Space Use of the White-Backed Woodpecker in a Heterogeneous Landscape: Implications for Forest Management

Deforestation and forest management have resulted in massive habitat loss and habitat degradation for forest-dependent species, particularly for those associated with late successional stages. Whether integrative conservation measures, e.g., retaining deadwood and habitat trees in managed forests, are sufficient for the conservation of such species is unclear. In heterogeneous forest landscapes, habitat specialists with large area requirements may use a variety of forest stands to compensate for the lack of high-quality habitat or to meet different biological requirements. Investigating the space use of old-growth forest species in landscapes comprising stands of different management intensity may thus help to provide key insights into the potential of managed forests as habitat for such species and to better incorporate their requirements into forest management planning. In this thesis, I examined the space use of the white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos, a habitat specialist associated with old deciduous and mixed forests with high amounts of deadwood and a species of high conservation concern in Europe. I used data of adult white-backed woodpeckers radio-tracked in a region with high heterogeneity in landscape composition and forest management intensity combined with data on forest structure characteristics to examine variation in home range size and habitat selection in different seasons and at various spatial scales. The aims of this thesis were to close knowledge gaps in this species’ ecology and to find out how the occurrence of an old-growth forest specialist can be reconciled with forest management. In Chapter 1, I computed seasonal and yearly home range sizes based on three home range estimators and examined variation in home range size in relation to season, year, sex, and body weight. Home range size varied depending on the used home range estimator and between seasons, with minimum convex polygons and autocorrelated kernel density estimation producing 1.6 – 1.8 and 2 – 3.3 times larger seasonal home ranges than traditional kernel density estimation, and summer, fall and winter home ranges being 1.6 to 3.3 times larger than those during the breeding season in spring. These results highlight the usefulness of using multiple methods for home range estimation and the importance of considering the full annual cycle for assessing home range sizes. In Chapter 2, I evaluated three hypotheses proposed to explain variation in breeding and post-breeding home range sizes: the resource distribution hypothesis, the restricted habitat availability hypothesis, and the intraspecific competition hypothesis. I found support for the resource distribution and intraspecific competition hypotheses in the breeding season, whereas none of the hypotheses explained post-breeding home range size. In the breeding season, home range size decreased with increasing proportion of resource-rich habitat, particularly when forest cover was low. Moreover, breeding home range size decreased with increasing population density when the proportion of resource-rich habitat was high. These results suggest that the mechanisms determining breeding home range size varied with habitat quality. In regions with low forest cover and presumably low habitat quality, home range size appeared to be mainly determined by the distribution of resources. By contrast, home range size in regions with high habitat quality seemed to be restricted by intraspecific competition. I concluded that deadwood and old trees should ideally be clumped within stands with little or no forest management, and that these resource-rich forests should constitute a high proportion of areas at least the size of a breeding home range to improve the habitat quality for the white-backed woodpecker. In Chapter 3, I analyzed seasonal habitat selection at three hierarchical levels. White-backed woodpeckers selected old deciduous and mixed stands for establishing seasonal home ranges within the annual home range in both the pre-breeding and breeding seasons, and deadwood and large-diameter trees at the level of foraging tree selection throughout the year and in all habitat types. By contrast, the proportions of all measured habitat types within post-breeding, summer/fall and winter home ranges corresponded to their availability in an area representing the annual home range, and within the seasonal home range, the habitat types were used according to their availability during all seasons. These findings suggest that coniferous and young deciduous forests can generally serve as non-breeding habitat for white-backed woodpeckers as long as suitable foraging trees and close-by (largely) unmanaged old deciduous or mixed stands are available as breeding habitat. In Chapter 4, I investigated the occurrence of the white-backed woodpecker in 60 study sites in relation to local habitat (forest structure characteristics within the sites, i.e., at the spatial scale of the breeding home range) and landscape context (habitat amount, habitat fragmentation, and matrix quality at spatial scales ranging from 1 to 25 times the annual home range size). Habitat amount, habitat fragmentation and matrix quality at the landscape scale explained 2.5 times more of the variance in occurrence probability than local habitat (however, the amount of deadwood was high also in absence sites), showing that conservation measures for the white-backed woodpecker might be ineffective in areas with low forest cover at the landscape scale, even if enough high-quality habitat at the local scale is available. I concluded that conservation measures should focus on the conservation of and habitat improvements in areas with enough forest to sustain multiple breeding pairs, and that these areas should ideally be connected via dispersed patches of old deciduous forest. In summary, the results of the four chapters show that addressing multiple seasons, spatial scales, and levels of habitat selection might be necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of a species’ space use. In accordance with previous studies on the white-backed woodpecker’s habitat requirements, the results of the thesis generally confirm the high importance of old deciduous or mixed forest with abundant deadwood as breeding habitat for this habitat specialist, underpinning its dependence on old forest stands with low management intensity and supporting the idea of land-sparing as useful conservation approach for a deadwood-dependent species. Complementing this existing knowledge, I found that white-backed woodpeckers appeared to be more flexible in their space use and less bound to old deciduous forests in the non-breeding season; as they selected deadwood and large-diameter trees in all forest types throughout the year, integrative measures such as the retention of deadwood and habitat trees in more intensively managed stands (including coniferous and young deciduous or mixed stands) may thus be a useful supplement in areas close to old (almost) unmanaged stands. Lastly, the high importance of the landscape context for the occurrence of the white-backed woodpecker showed that conservation measures might only be effective if the surrounding landscape is taken into account

The effective moisture history of the Amazon Basin for the last 40,000 years, reconstructed from ODP site 942 on the Amazon Fan.

The Amazon Basin is the site of the Earth's largest land-based atmospheric convection centre, and acts as a large source of latent heat release, particularly during the summer months when the South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) is most developed. Convectional rainfall over the Amazon Basin therefore plays a fundamental role in the transport of heat to the higher latitudes, and the regulation of global climate. The Pleistocene moisture history of the Amazon Basin is comparatively poorly known. However, sediments from the Amazon Fan have the potential to record a basin-wide average of past changes in the effective moisture of the Amazon Basin within single, continuous sequences, which accumulate rapidly. Oxygen isotopes (6lsO) records were measured for five planktonic foraminifera species from ODP Site 942 on the Amazon Fan. Data were constrained by an age model constructed around 36 AMS radiocarbon dates, which were converted to calibrated calendar ages. Past changes in the outflow of the Amazon River were reconstructed by attempting to isolate the relative shift in 6I80942 brought about by freshwater-driven changes in salinity in the surface water over the Site. 6I80942 records were adjusted for fractionation effects associated with changes in global ice volume, however removing the sea surface temperature (SST) effect was more problematic. A6I80942 data implied that the Amazon Basin was more arid during the glacial stage relative to the Holocene. Co-variance with November-December insolation at 10 S implied that this was associated with insolation-driven variations in the intensity of the SASM. Particularly high-resolution records were measured for the last glacial-interglacial transition. Maximum aridity was reconstructed around the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) in the Northern Hemisphere, after which effective moisture levels exhibited an increasing trend thereafter throughout the period, correlating with a warming trend in Antarctica. A similarity between the A6I80942 data and the Vostock ice core temperature record (6D) suggests a possible Antarctic forcing over the climate of the Amazon Basin. It was hypothesised that Northern and Southern hemisphere temperature gradients exert independent control over the northerly and southerly limits of SASM convection over the Amazon Basin. An isotopic balancing model was used to attempt to semi-quantify the Amazon River outflow. Assuming a SST cooling of 2 to 3 C, the Amazon River outflow was modelled to have been reduced by up to -30-50% at the YD onset, and by up to -20-30% during the Last Glacial Maximum. However semi-quantified reconstructions are limited by the assumptions of the model

Distriktssköterskors erfarenheter av förskrivning av inkontinenshjälpmedel inom hemsjukvården till äldre personer med urininkontinens

Urininkontinens är ett folkhälsoproblem som berör cirka 40 procent av den äldre befolkningen och drygt en halv miljon personer över 65 år har besvär med urininkontinens i Sverige. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka erfarenheter distriktssköterskor har av förskrivning av inkontinenshjälpmedel till äldre personer inom hemsjukvården. Kvalitativa intervjuer har valts som metod till denna studie och 15 distriktssköterskor inom hemsjukvården har intervjuats. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av innehållsanalys och visade att distriktssköterskorna belyste vikten av ett personligt möte och att skapa en god relation till personen med urininkontinens. Distriktssköterskorna önskade tydligare rutiner vid förskrivning av inkontinenshjälpmedel, för att kunna öka kvaliteten vid utförandet av utredning, utprovning och uppföljning och därmed kunna öka livskvaliteten för personer med urininkontinens samt kunna minska kostnaderna för samhället

Major changes in glacial and Holocene terrestrial temperatures and sources of organic carbon recorded in the Amazon fan by tetraether lipids

The Amazon basin is a major component of the global carbon and hydrological cycles, a significant natural source of methane, and home to remarkable biodiversity and endemism. Reconstructing past climate changes in the Amazon basin is important for a better understanding of the effect of such changes on these critical functions of the basin. Using a novel biomarker proxy, based on the membrane lipids of soil bacteria with a new regional calibration, we present a reconstruction of changes in mean annual air temperatures for the Amazon catchment during the last 37 kyr B. P. Biomarkers were extracted from Ocean Drilling Program sediment core ODP942 recovered from the Amazon fan. The Amazon fan is a major depository for terrestrial sediments, with the advantage that the terrestrial material captured reflects a regional integration of the whole river catchment. The reconstructed tropical Amazonian temperatures were similar to 5 degrees C cooler at the Last Glacial Maximum (similar to 21 degrees C) compared to modern values (similar to 26 degrees C). This is in agreement with previous estimates of tropical continental temperatures in the tropical Amazon basin and tropical Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum. Moreover, we also illustrate how the soil bacterial membrane lipid record reveals major changes in basin dynamics and sediment provenance during the glacial-Holocene transition, impacting the biomarker reconstructions from similar to 11 kyr onward

Habitatwahl des Weißrückenspechts (Dendrocopos leucotos) in Vorarlberg, der Ostschweiz und dem Fürstentum Liechtenstein

Habitatmodelle werden häufig zur Ermittlung der Habitatansprüche einer Art verwendet und sind eine wichtige Grundlage für die Planung vieler Naturschutzmaßnahmen. In dieser Arbeit wurde die Habitatwahl des Weißrückenspechts (Dendrocopos leucotos), der wegen seiner hohen Abhängigkeit von Totholz als Urwaldspezialist gilt, im Raum Vorarlberg/Ostschweiz/Liechtenstein untersucht. Seit einigen Jahrzehnten kommt er hier in den Wirtschaftswäldern vor und breitet sich weiter nach Westen aus. Occupancy models wurden zum Vergleich verschiedener Hypothesen (a priori-Modelle) sowie a posteriori erstellter Modelle verwendet. Die Vorkommenswahrscheinlichkeit war vor allem mit Variablen zur Waldstruktur korreliert: Sie nahm mit zunehmendem durchschnittlichem Durch-messer der lebenden Bäume sowie stehenden und liegenden Totholzes und der Verfügbarkeit von xylobionten Käferlarven an stehendem Totholz zu. Ferner nahm sie mit zunehmender Höhe über dem Meeresspielgel ab. Die Standortbedingungen spielten eine untergeordnete Rolle. Analysen auf unterschiedlichen räumlichen Ebenen deuteten darauf hin, dass ein kleinräumiges Angebot der mit einer hohen Vorkommenswahrscheinlichkeit verbundenen Habitatstrukturen in Form von Totholzinseln für das Vorkommen des Weißrückenspechts im Untersuchungsgebiet ausreichend ist. Untersuchungsflächen mit hoher Vorkommenswahrscheinlichkeit waren gleichmäßig über das gesamte Untersuchungsgebiet verteilt. Insgesamt schließt eine forstliche Nutzung der Wälder das Vorkommen des Weißrückenspechts nicht aus; jedoch sollte diese zur Erhaltung und Förderung der Weißrückenspechtpopulationen extensiv erfolgen. Alt- und Totholzinseln sowie ein hoher Laubholzanteil sollten dabei erhalten bleiben oder gefördert werden.Habitat models are a common tool to assess the factors driving habitat selection, and are a pre-requisite for many conservation measures. I investigated habitat selection of the white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos), a species highly dependent on dead wood and regarded as typical for primeval forests, in Vorarlberg (Western Austria), Eastern Switzerland and Liech-tenstein. Here, the species has increasingly been found in managed forests. I used site-occupancy models to compare a priori expectations as well as models built a poste-riori. Occupancy probability was mainly related to variables concerning forest structure: it was positively related to the average dbh of live trees and snags, the mean diameter of lying dead wood, and the availability of saproxylic beetles. In addition, it was negatively related to elevation above sea level. In general, forest structure seemed to be more important than topography. Analyses at different spatial scales indicated that small patches containing habitat factors asso-ciated with high occupancy probability are sufficient for the occurence of white-backed wood-peckers in the study area. Study plots with high occupancy probability were distributed evenly over the whole study area. Altogether, forest management in white-backed woodpecker habitats is possible, but should be done extensively. Patches with old, deciduous forests and high quantities of large dead wood should be retained or created to enhance habitat quality for this species.eingereicht von: Antonia EttweinMit englischer ZusammenfassungUniversität für Bodenkultur Wien, Masterarbeit, 2016(VLID)193544

Fractional estimates for non-differentiable elliptic systems with general growth

Abstract In this paper we study the regularity of weak solutions of the elliptic system − div(A(x, ∇u)) = b(x, ∇u) with non-standard ϕ-growth condition. Here ϕ is a given Orlicz function. We are interested in the case where A and b are not differentiable with respect to x but only Hölder continuous with exponent α. We show that the natural quantity V(∇u) is locally in the Nikolskiȋ space N α,2 . From this it follows that the set of singularities of V(∇u) has Hausdorff dimension less or equal n − 2 α, where n is the dimension of the domain Ω . One of the main features of our technique is that it handles the case of the p-Laplacian for 1 < p < ∞ in a unified way. There is no need to use different approaches for the cases p ≤ 2 and p ≥ 2

Development of a sustainable gender diversity strategy to increase the number of female senior leaders at Royal Philips

Even though women and men have entered the managerial ranks of organizations to the almost same numbers, women still remain drastically underrepresented. Of the Fortune 500 CEO positions only 5.2% and about 21.2% (Catalyst 2018) of the board seats are held by female leaders. For women of color the numbers are shockingly low. These women are almost absent on most Fortune 500 companies and only hold 3.1% of board seats in this category (Catalyst 2015). In Europe however, the percentage of female director at STOXX 600 companies has increased constantly over the past years and therefore resulted in slightly better numbers. By 2015 almost 25% of directors were female and the average percentage of female holding board seats made 2.8% (EWoB 2015). Research of Carter, N.M. and Silva, C. (2010) shows, that even if women are graduating from global leading business schools their career progress lags in comparison to their male counterparts. This means that despite the organizations efforts of implementing gender discrimination policies and focusing on gender equality, they have not been able to fuel women´s career development (Ely et al. 2011). But why do organizations still struggle to increase the number of female leaders today? This report will elaborate possible factors that are causing failing attempts of organizations in general to then conclude a strategic solution for Philips to successfully change their people strategy towards gender equality. Research shifted from the assumption of intentional gender discrimination within companies towards invisible barriers that cause thriving women not to reach the top (Ely et al. 2011). Those barriers are deeply rooted assumptions about gender that have a long history in the evolution of our society. Starting with how society is influencing how people think about women being leaders and the assumptions they make about the ability one being a leader based on gender (Anderson et al. 2006; Eagly, Carli 2003). The key to success might be a shift in people´s mindset. Here fore, this report will introduce the reader to the problematic of the unconscious bias (Cheryl Staats 2014). Speaking of invisible barriers this theory might be the most important factor for organizations to make a difference. However, the question of why so many women get stuck in the c-suite remains unanswered. One answer to this question repeatedly pops up in research reports and papers which is “Glass Ceiling” (Susan Chira 2017). Because gender equality becomes more and more important for organizations in order to stay competitive, Philips decided to shift its people strategy towards “Inclusion & Diversity” in 2017 (Jong, de 2017). The reason for this shift also lies within the innovative aspect. Diversity fosters creativity and therefor innovation which is a differentiator for Philips. However, this report tries to answer the question on how Philips can actually increase the number of senior female leaders. It will identify possible barriers that need to be removed in order to support the development of female employees to the top ranks of management. The structure or this report is as followed. Chapter 1 will introduce the reader to the research structure to set expectations and give an overview about how the content has been created. Chapter 2 will introduce Philips as an organization after the split of Philips Lighting in 2012. Showing how the function of Human Resource Management is structured and what parts of it are directly influenced by the set KPI. To give an overview on the literature that has been conducted and therefore methodology, chapter 3 will offer explanation on basic concepts that have a direct impact on women in leadership. Here the report will start to focus on gender diversity and two major obstacles women have to overcome in today’s workplace in order to be successful. Chapter 4 will provide a deep dive into the internal talent management processes of Philips and identify possible improvement areas. Chapter 5 will then analyze common concepts on how to support the development senior female leaders and show opportunities as well as limitations for Philips. Moreover it will be discussed how to best merge external concepts with internal processes in order to build a framework for the organization and its workforce. Finally, the importance of engaging men into the discussion of gender diversity will be underlined. Analyzing possible barriers men experience to determine what prevented them in the past to join the gender discussion. Possible solutions will be identified on how to remove those barriers. Chapter 6 will summarize the findings of this report. It will be discussed how the new approach can be realized for Philips as an organization

Einfluss von Wildschweinaktivitäten auf das Helm-Knabenkraut (Orchis militaris L.) in den Tullnerfelder Donauauen

Mit der Ausbreitung von Wildschweinen in Mitteleuropa wird immer häufiger beobachtet, dass die Knollen verschiedener Orchideenarten ausgegraben und gefressen werden. Bisher wurde grundsätzlich angenommen, dass dies primär negative Auswirkungen auf die oft ohnehin schon gefährdeten Orchideenbestände hat. Störungen können in der Pflanzenökologie jedoch durchaus auch mit positiven Effekten, wie der Schaffung guter Keimbedingungen, verbunden sein. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde anhand der Orchideenart Orchis militaris untersucht, wie sich die Entnahme einzelner Pflanzen durch Wildschweine tatsächlich auf eine Orchideenpopulation auswirken kann, indem die Populationsstruktur auf durchwühlten und ungestörten Plots auf einer Fläche in Niederösterreich analysiert wurde. Ziel war außerdem, die Gefährdungssituation der Orchideenart einzuschätzen und mögliche Managementmaßnahmen zu erarbeiten. In der untersuchten Population haben Wildschweinaktivitäten zu einer Verschiebung der Populationsstruktur geführt. Grundsätzlich wurden bei der untersuchten Population nur die Knollen von adulten Individuen, die im Vorjahr geblüht haben, gefressen, da sich Schwarzwild bei der Nahrungssuche an den abgestorbenen Blütentrieben orientiert. Orchideenbestände unter Wildschweineinfluss wiesen daher niedrigere Anteile blühender Individuen auf, während die Anteile juveniler Individuen deutlich höher waren als bei ungestörten Beständen. Die Populationsgröße wurde nicht durch Wildschweine beeinflusst. Durch die Entfernung adulter Orchideen, die Konkurrenz zu den Jungpflanzen bilden, profitiert auch die Fitness juveniler Orchideen, während diese bei den verbliebenen adulten Individuen unter Wildschweineinfluss reduziert ist. Insgesamt scheinen sich positive und negative Effekte auszugleichen, sodass die untersuchte Orchideenpopulation derzeit als nicht gefährdet eingeschätzt wird kann und keine speziellen Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Orchideen vor Schwarzwild durchgeführt werden müssen.With the dispersal and increase of wild boar populations in Central Europe, damages of orchid populations have been observed with increased frequency as wild boar use their bulbs as food. This has been assumed to have negative consequences on the orchid populations, which are often threatened by other factors, too. However, disturbances can also have positive effects on plant populations, such as the generation of suitable sites for the germination of seeds. In this master thesis, the actual impact of wild boar on an orchid population of Orchis militaris was investigated by analyzing the population structure on disturbed and undisturbed plots at a site in Lower Austria. Further aims were to assess whether the population is threatened by wild boar or not and to consider possible management measures. Wild boar has led to a change in the population structure of the investigated orchid population. As wild boar use dead inflorescences of orchids to find their bulbs, mainly adult individuals were digged out. Thus, orchid populations under the influence of wild boar had much lower proportions of flowering plants, whereas the proportions of juvenile individuals were significantly higher than in undisturbed populations. Population size was not influenced by wild boar. The removal of adult orchids as intraspecific competition has led to an increased fitness of the juvenile orchids, whereas the fitness of the remaining adult individuals has been reduced by wild boar. All in all, the investigated orchid population was found not to be threatened by wild boar as the positive and negative effects seem to balance out. Therefore, the implementation of specific management measures is not necessary.eingereicht von Antonia EttweinMit englischer ZusammenfassungUniversität für Bodenkultur Wien, Masterarbeit, 2015(VLID)193595

Integration of Foreign Doctors in German Hospitals: A Qualitative Study - Barriers and Best Practices Encountered Through Their Journey

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the professional journey of thirteen foreign doctors and the opinion of a German doctor, to explore how their integration process has been into the German labor market, taking into account their personal experiences; especially what they thought was helpful and the obstacles that they encountered during their journey, and to make recommendations for hospitals to help them address the integration of foreign doctors, something that should be done as soon as possible, due to the rising amount of foreign physicians coming to Germany to cover the many open positions that can no longer be filled by the local population. The thesis is divided in four large sections; the first serves as a basis to understand the problem of the shortage of physicians in Germany; the second one is a literature review taking into account the migration of health professionals, cultural standards, intercultural competence and communication, the different acculturation strategies that immigrants use, inpatriation and integration, and last the management of diversity in healthcare; the third one has to do with the methodology that was used; and the last two parts encompass the findings and recommendations. In conclusion, it can be said that recruiting foreign physicians is a very good way of approaching the actual shortage of physicians that exists in Germany. However, it is imperative that health care organizations, are aware that the integration process of foreign doctors and the adaptation of the whole organization to this new working environment is of extreme importance to provide the quality care that is expected at any health care institution, and it is imperative that hospitals recognize the need to include diversity management and a Willkommenskultur as vital pillars for the organization

Fractional estimates for non-differentiable elliptic systems with general growth

Diening L, Ettwein F. Fractional estimates for non-differentiable elliptic systems with general growth. Forum Mathematicum. 2008;20(3):523-556