3,417 research outputs found
Pollinator Community Homogenization and Pollination Services in Agroecosystems
Pollination, or the transfer of pollen to plant stigmas, is an essential part of plant reproduction. The term “pollination system” refers to the floral phenotype and pollinator of a given plant. Although angiosperms exhibit a variety of different pollination systems, most rely partially or completely on animals, particularly insects, to vector their pollen. In agricultural systems, understanding the pollination system of the crop species is necessary to produce an economically valuable yield. Moreover, agricultural management may affect pollination systems by altering the abundance, diversity, or function of the pollinator community. In natural ecosystems, there is a great diversity of pollinating insects. This pollinator diversity may be vulnerable to global change and land use. One concern is that land use change may homogenize these pollinator communities, which in turn might affect their pollination service to angiosperms. To better understand the effect of agriculture on the homogenization of pollinator communities, we conducted a survey of pollinator diversity in different land-use types in eastern Tennessee. We sampled flower-visiting (pollinating) insects from the landscape around experimental plots of plants native to Tennessee. We found that the plots represent a subset of the pollinator diversity at the landscape level at most of our sites but found no effect of land-use type of pollinator community homogenization. To complement this landscape survey, we also evaluated pollination services in a focal agricultural crop. First, we conducted a greenhouse study to evaluate biotic effects of tree health and pollen donor on fruit set. We found that tree identity and size affected the probability of fruit set in greenhouse cacao trees. Another way to evaluate the effect of management on agricultural pollination services is to measure fruit set in different management scenarios. For example, agroforestry is a more sustainable way to grow cacao (Theobroma cacao), an extremely important crop world-wide; however, the effects of agroforestry on cacao pollination are unknown. In addition, pollination may affect the varietal purity of cacao, thereby affecting its market value. We conducted a hand-pollination experiment on Criollo and Trinitario cacao grown within an agroforestry setting in Punta Gorda, Belize. We examined the self-pollination and cross-variety compatibility of these cacao varieties. We found that the Criollo variety can self-pollinate whereas the Trinitario variety cannot. However, both varieties are compatible with one another, leading to implications for pure heirloom chocolate production where they are grown in close proximity
Observations of the Optical Afterglow of GRB 050319 : Wind to ISM transition in view
The collapse of a massive star is believed to be the most probable progenitor
of a long GRB. Such a star is expected to modify its environment by stellar
wind. The effect of such a circum-stellar wind medium is expected to be seen in
the evolution of a GRB afterglow, but has so far not been conclusively found.
We claim that a signature of wind to constant density medium transition of
circum-burst medium is visible in the afterglow of GRB 050319. Along with the
optical observations of the afterglow of GRB 050319 we present a model for the
multiband afterglow of GRB 050319. We show that the break seen in optical light
curve at 0.02 day could be explained as being due to wind to constant
density medium transition of circum-burst medium, in which case, to our
knowledge, this could be the first ever detection of such a transition at any
given frequency band. Detection of such a transition could also serve as a
confirmation of massive star collapse scenario for GRB progenitors, independent
of supernova signatures.Comment: 11 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure
Implications of the metallicity dependence of Wolf-Rayet winds
Aims: Recent theoretical predictions for the winds of Wolf-Rayet stars
indicate that their mass-loss rates scale with the initial stellar metallicity
in the local Universe.We aim to investigate how this predicted dependence
affects the models of Wolf-Rayet stars and their progeny in different chemical
environments. Methods: We compute models of stellar structure and evolution for
Wolf-Rayet stars for different initial metallicities, and investigate how the
scaling of the Wolf-Rayet mass-loss rates affects the final masses, the
lifetimes of the WN and WC subtypes, and how the ratio of the two populations
vary with metallicity. Results: We find significant effects of metallicity
dependent mass-loss rates for Wolf-Rayet stars. For models that include the
scaling of the mass-loss rate with initial metallicity, all WR stars become
neutron stars rather than black holes at twice the solar metallicity; at lower
, black holes have larger masses. We also show that our models that include
the mass-loss metallicity scaling closely reproduce the observed decrease of
the relative population of WC over WN stars at low metallicities.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
The Night and Cultural Benefit : The Case for a Holistic Approach to Licensing
This research article critically engages with the Licensing Act (2003), arguing for a more holistic approach to licensing. Drawing on primary research conducted in London for the Greater London Authority (GLA), the article considers the positive benefits of licensed venues and the possibility of extending the licensing objectives to include their role in sustaining urban vitality. The current licensing objectives are steered towards minimising negative outcomes, with the assumption being that licensing is primarily a tool of control and minimising harm. The argument developed here is based on two alternative conceptions of the role of licensing. Firstly, licensing has a key role to play in developing sites for sociability and community cohesion. Though focused around alcohol, licensing is central to enabling or constraining more traditional as well as emerging spaces which combine entertainment, dining and other experimental forms of leisure. Second, the article argues that by addressing urban vitality and cultural benefit, the Act could be more attuned to the positive influence of licensed premises at a broader scale. The need for planning and licensing to work more cooperatively is considered in light of how licensing decisions reach beyond individual venues and impact on entire neighbourhoods or areas. Focusing on two London boroughs, Croydon and Lambeth, the paper examines how the current approach by local authorities to licensing could therefore be re-framed in more positive terms to acknowledge the wider cultural benefits and social good of licensed premises
On the nature of the progenitors of three type II-P supernovae: 2004et, 2006my and 2006ov
The pre-explosion observations of the type II-P supernovae 2006my, 2006ov and
2004et, are re-analysed. In the cases of supernovae 2006my and 2006ov we argue
that the published candidate progenitors are not coincident with their
respective supernova sites in pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope
observations. We therefore derive upper luminosity and mass limits for the
unseen progenitors of both these supernovae, assuming they are red supergiants:
2006my (log L/Lsun = 4.51; mass < 13Msun) and 2006ov (log L/Lsun = 4.29; mass <
10Msun). In the case of supernova 2004et we show that the yellow-supergiant
progenitor candidate, originally identified in Canada France Hawaii Telescope
images, is still visible ~3 years post-explosion in observations from the
William Herschel Telescope. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope and Gemini
(North) adaptive optics late-time imagery reveal that this source is not a
single yellow supergiant star, but rather is resolved into at least three
distinct sources. We report the discovery of the unresolved progenitor as an
excess of flux in pre-explosion Isaac Newton Telescope i'-band imaging.
Accounting for the late-time contribution of the supernova using published
optical spectra, we calculate the progenitor photometry as the difference
between the pre- and post-explosion, ground-based observations. We find the
progenitor was most likely a late K to late M-type supergiant of 8 +5/-1 Msun.
In all cases we conclude that future, high-resolution observations of the
supernova sites will be required to confirm these results.Comment: 43 pages (pre-print format), 12 figures, 10 tables. Significant
revision following referee's comments. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Coping with Persistent Pain, Effectiveness Research into Self-management (COPERS): statistical analysis plan for a randomised controlled trial
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated
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