Secondary tropical forests recover dung beetle functional diversity and trait composition

Secondary forests dominate some human‐modified tropical biomes, and this is expected to increase via both abandonment of marginal agricultural land as well as forest and landscape restoration programmes. A key question is whether promoting the recovery and protection of secondary tropical forests will return invertebrate functional diversity and associated functional traits. Dung beetles are ideal for assessing functional diversity as they play vital roles in several ecosystem functions, including seed dispersal, nutrient cycling and bioturbation. We examined how taxonomic and functional diversity, and the functional trait composition of native dung beetle species recovers in naturally regenerating secondary forests in comparison to both cattle pastures and primary forest in the Colombian Choco‐Andes, a global hotspot of threatened biodiversity. Using a space‐for‐time approach, we found that taxonomic and functional diversity recovered to levels comparable to primary forest within approximately 30 years of secondary forest regrowth. Functional richness and FD, measures of the diversity of traits present in a community, were similar in secondary and primary forest, but significantly lower in pasture. Rolling dung beetle species were positively associated with forest habitats, particularly primary, while dwelling species were more common in pasture. Thus, the functional trait composition of secondary forests was more similar to primary forest than to pasture. The ability of secondary forests to rapidly accumulate primary‐forest dung beetle functional diversity, and a representative suite of functional traits, provides an opportunity to protect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, especially in regions where marginal agricultural land allows cost‐effective conservation actions

Bogolyubov approximation for diagonal model of an interacting Bose gas

We study, using the Bogolyubov approximation, the thermodynamic behaviour of a superstable Bose system whose energy operator in the second-quantized form contains a nonlinear expression in the occupation numbers operators. We prove that for all values of the chemical potential satisfying $\mu > \lambda(0)$, where $\lambda (0)\leq 0$ is the lowest energy value, the system undergoes Bose--Einstein condensation

Monitoring changes in genetic diversity

DNA is the most elemental level of biodiversity, drives the process of speciation, and underpins other levels of biodiversity, including functional traits, species and ecosystems. Until recently biodiversity indicators have largely overlooked data from the molecular tools that are available for measuring variation at the DNA level. More direct analysis of trends in genetic diversity are now feasible and are ready to be incorporated into biodiversity monitoring. This chapter explores the current state-of-the-art in genetic monitoring, with an emphasis on new molecular tools and the richness of data they provide to supplement existing approaches. We also briefly consider proxy approaches that may be useful for many-species, global scale monitoring cases

Leptonic decay constants f_Ds and f_D in three flavor lattice QCD

We determine the leptonic decay constants in three flavor unquenched lattice QCD. We use O(a^2)-improved staggered light quarks and O(a)-improved charm quarks in the Fermilab heavy quark formalism. Our preliminary results, based upon an analysis at a single lattice spacing, are f_Ds = 263(+5-9)(+/-24) MeV and f_D = 225(+11-13)(+/-21) MeV. In each case, the first reported error is statistical while the is the combined systematic uncertainty.Comment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy), Fermilab, June 21-26, 2004. 3 pages, 2 figure

A global map to aid the identification and screening of critical habitat for marine industries

Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations. No publicly available tools have been developed in either the marine or terrestrial realm to assess the likelihood of sites or operations being located within PS6-defined Critical Habitat. This paper presents a starting point towards filling this gap in the form of a preliminary global map that classifies more than 13 million km2 of marine and coastal areas of importance for biodiversity (protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas [KBA], sea turtle nesting sites, cold- and warm-water corals, seamounts, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarshes, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps) based on their overlap with Critical Habitat criteria, as defined by IFC. In total, 5798×103 km2 (1.6%) of the analysis area (global ocean plus coastal land strip) were classed as Likely Critical Habitat, and 7526×103 km2 (2.1%) as Potential Critical Habitat; the remainder (96.3%) were Unclassified. The latter was primarily due to the paucity of biodiversity data in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction and/or in deep waters, and the comparatively fewer protected areas and KBAs in these regions. Globally, protected areas constituted 65.9% of the combined Likely and Potential Critical Habitat extent, and KBAs 29.3%, not accounting for the overlap between these two features. Relative Critical Habitat extent in Exclusive Economic Zones varied dramatically between countries. This work is likely to be of particular use for industries operating in the marine and coastal realms as an early screening aid prior to in situ Critical Habitat assessment; to financial institutions making investment decisions; and to those wishing to implement good practice policies relevant to biodiversity management. Supplementary material (available online) includes other global datasets considered, documentation and justification of biodiversity feature classification, detail of IFC PS6 criteria/scenarios, and coverage calculations

Natural and anthropogenic lead in sediments of the Rotorua lakes, New Zealand

Global atmospheric sources of lead have increased more than 100-fold over the past century as a result of deforestation, coal combustion, ore smelting and leaded petroleum. Lead compounds generally accumulate in depositional areas across the globe where, due to low solubility and relative freedom from microbial degradation, the history of their inputs is preserved. In lakes there is rapid deposition and often little bioturbation of lead, resulting in an excellent depositional history of changes in both natural and anthropogenic sources. The objective of this study was to use sediments from a regionally bounded set of lakes to provide an indication of the rates of environmental inputs of lead whilst taking into account differences of trophic state and lead exposure between lakes. Intact sediment gravity cores were collected from 13 Rotorua lakes in North Island of New Zealand between March 2006 and January 2007. Cores penetrated sediments to a depth of 16–30 cm and contained volcanic tephra from the 1886 AD Tarawera eruption. The upper depth of the Tarawera tephra enabled prescription of a date for the associated depth in the core (120 years). Each core showed a sub-surface peak in lead concentration above the Tarawera tephra which was contemporaneous with the peak use of lead alkyl as a petroleum additive in New Zealand. An 8 m piston core was taken in the largest of the lakes, Lake Rotorua, in March 2007. The lake is antipodal to the pre-industrial sources of atmospheric lead but still shows increasing lead concentrations from <2 up to 3.5 μg g−1 between the Whakatane eruption (5530 ± 60 cal. yr BP) and the Tarawera eruption. Peaks in lead concentration in Lake Rotorua are associated with volcanic tephras, but are small compared with those arising from recent anthropogenic-derived lead deposition. Our results show that diagenetic processes associated with iron, manganese and sulfate oxidation-reduction, and sulfide precipitation, act to smooth distributions of lead from anthropogenic sources in the lake sediments. The extent of this smoothing can be related to changes in sulfate availability and reduction in sulfide driven by differences in trophic status amongst the lakes. Greatest lead mobilisation occurs in mesotrophic lakes during seasonal anoxia as iron and manganese are released to the porewater, allowing upward migration of lead towards the sediment–water interface. This lead mobilisation can only occur if sulfides are not present. The sub-surface peak in lead concentrations in lake sediments ascribed to lead alkyl in petroleum persists despite the diagenetic processes acting to disperse lead within the sediments and into the overlying water

Leveraging sponsorship to achieve consumer relationship objectives through the creation of ‘marketing spaces’: An exploratory study

This paper explores the emergence of sponsorship-linked events as a strategy to leverage relational outcomes through sponsorship investment. The growing use of sponsorship-linked events reinforces the need to understand the potential of such leverage strategies, thus the findings contribute to the body of literature on effective sponsorship practices. Findings from semi-structured interviews with Sponsorship and Marketing Managers suggest a shifting orientation among sponsors towards the pursuit of relational objectives. The privileged access to consumers afforded through sponsorship allows sponsors to manufacture opportunities to create intimacy with customers through sponsorship-linked events in relaxed, comfortable environments; thus sponsorship-linked events are positioned as a rich environment to add value to consumer–brand interactions and achieve relational objectives. Hosting specifically designed events affords sponsors an increased modicum of control over consumer–brand experiences in sponsorship environments characterised by a lack of control over sponsored property actions. However, this control may be eroded by social media technologies, which facilitate consumer–consumer communication around sponsorship-linked events. Social media, however, is proposed as a useful tool to elicit consumer feedback, addressing the misalignment between current sponsorship evaluation practices and emergent relational objectives revealed in the empirical findings. Therefore, successfully activating the sponsorship-linked marketing space demands an integrated and strategic approach

Automated analysis of atrial late gadolinium enhancement imaging that correlates with endocardial voltage and clinical outcomes: A 2-center study

This work was supported by the British Heart Foundation PG/10/37/28347, RG/10/11/28457, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre funding, and the ElectroCardioMaths Programme of the Imperial BHF Centre of Research Excellence

Back reaction in the formation of a straight cosmic string

A simple model for the formation of a straight cosmic string, wiggly or unperturbed is considered. The gravitational field of such string is computed in the linear approximation. The vacuum expectation value of the stress tensor of a massless scalar quantum field coupled to the string gravitational field is computed to the one loop order. Finally, the back-reaction effect on the gravitational field of the string is obtained by solving perturbatively the semiclassical Einstein's equations.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX, no figures. A postcript version can be obtained from anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.ifae.es/preprint.f

Protecting habitats in low-intensity tropical farmland using carbon-based payments for ecosystem services

Tropical land-use change for agricultural expansion is the primary driver of global biodiversity decline. Efforts to stem this decline often focus on protecting pristine habitats or returning farmland to forest, yet such approaches fail to protect vulnerable taxa reliant on habitats within low-intensity farmland. We assess the economic viability of carbon-based payments for ecosystem services (PES) to protect farmland trees and fallowing in Ghana, which provide vital wintering sites for imperiled Afro-palearctic migrant birds and enhance landscape-level carbon storage. We estimate the carbon breakeven prices (BEPs) associated with alternative agricultural management scenarios that protect existing farmland trees. BEPs associated with tree protection on existing farmland were very low, ranging from US$2.49 to US$6.45 t−1 CO2. Extending and reintroducing fallow periods also carried competitive BEPs, US$4.67—US$15.45 t−1 CO2, when combined with the protection of 50 trees per hectare. Accounting for leakage and economic uncertainty increased BEPs considerably, but scenarios protecting farmland trees and extending fallow periods remained below EU Emissions Trading Scheme prices. Protecting low-intensity farmland habitats and associated biodiversity is cost-effective under carbon-based PES. Implementation should be combined with efforts to close yield gaps, providing greater local food security and resilience