Privatization of Veterinary Services in Developing Countries: A Review

Increasing fiscal constraints on the government, a lackadaisical performance by public sector animal health and breeding services and pressure from donor partners have prompted the governments of various developing countries to rethink the role of the public sector in the provision of veterinary services. Various countries have started to implement, or have already implemented, privatization of some veterinary services. The results are mixed. It is established that private provision alone is not optimal, and a blend of private and public sector veterinary services is required to utilize the virtues of both.The privatization process has also begun in India. Certain state governments in India are pursuing a cost recovery approach and are encouraging private practitioners to cope with the financial constraints and to deliver broad and effective animal health and breeding services. This paper considers the global aspects of the privatization of veterinary services as well as the scenario in India, so as to gain an insight into the very complex and debatable issue of privatization of veterinary services.     

Microphytic crusts,shrub patches and water harvesting in the Negev Desert: the Shikim system

Human-made contour banks are a central component of theShikim water harvesting system in Israels Negev Desert.Efficient water capture depends on the presence of a stable microphytic crustwhich directs surplus surface runoff into the banks where it is stored. We usedsimulated rainfall to examine the impact of soil surface disturbance on runoffand sediment transport, and the effect of this on the efficiency of resourcecapture within the Shikim system. Two disturbance regimes:1) removal of the microphytic crust only, and 2) removal of the crust and shrubpatches by cultivation, were compared with an undisturbed control. In theundisturbed state, 32% of rainfall was redistributed as runoff. This runoffpenetrated approximately 27% deeper under the shrub patches compared with themicrophytic crust. When the microphytic crust was destroyed by simulatedtrampling, the runoff coefficient declined to 13%, and there was no significantdifference in water penetration between shrub and crust patches. Completedestruction of the shrub hummocks and crust by cultivation resulted in adeclinein the runoff coefficient to 6%. The result of sustained disturbance in thesepatchy Negev shrublands is a breakdown in spatial heterogeneity, a loss ofecosystem function, a reduction in ecosystem goods and services such as plantdiversity and production, and ultimately a reduction in pastoral productivity.These results reinforce the view that microphytic crusts are critical for theefficient operation of the Shikim water harvesting system.Given that practices such as cultivation and trampling which disturbmicrophyticcrusts result in enhanced infiltration, crusts should be left intact tomaximisethe water harvesting efficiency in these desert landscapes.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

茶园生态系统服务功能

茶园生态系统是农业生态系统的组成之一，茶树及其间作植物与环境既有矛盾的一面，又有统一的一面，两者构成一个有机的整体。生物体必须与它的环境条件相适应才能生存和发展这一基本原理，无论自然生态系统或茶园生态系统都是一致的。人们认识到，茶园生态系统不仅向人类提供茶叶、其他的一些副产品，如水果、蔬菜、药材和家禽、家畜等，更重要的是它也维持了地球生命支持系统，即涵养水源、改良土壤、防止水土流失、减轻自然灾害、调节气候、净化环境、孕育和保存生物多样性等功能，以及具有观赏园林价值、展示传统文化、旅游休憩等社会功能。文中论述了茶园的生态服务功能、经济服务功能、社会服务功能。     

大学生休闲与心理健康探析

休闲是大学生活中不可或缺的一部分，文章探讨了大学生休闲的含义、类型、休闲对心理健康的促进作用、休闲中存在的问题及其调适，以期为大学生在休闲活动中发展心理素质提供参考。     

基于GIS的三江源地区物种多样性保护优先性分析

根据我们的多次科考调查和青海省对野生动物的调查结果等有关资料图件,对三江源地区的物种多样性和人类干扰因素等进行了分析和评估。选择9种鸟类、15种哺乳动物、20种植物作为本研究的指示物种,利用GIS制作了主要的珍稀濒危野生动植物分布图。选择放牧、人口、居民点、公路等因素作为生物多样性的主要干扰因素,制作出三江源地区干扰强度空间分布图。然后根据物种的丰富度和特有性、脆弱性和干扰程度等指标分析了三江源地区物种多样性保护优先性地区,做出了物种多样性保护优先地区空间分布图。     

Relation between Soil Health, Wave-like Fluctuations in Microbial Populations, and Soil-borne Plant Disease Management

A healthy soil is often defined as a stable soil system with high levels of biological diversity and activity, internal nutrient cycling, and resilience to disturbance. This implies that microbial fluctuations after a disturbance would dampen more quickly in a healthy than in a chronically damaged and biologically impoverished soil. Soil could be disturbed by various processes, for example addition of a nutrient source, tillage, or drying-rewetting. As a result of any disturbance, the numbers of heterotrophic bacteria and of individual species start to oscillate, both in time and space. The oscillations appear as moving waves along the path of a moving nutrient source such as a root tip. The phase and period for different trophic groups and species of bacteria may be shifted indicating that succession occurs. DGGE, Biolog and FAME analysis of subsequent populations in oscillation have confirmed that there is a cyclic succession in microbial communities. Microbial diversity oscillates in opposite direction from oscillations in microbial populations. In a healthy soil, the amplitudes of these oscillations will be small, but the background levels of microbial diversity and activity are high, so that soil-borne diseases will face more competitors and antagonists. However, soil-borne pathogens and antagonists alike will fluctuate in time and space as a result of growing plant roots and other disturbances, and the periods and phases of the oscillations may vary. As a consequence, biological control by members of a single trophic group or species may never be complete, as pathogens will encounter varying populations of the biocontrol agent on the root surface. A mixture of different trophic groups may provide more complete biological control because peaks of different trophic groups occur at subsequent locations along a root. Alternatively, regular addition of soil organic matter may increase background levels of microbial activity, increase nutrient cycling, lower the concentrations of easily available nutrient sources, increase microbial diversity, and enhance natural disease suppression.     

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN RETRACTED Exergy as an ecological application used in the recovery process of benthic communities

Exergy, the thermodynamic function that represents the distance of an open system from equilibrium, is proposed as an ecological indicator for summarizing the complex dynamics occurring in a disturbed community during its recovery processes. These complex dynamics can be difficult to capture by using classical indices. In this study, we sampled macrobenthos using the BACI scheme (before versus after; control versus impact) in tidal wetlands of west Chongming Island, China, an area that has been disturbed by ecological engineering measures. Exergy storage is estimated for benthic communities. The control area is proposed as dynamic reference for estimating local exergy storage of the benthic community. Three different methods were used for estimating exergy on the basis of coefficients: (a) taken for taxa groups; (b) estimated from coding genes given for broad taxonomic groups; and (c) estimated from genome size taken as close as possible to the taxonomic level of the species, providing a basis for inferring similarities. We found a decrease of local exergy content in the disturbed area 9 days after the disturbance. Subsequently, the reference exergy of the benthic community increased (i.e. in the surrounding control area) in accordance with the proposed hypothesis regarding the dynamics of exergy storage during a system's development. Estimates of local exergy arrived at using the three methods provided comparable results. Based on this, we then discuss the feasibility of using the more readily available genome size data for estimating exergy. This result may have important implications for broader application of this indicator to biological systems. Moreover, the adjacent control samples seem to represent an appropriate dynamic reference for estimating the local exergy of disturbed communities. We found that exergy was a useful indicator that integrates the processes underlying the recovery of the benthic community after disturbance.     

Assessing hygiene proficiency on organic and conventional pig farms regarding pork safety: A pilot study in Finland

A key element in the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be a single farm payment system that is linked to compliance with rules on, for instance hygiene standards. However, there are no recommended methods for assessing the hygiene proficiency of pig production farms. The present study was undertaken to develop a method for this purpose. A first implementation was done on pilot scale; with a set of both conventional and organic pig farms (N = 15). Fifty hygiene-related factors were selected, especially with reference to the possible proliferation of enteric pathogens Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. The factors were allocated into 8 evaluation categories: (1) general production management, (2) animal density, (3) the outdoor area for pigs, (4) pest and pet animals, (5) general hygiene in the piggery, (6) pen hygiene, (7) feed production hygiene, and (8) feeding hygiene. A farm questionnaire and a supplementary on-site observation form were devised, and one arbitrary scale of hygiene points assigned for each factor. In addition to the mailed questionnaires, one person subsequently visited all the farms, perused the questionnaire with the owners and completed the observation form. The hygiene scores of the farms in each evaluation category were compared both without weighting and with weighting based on expert opinions. The method proved to be feasible and applicable to different types of production.     

基于MODIS数据的中国草地生态体系价值估算研究

在传统的草原生态系统价值估算的基础上,利用遥感技术,以谢高地等人计算出来的各种草地类型单位面积价值量为经济参数,利用2003年MODIS数据估算的中国草原生态系统服务价值约折合US$311.48×108,并从草地类型和省区等角度分别进行区域分析,表明我国草原生态系统服务价值呈现出农牧交错带较高且逐渐向牧区递减的特征,说明牧区草原生态系统退化比较严重,草原生态功能保护意识需要进一步加强。     

应用草坪生态系统于城市生态建设的思考

通过对作为生态城市的重要子系统--草坪生态系统的含义及其生态效益的认识,提出一些有利城市生态建设的种草新模式,并对应用草坪生态系统于城市生态建设过程中存在的一些问题进行探讨.