The value of bat-boxes in the conservation of Pipistrellus pygmaeus in wetland rice paddies

Wetlands with rice paddies are key habitats in the conservation of biodiversity in the Mediterranean Region and are potentially suitable habitats for foraging bats, since they provide food (insects) and drinking places; nevertheless, many wetlands lack natural roosting sites. A bat-box program designed to ascertain bat-box preferences was initiated in 1999 in the Ebro Delta (NE Spain), one of the most important wetlands in Europe. A total of 69 bat-boxes of two types (single and double compartment) were placed on three supports (trees, houses, and posts) facing east or west. Pipistrellus pygmaeus occupancy rates and the number of individuals per box were monitored on 16 occasions from July 2000 to February 2004. Bat-box preferences were only detected during the breeding season. Bat abundance was higher in east-facing boxes, in double-compartment boxes, and in boxes placed on posts and houses. Boxes on natural supports (trees) were avoided. Bat-box occupancy rates were higher during the breeding season (95.6%, spring-summer) due to the formation of maternity colonies. The number of individuals in bat-boxes during the breeding season increased as the study period progressed (from summer 2000 to summer 2003), suggesting a high degree of acceptance by maternity colonies of these alternative locations. Occupancy rates observed were the highest ever reported in bat-box scientific literature. This study highlights the role of bat-box programs as useful alternative management tools for the conservation of bat populations in highly productive wetland habitats where few natural roost sites are available.     

Testing an Extended Reasoned Action Framework to Predict Intention to Purchase Fruits With Novel Shapes

This study explored the influence of consumers' attitudes, subjective norms, and novelty-seeking on their intention to purchase fruits of unconventional or novel shapes. Based on the results of an online survey of consumers from around the world, and guided by an extended version of the theory of reasoned action, the findings showed that consumers' intention to purchase buddha- and baby-shaped pears was determined largely by the attitudes they hold about fruits with uncharacteristic shapes, but not by subjective norms. Novelty-seeking was strongly correlated with purchase intention. Young consumers with lower incomes were more likely to buy the non-conventional-shaped products than older consumers with higher incomes.     

论网络消费法律问题及其解决对策

在互联网飞速发展的今天,各个商业领域都充斥着电子商务网络,这不仅催生了消费者的个人利益扩展空间和网络参与空间,还诱发了许多网络消费法律纠纷。故我国需要依法设置保护消费者权益的政府专门机构,强化政府的消费者保护义务,加强公众传媒的社会监督力度,强化网络参与者网络言行的法律责任和道德评判,制定、修订和完善相关立法,建立和健全我国电子商务中消费者保护制度。     

消费社会学的视角下对商业健身俱乐部消费者研究

以消费社会学为研究视角,以文献研究法、访谈法、实地考察法、问卷调查法、统计分析法等为主要研究方法,对郑州市商业健身俱乐部消费者进行调查研究。结果显示：郑州市商业健身俱乐部消费者中男女比例大致相当,中青年人、高学历人群、社会中上层及社会上层、中高收入者是商业健身俱乐部的主要消费群体;影响消费者健身消费的因素主要包括性别、年龄、文化程度、社会阶层;消费者健身消费的社会学特征主要包括：健身消费具有关系消费的性质、健身消费代表的是中上阶层消费文化、健身消费具有消费分层的特征。     

近期我国羊肉价格上涨的经济效应

为探究近期我国羊肉价格大幅上涨产生的经济效应,并进一步完善稳定羊肉市场供需的政策,以宏观统计数据为基础,采用Nerlove模型等方法研究了近期羊肉价格上涨分别对羊肉供给、居民羊肉消费以及中国居民消费价格指数(CPI)的影响。研究发现:羊肉价格上涨对羊肉供给有显著的正向影响,但是短期内并不能促使羊肉供给大幅增加;对城乡居民羊肉消费均具有消极影响,其中对西部边疆少数民族聚居地区居民和低收入群体影响更大;羊肉价格上涨在一定程度上能够带动CPI上涨,但并不会对城乡居民实际生活费用支出造成巨大影响。基于以上结论,提出应加大对羊肉生产的政策扶持力度,为收入较低群体和边疆少数民族聚居地区居民提供羊肉消费补贴以及加强羊肉价格的监测与预警工作等政策建议。     

一类三级供应链模型的研究

在博弈论的框架下,将一个二级供应链模型推广为三级供应链模型,并将之应用于研究饲料商、养猪户及消费者构成的三级供应链系统的定价决策中。建立了关于猪肉价格、需求量的消费者效用函数;建立了具有Stackelberg博弈特征的定价决策模型,并分析求解了该模型,研究了饱和状态下的饲料价格;最后讨论了政府在引导该地区饲料商、养猪户有效定价以实现最大利润及更好地满足消费者需求过程中的作用。     

What is artificial meat and what does it mean for the future of the meat industry?

The meat industry cannot respond to increases in demand by ever increasing resource use. The industry must find solutions to issues regarding animal welfare, health and sustainability and will have to do so in the face of competition from emerging non-traditional meat and protein products in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. These novel meat and protein products, otherwise known as ‘artificial meat' are utilising ground breaking technologies designed to meet the issues facing the conventional meat industry. These artificial meats, in vitro or cultured meat and meat from genetically modified organisms have no real capacity to compete with conventional meat production in the present environment. However, meat replacements manufactured from plant proteins and mycoproteins are currently the biggest competitors and are gaining a small percentage of the market. Manufactured meats may push conventional meat into the premium end of the market, and supply the bulk, cheap end of the market if conventional meat products become more expensive and the palatability and versatility of manufactured meats improve. In time the technology for other artificial meats such as meat from genetic modified organisms or cultured meat may become sufficiently developed for these products to enter the market with no complexity of the competition between meat products. Conventional meat producers can assimilate agroecology ecology concepts in order to develop sustainable animal production systems. The conventional meat industry can also benefit from assimilating biotechnologies such as cloning and genetic modification technologies, using the technology to adapt to the changing environment and respond to the increasing competition from artificial meats. Although it will depend at least partly on the evolution of conventional meat production, the future of artificial meat produced from stem cells appears uncertain at this time.     

What relative seafood prices can tell us about the status of stocks

Changes in the distribution of seafood prices can provide useful insights into the availability of different species to fishermen and to fish markets. We propose a log‐relative‐price‐index (LRPI) and demonstrate how such a concept might be useful for exploring long‐term changes in wild fish communities as a result of intensive exploitation. We estimate the LRPI for 26 fish species in the Celtic Sea (UK) and for 33 species on Italian fish markets. In both systems the LRPI changed significantly during recent decades, and in the Celtic Sea this probably resulted from a decline in the availability of high trophic level target species such as cod and hake as well as an increase in the availability of low trophic level pelagic species. By contrast, the LRPI of Italian fishes remained relatively constant from 1972 to 1980, but declined thereafter as a result of widespread expansion in fin‐fish aquaculture, and a consequential increase in the supply, and hence decrease in the price of high trophic level fish such as seabass and seabream.     

Movement and behaviour of large southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) in the Australian region determined using pop‐up satellite archival tags

Pop‐up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on 52 large (156–200 cm length to caudal fork) southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) in the western Tasman Sea during the austral winters of 2001–2005. Southern bluefin tuna (SBT) were resident in the Tasman Sea for up to 6 months with movements away from the tagging area occurring at highly variable rates. The data indicated a general tendency for SBT to move south from the tagging area in the Western Tasman Sea. Four individuals migrated west along the southern continental margin of Australia and into the Indian Ocean. Three individuals moved east into the central Tasman Sea, with one individual reaching New Zealand. We also describe the first observed migration of an SBT from the Tasman Sea to the Indian Ocean spawning grounds south of Indonesia. Individuals spent most of their time relatively close to the Australian coast, with an estimated 84% of time spent in the Australian Fishing Zone. SBT favored temperatures between 19 and 21°C, adjusting their depth to the vertical temperature distribution. Distinct diurnal diving patterns were observed and adjustment of depth to maintain constant ambient light levels over a 24‐h period. The findings of this study are a significant advance toward greater understanding of the spatial dynamics of large SBT and understanding the connectivity between distant regions of their distribution.     

鲤科鱼类的流速选择及其与食性的关系

为考察食性对鲤科鱼类流速选择行为的影响,本研究选择滤食性的鲢摘要可以不放拉丁学名,请补充在正文出现第一个的位置和鳙、草食性的草鱼和中华倒刺鲃、以及杂食性的鲫和锦鲫作为实验对象;在(25 ± 1) ℃条件下将单尾实验鱼置于梯度流速选择仪（流速范围为11.86-65 .45 cm/s,等距离划分为5个流速区域）中拍摄1 h,采用Ethovision XT19软件分析视频资料并计算六种实验鱼在不同流速区域平均停留时间（Pt,%）、平均进入频次（F,次 / h）和单次进入停留时间（T,s）等流速选择行为指标。结果显示：（1）六种实验鱼的流速选择行为均呈现出两种流速偏好趋势,一类表现为偏好缓流（或静水）（最低流速区域的Pt >50%）,被定义为Ⅰ型;另一类个体Pt随水流速度的变化出现不同程度的波动,最大Pt通常出现在某一中等流速区,则定义为Ⅱ型;（2）食性对鱼类流速偏好行为有显著影响,Ⅰ型个体中滤食性鱼类对静水或缓流偏好显著大于其他两种食性的鱼类,其中鳙和鲢的Ⅰ型个体在最低端流速区域Pt大于92%;滤食性鲢和鳙的Ⅱ型个体偏好流速高于杂食性的鲫和锦鲫。草食性的草鱼和中华倒刺鲃Ⅱ型流速偏好均不明显,但其在中间速流速区域F值最大。研究表明：六种鲤科鱼类的流速偏好行为存在Ⅰ型和Ⅱ型的表型分化并且差异明显,实验鱼的流速偏好行为与食性有关。