scholarly journals On the Need to Differentiate the Temporal Trajectories of Ecosystem Structure and Functions in Restoration Programs

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 194008292091031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Ferraz ◽  
Pedro H. S. Brancalion ◽  
Joannès Guillemot ◽  
Paula Meli
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Ecosystem Restoration ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Land Planning ◽  
Planning Decision ◽  
Structure And Functions

Potential time lags between human-mediated disturbances and the subsequent responses of ecosystems are critical for planning and implementing conservation and restoration actions. In this context, decoupling between the temporal trajectories of ecosystems structure and functions is particularly critical. Here, we stand out the need to differentiate the temporal trajectories of ecosystem structure and functions to be considered in ecological restoration programs. In cases when ecosystem functions persist after the degradation of the ecosystem structure, and when functions do not recover at the same rate as structure, some kind of ecosystem functioning credits or debts can occur. In other situations, an ongoing loss of the ecosystem function can occur even in the absence of further disturbance. Ecosystem restoration outcomes could be optimized in regions with ecosystem functioning credit, since mitigating the decline in functioning will be more efficient than recovering functions in highly degraded conditions. Ecological restoration programs should not only focus on structure-derived indicators but they should also consider the dynamics of ecosystem functions to guide land-planning decision-making.

scholarly journals Ecological restoration of habitats invaded by Leucanthemum vulgare that alters key ecosystem functions

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0246665
Author(s):  
Mohd Asgar Khan ◽  
Khursheed Hussain ◽  
Manzoor A. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Lower Altitude ◽  
Herbicide Treatment ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Restoration Strategies ◽  
Precise Assessment ◽  
Structure And Functions

Precise assessment of the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) on ecosystem structure and functions is paramount for implementing appropriate management and restoration strategies. Here we investigated the impacts of Leucanthemum vulgare (ox-eye daisy), an aggressive invader in Kashmir Himalaya, on species diversity and primary productivity. We also evaluated bunch of strategies for the ecological restoration of the habitats invaded by this species. We found that uninvaded plots harbored on an average of 6.11 (±2.92) more species per 1m2 of quadrat than invaded plots. At multivariate scale, the ordination (nMDS) and ANOSIM exhibited significant differences between invaded and uninvaded plots with R = 0.7889 and p < 0.001. The decrease in diversity indices in invaded as compared to uninvaded plots was associated with more productive plant communities due to Leucanthemum invasion. Higher altitude Gulmarg site was more affected by Leucanthemum invasion than lower altitude Drung site. We tested different approaches for restoration and management of invaded habitats that include herbicide treatment at seedling stage, herbicide treatment before and after flowering stage, mowing and herbicide treatment together, joint mowing, digging and herbicide treatment and Leucanthemum uprooting. Among these treatments, uprooting and combined digging, mowing and herbicide treatment proved to be most effective in controlling Leucanthemum invasion. The implications of these results for effective management of ecologically sensitive and socio-culturally important landscapes are discussed.

scholarly journals Women’s empowerment for abortion and family planning decision making among marginalized women in Nepal: a mixed method study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heera KC ◽  
Mangala Shrestha ◽  
Nirmala Pokharel ◽  
Surya Raj Niraula ◽  
Prajjwal Pyakurel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Modern Contraceptives ◽  
Marginalized Women ◽  
Planning Decision

Abstract Background Women’s empowerment is multidimensional. Women’s education, employment, income, reproductive healthcare decision making, household level decision making and social status are vital for women’s empowerment. Nepal is committed to achieving women empowerment and gender equality, which directly affects the reproductive health issues. This can be achieved by addressing the issues of the poor and marginalized communities. In this context, we aimed to find the association of women’s empowerment with abortion and family planning decision making among marginalized women in Nepal. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted at selected municipalities of Morang district of Nepal from February 2017 to March 2018. A mixed method approach was used, where 316 married marginalized women of reproductive age (15–49 years) and 15 key informant interviews from representative healthcare providers and local leaders were taken. From key informants, data were analysed using the thematic framework method. Findings obtained from two separate analyses were drawn together and meta inferences were made. Results Women’s empowerment was above average, at 50.6%. Current use of modern contraceptives were more among below average empowerment groups (p 0.041, OR 0.593 C.I. 0.36–0.98). We could not find any statistically significant differences among levels of women’s empowerment, including those women with abortion knowledge (p 0.549); family planning knowledge (p 0.495) and women’s decision for future use of modern contraceptives (p 0.977). Most key informants reported that unsafe abortion was practiced. Conclusions Women’s empowerment has no direct role for family planning and abortion decision making at marginalized communities of Morang district of Nepal. However, different governmental and non-governmental organizations influence woman for seeking health care services and family planning in rural community of Nepal irrespective of empowerment status.

scholarly journals Concordance, communication, and shared decision-making about family planning among couples in Nepal: A qualitative and quantitative investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-376
Author(s):  
Carol R. Underwood ◽  
Lauren I. Dayton ◽  
Zoé Mistrale Hendrickson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Partner Communication ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Couple Communication ◽  
Spousal Concordance ◽  
Planning Decision

Couple communication and joint decision-making are widely recommended in the family planning and reproductive health literature as vital aspects of fertility management. Yet, most studies continue to rely on women’s reports to measure couple concordance. Moreover, the association between communication and decision-making is often assumed and very rarely studied. Arguably, associations between dyadic communication and shared decision-making constitute a missing link in our understanding of how communication affects fertility-related practices. Informed by Carey’s notions of transmission and ritual communication, this study sought to address those gaps with two complementary studies in Nepal: a qualitative study of married men and women and a quantitative study of 737 couples. To assess spousal concordance on matters of family planning-related communication and decision-making in the quantitative study, responses from the couple were compared for each question of interest and matched responses were classified as concordant. Quantitative results found that more than one-third of couples reported spousal communication on all measured family planning-related topics. Nearly, 87% of couples reported joint decision-making on both family planning use and method type. Partner communication was significantly and positively associated with concordant family planning decision-making in both bivariate and multivariate models. Couples communicating about three family planning topics had more than twice the odds of concordant family planning decision-making than did those not reporting such communication. The qualitative findings provided insights into discordant as well as concordant interactions, revealing that decision-making, even when concordant, is not necessarily linear and is often complex.

scholarly journals Management Accounting Information in Vietnamese Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Thi Tu Oanh Le ◽  
Thi Ngoc Bui ◽  
Manh Dung Tran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Management Accountants ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Planning Decision

The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam play an increasingly important role in the economy by the amount (representing 97.7% of Vietnam firms), contribute economic development and create more employment opportunities. However, because of economic crisis, financial downturn, unhealthy competitions, free trade agreements and others, the number of SMEs recently is downsizing in firm size, human resources and more and more SMEs go bankruptcy in the context of Vietnam. This situation may be due to the enterprise use ineffective management accounting tools.This article reviews and assesses the creation and use of management accounting information which has an important part to play with respect to planning, decision-making, monitoring and controlling of the activities of SMEs in Vietnam. Data collected from a posted survey of five enterprises with twenty two interviews of directors, chief accountants and management accountants. The results show that management accounting information has not really been interested from managers and accountants. Management accounting information is weak in quantity and poor in quality; administrators are operating firms primarily based on personal experiences. Therefore, management accounting information has not been promoted in the management, monitoring and decision making of SMEs in Vietnam. The addition of management accounting knowledge for managers and accountants is necessary for development of SMEs.

scholarly journals Plant traits are poor predictors of long-term ecosystem functioning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fons van der Plas ◽  
Thomas Schröder-Georgi ◽  
Alexandra Weigelt ◽  
Kathryn Barry ◽  
Sebastian Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Average Percentage ◽  
Functional Consequences ◽  
Small Set

ABSTRACTEarth is home to over 350,000 vascular plant species1 that differ in their traits in innumerable ways. Yet, a handful of functional traits can help explaining major differences among species in photosynthetic rate, growth rate, reproductive output and other aspects of plant performance2–6. A key challenge, coined “the Holy Grail” in ecology, is to upscale this understanding in order to predict how natural or anthropogenically driven changes in the identity and diversity of co-occurring plant species drive the functioning of ecosystems7, 8. Here, we analyze the extent to which 42 different ecosystem functions can be predicted by 41 plant traits in 78 experimentally manipulated grassland plots over 10 years. Despite the unprecedented number of traits analyzed, the average percentage of variation in ecosystem functioning that they jointly explained was only moderate (32.6%) within individual years, and even much lower (12.7%) across years. Most other studies linking ecosystem functioning to plant traits analyzed no more than six traits, and when including either only six random or the six most frequently studied traits in our analysis, the average percentage of explained variation in across-year ecosystem functioning dropped to 4.8%. Furthermore, different ecosystem functions were driven by different traits, with on average only 12.2% overlap in significant predictors. Thus, we did not find evidence for the existence of a small set of key traits able to explain variation in multiple ecosystem functions across years. Our results therefore suggest that there are strong limits in the extent to which we can predict the long-term functional consequences of the ongoing, rapid changes in the composition and diversity of plant communities that humanity is currently facing.

scholarly journals Bridging fisheries management and biodiversity conservation norms: potential and challenges of balancing harvest in ecosystem-based frameworks

2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1659-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Garcia ◽  
J. Rice ◽  
A. Charles
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Population Level ◽  
System Level ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Management Decision Making

Abstract Balanced harvesting has been proposed as a way for fisheries management to achieve the requirements of both the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC)—to maintain stocks at the level at which they could produce MSY—and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning. This paper examines these requirements and briefly presents four system-level relationships (spectra), representing ecosystem structures that might guide management decision-making aiming to meet both requirements. These spectra would fit in the widely accepted frameworks of the Ecosystem Approach enshrined in the CBD and adopted by FAO for Fisheries. A size spectrum, relating biomass to body length, is used as an example to illustrate its potential to support management decision-making—much like present stock-based harvest control rules—in more ecosystem-compliant fishing strategies at a sector or ecosystem level, as a complement to those currently used at a stock/population level.

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