scholarly journals Beyond population regulation and limitation

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Population Regulation ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Equilibrium Density ◽  
Population Limitation ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
Made In

The study of population dynamics addresses three questions that are not always separated in discussions with empirical data. Two questions address population regulation. What stabilises population density is the first question, and, in spite of much theory, little progress has been made in answering this question empirically. The assumption of an equilibrium density is impossible to test and direct experimental tests to answer this question are rare. What prevents population growth is a second question, and is the classic question of population regulation. To answer this question requires an increasing population, and, with adequate experimental manipulations, the density dependent factors preventing increase can be identified. Surprisingly, answering this question has provided little assistance in solving practical problems in population dynamics, possibly because most populations are rarely in the state of growth and show a limited range of densities. What limits population density in good and poor habitats is a third question, which addresses population limitation rather than regulation, and has been the most useful question for empirical ecologists to ask. Population limitation admits of little theory and no elegant models, and highlights the gap between theory and practice in much of ecology. Defining the question clearly and adopting an experimental approach with clear alternative hypotheses will be essential to avoiding the controversies of the past while building useful generalisations for the practical problems of population management.

New Zealand translocations: theory and practice

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug P. Armstong ◽  
Ian G. McLean
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Habitat Requirements ◽  
Metapopulation Dynamics ◽  
Behavioural Adaptation ◽  
New Locations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tests Of Hypotheses

One of the most common tools in New Zealand conservation is to translocate species to new locations. There have now been over 400 translocations done for conservation reasons, mainly involving terrestrial birds. Most translocations have been done strictly as management exercises, with little or no reference to theory. Nevertheless, translocations always involve some underlying theory, given that people must inevitably choose among a range of potential translocation strategies. We review theory relevant to translocations in the following areas: habitat requirements, susceptibility to predation, behavioural adaptation, population dynamics, genetics, metapopulation dynamics, and community ecology. For each area we review and evaluate the models that seem to underpin translocation strategies used in New Zealand. We report experiments testing some of these models, but note that theory underlying translocation strategies is largely untested despite a long history of translocations. We conclude by suggesting key areas for research, both theoretical and empirical. We particularly recommend that translocations be designed as experimental tests of hypotheses whenever possible.

Effects of crop sequence and rainfall on population dynamics of Fusarium solani f.sp. phaseoli in soil

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 2005-2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Hall ◽  
Lana Gay Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Phaseolus Vulgaris ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Fusarium Solani ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Total Rainfall ◽  
Colony Forming Units ◽  
Bean Crop ◽  
Previous Summer ◽  
Crop Sequence

Evidence is presented that population dynamics of Fusarium solani f.sp. phaseoli in soil depend on the effects of crop sequence and rainfall on parasitic activities of the pathogen. In a rotation trial started in 1978 and conducted over 14 years, population densities (colony-forming units/g) of the fungus in soil remained below 50 in treatments (fallow, repeated corn, repeated soybean) where the preferred host plant (common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris) was not grown. Where bean was grown every 3rd year or every year, population densities reached 475 and 660, respectively, by 1984. Thereafter, population densities of the fungus fluctuated widely from year to year in both rotation and repeated bean treatments. In the rotation treatment, peaks in population density of the pathogen coincided with the years of bean production. In repeated bean plots between 1985 and 1991, population density of the fungus in June was significantly correlated (r = 0.77, p = 0.04) with total rainfall received during the previous summer (June–August). It is postulated that higher rainfall during the growing season of the bean crop stimulated root growth and root infection, leading to the accumulation of higher levels of potential inoculum in infected tissue and the release of higher levels of inoculum into the soil by the following June. Key words: Fusarium solani f.sp. phaseoli, bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, rainfall, crop rotation.

PREDATION BY INSECTS AND SPIDERS INHABITING COLONIAL WEBS OF HYPHANTRIA CUNEA

1972 ◽  
Vol 104 (8) ◽  
pp. 1197-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Nova Scotia ◽  
North America ◽  
Population Density ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Numerical Response ◽  
Initial Number ◽  
Hyphantria Cunea ◽  
The North ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe number of predators inhabiting nests of Hyphantria cunea Drury was recorded annually for 13 years in four areas in New Brunswick and two areas on the coast of Nova Scotia. The most common groups were the pentatomids and spiders, which sometimes reproduced within the nests, but the mean number per nest was low in relation to the number of H. cunea larvae in the colonies. The rate of predation on fifth-instar larvae was low. Small or timid predators appeared to prey largely on moribund larvae or small saprophagans during the principal defoliating instars of H. cunea.No relationship could be detected between the number of larvae reaching the fifth instar and the number of predators in the colony; nor could any functional or numerical response of the predators to either the initial number of larvae per colony or the population density of colonies be found. It is concluded that the influence of the nest-inhabiting predators is small and relatively stable, and may be treated as a constant in the development of models to explain the population dynamics of H. cunea.H. cunea is a pest in parts of Europe and Asia, where it has been accidentally introduced from North America. The introduction to other continents of the North American predator, Podisus maculiventiis (Say), is discussed briefly.

The impact of a crisis on entrepreneurial orientation of family firms: The role of organisational decline and generational change

2021 ◽  
pp. 026624262110366
Author(s):  
Ana M Moreno-Menéndez ◽  
Unai Arzubiaga ◽  
Vanessa Díaz-Moriana ◽  
José C Casillas
Keyword(s):  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Stability And Convergence ◽  
Generational Change ◽  
Entrepreneurial Behaviour ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
The Impact

This article critically analyses entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in family firms after a major crisis, to investigate how firms with equal initial levels of EO reach different levels over time. Based on two alternative hypotheses (stability and convergence), we analysed whether the EO of family firms remains intact, strengthens, or weakens after a crisis. Based on an examination of a database of 151 family firms collected in 2004 and 2017, our findings reveal that compared to firms with higher pre-crisis EO levels, those with lower levels saw a larger increase post crisis. Furthermore, unlike the latter group, the former was able to maintain high pre-crisis levels even after the crisis. In addition, we also we found this relationship between pre-crisis and post-crisis EO levels to be influenced by two key periodic discontinuities, namely, organisational decline and generational change contingencies. These findings advance our understanding of temporal aspects of EO and heterogeneous entrepreneurial behaviour among family firms with significant implications for both theory and practice.

scholarly journals Climatic Factors, Reproductive Success and Population Dynamics in the Montane Vole Microtus Montanus

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 49-51
Author(s):  
Alita Pinter
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Small Rodents ◽  
Microtus Montanus ◽  
Small Measure ◽  
Long Term Studies

A variety of hypotheses has been proposed to explain multiannual fluctuations in population density ("cycles") of small rodents (for reviews see Finerty 1980, Taitt and Krebs 1985). Doubtless, such cycles - known since antiquity (Elton 1942) - result from an interaction of a multitude of factors. However, the inability of extant hypotheses, alone or in combination, to explain the causality of cycles rests in no small measure with the fact that long-term studies of the phenomenon are notoriously uncommon.

scholarly journals Tribological Evolution of the Superficial Layer and the Effects of the Magnetic Field to a Non- conventional Treated Steel, During Wear Tests

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-446
Author(s):  
Carmen Penelopi Papadatu ◽  
Andrei Victor Sandu ◽  
Marian Bordei ◽  
Ioan Gabriel Sandu ◽  
Sorin Ciortan
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Dry Friction ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Superficial Layer ◽  
Alloyed Steel ◽  
Wear Process ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Wear Tests ◽  
Made In

The article focuses on the behavior of the non-conventional treated alloyed steel in magnetic field, during the dry wear tests. It is a review of the experimental tests from last years. The thermo-magnetic treatments have been applied before the application of a thermo-chemical treatment in plasma based on diffusion process. The study was made in order to improve the mechanical properties of the alloyed steel during the friction wear. Thermo-magnetic treatment applied before the plasma nitro-carburizing treatment improves the mechanical properties of the material especially in this case, for a steel that has a considerable content of Chromium (1.02%). The behavior was studied using X-Ray diffractometry of the superficial layers during the dry friction of wear process. The wear tests used an Amsler machine, during three hours of wear tests. After each hour of the wear tests the samples have been analyzed. The diffractometric characteristics of the superficial layers obtained after a complex array of thermo-magnetic and thermo-chemical in plasma treatments, the phases distribution, the content of the superficial layers and the behavior of the steel during the wear through dry friction tests, have been considered as criteria.

scholarly journals An Optimal Method for Lubricating Oil Compounds Properties Estimation - the Computer - Based Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 3942-3946
Author(s):  
Gabriel Radulescu ◽  
Diana Cursaru
Keyword(s):  
Process Improvement ◽  
Production Cost ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Lubricating Oil ◽  
Optimal Method ◽  
Lubricating Oils ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Optimal Mixing

Obtaining the commercial lubricating oils through an industrial method is a process which has an extensive complexity, requiring a very special attention paid to the final products quality. In this field, any new mixing compound, any new additive and any process improvement is more than welcome. Using the so called optimal mixing recipes � in order to get commercial lubricating oils by the base oils and corresponding additives � is a common way to lower the production cost and increase its quality. This paper proposes an original software tool, developed by the authors, which offers these recipes based on the final mixture properties (explicitly given). The application is built-up around the nonlinear programming and runs under MATLAB� environment. It is a remarkably robust application, with good functionality and accuracy. Its performance is proved both in theory and practice, after laboratory experimental tests.

Population dynamics in echinococcosis and cysticercosis: regulation ofTaenia hydatigenaandT. ovisin lambs through passively transferred immunity

Parasitology ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Gemmell ◽  
J. R. Lawson ◽  
M. G. Roberts ◽  
J. F. T. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Population Regulation ◽  
Acquired Immunity ◽  
Taenia Hydatigena ◽  
Density Dependent ◽  
Active Immunity ◽  
Infection Pressure ◽  
High Infection

SUMMARYA comparison has been made of the interactions between passively transferred and actively acquired immunity in regulating populations ofTaenia hydatigenaandT. ovis.When ewes were grazed prior to parturition under a high infection pressure, immunity was transferred to their offspring for up to 8 weeks. A qualititative difference between the species was the destruction of larvalT. ovisprior to their establishment (‘pre-encystment immunity’) and that ofT. hydatigenaafter they had become established (‘post-encystment immunity’) in the challenged lambs. The major difference in terms of population regulation between the two parasites was that infection occurred withT. hydatigenabut not withT. ovisin those lambs reared from birth for 16 weeks under high infection pressure. Passive, like active immunity, is a density-dependent constraint. It plays an important role in the population regulation ofT. ovis, but not ofT. hydatigena. This is discussed in terms of transmission in the natural environment, an hypothesis on humoral protection and the need to elucidate pathways of protection when immunization schedules are being evaluated for controlling the taeniid zoonoses.

Population dynamics and production of a brine shrimp, Parartemia zietziana Sayce (Crustacea : Anostraca), in two salt lakes in westren Victoria, Australia

1977 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Marchant ◽  
WD Williams
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Temperature Stress ◽  
Brine Shrimp ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Salt Lakes ◽  
Confidence Limits ◽  
Length Frequency ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
The Mean

Quantitative samples of P. zietziana were taken monthly for two years from Pink Lake and Lake Cundare. Shrimps were usually contagiously distributed. To reduce error, samples were stratified resulting in confidence limits of 40-50% for the mean population density. Despite this variability, stable trends emerged, and variation was not so great as to mask significant differences. Length-frequency analyses distinguished cohorts; a regression was established between length and dry weight, enabling growth to be estimated from samples. By combining growth with population densities in Allen curves, production was computed. In Pink Lake and Lake Cundare mean pro- duction was 11.3 and 1.0 g dry weight m-2 year-1 respectively. Generally there were two or three generations per year, but time and extent of recruitment were not predictable. Each generation suffered continuous mortality, the death of young shrimps accounting for most of the production. This mortality remains unexplained; there are no significant predators and salinity and temperature stress would occur only during summer.

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