THE INTERACTIONS OF VERTEBRATES AND INVERTEBRATES IN PEATLANDS AND MARSHES

1987 ◽  
Vol 119 (S140) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry R. Murkin ◽  
Bruce D.J. Batt

AbstractThis paper reviews the interactions of vertebrates and invertebrates in peatlands and marshes to assess current knowledge and future research needs. Living organisms may interact through a number of direct trophic and nutrient pathways and a variety of non-trophic, habitat-dependent relationships. Freshwater marshes and peatlands are dynamic aquatic environments and organisms that occupy these areas must be adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. The avian community illustrates the main interactions of invertebrates and vertebrates in peatlands and marshes. Waterfowl, along with fish and furbearers, are the most economically important vertebrates using these habitats. Each of these groups has important trophic and habitat links to the invertebrates within wetlands.The most common interaction between vertebrates and invertebrates is the use of invertebrates as food by vertebrates. Few studies, however, have dealt with trophic dynamics or secondary production within wetlands. Waterfowl, fish, and many other wetland vertebrates, during all or part of their life cycles, regularly feed on invertebrates. Some invertebrates are vectors of disease and parasites to vertebrates. Vertebrates can directly affect the structural substrate that invertebrates depend on as habitat through consumption of macrophytes or through the use of living and dead plant material in the construction of houses and nests. Conversely, herbivorous invertebrates may directly affect the survival and distribution of macrophytes in wetlands. Macrophyte distribution, in turn, is an important factor in determining vertebrate use of wetlands. The general lack of both taxonomic and ecological information on invertebrates in wetlands is the main hindrance to future elucidation of vertebrate–invertebrate interactions in these environments. Development of invertebrate sampling techniques suitable for wetland habitats also is necessary. More specific research needs must be met to develop a better understanding of the structure and function of these dynamic systems.

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan W. McCreery ◽  
Elizabeth A. Walker ◽  
Meredith Spratford

The effectiveness of amplification for infants and children can be mediated by how much the child uses the device. Existing research suggests that establishing hearing aid use can be challenging. A wide range of factors can influence hearing aid use in children, including the child's age, degree of hearing loss, and socioeconomic status. Audiological interventions, including using validated prescriptive approaches and verification, performing on-going training and orientation, and communicating with caregivers about hearing aid use can also increase hearing aid use by infants and children. Case examples are used to highlight the factors that influence hearing aid use. Potential management strategies and future research needs are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Mohammed A. Alhossini ◽  
Collins G. Ntim ◽  
Alaa Mansour Zalata

This paper comprehensively reviews the current body of international accounting literature regarding advisory/monitoring committees and corporate outcomes. Specifically, it synthesizes, appraises, and extends current knowledge on the (a) theoretical (i.e., economic, accounting/corporate governance, sociological and socio-psychological) perspectives and (b) empirical evidence of the observable and less visible attributes at both the individual and committee levels and their link with a wide range (financial/non-financial) of corporate outcomes. Using the systematic literature review method, 304 articles from 59 journals in the fields of accounting and finance that were published between January 1992 and December 2018 are reviewed. The main findings are as follows. First and theoretically, agency theory is the most dominant applied theory/studies with no application of theory at all (descriptive), while the application of integrated theoretical frameworks is lacking in the reviewed articles. Secondly, the existing empirical evidence focusses excessively on (a) monitoring instead of advisory committees and (b) observable rather than less visible committee attributes. Thirdly, scarcity of cross-country studies along with methodological limitations relating to measurement inconsistencies, insufficiency of variables, and dominance of quantitative studies, among others, are identified. Finally, promising future research avenues are outlined.


2021 ◽  
Vol 401 ◽  
pp. 123385
Author(s):  
Alejandra Gomez ◽  
Mahesh Narayan ◽  
Lijuan Zhao ◽  
Xiaorong Jia ◽  
Ricardo A. Bernal ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
ARNAB BHOWMIK

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is an emerging high-value specialty crop that can be cultivated foreither fiber, seed, or cannabidiol (CBD). The demand for hemp and its products has been consistently onthe rise in the 21st century. The United States of America has reintroduced hemp and legalizedits production as an agricultural commodity through the 2018 Federal Farm Bill. Although thereis a renewed interest in the adoption of hemp due to the emerging market, its production in theUnited States remains limited partly because of unclear agronomic guidance and fertilizationrecommendations. This review article provides information on the current agronomic managementpractices that are available in the literature and identifies the future research needs for cultivating thismultipurpose crop to address the growing market demands. Hemp production could be beneficialif managed properly. Hemp fertilizer requirements vary in accordance with the type of hempgrown (seed, fiber, or CBD), soil, environmental conditions and requires a wide range of macro- andmicronutrients. Integrating management practices in hemp cultivation intended to build soil health ispromising since the hemp cropping system is suitable for crop rotation, cover cropping, and livestockintegration through animal waste applications. Hemp also has significant environmental benefitssince it has the potential to remediate contaminated soils through phytoremediation, convert highamounts of atmospheric CO2 to biomass through bio-sequestration, and hemp biomass for bioenergyproduction. This review identifies that most of the agronomic research in the past has been limitedto hemp fiber and, to some extent, hemp seed but not CBD hemp. With the increase in the globalmarkets for hemp products, more research needs to be conducted to provide agronomic guidelinesfor sustainable hemp production.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suvi Ruuskanen ◽  
Bin-Yan Hsu ◽  
Andreas Nord

The ability to maintain a (relatively) stable body temperature in a wide range of thermal environments is a unique feature of endotherms such as birds. Endothermy is acquired and regulated via various endocrine and molecular pathways, and ultimately allows wide aerial, aquatic, and terrestrial distribution in variable environments. However, due to our changing climate, birds are faced with potential new challenges for thermoregulation, such as more frequent extreme weather events, lower predictability of climate, and increasing mean temperature. We provide a compact overview on thermoregulation in birds and its endocrine and molecular mechanisms, pinpointing gaps in current knowledge and recent developments, focusing especially on non-model species to understand the generality of, and variation in, mechanisms. We highlight plasticity in thermoregulation and underlying endocrine regulation, because thorough understanding of plasticity is key to predicting responses to changing environmental conditions. To this end, we discuss how changing climate is likely to affect avian thermoregulation and associated endocrine traits, and how the interplay between these physiological processes may play a role in facilitating or constraining adaptation to a changing climate. We conclude that while the general patterns of endocrine regulation of thermogenesis are quite well understood, at least in poultry, the molecular and endocrine mechanisms that regulate e.g. mitochondria function and plasticity of thermoregulation over different time scales (from transgenerational to daily variation) need to be unveiled. Plasticity may ameliorate climate change effects on thermoregulation to some extent, but the increased frequency of extreme weather events, and associated in resource availability, may be beyond the scope and/or speed for plastic responses. This could lead to selection for more tolerant phenotypes, if the underlying physiological traits harbour genetic and individual variation for selection to act on – a key question for future research.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Hofmann ◽  
Sonja S. Schmucker ◽  
Werner Bessei ◽  
Michael Grashorn ◽  
Volker Stefanski

During their lifespan, chickens are confronted with a wide range of acute and chronic stressors in their housing environment that may threaten their welfare and health by modulating the immune system. Especially chronic stressful conditions can exceed the individual’s allostatic load, with negative consequences for immunity. A fully functional immune system is mandatory for health and welfare and, consequently, also for high productivity and safe animal products. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of housing form, light regime as well as aerial ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations on the immune system in chickens. Certain housing conditions are clearly associated with immunological alterations which potentially impair the success of vaccinations or affect disease susceptibility. Such poor conditions counteract sustainable poultry production. This review also outlines current knowledge gaps and provides recommendations for future research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 979-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riley L Hughes ◽  
Mary E Kable ◽  
Maria Marco ◽  
Nancy L Keim

ABSTRACT The gut microbiota is increasingly implicated in the health and metabolism of its human host. The host's diet is a major component influencing the composition and function of the gut microbiota, and mounting evidence suggests that the composition and function of the gut microbiota influence the host's metabolic response to diet. This effect of the gut microbiota on personalized dietary response is a growing focus of precision nutrition research and may inform the effort to tailor dietary advice to the individual. Because the gut microbiota has been shown to be malleable to some extent, it may also allow for therapeutic alterations of the gut microbiota in order to alter response to certain dietary components. This article is the second in a 2-part review of the current research in the field of precision nutrition incorporating the gut microbiota into studies investigating interindividual variability in response to diet. Part I reviews the methods used by researchers to design and carry out such studies as well as analyze the results subsequently obtained. Part II reviews the findings of these studies and discusses the gaps in our current knowledge and directions for future research. The studies reviewed provide the current understanding in this field of research and a foundation from which we may build, utilizing and expanding upon the methods and results they present to inform future studies.


Author(s):  
Bernadette Pinel-Alloul ◽  
Alain Patoine ◽  
Jérôme Marty

This review provides a Canadian perspective on freshwater zooplankton diversity and ecology across scales and systems. It aims at describing how zooplankton is a source of biodiversity in forms and functions, a key component of plankton food web, a model for ecological theories and a sentinel for monitoring lake ecological integrity and function facing environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors. These objectives are addressed across a continuum of spatial scales and ecosystem types. Zooplankton communities demonstrated a wide range of responses to anthropogenic disturbances across scales and systems due to interactions with watershed biogeochemistry and climate. This review supports the Multiple Forces hypothesis where forcing by abiotic factors have a primordial role at global scale over Canadian ecoregions, and at regional scale in the Boreal ecozones. In contrast, forcing by biotic factors is more influential at local scale, in resort and urban regions. Future research challenge will be to combine all new concepts and approaches in a holistic perspective to examine the response of freshwater zooplankton to multiple environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors.


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