Ants, fire, and bark traits affect how African savanna trees recover following damage

Bark damage resulting from elephant feeding is common in African savanna trees with subsequent interactions with fire, insects, and other pathogens often resulting in tree mortality. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how savanna trees respond to bark damage. We addressed this by investigating how the inner bark of marula (Sclerocarya birrea), a widespread tree species favoured by elephants, recovers after bark damage. We used a long‐term fire experiment in the Kruger National Park to measure bark recovery with and without fire. At 24 months post‐damage, mean wound closure was 98, 92, and 72%, respectively, in annual and biennial burns and fire‐exclusion treatments. Fire exclusion resulted in higher rates of ant colonization of bark wounds, and such ant colonization resulted in significantly lower bark recovery. We also investigated how ten common savanna tree species respond to bark damage and tested for relationships between bark damage, bark recovery, and bark traits while accounting for phylogeny. We found phylogenetic signal in bark dry matter content, bark N and bark P, but not in bark thickness. Bark recovery and damage was highest in species which had thick moist inner bark and low wood densities (Anacardiaceae), intermediate in species which had moderate inner bark thickness and wood densities (Fabaceae) and lowest in species which had thin inner bark and high wood densities (Combretaceae). Elephants prefer species with thick, moist inner bark, traits that also appear to result in faster recovery rates

Моделювання динамічних силових характеристик плунжерних токарних патронів з компенсаторами відцентрових сил

Efficient energy transfer was demonstrated in the SrF2:Eu2+, Pr3+ phosphor synthesized by the co-precipitation method. Results obtained with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) and decay curves proposed the UV-Vis energy transfer process. The energy transfer process between the Eu2+ and Pr3+ ions in SrF2 was investigated to evaluate the potential of the Eu2+ ion as a sensitizer for the Pr3+ ion. The results proposed that Eu2+ could be a good sensitizer for absorbing the UV photons and efficiently enhancing the Pr3+ emission intensity. The energy transfer process was effective until concentration quenching for the Pr3+ ions occurred. The concentration quenching was attributed to cross-relaxation between the Pr3+ ions. (C) 2016 Author(s).Funding Agencies|South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology; National Research Foundation of South Africa; National Research Foundation (NRF); Cluster program of the University of the Free State</p

A thorny issue: Woody plant defence and growth in an East African savanna

Recent work suggests that savanna woody plant species utilise two different strategies based on their defences against herbivory; a low nutrient/high chemical defence strategy and a nutrition paired with mostly architectural defences strategy. The concept that chemical and structural defences can augment each other and do not necessarily trade-off has emanated from this work. In this study, we examine woody plant defence strategies, how these respond to herbivore removal and how they affect plant growth in an East African savanna. At three paired long-term exclosure sites with high browser and mixed-feeder densities at Mpala Ranch, Kenya, we investigated: (a) whether defences employed by the dominant fine- and broad-leaved woody savanna species form defence strategies and if these align with previously proposed strategies, (b) how nine key plant defence traits respond to herbivore removal and (c) how effective the different defence strategies are at protecting against intense herbivory (by measuring plant growth with and without herbivores present). We identified three defence strategies. We found a group (a) with high N, short spines and high N-free secondary metabolites, a group (b) with high N, long spines and low N-free secondary metabolites and a group (c) with moderate N, no spines and low N-free secondary metabolites (most likely defended by unmeasured chemical defences). Structural defences (spine length, branching) were generally found to be induced by herbivory, leaf available N increased or did not respond, and N-free secondary metabolites decreased or did not respond to herbivory. Species with long spines combined with increased “caginess” (dense canopy architecture arising from complex arrangement of numerous woody and spiny axis categories) of branches, maintained the highest growth under intense browsing, compared to species with short spines and high N-free secondary metabolites and species with no spines and low N-free secondary metabolites. Synthesis. At our study site, structural traits (i.e. spines, increased caginess) were the most inducible and effective defences against intense mammalian herbivory. We propose that high levels of variability in the way that nutrient and defence traits combine may contribute to the coexistence of closely related species comprising savanna woody communities

Freeway management and the impact on response and clearance times

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.The first Freeway Management System (FMS) was launched as a pilot along the Ben Schoeman Freeway in Gauteng during 2007/2008. Since, then complete systems were rolled out in the larger Gauteng Area, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. These systems are currently being expanded in all three these areas to cover nearly 500 kilometres of freeways and which are controlled from three state-of-theart control centres in Midrand, Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg. In general, FMS offers various benefits, amongst others real-time information to the public for real-time route choices but it also offers faster detection times of incidents that should result in faster responses to the scene and better management of the scene. This paper explores the benefits of the FMS’s specifically in terms of what has happened to incident response and clearance times over the past 3,5 years. The focus is specifically on the performance of the Western Cape FMS. The system has been in place since May 2010, i.e. for nearly four years. Data was collected throughout this period and these are used to investigate operational trends. From the available data, it is evident that response times have reduced with at least 67% over the past three years. This applies to all responding services in the Western Cape. Clearance times of incidents involving fatalities have also reduced significantly from more than four hours to around 2, 5 hours. However, lately there has been an increasing trend which needs to be management carefully.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by CE Projects cc. Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected]

Understanding the mechanisms of sustainable capitalism: The 4S model

Neo‐capitalistic approaches to value creation have sometimes developed a bad reputation in terms of sustainability and care for the environment. Yet, there are examples to the contrary emphasising a concern for sustainable capitalism. Our literature synthesis suggests that there is a lack of understanding of the sustainability mechanisms—ways of working helping companies to achieve their leadership in sustainability and maintain it over time. We contribute by addressing this deficiency and specifying four discrete mechanisms which we call the 4S model. Specifically, we apply this model to the cases of two leading exponents of sustainability—Unilever and Patagonia—to explain how companies can operate as forces to change business practice and improve sustainability having regard to people, planet, and profits

Повышение эффективности управления финансовыми потоками в логистической системе предприятия

Материалы XVI Междунар. науч.-техн. конф. студентов, аспирантов и молодых ученых, Гомель, 28–29 апр. 2016 г

Decadal changes in fire frequencies shift tree communities and functional traits

Global change has resulted in chronic shifts in fire regimes. Variability in the sensitivity of tree communities to multi-decadal changes in fire regimes is critical to anticipating shifts in ecosystem structure and function, yet remains poorly understood. Here, we address the overall effects of fire on tree communities and the factors controlling their sensitivity in 29 sites that experienced multi-decadal alterations in fire frequencies in savanna and forest ecosystems across tropical and temperate regions. Fire had a strong overall effect on tree communities, with an average fire frequency (one fire every three years) reducing stem density by 48% and basal area by 53% after 50 years, relative to unburned plots. The largest changes occurred in savanna ecosystems and in sites with strong wet seasons or strong dry seasons, pointing to fire characteristics and species composition as important. Analyses of functional traits highlighted the impact of fire-driven changes in soil nutrients because frequent burning favoured trees with low biomass nitrogen and phosphorus content, and with more efficient nitrogen acquisition through ectomycorrhizal symbioses. Taken together, the response of trees to altered fire frequencies depends both on climatic and vegetation determinants of fire behaviour and tree growth, and the coupling between fire-driven nutrient losses and plant traits

Large herbivores may alter vegetation structure of semi-arid savannas through soil nutrient mediation

In savannas, the tree–grass balance is governed by water, nutrients, fire and herbivory, and their interactions. We studied the hypothesis that herbivores indirectly affect vegetation structure by changing the availability of soil nutrients, which, in turn, alters the competition between trees and grasses. Nine abandoned livestock holding-pen areas (kraals), enriched by dung and urine, were contrasted with nearby control sites in a semi-arid savanna. About 40 years after abandonment, kraal sites still showed high soil concentrations of inorganic N, extractable P, K, Ca and Mg compared to controls. Kraals also had a high plant production potential and offered high quality forage. The intense grazing and high herbivore dung and urine deposition rates in kraals fit the accelerated nutrient cycling model described for fertile systems elsewhere. Data of a concurrent experiment also showed that bush-cleared patches resulted in an increase in impala dung deposition, probably because impala preferred open sites to avoid predation. Kraal sites had very low tree densities compared to control sites, thus the high impala dung deposition rates here may be in part driven by the open structure of kraal sites, which may explain the persistence of nutrients in kraals. Experiments indicated that tree seedlings were increasingly constrained when competing with grasses under fertile conditions, which might explain the low tree recruitment observed in kraals. In conclusion, large herbivores may indirectly keep existing nutrient hotspots such as abandoned kraals structurally open by maintaining a high local soil fertility, which, in turn, constrains woody recruitment in a negative feedback loop. The maintenance of nutrient hotspots such as abandoned kraals by herbivores contributes to the structural heterogeneity of nutrient-poor savanna vegetation