The urbanization of wildlife management: Social science, conflict, and decision making

Increasing urbanization of rural landscapes has created new challenges for wildlife management. In addition to changes in the physical landscape, urbanization has also produced changes in the socio-cultural landscape. The greater distancing from direct interaction with wildlife in urbanized societies has led to the emergence of a culture whose meanings for wildlife are less grounded in the utilitarian/instrumental orientation of rural agrarian systems. Urban perspectives on wildlife are comprised of more highly individualized emotional/symbolic values. This shift creates two problems with respect to managing wildlife in an urbanizing landscape. First the increased diversity in values and meanings increases the likelihood for social conflicts regarding wildlife management while at the same time making socially acceptable resolutions more intractable. This in turn requires fundamental changes in decision-making paradigms and the research approaches used to inform decision making. Second, as remaining rural communities feel the pressures of urbanization, wildlife conflicts become conflicts not just over wildlife but conflict over larger socio-political concepts such as equity, tradition, private property rights, government control, power, and acceptable forms of knowledge. This paper examines the wildlife management implications of changes associated with increasing urbanization and employs two case studies to illustrate these issues. First a study of a controversy over urban deer management provides insights into how to map conflicting values and search for common ground in an urban culture with increasingly individualistic values for wildlife. Specifically, the analysis illustrates that common ground may, at times, be found even among people with conflicting value systems. The second case study examined a ranching community faced with predator reintroduction. This case study illustrates tensions that occur when the community of interest (i.e. a national public) is broader than the community of place in which the problem occurs. In this latter situation, the debate centers around more than just different views about the rights of animals. It also entailed the rights of individuals and communities to decide their future. The conclusion discusses the need for wildlife institutions to adapt their underlying decision making philosophy including the way science is integrated into decision making processes in light of the changes in social context caused by urbanization.     

Effects of weed control practices on surface-dwelling arthropod predators in tomato agroecosystems

Weed control, an important practice in agroecosystems to protect crop production, is usually achieved with herbicides. However, these pesticides are expensive, pose potential risks to the environment, may affect some beneficial organisms indirectly, and decrease overall arthropod biodiversity, including pests and their natural enemies, by removing weeds that might act as hosts or shelters for many organisms. The activity density response of important surface-dwelling arthropod predators (ground beetles [Coleoptera: Carabidae], ants [Hymenoptera: Formicidae] and spiders [Arachnida: Araneae]) to herbicides (trifluralin and paraquat), and to two alternative weed management practices (rye straw mulch and mechanical treatment to maintain weeds below threshold levels, in comparison with an untreated check), was assessed using pitfall traps. The mulch treatment had the greatest effect on activity density, reducing the number of predators trapped significantly (P<0.05). Herbicide use resulted in significant (P<0.05) reductions in the activity density of ground beetles. Most predators were trapped in the check plots — which had the highest weed biomass, followed in turn by numbers trapped in the threshold weed control treatment, the full herbicide application and the mulch treatment plots. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting July 10, 2002.     

机柜式微型机房在银行营业网点的应用研究

为了简化和规范银行网点设备间的建设,建议引入机柜式微型机房中心,使用含精密空调的一体式机柜,把所有设备均安放在机柜里,成为一个微型机房,实现了绿色节能。     

Effect of Conditioning Zinc Sulfate Heptahydrate (ZnSHH) with Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Neem Oil on Growth,Productivity, Zinc Biofortification of Grain and Zinc Uptake by Basmati Rice

Commercial grade zinc (Zn) sulfate hepta hydrate (ZnSHH) is the most widely used source of Zn in India and several other countries for amelioration of Zn deficiency in crops. However, it releases water of hydration at temperature above 30°C and forms lumps on storage, which make it difficult to handle it and apply in fields. Therefore, conditioning of ZnSHH with ZnO and neem oil reduces the release of water of hydration and prevents lumps formation and can be well stored. Field experiments were conducted at the research farm of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India during rice growing seasons (July-November) of 2009 and 2010 to study the effect of conditioning ZnSHH with ZnO and neem oil on growth, productivity and Zn fortification of rice (Oryza sativa) grain and uptake by Basmati rice ‘Pusa 1121’. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with 3 replications comprised of 9 treatments of Zn fertilization. The present study shows that when conditioned with 2% ZnO and 4% neem oil ZnSHH improved yield attributes, grain and straw yields, Zn uptake and partial factor productivity (PFP), agronomic efficiency (AE), recovery efficiency (RE), and physiological efficiency (PE) of Zn in Basmati rice ‘Pusa 1121’. In general, ZnO was inferior to ZnSHH. Application of ZnSHH conditioned with 2% ZnO and 4% neem oil can be a better source of Zn for transplanted puddled Basmati rice on Zn deficient soils.     

Antipredator behaviour of naïve Arctic charr young in the presence of predator odours and conspecific alarm cues

Abstract –  We investigated how Arctic charr young respond behaviourally to olfactory cues from skin-damaged conspecifics, charr-fed pikeperch, and the combination of food-deprived pikeperch and skin-damaged conspecific cues in a two-channel Y-maze fluviarium test arena. Significant antipredator responses were found to skin-damaged conspecifics in three behavioural traits, to charr-fed pikeperch in two traits and to the combination of pikeperch and skin-damaged conspecific cues in all six behaviours investigated. The combination of predator and conspecific cues significantly increased spatial avoidance and cautiousness to approach the source of scent compared with odours from charr-fed predators. The results suggest that damage-released alarm cues exist in charr, and they strengthen the antipredator responses in conspecifics. As the charr used different behaviours and levels of response in the presence of different cues, they seem to have sophisticated skills to distinguish between different odour combinations and be able to adjust their behaviour according to the current predation risk level.     

办公建筑中空调形式对室内外PM2.5浓度相关性的影响

室外PM2.5可通过新风及围护结构缝隙渗透至室内,室外PM2.5较高时尤为明显,结果导致室内空气中的PM2.5浓度上升。为了研究空调形式对室内外PM2.5浓度相关性的影响,在2015年夏季对重庆某办公建筑中采用不同空调形式的室内外PM2.5浓度进行了实测。实测结果发现：集中式空调、分体式空调和非空调房间室内外PM2.5浓度比变化范围分别为0.59～0.76、0.47～0.76、0.71～0.91。室内外PM2.5浓度相关性系数的排序为：集中式空调环境（0.94）> 非空调环境（0.92）> 分体式空调环境（0.77）,研究结果表明,办公建筑的空调形式,对室内外PM2.5浓度的相关性有影响。     

Do lethal trap devices threaten foot-hold trap capture efficacy?

Foot-hold trapping is an important tool used in pest management programs in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and in North America. Research on humane trapping methods including the addition of sedatives (Tranquilizer Trap Device) and toxins (Lethal Trap Device) to foot-hold traps to improve the welfare of trapped pest animals is important. Lethal Trap Devices (LTD) are being tested in Australia to determine if deploying a toxin with a foot-hold trap is effective at delivering a lethal dose of toxin to trapped predators. This study aimed to test whether fitting an LTD to two different foot-hold jaw traps (Victor Soft catch #3 and Bridger #5) would affect the jaw closure time and as such affect capture rates. We found that two spring Victor Soft catch traps were faster (20.91, SD 0.72 ms) than four spring Bridger #5 traps (26.79, SD 0.48 ms) even when fitted with a Lethal Trap Device. Fitting a Lethal Trap Device to either of these trap models did not affect closure time and as such would not have any effect on capture efficacy.     

鱼蟹稻田飞虫捕食装置风光互补供能系统的研究

针对鱼蟹稻田飞虫捕食装置的离网型户外供能需求的问题,着重研究该装置的供能系统方案。基于户外供能合理性要求,采用小型风力发电机和太阳能电池板自主互补发电来进行能源供应;对小型风力发电机和太阳能电池板分别进行Matlab/Simulink建模,着重对叶轮的风能利用系数、叶尖速比和桨距角的相关性进行量化分析,利用单因素分析法对太阳能电池板进行分析;在桨距角确定的条件下,适当取值叶尖速比,能够获得最大风能利用系数。同时,在不同温度和辐射的条件下,太阳能电池板能够取得功率曲线的峰值,为风光互补的最大功率获取提供理论上的支持。针对离网型风光互补系统能源的合理化利用,提出混合供能的能量管理策略,符合该装置的供能需求,对户外同类型装置供能设计提供一定的参考。