic elements of human survival are based on the ecological environment. The development of social economic and the security of the ecological environment are closely linked and interact with each other. The fragility of the environment directly affects the stability of the regional ecosystem and the sustainable development of the ecological environment. As part of the division of the national ecological security, the assessment of ecological fragility has become a hot and difficult issue in environmental research, and researchers at home and abroad have systematically studied the causes and states of ecological fragility. The assessment of regional ecological fragility is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the unbalanced distribution of ecological environment factors caused by human socio-economic activities or changes in ecosystems. At present, researches on ecological fragility has not formed a complete and unified index assessment system, and the unity of the assessment model has a direct impact on the accuracy of the index weights. Therefore, the discussion on selection of ecological fragility indexes and the improvement of ecological fragility assessment model is necessary, which is good for the improvement of ecological fragility assessment system in China.

Spatial ecology across scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Hastings, Alan; Petrovskii, Sergei; Morozov, Andrew

2011-04-23

The international conference 'Models in population dynamics and ecology 2010: animal movement, dispersal and spatial ecology' took place at the University of Leicester, UK, on 1-3 September 2010, focusing on mathematical approaches to spatial population dynamics and emphasizing cross-scale issues. Exciting new developments in scaling up from individual level movement to descriptions of this movement at the macroscopic level highlighted the importance of mechanistic approaches, with different descriptions at the microscopic level leading to different ecological outcomes. At higher levels of organization, different macroscopic descriptions of movement also led to different properties at the ecosystem and larger scales. New developments from Levy flight descriptions to the incorporation of new methods from physics and elsewhere are revitalizing research in spatial ecology, which will both increase understanding of fundamental ecological processes and lead to tools for better management.

Statistical ecology comes of age

Science.gov (United States)

Gimenez, Olivier; Buckland, Stephen T.; Morgan, Byron J. T.; Bez, Nicolas; Bertrand, Sophie; Choquet, Rémi; Dray, Stéphane; Etienne, Marie-Pierre; Fewster, Rachel; Gosselin, Frédéric; Mérigot, Bastien; Monestiez, Pascal; Morales, Juan M.; Mortier, Frédéric; Munoz, François; Ovaskainen, Otso; Pavoine, Sandrine; Pradel, Roger; Schurr, Frank M.; Thomas, Len; Thuiller, Wilfried; Trenkel, Verena; de Valpine, Perry; Rexstad, Eric

2014-01-01

The desire to predict the consequences of global environmental change has been the driver towards more realistic models embracing the variability and uncertainties inherent in ecology. Statistical ecology has gelled over the past decade as a discipline that moves away from describing patterns towards modelling the ecological processes that generate these patterns. Following the fourth International Statistical Ecology Conference (1–4 July 2014) in Montpellier, France, we analyse current trends in statistical ecology. Important advances in the analysis of individual movement, and in the modelling of population dynamics and species distributions, are made possible by the increasing use of hierarchical and hidden process models. Exciting research perspectives include the development of methods to interpret citizen science data and of efficient, flexible computational algorithms for model fitting. Statistical ecology has come of age: it now provides a general and mathematically rigorous framework linking ecological theory and empirical data. PMID:25540151

Statistical ecology comes of age.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimenez, Olivier; Buckland, Stephen T; Morgan, Byron J T; Bez, Nicolas; Bertrand, Sophie; Choquet, Rémi; Dray, Stéphane; Etienne, Marie-Pierre; Fewster, Rachel; Gosselin, Frédéric; Mérigot, Bastien; Monestiez, Pascal; Morales, Juan M; Mortier, Frédéric; Munoz, François; Ovaskainen, Otso; Pavoine, Sandrine; Pradel, Roger; Schurr, Frank M; Thomas, Len; Thuiller, Wilfried; Trenkel, Verena; de Valpine, Perry; Rexstad, Eric

2014-12-01

The desire to predict the consequences of global environmental change has been the driver towards more realistic models embracing the variability and uncertainties inherent in ecology. Statistical ecology has gelled over the past decade as a discipline that moves away from describing patterns towards modelling the ecological processes that generate these patterns. Following the fourth International Statistical Ecology Conference (1-4 July 2014) in Montpellier, France, we analyse current trends in statistical ecology. Important advances in the analysis of individual movement, and in the modelling of population dynamics and species distributions, are made possible by the increasing use of hierarchical and hidden process models. Exciting research perspectives include the development of methods to interpret citizen science data and of efficient, flexible computational algorithms for model fitting. Statistical ecology has come of age: it now provides a general and mathematically rigorous framework linking ecological theory and empirical data.

Ecological networks in urban landscapes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cook, E.A.

2000-01-01

This research focuses on the topic of ecological networks in urban landscapes. Analysis and planning of ecological networks is a relatively new phenomenon and is a response to fragmentation and deterioration of quality of natural systems. In agricultural areas and with existing nature

Integrating research tools to support the management of social-ecological systems under climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Brian W.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

Developing resource management strategies in the face of climate change is complicated by the considerable uncertainty associated with projections of climate and its impacts and by the complex interactions between social and ecological variables. The broad, interconnected nature of this challenge has resulted in calls for analytical frameworks that integrate research tools and can support natural resource management decision making in the face of uncertainty and complex interactions. We respond to this call by first reviewing three methods that have proven useful for climate change research, but whose application and development have been largely isolated: species distribution modeling, scenario planning, and simulation modeling. Species distribution models provide data-driven estimates of the future distributions of species of interest, but they face several limitations and their output alone is not sufficient to guide complex decisions for how best to manage resources given social and economic considerations along with dynamic and uncertain future conditions. Researchers and managers are increasingly exploring potential futures of social-ecological systems through scenario planning, but this process often lacks quantitative response modeling and validation procedures. Simulation models are well placed to provide added rigor to scenario planning because of their ability to reproduce complex system dynamics, but the scenarios and management options explored in simulations are often not developed by stakeholders, and there is not a clear consensus on how to include climate model outputs. We see these strengths and weaknesses as complementarities and offer an analytical framework for integrating these three tools. We then describe the ways in which this framework can help shift climate change research from useful to usable.

[Book review] Waterfowl ecology and management: Selected readings

Science.gov (United States)

Krapu, Gary L.

1983-01-01

This book is a compilation of papers from the extensive and varied published literature on the ecology and management of waterfowl. The 125 technical papers reprinted in this book are arranged in eight major sections and are from 21 journals, government reports, several books, and proceedings of symposia and annual conferences. The most frequent sources of papers are The Journal of Wildlife Management, The Auk, Transactions North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, and Wildfowl. These readings span the period from 1937 through 1981. A majority of the technical papers was published during the sixties and seventies, reflecting the expansion of waterfowl research during that period. The front cover and the introductory page of each section are illustrated with black-and-white drawings of North American waterfowl by D. R. Barrick.

The vegetation of Yucca Mountain: Description and ecology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-03-29

Vegetation at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was monitored over a six-year period, from 1989 through 1994. Yucca Mountain is located at the northern limit of the Mojave Desert and is the only location being studied as a potential repository for high-level nuclear waste. Site characterization consists of a series of multidisciplinary, scientific investigations designed to provide detailed information necessary to assess the suitability of the Yucca Mountain Site as a repository. This vegetation description establishes a baseline for determining the ecological impact of site characterization activities; it porvides input for site characterization research and modeling; and it clarifies vegetation community dynamics and relationships to the physical environment. A companion study will describe the impact of site characterization of vegetation. Cover, density, production, and species composition of vascular plants were monitored at 48 Ecological Study Plots (ESPs) stratified in four vegetation associations. Precipitation, soil moisture, and maximum and minimum temperatures also were measured at each study plot.

The vegetation of Yucca Mountain: Description and ecology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

Vegetation at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was monitored over a six-year period, from 1989 through 1994. Yucca Mountain is located at the northern limit of the Mojave Desert and is the only location being studied as a potential repository for high-level nuclear waste. Site characterization consists of a series of multidisciplinary, scientific investigations designed to provide detailed information necessary to assess the suitability of the Yucca Mountain Site as a repository. This vegetation description establishes a baseline for determining the ecological impact of site characterization activities; it porvides input for site characterization research and modeling; and it clarifies vegetation community dynamics and relationships to the physical environment. A companion study will describe the impact of site characterization of vegetation. Cover, density, production, and species composition of vascular plants were monitored at 48 Ecological Study Plots (ESPs) stratified in four vegetation associations. Precipitation, soil moisture, and maximum and minimum temperatures also were measured at each study plot

Ecological macroeconomics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2013-01-01

by a more theoretical debate and increased interaction between the heterodox schools of ecological economics and post-Keynesian economics. In addition, both the degrowth community and the research community organized around sustainable transitions of socio-technical systems have contributed to discussions...... on how to reconcile environmental and social concerns. Based on this broad variety of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, a new ecological macroeconomics is emerging, but the contours are still vague. This chapter seeks to outline some of this topography and to add a few pieces of its own by highlighting the need...... to shift resources from consumption to investment and describing the role of consumer-citizens in such a change. The chapter starts by identifying the problems and challenges for an ecological macroeconomics. The next section outlines some of the shortcomings of traditional macroeconomics...

Creating multithemed ecological regions for macroscale ecology: Testing a flexible, repeatable, and accessible clustering method

Science.gov (United States)

Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence; Yuan, Shuai; Webster, Katherine E.; Tan, Pang-Ning; Lapierre, Jean-Francois; Collins, Sarah M.; Fergus, C. Emi; Scott, Caren E.; Norton Henry, Emily; Soranno, Patricia A.; Filstrup, Christopher T.; Wagner, Tyler

2017-01-01

Understanding broad-scale ecological patterns and processes often involves accounting for regional-scale heterogeneity. A common way to do so is to include ecological regions in sampling schemes and empirical models. However, most existing ecological regions were developed for specific purposes, using a limited set of geospatial features and irreproducible methods. Our study purpose was to: (1) describe a method that takes advantage of recent computational advances and increased availability of regional and global data sets to create customizable and reproducible ecological regions, (2) make this algorithm available for use and modification by others studying different ecosystems, variables of interest, study extents, and macroscale ecology research questions, and (3) demonstrate the power of this approach for the research question—How well do these regions capture regional-scale variation in lake water quality? To achieve our purpose we: (1) used a spatially constrained spectral clustering algorithm that balances geospatial homogeneity and region contiguity to create ecological regions using multiple terrestrial, climatic, and freshwater geospatial data for 17 northeastern U.S. states (~1,800,000 km2); (2) identified which of the 52 geospatial features were most influential in creating the resulting 100 regions; and (3) tested the ability of these ecological regions to capture regional variation in water nutrients and clarity for ~6,000 lakes. We found that: (1) a combination of terrestrial, climatic, and freshwater geospatial features influenced region creation, suggesting that the oft-ignored freshwater landscape provides novel information on landscape variability not captured by traditionally used climate and terrestrial metrics; and (2) the delineated regions captured macroscale heterogeneity in ecosystem properties not included in region delineation—approximately 40% of the variation in total phosphorus and water clarity among lakes was at the regional

Radiological and Environmental Research Division: ecology. Annual report, January-December 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-01-01

Ecological studies continue to focus on the determination of the effects of energy-related pollutants on planktonic species typical of the Great Lakes. Also included were experimental studies of the effects of enclosure size on the response of zooplankton to stress by cadmium. A new mobile field laboratory was constructed to support studies of the effects of water temperatures regimes on rates of accumulation by salmonid fishes of persistent organic contaminants such as PCB's. A significant new addition to the Great Lakes Research Program was marked by the arrival and formal acceptance of the new research vessel, the R/V Ekos. Descriptions of the Ekos and its research capabilities are included. A variety of studies of the behavior of transuranic elements conducted in environments as diverse as the Irish Sea, Great Slave Lake, the Great Miami River, and the Great Lakes, have focused on changes in the oxidation state of plutonium, and the effects these changes have on the behavior of this important element in the aquatic environment. Twenty-six sections of the report were abstracted and indexed individually for inclusion on ERA/EDB and those in scope for INIS

Fuel irradiation research of Japan at Halden reactor. Achievement of cooperative researches between JAERI and several organizations in the period from 2000 to 2002 (Joint research)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-03-01

JAERI has performed cooperative researches with several Japanese organizations utilizing the Halden Boiling Heavy Water Reactor(HBWR) which is located at Halden in Norway. These researches are carried out based on the contracts of the cooperative researches, which are revised every three years, in accordance with the renewal of the participation of JAERI to the OECD Halden Reactor Project. This report summarizes the objectives, contents and outlines of the achievements of the cooperative researches during the three years from 2000 January to 2002 December. During the period, seven cooperative researches had been carried out. Two of them had been completed and other five researches have been continued to the next three-year period. Most of them are irradiation test researches of advanced fuel and cladding in order to prepare the higher burnup utilization and introduction of LWR fuel and MOX fuel in LWRs of Japan. As the researches of fuel irradiation usually take long time for preparing test and irradiation, three years are usually not enough to obtain some achievements from the irradiation tests. Therefore, five cooperative researches have been continued to the next three-year period. In this report, the achievements of the researches continued to the next period are not final one but a kind of progress report. (author)

Information Retrieval for Ecological Syntheses

Science.gov (United States)

Bayliss, Helen R.; Beyer, Fiona R.

2015-01-01

Research syntheses are increasingly being conducted within the fields of ecology and environmental management. Information retrieval is crucial in any synthesis in identifying data for inclusion whilst potentially reducing biases in the dataset gathered, yet the nature of ecological information provides several challenges when compared with…

Establishment of a National ecological network to conserve biodiversity. Pros and cons of ecological corridors Establishment of a National ecological network to conserve biodiversity. Pros and cons of ecological corridors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurent Bergès, Philip Roche and Catherine Avon

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Ecological corridors are a fundamental element in the National ecological network approved by the Grenelle environmental agreement in order to reduce ecosystem damage caused by fragmentation of the natural habitat zones of species. How can their effectiveness be evaluated? This article sums up current knowledge on their pros and cons.Fragmentation of natural habitats is considered one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. One of the proposed solutions to limit the effects of fragmentation is to restore ecological connectivity by creating ecological corridors between zones containing natural habitats. The concept remains controversial among scientists, but now serves as the basis for one of the operational projects of the Grenelle environmental agreements in the form of the National ecological network. After examining the ecological concepts justifying the political goal and presenting the various ecological roles of corridors, we briefly discuss their overall advantages and disadvantages. Then, we look closely at the methodological difficulties in detecting a corridor effect. Finally, we recommend a close partnership between research and policy to design biodiversity monitoring and evaluation systems in the different land-management plans.

Compatible ecological niche signals between biological and archaeological datasets for late-surviving Neandertals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bible, Rachael C; Peterson, A Townsend

2018-04-17

To assess ecological niche similarity for biological and archaeological samples representing late-surviving Neandertals in Europe to evaluate the validity of combining these two types of data in ecological niche modeling analyses. Tests of niche conservatism were used to assess niche similarity and niche identity of samples of morphologically diagnostic Neandertal remains and Middle Paleolithic (MP) archaeological sites dating to the time period leading up to Neandertal extinction. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions for the Pre-H4 (43.3-40.2 ky cal BP) were used as environmental space analyses. Null hypotheses of niche similarity and identity of the two types of samples could not be rejected. As primary and secondary evidence of Neandertal occurrence during the Pre-H4 show high levels of niche similarity and identity, combining the two types of occurrence data to create larger samples for niche analyses is justified without the concern that different environmental signals could complicate future research. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Advances in Ecological Speciation: an integrative approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Faria, Rui; Renaut, Sebastien; Galindo, Juan; Pinho, Catarina; Melo-Ferreira, José; Melo, Martim; Jones, Felicity; Salzburger, Walter; Schluter, Dolph; Butlin, Roger

2014-02-01

The role of natural selection in promoting reproductive isolation has received substantial renewed interest within the last two decades. As a consequence, the study of ecological speciation has become an extremely productive research area in modern evolutionary biology. Recent innovations in sequencing technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity to study the mechanisms involved in ecological speciation. Genome scans provide significant insights but have some important limitations; efforts are needed to integrate them with other approaches to make full use of the sequencing data deluge. An international conference 'Advances in Ecological Speciation' organized by the University of Porto (Portugal) aimed to review current progress in ecological speciation. Using some of the examples presented at the conference, we highlight the benefits of integrating ecological and genomic data and discuss different mechanisms of parallel evolution. Finally, future avenues of research are suggested to advance our knowledge concerning the role of natural selection in the establishment of reproductive isolation during ecological speciation. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Trends and driving forces of ecological training and education in the context of ecological education environment of the technical university

OpenAIRE

Danilenkova V. A.

2017-01-01

common patterns of ecological training and education in the technical university are analyzed in this article, their descriptions are defined. Driving forces of ecological training and education in the context of ecological education environment are discovered and proved. According to conducted research the author makes a proposition to point out at ecological risks as driving forces, searching for which improves the efficiency and effectiveness of ecological education environment. The resear...

Ecological stability of landscape - ecological infrastructure - ecological management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

The Field Workshop 'Ecological Stability of Landscape - Ecological Infrastructure - Ecological Management' was held within a State Environmental Programme financed by the Federal Committee for the Environment. The objectives of the workshop were to present Czech and Slovak approaches to the ecological stability of the landscape by means of examples of some case studies in the field, and to exchange ideas, theoretical knowledge and practical experience on implementing the concept of ecological infrastructure in landscape management. Out of 19 papers contained in the proceedings, 3 items were inputted to the INIS system. (Z.S.)

The roles of large top predators in coastal ecosystems: new insights from long term ecological research

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblatt, Adam E.; Heithaus, Michael R.; Mather, Martha E.; Matich, Philip; Nifong, James C.; Ripple, William J.; Silliman, Brian R.

2013-01-01

During recent human history, human activities such as overhunting and habitat destruction have severely impacted many large top predator populations around the world. Studies from a variety of ecosystems show that loss or diminishment of top predator populations can have serious consequences for population and community dynamics and ecosystem stability. However, there are relatively few studies of the roles of large top predators in coastal ecosystems, so that we do not yet completely understand what could happen to coastal areas if large top predators are extirpated or significantly reduced in number. This lack of knowledge is surprising given that coastal areas around the globe are highly valued and densely populated by humans, and thus coastal large top predator populations frequently come into conflict with coastal human populations. This paper reviews what is known about the ecological roles of large top predators in coastal systems and presents a synthesis of recent work from three coastal eastern US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites where long-term studies reveal what appear to be common themes relating to the roles of large top predators in coastal systems. We discuss three specific themes: (1) large top predators acting as mobile links between disparate habitats, (2) large top predators potentially affecting nutrient and biogeochemical dynamics through localized behaviors, and (3) individual specialization of large top predator behaviors. We also discuss how research within the LTER network has led to enhanced understanding of the ecological roles of coastal large top predators. Highlighting this work is intended to encourage further investigation of the roles of large top predators across diverse coastal aquatic habitats and to better inform researchers and ecosystem managers about the importance of large top predators for coastal ecosystem health and stability.

Indigenous people's detection of rapid ecological change.

Science.gov (United States)

Aswani, Shankar; Lauer, Matthew

2014-06-01

When sudden catastrophic events occur, it becomes critical for coastal communities to detect and respond to environmental transformations because failure to do so may undermine overall ecosystem resilience and threaten people's livelihoods. We therefore asked how capable of detecting rapid ecological change following massive environmental disruptions local, indigenous people are. We assessed the direction and periodicity of experimental learning of people in the Western Solomon Islands after a tsunami in 2007. We compared the results of marine science surveys with local ecological knowledge of the benthos across 3 affected villages and 3 periods before and after the tsunami. We sought to determine how people recognize biophysical changes in the environment before and after catastrophic events such as earthquakes and tsunamis and whether people have the ability to detect ecological changes over short time scales or need longer time scales to recognize changes. Indigenous people were able to detect changes in the benthos over time. Detection levels differed between marine science surveys and local ecological knowledge sources over time, but overall patterns of statistically significant detection of change were evident for various habitats. Our findings have implications for marine conservation, coastal management policies, and disaster-relief efforts because when people are able to detect ecological changes, this, in turn, affects how they exploit and manage their marine resources. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Ecological perspective: Linking ecology, GIS, and remote sensing to ecosystem management

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Craig D.; Sample, V. Alaric

1994-01-01

Awareness of significant human impacts on the ecology of Earth's landscapes is not new (Thomas 1956). Over the past decade (Forman and Godron 1986, Urban et a1. 1987) applications of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies have supported a rapid rise in landscape.stale research. The heightened recognition within the research community of the ecological linkages between local sites and larger spatial scales has spawned increasing calls for more holistic management of landscapes (Noss 1983, Harris 1984, Risser 1985, Norse et al. 1986, Agee and Johnson 1988, Franklin 1989, Brooks and Grant 1992, Endangered Species Update-Special Issue 1993, Crow 1994, Grumbine 1994). As a result agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service are now converging on "ecosystem management" as a new paradigm to sustainably manage wildlands and maintain biodiversity. However, as this transition occurs, several impediments to implementation of this new paradigm persist, including(1) significant uncenainty among many land managers about the definition and goals of ecosystem management,(2) inadequate ecological information on the past and present processes and structural conditions of target ecosystems,(3) insufficient experience on the part of land managers with the rapidly diversifying array of GIS and remote sensing tools to effectively use them to support ecology-based land management, and(4) a paucity of intimate, long-term relationships between people (including land managers) and the particular landscape communities to which they belong.This chapter provides an ecological perspective on these issues as applied to ecosystem management in a southwestern U.S. landscape.

Nuclear Physics Research Activity In Vietnam During Period From 2005 To 2007

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran Duc Thiep

2008-01-01

During the recent years though the difficult conditions as the limit in research budget, the lack in experimental facilities and in manpower, the Nuclear Physics Research in Vietnam still continues to develop and has achieved promising results. This expresses the efforts from the Government as well as from the nuclear physics scientists. In this report we would like to present the Nuclear Physics Research Activity and the achieved results in Vietnam during period from 2005 to 2007 in following directions: Nuclear Reaction and Structure, Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Data, Nuclear Reactor Physics, Nuclear Physics Research based on Accelerators, Physics of Cosmic Rays, Nuclear Physics Related Researches. The report also concerns the problems of manpower, the joining of research institutes in the Country and the expansion of international collaborations in the coming period of the Nuclear Physics Research Activity. The Report was prepared mainly on the basis of the reports that will be presented at the 7th National Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology, held from 30-31 August 2007 in Danang city. (author)

Research on university culture construction in the view of ecological idea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Xinggang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With the progress of times, our spiritual pursuit becomes higher and higher, and it is especially true among modern youth. Therefore, establishment of university culture has gradually become the focus of attention. This paper firstly quantized university culture construction into four parts: material culture construction, spiritual culture construction, system culture construction, and behavioral culture construction. It then analogized each part as one population in ecological system; established multi-population ecological model; and analyzed the interactional relations between each part. At last, this paper reached conclusions based on multi-population ecological model and analyzed the correlations among various factors of university culture construction, so as to obtain a comprehensive, scientific and healthy scheme for university culture construction.

Ecology Art Education On-Line: A World Community of Old Trees, A Story of the Research

Science.gov (United States)

Julian, June

1997-01-01

"A World Community of Old Trees," http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/, is the Internet research component of the doctoral dissertation, "Ecology Art Education On-Line: A World Community of Old Trees." It is the first study in the discipline of Art Education to use the World Wide Web to transmit and receive data for doctoral…

Improving intercropping: a synthesis of research in agronomy, plant physiology and ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooker, Rob W; Bennett, Alison E; Cong, Wen-Feng; Daniell, Tim J; George, Timothy S; Hallett, Paul D; Hawes, Cathy; Iannetta, Pietro P M; Jones, Hamlyn G; Karley, Alison J; Li, Long; McKenzie, Blair M; Pakeman, Robin J; Paterson, Eric; Schöb, Christian; Shen, Jianbo; Squire, Geoff; Watson, Christine A; Zhang, Chaochun; Zhang, Fusuo; Zhang, Junling; White, Philip J

2015-04-01

Intercropping is a farming practice involving two or more crop species, or genotypes, growing together and coexisting for a time. On the fringes of modern intensive agriculture, intercropping is important in many subsistence or low-input/resource-limited agricultural systems. By allowing genuine yield gains without increased inputs, or greater stability of yield with decreased inputs, intercropping could be one route to delivering ‘sustainable intensification’. We discuss how recent knowledge from agronomy, plant physiology and ecology can be combined with the aim of improving intercropping systems. Recent advances in agronomy and plant physiology include better understanding of the mechanisms of interactions between crop genotypes and species – for example, enhanced resource availability through niche complementarity. Ecological advances include better understanding of the context-dependency of interactions, the mechanisms behind disease and pest avoidance, the links between above- and below-ground systems, and the role of microtopographic variation in coexistence. This improved understanding can guide approaches for improving intercropping systems, including breeding crops for intercropping. Although such advances can help to improve intercropping systems, we suggest that other topics also need addressing. These include better assessment of the wider benefits of intercropping in terms of multiple ecosystem services, collaboration with agricultural engineering, and more effective interdisciplinary research.

The early history of modern ecological economics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2004-01-01

This paper provides a historical perspective for the discussion on ecological economics as a special field of research. By studying the historical background of ecological economics, the present discussions and tensions inside the field might become easier to understand and to relate to. The study...... is inspired by other studies of the emergence of new research areas done by sociologists and historians of science, and includes both cognitive and social aspects, macro trends and the role of individuals. The basis for the paper is a combination of literature studies and interviews with key researchers from...... the field. The story opens with the emergence of the new environmental agenda in the 1960s, which was influenced by the scientific development in biology and ecology. Then it is outlined how the environmental challenge was met by economics in the 1960s. Around 1970 the basic ideas of ecological economics...

Fundamental ecology is fundamental.

Science.gov (United States)

Courchamp, Franck; Dunne, Jennifer A; Le Maho, Yvon; May, Robert M; Thébaud, Christophe; Hochberg, Michael E

2015-01-01

The primary reasons for conducting fundamental research are satisfying curiosity, acquiring knowledge, and achieving understanding. Here we develop why we believe it is essential to promote basic ecological research, despite increased impetus for ecologists to conduct and present their research in the light of potential applications. This includes the understanding of our environment, for intellectual, economical, social, and political reasons, and as a major source of innovation. We contend that we should focus less on short-term, objective-driven research and more on creativity and exploratory analyses, quantitatively estimate the benefits of fundamental research for society, and better explain the nature and importance of fundamental ecology to students, politicians, decision makers, and the general public. Our perspective and underlying arguments should also apply to evolutionary biology and to many of the other biological and physical sciences. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

BMC Ecology image competition: the winning images

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

BMC Ecology announces the winning entries in its inaugural Ecology Image Competition, open to anyone affiliated with a research institute. The competition, which received more than 200 entries from international researchers at all career levels and a wide variety of scientific disciplines, was looking for striking visual interpretations of ecological processes. In this Editorial, our academic Section Editors and guest judge Dr Yan Wong explain what they found most appealing about their chosen winning entries, and highlight a few of the outstanding images that didn’t quite make it to the top prize. PMID:23517630

BMC Ecology image competition: the winning images.

Science.gov (United States)

Harold, Simon; Wong, Yan; Baguette, Michel; Bonsall, Michael B; Clobert, Jean; Royle, Nick J; Settele, Josef

2013-03-22

BMC Ecology announces the winning entries in its inaugural Ecology Image Competition, open to anyone affiliated with a research institute. The competition, which received more than 200 entries from international researchers at all career levels and a wide variety of scientific disciplines, was looking for striking visual interpretations of ecological processes. In this Editorial, our academic Section Editors and guest judge Dr Yan Wong explain what they found most appealing about their chosen winning entries, and highlight a few of the outstanding images that didn't quite make it to the top prize.

Challenges of ecological restoration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Halme, Panu; Allen, Katherine A.; Aunins, Ainars

2013-01-01

we introduce northern forests as an ecosystem, discuss the historical and recent human impact and provide a brief status report on the ecological restoration projects and research already conducted there. Based on this discussion, we argue that before any restoration actions commence, the ecology......The alarming rate of ecosystem degradation has raised the need for ecological restoration throughout different biomes and continents. North European forests may appear as one of the least vulnerable ecosystems from a global perspective, since forest cover is not rapidly decreasing and many...... on Biological Diversity. Several northern countries are now taking up this challenge by restoring forest biodiversity with increasing intensity. The ecology and biodiversity of boreal forests are relatively well understood making them a good model for restoration activities in many other forest ecosystems. Here...

Looking for attitudes related to amphibian species decline: how are peer-reviewed publications of education activities compared to ecological research?

Science.gov (United States)

Mormul, Roger P; Mormul, Tayla D S; Santos, Gustavo M B; Santana, Ana R A

2017-05-01

Biodiversity decline has been the focus of discussions in the last decade, especially on the amphibian species decline. After a scientometric analysis using international databases, we found that the number of peer-reviewed articles considering education practices related to the theme increased along with the number of ecological researches. However, the increase in ecological researches is much higher than the increase in publications of education practices. Studies suggest that conservation attitudes are important and that education practices are an important tool for improving human perceptions on this subject. In this sense, increase the publication of projects and programs results related to local education practices in international journals could help the dissemination of efficient methods for conservation, as well as facilitating access to information internationally, since species decline, especially for amphibians, is a global concern. Then, we suggest that educational practices, at least when related to conservation, should follow a more standardized protocol, and be published in international journals, as the efficiency of such practices should be evaluated and methods once published could help other nations to improve their ecological literacy.

Chasing Ecological Interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordano, Pedro

2016-09-01

Basic research on biodiversity has concentrated on individual species-naming new species, studying distribution patterns, and analyzing their evolutionary relationships. Yet biodiversity is more than a collection of individual species; it is the combination of biological entities and processes that support life on Earth. To understand biodiversity we must catalog it, but we must also assess the ways species interact with other species to provide functional support for the Tree of Life. Ecological interactions may be lost well before the species involved in those interactions go extinct; their ecological functions disappear even though they remain. Here, I address the challenges in studying the functional aspects of species interactions and how basic research is helping us address the fast-paced extinction of species due to human activities.

Biomarkers of animal health: integrating nutritional ecology, endocrine ecophysiology, ecoimmunology, and geospatial ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Warne, Robin W; Proudfoot, Glenn A; Crespi, Erica J

2015-02-01

Diverse biomarkers including stable isotope, hormonal, and ecoimmunological assays are powerful tools to assess animal condition. However, an integrative approach is necessary to provide the context essential to understanding how biomarkers reveal animal health in varied ecological conditions. A barrier to such integration is a general lack of awareness of how shared extraction methods from across fields can provide material from the same animal tissues for diverse biomarker assays. In addition, the use of shared methods for extracting differing tissue fractions can also provide biomarkers for how animal health varies across time. Specifically, no study has explicitly illustrated the depth and breadth of spacial and temporal information that can be derived from coupled biomarker assessments on two easily collected tissues: blood and feathers or hair. This study used integrated measures of glucocorticoids, stable isotopes, and parasite loads in the feathers and blood of fall-migrating Northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) to illustrate the wealth of knowledge about animal health and ecology across both time and space. In feathers, we assayed deuterium (δD) isotope and corticosterone (CORT) profiles, while in blood we measured CORT and blood parasite levels. We found that while earlier migrating owls had elevated CORT levels relative to later migrating birds, there was also a disassociation between plasma and feather CORT, and blood parasite loads. These results demonstrate how these tissues integrate time periods from weeks to seasons and reflect energetic demands during differing life stages. Taken together, these findings illustrate the potential for integrating diverse biomarkers to assess interactions between environmental factors and animal health across varied time periods without the necessity of continually recapturing and tracking individuals. Combining biomarkers from diverse research fields into an integrated framework hold great promise for

The place of consumption in ecological economics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge; Reisch, Lucia A.

2004-01-01

for considering all aspects of the interactions between humans, and the environment and simultaneously has the ambition of promoting transdisciplinary work, it is not surprising to see an increasing number of contributions on consumption and environment emerge at ecological economics conferences and in journals......Research concerning consumption in an environmental perspective has become very dynamic in recent years. Throughout the 1990s contributions have emerged from several different disciplines and approaches, and the research now covers a wide variety of topics. As ecological economics is open...... of the following is to give an idea of the disciplinary and methodological breadth and variety of research concerning consumption and environment, and to place ecological economic contributions in perspective....

Urban Ecology in Cape Town: South African Comparisons and Reflections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarel S. Cilliers

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Little urban ecological research has been done in South Africa. The papers in the Ecology and Society special feature Urban Ecological and Social-Ecological Research in the City of Cape Town make, therefore, an important contribution to the development of urban ecology locally and globally. Different approaches have been used in the study of urban ecology of different urban areas in South Africa. Cape Town is situated in a biodiversity hotspot and is the only South African city which includes a national park. As a result the urban ecological studies were mainly driven by urban nature conservation concerns. In other cities such as Durban, open space planning and environmental management were the major issues which focused ecological studies on urban areas whereas other studies of urban areas in the Eastern Cape and North-West provinces included private and public open spaces and man-made habitats. We reflect on the Cape Town studies in a South African context and highlight conservation of biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, management of control measures, and the conflict between humans and nature. A brief synthesis has also been given of South African urban ecological research in general.

Ecological Modernization and the Global Economy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mol, A.P.J.

2002-01-01

This paper explores what an ecological modernization perspective has to offer in an era marked by globalization. Globalization processes and dynamics are mostly seen as detrimental to the environment. The point that an ecological modernization perspective puts on the research agenda is that,

Research and application advances in ecological carrying capacity%生态承载力研究和应用进展

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

向芸芸; 蒙吉军

2012-01-01

The study of ecological carrying capacity is an important basis for the settlement of resource shortage and environment deterioration and the realization of regional sustainable development, and also, one of the hot spots in geography, ecology, and economics. After reviewing the related research achievements, this paper elucidated the connotation of ecological carrying capacity , i. e. , a representation of the supporting function and compressive stress of complex ecosystem , introduced the universal measuring methods of ecological carrying capacity, e. g. , net primary productivity (NPP) , ecological footprint (EF) , balance of supply and demand, evaluation with comprehensive indices, and systematic modeling, and presented the research progress in the ecological carrying capacity of the regions being more concerned, including watersheds, ecological fragile areas, cities, agricultural areas, and tourism areas. The deficiencies in current studies, such as the shortage of complete scientific research system, the ambiguity of threshold value's ecological meaning, the lack of time series study, and the absence of spatial pattern analysis, were summarized, and accordingly, the development trends in action mechanisms, model construction, and practical application were prospected.%生态承载力研究是解决资源-环境矛盾、实现区域可持续发展的重要基础,也是地理学、生态学和经济学关注的热点与前沿领域.本文在综述国内外相关研究成果的基础上,阐述了生态承载力的概念内涵,即对复合生态系统支持力和压力的表征；评述了常用的研究方法,即净初级生产力估测法、生态足迹法、供需平衡法、综合指标评价法和系统模型法；介绍了目前较为关注的流域、生�

Practitioners' Perceptions of the Soccer Extra-Time Period: Implications for Future Research

OpenAIRE

Harper, Liam D.; Fothergill, Melissa; West, Daniel J.; Stevenson, Emma; Russell, Mark

2016-01-01

Qualitative research investigating soccer practitioners’ perceptions can allow researchers to create practical research investigations. The extra-time period of soccer is understudied compared to other areas of soccer research. Using an open-ended online survey containing eleven main and nine sub questions, we gathered the perceptions of extra-time from 46 soccer practitioners, all working for different professional soccer clubs. Questions related to current practices, views on extra-time reg...

An ecological assessment of pasturelands in the Balkhash area of Kazakhstan with remote sensing and models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebed, L; Qi, J; Heilman, P

2012-01-01

The 187 million hectares of pasturelands in Kazakhstan play a key role in the nation’s economy, as livestock production accounted for 54% of total agricultural production in 2010. However, more than half of these lands have been degraded as a result of unregulated grazing practices. Therefore, effective long term ecological monitoring of pasturelands in Kazakhstan is imperative to ensure sustainable pastureland management. As a case study in this research, we demonstrated how the ecological conditions could be assessed with remote sensing technologies and pastureland models. The example focuses on the southern Balkhash area with study sites on a foothill plain with Artemisia-ephemeral plants and a sandy plain with psammophilic vegetation in the Turan Desert. The assessment was based on remotely sensed imagery and meteorological data, a geobotanical archive and periodic ground sampling. The Pasture agrometeorological model was used to calculate biological, ecological and economic indicators to assess pastureland condition. The results showed that field surveys, meteorological observations, remote sensing and ecological models, such as Pasture, could be combined to effectively assess the ecological conditions of pasturelands and provide information about forage production that is critically important for balancing grazing and ecological conservation. (letter)

Towards a concept of community artifact ecology in HCI?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saad-Sulonen, Joanna; Korsgaard, Henrik

or workplaces do. This has implications on understanding how to research and design HCI for communities but also on refining the ecological perspective in HCI. We look in particular at examples from preliminary research on a local self-organised urban community and discuss what existing concepts in the ecology......In this paper we introduce the concept of community artifact ecology. We argue that taking a community perspective on the concept of artifact ecologies is relevant in HCI because communities are also dealing with multitudes of artifacts, in ways di↵erent that individuals, organizations...

Cryoconite. An exotic radio-ecological delicacy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tieber, A.; Wilflinger, T.; Lettner, H.; Hubmer, A.K.; Bossew, P.; Sattler, B.

2009-01-01

Five years of research on the radio-ecology of cryconite, a sediment of mineral and organic compounds found on glacier surfaces and within glacier ice, has led to amazing insights into the properties of an environmental medium which has been neglegted almost completely previously. It has turned out that a surprising radio-ecological diversity exists on and within glaciers, apart from their quality as thrieving biotopes, also not known for long. This presentation summarizes results from different research projects related to high-Alpine radio-ecology: radionuclide inventories and spatial distributions of cryoconite, hypotheses about their origin and formation, their cycling on and within glaciers, and their role in glacier melting due to global warming. (orig.)

Black-footed ferrets and Siberian polecats as ecological surrogates and ecological equivalents

Science.gov (United States)

Biggins, D.E.; Hanebury, L.R.; Miller, B.J.; Powell, R.A.

2011-01-01

Ecologically equivalent species serve similar functions in different communities, and an ecological surrogate species can be used as a substitute for an equivalent species in a community. Siberian polecats (Mustela eversmanii) and black-footed ferrets (M. nigripes) have long been considered ecological equivalents. Polecats also have been used as investigational surrogates for black-footed ferrets, yet the similarities and differences between the 2 species are poorly understood. We contrasted activity patterns of radiotagged polecats and ferrets released onto ferret habitat. Ferrets tended to be nocturnal and most active after midnight. Polecats were not highly selective for any period of the day or night. Ferrets and polecats moved most during brightly moonlit nights. The diel activity pattern of ferrets was consistent with avoidance of coyotes (Canis latrans) and diurnal birds of prey. Similarly, polecat activity was consistent with avoidance of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in their natural range. Intraguild predation (including interference competition) is inferred as a selective force influencing behaviors of these mustelines. Examination of our data suggests that black-footed ferrets and Siberian polecats might be ecological equivalents but are not perfect surrogates. Nonetheless, polecats as surrogates for black-footed ferrets have provided critical insight needed, especially related to predation, to improve the success of ferret reintroductions. ?? 2011 American Society of Mammalogists.

[Ecological and economic harmony evaluation and spatial evolution of the Hexi corridor, northwest China].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hai-long; Shi, Pei-ji; Li, Sheng-mei; Tong, Hua-li; Nie, Xiao-ying; Wei, Wei

2014-12-01

The relationship between economic development and environment and the evolution characteristics of spatial pattern in Hexi Corridor of Northwest China were analyzed based on Landsat images in 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2011 with twenty counties in Hexi Corridor chosen as the basic research units. The ecological economic harmony during 1985-2011 was estimated according to ESV (ecosystem services value) and EEH (ecological and economic harmony) index with the ecosystem services value estimation methods. The results showed that the land type of the study area dramatically changed during the study period, the grassland decreased badly, and the construction land and cultivated land increased quickly. The ESV showed an overall downward trend, especially in the Shiyang River basin and the middle of Heihe River. The ESV in the Shule River basin in this period. After 2000, the economic growth speeded up visibly in the study area. The economic development concentrated in the resource-based cities and regional central cities, and declined from the center of corridor to the both sides. The ecological-economic relation in Hexi Corridor experienced a transformation of "preliminary deterioration--further deterioration--low grade coordination". The EEH had large changes in the Shiyang River basin and the middle of Heihe River, which experienced a transformation of "conflict--more conflicts--less conflicts", however, there was little change in Shule River basin. The development mode and the comprehensive reclamation of Shiyang River basin and Heihe River basin had a significant influence on the regional ecological and economic harmony.

Research on Ecological Civilization Construction and Environmental Sustainable Development in the New Era

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang-chao, Pan

2018-05-01

After the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics entered a new era. However, the contradiction between China’s economic and social development and the sustainable development of environment is still outstanding. That is mainly due to the fact that China pays some attention to the economic development but neglects the ecological protection to a certain extent. In the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it is clearly proposed that it is necessary to adhere to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and to establish the concept of green development firmly, focusing on solving the problem of the environmental pollution and destruction and other outstanding issues, and strengthening the construction of the ecological environment supervision system, and the legal guarantee of the construction of ecological civilization. Only by adhering to the concept of ecological civilization in the new era can we finally realize the fundamental improvement of ecological environment.

Ecological associations of autopodial osteology in Neotropical geckos.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothier, Priscila S; Brandt, Renata; Kohlsdorf, Tiana

2017-03-01

Coevolution of form and function inspires investigation of associations between morphological variation and the exploitation of specific ecological settings. Such relationships, based mostly on traits of external morphology, have been extensively described for vertebrates, and especially so for squamates. External features are, however, composed by both soft tissues and bones, and these likely play different biomechanical roles during locomotion, such as in the autopodia. Therefore, ecological trends identified on the basis of external morphological measurements may not be directly correlated with equivalent variation in osteology. Here, we investigate how refined parameters of autopodial osteology relate to ecology, by contrasting climbing and nonclimbing geckos. Our first step consisted of inferring how external and osteological morphometric traits coevolved in the group. Our results corroborate the hypothesis of coevolution between external and osteological elements in the autopodia of geckos, and provides evidence for associations between specific osteological traits and preferred locomotor habit. Specifically, nonclimbers exhibit longer ultimate and penultimate phalanges of Digit V in the manus and pes and also a longer fifth metatarsal in comparison with climbers, a pattern discussed here in the context of the differential demands made upon locomotion in specific ecological contexts. Our study highlights the relevance of osteological information for discussing the evolution of ecological associations of the tetrapod autopodium. J. Morphol. 278:290-299, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Methods of ecological capability evaluation of forest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosseini, M.; Makhdoum, M.F.; Akbarnia, M.; Saghebtalebi, Kh.

2000-01-01

In this research common methods of ecological capability evaluation of forests were reviewed and limitations for performance were analysed. Ecological capability of forests is an index that show site potential in several role of wood production, soil conservation, flood control, biodiversity, conservation and water supply. This index is related to ecological characteristics of land, such as soil, micro climate, elevation, slope and aspect that affect potential of sites. Suitable method of ecological capability evaluation must be chosen according to the objective of forestry. Common methods for ecological capability evaluation include plant and animal diversity, site index curve, soil and land form, inter branches, index plants, leave analyses, analyses regeneration and ecological mapping

Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Ecological Security in Arid Region Based on GIS: A Case Study in Xinjiang

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Q.; Song, W.; Yang, J.

2017-12-01

Ecological security is close related to the people's survival and development. In the context of the global warming, with the increasingly frequent human activities, ecological and environmental problems have become increasingly prominent. Ecological security has aroused widespread concern, especially in the arid region. It has an important role in national security as well as political security, military security, economic security, social security. Taken Xinjiang as the research area, which is a typical arid region in China, this study establishes an ecological safety assessment indicator system from perspective of the generic process and the formation mechanism of the ecosystem. The framework is based on natural resources dimensions, natural environment dimensions and human disturbance dimensions. Water is the restrictive factor for the development of arid region, so the water resources carrying capacity is the main natural resource of the study area. The natural environment includes SPI(standardized precipitation index), dryness index, landscape vulnerability, NDVI. Human disturbance includes urbanization rate, population density, afforestation area, per capita GDP, water-saving irrigation area, fertilizer and pesticide application, agriculture Mechanical power, energy consumption. The expert scoring method and the coefficient of variation method are used to determine the weight of each indicator, and finally a comprehensive index is constructed to evaluate the ecological security of Xinjiang, that is, the ecological security index. The results indicate that the ecological security of Xinjiang is 0.43, which is in the critical area. The ecological security of Hami, Turpan and Karamay is the lowest, and the ecological security of the Arabian and Yili is the highest. The ecological security of the south in the Xinjiang is higher than that in the north. In short, ecological environment of Xinjiang is in a sensitive period. Effective ecological protection policy

Forest fires and their consequences in the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Makarenko E. L.

2016-07-01

Full Text Available fires in the forests of the central ecological zone are the main disaster, which disturb forests’ ecosystems and reduce the environmental impact of forests. Through statistical analysis the author identified as follows: forest fire situation (square, frequency, and timber loss for the period from 2011 to 2015. Moreover, the research includes the information about the dynamic patterns and main causes of fire.

Scientific Understanding from Long Term Observations: Insights from the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program

Science.gov (United States)

Gosz, J.

2001-12-01

The network dedicated to Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) in the United States has grown to 24 sites since it was formed in 1980. Long-term research and monitoring are performed on parameters thatare basic to all ecosystems and are required to understand patterns, processes, and relationship to change. Collectively, the sites in the LTER Network provide opportunities to contrast marine, coastal, and continental regions, the full range of climatic gradients existing in North America, and aquatic and terrestrial habitats in a range of ecosystem types. The combination of common core areas and long-term research and monitoring in many habitats have allowed unprecedented abilities to understand and compare complex temporal and spatial dynamics associated with issues like climate change, effects of pollution, biodiversity and landuse. For example, McMurdo Dry Valley in the Antarctic has demonstrated an increase in glacier mass since 1993 which coincides with a period of cooler than normal summers and more than average snowfall. In contrast, the Bonanza Creek and Toolik Lake sites in Alaska have recorded a warming period unprecedented in the past 200 years. Nitrogen deposition effects have been identified through long-term watershed studies on biogeochemical cycles, especially at Coweeta Hydrological Lab, Harvard Forest, and the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. In aquatic systems, such as the Northern Temperate Lakes site, long-term data revealed time lags in effects of invaders and disturbance on lake communities. Biological recovery from an effect such as lake acidification was shown to lag behind chemical recovery. The long-term changes documented over 2 decades have been instrumental in influencing management practices in many of the LTER areas. In Puerto Rico, the Luquillo LTER demonstrated that dams obstruct migrations of fish and freshwater shrimp and water abstraction at low flows can completely obliterate downstream migration of juveniles and damage

Genesis, goals and achievements of Long-Term Ecological Research at the global scale: A critical review of ILTER and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirtl, M; T Borer, E; Djukic, I; Forsius, M; Haubold, H; Hugo, W; Jourdan, J; Lindenmayer, D; McDowell, W H; Muraoka, H; Orenstein, D E; Pauw, J C; Peterseil, J; Shibata, H; Wohner, C; Yu, X; Haase, P

2018-06-01

Since its founding in 1993 the International Long-term Ecological Research Network (ILTER) has gone through pronounced development phases. The current network comprises 44 active member LTER networks representing 700 LTER Sites and ~80 LTSER Platforms across all continents, active in the fields of ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research. The critical challenges and most important achievements of the initial phase have now become state-of-the-art in networking for excellent science. At the same time increasing integration, accelerating technology, networking of resources and a strong pull for more socially relevant scientific information have been modifying the mission and goals of ILTER. This article provides a critical review of ILTER's mission, goals, development and impacts. Major characteristics, tools, services, partnerships and selected examples of relative strengths relevant for advancing ILTER are presented. We elaborate on the tradeoffs between the needs of the scientific community and stakeholder expectations. The embedding of ILTER in an increasingly collaborative landscape of global environmental observation and ecological research networks and infrastructures is also reflected by developments of pioneering regional and national LTER networks such as SAEON in South Africa, CERN/CEOBEX in China, TERN in Australia or eLTER RI in Europe. The primary role of ILTER is currently seen as a mechanism to investigate ecosystem structure, function, and services in response to a wide range of environmental forcings using long-term, place-based research. We suggest four main fields of activities and advancements for the next decade through development/delivery of a: (1) Global multi-disciplinary community of researchers and research institutes; (2) Strategic global framework and strong partnerships in ecosystem observation and research; (3) Global Research Infrastructure (GRI); and (4) a scientific knowledge factory for societally relevant information

Bio-ecology of Taxus Baccata l. in Kakheti

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamar Nadiradze

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the bio-ecology of Taxus baccata L. in Kakheti (eastern Georgia, particularly in Tsinandali Park. Yew (Taxus baccata L. preserved in Tsinandali Park (Telavi region, Georgia was chosen as an object for long-lasting observation over plant vegetation. Vegetation of 47 new specimens were studied during the period 2001-2010. It was observed the buds opening, the vegetation finishing, the cambium active periods beginning and finishing, the sprout stiffen process, the rate and time of growth. The period between 2001 and 2004 is distinguished by the relatively intensive growth of yew samples. In 2004-2010 growth period was shortened. It is suggested, that shortening often growth period in yew specimen is related to the deficit of water in soil due to frequent drought and snowless winters in Telavi region in the last decade.Observation conducted on the peculiarities of cambial growth confirms that yew has strong ability of frost-resistance. We consider that the bio-ecological studies of yew tree, as an endangered species, and its implementation in decorative gardening will contribute to its conservation

Looking for attitudes related to amphibian species decline: how are peer-reviewed publications of education activities compared to ecological research?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ROGER P. MORMUL

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Biodiversity decline has been the focus of discussions in the last decade, especially on the amphibian species decline. After a scientometric analysis using international databases, we found that the number of peer-reviewed articles considering education practices related to the theme increased along with the number of ecological researches. However, the increase in ecological researches is much higher than the increase in publications of education practices. Studies suggest that conservation attitudes are important and that education practices are an important tool for improving human perceptions on this subject. In this sense, increase the publication of projects and programs results related to local education practices in international journals could help the dissemination of efficient methods for conservation, as well as facilitating access to information internationally, since species decline, especially for amphibians, is a global concern. Then, we suggest that educational practices, at least when related to conservation, should follow a more standardized protocol, and be published in international journals, as the efficiency of such practices should be evaluated and methods once published could help other nations to improve their ecological literacy.

2. status colloquium of the project 'Applied ecology' (PAOe). Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breitenstein, A.; Scholz, W.; Waitzmann, M.; Zelesny, H.

1994-01-01

The 'Applied ecology' programme sponsors research on major subjects concerning application-oriented bases of nature conservation and environmental protection in the following sectors: 1. nature and landscape (succession research, scientific accompanying of measures restoring the natural condition of a landscape, nature conservation concepts and development of ecological paradigms); 2. ecotoxicology (further development and standardization of biological indication methods within the framework of the ecotoxicological register of effects of Baden-Wuertemberg, design of exposure models for forcasting long-term changes in Baden-Wuertemberg); 3. risk assessments and risk evaluations in environmental protection (selected ecological balances and development of ecological evaluation criteria).- On March 22nd and 23rd, 1994, the second status colloquium of the project ''Applied Ecology (PAOe)'' was held at Ettlingen. During this annual event, the results of 39 research projects in the above-mentioned major subject areas were presented and debated by 600 experts from science, administration and economy. This volume sums up the results of the research and demonstrates, at the same time, the range of the research projects sponsored under this scheme. (orig./VHE) [de

Deliberative Ecological Economics for Sustainability Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard B. Howarth

2010-10-01

Full Text Available We discuss the recent emergence of ‘deliberative ecological economics’, a field that highlights the potential of deliberation for improving environmental governance. We locate the emergence of this literature in the long concern in ecological economics over the policy implications of limited views of human action and its encounter with deliberative democracy scholarship and the model of communicative rationality as an alternative to utilitarianism. Considering criticisms over methods used and the focus of research in deliberative decision-making, we put forward a research agenda for deliberative ecological economics. Given the promising potential of deliberative processes for improving the effectiveness and legitimacy of environmental decision-making, work in this area could help advance both theory and practice in environmental governance.

Research on Xi Jinping's Thought of Ecological Civilization and Environment Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang-chao, Pan

2018-05-01

Since the reform and opening up, China’s sustained and rapid economic development, but the environment problem increasingly is prominent in our country. It has seriously affected the sustainability of economic development in China. Environment overall situation is not optimistic, and environmental management is imperative. Since the 18th national congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jin-ping has put forward the thought of building a beautiful China with ecological civilization and realizing the sustainable development of economic construction and environmental protection. Sticking to Xi's Thought of Ecological Civilization is a fundamental guarantee for the sustainable development of environment and building a new era of ecological civilization.

Research highlights for the period February 1, 1980-July 31, 1980

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shoemaker, F.C.

1980-01-01

Very brief summaries of research during the period February 1, 1980 to July 31, 1980 are given. The subjects included muon interactions, charmed particles, muon pair production, and the eta/sub c/ meson. Completed work has been published

[Ecological and hygienic problems of nanotech progress].

Science.gov (United States)

Latyshevskaia, N I; Strekalova, A S

2012-01-01

In article necessity of development of new directions of researches--nanoecology (ecology of nanoindustry) and nanohygiene (hygiene of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials) is proved. On the basis of the spent review key ecological and hygienic problems of nanoindustrial development are systematized and also debatable questions are allocated. The conclusion is drawn on necessity of an intensification of studying of ecological and hygienic aspects of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.

Nevada Applied Ecology Information Center: a prototype

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfuderer, H.A.

1978-01-01

The Nevada Applied Ecology Group (NAEG) was exceptionally farsighted in establishing the Nevada Applied Ecology Information Center in January 1972, not long after the Nevada Test Site research programs began. Since its inception, the Data Base on the Environmental Aspects of the Transuranics has been proven to be a useful tool to a wide range of researchers and planners, both nationally and internationally, in addition to those associated with the NAEG. Because of its versatility and ease of access, the Data Base on the Environmental Aspects of the Transuranics has played a major role in the development of new projects by the Ecological Sciences Information Center

36 CFR 1254.52 - Can NARA extend the period of revoked research privileges?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... continue the revocation of research privileges. (b) You have 30 calendar days after the decision to extend... Research Room Rules Other Conduct Rules § 1254.52 Can NARA extend the period of revoked research privileges... with the rules of conduct for NARA facilities, we may extend the revocation of privileges for...

Urbanization and stream ecology: Diverse mechanisms of change

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Allison; Capps, Krista A.; El-Sabaawi, Rana W.; Jones, Krista L.; Parr, Thomas B.; Ramirez, Alonso; Smith, Robert F.; Walsh, Christopher J.; Wenger, Seth J.

2016-01-01

The field of urban stream ecology has evolved rapidly in the last 3 decades, and it now includes natural scientists from numerous disciplines working with social scientists, landscape planners and designers, and land and water managers to address complex, socioecological problems that have manifested in urban landscapes. Over the last decade, stream ecologists have met 3 times at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology (SUSE) to discuss current research, identify knowledge gaps, and promote future research collaborations. The papers in this special series on urbanization and stream ecology include both primary research studies and conceptual synthesis papers spurred from discussions at SUSE in May 2014. The themes of the meeting are reflected in the papers in this series emphasizing global differences in mechanisms and responses of stream ecosystems to urbanization and management solutions in diverse urban streams. Our hope is that this series will encourage continued interdisciplinary and collaborative research to increase the global understanding of urban stream ecology toward stream protection and restoration in urban landscapes.

Webs on the Web (WOW): 3D visualization of ecological networks on the WWW for collaborative research and education

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Ilmi; Williams, Rich; Levine, Eli; Yoon, Sanghyuk; Dunne, Jennifer; Martinez, Neo

2004-06-01

This paper describes information technology being developed to improve the quality, sophistication, accessibility, and pedagogical simplicity of ecological network data, analysis, and visualization. We present designs for a WWW demonstration/prototype web site that provides database, analysis, and visualization tools for research and education related to food web research. Our early experience with a prototype 3D ecological network visualization guides our design of a more flexible architecture design. 3D visualization algorithms include variable node and link sizes, placements according to node connectivity and tropic levels, and visualization of other node and link properties in food web data. The flexible architecture includes an XML application design, FoodWebML, and pipelining of computational components. Based on users" choices of data and visualization options, the WWW prototype site will connect to an XML database (Xindice) and return the visualization in VRML format for browsing and further interactions.

The feasibility of ecological taxation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paulus, A.T.G.

1995-01-01

From an analysis of the possibilities and complexities of ecological taxation, conducted within the context of the first NRP (research project 851051E), it follows that the feasibility of ecological taxes is determined by their design, the level at which they are implemented, the taxing authority by which they are imposed and by the constitutional, institutional and fiscal framework in which they are embedded

Open Source and Open Content: a Framework for Global Collaboration in Social-Ecological Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles Schweik

2005-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses opportunities for alternative collaborative approaches for social-ecological research in general and, in this context, for modeling land-use/land-cover change. In this field, the rate of progress in academic research is steady but perhaps not as rapid or efficient as might be possible with alternative organizational frameworks. The convergence of four phenomena provides new opportunities for cross-organizational collaboration: (1 collaborative principles related to "open source" (OS software development, (2 the emerging area of "open content" (OC licensing, (3 the World Wide Web as a platform for scientific communication, and (4 the traditional concept of peer review. Although private individuals, government organizations, and even companies have shown interest in the OS paradigm as an alternative model for software development, it is less commonly recognized that this collaborative framework is a potential innovation of much greater proportions. In fact, it can guide the collective development of any intellectual content, not just software. This paper has two purposes. First, we describe OS and OC licensing, dispense with some myths about OS, and relate these structures to traditional scientific process. Second, we outline how these ideas can be applied in an area of collaborative research relevant to the study of social-ecological systems. It is important to recognize that the concept of OS is not new, but the idea of borrowing OS principles and using OC licensing for broader scientific collaboration is new. Over the last year, we have been trying to initiate such an OS/OC collaboration in the context of modeling land use and land cover. In doing so, we have identified some key issues that need to be considered, including project initiation, incentives of project participants, collaborative infrastructure, institutional design and governance, and project finance. OS/OC licensing is not a universal solution suitable for all

The value of virtual conferencing for ecology and conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Hannah; Soanes, Kylie; Jones, Stuart A; Jones, Chris S; Malishev, Matthew

2017-06-01

The objectives of conservation science and dissemination of its research create a paradox: Conservation is about preserving the environment, yet scientists spread this message at conferences with heavy carbon footprints. Ecology and conservation science depend on global knowledge exchange-getting the best science to the places it is most needed. However, conference attendance from developed countries typically outweighs that from developing countries that are biodiversity and conservation hotspots. If any branch of science should be trying to maximize participation while minimizing carbon emissions, it is conservation. Virtual conferencing is common in other disciplines, such as education and humanities, but it is surprisingly underused in ecology and conservation. Adopting virtual conferencing entails a number of challenges, including logistics and unified acceptance, which we argue can be overcome through planning and technology. We examined 4 conference models: a pure-virtual model and 3 hybrid hub-and-node models, where hubs stream content to local nodes. These models collectively aim to mitigate the logistical and administrative challenges of global knowledge transfer. Embracing virtual conferencing addresses 2 essential prerequisites of modern conferences: lowering carbon emissions and increasing accessibility for remote, time- and resource-poor researchers, particularly those from developing countries. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Using Green Water Farm to Improve Ecological Restoration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan-Hsiou Chang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Artificial Floating Islands (AFIs are human-made floating structures capable of supporting aquatic vegetation. Previous studies pointed out that most AFIs use aquatic plants to carry out improvement of water quality and ecological conservation. This study proposed a modified AFI system, named Green Water Farm (GWF, to increase the practical application value of traditional AFIs, and added a special design to create an environment that allows for terrestrial plants (including vegetables and flowers to grow and to carry out improvement of water quality and ecological conservation. The research site was located at the waterfront of Li-tze Lake in Pitou Township, Taiwan. A GWF was established to evaluate the improvement of water quality and ecological conservation. During one year, water quality and ecological conservation assessments were recorded to investigate the performance of GWF system. The research results showed that GWF could improve water quality and ecological conservation. In addition, the results of this study can provide useful information for more food sources for humans and animals, and increase biodiversity and ecological conservation.

Interim balance: Ecology. Oekologische Zwischenbilanz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kogon, E; Jungk, R

1981-03-01

The world wide ecology problem is discussed with examples of energy, transportation, chemistry, agriculture and food industry, and water supply. Destruction of nature and human discord is considered. Conservative in our political parties and their views on environmental protection are presented, including alliance between reds and 'greens''. The Rhine initiative is discussed. Lead respects no borders accounts experiences of citizens' action groups in Lothringia and the Saar district. International airport Munich-II/comments by a protestant. 'Give priority to life is hearing on environmental protection. Other subjects include: 'Green's in the Bremen Senate; policy in a hard-hearing world psychology of citizens' action groups; critical ecological research and scientific establishment; full productivity and ecology; the deluge to follow/hints on how to build an ark; symbiosis is more than coexistence/ecologists' social theory; throwing in two hundred elementary particles/on the way to an ecological concept of science; scientific journals; alternative literature; and a teaching model for a teaching subject' ecology'.

The feasibility of ecological taxation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paulus, A.T.G.

1995-01-01

The feasibility of ecological taxation in general and for the Netherlands in specific was analyzed within the context of one of the NRP research projects. The analysis shows that the feasibility of ecological taxes is generally determined by the tax design, the taxing authority by which these taxes are imposed and by the constitutional, institutional and fiscal structures into which they are embedded. In order to be feasible, the analysis shows that ecologically relevant taxes have to be imposed by a taxing authority which is clearly related to relevant ecological circumstances. Since normal taxing authorities tend to be political units which most of the times do not fit this description, institutional and constitutional changes are necessary to introduce and impose (additional) feasible types of ecological taxes in practice. Within the context of the Netherlands, the analysis shows that the currently changing intergovernmental and financial relationships in this country provide important starting points for municipalities, water authorities and provinces to introduce feasible types of such taxes. 225 refs

Food ecology of the Kalahari Lion Panthera leo vernayi

OpenAIRE

F. C Eloff

1984-01-01

Aspects of the food ecology of the lion were researched in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. A survey based on 195 periods of 24 hours each, indicated that porcupines represented 32,3 and gemsbok 25 of lion kills. Because so many small or young mammals are being caught, a single Kalahari lion probably makes as many as 50 kills per year @ considerably more than anywhere else in Africa. The Kalahari lion covers a distance, on average, of 11,8 km per night in search of food. The hunting succes...

Resilience Through Ecological Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grazia Brunetta

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The paper explores the strategic role that urban biodiversity and ecosystem services management, natural infrastructure and adaptive governance approaches can play in making our economies and societies more resilient and in linking human societies and the natural environment. Resilience – a concept that entered the debate on urban governance – means the ability of urban systems, considered as linear-systems, to react to external disturbances by returning to some socio-ecological equilibrium steady-state by overcoming a crisis period (Gunderson & al. 2010, Newman & al. 2009. In this view, green infrastructures can assume a strategic role in restoring and enhancing the ecological and environmental livability in urban areas. Starting from the International and European context, the paper discusses innovative programs and interdisciplinary projects and practices (some cases in Turin Metropolitan Area to demonstrate how green infrastructures can increase the adaptive capacity of urban systems in term of resilience. They can contribute to increase the ability of European cities to adapt to climate change and to reduce their ecological footprints, to enhance security and life quality.

Ecology-centered experiences among children and adolescents: A qualitative and quantitative analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Orton, Judy

The present research involved two studies that considered ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with living things) as a factor in children's environmental attitudes and behaviors and adolescents' ecological understanding. The first study (Study 1) examined how a community garden provides children in an urban setting the opportunity to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences. To do this, I carried out a yearlong ethnographic study at an urban community garden located in a large city in the Southeastern United States. Through participant observations and informal interviews of community garden staff and participants, I found children had opportunities to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences (e.g., interaction with animals) along with other experiences (e.g., playing games, reading books). In light of previous research that shows urban children have diminished ecological thought---a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things---because of their lack of ecology-centered experiences (Coley, 2012), the present study may have implications for urban children to learn about ecology. As an extension of Study 1, I carried out a second study (Study 2) to investigate how ecology-centered experiences contribute to adolescents' environmental attitudes and behaviors in light of other contextual factors, namely environmental responsibility support, ecological thought, age and gender. Study 2 addressed three research questions. First, does ecological thought---a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things---predict environmental attitudes and behaviors (EAB)? Results showed ecological thought did not predict EAB, an important finding considering the latent assumptions of previous research about the relationship between these two factors (e.g., Brugger, Kaiser, & Roczen, 2011). Second, do two types of contextual support, ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with

Automated experimentation in ecological networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lurgi, Miguel; Robertson, David

2011-05-09

In ecological networks, natural communities are studied from a complex systems perspective by representing interactions among species within them in the form of a graph, which is in turn analysed using mathematical tools. Topological features encountered in complex networks have been proved to provide the systems they represent with interesting attributes such as robustness and stability, which in ecological systems translates into the ability of communities to resist perturbations of different kinds. A focus of research in community ecology is on understanding the mechanisms by which these complex networks of interactions among species in a community arise. We employ an agent-based approach to model ecological processes operating at the species' interaction level for the study of the emergence of organisation in ecological networks. We have designed protocols of interaction among agents in a multi-agent system based on ecological processes occurring at the interaction level between species in plant-animal mutualistic communities. Interaction models for agents coordination thus engineered facilitate the emergence of network features such as those found in ecological networks of interacting species, in our artificial societies of agents. Agent based models developed in this way facilitate the automation of the design an execution of simulation experiments that allow for the exploration of diverse behavioural mechanisms believed to be responsible for community organisation in ecological communities. This automated way of conducting experiments empowers the study of ecological networks by exploiting the expressive power of interaction models specification in agent systems.

A research agenda for helminth diseases of humans: social ecology, environmental determinants, and health systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Gazzinelli

Full Text Available In this paper, the Disease Reference Group on Helminth Infections (DRG4, established in 2009 by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR, with the mandate to review helminthiases research and identify research priorities and gaps, focuses on the environmental, social, behavioural, and political determinants of human helminth infections and outlines a research and development agenda for the socioeconomic and health systems research required for the development of sustainable control programmes. Using Stockols' social-ecological approach, we describe the role of various social (poverty, policy, stigma, culture, and migration and environmental determinants (the home environment, water resources development, and climate change in the perpetuation of helminthic diseases, as well as their impact as contextual factors on health promotion interventions through both the regular and community-based health systems. We examine these interactions in regard to community participation, intersectoral collaboration, gender, and possibilities for upscaling helminthic disease control and elimination programmes within the context of integrated and interdisciplinary approaches. The research agenda summarises major gaps that need to be addressed.

Coevolutionary ecological economics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kallis, Giorgos [ICREA Researcher, ICTA, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, ETSE, QC/3095, 08193 Bellatera, Barcelona (Spain); Norgaard, Richard B. [Energy and Resources Group, University of California at Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3050 (United States)

2010-02-15

This paper maps a coevolutionary research agenda for ecological economics. At an epistemological level coevolution offers a powerful logic for transcending environmental and social determinisms and developing a cross-disciplinary approach in the study of socio-ecological systems. We identify four consistent stories emerging out of coevolutionary studies in ecological economics, concerning: environmental degradation and development failure in peripheral regions; the lock-in of unsustainable production-consumption patterns; the vicious cycle between human efforts to control undesirable micro-organisms and the evolution of these organisms; and the adaptive advantages of other-regarding, cooperative behaviors and institutions. We identify challenges in the conceptualization of coevolutionary relationships in relation to: the interaction between different hierarchical levels of evolution; the role of space and social power; uneven rates of change and crises. We conclude with the political implications of a coevolutionary perspective based on the premises of pragmatism. (author)

Ecological and energy non-consuming technology for extending the freshness period of fish at positive temperatures and method for freshness control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirza, Maria; Saros-Rogobete, Irina; Popescu, G. M.; Dobrin, D. N.; Cristescu, T. M.; Stefanescu, Ioan; Steflea, Dumitru; Titescu, Ghe.

2001-01-01

As medium of preservation, unsalted water i.e. distillated water, deuterium depleted water, de-ionized water or mixtures of these were used. The following performance are reported: - Freshness period is of 18-24 hours at 30 deg. C, 5-18 days at 5-15 deg. C and 20-30 days at 0-5 deg. C. The method of freshness control was the measurement of unconventional tissue energies. The technology is advantageous because it is ecological, uses natural materials (unsalted water), can by applied in case of energetic crisis and contributes to the preservation of ozone layer. The technology implies very low costs and also extends by 2-6 times the shelf time the fish is kept at positive temperatures comparing with classical refrigeration method. (authors)

Integrated Pest Management Research Symposium: The Proceedings

Science.gov (United States)

Susan J. Branham; Robert C. Thatcher; [Editors

1985-01-01

Thirty-seven papers are presented that summarize the findings from research and development work conducted as a part of the Integrated Pest Management RD&A Program for Bark Beetles of Southern Pines during the 5-year period 1980-85. Presentations cover the areas of sampling and impact assessment, bark beetle biology and ecology, host susceptibility, host/pest...

Knowledge Operation Capability Evaluation Model and Strategic Orientation of Supply Chain: Exploratory Research Based on View of Ecology

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Wen-Yong; Song, Ze-Qian

The competitiveness of Supply Chain (SC) correlates intimately with its knowledge operation (KO). In order to realize better assessment value, this paper constructed an evaluation framework on knowledge operation of SC and a detailed index system. According to theory of ecology, expounded the evaluation orientation and future research direction from view of comprehensiveness and adaptability. Additionally, a case about Toyota recall-gate was analyzed. Through research, it provides two dimensions of results evaluating orientation which may help enterprise make right decision upon SC.

The Clinical Nutrition Research Agenda in Indonesia and beyond: ecological strategy for food in health care delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Lukito, Widjaja; Wibowo, Lindawati; Wahlqvist, Mark L

2017-06-01

Despite progress with the food-associated health agenda in the public health and clinical domains, much remains to be done in Indonesia. There are reasons to be optimistic which include economic development, increasing literacy, progress towards universal health coverage and community organizational arrangements across the archipelago which focus on health through some 10,000 puskesmas. These community health centres are variably staffed with voluntary cadres from the community, bidans (nurses) and general medical practitioners. For more effective prevention and management of nutritionally-related health problems, innovative community and clinical nutrition research and expertise is required. With rapid urbanisation, the growth of the digital economy, increasing socio-economic inequity and climate change, there are imperatives for ecologically sustainable, nonemployment dependent livelihoods which provide energy, food, water, education and health care security. A relevant health care workforce will include those who research and practice clinical nutrition. Here we gather together an account of an extensive body of published and emerging literature which makes a case collectively for a more ecological approach to nutrition and health and how it might revitalise the Indonesian and other health care systems.

Ecological quality of production: accounting approach on sustainable development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.P. Syroid

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The specific weight of resource and power consuming technologies that is typical for Ukrainian economy, the absence of effective legal, administrative and economic mechanisms of management of nature and the low level of ecological society consciousness have led to the significant deterioration of environment state in Ukraine, excessive pollution of waters, air, and soil, accumulation of a large number of waste products. Besides, the produce as a result of such enterprises’ production affects consumers’ health badly. This causes the need to develop theory and methodology of production ecological quality accounting. The problem of quality is the most important factor of increasing of life level, economic, social and ecological security in market economy. This, the current research aims to formulate the essence of concept “ecological quality of production” The research determines that ecological quality is characterized by the following main 6 aspects: social, technical, legal, economic, aesthetic and ecological. If one of these six aspects does not work, we cannot speak about ecological quality of a certain commodity. Many various factors influence upon the level of ecological quality of products and services. According to their contents and directions, they can be united into the following main 6 groups: technical, organizational, economic and social, ecological and aesthetic and legal. The article determines the directions of production ecological quality increasing.

The ecology of work and health: Research and policy directions for the promotion of employee health

OpenAIRE

Stokols, D; Pelletier, KR; Fielding, JE

1996-01-01

This article identifies new research and policy directions for the field of worksite health in the context of the changing American workplace. These directions are viewed from an ecological perspective on worksite health and are organized around three major themes: (1) the joint influence of physical and social environmental factors on occupational health, (2) the effects of nonoccupational settings (e.g., households, the health care system) on employee well-being and the implications of rece...

GIS Based Measurement and Regulatory Zoning of Urban Ecological Vulnerability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaorui Zhang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Urban ecological vulnerability is measured on the basis of ecological sensitivity and resilience based on the concept analysis of vulnerability. GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA methods are used, supported by the spatial analysis tools of GIS, to define different levels of vulnerability for areas of the urban ecology. These areas are further classified into different types of regulatory zones. Taking the city of Hefei in China as the empirical research site, this study uses GIS-MCDA, including the index system, index weights and overlay rules, to measure the degree of its ecological vulnerability on the GIS platform. There are eight indices in the system. Raking and analytical hierarchy process (AHP methods are used to calculate index weights according to the characteristics of the index system. The integrated overlay rule, including selection of the maximum value, and weighted linear combination (WLC are applied as the overlay rules. In this way, five types of vulnerability areas have been classified as follows: very low vulnerability, low vulnerability, medium vulnerability, high vulnerability and very high vulnerability. They can be further grouped into three types of regulatory zone of ecological green line, ecological grey line and ecological red line. The study demonstrates that ecological green line areas are the largest (53.61% of the total study area and can be intensively developed; ecological grey line areas (19.59% of the total area can serve as the ecological buffer zone, and ecological red line areas (26.80% cannot be developed and must be protected. The results indicate that ecological green line areas may provide sufficient room for future urban development in Hefei city. Finally, the respective regulatory countermeasures are put forward. This research provides a scientific basis for decision-making around urban ecological protection, construction and sustainable development. It also provides theoretical method

Accelerate synthesis in ecology and environmental sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Synthesis of diverse knowledge is a central part of all sciences, but especially those such as ecology and environmental sciences which draw information from many disciplines. Research and education in ecology are intrinsically synthetic, and synthesis is increasingly needed to find solutions for en...

The pre-history of modern ecological economics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

This paper provides a historical perspective for the discussion on ecological economics as a special field of research. By studying the historical background of ecological economics, the present discussions and tensions inside the field might become easier to understand and to relate to. The stud...

Ecological balance between supply and demand based on cultivated land ecological footprint method in Guizhou Province

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Qinghuan; Zhou, Dequan; Bai, Xiaoyong; Xiao, Jianyong; Chen, Fei; Zeng, Cheng

2018-01-01

In order to construct the indicators of the balance between supply and demand of the cultivated land ecological carrying capacity, basing on the relation of the cultivated land ecological carrying capacity supply and demand, applying the model of Cultivated Land Ecological Footprints and the method of CIS and considering the factors of cultivated land production, taking the statistical data of 2015 as an example, and then made a systematic evaluation of the balance between supply and demand of the cultivated land ecological carrying capacity in Guizhou Province. The results show that (1) the spatial distribution of supply and demand of cultivated land ecological carrying capacity in Guizhou is unbalanced, and the northern and eastern parts are the overloading area, the middle, the south and the west parts are the balance area. (2) From the perspective of cultivated land structure, the crops with ecological carrying capacity surplus were rice, vegetables and peanuts, among which rice was the highest and the ecological balance index was 0.7354. The crops with ecological carrying capacity overload were potato, wheat, maize, rapeseeds, soybeans and cured tobacco, of which the index of potato up to 7.11, other types of indices are less than 1.5. The research can provide the ecological security early warning, the overall plan of land use and sustainable development of the area cultivated land with scientific evidence and decision support.

THE PERCEPTION ON ECOLOGICAL PRODUCTS – A RESEARCH ON THE URBAN CONSUMER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanase Laura Daniela

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This paper is about the consumers of organic products. The work is important because in Romania, although consumption data show a small percentage consumption of organic products, in words it is still high. The difference consists between the definition and the perception of the concept of ecological products in respondents’ eye. This work aims to study the consumer perception of such niche products from a narrow perspective and that of products certified or not. Trying to prove that there are differences in behaviour between the two groups. Problem arising in this field is that there are many concepts of period of environmentally-friendly. Marketing and criterion by which to do all the market report shows green products from the point of view as they are legal certificates. Only that in Romania, there are two different segments of shoppers. Those who buy green products certified and those who buy green products certified. These latter, which many call the peasant market supplies, are an interesting group of future investigation for this type of sale. This paper comes as a complete research done in this market and brings attention to a new variable of analysis for motivational research. This research is an exploratory research that proposed method is very common in research of this kind. We held three focus group meetings divided by a selection questionnaire. The first group of 7 persons included only persons who have declared that they have bought certified products and the second group of 9 persons included only people who bought uncertified products. The third group also of 9 persons included people in both categories. So we could identify what some say about others when they are face to face and also when they are not. The results are as expected. We can say says there difference between the two groups in terms of motivation choosing those types of products, the same reasons are for buyers and their family, taste and the appearance of

75 FR 21686 - Extension of Comment Period for Commercialization of University Research Request for Information

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-26

... OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL Extension of Comment Period for Commercialization of University Research Request for Information ACTION: Notice; extension of comment period. The comment period for the joint request for information issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy...

Ecology of Culiseta Melanura and Other Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from Walton County, FL, During Winter Period 2013-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Burkett-Cadena, Nathan D; Bingham, Andrea M; Hunt, Brenda; Morse, Gary; Unnasch, Thomas R

2015-09-01

Winter ecology of putative vectors of eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus (EEEV) in northern Florida was investigated at field locations with evidence of historic EEEV winter transmission. Light traps and resting shelters were used to sample the mosquito community in the vicinity of eight sentinel flocks throughout the winter period (November-April) of 2013 and 2014 in Walton County, FL. Overall mosquito activity was relatively low, although mosquitoes were captured during each week of the study period. Mosquito activity was linked to morning temperature, and females were captured when ambient morning temperatures were quite low (1-5°C). Anopheles crucians Wiedemann, Culex erraticus (Dyar and Knab), Culex territans Walker, and Culiseta melanura (Coquillett) were the most commonly collected mosquito species (of 20 total species). Analysis of blood-engorged mosquitoes revealed a number of mosquito species feeding upon chickens, other birds, amphibians, and domestic and wild mammals. Cs. melanura fed primarily upon chickens and songbirds (Passeriformes), suggesting that this mosquito species is the likely winter vector of EEEV to sentinel chickens in northern Florida. Both resident and nonresident songbird species were fed upon, constituting 63.9 and 36.1% of total songbird meals, respectively. Our results suggest important roles for Cs. melanura and songbird hosts for the winter transmission of EEEV in northern Florida. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Laboratorio de ecología humana e impacto tecnológico: Investigación para el desarrollo sustentable - Human ecology laboratory and its technological impact: Research for sustainable development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belinda Elena Colina Arenas

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Parte de la vinculación necesaria entre la academia y el sector externo, lo representa la actividad creativa que se genera en los laboratorios de investigación académica, la cual constituye un aspecto poco valorado y subutilizado de las labores de investigación de las universidades autónomas venezolanas. El objetivo es analizar los aspectos contextuales que impulsaron la creación del Laboratorio de Ecología Humana e Impacto Tecnológico (LEHIT. Se realizó un estudio de caso único con observación documental basada en la lectura activa. El trabajo se inscribe dentro de las líneas de investigación “Gestión Ambiental y Problemática Ecológica asociadas a las Tecnologías” y “Gestión de Conocimiento y desarrollo de Capacidades innovativas”. Su principal resultado es que existen sólidos elementos contextuales que caracterizan a la región zuliana, dada la biodiversidad y megadiversidad de la zona; así como, una actividad productiva con fuerte impacto tecnológico sobre los ecosistemas existentes, lo cual amerita la creación de un laboratorio que aborde científicamente la temática de la ecología humana en relación al impacto tecnológico. Se concluye que se justifica la creación de un laboratorio de investigación, que bajo la figura de red aglutine novedosos y dinámicos proyectos y programas de investigación y extensión, que aporten soluciones, promoviendo el uso de tecnologías no solo amigables con el ambiente, sino aplicaciones tecnológicas a fin de erradicar los efectos negativos; así como desarrollar proyectos de innovación a partir de una gestión de la innovación sustentable que busque revertir la problemática de la contaminación y los graves daños a los ecosistemas zulianos. Abstract Part of the necessary link between the academy and the external sector is represented by the creative activity generated in academic research laboratories, which is an undervalued and underutilized aspect of the research

[An emergy-ecological footprint model based evaluation of ecological security at the old industrial area in Northeast China: A case study of Liaoning Province.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qing; Lu, Cheng Peng; Zhou, Feng; Geng, Yong; Jing, Hong Shuang; Ren, Wan Xia; Xue, Bing

2016-05-01

Based on the integrated model of emergy-ecological footprint approaches, the ecological security of Liaoning Province, a typical case for the old industrial area, was quantitatively evaluated from 2003 to 2012, followed by a scenario analysis on the development trend of the ecological secu-rity by employing the gray kinetic model. The results showed that, from 2003 to 2012, the value of emergy ecological-capacity per capita in Liaoning Province decreased from 3.13 hm 2 to 3.07 hm 2 , while the emergy-ecological footprint increased from 13.88 hm 2 to 21.96 hm 2 , which indicated that the ecological deficit existed in Liaoning Province and the situation was getting worse. The ecological pressure index increased from 4.43 to 7.16 during the studied period, and the alert level of ecological security changed from light to middle level. According to the development trend, the emergy ecological capacity per capita during 2013-2022 would correspondingly decrease from 3.04 hm 2 to 2.98 hm 2 , while the emergy ecological footprint would increase from 22.72 hm 2 to 35.87 hm 2 , the ecological pressure index would increase from 7.46 to 12.04, and the ecological deficit would keep increasing and the ecological security level would slide into slightly unsafe condition. The alert level of ecological security would turn to be middle or serious, suggesting the problems in ecological safety needed to be solved urgently.

Land use diversification and intensification on elk winter range in Greater Yellowstone: A framework and agenda for social-ecological research

Science.gov (United States)

Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Epstein, Kathleen; Stone, Michael; Cross, Paul

2018-01-01

Amenity migration describes the movement of peoples to rural landscapes and the transition toward tourism and recreation and away from production-oriented land uses (ranching, timber harvesting). The resulting mosaic of land uses and community structures has important consequences for wildlife and their management. This research note examines amenity-driven changes to social-ecological systems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, specifically in lower elevations that serve as winter habitat for elk. We present a research agenda informed by a preliminary and exploratory mixed-methods investigation: the creation of a “social-impact” index of land use change on elk winter range and a focus group with wildlife management experts. Our findings suggest that elk are encountering an increasingly diverse landscape with respect to land use, while new ownership patterns increase the complexity of social and community dynamics. These factors, in turn, contribute to increasing difficulty meeting wildlife management objectives. To deal with rising complexity across social and ecological landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, future research will focus on property life cycle dynamics, as well as systems approaches.

Research on fast ecological restoration technology of high and steep rocky slope of highway

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Xin

2017-08-01

Along with the development of the western region, the traffic construction in mountainous areas is booming. In the infrastructure, it produced a large number of secondary bare land. Soil erosion is serious. Based on the literature search and analysis of the domestic and international slope ecological restoration technology, this paper proposes a fast and efficient adaptive highway high steep rock slope ecological restoration technology (it has been authorized by the national patent). And it states the systemic structure, working principle and key construction technology. The ecological restoration technique combines the growth characteristics of the vegetation and the characteristics of the rock mass, which not only improves the survival rate of plants, but also stable slope. The results of this study make up for the shortcomings of the existing ecological restoration technology of slope. Compared with the prior art, which have obvious advantages and suitable for the ecological restoration of high steep rock slope.

Periodic Closures as Adaptive Coral Reef Management in the Indo-Pacific

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josh Cinner

2006-06-01

Full Text Available This study explores the social, economic, and ecological context within which communities in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia use adaptive coral reef management. We tested whether periodic closures had positive effects on reef resources, and found that both the biomass and the average size of fishes commonly caught in Indo-Pacific subsistence fisheries were greater inside areas subject to periodic closures compared to sites with year-round open access. Surprisingly, both long-lived and short-lived species benefited from periodic closures. Our study sites were remote communities that shared many socioeconomic characteristics; these may be crucial to the effectiveness of adaptive management of reef resources through periodic closures. Some of these factors include exclusive tenure over marine resources, a body of traditional ecological knowledge that allows for the rapid assessment of resource conditions, social customs that facilitate compliance with closures, relatively small human populations, negligible migration, and a relatively low dependence on fisheries. This dynamic adaptive management system, in which communities manage their resources among multiple social and ecological baselines, contrasts with western fisheries management practices, centered on maintaining exploited populations at stable levels in which net production is maximized.

[Application of hyperspectral remote sensing in research on ecological boundary in north farming-pasturing transition in China].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hong-Mei; Wang, Kun; Xie, Ying-Zhong

2009-06-01

Studies of ecological boundaries are important and have become a rapidly evolving part of contemporary ecology. The ecotones are dynamic and play several functional roles in ecosystem dynamics, and the changes in their locations can be used as an indicator of environment changes, and for these reasons, ecotones have recently become a focus of investigation of landscape ecology and global climate change. As the interest in ecotone increases, there is an increased need for formal techniques to detect it. Hence, to better study and understand the functional roles and dynamics of ecotones in ecosystem, we need quantitative methods to characterize them. In the semi-arid region of northern China, there exists a farming-pasturing transition resulting from grassland reclamation and deforestation. With the fragmentation of grassland landscape, the structure and function of the grassland ecosystem are changing. Given this perspective; new-image processing approaches are needed to focus on transition themselves. Hyperspectral remote sensing data, compared with wide-band remote sensing data, has the advantage of high spectral resolution. Hyperspectral remote sensing can be used to visualize transitional zones and to detect ecotone based on surface properties (e. g. vegetation, soil type, and soil moisture etc). In this paper, the methods of hyperspectral remote sensing information processing, spectral analysis and its application in detecting the vegetation classifications, vegetation growth state, estimating the canopy biochemical characteristics, soil moisture, soil organic matter etc are reviewed in detail. Finally the paper involves further application of hyperspectral remote sensing information in research on local climate in ecological boundary in north farming-pasturing transition in China.

From environmental to ecological ethics: toward a practical ethics for ecologists and conservationists.

Science.gov (United States)

Minteer, Ben A; Collins, James P

2008-12-01

Ecological research and conservation practice frequently raise difficult and varied ethical questions for scientific investigators and managers, including duties to public welfare, nonhuman individuals (i.e., animals and plants), populations, and ecosystems. The field of environmental ethics has contributed much to the understanding of general duties and values to nature, but it has not developed the resources to address the diverse and often unique practical concerns of ecological researchers and managers in the field, lab, and conservation facility. The emerging field of "ecological ethics" is a practical or scientific ethics that offers a superior approach to the ethical dilemmas of the ecologist and conservation manager. Even though ecological ethics necessarily draws from the principles and commitments of mainstream environmental ethics, it is normatively pluralistic, including as well the frameworks of animal, research, and professional ethics. It is also methodologically pragmatic, focused on the practical problems of researchers and managers and informed by these problems in turn. The ecological ethics model offers environmental scientists and practitioners a useful analytical tool for identifying, clarifying, and harmonizing values and positions in challenging ecological research and management situations. Just as bioethics provides a critical intellectual and problem-solving service to the biomedical community, ecological ethics can help inform and improve ethical decision making in the ecology and conservation communities.

From Contagious to Resilient and Beyond: A Periodization of Four Decades of Educational Research on LGBTQ Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Kavanagh, Sarah Schneider

2016-01-01

This article presents a periodization of educational research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues between 1970 and 2010. Developed through a frame analysis of 105 educational research reports, the periodization maps ideological and chronological patterns in the conceptual frames of research on LGBTQ issues. Five…

Ecological impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, J.M.; Eberhardt, L.L.

1975-01-01

Quantitative problems in accomplishing ecological impact assessment with particular reference to defining population effects are discussed with some comments on the two approaches most commonly used, e.g., the experimental and simulation models. Some alternatives are suggested because both methods will probably fail to detect real population effects mostly due to poor understanding of ecosystems or because of the limitations inherent in field census methods. Most judgments of ecological impact are not quantitatively defensible but are qualitative, subjective, or political in nature. An examination of aggregates of data from various nuclear power plant sites may be one way to obtain enough replication to judge ecological impact. Thus, currently available data from such studies as well as appropriate demographic, vegetation, census, and bibliographic material could offer an interesting challenge to computer professionals if such an undertaking were contemplated. Present research programs at PNL and computer involvement are described. Future possibilities and directions are discussed. (U.S.)

Evaluation of Ecological Environment Security in Contiguous Poverty Alleviation Area of Sichuan Province

Science.gov (United States)

Xian, W.; Chen, Y.; Chen, J.; Luo, X.; Shao, H.

2018-04-01

According to the overall requirements of ecological construction and environmental protection, rely on the national key ecological engineering, strengthen ecological environmental restoration and protection, improve forest cover, control soil erosion, construct important ecological security barrier in poor areas, inhibit poverty alleviation through ecological security in this area from environmental damage to the vicious cycle of poverty. Obviously, the dynamic monitoring of ecological security in contiguous destitute areas of Sichuan province has a policy sense of urgency and practical significance. This paper adopts RS technology and GIS technology to select the Luhe region of Jinchuan county and Ganzi prefecture as the research area, combined with the characteristics of ecological environment in poor areas, the impact factors of ecological environment are determined as land use type, terrain slope, vegetation cover, surface water, soil moisture and other factors. Using the ecological environmental safety assessment model, the ecological environment safety index is calculated. According to the index, the ecological environment safety of the research area is divided into four levels. The ecological environment safety classification map of 1990 in 2009 is obtained. It can be seen that with the human modern life and improve their economic level, the surrounding environment will be destroyed, because the research area ecological environment is now in good, the ecological environment generally tends to be stable. We should keep its ecological security good and improve local economic income. The relationship between ecological environmental security and economic coordinated development in poor areas has very important strategic significance.

Land use changes and its driving forces in hilly ecological restoration area based on gis and rs of northern china

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Peng; Niu, Xiang; Wang, Bing; Zheng, Yunlong

2015-01-01

Land use change is one of the important aspects of the regional ecological restoration research. With remote sensing (RS) image in 2003, 2007 and 2012, using geographic information system (GIS) technologies, the land use pattern changes in Yimeng Mountain ecological restoration area in China and its driving force factors were studied. Results showed that: (1) Cultivated land constituted the largest area during 10 years, and followed by forest land and grass land; cultivated land and unused land were reduced by 28.43% and 44.32%, whereas forest land, water area and land for water facilities and others were increased. (2) During 2003–2007, forest land change showed the largest, followed by unused land and grass land; however, during 2008–2012, water area and land for water facilities change showed the largest, followed by grass land and unused land. (3) Land use degree was above the average level, it was in the developing period during 2003–2007 and in the degenerating period during 2008–2012. (4) Ecological Restoration Projects can greatly change the micro topography, increase vegetation coverage, and then induce significant changes in the land use distribution, which were the main driving force factors of the land use pattern change in the ecological restoration area. PMID:26047160

Human Ecology: Acid Rain and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bybee, Rodger W.

1983-01-01

A connection between science and society can be seen in the human and ecological dimensions of one contemporary problem: acid rain. Introduces a human ecological theme and relationships between acid rain and public policy, considering scientific understanding and public awareness, scientific research and public policy, and national politics and…

Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss

Science.gov (United States)

Cunsolo, Ashlee; Ellis, Neville R.

2018-04-01

Climate change is increasingly understood to impact mental health through multiple pathways of risk, including intense feelings of grief as people suffer climate-related losses to valued species, ecosystems and landscapes. Despite growing research interest, ecologically driven grief, or `ecological grief', remains an underdeveloped area of inquiry. We argue that grief is a natural and legitimate response to ecological loss, and one that may become more common as climate impacts worsen. Drawing upon our own research in Northern Canada and the Australian Wheatbelt, combined with a synthesis of the literature, we offer future research directions for the study of ecological grief.

Ecological and environmental education in the region of Ignalina NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motiejuniene, E.; Salickaite-Bunikiene, L.

1995-01-01

During three last years the groups involving pupils, students and teachers take part in the educational sessions. They are organized in Drukshiai Ecological Station . The work of Ignalina NPP, its influence on the nature as well as methods and results of scientific investigation and assessment of the influence are discussed. To direct environmental research activity of scholars the special 3-8 days programs made up by researchers are used. They include theoretical and practical studies. Educational - research activity performed in the Drukshiai Ecological Station could be an example of ecological schooling center related to environmental protection. (author). 2 refs

Ecological periodic tables: In principle and practice - Janury 2012

Science.gov (United States)

The chemical periodic table, the Linnaean system of classification and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram are iconic information organizing structures in chemistry, biology and astronomy, respectively, because they are simple, exceptionally useful and they foster the expansion of sc...

Future Directions for Dissemination and Implementation Science: Aligning Ecological Theory and Public Health to Close the Research to Practice Gap.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkins, Marc S; Rusch, Dana; Mehta, Tara G; Lakind, Davielle

2016-01-01

Dissemination and implementation science (DI) has evolved as a major research model for children's mental health in response to a long-standing call to integrate science and practice and bridge the elusive research to practice gap. However, to address the complex and urgent needs of the most vulnerable children and families, future directions for DI require a new alignment of ecological theory and public health to provide effective, sustainable, and accessible mental health services. We present core principles of ecological theory to emphasize how contextual factors impact behavior and allow for the reciprocal impact individuals have on the settings they occupy, and an alignment of these principles with a public health model to ensure that services span the prevention to intervention continuum. We provide exemplars from our ongoing work in urban schools and a new direction for research to address the mental health needs of immigrant Latino families. Through these examples we illustrate how DI can expand its reach by embedding within natural settings to build on local capacity and indigenous resources, incorporating the local knowledge necessary to more substantively address long-standing mental health disparities. This paradigm shift for DI, away from an overemphasis on promoting program adoption, calls for fitting interventions within settings that matter most to children's healthy development and for utilizing and strengthening available community resources. In this way, we can meet the challenge of addressing our nation's mental health burden by supporting the needs and values of families and communities within their own unique social ecologies.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nanodevices and Nanomaterials for Ecological Security

CERN Document Server

Kiv, Arnold

2012-01-01

  This book is devoted to a wide range of problems concerning applications of nanomaterials and nanodevices as effective solutions to modern ecological problems. Leading experts in nanoscience and nanotechnology present the key theoretical, experimental and implementation issues related to the creation and utilization of novel nanoscale devices to help ensure ecological security. The authors discuss appropriate nanotechnologies for minimizing various types of risk: to human life, technogenic risk, or indeed terrorist threats. Particular emphasis is placed on defining and studying the required materials properties, and – in the field – on nanoscale devices for sensors and monitoring.

Radiological and Environmental Research Division Annual Report. Part III, Ecology, January-December 1978

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rowland, R. E.; Eddington, D. N. [eds.

1978-12-01

Ecological studies continue to focus on the determination of the effects of energy-related pollutants on planktonic species typical of the Great Lakes. Also included were experimental studies of the effects of enclosure size on the response of zooplankton to stress by cadmium. A new mobile field laboratory was constructed to support studies of the effects of water temperatures regimes on rates of accumulation by salmonid fishes of persistent organic contaminants such as PCB's. A significant new addition to the Great Lakes Research Program was marked by the arrival and formal acceptance of the new research vessel, the R/V Ekos. Descriptions of the Ekos and its research capabilities are included. A variety of studies of the behavior of transuranic elements conducted in environments as diverse as the Irish Sea, Great Slave Lake, the Great Miami River, and the Great Lakes, have focused on changes in the oxidation state of plutonium, and the effects these changes have on the behavior of this important element in the aquatic environment. Twenty-six sections of the report were abstracted and indexed individually for inclusion on ERA/EDB and those in scope for INIS. (JGB)

A Comparison of Microplastic Ecological Risk in Sediments of Shanghai and Hong Kong Based on the Ecological Risk Index and Plastic Hazard Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, P.; Li, D.

2017-12-01

Microplastic which refers to the plastic fragments and particles with diameters less than 5 mm has potential threatening impacts on various ambient medium. The shortage of knowledge of ecological risks from microplastics inhibits the scientific research process. Based on the research of the literature widely, this paper analyzed potential ecological risk of microplastic in sediment of Shanghai and Hong Kong by means of ecological risk index and hazard classes developed by UN Globally Harmonized System. Combining of the two assessment method, results showed that the order of microplastic pollution extents in sediments was Changjiang Estuary

Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: the role of tourism and ecological footprint.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozturk, Ilhan; Al-Mulali, Usama; Saboori, Behnaz

2016-01-01

The main objective of this study is to examine the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by utilizing the ecological footprint as an environment indicator and GDP from tourism as the economic indicator. To achieve this goal, an environmental degradation model is established during the period of 1988-2008 for 144 countries. The results from the time series generalized method of moments (GMM) and the system panel GMM revealed that the number of countries that have a negative relationship between the ecological footprint and its determinants (GDP growth from tourism, energy consumption, trade openness, and urbanization) is more existent in the upper middle- and high-income countries. Moreover, the EKC hypothesis is more present in the upper middle- and high-income countries than the other income countries. From the outcome of this research, a number of policy recommendations were provided for the investigated countries.

Experimental Researches Regarding the Ecological Dyeing with Natural Extracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budeanu Ramona

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of ‘environmental awareness’ has recently had a major impact on the textile industry and on the fashion world as well. In this context, the use of natural fibres and the development of natural dyeing processes gradually became important goals of the textile industry. Of all natural textile fibres, hemp is considered to be one of the strongest and most durable. A wide range of natural extracts have been used for natural textile coloration and dyeing. Dyes deriving from natural sources have emerged as an important alternative to synthetic dyes. Ecofriendly, nontoxic, sustainable and renewable natural dyes and pigments have been used for colouring the food substrate, leather, wood, natural fibres and fabrics from the dawn of human history. The purpose of the research is to obtain ecologically coloured fabrics for textiles by using a method of dyeing that relies on natural ingredients extracted from red beet, onion leaves and black tea. The experiments are conducted on three different types of hemp fabrics. This paper presents the results of the studies regarding the dyeing process of hemp fabrics with natural extracts, the colours of the dyed samples inspected with reflectance spectra and the CIE L*a*b* colour space measurements.

Ecological release in lizard assemblages of neotropical savannas.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesquita, Daniel Oliveira; Colli, Guarino Rinaldi; Vitt, Laurie J

2007-08-01

We compare lizard assemblages of Cerrado and Amazonian savannas to test the ecological release hypothesis, which predicts that niche dimensions and abundance should be greater in species inhabiting isolated habitat patches with low species richness (Amazonian savannas and isolated Cerrado patches) when compared with nonisolated areas in central Cerrado with greater species richness. We calculated microhabitat and diet niche breadths with data from 14 isolated Cerrado patches and Amazon savanna areas and six central Cerrado populations. Morphological data were compared using average Euclidean distances, and lizard abundance was estimated using the number of lizards captured in pitfall traps over an extended time period. We found no evidence of ecological release with respect to microhabitat use, suggesting that historical factors are better microhabitat predictors than ecological factors. However, data from individual stomachs indicate that ecological release occurs in these areas for one species (Tropidurus) but not others (Ameiva ameiva, Anolis, Cnemidophorus, and Micrablepharus), suggesting that evolutionary lineages respond differently to environmental pressures, with tropidurids being more affected by ecological factors than polychrotids, teiids, and gymnophthalmids. We found no evidence that ecological release occurs in these areas using morphological data. Based on abundance data, our results indicate that the ecological release (density compensation) hypothesis is not supported: lizard species are not more abundant in isolated areas than in nonisolated areas. The ecology of species is highly conservative, varying little from assemblage to assemblage. Nevertheless, increases in niche breadth for some species indicate that ecological release occurs as well.

Frontiers for research on the ecology of plant-pathogenic bacteria: fundamentals for sustainability: Challenges in Bacterial Molecular Plant Pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Cindy E; Barny, Marie-Anne; Berge, Odile; Kinkel, Linda L; Lacroix, Christelle

2017-02-01

Methods to ensure the health of crops owe their efficacy to the extent to which we understand the ecology and biology of environmental microorganisms and the conditions under which their interactions with plants lead to losses in crop quality or yield. However, in the pursuit of this knowledge, notions of the ecology of plant-pathogenic microorganisms have been reduced to a plant-centric and agro-centric focus. With increasing global change, i.e. changes that encompass not only climate, but also biodiversity, the geographical distribution of biomes, human demographic and socio-economic adaptations and land use, new plant health problems will emerge via a range of processes influenced by these changes. Hence, knowledge of the ecology of plant pathogens will play an increasingly important role in the anticipation and response to disease emergence. Here, we present our opinion on the major challenges facing the study of the ecology of plant-pathogenic bacteria. We argue that the discovery of markedly novel insights into the ecology of plant-pathogenic bacteria is most likely to happen within a framework of more extensive scales of space, time and biotic interactions than those that currently guide much of the research on these bacteria. This will set a context that is more propitious for the discovery of unsuspected drivers of the survival and diversification of plant-pathogenic bacteria and of the factors most critical for disease emergence, and will set the foundation for new approaches to the sustainable management of plant health. We describe the contextual background of, justification for and specific research questions with regard to the following challenges: Development of terminology to describe plant-bacterial relationships in terms of bacterial fitness. Definition of the full scope of the environments in which plant-pathogenic bacteria reside or survive. Delineation of pertinent phylogenetic contours of plant-pathogenic bacteria and naming of strains

Stochastic Community Assembly: Does It Matter in Microbial Ecology?

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jizhong; Ning, Daliang

2017-12-01

Understanding the mechanisms controlling community diversity, functions, succession, and biogeography is a central, but poorly understood, topic in ecology, particularly in microbial ecology. Although stochastic processes are believed to play nonnegligible roles in shaping community structure, their importance relative to deterministic processes is hotly debated. The importance of ecological stochasticity in shaping microbial community structure is far less appreciated. Some of the main reasons for such heavy debates are the difficulty in defining stochasticity and the diverse methods used for delineating stochasticity. Here, we provide a critical review and synthesis of data from the most recent studies on stochastic community assembly in microbial ecology. We then describe both stochastic and deterministic components embedded in various ecological processes, including selection, dispersal, diversification, and drift. We also describe different approaches for inferring stochasticity from observational diversity patterns and highlight experimental approaches for delineating ecological stochasticity in microbial communities. In addition, we highlight research challenges, gaps, and future directions for microbial community assembly research. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

A review and synthesis of recreation ecology research supporting carrying capacity and visitor use management decisionmaking

Science.gov (United States)

Marion, Jeff

2016-01-01

Resource and experiential impacts associated with visitation to wilderness and other similar backcountry settings have long been addressed by land managers under the context of “carrying capacity” decisionmaking. Determining a maximum level of allowable use, below which high-quality resource and experiential conditions would be sustained, was an early focus in the 1960s and 1970s. However, decades of recreation ecology research have shown that the severity and areal extent of visitor impact problems are influenced by an interrelated array of use-related, environmental, and managerial factors. This complexity, with similar findings from social science research, prompted scientists and managers to develop more comprehensive carrying capacity frameworks, including a new Visitor Use Management framework. These frameworks rely on a diverse array of management strategies and actions, often termed a “management toolbox,” for resolving visitor impact problems. This article reviews the most recent and relevant recreation ecology studies that have been applied in wildland settings to avoid or minimize resource impacts. The key findings and their management implications are highlighted to support the professional management of common trail, recreation site, and wildlife impact problems. These studies illustrate the need to select from a more diverse array of impact management strategies and actions based on an evaluation of problems to identify the most influential factors that can be manipulated.

Wireless sensor networks and ecological monitoring

CERN Document Server

Jiang, Joe-Air

2013-01-01

This book presents the state of the art technologies and solutions to tackle the critical challenges faced by the building and development of the WSN and ecological monitoring system but also potential impact on society at social, medical and technological level. This book is dedicated to Sensing systems for Sensors, Wireless Sensor Networks and Ecological Monitoring. The book aims at Master and PhD degree students, researchers, practitioners, especially WSN engineers involved with ecological monitoring. The book will provide an opportunity of a dedicated and a deep approach in order to improve their knowledge in this specific field.  

EVALUATION OF ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT SECURITY IN CONTIGUOUS POVERTY ALLEVIATION AREA OF SICHUAN PROVINCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Xian

2018-04-01

Full Text Available According to the overall requirements of ecological construction and environmental protection, rely on the national key ecological engineering, strengthen ecological environmental restoration and protection, improve forest cover, control soil erosion, construct important ecological security barrier in poor areas, inhibit poverty alleviation through ecological security in this area from environmental damage to the vicious cycle of poverty. Obviously, the dynamic monitoring of ecological security in contiguous destitute areas of Sichuan province has a policy sense of urgency and practical significance. This paper adopts RS technology and GIS technology to select the Luhe region of Jinchuan county and Ganzi prefecture as the research area, combined with the characteristics of ecological environment in poor areas, the impact factors of ecological environment are determined as land use type, terrain slope, vegetation cover, surface water, soil moisture and other factors. Using the ecological environmental safety assessment model, the ecological environment safety index is calculated. According to the index, the ecological environment safety of the research area is divided into four levels. The ecological environment safety classification map of 1990 in 2009 is obtained. It can be seen that with the human modern life and improve their economic level, the surrounding environment will be destroyed, because the research area ecological environment is now in good, the ecological environment generally tends to be stable. We should keep its ecological security good and improve local economic income. The relationship between ecological environmental security and economic coordinated development in poor areas has very important strategic significance.

[Spatial and temporal changes of the ecological vulnerability in a serious soil erosion area, Southern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Xiong; Yu, Kun Yong; Liu, Jian; Yang, Su Ping; He, Ping; Deng, Yang Bo; Yu, Xin Yan; Chen, Zhang Hao

2016-03-01

Research on eco-environment vulnerability assessment contributes to the ecological environmental conservation and restoration. With Changting County as the study area, this paper selec-ted 7 indicators including slope, soil type, multi-year average precipitation, elevation deviate degree, normalized difference vegetation index, population density and land use type to build ecological vulnerability assessment system by using multicollinearity diagnostics analysis approach. The quantitative assessment of ecological vulnerability in 1999, 2006 and 2014 was calculated by using entropy weight method and comprehensive index method. The changes of the temporal-spatial distribution of ecological vulnerability were also analyzed. The results showed that the ecological vulnerability level index (EVLI) decreased overall but increased locally from 1999 to 2014. The average EVLI values in 1999, 2006 and 2014 were 0.4533±0.1216, 0.4160±0.1111 and 0.3916±0.1139, respectively, indicating that the ecological vulnerability in Changting County was at the moderate grade. The EVLI decreased from 2.92 in 1999 to 2.38 in 2006 and 2.13 in 2014. The spatial distribution of the ecological vulnerability was high inside but low outside. The high vulnerability areas were distributed mainly in Hetian Town and Tingzhou Town, where the slope was less than 15° and the altitude was lower than 500 m. During the study period, Sanzhou Town had the largest decreasing range of EVLI while Tingzhou Town had the lowest.

Jakarta socio-cultural ecology: a sustainable architecture concept in urban neighbourhood

Science.gov (United States)

Wijaksono, Sigit; Sasmoko; Indrianti, Y.; Widhoyoko, SA

2017-12-01

As a metropolitan city with densely populated and fast residential development Jakarta should be able to implement a concept that is Jakarta socio-cultural ecology Architecture as the basis of settlement development. The concept of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology architecture is characterized by residential development capabilities that reflect and express the indigenous culture, the settlements built by linking the social and economic activities of the people of Jakarta and the settlements built by maintaining the building with the value of existing heritage. The objectives of this research are 1) to find a relevant construct to housing condition in Jakarta which then called Jakarta socio-cultural ecology, and 2) to see the tendency of complex condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology settlement. This research uses Neuroresearch method, which is one of mix-method research method as a mixture research method between qualitative research (exploration) and quantitative research method (explanatory and confirmatory). The population of research as well as unit analysis are all settlements in Jakarta. Sampling technique using probability sampling that is with multistage sampling. The results show that nowadays the Jakarta residential complex tends to lead to socio-cultural ecology and rather reflects and expresses the indigenous culture, the residential complex in Jakarta tends to form the building has been linked fully with the social and economic activities of Jakarta society but tends to occasionally maintain buildings with existing heritage values. This study also found that indigenous culture is a significant determinant of the formation of the condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology.

How to successfully publish interdisciplinary research: learning from an Ecology and Society Special Feature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Pohl

2015-06-01

Full Text Available What are the factors that hinder or support publishing interdisciplinary research? What does a successful interdisciplinary publishing process look like? We address these questions by analyzing the publishing process of the interdisciplinary research project titled "Mountland." Project researchers published most of their main results as a Special Feature of Ecology and Society. Using the story wall method and qualitative content analysis, we identified ten factors contributing to the success or failure of publishing interdisciplinary research. They can be assigned to four groups of resources: scientific resources, i.e., previous joint research, simultaneously written manuscripts; human resources, i.e., coordination, flexibility, composition of the team; integrative resources, i.e., vision of integration, chronology of results; and feedback resources, i.e., internal reviews, subject editors, external reviewers. According to this analysis, an ideal-typical publishing process necessitates, among other things, (1 a strong, interdisciplinary coordinator, (2 a clear shared vision of integration and a common framework, (3 flexibility in terms of money and time, (4 a certain sense of timing regarding when and how to exchange results and knowledge, (5 subject editors who are familiar with the specific project and its interdisciplinary merits, and (6 reviewers who are open minded about interdisciplinary efforts.

Ecoinformatics: supporting ecology as a data-intensive science

OpenAIRE

Michener, William H.; Jones, Matthew B.

2012-01-01

Ecology is evolving rapidly and increasingly changing into a more open, accountable, interdisciplinary, collaborative and data-intensive science. Discovering, integrating and analyzing massive amounts of heterogeneous data are central to ecology as researchers address complex ques- tions at scales from the gene to the biosphere. Ecoinfor- matics offers tools and approaches for managing ecological data and transforming the data into informa- tion and knowledge. Here, we review the state-of-the...

Marine Ecological Environment Management Based on Ecological Compensation Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qunzhen Qu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The level of marine environmental management is a key factor in the successful implementation of marine power strategies. The improvement in management levels of marine environments requires innovation in marine management. In other words, the transformation of marine environmental management into marine ecological environment management must be done in order to achieve sustainable development of the marine economy. As an environmental economic policy that combines both administrative and market measures, ecological compensation mechanisms have significant advantages in marine ecological environment management. Based on the study of the current development of ecological compensation mechanisms in China, through the analysis of the connotation of marine ecological civilization, existing marine ecological protection practices and marine environmental management methods, this paper posits that the current marine ecological environment management in China should be established on the basis of ecological compensation mechanisms. At present, a lack of laws and regulations for overall marine ecological environment management is the key factor restricting the practice of marine ecological environment management. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the current path of marine ecological environment management in China from the perspective of the construction of legal system of ecological compensation law, the establishment of ecological compensation fees, ecological taxes and ecological compensation fund systems, and the clear status for a marine ecological management and supervision body.

Publishing landscape ecology research in the 21st Century

Science.gov (United States)

Eric J. Gustafson

2011-01-01

With the proliferation of journals and scientific papers, it has become impossible to sustain a familiarity with the corpus of ecological literature, which totals tens of thousands of pages per year. Given the number of papers that a well-read ecologist should read, it takes an inordinate amount of time to extract the critical details necessary to superficially...

Beyond positivist ecology: toward an integrated ecological ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Bryan G

2008-12-01

A post-positivist understanding of ecological science and the call for an "ecological ethic" indicate the need for a radically new approach to evaluating environmental change. The positivist view of science cannot capture the essence of environmental sciences because the recent work of "reflexive" ecological modelers shows that this requires a reconceptualization of the way in which values and ecological models interact in scientific process. Reflexive modelers are ecological modelers who believe it is appropriate for ecologists to examine the motives for their choices in developing models; this self-reflexive approach opens the door to a new way of integrating values into public discourse and to a more comprehensive approach to evaluating ecological change. This reflexive building of ecological models is introduced through the transformative simile of Aldo Leopold, which shows that learning to "think like a mountain" involves a shift in both ecological modeling and in values and responsibility. An adequate, interdisciplinary approach to ecological valuation, requires a re-framing of the evaluation questions in entirely new ways, i.e., a review of the current status of interdisciplinary value theory with respect to ecological values reveals that neither of the widely accepted theories of environmental value-neither economic utilitarianism nor intrinsic value theory (environmental ethics)-provides a foundation for an ecologically sensitive evaluation process. Thus, a new, ecologically sensitive, and more comprehensive approach to evaluating ecological change would include an examination of the metaphors that motivate the models used to describe environmental change.

Smartphones in ecology and evolution: a guide for the app-rehensive.

Science.gov (United States)

Teacher, Amber G F; Griffiths, David J; Hodgson, David J; Inger, Richard

2013-12-01

Smartphones and their apps (application software) are now used by millions of people worldwide and represent a powerful combination of sensors, information transfer, and computing power that deserves better exploitation by ecological and evolutionary researchers. We outline the development process for research apps, provide contrasting case studies for two new research apps, and scan the research horizon to suggest how apps can contribute to the rapid collection, interpretation, and dissemination of data in ecology and evolutionary biology. We emphasize that the usefulness of an app relies heavily on the development process, recommend that app developers are engaged with the process at the earliest possible stage, and commend efforts to create open-source software scaffolds on which customized apps can be built by nonexperts. We conclude that smartphones and their apps could replace many traditional handheld sensors, calculators, and data storage devices in ecological and evolutionary research. We identify their potential use in the high-throughput collection, analysis, and storage of complex ecological information.

Community cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis: the CAMERA resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Shulei; Chen, Jing; Li, Weizhong; Altintas, Ilkay; Lin, Abel; Peltier, Steve; Stocks, Karen; Allen, Eric E; Ellisman, Mark; Grethe, Jeffrey; Wooley, John

2011-01-01

The Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis (CAMERA, http://camera.calit2.net/) is a database and associated computational infrastructure that provides a single system for depositing, locating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing data about microbial biology through an advanced web-based analysis portal. CAMERA collects and links metadata relevant to environmental metagenome data sets with annotation in a semantically-aware environment allowing users to write expressive semantic queries against the database. To meet the needs of the research community, users are able to query metadata categories such as habitat, sample type, time, location and other environmental physicochemical parameters. CAMERA is compliant with the standards promulgated by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC), and sustains a role within the GSC in extending standards for content and format of the metagenomic data and metadata and its submission to the CAMERA repository. To ensure wide, ready access to data and annotation, CAMERA also provides data submission tools to allow researchers to share and forward data to other metagenomics sites and community data archives such as GenBank. It has multiple interfaces for easy submission of large or complex data sets, and supports pre-registration of samples for sequencing. CAMERA integrates a growing list of tools and viewers for querying, analyzing, annotating and comparing metagenome and genome data.

The role played by social-ecological resilience as a method of integration in interdisciplinary research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone A. Beichler

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Today's multifaceted environmental problems, including climate change, necessitate interdisciplinary research. It is however difficult to combine disciplines to study such complex phenomena. We analyzed the experience we gained in applying a particular method of interdisciplinary integration, the 'bridging concept.' We outlined the entire process of developing, utilizing, and adapting social-ecological resilience as a bridging concept in a research project involving seven different disciplines. We focused on the tensions and opportunities arising from interdisciplinary dialogue and the understandings and manifestations of resilience in the disciplines involved. By evaluating the specific cognitive and social functions of resilience as a method of integration, we call for placing greater emphasis on the quality and value of the actual interdisciplinary process, rather than concentrating solely on the output of interdisciplinary work.

[Regional ecological construction and mission of landscape ecology].

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Duning; Xie, Fuju; Wei, Jianbing

2004-10-01

The eco-construction on regional and landscape scale is the one which can be used to specific landscape and intercrossing ecosystem in specific region including performing scientific administration of ecosystem and optimizing environmental function. Recently, the government has taken a series of significant projects into action, such as national forest protection item, partly forest restoration, and adjustment of water, etc. Enforcing regional eco-construction and maintaining the ecology security of the nation have become the strategic requisition. In various regions, different eco-construction should be applied, for example, performing ecological safeguard measure in ecological sensitive zone, accommodating the ecological load in ecological fragile zone, etc., which can control the activities of human being, so that, sustainable development can be reached. Facing opportunity and challenge in the development of landscape ecology, we have some key topics: landscape pattern of ecological security, land use and ecological process, landscape changes under human activity stress, quantitative evaluation of the influence on human being activities, evaluation of zonal ecological security and advance warning of ecological risk, and planning and optimizing of model in landscape eco-construction.

RESEARCH ON THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF COMPOSITES MADE OF ECOLOGICAL FIBERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria-Luminita BRENCI, Camelia COSEREANU, Adriana FOTIN, Alexandru VASILACHE

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of the researchconducted to obtain new ecological composites thatcould be used for thermal insulation of buildings. Theobtained panels are made of ecological materials thatdo not affect the human health (wood chips andfibers, host of hemp, textile fibers, wool and reed.The testing was performed in eight points, for aninternal temperature of T=200C and an outdoortemperature situated in the range of -200C÷200C. Asthe tests conducted, the results showed that the bestinsulating capacity belonged to a composite whichhas wood fiber and wool in its structure, followed acomposite which has wood chips, hemp particles andwool in its structure.

Ecological palaeoecology: a missing link between ecology and evolution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rull, V.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Palaeoecology is more than a palaeoenvironmental discipline; it is a science that is well-suited for supplying the empirical evidence necessary to test ecological hypotheses and contributes to our understanding of the interface of ecology and evolution. A critical time frame in palaeoecology is the often-overlooked Q-time dimension (centuries to millennia, which tends to be the most appropriate time dimension to examine ecology–evolution interactions. This paper discusses these topics from a conceptual perspective and provides examples of the contributions of palaeoecology to the study of ecology–evolution interactions. It also admonishes researchers about the threats of overlooking palaeoecology. Specifically, this paper argues that the neglect of palaeoecology may result in the loss of empirical support for ecology and its interactions with evolution as DNA-based phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies become more and more prevalent. The main concepts discussed are the time continuum, the notion of ecological palaeoecology and the empirical nature of palaeoecology in the face of more hypothetical approaches. More practically speaking, several examples are provided that highlight the utility of ecological palaeoecology for understanding a variety of processes, including ecological succession, community– environment equilibria, community assembly, biotic responses to environmental change, speciation and extinction, and biodiversity conservation. The ecology–evolution interface is analysed using two processes in which these disciplines interact intensively: ecological succession and long-range migration. This work concludes that both ecological palaeoecology (including ancient DNA records and DNA-based phylogenetics and phylogeography are needed to better understand the biosphere ecologically and the processes occurring at the ecology–evolution interface.La paleoecología es más que una disciplina ambiental, ya que proporciona las

Transforming an Exposure trip to Botanical Expedition: Introducing Ecological Research thru Exposure Trip in an Eco-tourism Site

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardo C. Lunar

2014-10-01

Full Text Available – Fieldtrips can be considered as one of the three avenues through which science can be taught - through formal classroom teaching, practical work and field trips. An exposure trip at Bangkong Kahoy Valley Field Study Center was arranged for a class of BS Biology and BS Education students enrolled in Ecology Course. This approach purposefully transformed the usual exposure trip from being a casual site visit into a focused and productive learning experience. This transformation from exposure trip to a botanical expedition has exceeded the initial activity goals. Rather than a day off from learning, the time spent at the study center has been a meaningful opportunity to engage students in an active ecological research project while delivering valuable science content. Employing the descriptive survey design, the learning gains of the students were assessed and students were directed to do a guided reflection writing using the ORID Model of Focused Conversation. The learning gains and reflections of the students confirmed that students can collaboratively develop focused research questions, make meaning from a variety of sources, carry out a vegetation analysis and conduct surveys on socio-economic status, plant resource utilization and ecotourism assessment of the host community. As students prepared for their trip and synthesized their learning afterward, they were able to come up with very impressive and scientifically sound research outputs.

Fuel irradiation research of Japan at OECD Halden Reactor Project. Achievement of joint researches between JAERI and other organizations in the period from 1994 to 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uetsuka, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Jinichi; Kinoshita, Motoyasu

1998-01-01

JAERI has performed cooperative researches with many Japanese agencies and companies by means of the Halden Boiling Heavy Water Reactor (HBWR) which is located at Halden in Norway. These cooperative researches are carried out based on the contracts of the cooperative researches, which are revised every three years, in accordance with the renewal of the participation of JAERI to the OECD Halden Reactor Project. This report summaries the objectives, contents and the outlines of the achievements of the cooperative researches during the three years from 1994 January to 1996 December. During the period, ten cooperative researches had been carried out, and two of them had finished during the period and other eight researches has been continued to the next three year period. There are many research items, and most of them are irradiation test researches of advanced fuel and cladding concerned with the high burnup utilization of LWR fuel or MOX fuel irradiation researches to prepare for the introduction of Plutonium utilization in LWRs. The researches of fuel irradiation usually take long time because of the characteristics of these kind of research work, and three years are usually not enough to obtain some achievements from the irradiation tests. Therefore, eight tests have been continued after the three year period. In this report, the achievements of the continued researches to the next three year period are not final one but a kind of progress report. (author) kind of progress report. (author)

Urban Sound Ecologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Groth, Sanne Krogh; Samson, Kristine

2013-01-01

. The article concludes that the ways in which recent sound installations work with urban ecologies vary. While two of the examples blend into the urban environment, the other transfers the concert format and its mode of listening to urban space. Last, and in accordance with recent soundscape research, we point...

Does Industrial Ecology provide any new Perspectives?

OpenAIRE

Røine, Kjetil

2000-01-01

The research question in this report was, as the title alludes: Does industrial ecology provide any new perspectives? If yes, what are the new aspects? To answer these questions, a literature study has been conducted. The answer to the first question is yes. We claim that what is new about industrial ecology is the expansion of the system borders within which the actors operate. Bearing this in mind, it is proposed that the most important issue in industrial ecology is to unite the two m...

Ecological forecasting under climatic data uncertainty: a case study in phenological modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, Benjamin I; Terando, Adam; Steiner, Allison

2010-01-01

Forecasting ecological responses to climate change represents a challenge to the ecological community because models are often site-specific and climate data are lacking at appropriate spatial and temporal resolutions. We use a case study approach to demonstrate uncertainties in ecological predictions related to the driving climatic input data. We use observational records, derived observational datasets (e.g. interpolated observations from local weather stations and gridded data products) and output from general circulation models (GCM) in conjunction with site based phenology models to estimate the first flowering date (FFD) for three woody flowering species. Using derived observations over the modern time period, we find that cold biases and temperature trends lead to biased FFD simulations for all three species. Observational datasets resolved at the daily time step result in better FFD predictions compared to simulations using monthly resolution. Simulations using output from an ensemble of GCM and regional climate models over modern and future time periods have large intra-ensemble spreads and tend to underestimate observed FFD trends for the modern period. These results indicate that certain forcing datasets may be missing key features needed to generate accurate hindcasts at the local scale (e.g. trends, temporal resolution), and that standard modeling techniques (e.g. downscaling, ensemble mean, etc) may not necessarily improve the prediction of the ecological response. Studies attempting to simulate local ecological processes under modern and future climate forcing therefore need to quantify and propagate the climate data uncertainties in their simulations.

Ecological operation for Three Gorges Reservoir

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-xian Guo

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The traditional operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir has mainly focused on water for flood control, power generation, navigation, water supply, and recreation, and given less attention to the negative impacts of reservoir operation on the river ecosystem. In order to reduce the negative influence of reservoir operation, ecological operation of the reservoir should be studied with a focus on maintaining a healthy river ecosystem. This study considered ecological operation targets, including maintaining the river environmental flow and protecting the spawning and reproduction of the Chinese sturgeon and four major Chinese carps. Using flow data from 1900 to 2006 at the Yichang gauging station as the control station data for the Yangtze River, the minimal and optimal river environmental flows were analyzed, and eco-hydrological targets for the Chinese sturgeon and four major Chinese carps in the Yangtze River were calculated. This paper proposes a reservoir ecological operation model, which comprehensively considers flood control, power generation, navigation, and the ecological environment. Three typical periods, wet, normal, and dry years, were selected, and the particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to analyze the model. The results show that ecological operation modes have different effects on the economic benefit of the hydropower station, and the reservoir ecological operation model can simulate the flood pulse for the requirements of spawning of the Chinese sturgeon and four major Chinese carps. According to the results, by adopting a suitable re-operation scheme, the hydropower benefit of the reservoir will not decrease dramatically while the ecological demand is met. The results provide a reference for designing reasonable operation schemes for the Three Gorges Reservoir.

An Overview of Ecological Modeling and Machine Learning Research Within the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlan, Joseph C.

2004-01-01

In the early 1980 s NASA began research to understand global habitability and quantify the processes and fluxes between the Earth's vegetation and the biosphere. This effort evolved into the Earth Observing System Program which current encompasses 18 platforms and 80 sensors. During this time, the global environmental research community has evolved from a data poor to a data rich research area and is challenged to provide timely use of these new data. This talk will outline some of the data mining research NASA has funded in support for the environmental sciences in the Intelligent Systems project and will give a specific example in ecological forecasting, predicting the land surface properties given nowcasts and weather forecasts, using the Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS).

Research on the energy and ecological efficiency of mechanical equipment remanufacturing systems

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Junli; Cheng, Jinshi; Ma, Qinyi; Wang, Yajun

2017-08-01

According to the characteristics of mechanical equipment remanufacturing system, the dynamic performance of energy consumption and emission is explored, the equipment energy efficiency and emission analysis model is established firstly, and then energy and ecological efficiency analysis method of the remanufacturing system is put forward, at last, the energy and ecological efficiency of WD615.87 automotive diesel engine remanufacturing system as an example is analyzed, the way of energy efficiency improvementnt and environmental friendly mechanism of remanufacturing process is put forward.

Wasteland ecologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoag, Colin Brewster; Bertoni, Filippo; Bubandt, Nils Ole

2018-01-01

landscapes, this article argues, are the result of unheralded multispecies collaboration that can be traced empirically by attending ethnographically to multispecies forms of “gain-making,” the ways in which humans and other species leverage difference to find economic and ecological opportunity....... in the 1970s, when prevailing perceptions were that the entire mining area was a polluted wasteland, the AFLD Fasterholt waste and recycling plant has since changed in response to new EU waste management regulations, as well as the unexpected proliferation of non-human life in the area. Based on field...... research at this site—an Anthropocene landscape in the heartland of an EU-configured welfare state — this article is a contribution to the multispecies ethnography and political ecology of wastelands. We argue that “waste” is a co-species, biopolitical happening — a complex symbolic, political, biological...

Construction and Application of Enhanced Remote Sensing Ecological Index

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X.; Liu, C.; Fu, Q.; Yin, B.

2018-04-01

In order to monitor the change of regional ecological environment quality, this paper use MODIS and DMSP / OLS remote sensing data, from the production capacity, external disturbance changes and human socio-economic development of the three main factors affecting the quality of ecosystems, select the net primary productivity, vegetation index and light index, using the principal component analysis method to automatically determine the weight coefficient, construction of the formation of enhanced remote sensing ecological index, and the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island from 2001 to 2013 was monitored and analyzed. The enhanced remote sensing ecological index combines the effects of the natural environment and human activities on ecosystems, and according to the contribution of each principal component automatically determine the weight coefficient, avoid the design of the weight of the parameters caused by the calculation of the human error, which provides a new method for the operational operation of regional macro ecological environment quality monitoring. During the period from 2001 to 2013, the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island showed the characteristics of decend first and then rise, the ecological environment in 2005 was affected by severe natural disasters, and the quality of ecological environment dropped sharply. Compared with 2001, in 2013 about 20000 square kilometers regional ecological environmental quality has improved, about 8760 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality is relatively stable, about 5272 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality has decreased. On the whole, the quality of ecological environment in the study area is good, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, on the quality of the ecological environment to a certain extent.

[The pathogenic ecology research on plague in Qinghai plateau].

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Rui-xia; Wei, Bai-qing; Li, Cun-xiang; Xiong, Hao-ming; Yang, Xiao-yan; Fan, Wei; Qi, Mei-ying; Jin, Juan; Wei, Rong-jie; Feng, Jian-ping; Jin, Xing; Wang, Zu-yun

2013-12-01

To study the pathogenic ecology characteristics of plague in Qinghai plateau. Applied molecular biology techniques, conventional technologies and geographic information system (GIS) to study phenotypic traits, plasmid spectrum, genotype, infected host and media spectrum etc.of 952 Yersinia pestis strains in Qinghai plateau plague foci, which were separated from different host and media in different regions during 1954 to 2012. The ecotypes of these strains were Qingzang plateau (91.49%, 871/952),Qilian mountain (6.41%, 61/952) and Microtus fuscus (1.26%, 12/952).83.6% (796/952) of these strains contained all the 4 virulence factors (Fr1, Pesticin1,Virulence antigen, and Pigmentation), 93.26% (367/392) were velogenic strains confirmed by virulence test.725 Yersinia pestis strains were separated from Qinghai plateau plague foci carried 9 kinds of plasmid, among which 713 strains from Marmot himalayan plague foci carried 9 kinds of plasmid, the Mr were 6×10(6), 7×10(6), 23×10(6), 27×10(6), 30×10(6), 45×10(6), 52×10(6), 65×10(6) and 92×10(6) respectively. 12 Yersinia pestis strains were separated from Microtus fuscus plague foci carried only 3 kinds of plasmid, the Mr were 6×10(6), 45×10(6), 65×10(6). Meanwhile, the strains carrying large plasmid (52×10(6), 65×10(6) and 92×10(6)) were only distributed in particular geographical location, which had the category property. The research also confirmed that 841 Yersinia pestis strains from two kinds of plague foci in Qinghai plateau had 11 genomovars. The strains of Marmot himalayan plague foci were given priority to genomovar 5 and 8, amounted to 611 strains, genomovar 8 accounted for 56.00% (471/841), genomovar 5 accounted for 23.07% (194/841). Besides, 3 new genomovars, including new 1(62 strains), new 2(52 strains), new 3(48 strains) were newly founded, and 12 strains of Microtus fuscus plague foci were genomovar 14. The main host and media of Qinghai plateau plague foci directly affected the spatial

Ecology man as an interdisciplsnary perspective directions synthesis and organization of scientific knowledge

OpenAIRE

Дуднікова, І. І.

2015-01-01

The paper analyzes the theoretical and methodological foundations of human ecology is an interdisciplinary perspective direction and synthesis of scientific knowledge in the context of which analyzes the problems of man and nature, man and society, global issues lyudstva. Meta research - to analyze human ecology as a new research direction for what roanalizovano conditions of human ecology and the problems that it rozlyadaye; The main problems of human ecology; uncover ways and ways to increa...

The ecological importance of intraspecific variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Des Roches, Simone; Post, David M; Turley, Nash E; Bailey, Joseph K; Hendry, Andrew P; Kinnison, Michael T; Schweitzer, Jennifer A; Palkovacs, Eric P

2018-01-01

Human activity is causing wild populations to experience rapid trait change and local extirpation. The resulting effects on intraspecific variation could have substantial consequences for ecological processes and ecosystem services. Although researchers have long acknowledged that variation among species influences the surrounding environment, only recently has evidence accumulated for the ecological importance of variation within species. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing the ecological effects of variation within a species (intraspecific effects) with the effects of replacement or removal of that species (species effects). We evaluated direct and indirect ecological responses, including changes in abundance (or biomass), rates of ecological processes and changes in community composition. Our results show that intraspecific effects are often comparable to, and sometimes stronger than, species effects. Species effects tend to be larger for direct ecological responses (for example, through consumption), whereas intraspecific effects and species effects tend to be similar for indirect responses (for example, through trophic cascades). Intraspecific effects are especially strong when indirect interactions alter community composition. Our results summarize data from the first generation of studies examining the relative ecological effects of intraspecific variation. Our conclusions can help inform the design of future experiments and the formulation of strategies to quantify and conserve biodiversity.

Research and development activities of the Seismology Section for the period January 1982-December 1983

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, Falguni

1984-01-01

The research and development activities of the Seismology Section of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Bombay are reported for the period January 1982-December 1983 in the form of summaries. The Section's activities are mainly directed towards detection of underground nuclear explosions. During the report period 64 signals out of about 12000 seismograms which were examined were identified as the signals due to underground nuclear explosions. The instrumentation work for Kolar rockburst research was almost completed under the collaboration programme of BARC with Bharat Gold Mines Ltd. Analytical methods have been developed for interpreting the frequency-magnitude relation of earthquake. These methods will be useful in the seismic estimation of risk in case only restricted data involving events of low magnitude are available. A list of publications of the staff-members of the Section during the report period is given. (M.G.B.)

Ecology of the North Sea: Problems, successes, failures, future needs

Science.gov (United States)

Kinne, O.

1995-03-01

After defining ‘ecology’, outlining the basic categories of ecological research and listing examples of modern ecological investigations, this introductory paper focusses on basic considerations; it is, in essence, a programmatic contribution. Research details on the ecology of the North Sea are the subject of the following papers. The problems of ecological North Sea research are formidable. Hydrological and biological fluctuations and variabilities are pronounced. Exchange patterns with the Atlantic are complex, and the inputs of rivers and rain defy exact measurement and prediction. Season, weather, climate—and as yet insufficiently known and controlled human-caused impacts—further complicate the situation. All this results in an unusually high degree of uncertainty. New questions and problems arise before the old ones can be answered or solved. Nevertheless, ecological North Sea research has achieved many successes. The North Sea is the most intensively investigated sea area on our planet. Generations of zoologists, botanists and hydrographers — and more recently microbiologists, meteorologists, climatologists, chemists, pathologists and toxicologists — have produced an impressive body of knowledge. Slowly we are beginning to understand the forces that govern energy budgets and balances, material fluxes, and the factors that control and direct ecosystem dynamics. Essential driving forces of ecosystem dynamics result from microbial, especially bacterial, activities. Ecological modelling has paved the way for new theories and insights, and holds promise for progress towards a predictive ecology. Failures and shortcomings include insufficient long-term research, inadequately designed experiments, and misconceptions in environmental protection. Net changes in ecological processes of an heterogeneous and intensely varying environment such as the North Sea can only be comprehended adequately against the background of sustained measurements over decades

Bayesian inference with ecological applications

CERN Document Server

Link, William A

2009-01-01

This text is written to provide a mathematically sound but accessible and engaging introduction to Bayesian inference specifically for environmental scientists, ecologists and wildlife biologists. It emphasizes the power and usefulness of Bayesian methods in an ecological context. The advent of fast personal computers and easily available software has simplified the use of Bayesian and hierarchical models . One obstacle remains for ecologists and wildlife biologists, namely the near absence of Bayesian texts written specifically for them. The book includes many relevant examples, is supported by software and examples on a companion website and will become an essential grounding in this approach for students and research ecologists. Engagingly written text specifically designed to demystify a complex subject Examples drawn from ecology and wildlife research An essential grounding for graduate and research ecologists in the increasingly prevalent Bayesian approach to inference Companion website with analyt...

Geo-engineering, Governance, and Social-Ecological Systems: Critical Issues and Joint Research Needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Galaz

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The debate about the possibilities to engineer the Earth's climate has changed drastically in the last years. Suggestions of large-scale technological interventions to combat climate change that a decade ago would have been discarded as science fiction are slowly moving into the center of international climate change discussions, research, and politics. In this article, I elaborate three joint key challenges to geo-engineering research from a resilience perspective, with a special emphasis on governance issues. First, I discuss the need to understand geo-engineering proposals from a "planetary boundaries" perspective. Second, I elaborate why the notion of Earth stewardship and geo-engineering are not necessarily in conflict, but instead could be viewed as complementary approaches. Last, I discuss the critical need to explore an institutional setting that is strong enough to weed out geo-engineering proposals that carry considerable ecological risk, but still allow for novelty, fail-safe experimentation, and continuous learning. These issues are critical for our understanding of how to effectively govern global environmental risks, complex systems, and emerging technologies in the Anthropocene.

Ornithocenosis Structure in Fresh and Wet Sudubravas of Kyiv Polissya during the Breeding Period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Plyha A. V.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This research was carried out in Kyiv Polissya geobotanical province, in one of most common woods type - fresh and wet sudubravas. Its purpose is to determine ornithocenosis structure in different age groups of this type of forest. To achieve that, forest bird species lists were composed, their population density and that of ecological groups of birds were calculated. In the course of the research in the breeding periods of 2013-2014, two-time surveys were carried out on 12 survey routes of total length 33 km. For further analysis, forests were divided into age groups: 0-20 years, 20-40 years, 40-60 years, 60-80 years, 80-100 years and forests over 100 years. Altogether 53 bird species were found. Species lists were poorest in the forests of 0-20 years (18 species, and richest in the forests over 100 years (39 species. Minimal population density was 473 individuals per square kilometer in the youngest forest age group of 0-20 years, maximal - 2155 individuals per square kilometer in pine forests aged over 100 years. Analysis of different population densities of ecological groups reveals steadily growing numbers of hollow-nesting birds and tree-nesting birds in accordance with aging of the forests. In older forests hollow-nesting birds constitute an absolute majority. Population density of another ecological group shows no such direct tendency.

Ecological economics - a special perspective? Preliminary reflections

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2002-01-01

This paper reports on some preliminary reflections from a research project concerning ecological economics as a special perspective. As Clive Spash noted in a presentation at the ESEE conference in Cambridge, July 2001, ecological economics has reached the age of puberty, looks into the glass...... and searches its own identity. The identity seeking processes are visible in the large number of publications discussing the characteristics of ecological economics as well as the similarities to and differences from environmental economics. The present paper is a part of this stream. The paper is work...

Biodiversity in Benthic Ecology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friberg, Nikolai; Carl, J. D.

Foreword: This proceeding is based on a set of papers presented at the second Nordic Benthological Meeting held in Silkeborg, November 13-14, 1997. The main theme of the meeting was biodiversity in benthic ecology and the majority of contributions touch on this subject. In addition, the proceeding...... contains papers which cover other themes thus continuing with the spirit of the meetings in the Nordic Benthological Society (NORBS) by being an open forum for exchanging knowledge on all aspects of benthic ecology. Overall, we feel the proceeding contains a wide selection of very interesting papers...... representing the state-of-the-art of benthic ecology research within, and to a lesser degree, outside the Nordic countries. We wish to thank all the authors for their inspirational contributions to the proceeding, but we feel that a special thanks is due to the invited speakers for their readiness to produce...

Increasing Public Access to Scientific Research through Stakeholder Involvement: Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Hagen, S. C.; Stephens, S. H.; DeLorme, D. E.; Ruple, D.; Graham, L.

2013-12-01

Sea level rise (SLR) has the potential to have a myriad of deleterious effects on coastal ecology and human infrastructure. Stakeholders, including managers of coastal resources, must be aware of potential consequences of SLR and adjust their plans accordingly to protect and preserve the resources under their care. Members of the public, particularly those who live or work in coastal areas, should also be informed about the results of scientific research on the effects of SLR. However, research results are frequently published in venues or formats to which resource managers and the broader public have limited access. It is imperative for scientists to move beyond traditional publication venues in order to more effectively disseminate the results of their research (Dennison, W. 2007, Estu. Coast. Shelf Sci. 77, 185). One potentially effective way to advance public access to research is to incorporate stakeholder involvement into the research project process in order to target study objectives and tailor communication products toward stakeholder needs (Lemos, M. & Morehouse, B. 2005, Glob. Env. Chg. 15, 57). However, it is important to manage communication and clarify participant expectations during this type of research (Gawith, M. et al. 2009, Glob. Env. Chg. 19, 113). This presentation describes the process being undertaken by an ongoing 5-year multi-disciplinary NOAA-funded project, Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (EESLR-NGOM), to improve accessibility and utility of scientific research results through stakeholder engagement. The EESLR-NGOM project is assessing the ecological risks from SLR along the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Panhandle coasts, coastal habitats, and floodplains. It has incorporated stakeholder involvement throughout the research process so as to better target and tailor the emerging research products to meet resource managers' needs, as well as to facilitate eventual public dissemination of results. An

A great leap forward in microbial ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Okabe, Satoshi; Oshiki, Mamoru; Kamagata, Yoichi; Yamaguchi, Nobuyasu; Toyofuku, Masanori; Yawata, Yutaka; Tashiro, Yosuke; Nomura, Nobuhiko; Ohta, Hiroyuki; Ohkuma, Moriya; Hiraishi, Akira; Minamisawa, Kiwamu

2010-01-01

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence-based molecular techniques emerged in the late 1980s, which completely changed our general view of microbial life. Coincidentally, the Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology (JSME) was founded, and its official journal "Microbes and Environments (M&E)" was launched, in 1985. Thus, the past 25 years have been an exciting and fruitful period for M&E readers and microbiologists as demonstrated by the numerous excellent papers published in M&E. In this minireview, recent progress made in microbial ecology and related fields is summarized, with a special emphasis on 8 landmark areas; the cultivation of uncultured microbes, in situ methods for the assessment of microorganisms and their activities, biofilms, plant microbiology, chemolithotrophic bacteria in early volcanic environments, symbionts of animals and their ecology, wastewater treatment microbiology, and the biodegradation of hazardous organic compounds.

Multiple dimensions of transitions in complex socio-ecological systems - A case from China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Yang, Wu; Vina, Andres; Schröter, Dagmar; Liu, Jianguo

2013-04-01

Transitions in complex socio-ecological systems are intermediate phases between two successive and more stable periods or states and involve various societal, ecological, and biophysical changes that are often non-linear and inter-related. Understanding transitions is challenging but important for managing socio-ecological systems for achieving environmental sustainability and improving human well-being. Long-term and intensive research is warranted to disclose common patterns and mechanisms of socio-ecological transitions and to develop ideas and methods for studying and planning sustainable transitions. Based on a long-term research on human-nature relationships in Wolong Nature Reserve in China, we studied multiple concurrent social, economic, and ecological transitions during the last 15 years. As a UNESCO biosphere reserve, Wolong lies within a global biodiversity hotspot and a World Heritage site. It contains the largest populations of the world-famous endangered giant pandas and several thousand other animal and plant species. Like most nature reserves in China and many other developing countries, Wolong is also home to many local residents who undertake a variety of activities that involve interaction with ecosystem. For the majority of the 20th century, local people in Wolong lived under poverty line in a closed subsistence-based agricultural economy. Their demands on for wood (as fuel and raw materials) from the natural forests were high and resulted in severe deforestation, habitat degradation, and landslides. Since late 1990s, a series of major economic (e.g., tourism development) and environmental (e.g., payment for ecosystem services programs) policies have been implemented in the reserve as adaptive strategies to cope with poverty and ecological degradation. Within a decade, we have observed major transitions in land use (i.e., from extractive use to non-consumptive use), economic structure (i.e., from a subsistence-based agricultural economy to an

Collective movement in ecology: from emerging technologies to conservation and management.

Science.gov (United States)

Westley, Peter A H; Berdahl, Andrew M; Torney, Colin J; Biro, Dora

2018-05-19

Recent advances in technology and quantitative methods have led to the emergence of a new field of study that stands to link insights of researchers from two closely related, but often disconnected disciplines: movement ecology and collective animal behaviour. To date, the field of movement ecology has focused on elucidating the internal and external drivers of animal movement and the influence of movement on broader ecological processes. Typically, tracking and/or remote sensing technology is employed to study individual animals in natural conditions. By contrast, the field of collective behaviour has quantified the significant role social interactions play in the decision-making of animals within groups and, to date, has predominantly relied on controlled laboratory-based studies and theoretical models owing to the constraints of studying interacting animals in the field. This themed issue is intended to formalize the burgeoning field of collective movement ecology which integrates research from both movement ecology and collective behaviour. In this introductory paper, we set the stage for the issue by briefly examining the approaches and current status of research in these areas. Next, we outline the structure of the theme issue and describe the obstacles collective movement researchers face, from data acquisition in the field to analysis and problems of scale, and highlight the key contributions of the assembled papers. We finish by presenting research that links individual and broad-scale ecological and evolutionary processes to collective movement, and finally relate these concepts to emerging challenges for the management and conservation of animals on the move in a world that is increasingly impacted by human activity.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Methodology Series Module 7: Ecologic Studies and Natural Experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Setia, Maninder Singh

2017-01-01

In this module, we have discussed study designs that have not been covered in the previous modules - ecologic studies and natural experiments. In an ecologic study, the unit of analysis is a group or aggregate rather than the individual. It may be the characteristics of districts, states, or countries. For example, per capita income across countries, income quintiles across districts, and proportion of college graduates in states. If the data already exist (such as global measures and prevalence of diseases, data sets such as the National Family Health Survey, census data), then ecologic studies are cheap and data are easy to collect. However, one needs to be aware of the "ecologic fallacy." The researcher should not interpret ecologic level results at the individual level. In "natural experiments," the researcher does not assign the exposure (as is the case in interventional studies) to the groups in the study. The exposure is assigned by a natural process. This may be due to existing policies or services (example, one city has laws against specific vehicles and the other city does not); changes in services or policies; or introduction of new laws (such helmet for bikers and seat-belts for cars). We would like to encourage researchers to explore the possibility of using these study designs to conduct studies.

Competitive exclusion: an ecological model demonstrates how research metrics can drive women out of science

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, K.; Hapgood, K.

2012-12-01

While universities are often perceived within the wider population as a flexible family-friendly work environment, continuous full-time employment remains the norm in tenure track roles. This traditional career path is strongly re-inforced by research metrics, which typically measure accumulated historical performance. There is a strong feedback between historical and future research output, and there is a minimum threshold of research output below which it becomes very difficult to attract funding, high quality students and collaborators. The competing timescales of female fertility and establishment of a research career mean that many women do not exceed this threshold before having children. Using a mathematical model taken from an ecological analogy, we demonstrate how these mechanisms create substantial barriers to pursuing a research career while working part-time or returning from extended parental leave. The model highlights a conundrum for research managers: metrics can promote research productivity and excellence within an organisation, but can classify highly capable scientists as poor performers simply because they have not followed the traditional career path of continuous full-time employment. Based on this analysis, we make concrete recommendations for researchers and managers seeking to retain the skills and training invested in female scientists. We also provide survival tactics for women and men who wish to pursue a career in science while also spending substantial time and energy raising their family.

EI: A Program for Ecological Inference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary King

2004-09-01

Full Text Available The program EI provides a method of inferring individual behavior from aggregate data. It implements the statistical procedures, diagnostics, and graphics from the book A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data (King 1997. Ecological inference, as traditionally defined, is the process of using aggregate (i.e., "ecological" data to infer discrete individual-level relationships of interest when individual-level data are not available. Ecological inferences are required in political science research when individual-level surveys are unavailable (e.g., local or comparative electoral politics, unreliable (racial politics, insufficient (political geography, or infeasible (political history. They are also required in numerous areas of ma jor significance in public policy (e.g., for applying the Voting Rights Act and other academic disciplines ranging from epidemiology and marketing to sociology and quantitative history.

Place oriented ecological footprint analysis. The case of Israel's grain supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kissinger, Meidad; Gottlieb, Dan

2010-01-01

In today's world, any nation's ecological footprint is spread all over the globe. Still, most footprint studies are not yet sensitive to the specific locations on which the footprint falls and to the unique production characteristics of each supporting region. In recent years some studies have acknowledged the need to quantify the 'real land' footprints and particularly the share of the footprint embodied in trade. Our goal is to analyse the ecological footprint of grain-based consumption in the state of Israel during the last two decades. We present a detailed, place oriented calculation procedure of Israel's grain footprint on specific locations around the world. We document modes of production, major energy inputs in specific sources of supply, the energy required for shipping from each source, and the CO 2 emissions from those operations. Our research reveals that most of Israel's grain footprint falls on North America followed by the Black Sea region. It also shows that while the overall consumption of grain products has increased throughout the research period, the size of the footprint has been dropping in recent years as a consequence of changing sources of supply and grain composition. Finally, we discuss some of the implications of the method presented here for future footprint calculations and environmental resource management. (author)

Mathematics and statistics research department. Progress report, period ending June 30, 1981

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lever, W.E.; Kane, V.E.; Scott, D.S.; Shepherd, D.E.

1981-09-01

This report is the twenty-fourth in the series of progress reports of the Mathematics and Statistics Research Department of the Computer Sciences Division, Union Carbide Corporation - Nuclear Division (UCC-ND). Part A records research progress in biometrics research, materials science applications, model evaluation, moving boundary problems, multivariate analysis, numerical linear algebra, risk analysis, and complementary areas. Collaboration and consulting with others throughout the UCC-ND complex are recorded in Part B. Included are sections on biology and health sciences, chemistry, energy, engineering, environmental sciences, health and safety research, materials sciences, safeguards, surveys, and uranium resource evaluation. Part C summarizes the various educational activities in which the staff was engaged. Part D lists the presentations of research results, and Part E records the staff's other professional activities during the report period.

Mathematics and statistics research department. Progress report, period ending June 30, 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lever, W.E.; Kane, V.E.; Scott, D.S.; Shepherd, D.E.

1981-09-01

This report is the twenty-fourth in the series of progress reports of the Mathematics and Statistics Research Department of the Computer Sciences Division, Union Carbide Corporation - Nuclear Division (UCC-ND). Part A records research progress in biometrics research, materials science applications, model evaluation, moving boundary problems, multivariate analysis, numerical linear algebra, risk analysis, and complementary areas. Collaboration and consulting with others throughout the UCC-ND complex are recorded in Part B. Included are sections on biology and health sciences, chemistry, energy, engineering, environmental sciences, health and safety research, materials sciences, safeguards, surveys, and uranium resource evaluation. Part C summarizes the various educational activities in which the staff was engaged. Part D lists the presentations of research results, and Part E records the staff's other professional activities during the report period

Dynamic monitoring of landscape patterns and ecological processes

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Landscape patterns and ecological processes have been in long-term research focus in the field of landscape ecology, but how to measure their quantitative relations is still open. This work chooses the Hulunbeier grassland as the study area where ecosystem shows high vulnerability, frequent evolvement of landscape ...

Volcano ecology: flourishing on the flanks of Mount St. Helens

Science.gov (United States)

Rhonda Mazza; Charlie Crisafulli

2016-01-01

Mount St. Helens’ explosive eruption on May 18, 1980, was a pivotal moment in the field of disturbance ecology. The subsequent sustained, integrated research effort has shaped the development of volcano ecology, an emerging field of focused research. Excessive heat, burial, and impact force are some of the disturbance mechanisms following an eruption. They are also...

Research on the water resources regulation ability model of dams in the Huai He River Basin considering ecological and management factors

Science.gov (United States)

Shui, Y.; Liu, H. C.; Li, L. H.; Yu, G. G.; Liu, J.

2016-08-01

Research that assesses the scheduling ability of dams gamers a great deal of attention due to the global water resource crisis. These studies can provide useful and practical suggestions for scheduling the water resources of dams to solve problems, such as addressing ecological water needs and so on. Recent studies have primarily evaluated the schedule ability of dams according to their quantifiable attributes, such as water quantity, flow velocity, etc. However, the ecological and management status can directly determine the possibility and efficiency of a dam's water resource scheduling. This paper presents an evaluation model to assess the scheduling capacity of dams that takes into consideration ecological and management factors. In the experiment stage, this paper takes the Sha Ying river of the Huai He River Basin as an example to evaluate the scheduling ability of its dams. The results indicate that the proposed evaluation model can provide more precise and practical suggestions.

Ecological neo-colonialism?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lejon, E.

1996-01-01

In this chapter of the book author deals with the ecological aspects of chemical industry and energy production as well as the European Communities energy strategy. Author thinks that the current situation suggests that the very primitive fossil energy age will be overlapping with even more primitive atomic age in the majority of the European states for a certain time period. From the thermodynamic point of view, this kind of a development means that we are shifting from energy processes utilizing the temperature of 260 grad C for boiling eggs as well as for heating the rooms to the temperature of 20 grad C, to the energy processes of uranium cleaving with the temperature of 55,000 grad C in order to provide the same functions. This is not only primitive and vulgar but completely ineffective and senseless from the economic point of view. This kind of a development has a clearly destructive effect, negative environmental effect not speaking about the possible disastrous effect. The plutonium economy is going to become a tragic straitjacket, binding the enormous investments and research means. In addition, this kind of economics is going to tie the production structures into the obsolete economies and it is going to prevent the development of the production basis that will become dominant in the advanced economies in a very short time period. Therefore the plutonium economy will further reinforce the neo-colonialist relations typical for the economic relations between the East and the West.Some statistical data in atomic energy development in Europe are given

Microbial ecology of mountain glacier ecosystems: biodiversity, ecological connections and implications of a warming climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Hotaling, Scott; Hood, Eran; Hamilton, Trinity L

2017-08-01

Glacier ecosystems are teeming with life on, beneath, and to a lesser degree, within their icy masses. This conclusion largely stems from polar research, with less attention paid to mountain glaciers that overlap environmentally and ecologically with their polar counterparts in some ways, but diverge in others. One difference lies in the susceptibility of mountain glaciers to the near-term threat of climate change, as they tend to be much smaller in both area and volume. Moreover, mountain glaciers are typically steeper, more dependent upon basal sliding for movement, and experience higher seasonal precipitation. Here, we provide a modern synthesis of the microbial ecology of mountain glacier ecosystems, and particularly those at low- to mid-latitudes. We focus on five ecological zones: the supraglacial surface, englacial interior, subglacial bedrock-ice interface, proglacial streams and glacier forefields. For each, we discuss the role of microbiota in biogeochemical cycling and outline ecological and hydrological connections among zones, underscoring the interconnected nature of these ecosystems. Collectively, we highlight the need to: better document the biodiversity and functional roles of mountain glacier microbiota; describe the ecological implications of rapid glacial retreat under climate change and resolve the relative contributions of ecological zones to broader ecosystem function. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Incorporating the gut microbiota into models of human and non-human primate ecology and evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Amato, Katherine R

2016-01-01

The mammalian gut is home to a diverse community of microbes. Advances in technology over the past two decades have allowed us to examine this community, the gut microbiota, in more detail, revealing a wide range of influences on host nutrition, health, and behavior. These host-gut microbe interactions appear to shape host plasticity and fitness in a variety of contexts, and therefore represent a key factor missing from existing models of human and non-human primate ecology and evolution. However, current studies of the gut microbiota tend to include limited contextual data or are clinical, making it difficult to directly test broad anthropological hypotheses. Here, I review what is known about the animal gut microbiota and provide examples of how gut microbiota research can be integrated into the study of human and non-human primate ecology and evolution with targeted data collection. Specifically, I examine how the gut microbiota may impact primate diet, energetics, disease resistance, and cognition. While gut microbiota research is proliferating rapidly, especially in the context of humans, there remain important gaps in our understanding of host-gut microbe interactions that will require an anthropological perspective to fill. Likewise, gut microbiota research will be an important tool for filling remaining gaps in anthropological research. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ecological Economics: Themes, Approaches, and Differences with Environmental Economics

OpenAIRE

Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh

2000-01-01

This provides a short overview of the main themes of ecological economics (EE). It isargued that EE provides a platform that fosters multidisciplinary environmental research bybringing together the core contributing disciplines economics and ecology. In addition, EE isregarded as a pluralistic approach to environmental research that can be set opposite to, and hasindeed developed as a response to, traditional environmental and resource economics. Acomparison of the two fields is presented to ...

Life as a sober citizen: Aldo Leopold's Wildlife Ecology 118

Science.gov (United States)

Theiss, Nancy Stearns

This historic case study addressed the issue of the lack of citizen action toward environmentally responsible behavior. Although there have been studies regarding components of environmental responsible behavior [ERB], there has been little focus on historic models of exemplary figures of ERB. This study examined one of the first conservation courses in the United States, Wildlife Ecology 118, taught by Aldo Leopold (1887--1948) for 13 years at the University of Wisconsin. Today, Aldo Leopold is recognized as an exemplary conservationist whose land ethic is cited as providing the ecological approach needed for understanding the complex issues of modern society. The researcher conjectured that examination of one of the first environmental education courses could support and strengthen environmental education practices by providing a heuristic perspective. The researcher used two different strategies for analysis of the case. For Research Question One---"What were Leopold's teaching strategies in Wildlife Ecology 118?"---the researcher used methods of comparative historical analysis. The researcher examined the learning outcomes that Leopold used in Wildlife Ecology 118 and compared them against a rubric of the Four Strands for Environmental Education (North American Association for Environmental Education [NAAEE], 1999). The Four Strands for Environmental Education are the current teaching strategies used by educators. The results indicated that Wildlife Ecology 118 scored high in Knowledge of Processes and Systems and Environmental Problem Solving strands. Leopold relied on historic case examples and animal biographies to build stories that engaged students. Field trips gave students practical experience for environmental knowledge with special emphasis on phenology. For Research Question Two---"What was the context of the lessons in Wildlife Ecology 118?"---the researcher used environmental history methods for analysis. Context provided the knowledge and

Field-Based Teacher Research: How Teachers and Scientists Working Together Answers Questions about Turtle Nesting Ecology while Enhancing Teachers' Inquiry Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Winters, J. M.; Jungblut, D.; Catena, A. N.; Rubenstein, D. I.

2013-12-01

Providing rigorous academic supplement to a professional development program for teachers, QUEST is a fusion of Drexel University's environmental science research department with Princeton University's Program in Teacher Preparation. Completed in the summers of 2012 (in partnership with Earthwatch) and 2013 in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, QUEST's terrapin field research program enhances K-12 teachers' ecological knowledge, develops inquiry-based thinking in the classroom, and builds citizen science engagement. With a focus on quality question development and data analysis to answer questions, teachers are coached in developing, implementing, and presenting independent research projects on diamondback terrapin nesting ecology. As a result, teachers participating in QUEST's week long program bring a realistic example of science in action into their classrooms, helping to develop their own students' critical thinking skills. For teachers, this program provides training towards educating students on how to do real and imaginative science - subsequently sending students to university better prepared to engage in their own independent research. An essential component of the collaboration through QUEST, in addition to the teacher's experience during and after the summer institute, is the research data collected which supplements that of the Principal Investigator. In 2012, by documenting terrapin nest site predators, teachers gained valuable scientific experience, while Drexel acquired important ecological data which would have not been able to be collected otherwise. In 2013, teachers helped answer important questions about terrapin nesting success post Superstorm Sandy. In fact, the 2013 QUEST teachers are the first to visualize the frighteningly increased erosion of a primary terrapin nesting site due to Sandy; showing how most terrapin nests now lie in the bay, instead of safe on shore. Teachers comment that interacting with scientists in the field, and contributing to

Swiss energy research concept for the period 2004-2007; Konzept der Energieforschung des Bundes 2004-2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2004-07-01

This report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) made by the Swiss National Energy Research Commission CORE lists and discusses energy research topics that are to be looked during the period 2004 to 2007. The report discusses the fundamentals, visions and short and long-term targets for Swiss energy research and presents strategies for reaching them. Research areas dealt with include the efficient use of energy, renewable sources of energy, nuclear energy and the energy-economics basics necessary for the implementation of sustainable energy policy. Also, implementation aspects such as pilot and demonstration installations are discussed. The current state of research is noted and strategic targets and the ways and means of reaching them are examined. Main areas of research for the period are listed and financing issues are discussed.

Overview of climate information needs for ecological effects models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peer, R.L.

1990-01-01

Atmospheric scientists engaged in climate change research require a basic understanding of how ecological effects models incorporate climate. The report provides an overview of existing ecological models that might be used to model climate change effects on vegetation. Some agricultural models and statistical methods are also discussed. The weather input data requirements, weather simulation methods, and other model characteristics relevant to climate change research are described for a selected number of models. The ecological models are classified as biome, ecosystem, or tree models; the ecosystem models are further subdivided into species dynamics or process models. In general, ecological modelers have had to rely on readily available meteorological data such as temperature and rainfall. Although models are becoming more sophisticated in their treatment of weather and require more kinds of data (such as wind, solar radiation, or potential evapotranspiration), modelers are still hampered by a lack of data for many applications. Future directions of ecological effects models and the climate variables that will be required by the models are discussed.

Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Modern Western Ecological ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Indigenous knowledge is often dismissed as 'traditional and outdated', and hence irrelevant to modern ecological assessment. This theoretical paper critically examines the arguments advanced to elevate modern western ecological knowledge over indigenous ecological knowledge, as well as the sources and uses of ...