Meadow birds in Sweden – population trends, effects of restoration and management

The area of Swedish wet meadows has decreased drastically during the last century due to cultivation and abandonment. During the same time the meadow bird fauna have changed considerably. Here the population sizes and recent trends for 33 bird species commonly occurring on Swedish wet meadows are reviewed. 16 of the species have declining populations; 7 species have increasing populations, while 10 have more or less stable populations. However, several of the species also occur in other habitats, and population changes in meadow habitats have probably been more extensive than reflected by the overall data. Generally, management dependent species, such as waders, have declined strongly, while passerines connected to unmanaged habitats have had stable or increasing populations. Since the 1980s conservation of wet meadow birds have been prioritized in conservation and the area of managed wet meadows have increased. Available data suggests that some species (Lapwing, Yellow Wagtail, Curlew and Redshank) have increased at least in some restored areas. However, no general increase in bird numbers was found for all species after restoration. We present evidence for four not mutually exclusive hypotheses explaining this result: (1) An increase in population size due to restoration measures is more likely if the target species is still present in the area. (2) Restoration measures fail to increase bird numbers if landscape composition and site characteristics do not meet the habitat requirements of the target species. (3) Since there are large differences between mowing and grazing and furthermore grazing intensity on the structure and composition of grasslands, target species might not benefit from restoration measures in the presence of unfavourable grassland management. (4) The lack of effectiveness of restoration measures on target species might be caused by insufficient water levels resulting from former regulations of rivers and lakes. It is recommended that evaluations of effects of restoration measures and different management regimes should be encouraged since high quality data for such evaluations are still scarce.Die Fläche des Feuchtgrünlandes in Schweden hat sich im letzten Jahrhundert durch Nutzungsaufgabe und Kultivierung drastisch verringert. Zeitgleich sind auch erhebliche Veränderungen in der Wiesenvogelfauna feststellbar. Die vorliegende Studie beleuchtet die Bestandsentwicklung von 33 in schwedischen Grünlandgebieten auftretenden Brutvogelarten. Von diesen weisen 16 Arten abnehmende Bestände auf. Bei 7 Arten konnte eine Bestandszunahme festgestellt werden. 10 weitere Arten schließlich sind im Bestand stabil. Allerdings ist bei dieser Analyse zu berücksichtigen, dass einige dieser Arten auch in anderen Habitaten vorkommen. Deshalb ist nicht auszuschließen, dass die Populationsveränderungen im Grünland bei einigen Vogelarten möglicherweise weit reichender sind als es die landesweiten Trends vermuten lassen. Allgemein zeigt sich derzeit, dass alle auf eine landwirtschaftliche Bewirtschaftung angewiesene Brutvogelarten (z.B. viele Limikolen) deutliche Populationseinbußen verzeichnen. Singvögel dagegen, die auch eine gewisse Bindung an bestimmte Brachestadien besitzen, sind im Bestand stabil oder nehmen sogar zu. Seit den 1980er Jahren hat der Schutz von Wiesenvögeln in Schweden Priorität. Dies äußert sich u.a. in einer Zunahme restaurierter Feuchtgrünlandgebiete. Monitoringdaten legen den Schluss nahe, dass bestimmte Arten (hier: Kiebitz, Schafstelze, Großer Brachvogel und Rotschenkel) zumindest in einigen dieser restaurierten Gebiete zugenommen haben. Allerdings erfolgte keine grundsätzliche Zunahme aller Zielarten nach erfolgter Restauration. Wir präsentieren Belege für vier Hypothesen, die diesen Befund zu erklären suchen: (1) Eine Zunahme bei Zielarten ist wahrscheinlicher, wenn diese vor Durchführung der Restaurationsmaßnahmen noch als Brutvögel im Gebiet vertreten sind. (2) Restaurationsmaßnahmen führen bei Zielarten dann nicht zum Erfolg, wenn vorhandene Landschaftsstrukturen den Habitatansprüchen der Zielarten entgegenstehen. (3) Da Beweidung und Mahd, praktiziert in unterschiedlichen Intensitäten, auch zu unterschiedlichen Grünlandtypen in Struktur und Pflanzenartenzusammensetzung führen, kann die vor Ort praktizierte Grünlandnutzung durchaus nicht mit den Habitatansprüchen bestimmter Zielarten im Einklang stehen. (4) Die fehlende Effektivität von Restaurationsmaßnahmen auf bestimmte Brutvogelarten des Feuchtgrünlandes steht möglicherweise in Verbindung mit einer ungenügenden Optimierung des Wasserhaushaltes. Letztere resultiert vielfach aus früheren Eingriffen an schwedischen Flüssen und Seen. Es wird empfohlen, die Auswirkungen von Restaurations- und Managementmaßnahmen im Grünland stärker als bisher wissenschaftlich zu begleiten, da belastbare Daten in diesem Bereich nach wie vor selten sind

Tools to support the self assessment of the performance of Food Safety Management Systems

Changes in food supply chains, health and demographic situations, lifestyle and social situations, environmental conditions, and increased legislative requirements have led to significant efforts in the development of quality and safety management systems in agribusiness and food industry worldwide (Ropkins and Beck, 2000; Efstratiadis, Karirti, and Arvanitoyannis, 2000; Jacxsens, et al, 2009a, Luning and Marcelis, 2009a). Nowadays, companies have implemented various quality assurance (QA) guidelines and standards, such as GMP and HACCP guidelines (like General Principles of food hygiene (Codex Alimentarius 2003), GFSI guidance document (GFSI (2007), and quality assurance standards (like ISO 9001:2008 (2008), ISO22000:2005 (2005), BRC (2008), and IFS (2007) into their company own food safety management system. The performance of such systems in practice is, however, still variable. Moreover, the continuous pressure on food safety management system (FSMS) performance and the dynamic environment wherein the systems operate (such as emerging pathogens, changing consumer demands, developments in preservation techniques) require that they can be systematically analysed to determine opportunities for improvement (Wallace, et al, 2005; Manning et al, 2006; Van der Spiegel et al, 2006; Cornier et al, 2007; Luning et al, 2009a). Within the European project entitled ‘PathogenCombat- EU FOOD-CT-2005-007081’ various tools have been developed to support food companies and establishments in systematically analysing and judging their food safety management system and its microbiological performance as basis for strategic choices on interventions to improve the FSMS performance. This chapter describes briefly principles of the major tools that have been developed and some others, which are still under still under construction

Sektion 41: Urbanes Grün / Pflanzenschutz im Siedlungsraum I

41-2 - Brauchen wir Pflanzenschutzmittel für den Haus- und Kleingartenbereich? Do we need plant protection products for amateur gardens?Martin Hommes41-3 - Regelungen für die Zulassung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln für nichtberufliche und berufliche Anwender zur Anwendung im Haus- und Kleingartenbereich Regulations governing the authorisation of plant protection products for nonprofessional and professional users for use in home gardening according to the German Plant Protection ActRolf Forster41-4 - Harmonisierung der Anforderungen an nicht-berufliche Anwender von Pflanzenschutzmitteln und an die Zulassung im Haus- und Kleingarten innerhalb der EU: Stand und Handlungsbedarf Harmonization of requirements for non professional users of plant protection products and for the registration in the home and garden area within the EU: Situation and need for action)Jörg Stappen41-5 - Garten Trends - Wohin entwickelt sich der Haus- und Kleingarten? Garden Trends - what is the development of private gardens and allotments?Gisela Fockenbrock41-6 - Onlineportal „Pflanzenschutz im Garten“: Angebot des Umweltbundesamts soll Einsatz und Fehlanwendungen von Pflanzenschutzmitteln im Haus- und Kleingartenbereich reduzieren Information platform „Plant protection in gardens“: New information tool of the German Federal Environment Agency for reducing use and accidental misuse of pesticidesMascha Schacht, Martin Hommes, Melanie Kemper, Regina Schreiber, Romeo Herr41-7 - Integrierten Pflanzenschutz im Haus und Garten leben To live integrated pest management in Home & GardenMartina Utenwieh

Recent Developments in Cultural Heritage Image Databases: Directions for User-Centered Design

published or submitted for publicatio

Organic Food "Made in China"

China joined the international organic movement comparatively late. Challenged by the scarcity of arable land and a large population to feed, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) for many years has been reluctant to support organic farming that might result in a drop of agricultural output. On the contrary, China’s “Green Revolution” catapulted the country to a leading producer and user of agrochemicals in the world. This development came at a high cost for the country’s environmental quality and food safety. In recent years, accumulating public complaints about environmental pollution, food poisoning, sickness and death of farmers poisoned by agrochemicals as well as increasing difficulties with agricultural exports rejected as a result of excessive chemical residues are observed. It is not only because of the problems mentioned above that recently the MoA became more supportive towards the organic food development, authorities also realized the growing opportunities for healthy food in the international as well as the domestic market. In fact, China’s organic food development cannot be analyzed without taking into account the fast development of organic food industries in industrialized countries during the past decade. At present organically grown food “made in China” is still a small - though fast growing - sector. The article takes a look at the development and current status of organic agriculture and organic food industry in China and discusses the prospects and limitations of the sector

The Skills to Pay the Bills: An Evaluation of an Effort to Help Nonprofits Manage Their Finances

This study examines a Wallace Foundation-sponsored initiative aimed at improving the financial management skills and practices of 25 Chicago afterschool providers through training and coaching. Two models for this professional development were provided and each produced long-lasting improvements. Moreover, organizations receiving the less-expensive group training and coaching improved almost as much as those receiving more intensive customized coaching

Reference catalogue for ICT services in healthcare : model for ICT service management, controlling and benchmarking : version 1.0

Translation of the German original

A model to assess customer alignment through customer experience concepts

Business and Information Technology Alignment (BITA) has been one of the main concerns of IT and Business executives and directors due to its importance to overall company performance, especially today in the age of digital transformation. For BITA has been developed several models which in general has focused in the implementation of alignment strategies for the internal operation of the organizations and in the measurement of this internal alignment, but, there is still a big gap in measurement models of the alignment with the external environment of the organizations. In this paper is presented the design and application of a maturity measurement model for BITA with the customers, where the customers are actors of the external environment of the companies. The proposed model involves evaluation criteria and business practices which the companies ideally do for improve the relationship with their customers.Comment: 12 pages, Preprint version, BIS 2019 International Workshops, Seville, Spain, June 26 to 28, 2019, Revised Paper

Reappearance of old growth elements in lowland woodlands in northern Belgium : do the associated species follow?

The forest cover of the western European lowland plain has been very low for centuries. Remaining forests were intensively managed, and old-growth elements like veteran trees and coarse woody debris became virtually absent. Only over the last decades have these old-growth elements progressively redeveloped in parks, lanes and forests, and have now reached their highest level over the last 500-1000 years. Biodiversity associated with these old-growth elements makes up an important part of overall forest biodiversity. The ability of species to recolonise the newly available habitat is strongly determined by limitations in their dispersal and establishment. We analyse the current status and development of old-growth elements in Flanders (northern Belgium) and the process of recolonisation by means of specific cases, focussing on saproxylic fungi and saproxylic beetles. Our results show that 'hotspots' of secondary old growth, even isolated small patches, may have more potential for specialised biodiversity than expected, and may provide important new strongholds for recovery and recolonisation of an important share of old-growth related species