Diversity of Flower Visiting Insects in Dry Grasslands and Vineyards Close to the City of Vienna with Special Focus on Wild Bees.

Sociobiology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 603
Author(s):  
Leonid Rasran ◽  
Alexander Diener ◽  
Baerbel Pachinger ◽  
Karl-Georg Bernhardt

Interactions between flower visiting insects and nectar resp. pollen producing plants belong to the most relevant in terrestrial ecosystems. Their diversity and dominance relationship are important indicators for the stability and functionality of ecosystems and belong to the high ranking ecosystem services. Potential pollinators should be strongly concerned especially regarding anthropogenic impacts on habitats. We studied the diversity and quantities of flower visiting insects with special focus on wild bees (Apiformes) in two locations near the city of Vienna (Austria). Insect sampling occurred in May until July 2015 every two weeks parallel to the vegetation surveys incl. records of the cover of flowering plants. In each location patches of semi-natural grassland as well as flowering strips within vineyards were investigated. We found a significant correlation between the number of insects or insect taxa (especially for Hymenoptera) and the current flower cover. In some cases flowering strips in vineyards harbor higher numbers of insects and higher diversity of bee species than the semi-natural grassland due to temporarily higher values of flower cover. However, grassland patches provide a much more constant supply with nectar producing plants replacing each other in their flowering phase during the season. In contrast, flowering strips are often dominated by one or a few short-lived sown plants, which is of advantage for some oligolectic bees specialized on Brassicaceae or Fabaceae. Flowering strips within organically farmed vineyards are more similar to semi-natural grassland regarding the diversity of flower visiting insects than to conventional farmed vineyards.

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela M. Hofmann ◽  
Susanne S. Renner

To combat the loss of flower-rich meadows, many cities are supporting greening measures, including the creation of flower strips. To assess the effectiveness of these measures in supporting flower-visiting insects, their faunas need to be compared to the background fauna at various distances from the flower strips. To meet this goal, we quantified the bee faunas of nine 1000 m2-large and newly established flower strips in the city of Munich, all planted with a regional seed mix, and compared them to the fauna recorded between 1997 and 2017 within 500, 1000, and 1500 m from the respective strip. The 68 species recorded during the flower strips’ first season represent 21% of the 324 species recorded for Munich since 1795 and 29% of the 232 species recorded between 1997 and 2017. Non-threatened species are statistically over-represented in the strips, but pollen generalists are not. These findings illustrate the conservation value of urban flower strips for common species that apparently quickly discover this food source. To our knowledge, this is the first quantitative assessment of the speed and distance over which urban flower strips attract wild bees.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-55
Author(s):  
Natalia Christofoletti Barrenha
Keyword(s):  
The Face ◽  

This text seeks to explore the Argentine films Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) and El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) from within the displacement of their characters through the city. This transit configures the organising element of the plots, determining the direction and rhythm of events. The escape motto will structure the film analyses, which are also twinned by the sensory apprehension that comes from the spaces they travel through. The notion of escape, as explored by Esteban Dipaola in Argentine cinema of the 1990s, continues to throb in mid-to-late 2000s production, and in these films represents the means by which the protagonists deploy critical attitudes—sometimes radical and explosive, sometimes silent—in the face of fixed notions, suggesting some scepticism about the “stability” and “order” that they (dis)encounter in normality. RESUMEN Este texto busca explorar los largometrajes argentinos Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) y El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) a partir del desplazamiento de sus personajes por la ciudad. El transitar se configura como elemento organizador de las tramas, determinando la dirección y el ritmo de los acontecimientos. El tema de la fuga irá estructurando los análisis de las películas, las cuales también están relacionadas por la aprehensión sensorial que hacen de los espacios que recorren. La noción de fuga, tal y como fue explorada por Esteban Dipaola en el cine argentino de los años 90, continúa vigente en la producción de mediados/fines de la primera década del siglo XXI, y en estas películas es el recurso por medio del cual los protagonistas despliegan actitudes críticas – a veces radicales y explosivas, y a veces silenciosas – frente a nociones convencionales, lo cual hace pensar que existe un cierto escepticismo con relación a la “estabilidad” y al “orden” que ellos (des)encuentran en la normalidad. RESUMO Este texto busca explorar os longas-metragens argentinos Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) e El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) a partir do deslocamento de seus personagens pela cidade. O transitar configura-se como elemento organizador das tramas, determinando a direção e o ritmo dos acontecimentos. O mote da fuga estruturará as análises dos filmes, os quais também se irmanam pela apreensão sensorial que fazem dos espaços que percorrem. A noção de fuga, conforme explorada por Esteban Dipaola no cinema argentino da década de 1990, continua a pulsar na produção de meados/fins dos anos 2000, e é, nestes filmes, o recurso através do qual os protagonistas desdobram atitudes críticas – às vezes radicais e explosivas, às vezes silenciosas – diante de noções fixas, sugerindo certo ceticismo em relação à “estabilidade” e à “ordem” que eles (des)encontram na normalidade.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2098
Author(s):  
Heyi Wei ◽  
Wenhua Jiang ◽  
Xuejun Liu ◽  
Bo Huang

Knowledge of the sunshine requirements of landscape plants is important information for the adaptive selection and configuration of plants for urban greening, and is also a basic attribute of plant databases. In the existing studies, the light compensation point (LCP) and light saturation point (LSP) have been commonly used to indicate the shade tolerance for a specific plant; however, these values are difficult to adopt in practice because the landscape architect does not always know what range of solar radiation is the best for maintaining plant health, i.e., normal growth and reproduction. In this paper, to bridge the gap, we present a novel digital framework to predict the sunshine requirements of landscape plants. First, the research introduces the proposed framework, which is composed of a black-box model, solar radiation simulation, and a health standard system for plants. Then, the data fitting between solar radiation and plant growth response is used to obtain the value of solar radiation at different health levels. Finally, we adopt the LI-6400XT Portable Photosynthetic System (Li-Cor Inc., Lincoln, NE, USA) to verify the stability and accuracy of the digital framework through 15 landscape plant species of a residential area in the city of Wuhan, China, and also compared and analyzed the results of other researchers on the same plant species. The results show that the digital framework can robustly obtain the values of the healthy, sub-healthy, and unhealthy levels for the 15 landscape plant species. The purpose of this study is to provide an efficient forecasting tool for large-scale surveys of plant sunshine requirements. The proposed framework will be beneficial for the adaptive selection and configuration of urban plants and will facilitate the construction of landscape plant databases in future studies.


Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne S. Renner ◽  
Marie Sophie Graf ◽  
Zoe Hentschel ◽  
Helen Krause ◽  
Andreas Fleischmann

AbstractThe increase in managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) in many European cities has unknown effects on the densities of wild bees through competition. To investigate this, we monitored honeybees and non-honeybees from 01 April to 31 July 2019 and 2020 at 29 species of plants representing diverse taxonomic and floral-functional types in a large urban garden in the city of Munich in which the same plant species were cultivated in both years. No bee hives were present in the focal garden, and all bee hives in the adjacent area were closely monitored by interviewing the relevant bee keepers in both 2019 and 2020. Honeybee numbers were similar in April of both years, but increased from May to July 2020 compared to 2019. The higher densities correlated with a significant increase in shifts from wild bee to honeybee visits in May/June/July, while visitor spectra in April 2019 and 2020 remained the same. Most of the species that experienced a shift to honeybee visits in 2020 were visited mostly or exclusively for their nectar. There were no shifts towards increased wild bee visits in any species. These results from a flower-rich garden have implications for the discussion of whether urban bee keeping might negatively impact wild bees. We found clear support that high honeybee densities result in exploitative competition at numerous types of flowers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Eskola ◽  
V. Peuraniemi

AbstractLake sediments were studied from four lakes in environmentally different areas in northern Finland. Lakes Pyykösjärvi and Kuivasjärvi are situated near roads with heavy traffic and the city of Oulu. Lakes Martinlampi and Umpilampi are small lakes in a forest area with no immediate human impact nearby. The concentration of Pb increases in the upper parts of the sedimentary columns of Lake Kuivasjärvi and Lake Pyykösjärvi. This is interpreted as being an anthropogenic effect related to heavy traffic in the area and use of Lake Pyykösjärvi as an airport during World War II. High Ni and Zn concentrations in the Lake Umpilampi sediments are caused by weathered black schists. Sediments in Lake Martinlampi show high Pb and Zn contents with increasing Pb concentrations up through the sedimentary column. The sources of these elements are probably Pb-Zn mineralization in the bedrock, Pb-Zn-rich boulders and anomalous Pb and Zn contents in till in the catchment area of the lake.


2022 ◽  
Vol 323 ◽  
pp. 107685
Author(s):  
Alina Twerski ◽  
Harald Albrecht ◽  
Jochen Fründ ◽  
Michaela Moosner ◽  
Christina Fischer

2019 ◽  
Vol 254 ◽  
pp. 03007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Sakhno ◽  
Juraj Gerlici ◽  
Viktor Poliakov ◽  
Alexandr Kravchenko ◽  
Oleg Omelnitcky ◽  
...  

The peculiarities of organization and perspectives of mass passenger transportation in the city and beyond are considered with the use of "Bus Rapid Transport" (BRT) or Metrobus. Different aspects of study of motor vehicles (MV) controllability and stability are analyzed. It is substantiated that it is sufficient to consider the potential stability of the MV itself, in order to guarantee the stability of the "driver MV" system with a large reserve. A mathematical model of a three-axle bus train consisting of a bus and two trains (metrobus) is developed and the factors influencing the critical speed as the main index of the stability of its movement are determined. It is established that the increase of the critical speed of the metrobus can be achieved by increasing the base of the bus, the first and the second trailer, as well as the mass of the bus and the coefficients of resistance of the drive wheels of the bus driving axle and the trailers axles. At the same time, increasing the distance from the mass center to the bus rear axle, increasing the distance from the mass center to the point of the coupling of the bus with the first trailer, increasing the mass of trailers and the resistance of the resistance of the wheel drive of the bus axis lead to a decrease in the critical speed of the metrobus. This must be taken into account both when designing metrobuses, and when operating them.


2020 ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Rekha Pande

This chapter looks at some of the issues of old women in India with a special focus on widows in the city of Vrindavan. In India, social mores inhibit women from re-marrying, resulting in an increased likelihood of women ending up alone. In many conservative Indian Hindu families, widows are shunned because they're seen as bringing bad luck. Most of these widows find refuge in Vrindavan. The data for this study was collected through interviews with 50 widows and two group discussions in the six homes (ashrams) for the widows. Data was collected pertaining to their age, literacy, socio-economic background, marriage, life after marriage, work, experiences of widowhood, and their stay in Vrindavan. The chapter concludes by stating that very little information is available on these widows. There is a need for better data collection and research on the inheritance practices, socio-economic and cultural status of widows, as widows are left out of many schemes and policies of the government. These widows need to be treated as human beings and brought to the mainstream of the women's movement.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-282
Author(s):  
Kunal Mukherjee

The article looks at the different facets of the on-going conflict in the Indian Northeast. After some background information, the article looks at the current political situation. There is a special focus on the voices of students. In the Indian Northeast, students have been actively involved in the insurgency and protest movements. Thus, the primary data for the purposes of this article was collected from students of Northeastern origin in the city of Kolkata. Although Kolkata is not in north-eastern India, it is seen as the gateway to the Indian Northeast and the nearest large city in the region, where people of Northeastern descent often come for their education and employment. The article also argues that out of all the Northeastern states, Manipur is currently the most troubled one. Finally, at the end of the article methods of peace building have been suggested as the way forward.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 3733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maning Liu ◽  
Anastasia Matuhina ◽  
Haichang Zhang ◽  
Paola Vivo

Colloidal halide perovskite nanocrystals are promising candidates for next-generation optoelectronics because of their facile synthesis and their outstanding and size-tunable properties. However, these materials suffer from rapid degradation, similarly to their bulk perovskite counterparts. Here, we survey the most recent strategies to boost perovskite nanocrystals stability, with a special focus on the intrinsic chemical- and compositional-factors at synthetic and post-synthetic stage. Finally, we review the most promising approaches to address the environmental extrinsic stability of perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs). Our final goal is to outline the most promising research directions to enhance PNCs’ lifetime, bringing them a step closer to their commercialization.


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