scholarly journals Small mammals of a forest reserve and adjacent stands of the Kelečská pahorkatina Upland (Czech Republic) and their effect on forest dynamics

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 50-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Suchomel ◽  
J. Urban

The community of small terrestrial mammals (STM) was studied on seven experimental plots characterizing forest stands in various stages of succession development and with different level of management from plantings through production/commercial stands to a forest reserve. Increased attention was paid to dominant species and their effects on the dynamics of the forest reserve. In total, eight species of STM were detected with the highest dominance and abundance of Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus. The total relative abundance of STM was significantly highest in plantings (P < 0.05). A. flavicollis was significantly most abundant in production beech stands (P < 0.05), differences in the abundance among the other STM species being insignificant. The highest diversity was also determined in plantings (P < 0.05) as typical ecotone sites. Different natural conditions of open and high forest sites were also reflected in different weight of specimens of dominant species of STM from these biotopes. In A. flavicollis, the difference was highly significant (P < 0.01) and in M. glareolus significant (P < 0.05). Both species significantly affected the forest reserve dynamics through the consumption of forest seeds, particularly of beechnuts (100% consumption of the 2007 crop). However, according to the proportion of natural regeneration from previous years, the reserve proved resistance to the impact of rodents caused by the consumption of seeds in a long-term horizon.

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 21547-21565 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. R. French ◽  
F. J. Mulligan

Abstract. Temperature profiles from two satellite instruments – TIMED/SABER and Aura/MLS – have been used to calculate hydroxyl-layer equivalent temperatures for comparison with values measured from OH(6-2) emission lines observed by a ground-based spectrometer located at Davis Station, Antarctica (68° S, 78° E). The profile selection criteria – <500 km from the ground station and solar zenith angles >97° – yielded a total of 2359 SABER profiles over 8 years (2002–2009) and 7407 MLS profiles over 5.5 years (2004–2009). The availability of simultaneous OH volume emission rate (VER) profiles from the SABER (OH-B channel) enabled an assessment of the impact of several different weighting functions in the calculation of OH-equivalent temperatures. The maximum difference between all derived hydroxyl layer equivalent temperatures was less than 3 K. Restricting the miss-distance and miss-time criteria showed little effect on the bias, suggesting that the OH layer is relatively uniform over the spatial and temporal scales considered. However, a significant trend was found in the bias between SABER and Davis OH of ~0.7 K/year over the 8-year period with SABER becoming warmer compared with the Davis OH temperatures. In contrast, Aura MLS exhibited a cold bias of 9.9 ± 0.4 K compared with Davis OH, but importantly, the bias remained constant over the 2004–2009 year period examined. The difference in bias behaviour of the two satellites has significant implications for multi-annual and long-term studies using their data.


Author(s):  
Michael Getzner

-National parks and other categories of protected areas are often assumed to enhance regional economic development due to park tourism. The current study attempts to estimate the impact of the Hohe Tauern national park (Austria) on tourism by exploring whether and to what extent the national park may have had an influence on tourism development. For most national park communities, the results suggest that the establishment of the national park had some impact by enforcing an already positive trend or by weakening or reversing a negative trend of tourism. However, breakpoint tests exhibit turning points up to several years after the establishment of the park, indicating that taking a national park as the basis for tourism development is a medium to long term development strategy. In the short term, the impact of a national park on tourism is not measurable. Tourism increased by 1 to 3% annually after the breakpoint, indicating that the establishment of a national park has to be incorporated into the tourism and development strategy of a region right from the start. The causal relationship between the establishment of the national park and tourism development may be weak, in particular in communities where the difference between the actual and the forecast numbers of overnight stays is small. Marketing national park tourism and building up a brand or distinctive label may therefore contribute to regional development particularly in the long term.Key words: Tourism, national park, protected area, time series, stationarity, breakpoint test, ARIMA.JEL classifications: R110, L830, C220.Parole chiave: Turismo, parco nazionale, area protetta, serie temporale, stazionarietŕ, test di breakpoint, ARIMA.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bouasone Sengsourivong ◽  
Masaru Ichihashi

This study estimates the impact of irrigation on household sticky rice productivity in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) by applying propensity score matching (PSM) and the difference-in-differences (DID) method. This paper utilizes panel data from the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS) from 2003 to 2013. The results show that the average sales value and total production of sticky rice for irrigated households is greater than those for non-irrigated households by around 36 to 38% per season. Moreover, irrigated households experience improved sticky rice productivity of approximately 2.44 tons per hectare, per season, compared to non-irrigated households. In particular, compared to households with access to irrigation in one period of the surveys, households with access to irrigation in two periods of the surveys have nearly double the sticky rice productivity. Therefore, long-term access to irrigation is more effective for sticky rice productivity. However, we cannot find any evidence to support the impact of irrigation on household consumption. Some policy implications that can be derived from this research are that farmers should be intensively promoted to make the most use of irrigation, development of irrigation system is highly needed, and to ensure effectiveness of irrigation utilization local farmer involvement in monitoring procedure of irrigation is necessary.


2019 ◽  
Vol 160 (5) ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
Bernadett Borda ◽  
Attila Nemes ◽  
Csaba Lengyel ◽  
Tamás Várkonyi ◽  
Ferenc Rárosi ◽  
...  

Abstract: Introduction: Increase of liver function is one of the most common complications after kidney transplantation due to the use of immunosuppressive therapy and hyperlipidemia in addition to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Method: Following the selection criteria (n = 59), the study is based on applied immunosuppressive therapy, baseline data of patients, further correlation between HCV and liver function deterioration. Patients were subjected to fasting laboratory examination to monitor serum electrolytes, uric acid and albumin levels. We looked at the effects of immunosuppressive therapy on the lipids (TG, TC, HDL, LDL) and liver enzymes (GOT, GPT, ALP, GGT). The analysis of the relationship between lipids and liver enzymes was also included in our study. Results: The data basics were not significantly different between the tacrolimus and the cyclosporine groups. In the laboratory results, Mg levels were significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.044). The impact of HCV on the liver function was significantly different on GGT (p = 0.008). We examed the lipids and liver function level between the tacrolimus and the patients receiving cyclosporine-based immunosuppression and the total cholesterol (p = 0.005) and GOT (p = 0.05) were significantly different between the two groups. Hyperlipidemia was associated with 26% of patients taking tacrolimus-based immunosuppression, and 89% of those receiving cyclosporine; the difference was significant (p = 0.002). Regarding the effect of hyperlipidemia on liver enzymes, ALP (p = 0.006) and GGT (p = 0.0001) were significantly higher. Conclusion: Increases in hepatic enzymes, ALT and GGT indicate the damage to hepatocytes. Beside the increase of liver function, which is the main risk factor in hepatitis on HCV soil, the applied immunosuppressive therapy and hyperlipidemia lead to degradation of allograft function and long-term graft loss. Orv hetil. 2019; 160(5): 186–190.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 11439-11446 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. R. French ◽  
F. J. Mulligan

Abstract. Temperature profiles from two satellite instruments – TIMED/SABER and Aura/MLS – have been used to calculate hydroxyl-layer equivalent temperatures for comparison with values measured from OH(6-2) emission lines observed by a ground-based spectrometer located at Davis Station, Antarctica (68° S, 78° E). The profile selection criteria – miss-distance <500 km from the ground station and solar zenith angles >97° – yielded a total of 2359 SABER profiles over 8 years (2002–2009) and 7407 MLS profiles over 5.5 years (2004–2009). The availability of simultaneous OH volume emission rate (VER) profiles from the SABER (OH-B channel) enabled an assessment of the impact of several different weighting functions in the calculation of OH-equivalent temperatures. The maximum difference between all derived hydroxyl layer equivalent temperatures was less than 3 K. Restricting the miss-distance and miss-time criteria showed little effect on the bias, suggesting that the OH layer is relatively uniform over the spatial and temporal scales considered. However, a significant trend was found in the bias between SABER and Davis OH of ~0.7 K/year over the 8-year period with SABER becoming warmer compared with the Davis OH temperatures. In contrast, Aura/MLS exhibited a cold bias of 9.9 ± 0.4 K compared with Davis OH, but importantly, the bias remained constant over the 2004–2009 year period examined. The difference in bias behaviour of the two satellites has significant implications for multi-annual and long-term studies using their data.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andras Szabo ◽  
Nikoletta Czobor ◽  
Adam Nagy ◽  
Krisztina Toth ◽  
Csaba Eke ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In the last decades prior studies noted the importance of frailty which is a frequently used term in perioperative risk evaluation. We investigated frailty syndrome as the psychological and socioeconomic elements of the human being. The aim of this study was assessing the importance of these factors for mortality after vascular surgery.Methods: In our prospective, observational study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02224222) we examined 164 patients who underwent an elective vascular surgery between 2014 and 2017. At the point of admission they filled out a questionnaire, in this way the patients’ cognitive functions, depression and anxiety, social support and self-reported life quality were mapped. We used Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier method for relative risk calculation and survival analyses. Propensity score matching was performed to analyze the difference between patient and control, nation-wide population cohort. Effects of psychosocial factors on long term mortality were defined as primary outcome. Results: The patients mean age were 67.05 years (SD: 9.49 years). One out of four patients had some kind of cognitive impairment measured by Mini Mental State Examination with modified, more sensitive cut-off values. In univariate Cox regression higher MMSE score was associated decreased risk for all-cause mortality (OR: 0.883, 95% CI: 0.802-0.973, p=0.012). After clusters were created according to MMSE score relative risks were calculated. Even mild cognitive dysfunction could increase risk for long term mortality (AHR: 1.634, 95% CI: 1.118-2.368, p=0.009).Conclusion: Even mild cognitive dysfunction measured by the MMSE preoperatively could be an important risk factor for mortality after vascular surgery.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Alatalo ◽  
Mohammad Bagher Erfanian ◽  
Ulf Molau ◽  
Shengbin Chen ◽  
Yang Bai ◽  
...  

Background and aim Global warming is expected to have large impacts on high alpine and Arctic ecosystems in future. Here we report the effects of 18 years of experimental warming on two contrasting high alpine plant communities in subarctic Sweden.Methods Using open-top chambers (OTCs), we analysed the effects of long-term passive experimental warming on two high alpine plant communities, a species- and nutrient-poor heath and a more nutrient- and species-rich mesic meadow. We determined the impact on species composition, species diversity (at the level of rare, frequent and dominant species in each community), and phylogenetic and functional diversity.Key results Long-term warming drove differentiation in the species composition in both heath and meadow vegetation, with the warmed plots having distinctly different species composition in 2013 compared with 1995. In addition, variability in species composition increased in the meadow, while it decreased in the heath. The long-term warming had a significant negative effect on the three orders of phylogenetic Hill diversity in the meadow. There was a similar tendency in the heath, but only the phylogenetic diversity of dominant species was significantly affected. Long-term warming caused a reduction in graminoids in the heath, while deciduous shrubs increased. In the meadow, cushion-forming plants showed an increase in abundance from 2001 to 2013 in the warmed plots. Conclusions Responses in species and phylogenetic diversity to experimental warming varied over both time (medium vs long-term responses) and space (i.e. between the two neighbouring plant communities heath and meadow). The meadow community was more negatively affected in terms of species and phylogenetic diversity than the heath community. A potential driver for the changes in the meadow may be decreased soil moisture caused by the long-term warming.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin Cartín Nuñez ◽  
Eduardo Carrillo Jiménez

In the West Central Region of Costa Rica, there are plenty of forests under public and private protection; however, they are increasingly exposed to fragmentation. This is the first report about species richness and the relative abundance of large and medium size terrestrial mammals, in Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve (ReBAMB) and Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve (RPN). Our camera trap study was undertaken between April and August, 2008. After 1 620 trap-days, 11 species were identified, nine in ReBAMB and six in RPN. The recorded species in both sites were: Cuniculus paca, Dasyprocta punctata, Nasua narica and Pecari tajacu. Felids were only captured in ReBAMB. The peccary (P. tajacu) was the most abundant mammal within the studied area, in contrast with the apparent absence of species such as white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and jaguar (Panthera onca). The difference in species composition between both sites was probably consequence of habitat fragmentation, which especially affects RPN. Species as white-lipped peccary and jaguar could be affected, directly or indirectly, by poaching. We propose that a good conservation goal for ReBAMB and due to their ecological importance is to have at least a white-lipped peccary’s population for the next ten years.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Wang ◽  
Jinghua Yu ◽  
Lu Xiao ◽  
Zhaoliang Zhong ◽  
Qiong Wang ◽  
...  

The conservation of species diversity and improvement of forest structure are essential roles of the Natural Reserve Policy and the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP) in China. However, the long-term effects of NFPP are still not well-defined, and a natural reserve (Liangshui) and surrounding region were surveyed as a proxy of NFPP for approaching the protection effects. Our results showed that long-term conservation significantly altered the dominant species in the herb layer (80% of species), followed by shrub (58%) and tree layers (50%); there was a 1.6-8.0-fold increase in abundance in Corylus shrubs, Acer trees and Carex grass, but a 1.3–10.0-fold abundance decrease in larch trees, Athyrium herbs and Lonicera shrubs. In contrast, tree species diversity and distribution evenness increased by 31% and 23.4% in the reserve, respectively. Forest protection in the reserve also led to the forest structural alteration with the observation of larger-sized trees and shorter herbs, but relatively sparse forests (smaller tree density). Structural equation modeling manifested that the reserve directly altered forest structure, at a coefficient of 0.854, nearly two-fold higher than its impact on diversity (0.459) and dominant species (−0.445). The most affected parameters were plant size (trees and herbs) and tree density related to forest structure, tree diversity, herb richness and evenness for diversity traits, and Oxalidaceae and Rosaceae for dominant species. This study provides basic data that can be used to evaluate the impact of the nature reserve in NE China, and these findings can be used to guide the implementation of NFPP in the long-term in the future.


Author(s):  
Xin Ye ◽  
Dawei Zhu ◽  
Ping He

Abstract The 1950s–1970s Chinese send-down movement can be treated as a natural experiment to study the impact of adolescent exposure on subsequent health. This paper used China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2010 data to evaluate the long-term impact of the Chinese send-down movement on individuals health later in life. Drawing from the life course perspective, the results from the difference-in-difference model suggested that the send-down experience had a significant impact on worse self-rated health; the pathways from structural equation models showed that subsequent achievements—age of marriage and educational attainment—had mediating effects leading the send-down experience to worse self-rated health and better mental 21health, respectively. Taken together, our results highlight the roles of the send-down experience and post–send-down characteristics in shaping health outcomes later in life.


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