Vole spatial distribution and dispersal in European organic and conventional farming systems

North European landscapes are highly dominated by agriculture, where small biotopes, e.g. meadows, uncultivated grassland, hedge rows, field boundaries, surroundings of water ponds, only comprise a low percentage. In recent years organic farming has expanded in acreage due to customers increased awareness regarding pesticide and fertilizer use and biodiversity conservation. However, organic farming has changed from an extensive production with small fields, low mechanical impact and high crop diversity towards larger fields, intensive mechanical treatment, lower weed densities and lower field diversity. Still, organic farms could play an important, role in the agricultural landscape as refuges for some small mammal species. We studied the responses of populations to habitat patches of different size and different surrounding management strategies (ecological and conventional farming). Studies were performed at two localities in Denmark, Kalø Estate in Eastern Jutland and the Bjerringbro area in Central Jutland. The sampling sites were represented by cultivated grassland habitat, small biotopes within cultivated fields and hedgerows between fields in rotation. Small mammal species assemblages were low in numbers in cultural farmland, and, on a property basis, not significantly different between organic and conventional farms. Very few species and individuals were present in the field matrix, and the small biotopes were by far the most important source of species richness. Species density was positively correlated with the size of the habitat, and, generally, more voles were found in organic habitat patches than in conventional ones. More field voles were found in organic grassland and more bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in organic hedge rows than in conventional ones. Telemetry studies of field voles showed low rates of dispersal and low colonization rates of the more or less isolated small biotopes at the time of year with no vegetation cover in the surrounding fields. We found no significant correlations between distance to nearest stepping stones/dispersal corridors and small mammal densities or species composition. In agricultural areas landscape structure influences the small mammal species living in this fragmented habitat matrix. The value of organic farms in respect to small mammal biodiversity depends mainly upon the number and area of small biotopes, and only to a minor degree upon the management of the fields. This is presumably related to a more dense and diverse vegetation cover, due to a lack of pesticide and fertilizer treatment in the organically managed small biotopes

Organic farms as refuges for small mammal biodiversity in agro ecosystems

Habitat fragmentation, the process by which relatively continuous habitats is broken into smaller pieces, occurs in natural systems but is to a high degree also human-induced through landscape use. Fragmentation of the landscape produces a series of habitat patches surrounded by a matrix of different habitats and land use regimes. The major landscape consequences of fragmentation are loss of habitat, reduction in habitat patch size, and increasing isolation of habitat patches. In general, population performance declines in response to habitat loss but size of remaining area and isolation effects is known also to influence the population trend. Small mammals are well suited for examination of population responses to habitat fragmentation as they have modest spatial requirements and short generation times. In theory, organic farms could play an important role in the agricultural landscape as refuges for some small mammal species, as the lack of pesticide and fertiliser treatment, less weed control, more diversified crop structure and a general environmental friendly attitude, form a basis for habitats that provide cover and food for small mammals, and thus for larger predators of these species. Furthermore, density and area of small biotopes could be expected to be higher in the organic farms, thus leading to a decreased distance between optimal habitats. This study compares species diversity and abundance of small mammals in conventional farms and intensively and extensively grown organic farms. In a wide range of different fields in conventional and organic farms, the diversity and density of small mammals were investigated by live-trapping sessions, comprising trap lines with 15 meters between each trap. We studied the responses of populations (belonging to 11 species of small mammals) to habitat patches of different size and different surrounding management strategies (ecological and conventional farming). We found a general correlation between the number of small mammal individuals and small biotope size. This correlation applies in autumn as well as in spring. There is only a weak tendency for more small mammals in small biotopes within organic farms compared within conventional farms. The number of small mammal species stabilises at small biotope sizes around 1000 square meters. The value of organic farms in respect to small mammal biodiversity depends mainly upon the number and area of small biotopes, and only to a minor degree upon the treatments of the fields

ORGANIC FARMS AS REFUGES FOR SMALL MAMMAL BIODIVERSITY

Habitat fragmentation, the process by which relatively continuous habitats is broken into smaller pieces, occurs in natural systems but is to a high degree also human- induced through landscape use. Fragmentation of the landscape produces a series of habitat patches surrounded by a matrix of different habitats and/or land use regimes. The major landscape consequences of fragmentation are loss of habitat, reduction in habitat patch size, and increasing isolation of habitat patches. In general, population performance declines in response to habitat loss but size of remaining area and isolation effects is known also to influence the population trend. Small mammals are well suited for examination of population responses to habitat fragmentation as they have modest spatial requirements and short generation times. In theory, organic farms could play an important role in the agricultural landscape as refuges for some small mammal species, as the lack of pesticide and fertiliser treatment, less weed control, more diversified crop structure and a general environmentalfriendly attitude, form a basis for habitats that provide cover and food for small mammals, and thus for larger predators of these species. Furthermore, density and area of small biotopes could be expected to be higher in the organic farms, thus leading to a decreased distance between optimal habitats

EFL Pragmatics Teaching in the Norwegian VG1 Programme for General Studies: Current Teacher Attitudes on the Development of Pupils’ Pragmatic Competence

Master's thesis in Literacy studiesThis thesis investigates pragmatics’ current position in the first year of the Norwegian EFL programme for upper secondary general studies classes. The aim was to ascertain whether pragmatics is explicitly or implicitly taught, and whether the development of pupils’ pragmatic competence is seen as relevant among Norwegian EFL teachers. To this end, a mixed-methods approach was used through a combination of interviews with ten teachers and distribution of DCTs among 166 16-17-year-old Norwegian EFL learners. The teachers and pupils were selected from five different upper secondary schools in Rogaland, Norway. Inspired by existing pragmalinguistic research carried out by Brubæk (2012) and Norenberg (2017), the current thesis and its results can be viewed as follow-up and support of their argument for giving pragmatics and development of pragmatic competence explicit attention in Norwegian EFL instructional settings. None of the interviewed teachers reported paying explicit attention to developing pragmatic competence in their lessons. The teachers also admitted that they were unfamiliar with the linguistic terms pragmatics and pragmatic competence. A general perception was that pragmatics receives little to no attention in Norwegian EFL classrooms. However, through teaching formal compared to informal writing, the pupils are implicitly (and unconsciously) introduced to pragmatics. Based on the interview data, other pragmatic issues, such as conventions of politeness in L2, are largely disregarded. Data from the DCTs demonstrated that that pupils rely on L1 request formulations in L2. Native speakers of English tend to more frequently use negation and combinations of past tense and past/present progressive aspects. Only a minor fraction of the participants demonstrated native-like modification, and negation was counted only twice among the data. Instead, pupils opted for simple ‘can I/you’-formulations and external modifications, such as grounders. The current study additionally means to contribute to and inspire further study on pragmatics’ and its position in Norwegian EFL instructional settings. To this date, the amount of research conducted on Norwegian pupils’ interlanguage pragmalinguistic performance is considerably low compared to similar research carried out internationally. As such, more research is needed to map the extent of possible lacking pragmatic competence in Norwegian EFL classrooms

Milankovitch climate forcing in the tropics of Pangaea during the Late Triassic

During the Late Triassic, the Newark rift basin of Eastern North America was in the interior of tropical (2.5–9.5°N) Pangaea. Strikingly cyclical lacustrine rocks comprise most of the 6770 m of continuous core recovered from this basin by the Newark Basin Coring Project. Six of the seven drill cores (each from 800 to 1300 m long) from this project are used to construct a composite lake-level curve that provides a much needed record of long term variations in continental tropical climate. The correlations on which the composite section is based show complete agreement between lake level cycles and independent magnetic polarity boundary isochrons. The main proxy of lake level and hence climate used to construct this lake level curve is a classification of water-depth related sedimentary structures and fabrics called depth ranks. We then use Fourier frequency analysis (both FFT and multitaper methods) and joint time-frequency approaches to resolve the periodic properties of the cyclicity and the secular drift in those properties. A consistent hierarchy in frequencies of the lake level cycles is present throughout the Late Triassic (and earliest Jurassic) portions of the cores, an interval of about 22 m.y. Calibration of the sediment accumulation rate by a variety of methods shows that these thickness periodicities are consistent with an origin in changes in precipitation governed by celestial mechanics. The full range of precession-related periods of lake level change are present, including the two peaks of the ∼20,000 year cycle of climatic precession, the two peaks of the ∼100,000 year eccentricity cycle, the single peak of the 412,900 year eccentricity cycle, and the ∼2,000,000 year eccentricity cycle. There is also good correspondence in the details of the joint-time frequency properties of lake level cycles and astronomical predictions as well. Even in an ice-free world, the tropical climate of Pangaea responded strongly to astronomical forcing, suggesting that precession-dominated climatic forcing probably always has been a prominent feature of tropical climate

Implications of astronomical climate cycles to the chronology of the Triassic

A high resolution climate record from a thick, continuous sedimentary sequence in the Newark basin provides the basis for an astronomically calibrated time scale for the Late Triassic. The astronomical vernier, indexed to radiometric dates that indicate an age of 202 Ma for the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, suggests that the Late Triassic was about 31 m.y. long, or constituted about 2/3 of the entire Triassic. A detailed geomagnetic polarity time scale developed in conjunction with the cycle stratigraphy provides a mechanism to extend the astronomical chronology to other sections in the world

High-resolution early Mesozoic Pangean climatic transect in lacustrine environments

Analysis of 6700 m of core from the Newark rift basin in New Jersey, USA provides a high-resolution astronomically calibrated magnetic polarity time scale for the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic spanning about 33 million years. This time scale, and its application elsewhere, allows a significant simplification of the pattern of climate-sensitive facies in the early Mesozoic basins of the central and north Atlantic margins. Coals and deep-water lacustrine deposits were produced at the paleoequator (Richmond-type sequences), while strikingly cyclical lacustrine and playa deposits were produced \00 to the north and south (Newark-type lacustrine sequences). At 10-30 ON, eolian dunes, playas sediments and evaporites were deposited (Fundy-type sequences). Farther north, shallow-water lacustrine red beds were deposited (Fleming Fjord-type sequences), while yet farther north (-40°), perennial-lake black mudstones and coals again dominated in the humid temperate zone (Kap Stewart-type sequences). Central Pangea drifted north about 10° during the Late Triassic, and the vertical sequence of climate-sensitive facies in individual basins changed as the basins passed through different climate zones. This simple zonal climate pattern explains most first-order changes in overall lacustrine sequences seen in the rift zone. Lakelevel cycles of Milankovitch origin change in a predicable way with the latitudinal shifts in climate and lacustrine style. Roughly \0 ky precessional cycles dominate within a few degrees of the equator, while -20 ky precessional cycles are dominant northward to about 30 ON where 40 ky obliquity cycles become evident in lake-level records

Early Jurassic magnetostratigraphy and paleolatitudes from the Hartford continental rift basin (eastern North America) . . .

To determine whether the ~200 Ma central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) coincides with a normal polarity bias and a purported abrupt change in polar wander at the J1 cusp, we collected samples for paleomagnetic study from 80 sites distributed over a ~2500-m-thick section of sedimentary units that are interbedded with and overlie CAMP lavas in the Hartford basin, which together represent the initial 2.4 Ma of the Jurassic according to cycle stratigraphic analysis. Characteristic directions carried by hematite were isolated by thermal demagnetization in 71 sites and define a coherent magnetostratigraphy supported by a positive reversal test and an interbasin fold test. Despite a pronounced overall normal polarity bias (only three relatively short reverse polarity intervals could be confirmed in the sampled section), normal polarity Chron H24n that encompasses the CAMP extrusive zone is no more than 1.6 Ma in duration. Elongation/inclination analysis of the 315 characteristic directions, which have a flattened distribution, produces a result in agreement with a published mean direction for the CAMP volcanic units as well as published results similarly corrected for inclination error from the Newark basin. The three data sets (CAMP volcanics, Newark corrected sediments, and Hartford corrected sediments) provide a 201 Ma reference pole for eastern North America at 67.0°N, 93.8°E, A_95 = 3.2°. Paleopoles from the Moenave and Wingate formations from the Colorado Plateau that virtually define the J1 cusp can be brought into agreement with the 201 Ma reference pole with corrections for net clockwise rotation of the plateau relative to eastern North America and presumed sedimentary inclination error. The corrected data show that apparent polar wander for North America proceeds directly toward higher latitudes over the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic with no obvious change that can be associated with CAMP

Life Style Segmentation in a Service Industry: The Case of Fitness Spas

The number of fitness spas has increased greatly in the past decade, reflecting the development of a new market in America. This study uses life style as a means of segmenting the market for this relatively new service institution and draws implications for marketing managers. It characterizes spa members in terms of their attitudes and opinions, participation in both active and passive leisure pursuits, and their demographics. Spa marketers can act on the findings that members are younger persons who are open to influence from others, concerned about their appearance, confident in their own state of conditioning, and involved in a number of both active and passive pursuits

Wildlife friendly agriculture: which factors do really matter? A genetic study on field vole

The distribution of genetic differentiation and the directions of gene flow were determined mainly by landscape factors: thus the expectation that organic fields act as genetic reservoir was not met. The fact that agricultural area presented more sub-populations than the undisturbed one, together with the importance of connectivity and habitat size in shaping gene flow and genetic differentiation, shows that switching to organic farming might not be enough to ensure the conservation of species in the agricultural environment. These results emphasise the need to include landscape structure in management policies