Revealing side effects of quota rules on group cooperation

ArticleThe quota rule in employment is a legal tool to promote gender equality in professions and positions where women are underrepresented. An accompanying assumption is that gender diversity positively affects one of the aspects of team performance in form of group cooperation. However, it is unclear whether this positive effect can be achieved if diversity increases due to a quota rule. In two fully incentivized experiments involving a real-effort task (N1 = 188 and N2 = 268), we examined the impact of quotas as compared to performance-based promotion on group cooperation. We thereby categorized participants either with regard to gender or to an artificial category that was randomly assigned. Cooperation within groups declined when promotion was based on quota compared to performance-based promotion, irrespective of the categorization criterion. Further analyses revealed that this negative effect of quota rules on cooperation is not driven by procedural fairness perceptions or expectations about performance of the promoted group member. Implications of the results for the implementation of equality and diversity initiatives are discussed

Modeling biodiversity benchmarks in variable environments

Effective environmental assessment and management requires quantifiable bio-diversity targets. Biodiversity benchmarks define these targets by focusing on specific biodiver-sity metrics, such as species richness. However, setting fixed targets can be challenging becausemany biodiversity metrics are highly variable, both spatially and temporally. We present a mul-tivariate, hierarchical Bayesian method to estimate biodiversity benchmarks based on the spe-cies richness and cover of native terrestrial vegetation growth forms. This approach usesexisting data to quantify the empirical distributions of species richness and cover withingrowth forms, and we use the upper quantiles of these distributions to estimate contemporary,“best-on-offer”biodiversity benchmarks. Importantly, we allow benchmarks to differ amongvegetation types, regions, and seasons, and with changes in recent rainfall. We apply ourmethod to data collected over 30 yr at~35,000 floristic plots in southeastern Australia. Ourestimated benchmarks were broadly consistent with existing expert-elicited benchmarks, avail-able for a small subset of vegetation types. However, in comparison with expert-elicited bench-marks, our data-driven approach is transparent, repeatable, and updatable; accommodatesimportant spatial and temporal variation; aligns modeled benchmarks directly with field dataand the concept of best-on-offer benchmarks; and, where many benchmarks are required, islikely to be more efficient. Our approach is general and could be used broadly to estimate bio-diversity targets from existing data in highly variable environments, which is especially relevantgiven rapid changes in global environmental conditions.This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CE11001000104) and the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritag

Eaten out of house and home:impacts of grazing on ground-dwelling reptiles in Australian grasslands and grassy woodlands

Large mammalian grazers can alter the biotic and abiotic features of their environment through their impacts on vegetation. Grazing at moderate intensity has been recommended for biodiversity conservation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested the benefits of moderate grazing intensity in systems dominated by native grazers. Here we investigated the relationship between (1) density of native eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus, and grass structure, and (2) grass structure and reptiles (i.e. abundance, richness, diversity and occurrence) across 18 grassland and grassy Eucalyptus woodland properties in south-eastern Australia. There was a strong negative relationship between kangaroo density and grass structure after controlling for tree canopy cover. We therefore used grass structure as a surrogate for grazing intensity. Changes in grazing intensity (i.e. grass structure) significantly affected reptile abundance, reptile species richness, reptile species diversity, and the occurrence of several ground-dwelling reptiles. Reptile abundance, species richness and diversity were highest where grazing intensity was low. Importantly, no species of reptile was more likely to occur at high grazing intensities. Legless lizards (Delma impar, D. inornata) were more likely to be detected in areas subject to moderate grazing intensity, whereas one species (Hemiergis talbingoensis) was less likely to be detected in areas subject to intense grazing and three species (Menetia greyii, Morethia boulengeri, and Lampropholis delicata) did not appear to be affected by grazing intensity. Our data indicate that to maximize reptile abundance, species richness, species diversity, and occurrence of several individual species of reptile, managers will need to subject different areas of the landscape to moderate and low grazing intensities and limit the occurrence and extent of high grazing

Temporal dynamics in biotic and functional recovery following mining David J. Eldridge

12 páginas.- 5 figuras.- referencias.- Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of the article at the publisher’s website.Human-induced disturbance has substantially influenced the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems globally. However, the extent to which multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) recover following anthropogenic disturbance (ecosystem recovery) remains poorly understood. We report on the first study examining the temporal dynamics in recovery of multifunctionality from 3 to 12 years after the commencement of rehabilitation following mining-induced disturbance, and relate this information to changes in biota. We examined changes in 57 biotic (plants, microbial) and functional (soil) attributes associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services at four open-cut coal mines in eastern Australia. Increasing time since commencement of rehabilitation was associated with increases in overall multifunctionality, soil microbial abundance, plant productivity, plant structure and soil stability, but not nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration nor soil nutrients. However, the temporal responses of individual ecosystem properties varied widely, from strongly positive (e.g. litter cover, fine and coarse frass, seed biomass, microbial and fungal biomass) to strongly negative (groundstorey foliage cover). We also show that sites with more developed biota tended to have greater ecosystem multifunctionality. Moreover, recovery of plant litter was closely associated with recovery of most microbial components, soil integrity and soil respiration. Overall, however, rehabilitated sites still differed from reference ecosystems a decade after commencement of rehabilitation. Synthesis and applications. The dominant role of plant and soil biota and litter cover in relation to functions associated with soil respiration, microbial function, soil integrity and C and N pools suggests that recovering biodiversity is a critically important priority in rehabilitation programs. Nonetheless, the slow recovery of most functions after a decade indicates that rehabilitation after open-cut mining is likely to protracted.This project was supported by funding from the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Planning and Environment (DPIE). T.P., T.R. and B.H. were supported by Umwelt (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and The Australian Umwelt Research Program (grant C27038), B.W. by the NSW Environment Trust (2017/RD/0095). M.D-B. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant (RYC2018-025483-I), a project from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-115813RA-I00), and a project PAIDI 2020 from the Junta de Andalucía (P20_00879). We thank Carmen Castor (University of Newcastle) for field support, Laura Castaneda-Gomez, Giles Ross, Chaturika Daulagala (Western Sydney University), the Environmental Analytical Research and Carbon Laboratories (University of New England) and the DPIE Soil and Water Environmental Laboratory (Yanco) for laboratory support. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley - University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.Peer reviewe

Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies

An Author Correction to this article: DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22955-x.Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.Peer reviewe

Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries

Data availability: The data generated in this study have been deposited in the Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STKFR). Non-experimental data included in our datasets (i.e., intensity of government response to COVID-19 is the Stringency Index, COVID-19 deaths and cases per million) are taken from the Oxford COVID−19 Government Response Tracker [22 Hale, T. et al. A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID−19 Government Response Tracker). Nat. Human Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01079-8 (2021).] and Our World in Data [38 Ritchie, H. et al. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus (2020).] (downloaded November 2020). Wave 0 data are from [3 Gelfand, M. J. et al. Differences between tight and loose cultures: a 33-nation study. Science 332, 1100–1104 (2011).[ and Wave 1 data are from [5 Eriksson, K. et al. Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies. Nat. Commun. 12, 1481 (2021).].Code availability: The survey and analysis code are available at the Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STKFR).Supplementary information is available online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44999-5#Sec40 .The emergence of COVID-19 dramatically changed social behavior across societies and contexts. Here we study whether social norms also changed. Specifically, we study this question for cultural tightness (the degree to which societies generally have strong norms), specific social norms (e.g. stealing, hand washing), and norms about enforcement, using survey data from 30,431 respondents in 43 countries recorded before and in the early stages following the emergence of COVID-19. Using variation in disease intensity, we shed light on the mechanisms predicting changes in social norm measures. We find evidence that, after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing norms increased while tightness and punishing frequency slightly decreased but observe no evidence for a robust change in most other norms. Thus, at least in the short term, our findings suggest that cultures are largely stable to pandemic threats except in those norms, hand washing in this case, that are perceived to be directly relevant to dealing with the collective threat.Knut and Wallenberg Grant “How do human norms form and change?” 2016.0167. (G.An.). The Swedish Research Council grant “Norms & Risk: Do social norms help dealing with collective threats” 2021-06271 (G.An.). Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca, PRIN 2017, prot. 20178TRM3F (D.B.). Universidad de Los Andes, Fondo Vicerrectoría de Investigaciones (J.-C.C.). Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary, National Research, Development and Innovation Fund NKFIH-OTKA K135963 (M.F.). Grant 23-061770 S of the Czech Science Foundation (M.H. and S.G.). RVO: 68081740 of the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences (M.H. and S.G.). RA Science Committee, research project N.20TTSH-070 (A.Gr. and N.Khac.). Open University of Israel, 511687 (R.N.). HSE University Basic Research Program (E.O.). Project BASIC (PID2022-141802NB-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe” (A.Sá.). US Army Research Office Grant W911NF-19-1-910281 (B.S.). Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, 019.183SG.001 (E.S.). Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, VI.Veni.201 G.013 (E.S.). European Commission, Horizon 2020-ID 870827 (E.S.). UKRI Grant “Secret Power” No. EP/X02170X/1 awarded under the European Commission’s “European Research Council - STG” Scheme (G.A.T.)