Suchergebnisse

"Anger and hopelessness can overwhelm communities like weeds. So what can everyday people do to actually grow some good in their own hometown? Growing Good: A Beginner's Guide to Cultivating Caring Communities shows how ordinary people have transformed themselves into volunteers and activists. Centered mostly in the midwestern city of Evansville, Indiana, editor Bill Hemminger brings together the stories of normal people who have rolled up their sleeves and worked to make their community a better place by serving in food pantries, shelters, and schools. A teacher and his student started a native plant garden to help local insects thrive in a disused corner of their school property. A woman saw a billboard and was moved to become a voice for children in need. A professional photographer offered his services to people experiencing homelessness in order to help others witness their humanity. Hemminger also writes of his own extensive experience with community gardening to feed hungry neighbors. Filled with simple actions, clear steps, and useful lists, including how to care for and nurture your own inner peace and creativity, Growing Good will help readers of all ages plant seeds of hope and cultivate communities where everyone will thrive"--

Natural enemies are important components of solitary bee communities that nest in preexisting cavities because they act as a relevant mortality factor and can regulate population growth. Despite this, the natural enemy-host interaction remains poorly investigated. This research aimed to determine the composition of the community, the structure of the interaction network, and niche overlap and breadth of natural enemy species in areas of Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) and Semideciduous seasonal forest (Atlantic Forest) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Trap-nests made of black cardboard and bamboo canes were provided in the field and inspected monthly in each area, from August 2001 to July 2003 at Cerrado and from June 2006 to May 2008 at the Semideciduous seasonal forest. A modular structure in the interaction network was observed for both areas with the populations of natural enemies showing high degrees of specialization. This structure confers higher stability against disturbances than less specialized webs since these adversities must spread more slowly through the network. The niche analysis showed low degrees of overlap for both, trophic and temporal, among the natural enemy populations.

In this study we evaluated the influence of temperature and species co-occurrence on the structure of an ant community of treefall gaps and surrounding dense forests in a terra-firme forest of Central Amazon, Brazil. For this, we collected ants at different hours, and at the time of each collection we measured the temperature of the environment. Even with the difference in the temperature variation and variation throughout the day, there was no difference in the richness and abundance of ants among the environments. Also, the ant species are distributed randomly and independently of one another in both studied environments in accordance with a null model (C-score). However, although not influenced by temperature, the ant composition of treefall gaps was different from the ant community of the surrounding dense forest. Possibly the composition and ant foraging in environments of treefall gaps and surrounding dense forests are not only influenced by temperature, but also by the interaction of this factor with the structural complexity of vegetation in terms of sites available for nesting and feeding, and other microclimatic factors. This generates a difference in ant composition of both environments. In addition, the structuring of ant community in tropical rain forests may actually be stochastic or neutral within each environment.

We describe and discuss the composition, abundance and diversity of euglossine in three vegetation types of the Atlantic Forest (Lowland Seasonal Semideciduous, Submontane Seasonal and Dense Montane Ombrophilous Forest) in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, compare them to previous studies in the region and investigate the importance of the vegetation types, climatic and geomorphological factors on the species composition. Male euglossine bees attracted by fragrances were sampled monthly from August/2008 to July/2009 using entomological nets and traps. Euglossine bee communities exhibited differences in their species composition and abundance along the year and in the vegetation types. The precipitation, altitude and vegetation types demonstrated a significant influence on the ordination of the euglossine communities. Our study found differences in the composition of euglossine bee communities as well as in their patterns of abundance and dominance among different vegetation formations, stressing the importance of the conservation of landscape mosaics in the region.

The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous issues, particularly in Southeast Asia, and the recovery needs strong actions with new economic paths. The Sri Lankan government is also trying to help those who have lost their sources of income. Involving with the trade of medical and aromatic plants (MAPs) bearing unique medical properties will be important in that aspect. Extracted and isolated some secondary metabolites from plants developed life-saving medicine, flavonoids, repellents, cosmetics, and scents with enormous economic potential. India, China, and other Asian countries dominate the global MAP trade. However, Sri Lanka is yet to enter the global MAP market by utilising its abundant plant life. Determining rural communities' willingness to participate in such programmes is crucial. The same authors identified 127 lesser-known potential MAPs as insect repellents by interviewing traditional ayurveda practitioners and subject experts. The current study investigated the willingness of the rural sector in six districts in Sri Lanka (Matara, Rathnapura, Kurunegala, Badulla, Hambanthota, and Batticaloa) using a structured questionnaire survey for 480 households. Cinnamomum verum, Citrus aurantifolia, C. sinensis, C. reticulata, Aegle marmelos, and Ocimum tenuiflorum Sub-type Rama were the most abundant top five plant species. The questionnaire also sought information on respondents' demographics, the availability of agronomic plants, MAPs, in their homegardens and their willingness to cultivate and supply medicinal plants. Binomial logistic regression was used to determine the effects of the respondent's district, gender, age, education, total family revenue, availability of agronomic crops, land space available for the cultivation of MAPs, number of non-income-generating family members, members contribute to agriculture, external employees recruited as labourers. Hosmer-Lemeshow test indicated that the model reasonably fits with the data (p=0.77). In this case, district (p<0.05) and gender (p<0.05) were ...

A guide to data collection, modeling and inference strategies for biological survey data using Bayesian and classical statistical methods. This book describes a general and flexible framework for modeling and inference in ecological systems based on hierarchical models, with a strict focus on the use of probability models and parametric inference. Hierarchical models represent a paradigm shift in the application of statistics to ecological inference problems because they combine explicit models of ecological system structure or dynamics with models of how ecological systems are observed. The principles of hierarchical modeling are developed and applied to problems in population, metapopulation, community, and metacommunity systems. The book provides the first synthetic treatment of many recent methodological advances in ecological modeling and unifies disparate methods and procedures. The authors apply principles of hierarchical modeling to ecological problems, including * occurrence or occupancy models for estimating species distribution * abundance models based on many sampling protocols, including distance sampling * capture-recapture models with individual effects * spatial capture-recapture models based on camera trapping and related methods * population and metapopulation dynamic models * models of biodiversity, community structure and dynamics * Wide variety of examples involving many taxa (birds, amphibians, mammals, insects, plants) * Development of classical, likelihood-based procedures for inference, as well as Bayesian methods of analysis * Detailed explanations describing the implementation of hierarchical models using freely available software such as R and WinBUGS * Computing support in technical appendices in an online companion web site

It has been postulated that aggressive honeyeaters like the noisy miner,
Manorina melanocephala, may contribute to rural tree
decline by excluding small insectivorous birds from remnant patches of
woodland, thereby reducing the level of predation upon defoliating insects.
Previous studies provide correlational evidence that avian diversity and
abundance is lower in remnant patches of woodland occupied by noisy miners
than in those without noisy miners. Noisy miners were removed from three small
remnant patches of woodland in north-eastern Victoria. The removal of the
majority of noisy miners from a site, or even the removal of only part of a
noisy miner colony from a site, resulted in a major influx of honeyeaters and
other insectivorous birds to these sites in the following three months. Such
major invasions were not observed on matching control sites. At two of the
three removal sites, this led to an increase in both the abundance and
diversity of birds on the site. At the third site, there was an increase in
the diversity, but not the abundance of birds. These experiments are the first
to demonstrate that noisy miners affect avian diversity and abundance by
aggressive exclusion of small birds. They also showed that if domination by
noisy miners is reduced, small, degraded woodland remnants can support
significant populations of some small insectivorous birds and honeyeaters.
Noisy miners did not reinvade the experimental sites during the following 16
months and avian diversity and abundance remained higher at the experimental
sites than at the paired control sites. Long-term monitoring is needed to
determine whether the small invading bird species have a lasting effect upon
insect populations and tree health.

House martins are in decline in many western European countries. The reasons for the decline are poorly understood, but as a species placing their nest on the outside of buildings, the house martin strongly depends on human tolerance. Beside the general decrease in insect abundance, important causes for the decline thus are the disappearance of nests due to renovation or demolition of buildings, the diminishing acceptance of homeowners and inhabitants for house martin nests on buildings and a lack of loamy bare ground that offers nest building material where the birds are still welcome. As part of a long term species recovery project for the house martin, the Swiss Ornithological Institute started a web based citizen science project in 2013 to collect information on exact addresses of house martin colonies for conservation purposes throughout Switzerland. The data from this platform and from another large citizen science platform ornitho.ch were used to create an inventory of known locations with house martin nests. To enforce species conservation, each Swiss community harbouring house martin nests receives the inventory together with 2 new fact sheets: One is directed at home owners and inhabitants of buildings with nests and contains information about the breeding ecological of the species, the legal basis against removing nests and how to plan renovation work. The second is directed to the local governments and shows the possible conservation actions to be realized at the community level. The data of the inventory is available in a GIS-format and can thus easily be adopted by local authorities, ecologists, architects and developers during building development. ; peerReviewed

Abstract
Urbanization can change interactions in insect communities, and the few studies of tritrophic interactions in urban settings focus on interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their mutualists and natural enemies. Plant pathogen infection is also widespread and common, and infection may also alter such interactions, but we have no understanding of whether the ecological consequences of pathogen infection vary with urbanization. Using replicated aphid colonies on experimental plants, we investigated how infection by the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea influences interactions between plants, aphids and the aphid natural enemies and ant mutualists in highly urbanized, suburban and rural study sites. Aphid and natural enemy abundance were highest in the suburban site, while mutualist ants were most abundant in the urban site, reversing the usual positive density-dependent relationship between natural enemies and aphids. The effect of pathogen infection varied with trait and site, mediated by natural enemy preference for hosts or prey on uninfected plants. The effect of infection on aphid abundance was only seen in the suburban site, where natural enemies were most abundant on uninfected plants and aphid numbers were greatest on infected plants. In the urban site, there was no effect of infection, while in the rural site, aphid numbers were lower on infected plants. Uninfected plants were smaller than infected plants and differed between locations. This study suggests that the effects of urbanization on ecological interactions may become more complex and difficult to predict as we study ecological assemblages and communities at greater levels of structural complexity.

A desk review was conducted during the period 2012 on the quest for participatory disaster management and sustainable livelihood improvement of pastoral communities of Ethiopia from human ecological perspective. Pastoral communities in Ethiopia have issues related to access to and quality of pasture and water, animal health care, domestic and international markets and indigenous, domestic and international strategies for relief and recovery assistance. The general objective of this paper is to evaluate the disaster management system in Ethiopia from sustainable disaster management system perspective. The paper adapts human ecological research approach. Comprehensive literature review on disasters and disasters management was conducted in the course of writing this paper. The findings of the study reveal that disasters like droughts, floods, conflict, insect infestations, and earthquakes occur in Ethiopia. In other words, Ethiopia is vulnerable to disasters caused by drought, earthquake, flood, war and conflict, human and livestock diseases, pests, wildfire and landslide, amongst others. Reversing the history of pastoral communities in Ethiopia needs strong commitment of the government of Ethiopia to design and implement appropriate and sustainable pastoral community development policy and strategy. In other words, there is a need for Ethiopia to have comprehensive and participatory disaster management system which can address both response to disasters and disaster risk management. Moreover, the financial and technical support of international agencies might enhance the endeavor of the country to mitigate disasters and reduce disasters risk.

Abstract
Background
Several large-scale studies revealed impacts and risks for aquatic communities of small rural lakes and streams due to pesticides in agricultural landscapes. It appears that pesticide risk assessment based on single products does not offer sufficient protection for non-target organisms, which are exposed repeatedly to pesticide mixtures in the environment. Therefore, a comprehensive stream mesocosm study was conducted in order to investigate the potential effects of a realistic spraying sequence for conventional orchard farmed apples on a stream community using pesticides at their regulatory acceptable concentrations (RACs). Eight 74-m-long stream mesocosms were established with water, sand, sediment, macrophytes, plankton and benthic macroinvertebrates. In total, nine fungicidal, four herbicidal and four insecticidal pesticides were applied in four of the eight stream mesocosms on 19 spraying event days in the period from April to July while the remaining four stream mesocosms served as controls. The community composition, the abundance of benthos, periphyton and macrophytes, the emergence of insects, physico-chemical water parameters, and drift measurements of aquatic invertebrates were measured.

Results
The pesticide spraying sequence induced significant effects on invertebrates, periphyton, and macrophytes as well as on the water ion composition especially in the second half of the experiment. It was not possible to relate the observed effects on the community to specific pesticides applied at certain time points and their associated toxic pressure using the toxic unit approach. The most striking result was the statistically significant increase in variation of population response parameters of some taxa in the treated mesocosms compared to the controls. This inter-individual variation can be seen as a general disturbance measure for the ecosystem.

Conclusions
The pesticide spraying sequence simulated by using RAC values had notable effects on the aquatic stream community in the conducted mesocosm study. The results indicate that the current risk assessment for pesticides may not ensure a sufficient level of protection to the field communities facing multiple pesticide entries due to spraying sequences and other combined stress. Hence, there is still room for improvement regarding the prospective risk assessment of pesticides to further reduce negative effects on the environment.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Ecological Subsidies as a Framework for Understanding Contaminant Fate, Exposure, and Effects at the Land-Water Interface -- Part I: Ecological Subsidies Drive Exposure -- Chapter 2: Ecological Factors Controlling Insect-Mediated Methylmercury Flux from Aquatic to Terrestrial Ecosystems: Lessons Learned from Mesocosm and Pond Experiments -- Chapter 3: Pathways of Contaminant Transport Across the Aquatic-Terrestrial Interface: Implications for Terrestrial Consumers, Ecosystems and Management -- Part II: Exposure Drives Ecological Subsidies -- Chapter 4: Agriculture and Mining Contamination Contribute to a Productivity Gradient Driving Cross-Ecosystem Associations between Stream Insects and Riparian Arachnids -- Chapter 5: Cross-Ecosystem Linkages and Trace Metals at the Land-Water Interface -- Chapter 6: Metamorphosis and the Impact of Contaminants on Ecological Subsidies -- Part III: Other Global Stressors -- Chapter 7: Variables Affecting Resource Subsidies from Streams and Rivers to Land and their Susceptibility to Global Change Stressors -- Chapter 8: Beyond "Donors and Recipients": Impacts of Species Gains and Losses Reverberate among Ecosystems due to Changes in Resource Subsidies -- Part IV: Management Applications and Tools -- Chapter 9: Practical Considerations for the Incorporation of Insect-Mediated Contaminant Flux into Ecological Risk Assessments -- Chapter 10: When Nutrients Become Contaminants in Aquatic Systems: Identifying Responses to Guide Terrestrial-Derived Detrital Endpoint Development for Managers -- Chapter 11: Mesocosms to Evaluate Aquatic-Terrestrial Contaminant Linkages using Aquatic Insect Emergence: Utility for Aquatic Life Criteria Development -- Chapter 12: Studying Effects of Contaminants on Aquatic-Terrestrial Subsidies: Experimental Designs using Outdoor and Indoor Mesocosms and Microcosms -- Part V: Syntheses -- Chapter 13: Ecological Networks as a Framework for Understanding and Predicting Contaminant Movement across the Land-Water Interface -- Chapter: 14: Synthesis: A Framework for Predicting the Dark Side of Ecological Subsidies.

The processes that structure communities are still largely unknown. Therefore, we tested whether southern African termite communities show signs of environmental filtering and/or competition along a rainfall gradient in Namibia using phylogenetic information. Our results revealed a regional species pool of 11 species and we found no evidence for phylogenetic overdispersion or clustering at the local scale. Rather, our results suggest that the assembly of the studied termite communities has as strong random component on the local scale, but that species composition changes along the climatic gradient.

Abstract
Macrobenthic invertebrate communities serve as markers of anthropogenic stress in freshwater ecosystems. In this study, 17 sampling sites were selected from two Nile river subbranches (El-Rayah El-Behery and El-Rayah El-Nassery) and subjected to different anthropogenic influences to explore the ecological environment and characteristics of macrobenthos communities. Macrobenthos were studied using taxonomic diversity and biological trait analysis to investigate how human activity and variation in water quality affect their structure and function. A total of 37 taxa represented by 43,389 individuals were recognized. The communities are composed chiefly of Oligochaeta and aquatic insects. Multivariate statistical analyses found that the most influential environmental variables in the structural and functional community were sodium, dissolved oxygen, silicate, pH, calcium, and cadmium. At high levels of pollution, notably sewage and industrial pollution in the northern part of El-Rayah El-Behery, characteristics such as larger body size, detritus feeders, burrowers, and high tolerance to pollution predominated, whereas at low levels of pollution, features such as small body sizes, scraper and predator feeders, intolerant and fairly tolerant of pollution, and climber and swimmer mobility are predominant. The results confirm our prediction that the distribution of macroinvertebrate traits varies spatially in response to environmental changes. The diversity-based method distinguished impacted sewage and industrial sites from thermal effluent sites, while the trait-based approach illustrated an apparent variance between the ecological status of contaminated regions. Therefore, the biological features should be employed in addition to structural aspects for assessing the biodiversity of macroinvertebrate communities under environmental stressors.

Temperate forests covering 34% of the Earth's land have experienced human disturbances since ancient times and this is where the major industrial and agricultural enterprises are located nowadays. The heaviest human stress has been on European and North American ecosystems. Forest ecosystems are a major control of moisture circulation in watersheds. Boreal forests have been long recognized to influence global moisture circulation considerably. Therefore, it is logical to expect that further large-scale forest cover disturbances, such as catastrophic fires, large-scale insect outbreaks and fore