scholarly journals No edge effect on quantity of prey captured in the forest-dwelling tetragnathid orb spider Metellina mengei

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Madeline A. Richards ◽  
Thomas Hesselberg

Abstract Among the most damaging anthropogenic effects for ecosystems is habitat fragmentation. One of its consequences is the creation of edges, which results in more exposed habitats that have different ecological and behavioural effects on the different species that live there. However, the nature and magnitude of these effects remain unknown for most of the animals and plants inhabiting these edge habitats. This study intends to determine if quantity of prey capture by a woodland population of the orb spider Metellina mengei is subjected to edge effects. By observing the prey capture of this species at edge and interior locations of a woodland, we found no significant effects of edge on the number of prey captured or the average prey length. Instead, we found that inclination of the web, but not web area or other measured web parameters, had a significant effect on prey capture. Therefore, this species of spider may be minimally affected by its location within the woodland and more affected by its surrounding microhabitat, which raises the possibility that non-specialised invertebrate predators could be less impacted by fragmentation than generally recognised.

2011 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAA Silva ◽  
AFN Pereira ◽  
ICL Barros

We have investigated how edge effects influence the fern community of Jaguarão Forest (08º 35' 49" S and 35º 15' 39" W), located in the district of Rio Formoso, Pernambuco, Brazil. A comparative analysis was made of the interior and edge of the fragment of forest, regarding the richness, abundance and diversity of ferns in the two areas. Six plots of 10 × 20 m were chosen, three in each area. A total of 381 ferns were recorded, which were distributed among 25 species, 17 genera and 12 families. The two areas (edge and interior) were found to differ, with distinct relative air humidities and temperatures (p = 0.00254 and p = 0.00019, respectively). The interior showed higher diversity (t = 7.251 and p = 0.018) and richness (t = 6.379 and p = 0.023) than the edge area, but the same abundance (t = 1.728; p = 0.226) as the edge. Regarding the composition of the flora, it was clear that the interior is a habitat completely distinct from the edge with regard to the fern community, given that only one species, Adiantum petiolatum Desv., was common to both environments. It was concluded that the edge effect causes a decrease in richness and abundance of the fern species found in Jaguarão Forest, where the more sensitive species are being replaced by species that are tolerant to the disturbance caused by the creation of an edge.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 5286
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Ke ◽  
Lei Qiu ◽  
Chunjin Wang ◽  
Zhenzhong Wang

The material removal depth in the pre-polishing stage of the precision optics is usually tens of microns to remove the subsurface damage and grinding marks left by the previous grinding process. This processing of the upstand edge takes a large part of the time at this stage. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method that can reduce the edge effect and largely shorten the processing time of the pre-polishing stage adopting the semirigid (SR) bonnet. The generation of the edge effect is presented based on the finite element analysis of the contact pressure at the edge zone firstly. Then, some experimentations on the edge effect are conducted, and the results proved that the SR bonnet tool can overhang the workpiece edge in the pre-polishing stage to reduce the width and height of the upstand edge to largely shorten the subsequent processing time of it. In addition, there exists a perfect overhang ratio, which generates the upstand edge with the smallest width and height, with no damage to the bonnet tool in the meantime. In addition, one combination of the pre-polishing parameters is concluded according to this method, which can be safely adopted in practical process.


Author(s):  
Tiancheng Cao

This paper investigates web browser extensions as an under-researched media object for their capacity for activism. “Activist extensions” disrupt a webpage’s intended use and redirect users’ attention to social issues by modifying textual, visual, or auditory elements of the web user interface. The relevance of the study stems from the ubiquity of the web browser as a communication tool and the potential of browser extensions to counter its power in shaping how web content is delivered to users. Based on the notions of transduction and affordance, the critical vocabulary of the Situationist International, and the conceptualization of platform governance through the provision of infrastructural services, this paper asks: Through what mechanism do activist extensions redirect users’ attention to social issues? What are the potential implications for users? And, how can browser platforms affect the creation and distribution of activist extensions? The study adopts a mixed-methods approach that includes discursive interface analysis of the extensions’ modification of the browser interface, critical discourse analysis of user comments on these extensions, and semi-structured interviews with extension developers. Major findings of the study include: 1) the redirection of users’ attention from the webpage to social issues is achieved through the mechanism of $2 , 2) activist extensions function as $2 that provides users with a coping mechanism against certain online rhetoric, and 3) the creation and distribution of activist extensions are conditioned by an $2 imposed by the browser platform on extension developers.


Tourism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-481
Author(s):  
Dario Bertocchi ◽  
Nicola Camatti ◽  
Jan Van der Borg

Following the precedent set by the Tourism Observatory (TO) run by the European Commission-DG GROW a few years ago, several initiatives have taken place to design and manage tourism observatories at both the transnational and local level. However, these initiatives do not yet seem able to provide adequate operational responses to the challenges that the Commission launched with the original TO. While the opportunities offered by the Web 2.0 still do not seem to have been sufficiently taken advantage of, such initiatives also have not yet developed suitable methodologies to operationally include the tourism industry in the studies and monitoring performed by the TOs. This work presents the lesion learnt from the ShapeTourism prototype including two different tools: an observatory with official and unofficial indicators, and a simulation tool to predict different scenarios and different sustainability levels, designed specifically to overcome the aforementioned limits. The prototype was tested in 2017 on the entire eligible area of ​​the 2014-2020 MED Programme covering 52 regions. The potentialities of this tool are shown through the creation on indicators, benchmarking and applications.


Author(s):  
Alireza Ebrahimi

Teaching and learning programming can be enhanced by the incorporation of visualization. A system and method that the author created, known as Visual Plan Construct Language (VPCL), incorporates programming visualization for teaching, learning programming, and problem solving. VPCL contains a Plan Library that is accessible through the Web. A user can create and establish a working space and environment on the system to examine VPCL plan library and develop one's own plan library. VPCL consists of three phases: Plan Observation, Plan Integration, and Plan Creation. The observation phase rehearses how a program is broken down into smaller components with their integration relationship. The integration phase concentrates on how two plans are related to each other in building a program. The methods of integration are known as appended, interleaved, branched, and embedded. The creation phase concentrates on how a new plan is built using the existing plans from the plan library.


Author(s):  
Juhana Harmanen ◽  
Tommi Mikkonen

Different programming languages have been designed to solve problems efficiently in different domains. The goal of polyglot programming, a technique where several languages are used in the creation of a single application, is to combine and utilize the best solutions from different programming languages and paradigms in a seamless fashion. In this paper, the authors examine polyglot programming in the context of web applications, where it has been commonly used to create compelling applications, but where there is still considerable potential to improve development in various ways.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Druckman ◽  
Martin J. Kifer ◽  
Michael Parkin

This article explores congressional campaigning on the web in 2016. What impact did the unique nature of the 2016 election have on those involved with the creation and maintenance of congressional campaign websites? Did it cause them to alter their approach to online campaigning? Using data from a survey of campaign insiders, we find that the factors that influence how congressional campaigns view and use their websites were largely impervious to the unique electoral environment. Results show that, consistent with previous election years, campaigns maintained a fairly uniform view of likely visitors and target audiences, and they tended to see their campaign websites as digital hubs, best used for capturing the campaign’s overall message. We also find that, as in other years, nonincumbents continued to use their websites to campaign more aggressively than incumbents. Overall, the results suggest that congressional campaigning on the web is primarily driven by stable factors that transcend technological advancements and shifts in the political environment.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 603 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Laurance

Research during the past decade in the wet tropics region of Queensland has yielded important insights into the responses of rainforest mammals to habitat fragmentation. These findings are synthesised by assessing key processes in fragmented landscapes, such as nonrandom deforestation patterns, edge effects, dramatic shifts in predator assemblages, and the kinetics of local extinction. Studies aimed at identifying ecological traits that affect the vulnerability of mammal populations in fragmented forests are also reviewed. Collectively, these investigations suggest that the composition and dynamics of fragment biotas are strongly influenced by edge effects and by the matrix of modified habitats surrounding fragments. Some implications of these findings for the management of fragmented landscapes are considered.


2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 217-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Mittelstedt ◽  
Wilfried Becker

There are many technical applications in the field of lightweight construction as, for example, in aerospace engineering, where stress concentration phenomena play an important role in the design of layered structural elements (so-called laminates) consisting of plies of fiber reinforced plastics or other materials. A well known stress concentration problem rich in research tradition is the so-called free-edge effect. Mainly explained by the mismatch of the elastic material properties between two adjacent dissimilar laminate layers, the free-edge effect is characterized by the concentrated occurrence of three-dimensional and singular stress fields at the free edges in the interfaces between two layers of composite laminates. In the present contribution, a survey on relevant literature from more than three decades of scientific research on free-edge effects is given. The cited references date back to 1967 and deal with approximate closed-form analyses, as well as numerical investigations by the finite element method, the finite difference method, and several other numerical techniques. The progress in research on the stress singularities which arise is also reviewed, and references on experimental investigations are cited. Related problems are also briefly addressed. The paper closes with concluding remarks and an outlook on future investigations. In all, 292 references are included.


1983 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hadjichristodoulou

SUMMARYA series of trials were conducted during 1979–82 under semi-arid conditions in a Mediterranean-type environment to study the edge effects in mechanized durum wheat and barley variety trials when uncropped pathways are left between plots. Varietal differences in edge effects on grain yield were in most trials not significant. Thus, edge effects do not distort significantly the relative ranking of varieties.Edge effects were significant for all traits studied and higher in grain and straw yields. These effects were also higher in drier seasons. The overestimation of grain yield from whole plots was 13–18% in relatively high rainfall seasons and 29% in a dry season. In two seasons the scores on the two outer rows were higher than on the two central rows by 89 and 117 % for grain yield, by 72 and 73% for straw yield, by 44 and 48% for numbers of tillers, by 6% for 1000-grain weight and by 14 and 40% for number of grains per tiller. The edge effect was not confined to the outer rows, but it extended to the inner rows of the plot; the magnitude of this effect varied with season and trait.Rows adjacent to the pathway and unprotected from wind had a lower value for all traits than the opposite rows of the pathway, which were protected by the inner rows.


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