scholarly journals Birds in fragmented Amazonian rainforest: Lessons from 40 years at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project

The Condor ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip C Stouffer
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Dynamic Matrix ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Second Growth ◽  
Amazonian Rainforest ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Biological Dynamics

Abstract For decades, ecologists have studied fundamental questions of how Amazonian biodiversity is maintained, and whether that diversity can persist following deforestation. The long history of avian research at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, near Manaus, Brazil, has helped advance this understanding in the context of a broader research program focused on rainforest fragments embedded in a dynamic matrix. By sampling birds beginning before fragments were isolated, in the late 1970s, and continuing the protocol to the present, our work has revealed community dynamics driven not just by area and isolation, but also by larger landscape patterns, particularly second growth recovery over decadal scales. Fragments permanently lose some bird species, but their communities need not follow a trajectory toward catastrophic change. Our challenge now is to determine under what conditions remnant patches and developing second growth can support not just the rich diversity of Amazonian rainforest species but also their population processes and emergent community properties.

scholarly journals Avian diversity in a fragmented landscape of central Indian forests (Bhopal Forest Circle)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 18177-18188
Author(s):  
Amit Kumar ◽  
Yogesh Dubey ◽  
Advait Edgaonkar
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Fragmented Landscape ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
The Impact

With increasing fragmentation of natural areas and a dramatic reduction of forest cover in several parts of the world, quantifying the impact of such changes on species richness and community dynamics has been a subject of much concern.  Therefore, this study intends to assess avifaunal biodiversity in fragmented forests.  Forest patches between the sizes of 10ha and 700ha were identified in Bhopal Forest Circle (BFC), which covers the Vindhyan plateau.  Forest patches were classified based on their size and degree of isolation.  A sample of 21 forest fragments was selected using proportional sampling.  Bird surveys were conducted using the point count method at each site.  Three replicates were taken at each site.  Avian species richness of each patch was calculated.  The results suggest that species richness is positively associated with the size of the forest patches.  Larger forest patches such as Binapur (166ha, Chao 1= 73), Sayar (107ha, Chao 1= 78) and Kalyanpura (133ha, Chao 1= 80) had relatively high species richness, except for patches including Narsinghgarh (393ha, Chao 1= 28) and Singota (184ha, Chao 1= 45) with high levels of anthropogenic disturbance.  Smaller forest patches were found to have fewer bird species, although small forest patches with lesser degrees of anthropogenic disturbance such as Lalghati (99ha, Chao 1 = 62), Lasudli (16ha, Chao 1 = 65), Ghot (36ha, Chao 1 = 53), and Nasipur (23ha, Chao 1 =52) were more diverse than other patches.  These patches were more protected due to being sacred groves (Lalghati and Lasudli) or under private ownership (Ghot and Nasipur).  A total of 131 bird species were recorded from all the sampled forest patches.  These results suggest that forest patches embedded in an agrarian landscape play a vital role in conserving biodiversity, hence conservation efforts should also be focused on these forest fragments.

scholarly journals Making a stronger case for comparative research to investigate the behavioral and neurological bases of three-dimensional navigation

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 557-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Nardi ◽  
Verner P. Bingman
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Rich

AbstractThe rich diversity of avian natural history provides exciting possibilities for comparative research aimed at understanding three-dimensional navigation. We propose some hypotheses relating differences in natural history to potential behavioral and neurological adaptations possessed by contrasting bird species. This comparative approach may offer unique insights into some of the important questions raised by Jeffery et al.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Winter
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Oppression ◽  
The Rich ◽  
To Come

This concluding chapter summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. The book has shown that the multiplicity of lived ʻAlawi experiences cannot be reduced to the sole question of religion or framed within a monolithic narrative of persecution; that the very attempt to outline a single coherent history of “the ʻAlawis” may indeed be misguided. The sources on which this study has drawn are considerably more accessible, and the social and administrative realities they reflect consistently more mundane and disjointed, than the discourse of the ʻAlawis' supposed exceptionalism would lead one to believe. Therefore, the challenge for historians of ʻAlawi society in Syria and elsewhere is not to use the specific events and structures these sources detail to merely add to the already existing metanarratives of religious oppression, Ottoman misrule, and national resistance but rather to come to a newer and more intricate understanding of that community, and its place in wider Middle Eastern society, by investigating the lives of individual ʻAlawi (and other) actors within the rich diversity of local contexts these sources reveal.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF EDUCATION AND TOLERANCE IN STUDENTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-119
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR GLEB NAYDONOV
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Interethnic Differences ◽  
The World ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Psychological Features ◽  
Different Levels

The article considers the students’ tolerance as a spectrum of personal manifestations of respect, acceptance and correct understanding of the rich diversity of cultures of the world, values of others’ personality. The purpose of the study is to investgate education and the formation of tolerance among the students. We have compiled a training program to improve the level of tolerance for interethnic differences. Based on the statistical analysis of the data obtained, the most important values that are significant for different levels of tolerance were identified.

scholarly journals Biosynthetic potential of uncultured Antarctic soil bacteria revealed through long-read metagenomic sequencing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Waschulin ◽  
Chiara Borsetto ◽  
Robert James ◽  
Kevin K. Newsham ◽  
Stefano Donadio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Mining ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Cluster ◽  
Full Length ◽  
Metagenomic Sequencing ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Short Read Sequencing ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Long Read ◽  
The Rich

AbstractThe growing problem of antibiotic resistance has led to the exploration of uncultured bacteria as potential sources of new antimicrobials. PCR amplicon analyses and short-read sequencing studies of samples from different environments have reported evidence of high biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) diversity in metagenomes, indicating their potential for producing novel and useful compounds. However, recovering full-length BGC sequences from uncultivated bacteria remains a challenge due to the technological restraints of short-read sequencing, thus making assessment of BGC diversity difficult. Here, long-read sequencing and genome mining were used to recover >1400 mostly full-length BGCs that demonstrate the rich diversity of BGCs from uncultivated lineages present in soil from Mars Oasis, Antarctica. A large number of highly divergent BGCs were not only found in the phyla Acidobacteriota, Verrucomicrobiota and Gemmatimonadota but also in the actinobacterial classes Acidimicrobiia and Thermoleophilia and the gammaproteobacterial order UBA7966. The latter furthermore contained a potential novel family of RiPPs. Our findings underline the biosynthetic potential of underexplored phyla as well as unexplored lineages within seemingly well-studied producer phyla. They also showcase long-read metagenomic sequencing as a promising way to access the untapped genetic reservoir of specialised metabolite gene clusters of the uncultured majority of microbes.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of contracting and expanding rainforest in initiating cycles of speciation across the Isthmus of Panama

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3520-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tilston Smith ◽  
Amei Amei ◽  
John Klicka
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Isthmus Of Panama ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact

Climatic and geological changes across time are presumed to have shaped the rich biodiversity of tropical regions. However, the impact climatic drying and subsequent tropical rainforest contraction had on speciation has been controversial because of inconsistent palaeoecological and genetic data. Despite the strong interest in examining the role of climatic change on speciation in the Neotropics there has been few comparative studies, particularly, those that include non-rainforest taxa. We used bird species that inhabit humid or dry habitats that dispersed across the Panamanian Isthmus to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of speciation across this barrier. Here, we show that these two assemblages of birds exhibit temporally different speciation time patterns that supports multiple cycles of speciation. Evidence for these cycles is further corroborated by the finding that both assemblages consist of ‘young’ and ‘old’ species, despite dry habitat species pairs being geographically more distant than pairs of humid habitat species. The matrix of humid and dry habitats in the tropics not only allows for the maintenance of high species richness, but additionally this study suggests that these environments may have promoted speciation. We conclude that differentially expanding and contracting distributions of dry and humid habitats was probably an important contributor to speciation in the tropics.

scholarly journals Pivoting the Plant Immune System from Dissection to Deployment

Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 341 (6147) ◽  
pp. 746-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery L. Dangl ◽  
Diana M. Horvath ◽  
Brian J. Staskawicz
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Germ Plasm ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Sequencing Technology ◽  
Plant Immune System ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Molecular Components

Diverse and rapidly evolving pathogens cause plant diseases and epidemics that threaten crop yield and food security around the world. Research over the last 25 years has led to an increasingly clear conceptual understanding of the molecular components of the plant immune system. Combined with ever-cheaper DNA-sequencing technology and the rich diversity of germ plasm manipulated for over a century by plant breeders, we now have the means to begin development of durable (long-lasting) disease resistance beyond the limits imposed by conventional breeding and in a manner that will replace costly and unsustainable chemical controls.

scholarly journals Modelling the Impacts of Habitat Changes on the Population Density of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) Based on Its Landscape Preferences

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
Nándor Csikós ◽  
Péter Szilassi
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Percentage Error ◽  
Alauda Arvensis ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Farmland Bird ◽  
Shape Complexity

The dramatic decline of the abundance of farmland bird species can be related to the level of land-use intensity or the land-cover heterogeneity of rural landscapes. Our study area in central Europe (Hungary) included 3049 skylark observation points and their 600 m buffer zones. We used a very detailed map (20 × 20 m minimum mapping unit), the Hungarian Ecosystem Basemap, as a land-cover dataset for the calculation of three landscape indices: mean patch size (MPS), mean fractal dimension (MFRACT), and Shannon diversity index (SDI) to describe the landscape structure of the study areas. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the effect of land-cover types and landscape patterns on the abundance of the Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis). According to our findings, the proportions of arable land, open sand steppes, closed grassland patches, and shape complexity and size characteristics of these land cover patches have a positive effect on skylark abundance, while the SDI was negatively associated with the skylark population. On the basis of the used statistical model, the abundance density (individuals/km*) of skylarks could be estimated with 37.77% absolute percentage error and 2.12 mean absolute error. We predicted the skylark population density inside the Natura 2000 Special Protected Area of Hungary which is 0–6 individuals/km* and 23746 ± 8968 skylarks. The results can be implemented for the landscape management of rural landscapes, and the method used are adaptable for the density estimation of other farmland bird species in rural landscapes. According to our findings, inside the protected areas should increase the proportion, the average size and shape complexity of arable land, salt steppes and meadows, and closed grassland land cover patches.

The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Feminist Philosophy ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Trans Studies ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
The Rich

This exciting new Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the contemporary state of the field. The editors’ introduction and forty-five essays cover feminist critical engagements with philosophy and adjacent scholarly fields, as well as feminist approaches to current debates and crises across the world. Authors cover topics ranging from the ways in which feminist philosophy attends to other systems of oppression, and the gendered, racialized, and classed assumptions embedded in philosophical concepts, to feminist perspectives on prominent subfields of philosophy. The first section contains chapters that explore feminist philosophical engagement with mainstream and marginalized histories and traditions, while the second section parses feminist philosophy’s contributions to with numerous philosophical subfields, for example metaphysics and bioethics. A third section explores what feminist philosophy can illuminate about crucial moral and political issues of identity, gender, the body, autonomy, prisons, among numerous others. The Handbook concludes with the field’s engagement with other theories and movements, including trans studies, queer theory, critical race, theory, postcolonial theory, and decolonial theory. The volume provides a rigorous but accessible resource for students and scholars who are interested in feminist philosophy, and how feminist philosophers situate their work in relation to the philosophical mainstream and other disciplines. Above all it aims to showcase the rich diversity of subject matter, approach, and method among feminist philosophers.

scholarly journals Tree Diversity and Their Regeneration in the Sacred Groves of Virajpet, Central Western Ghats, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-369
Author(s):  
Devi A.G. PRASAD ◽  
Shwetha BHARATHI
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Western Ghats ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Sacred Groves ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Tree Species Composition ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Central Western Ghats ◽  
Undisturbed Forest ◽  
The Rich

Sacred groves are one of the finest examples of informal way of conserving the forest wealth. Baseline data collection of their diversity, distribution and regeneration capacity becomes necessary for the management and conservation of these undisturbed forest patches. In this context, the present investigation was carried out using random quadrat method in the sacred groves of Virajpet, Karnataka, India. A total of 132 tree species belonging to 113 genera and 45 families were identified within five sacred groves. Higher basal area (51.73-85.65 m2/ha) and tree density (453.33-515.9 individuals/ha) were observed as compared to other forests of Western Ghats region. The present investigation has revealed a healthy regeneration of tree species. Seedling and sapling composition differed to some extent from the mature tree species composition which could be used in predicting the future possibilities. Protection and conservation of such sacred groves should be of interest, for better regeneration of the rich diversity they harbour.

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