scholarly journals Is the cask of facilitation ready for bottling? A symposium on the connectivity and future directions of positive plant interactions

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 577-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin J. Pakeman ◽  
Francisco I. Pugnaire ◽  
Richard Michalet ◽  
Chris J. Lortie ◽  
Katja Schiffers ◽  
...  

The 2009 British Ecological Society's Annual Symposium entitled ‘Facilitation in Plant Communities’ was held at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, from 20 to 22 April 2009. This was the first ever international meeting dedicated to the rapidly expanding field of facilitation. The aim of the symposium was to assess the current ‘state-of-play’ by contrasting findings from different systems and by looking outwards in an attempt to integrate this field with other related fields. It was also aimed at understanding how knowledge of facilitation can help understand community dynamics and be applied to ecosystem restoration. The symposium identified several key areas where future work is likely to be most profitable.

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (37) ◽  
pp. 22858-22865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vigdis Vandvik ◽  
Olav Skarpaas ◽  
Kari Klanderud ◽  
Richard J. Telford ◽  
Aud H. Halbritter ◽  
...  

Generality in understanding biodiversity responses to climate change has been hampered by substantial variation in the rates and even directions of response to a given change in climate. We propose that such context dependencies can be clarified by rescaling climate gradients in terms of the underlying biological processes, with biotic interactions as a particularly important process. We tested this rescaling approach in a replicated field experiment where entire montane grassland communities were transplanted in the direction of expected temperature and/or precipitation change. In line with earlier work, we found considerable variation across sites in community dynamics in response to climate change. However, these complex context dependencies could be substantially reduced or eliminated by rescaling climate drivers in terms of proxies of plant−plant interactions. Specifically, bryophytes limited colonization by new species into local communities, whereas the cover of those colonists, along with bryophytes, were the primary drivers of local extinctions. These specific interactions are relatively understudied, suggesting important directions for future work in similar systems. More generally, the success of our approach in explaining and simplifying landscape-level variation in climate change responses suggests that developing and testing proxies for relevant underlying processes could be a fruitful direction for building more general models of biodiversity response to climate change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Md. Saifullah Akon ◽  
Dilruba Sharmin

Japanese Studies has entered a booming period in Bangladesh where the growing demand for knowledge on Japan, particularly Japanese development experience, society, and culture, has intensified. Besides, the increasing number of Japanese companies and opportunities to work in Japan so far is conducive to the increasing number of students in the Japanese language. Considering the given facts, academic institutions of Bangladesh need to initiate 'Japanese Studies' programs to produce 'Japanologists’-contextual and transitional expertise. The larger goal of this study is to identify the major prospects and challenges and consider the future directions for the Japanese Studies program. The paper intends to think alternatively beyond the 'ivory tower' mindset of a large number of Bangladeshi students as well as academicians and show the prospects of Japanese Studies with sustainable employment opportunities through industry-academia collaboration. The methods and equipping tools employed in this paper include lexical scrutiny and contextual analysis under the qualitative research method to analyse the current state of knowledge and pedagogical development. Presenting the number of stumbling blocks of the Japanese Studies program in Bangladesh, the paper finally demonstrates the program's future as an academic discipline. It ends with possible suggestions towards success in producing Japanologists to strengthen Bangladesh-Japan bilateral relations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Bucsky

Abstract The freight transport sector is a low profit and high competition business and therefore has less ability to invest in research and development in the field of autonomous vehicles (AV) than the private car industry. There are already different levels of automation technologies in the transport industry, but most of these are serving niche demands and answers have yet to be found about whether it would be worthwhile to industrialise these technologies. New innovations from different fields are constantly changing the freight traffic industry but these are less disruptive than on other markets. The aim of this article is to show the current state of development of freight traffic with regards to AVs and analyse which future directions of development might be viable. The level of automation is very different in the case of different transport modes and most probably the technology will favour road transport over other, less environmentally harmful traffic modes.


2019 ◽  
pp. 91-94
Author(s):  
T. M. Lysenko ◽  
V. Yu. Neshatayeva ◽  
Z. V. Dutova

The International conference “Flora and conservation in the Caucasus: history and current state of knowledge” dedicated to the 130-year anniversary of the Perkalsky Arboretum took place at 22–25 of May 2019 in Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Territory) on the base of the Pyatigorsk Museum of local lore and natural history. The participants were from 11 cities of Russia and 7 Republics of the Caucasus and represented 14 institutions. Proceedings of the conference were published by the beginning of the meeting the book of abstracts includes 49 papers on the study of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and fungi, plant communities, as well as the protection of rare and endangered species, unique plant communities, and ecological problems in the Caucasus. The following geobotanical topics were highlighted in 13 papers: forest communities (3 reports), meadow and steppe vegetation (2), xeric open forests (2), communities of ecotone areas (1), structure of populations of rare plant species (3), as well as the history and current status of nature protected areas (2). The great emphasis has been focused on the study of floristic composition and plant populations. Thus, the conference showed that very few studies от vegetation are currently carried out in the Caucasus, and a lot of districts are not affected by the research. The greatest attention is paid to forest vegetation while meadow, steppe, alpine heath and xerophytic communities are studied rather poorly. Besides, there are “white spots” — mire, floodplain and aquatic vegetation. In nowadays, when the anthropogenic impact on the plant cover of the Caucasus is intensively increasing, it is especially important to study natural undisturbed communities preserved in protected natural areas. Another important issue is the conservation of the unique vegetation cover of the whole Caucasus. Thus, the study of vegetation of this region opens a wide field for researchers using various methods of modern plant science.


Author(s):  
Tania Maritza Díaz Macías ◽  
Leila María Álava Barreiro ◽  
Diana Stefani Velásquez García

The work aims to provoke critical educational reflections on the current state of the scientific-pedagogical conception of inclusive education in the university context. In this sense, we are aware of the existence of an extremely positive conceptual evolution in recent times. It is necessary to articulate new discourses and teaching practices that project and illuminate the idea that inclusive education as a permanent process of change in education and for which the development of psychological activities outlined in resilience can play an important role. The Ecuadorian higher education system has experienced, for a few years, changes of great pedagogical interest. In this framework, a whole process of generating educational policies and inclusive education is shown, taking as a framework the professors and managers of the Technical University of Manabí (UTM) (Ecuador), to contribute to the greater inclusive development of the said university. The main challenges for university institutions regarding fostering the resilience of the academic process are presented.


Author(s):  
N.R. Madhava Menon

The purpose of looking at Indian universities in a comparative perspective is obviously to locate it among higher education institutions across the world and to identify its strengths and weaknesses in the advancement of learning and research. In doing so, one can discern the directions for reform in order to put the university system in a competitive advantage for an emerging knowledge society. This chapter looks at the current state of universities in India and highlights the initiatives under way for change and proposes required policy changes.


Author(s):  
Paul B. Miller

This chapter charts new frontiers of scholarly inquiry in fiduciary law. The chapter first orients the reader by taking stock of the current state of play in fiduciary scholarship. It then identifies a range of important questions that should inspire future work in the field. More specifically, it identifies pressing questions of legal theory (conceptual and normative analysis), economic and empirical legal studies (including classical and behavioral economic analysis), and historical and sociological inquiry. The chapter also raises questions of interest to private law theorists and scholars interested in exploring the significance of fiduciary principles within various subfields, from trust and corporate law to health law and legal ethics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1880533
Author(s):  
Tiliksew Addis ◽  
Abera Kachi ◽  
Jun Wang

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