Rearing and rehabilitation of common seal pups (Phoca vitulina)

Veterinary surgeons may be presented with seal pups that require rearing and rehabilitation. This paper describes the feeding, weight gains and clinical care of 22 harbour or common seal pups (Phoca vitulina) that were reared and rehabilitated at the RSPCA Seal Assessment Unit in Norfolk during 1989. Eighteen of the seals survived and were released but four died. On arrival the pups' mean (+/- sd) bodyweight was 9.2 +/- 2.1 kg; those which survived stayed an average of 14.2 +/- 2.3 weeks before they were released at an average weight of 35.5 +/- 3.5 kg.     

Die Bedeutung des Waldes für die Erholung aus der Sicht der Humanbioklimatologie

Zusammenfassung Nach einer kurzen Erl?uterung des Begriffes “Humanbioklimatologie” werden die folgenden Wohlfahrtswirkungen der W?lder eingehend diskutiert: D?mpfung von L?rm, Schutz gegen die Luftverschmutzung, schonendes Lichtklima, Schutz vor Niederschl?gen, günstige Beeinflussung des die Menschen umgebenden thermischen Milieus. Abschlie?end wird darauf hingewiesen, da? jede Beeintr?chtigung einer geschlossenen Waldfl?che in die Wirkungsbereiche des Waldklimas eingreift, und somit die humanbioklimatische Bedeutung des Waldes verringert wird.

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The importance of forests for recreation from the point of view of human bioclimatology

Summary After a short explanation of the term “human bioclimatology”, the following “welfare functions” of forests are discussed in detail: noise abatement, protection against air pollution, pleasant lighting, shelter from precipitation, favourable influence on the thermal environment of man. Concluding it is pointed out, that each injury to a compact forest area will interfere with the effects of the forest climate and thereby decrease the humanbioclimatic matic role of the forest.

     

Farms in the black forest of Baden-Württemberg: A historical review

Today the Black Forest is an internationally renowned tourist region in Germany. For centuries the Black Forest remained as a low mountain range regarded as not suitable for settlement due to its unfavourable climatic conditions and difficult terrain. Clearing the dense forests and settlement therefore started at a historically late stage compared to other regions of Germany, about 1000 years ago. Due to the special conditions in this area, the structure of the settlement had to be quite different to those landscapes with more favourable conditions for agriculture. A single-farm settlement developed, farms situated 200 to 400 m away from each other, surrounded by meadows, agricultural land and forests and owned by the farmer’s family. This structure has remained in some areas until today; in other areas different types of settlement took place, and great changes occurred during history. A special type of agroforestry — a slash-and-burn-management of forests — also took place 150 to 200 years ago.