scholarly journals Continental‐scale shifts in termite diversity and nesting and feeding strategies

Ecography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baptiste J. Wijas ◽  
Shevaun Lim ◽  
William K. Cornwell
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Continental Scale

scholarly journals Dietary versatility of Early Pleistocene hominins

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (52) ◽  
pp. 13330-13335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Lüdecke ◽  
Ottmar Kullmer ◽  
Ulrike Wacker ◽  
Oliver Sandrock ◽  
Jens Fiebig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Fraction ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Rift System ◽  
East African Rift System ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Wide Range

New geochemical data from the Malawi Rift (Chiwondo Beds, Karonga Basin) fill a major spatial gap in our knowledge of hominin adaptations on a continental scale. Oxygen (δ18O), carbon (δ13C), and clumped (Δ47) isotope data on paleosols, hominins, and selected fauna elucidate an unexpected diversity in the Pleistocene hominin diet in the various habitats of the East African Rift System (EARS). Food sources of early Homo and Paranthropus thriving in relatively cool and wet wooded savanna ecosystems along the western shore of paleolake Malawi contained a large fraction of C3 plant material. Complementary water consumption reconstructions suggest that ca. 2.4 Ma, early Homo (Homo rudolfensis) and Paranthropus (Paranthropus boisei) remained rather stationary near freshwater sources along the lake margins. Time-equivalent Paranthropus aethiopicus from the Eastern Rift further north in the EARS consumed a higher fraction of C4 resources, an adaptation that grew more pronounced with increasing openness of the savanna setting after 2 Ma, while Homo maintained a high versatility. However, southern African Paranthropus robustus had, similar to the Malawi Rift individuals, C3-dominated feeding strategies throughout the Early Pleistocene. Collectively, the stable isotope and faunal data presented here document that early Homo and Paranthropus were dietary opportunists and able to cope with a wide range of paleohabitats, which clearly demonstrates their high behavioral flexibility in the African Early Pleistocene.

Profitability of dairy farming in relation to the type of feeding system

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Frelich ◽  
Martin Šlachta ◽  
František Střeleček ◽  
Jana Lososová
Keyword(s):  
Arable Land ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Feeding System ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Profit Rate ◽  
Permanent Housing ◽  
Cow Performance

Profitability of dairy farming in relation to the type of feeding systemWe investigated the profitability of dairy farms in relation to the type of feeding system (seasonal pasture vs. permanent housing). An economic analysis was carried out of data on the structure and financial health of 50 farms in 2007 using questionnaires filled in by the farmers. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to reveal causal relationships between a number of characteristics of the farms. The two axis of PCA explained 40.48% and 16.13% of the variability among the selected farm characteristics. Profitability related more to the number of subsidies, the area of arable land, the number of livestock and to the milk and plant production than to the area of meadows and pastures. Although a better cow performance was achieved on farms with confined herds, the profit per agricultural area and profit rate did not differ significantly between the two feeding strategies (P>0.05). The profit was 3,259 and 3,655 CZK/ha on average and the profit rate 7.9% and 5.6% on average on farms with pastured herds and on farms with confined herds, respectively. A lowering of input costs and a more effective utilisation of grasslands may further enhance profitability.

The Determinants of Entrepreneurship Development in Spatial Systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 8-24
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Zioło
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Institutional Barriers ◽  
Entrepreneurship Development ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Spatial Systems ◽  
Business Conditions ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Growth Shape ◽  
Strategic Goal

The processes of technological  progress create new opportunities for economic, social and cultural growth, shape new relations between economic  entities and their environment,  and influence changes in the determinants  of entrepreneurship development.  These processes vary significantly in certain geographic locations, characterised by an enormous  diversity of natural, social, economic and cultural structures. As a consequence, this creates different opportunities  and different conditions for the development of entrepreneurship in certain spatial scales, from the continental scale, through national and regional to local scales. The article presents complex conditions  for the development of entrepreneurship, highlights its limitations resulting from institutional  barriers, and the importance of knowing the mechanisms of mutual relations between spatial systems and the influence of control instruments. The quality of central and local government authorities is of particular significance here, which do not always properly use the mechanisms of rational business support. A serious barrier to the development of entrepreneurship is the low quality of social capital, manifested in a lack of trust in institutional authorities and reluctance to engage in entrepreneurship and business development. The conclusions point out that further research should be developed that will take into account changing business conditions, with a defined strategic goal of raising the quality and standard of living, international competitiveness of the country and products in different market categories.

Feeding strategies for managing heat load in feedlot cattle

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (9) ◽  
pp. 2373 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Mader ◽  
S. M. Holt ◽  
G. L. Hahn ◽  
M. S. Davis ◽  
D. E. Spiers
Keyword(s):  
Heat Load ◽  
Feedlot Cattle ◽  
Feeding Strategies

Minimising waste through bioenergetically and behaviourally based feeding strategies

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Thorpe ◽  
C. Young Cho
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Evolutionary Features ◽  
Feeding Regimes ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Genetically Determined

Most species in aquaculture are new to cultivation and so behave like wild animals. They are products of evolution, with adaptations to specific habitat conditions. In the wild, food is not available uniformly throughout the day or the year, or in space, and rarely exceeds the fishes needs. Competition is energetically expensive, reducing growth efficiency. Consequently, feeding activity patterns have evolved, implying internal appetite rhythms, which optimise food intake under these various constraints. Salmonids can adapt quickly to short term variation in food availability, but show seasonal genetically determined anorexia. Rational feeding regimes in culture should take all such features into account. When appetite is high naturally, food should be presented so that it is economically indefensible - where every individual can eat, and where fighting does not pay. At periods of anorexia it will be prudent to offer no food. Manufacturers' feed tables are usually regimes devised to meet the bioenergetic needs of fishes, as they are understood in a physico-chemical sense. While useful first approximations, they do not take into account these evolutionary features of the fishes, and can lead to waste. Methods of presentation are described which allow the fish to determine when food shall be available, and in ways which, by diminishing the advantages of social dominance, ensure relatively even opportunities to feed for all individuals in the population. Allowing the fish to set the time-table reduces the likelihood of waste.

scholarly journals Measuring compound flood potential from river discharge and storm surge extremes at the global scale

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anaïs Couasnon ◽  
Dirk Eilander ◽  
Sanne Muis ◽  
Ted I. E. Veldkamp ◽  
Ivan D. Haigh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Storm Surge ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Joint Probability ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Statistical Dependence ◽  
Dependence Structure ◽  
Meteorological Forcing ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Bivariate Dependence

Abstract. The interaction between physical drivers from oceanographic, hydrological, and meteorological processes in coastal areas can result in compound flooding. Compound flood events, like Cyclone Idai and Hurricane Harvey, have revealed the devastating consequences of the co-occurrence of coastal and river floods. A number of studies have recently investigated the likelihood of compound flooding at the continental scale based on simulated variables of flood drivers, such as storm surge, precipitation, and river discharges. At the global scale, this has only been performed based on observations, thereby excluding a large extent of the global coastline. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap and identify regions with a high compound flooding potential from river discharge and storm surge extremes in river mouths globally. To do so, we use daily time series of river discharge and storm surge from state-of-the-art global models driven with consistent meteorological forcing from reanalysis datasets. We measure the compound flood potential by analysing both variables with respect to their timing, joint statistical dependence, and joint return period. Our analysis indicates many regions that deviate from statistical independence and could not be identified in previous global studies based on observations alone, such as Madagascar, northern Morocco, Vietnam, and Taiwan. We report possible causal mechanisms for the observed spatial patterns based on existing literature. Finally, we provide preliminary insights on the implications of the bivariate dependence behaviour on the flood hazard characterisation using Madagascar as a case study. Our global and local analyses show that the dependence structure between flood drivers can be complex and can significantly impact the joint probability of discharge and storm surge extremes. These emphasise the need to refine global flood risk assessments and emergency planning to account for these potential interactions.

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