Soil Microbes Alter the Diversity-Invasibility Relationship by Promoting a Complementarity Effect on Community Invasion Resistance

Background Soil microbes can affect both the invasiveness of exotic plants and the invasibility of native plant communities, but it still remains unclear whether soil microbes can influence the relationship between native plant diversity and community invasibility.Methods We constructed native plant communities with three levels of species richness (one, three, or six species) in unsterilized or sterilized soil (i.e., with or without soil microbes) and either prevented their invasion by exotic plants or allowed them to be invaded by each of three exotic species (Solidago canadensis, Erigeron canadensis or Symphyotrichum subulatum), which are highly invasive in China. The soils conditioned by the native plant communities that were not invaded by the exotic species were used as soil microbe inocula to test whether species richness-induced differences in soil microbes affected the growth of each of the three invasive species.Results Compared with soils containing microbes, the absence of soil microbes weakened the negative species richness-invasibility relationship, indicating that soil microbes can contribute to higher invasion resistance in more diverse native plant communities. In the presence of soil microbes, the higher invasion resistance of more diverse communities was mainly ascribed to the complementarity effect. However, soil microbes from communities with a higher species richness did not have a stronger negative effect on the growth of any of the three invasive species. Conclusion Soil microbes can alter the diversity-invasibility relationship by promoting the complementarity effect on community invasion resistance. Our results highlight the importance of integrating the role of soil microbes when testing the diversity-invasibility hypothesis.

Cultural transformation and translation

Along with the cultural transformation and renewal process of the world, the need for reinterpretation in the field of translation has come to the fore. The increase in cultural activities and transformations has led to the emergence of new dimensions in the communication and interaction of societies. Especially after the second half of the 20th century, the rapid social, economic and cultural mobility, which started to gain a new dimension, intensified the cultural interaction, and also led to the production of many written and oral works in this field. The dimensions of cultural data transfer, including these produced works, have begun to increase. The most important role in the transfer of these data between cultures and languages ​​is the translation institution, which has the importance of a cultural carrier beyond being a purely linguistic transmission tool. In this study, firstly, the concept of culture is examined within the general framework. Following this, the concept of translation and its relationship with the phenomenon of culture are discussed. In the study, an answer is sought to the question of what exactly is understood from the concept of culture. Finally, the complementarity effect of the concepts of translation and culture is emphasized. ​Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. Özet Dünyanın geçirdiği kültürel dönüşüm ve yenilenme süreci ile çeviri sürecini yeniden yorumlanma ihtiyacı ön plana çıkmaya başlamıştır. Kültürel faaliyetlerin ve dönüşümlerin yaşanmasındaki artış toplumların iletişim ve etkilişimde de yeni boyutların ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Özellikle 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından sonra yaşanmaya başlayan hızlı sosyal, ekonomik ve kültürel hareketlilik yeni bir boyut kazanmaya başlayan kültürel etkileşimin yoğunlaşmasını sağlarken bu alanda birçok yazılı ve sözlü eserin üretilmesine de yol açmıştır. Üretilen bu eserler de dahil olmak üzere kültürel veri transferinin boyutları da artmaya başlamıştır. Bu verilerin kültürler ve diller arasında transferindeki en önemli rol ise salt dilsel aktarım aracı olmasından öte kültürel bir taşıyıcılık önemi de haiz olan çeviri müssesesindedir. Bu çalışmada ilk olarak kültür kavramı genel çerçeve içerisinde ele alınarak irdelenmektedir. Bunu müteakiben ise çeviri kavramı ve kültür olgusu ile olan ilişkisi ele alınmaktadır. Çalışmada kültür kavramından tam olarak neyin anlaşılmakta olduğu sorusuna cevap aranmaktadır. Nihai olarak ise çeviri ve kültür kavramlarının birbirine yaptığı tamamlayıcılık etkisi üzerinde durulmaktadır.

The Impact of Residents’ Online Consumption on Offline Consumption—An Ordered Probit Semi-Parametric Estimation Method

Online consumption not only is an economic phenomenon, but also has a profound impact on offline consumption. Under this context, this article analyzes the mechanism of how they influence offline consumption and puts forward research hypotheses. China Household Financial Survey (CHFS) data and a semi-parametric ordered probit estimation method are used empirical tests. The results indicate that consumers with online consumption experience are very likely to consume again. The scale of online consumption not only drives the increase of overall consumption, but also promotes the growth of offline consumption via capital effect, complementarity effect, and psychologic effect. In general, online consumption and offline consumption have achieved integrated development.

Cross-echelon managerial design competencies: Relational coordination in organizational learning and growth performance

We followed the continuity perspective of leadership skill requirements to examine the interplay between the design competencies of different management cohorts, relational coordination, and organizational learning and growth performance outcomes. Using a two-source sample of 103 organizations, we found evidence for compensatory effects. Specifically, a conditional process analysis (moderated mediation) revealed that: (a) design competencies are a highly relevant type of managerial knowledge or skill, (b) competent middle-level managers compensate for a lack of design skills and design-related knowledge at the top management level, and (c) top- and middle-level managerial design competencies simultaneously create a cross-echelon complementarity effect on organizational learning and growth performance. JEL classification

Soil depth alters the consequences of species diversity for productivity in an experimental karst herbaceous community

Aims The mechanism by which species diversity drives productivity in different ecosystems is controversial, possibly due to the confounding effects of key environmental variables. Karst ecosystems are fragile and are at great risk of species loss. In these ecosystems, soil depth is a key driver of community diversity and productivity. However, the influence of soil depth on the relationship between species diversity and productivity in karst ecosystems remains unclear.Methods We established artificial karst herbaceous communities with different soil depths and species richness levels and determined how two biodiversity effects—complementarity effect (effect of positive interactions among species) and selection effect (effect due to dominance of productive species)—contributed to productivity.Results Soil depth, species diversity, and different species combinations were significant predictors of productivity. Species diversity significantly positively affected productivity at all three soil depths, with the effect size of species diversity being the greatest in medium-depth soil. Net diversity effects were greater than 0 in all multi-species communities, indicating that complementarity and selection effects both positively influenced productivity. However, complementarity effect had a greater contribution to productivity than selection effect in all multi-species communities. Furthermore, the contribution of complementarity effect increased with increasing soil depth, while that of selection effect decreased.Conclusions Soil depth influences the relationship between species diversity and productivity in karst herbaceous communities. Furthermore, complementarity effect is the major mechanism by which diversity increases community productivity, particularly in shallow soil. Therefore, environmental variables should be seriously considered when studying the relationship between species diversity and function in other ecosystems.

Sustainable Transport of Goods Using Combined Transport Solutions: The Case of EU

This paper analyzes the importance of bimodal solutions in the rail-road transport of goods with an emphasis on the aspect of ecology within the geographical region of EU-28. Using the panel regression analysis in the period from 2010 to 2019, we are trying to confirm the dependence between the road and rail transport of goods by applying several freight units’ measures: the freight transport performance in tonne-kilometres, the freight transport performance in tonne-kilometres per thousand of USD, and the amount of goods transported in thousands of tonnes. The application of data to all selected freight units’ measures in the regression models confirms a relationship between road and rail transport. A direct relationship between these two modes of transport confirms the complementarity effect, which means that, in most cases, the goods transport solutions require the combination of road and rail mode, where the railway should be considered as the main transport/carrier, the road transport, however, should have the role of short pre-transport or post-transport. The ecological aspect of such bimodal solutions can also be emphasized since the railway transport is considered as an ecological mode.

Tree diversity effects on forest productivity: disentangling the effects of tree species addition vs. substitution

Mixture effect on stand productivity is usually apprehended through a substitutive approach, whereby productivity in mixed stands is compared to productivity in monocultures, at equivalent stand density. This approach has proved that in many cases mixed stands perform better than monospecific forests, however, we do not yet have a solid theory about species behaviour in the mixture or even guidelines for combining species. The addition of a second tree species to an existing mono-specific stand has received much less consideration. Yet, this approach has the potential to separate the facilitation effect from the complementarity effect. We compared the effect of tree species substitution vs. addition on the productivity of maritime pine and silver birch in a young tree diversity experiment implemented in 2008 in SW France. Substituting pines with birches to create two-species mixtures resulted in an increase of tree productivity at stand level beyond what was expected from monocultures (i.e., overyielding). In contrast, creating mixture through the addition of birches to pine stands had no effect on the maritime pine stand productivity (transgressive mixture effect not significant). This absence of effect is produced by two distinct density-dependence responses at an individual level. Our results allow clarifying the cases in which a mixed stand can be considered as an alternative to a monoculture of a productive species. In particular, the addition of a pioneer and soil low-demanding species during young developmental stages is a possibility to diversify the stand and potentially to increase ecosystem services without altering the productivity of the target species.

Exploring the Interactions between Online Shopping, In-Store Shopping, and Weekly Travel Behavior using a 7-Day Shopping Survey in Lisbon, Portugal

The steady growth of online shopping in the last decades has led to an impact on personal travel and on freight transport that is yet to be fully grasped. Previous research on the subject offers mixed findings, with several studies pointing to complementarity between online and in-store shopping, while others suggest substitution, modification, or neutrality. Using data from a 7-day shopping survey in Lisbon, Portugal, which involved 400 respondents, this paper applies structural equation modeling to explore the relationships among online shopping and in-store shopping preferences, while also considering the period of the week in which the purchases took place, since it is expected that the interaction between shopping and other personal travel behavior varies between weekdays and weekends. The result shows that online shopping preference leads to more online purchases, while in-store shopping preference leads to more in-store purchases. Furthermore, online shopping on weekdays has a positive association with both online and in-store shopping on weekends, which supports a complementarity effect. This effect is linked to a younger population, which commutes by car, and lives in less central areas. Since deliveries are becoming increasingly faster, while living centrally is becoming progressively more difficult, complementarity might give way to substitution, with the foreseeable challenges to maintaining street vitality, if this issue is not addressed timely by policymakers.

Co-creating blockchain adoption: theory, practice and impact on usage behavior

PurposeGiven the growing importance of blockchain technology (BT), the authors use the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), which posits that BT adoption intention depends on the complementarity between UTAUT and blockchain transparency (BTRAN) and examine it in a new setting: the boundary condition of perceived helpfulness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors review the major conceptual literature on both UTAUT and BT to identify their principal common factors. They examine the complementarity between UTAUT and BTRAN and further test the moderating effect of perceived helpfulness. The authors used the PLS technique for data analysis because this technique can test the direct and interaction effects.FindingsThe complementarity between UTAUT and BTRAN strongly affects BT adoption intention. The authors further show that perceived helpfulness moderates the relationship between adoption intention and usage behavior. At high levels of perceived helpfulness, usage behavior increases rapidly with adoption intention.Originality/valueThe results indicate that UTAUT is a valuable theory to identify the determinants of adoption intention, confirming its robustness in blockchain-enabled supply chain management. The combination of UTAUT and BTRAN can contribute a plausible approach to the strategy literature: the complementarity effect might create more benefits than adopting a single practice.