Diversity and distribution of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in dry ecosystems of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

The present study provides a robust data set for ecological planning and conservation of dry ecosystems in western Germany in general and North Rhine-Westphalia in particular. We summarised all available data from recent publications that dealt with spiders in dry ecosystems of North Rhine-Westphalia. Additionally, so far unpublished results of a detailed investigation regarding spiders in sand habitats of the Westphalian Bay that was conducted between 2006 and 2008 are presented. The analysis focussed on the habitat types according to Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive and related habitats. The investigation areas were scattered in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The data set comprised a total of 84436 individuals from 371 species and 28 families. Overall, an endangerment status is assigned to 68 species. Of these, 12 spiders are in imminent danger of becoming extinct. Two species, Erigonoplus globipes and Meioneta simplicitarsis, are believed to be extinct in North Rhine-Westphalia. Seven species (Dictyna major, Mastigusa arietina, Micaria formicaria, Styloctetor romanus, Thanatus striatus, Theridion uhligi and Xysticus ferrugineus) are new to the arachnofauna of North Rhine-Westphalia

Quality assurance of the workshop activity - including test facilities

Especially for MS with various boarders it is essential to know the state of the testing system in the neighbour countries. In North Rhine Westphalia a well-established system is working well since years. But how is the situation in other Federal States like Rhineland Palatinate, Hessen or Lower Saxony? All three federal states are following the same EU Directive, but the responsibility of the local authorities is different compared to North Rhine Westphalia. But in all cases we are accepting a sticker on a sprayer throughout the whole Europe. Or how is the quality system in the Netherlands? Following that question a developed questionnaire and parameters for quality control of accepted workshops was provided in the shape of a SPISE Advice. This SPISE Advice was adapted to the local situation in North Rhine Westphalia. With this system a visit of a recognized workshop in the Netherlands was conducted in collaboration with local authorities (SKL). The reason for this visit was to be sure that there will be no problem with the mutual recognition of a tested sprayer. This review showed a good result with a comparable system between the Netherlands and North Rhine Westphalia. Especially in the case for establishing a new system the SPISE Advice was really helpful.Especially for MS with various boarders it is essential to know the state of the testing system in the neighbour countries. In North Rhine Westphalia a well-established system is working well since years. But how is the situation in other Federal States like Rhineland Palatinate, Hessen or Lower Saxony? All three federal states are following the same EU Directive, but the responsibility of the local authorities is different compared to North Rhine Westphalia. But in all cases we are accepting a sticker on a sprayer throughout the whole Europe. Or how is the quality system in the Netherlands? Following that question a developed questionnaire and parameters for quality control of accepted workshops was provided in the shape of a SPISE Advice. This SPISE Advice was adapted to the local situation in North Rhine Westphalia. With this system a visit of a recognized workshop in the Netherlands was conducted in collaboration with local authorities (SKL). The reason for this visit was to be sure that there will be no problem with the mutual recognition of a tested sprayer. This review showed a good result with a comparable system between the Netherlands and North Rhine Westphalia. Especially in the case for establishing a new system the SPISE Advice was really helpful

Spider fauna of semi-dry grasslands on a military training base in Northwest Germany (Münster)

The spider fauna of semi-dry grasslands on the military training area of Dorbaum near Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) was investigated. From 2002 to 2003 a total of 11,194 mature spiders from 141 species and 20 families was caught by pitfall trapping and hand sampling. Among them are 18 species listed in the Red Data Book of North Rhine-Westphalia, four species are rare or previously rarely recorded. Most of the spiders are habitat generalists that extend their occurrence into all types of habitats, while the number of species which are stenotopic to sand habitats is noticeably low (n = 13). The spider data were analysed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). It is possible to distinguish spider communities of neighbouring forested habitats from species groups of open habitats, but there is no uniform spider community which is characteristic for semi-dry grassland

Najas marina subsp. intermedia (WOLFG. ex GORSKI) CASPER (Hydrocharitaceae) in the lower Rhine region: the first record for North Rhine-Westphalia

Zwei Funde des Mittleren Nixkrauts (Najas marina subsp. intermedia) in Gewässern der Rheinaue in Duisburg geben Anlass, auf die in Nordrhein-Westfalen noch weitgehend unbekannte Art Najas marina mit ihrenbeiden Unterarten aufmerksam zu machen, zumal es Hinweise darauf gibt, dass die Sippen bundesweit in Ausbreitung begriffen sind. Während in jüngerer Zeit die subsp. marina in Nord- und Ostwestfalen erstmals für Nordrhein-Westfalen nachgewiesen wurde, liegt mit dem Fund der subsp. intermedia in Duisburg nun der Erstnachweis dieser Unterart für Nordrhein-Westfalen vor.Recent records of the Spiny Naiad (Najas marina subsp. intermedia) in shallow gravel pits in the flood plain of River Rhine at Duisburg suggesting that this species and its too subspecies, which are fairly uncommon for North Rhine-Westphalia, are about to expand their range. This assumption is supported by similar observations, which have been made across the country. While in recent years the subsp. marina has been recorded in northern and eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, the subsp. intermedia found by Duisburg represents the first record for North Rhine-Westphalia

Performing Art Libraries at Duesseldorf : their role in the field of introducing computer-based information management within the Theatre Museum and the Film Museum

Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state with the highest number of inhabitants in Germany. The city has a rich cultural history: The theatre history started in 1485 (the festivities in the context of a princely marriage at Düsseldorf). Theatre historiography marks three great periods for Düsseldorf (Immermann, 1834-1837; Dumont-Lindemann, 1905-1933; Gründgens, 1947-1955). The city has a long history of involvment with film, too. For instance the first German film journal „Der Kinematogaph“ began publishing here in 1907. Düsseldorf became after 1945 a distribution center and served for decades as site of all major German and foreign distributors‘ headquartes. It offers still a lot of cultural events: performing arts in different forms (theatre at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, musical at the Capitol, opera and ballet at the German Opera Düsseldorf-Duisburg, dance at the Tanzhaus (Dance House) North Rhine-Westphalia, free and independant theatre groups, private theatres, cinema, media, museums, cultural institutions, representing other countries like France, Poland ..

Rasmussen Travels with Delegation to Germany

The Minnesota delegation will attend a conference to explore energy opportunities between Minnesota and North Rhine-Westphalia

Konjunktur in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Wirtschaft wächst langsamer als in Deutschland insgesamt

Die Wirtschaft Nordrhein-Westfalens dürfte sich 2013 erneut ungünstiger entwickelt haben als in Deutschland insgesamt. Insbesondere der Industriesektor ist zurückgefallen, während sich die Wertschöpfung im Dienstleistungssektor mehr oder weniger parallel zu der in Deutschland entwickelte. Auch scheint das Land nicht am Aufschwung in der Bauwirtschaft partizipiert zu haben. Für das Jahr 2014 verbessern sich zwar die konjunkturellen Rahmenbedingungen, jedoch behalten belastende Faktoren ihren Einfluss. Aufgrund seines stark auf Kohle zugeschnittenen Energiesektors und der hohen Energieintensität seiner Wirtschaft wird das Land insbesondere durch die Energiewende belastet. Für 2014 ist eine Zunahme des nordrheinwestfälischen BIP um 1,1% zu erwarten (Deutschland: 1,5%). Mit der kräftigeren Expansion dürfte die Arbeitslosigkeit im Verlauf von 2014 wieder sinken.The economy in North Rhine-Westphalia most probably underperformed compared to Germany as a whole in 2013. In particular production in the manufacturing sector was weak whereas value added in the service grew more or less at the same rate as in Germany. Furthermore, North Rhine-Westphalia die not benefit f4rom the upswing in the construction sector. For 2014, the macroeconomic environment can be expected to improve. Nevertheless dampening factors remain in place. On the one hand, the energy sector in North Rhine-Westphalia very much depends on coal. On the other hand the production is more energy intensive. Therefore the economy suffers over proportionate from the "Energiewende". For 2014, GDP in North Rhine-Westphalia can be expects to grow by 1.1% (Germany: 1.5%). Under these conditions, unemployment will strat to shrink in the course of 2014

Organic Pilot Farms in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

Since 1993, research, advisory service and practice work together in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on solutions for selected issues of plant cultivation and animal husbandry with practical relevance for organic farmers. The project that is funded by NRW and the European Union entails demonstration and optimisation of selected organically operating farms and their methods of production as well as professional advice. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Organic Agriculture and executed in cooperation with the Chamber of Agriculture and contributes effectively to the expansion of Organic Agriculture (OA) in NRW. In this successful participatory and interdisciplinary cooperation between practice, extension service and research, 30 farms that are distributed all over NRW and integrate a wide range of different types of production in their typical local region are involved in developing the research questions, executing experiments and discussing results. Solutions are assessed and optimised on farm level and demonstrated in the practice of major farms in order to secure the knowledge transfer in extended agricultural practice. The feasibility of the methods is immediately assessed by practitioners and transmitted to colleagues

Remarks on an occurence of Orobanche hederae VAUCHER ex DUBY (Ivy Broomrape) in Dortmund, a rare plant species in North Rhine-Westphalia

Es wird über ein rezentes Vorkommen von Orobanche hederae (Efeu-Sommerwurz, Efeu-Würger) in Dortmund- Lütgendortmund berichtet sowie eine Einschätzung bezüglich der Herkunft, der Gefährdung und des floristischen Status dieses Vorkommens vorgenommen. Des Weiteren wird die pflanzengeografische Bedeutung des Fundes, speziell für den Ballungsraum Ruhrgebiet, aber auch für Westfalen insgesamt, diskutiert. Ferner wird eine Übersicht über die jüngsten Funde der Art in Nordrhein-Westfalen in den letzten zehn Jahren geliefert.This article reports a new occurrence of the rare parasitical plant species Orobanche hederae VAUCHER ex DUBY (Ivy Broomrape) in the city of Dortmund (Westphalia). A description and discussion of the origin, the threat of the current location and the importance of this finding in relation to the flora of the Ruhr Region and North Rhine- Westphalia will be given. Furthermore, an overview of occurrences of this species in North Rhine-Westphalia for the last ten years is provided

Candelaria pacifica and Xanthomendoza borealis in the region of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia – new to Germany

Die erst kürzlich beschriebene Flechtenart Candelaria pacifica wurde an mehreren Stellen in Aachen (Nordrhein-Westfalen/Deutschland) und benachbarten Gebieten in Belgien und den Niederlanden gefunden. Dies stellt zumindest für Deutschland einen Neufund dar. Ein isoliertes Vorkommen der arktisch-antarktischen Flechte Xanthomendoza borealis (= Xanthoria borealis) konnte in der nordwestlichen Eifel (Nordrhein-Westfalen/Deutschland) nachgewiesen werden. Hierbei handelt sich offenbar um einen Erstfund in Mitteleuropa.The recently described lichen species Candelaria pacifica has been found at some sites in Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia/Germany) and neighboring areas of Belgium and the Netherlands. The species is new at least for Germany. An isolated occurrence of the arctic-antarctic lichen Xanthomendoza borealis (= Xanthoria borealis) was found in the north-western Eifel Mountains (North Rhine-Westphalia/Germany) and appears to be the first record in Central Europe