scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic Turns Life-Science Students into “Citizen Scientists”: Data Indicate Multiple Negative Effects of Urbanization on Biota

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2992
Author(s):  
Jens Schirmel

The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions strongly affect the higher education community and require diverse teaching strategies. We designed a course where we combined online teaching with independently conducted ecological data collections by students using a “citizen science” approach. The aim was to analyze the impact of urbanization on biota by comparing urban and rural grasslands. Seventy-five students successfully conducted the data collections and the results provide evidence for prevailing negative effects of urbanization. Individual numbers of ground-dwelling invertebrates (−25%) and pollinating insects (−33%) were generally lower in urban sites. Moreover, animal and seed predation were reduced in urban grasslands, indicating the potential of urbanization to alter ecosystem functions. Despite the general limitations of online teaching and citizen science approaches, outcomes of this course showed this combination can be a useful teaching strategy, which is why this approach could be used to more actively involve students in scientific research.

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (32) ◽  
pp. 8580-8585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron P. Ramus ◽  
Brian R. Silliman ◽  
Mads S. Thomsen ◽  
Zachary T. Long

While invasive species often threaten biodiversity and human well-being, their potential to enhance functioning by offsetting the loss of native habitat has rarely been considered. We manipulated the abundance of the nonnative, habitat-forming seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla in large plots (25 m2) on southeastern US intertidal landscapes to assess impacts on multiple ecosystem functions underlying coastal ecosystem services. We document that in the absence of native habitat formers, this invasion has an overall positive, density-dependent impact across a diverse set of ecosystem processes (e.g., abundance and richness of nursery taxa, flow attenuation). Manipulation of invader abundance revealed both thresholds and saturations in the provisioning of ecosystem functions. Taken together, these findings call into question the focus of traditional invasion research and management that assumes negative effects of nonnatives, and emphasize the need to consider context-dependence and integrative measurements when assessing the impact of an invader, including density dependence, multifunctionality, and the status of native habitat formers. This work supports discussion of the idea that where native foundation species have been lost, invasive habitat formers may be considered as sources of valuable ecosystem functions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Nicholas ◽  
Eti Herman ◽  
David Sims ◽  
Anthony Watkinson ◽  
Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽  
...  

<p>The study presents comparative qualitative findings from a longitudinal exploration of the impact of the pandemic on early career researchers (ECRs) from the sciences and social sciences. Using qualitative methodologies, it focuses on the increasing demands of remote teaching made on ECRs and the potentially negative effects these had on their research. The study also sheds light on ECRs’ country-specific teaching commitments and the extent to which these play a role in their assessment. Data comes from the first of three rounds of in-depth interviews, conducted with 177 ECRs from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK and US. The main findings, which are set against the published literature, were: a) over half ECRs teach and most of them are assessed on their teaching; b) there are significant differences between countries, with, for instance, French researchers hardly teaching and nearly all Polish researchers doing so; c) around a quarter of ECRs felt research was hindered during the pandemic because online teaching was increasingly demanding of their time; d) a preliminary analysis of ECRs’ gender-specific attitude to teaching in the pandemic-incurred new realities indicates that women experience more difficulties.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Thanh Thuy Cu

This study aimed to analyze the impact of urbanization on the income and employment of people in Vietnam. To collect data for the study, 515 people participated in the survey, representing 515 households living in major cities in Vietnam. The OLS regression method and the T-test are applied to analyze the research objectives and examine the differences in the income and employment of people before and after urbanization. Research findings show that urbanization has both positive and negative effects on people’s income and employment in Vietnam. The income of people increased by about 12.5779 million VND/year compared to the pre-urbanization period. After urbanization, new jobs will increase, with employment disparities before and after urbanization in each family averaging about 1.734 jobs. The survey findings also show that household investments have the most significant influence on household income (standardized coefficients = 0.465). Compensation also has a positive and relatively substantial impact on household income with standardized coefficients = 0.195. However, the undesirable consequences of urbanization affected the employment of a part of the population, the number of unemployed leads to a decrease in the household’s income (standardized coefficients = –0.13).


2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 554-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Łopucki ◽  
Iwona Mróz ◽  
Łukasz Berliński ◽  
Marzena Burzych

Theories concerning the impact of urbanization on ground-dwelling mammals are mainly based on large-city studies. We investigated whether the negative effects of urbanization are evident in smaller urban areas, where green areas are usually less isolated from their natural surroundings. Livetrapping of small mammals (Rodentia and Soricomorpha) was conducted between 2007 and 2010 in 15 patches within the city of Lublin (Poland) (147.5 km2, population 354 000) and 15 patches in its agricultural surroundings. A decline in species richness and diversity along an urbanization gradient and an increase in the abundance of species best adapted to the city environment (synurbic species) were observed. The main factors influencing ground-dwelling mammals was isolation of green patches, while the management type of green areas had no significant effect. The genus Apodemus Kaup, 1829, particularly the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius (Pallas, 1771)), was the most urban biased. Within the city, A. agrarius alters its habitat preferences and life-history parameters (body mass, seasonal fluctuations, winter survival). Understanding the factors influencing ground-dwelling mammals in medium-sized cities will enable measures to be implemented that could reduce the negative effects of urbanization during urban expansion.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Nicholas ◽  
Eti Herman ◽  
David Sims ◽  
Anthony Watkinson ◽  
Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽  
...  

<p>The study presents comparative qualitative findings from a longitudinal exploration of the impact of the pandemic on early career researchers (ECRs) from the sciences and social sciences. Using qualitative methodologies, it focuses on the increasing demands of remote teaching made on ECRs and the potentially negative effects these had on their research. The study also sheds light on ECRs’ country-specific teaching commitments and the extent to which these play a role in their assessment. Data comes from the first of three rounds of in-depth interviews, conducted with 177 ECRs from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK and US. The main findings, which are set against the published literature, were: a) over half ECRs teach and most of them are assessed on their teaching; b) there are significant differences between countries, with, for instance, French researchers hardly teaching and nearly all Polish researchers doing so; c) around a quarter of ECRs felt research was hindered during the pandemic because online teaching was increasingly demanding of their time; d) a preliminary analysis of ECRs’ gender-specific attitude to teaching in the pandemic-incurred new realities indicates that women experience more difficulties.</p>


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Ph. S. Kartaev ◽  
I. D. Medvedev

The paper examines the impact of oil price shocks on inflation, as well as the impact of the choice of the monetary policy regime on the strength of this influence. We used dynamic models on panel data for the countries of the world for the period from 2000 to 2017. It is shown that mainly the impact of changes in oil prices on inflation is carried out through the channel of exchange rate. The paper demonstrates the influence of the transition to inflation targeting on the nature of the relationship between oil price shocks and inflation. This effect is asymmetrical: during periods of rising oil prices, inflation targeting reduces the effect of the transfer of oil prices, limiting negative effects of shock. During periods of decline in oil prices, this monetary policy regime, in contrast, contributes to a stronger transfer, helping to reduce inflation.


2019 ◽  
pp. 46-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Klimanov ◽  
Sofiya М. Kazakova ◽  
Anna A. Mikhaylova

The article examines the impact of various socio-economic and financial indicators on the resilience of Russian regions. For each region, the integral index of resilience is calculated, and its correlation dependence with the selected indicators is revealed. The study confirms the relationship between fiscal resilience and socio-economic resilience of the regions. The analysis of panel data for 75 regions from 2007 to 2016 shows that there are significant differences in the dynamics of indicators in different periods. In particular, the degree of exposure to the negative effects of the crises of 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 in non-resilient regions is higher than in resilient ones.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 550-562

Drawn upon field research in two peri-urban villages of Hanoi in 2014 and short re-visits recently, the research examines the widespread of gambling and other social issues in Hanoi’s urbanizing peri-urban communities which happened concurrently with the phenomenon of “land fever,” and at the time local villagers received compensation from land appropriation. The article aims to understand the impact of urbanization on these communities and the interface between urbanization and the increase of social problems. It argues that gambling, drug use, and other social problems have been existing in Vietnamese rural communities long before; however, when urbanization came, some people have higher chances to engage in these activities. Those are villagers who want to transform quickly into entrepreneurs or bosses by joining the “black credit” market and gambling. Together with middle-aged and old farmers who greatly relied on agricultural production and face difficulties in transforming their occupation, they formed the group of losers in the urbanization process. Received 6th January 2019; Revised 26th April 2019; Accepted 15th May 2019


Author(s):  
Nham Phong Tuan ◽  
Nguyen Ngoc Quy ◽  
Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen ◽  
Hong Tra My ◽  
Tran Nhu Phu

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of seven factors causing academic stress on students of University of Economics and Business - Vietnam National University: Lack of leisure time, Academic performance, Fear of failure, Academic overload, Finances, Competition between students, Relationships with university faculty. Based on the results of a practical survey of 185 students who are attending any courses at the University of Economics and Business - Vietnam National University, the study assesses the impact of stress factors on students. The thesis focuses on clarifying the concept of "stress" and the stress level of students, while pointing out its negative effects on students. This study includes two cross-sectional questionnaire surveys. The first survey uses a set of 16 questions to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes based on an instrument to measure academic stress - Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA). The second survey aims to test internal consistency, the robustness of the previously established 7-factor structure. Henceforth, the model was brought back and used qualitatively, combined with Cronbach’s Alpha measurement test and EFA discovery factor analysis. This study was conducted from October 2019 to December 2019. From these practical analyzes, several proposals were made for the society, the school and the students themselves.


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