Above-ground net primary production of plains rough fescue [Festuca hallii (Vasey) Piper] after a single defoliation on five landform elements

2011 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pantel ◽  
J. T. Romo ◽  
Y. Bai

Pantel, A., Romo, J. T. and Bai, Y. 2011. Above-ground net primary production of plains rough fescue [ Festuca hallii (Vasey) Piper] after a single defoliation on five landform elements. Can. J. Plant Sci. 91: 689–696. Above-ground net primary production (ANPP) was determined for plains rough fescue [Festuca hallii (Vasey) Piper] following a single defoliation to 7.5 cm stubble height on five landform elements in the Northern Mixed Prairie. The landform elements included north aspect-concave slopes, north aspect-convex slopes, south aspect-concave slopes, south aspect-convex slopes, and level uplands. Above-ground net primary production was determined for 2 yr after defoliating plants in May through November. Above-ground net primary production after defoliation was not dependent on landform elements in the first (P=0.23) and second years (P=0.22) after defoliation. In the first year after June through September defoliation, ANPP was reduced 29 to 41% (P <0.01), whereas May, October, or November defoliation had no significant effect on ANPP. Above-ground net primary production did not vary significantly (P=0.61) among months of defoliation in the second year after defoliation. Less ANPP in the first year after June through September defoliation indicates the need for ≥1 yr of deferred use to allow plants to regain their production potential. Unaffected ANPP after May, October, or November defoliation suggests plains rough fescue can be grazed annually. Recuperation of ANPP after defoliation depends on the month of the year in which plains rough fescue is defoliated, but not on landform elements in the Northern Mixed Prairie.

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 637-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Adamek ◽  
Marife D. Corre ◽  
Dirk Hölscher

Abstract:To evaluate N limitation on above-ground net primary production in a tropical lower montane rain forest, an N fertilization experiment was conducted for 2 y. The study site is located at 1200–1300 m asl in the Fortuna forest reserve in western Panama and has a mature, mixed-species stand growing on an Andisol soil. Control and N-fertilized (125 kg urea-N ha−1 y−1) treatments were represented by four replicate plots (each 40 × 40 m, separated by at least 40 m). Stem diameter growth was analysed by diameter at breast height classes and also for the three most abundant species. The three species did not respond to N addition. The response of stem growth and above-ground woody biomass production to N fertilization varied among dbh classes. Stem growth of trees of 10–30 cm dbh increased only in the first year of N addition while trees of 30–50 cm dbh responded in the second year of N addition, which may be due to differences in light conditions between years. Trees >50 cm dbh did not respond during 2 years of N addition. As a result, the overall stem growth and above-ground woody biomass production were not affected by N fertilization. Annual total fine litterfall increased in the first year of N fertilization, while annual leaf litterfall increased in both years of N addition. Above-ground net primary production, of which total fine litterfall constituted 68%, also increased only in the first year of N addition. The magnitude and timing of response of stem diameter growth and litterfall suggest that these aspects of above-ground productivity are not uniformly limited by N availability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89
Author(s):  
Hugh Crago

In a seminal 1973 paper, Robert Clark described the very different “cultures” of the first and second year students in a four year clinical psychology PhD programme. The author applies Clark’s template to his own experiences as trainee or trainer in five different counsellor education programmes, one in the US and four in Australia. Each of the programmes, to varying degrees, demonstrates key features of the pattern identified by Clark, where the first year is “therapeutic” and other-oriented, the second is “professional” and self-focused. The author concludes that all the surveyed programmes exhibited some level of “second year crisis”, in which a significant number of students felt abandoned, dissatisfied, or rebellious. The author extends and refines Clark’s developmental analogy (first year = childhood; second year = adolescence) to reflect recent neurological research, in particular, the shift from a right hemisphere-dominant first year of life, prioritising affiliative needs, to a left hemisphere-dominant second year, prioritising autonomy and control. This shift is paralleled later by a more gradual move from a protective, supportive childhood to necessary, but sometimes conflictual, individuation in adolescence. The first two years of a counsellor training programme broadly echo this process, a process exacerbated by the second year internship/placement, in which students must “leave home” and adjust to unfamiliar, potentially less nurturing, authority figures. Finally, the author suggests introducing more rigorous “academic holding” into the first year, and greater attention to “therapeutic holding” of dissident students in the second, hopefully decreasing student dropout, and achieving a better balanced training experience.


Author(s):  
Umar Iqbal ◽  
Deena Salem ◽  
David Strong

The objective of this paper is to document the experience of developing and implementing a second-year course in an engineering professional spine that was developed in a first-tier research university and relies on project-based core courses. The main objective of this spine is to develop the students’ cognitive and employability skills that will allow them to stand out from the crowd of other engineering graduates.The spine was developed and delivered for the first time in the academic year 2010-2011 for first-year general engineering students. In the year 2011-2012, those students joined different programs, and accordingly the second-year course was tailored to align with the different programs’ learning outcomes. This paper discusses the development and implementation of the course in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McDonald ◽  
Rebecca Merkley ◽  
Jacqueline Mickle ◽  
Lisa Collimore ◽  
Daniel Ansari

Research in cognitive development has highlighted that early numeracy skills are associated with later math achievement, suggesting that these skills should be targeted in early math education. Here we tested whether tools used by researchers to assess mathematical thinking could be useful in the classroom. This paper describes a collaborative project between cognitive scientists and school board researchers/educators implementing numeracy screeners with kindergarten students over the course of three school years. The Give-A-Number task (Wynn, 1990) was used with first-year kindergarten students and the Numeracy Screener [BLINDED] with second-year kindergarten students. Results indicated that educators (N = 59) found the tools feasible to implement and helpful for exploring their students’ thinking and targeting instruction. The Educators’ feedback also helped inform improvements to the implementation of the tools and future directions for both the schools and the researchers. This work emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary collaboration to address the research-practice gap.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
ARVIND KUMAR ◽  
POOJA KHULBE

Influence of abiotic factors and hosts on population dynamics of green lacewing, Chrysoper lacarnea (Stephens) was studied in sunflower, Helianthus annus (Linn.).The maximum number of C. carnea population was found during mid March –mid April in the first year and mid April – mid May in the second year in sunflower crop. The maximum number of host population viz. egg and larva of Helicoverpa armigera and Myzuspe rsicae population were found during mid March –mid April in both the year and correlation studies revealed the positive and significant correlation between larval population of H. armigera, M. persicae and predator C. carnea. While there was no significant relationship found between eggs of H. armigera and C. carnea. The C. carnea population on H. annus during both the year was positively correlated with maximum temperature and found significant,while negatively correlated with relative humidity.However, no significant correlation of C. carnea was found with minimum temperature in both the year.


1955 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 224-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Torrie ◽  
Earle W. Hanson
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Müller ◽  
Manuela Bombana ◽  
Monika Heinzel-Gutenbrenner ◽  
Nikolaus Kleindienst ◽  
Martin Bohus ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mental disorders are related to high individual suffering and significant socio-economic burdens. However, it remains unclear to what extent self-reported mental distress is related to individuals’ days of incapacity to work and their medical costs. This study aims to investigate the impact of self-reported mental distress for specific and non-specific days of incapacity to work and specific and non-specific medical costs over a two-year span. Method Within a longitudinal research design, 2287 study participants’ mental distress was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). HADS scores were included as predictors in generalized linear models with a Tweedie distribution with log link function to predict participants’ days of incapacity to work and medical costs retrieved from their health insurance routine data during the following two-year period. Results Current mental distress was found to be significantly related to the number of specific days absent from work and medical costs. Compared to participants classified as no cases by the HADS (2.6 days), severe case participants showed 27.3-times as many specific days of incapacity to work in the first year (72 days) and 10.3-times as many days in the second year (44 days), and resulted in 11.4-times more medical costs in the first year (2272 EUR) and 6.2-times more in the second year (1319 EUR). The relationship of mental distress to non-specific days of incapacity to work and non-specific medical costs was also significant, but mainly driven from specific absent days and specific medical costs. Our results also indicate that the prevalence of presenteeism is considerably high: 42% of individuals continued to go to work despite severe mental distress. Conclusions Our results show that self-reported mental distress, assessed by the HADS, is highly related to the days of incapacity to work and medical costs in the two-year period. Reducing mental distress by improving preventive structures for at-risk populations and increasing access to evidence-based treatments for individuals with mental disorders might, therefore, pay for itself and could help to reduce public costs.


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