Elucidating human-nature connectedness in three EU countries: A pro-environmental behaviour perspective

1. Strengthening positive human-nature relationships is seen as a way to more pro-environmental behaviour and leads to a greater environmental sustainability. Therefore, understanding human-nature relationships has attracted increasing attention among researchers. Nature connectedness is a concept developed to measure such relationships. Since nature connectedness is complex and context dependent phenomenon, more research comparing sociocultural and environmental factors within societies in different countries is needed to understand its determinants.2. In this study, we explored how sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and value orientation of respondents and environmental variables affected nature connectedness across different contexts in the European Union. We used 11 sociodemographic, socioeconomic and personal value factors from the computer-assisted web interview (CAWI) and six environmental variables characterizing the local environments of 1054 respondents as independent variables to explain the nature connectedness of the respondents in Greece, Poland and Sweden. The individual level of nature connectedness (response variable) was expressed by an additive index (NC-index) based on a 5-item scale originating from CAWI. The general additive model was applied to link NC-index to sociodemographic, value orientation and selected environmental variables.3. We found that the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and their value orientation were substantially more important in explaining the individual level of nature connectedness than environmental variables. The NC-index was positively correlated with the frequency of visits to the natural environment and biospheric values of the respondents, and was higher for women and the most prosperous respondents. Moreover, we observed several country-wise differences in associations between explanatory variables and NC-index. For example, altruistic orientation was positively related to the level of nature connectedness only in Greece, but not in two other countries, and residence during childhood was important to nature connectedness only in Sweden.4. Our findings that some sociodemographic, socioeconomic and value orientation variables affect the level of individual nature connectedness across studied countries are encouraging. They indicate that some universally applied educational actions may elevate the level of nature connectedness. We argue that exploration of nature connectedness from a cross-country perspective may provide significant insights into the environmental debate in national and international contexts

The paradox of soft singularity crossing and its resolution by distributional cosmological quantitities

A cosmological model of a flat Friedmann universe filled with a mixture of anti-Chaplygin gas and dust-like matter exhibits a future soft singularity, where the pressure of the anti-Chaplygin gas diverges (while its energy density is finite). Despite infinite tidal forces the geodesics pass through the singularity. Due to the dust component, the Hubble parameter has a non-zero value at the encounter with the singularity, therefore the dust implies further expansion. With continued expansion however, the energy density and the pressure of the anti-Chaplygin gas would become ill-defined, hence from the point of view of the anti-Chaplygin gas only a contraction is allowed. Paradoxically, the universe in this cosmological model would have to expand and contract simultaneously. This obviosly could not happen. We solve the paradox by redefining the anti-Chaplygin gas in a distributional sense. Then a contraction could follow the expansion phase at the singularity at the price of a jump in the Hubble parameter. Although such an abrupt change is not common in any cosmological evolution, we explicitly show that the set of Friedmann, Raychaudhuri and continuity equations are all obeyed both at the singularity and in its vicinity. We also prove that the Israel junction conditions are obeyed through the singular spatial hypersurface. In particular we enounce and prove a more general form of the Lanczos equation.Comment: 12 pages; to be published in Phys.Rev.

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015

Winter foraging of the Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius in managed forest in south-central Sweden

The results of the study on winter foraging of radio-tagged Black Woodpeckers Dryocopus martius (n = 6) in south-central Sweden (59° 40'N, 15°25'E) are presented. The foraging places (n = 112) of tracked individuals were described and fresh droppings collected from these places (n = 83) were analysed. Among different types of dead wood, cut stumps created by forestry were found to be the most important foraging substrate and constituted from 64 to 78% of all strata used by particular individuals. Woodpeckers used stumps proportionally to their availability, however selection for stumps of larger diameter was observed. Carpenter ants Camponotus herculeanus were the most important food items found in all droppings. I discuss the shift in the foraging habits of the Black Woodpecker which enabled the species to successfully spread into heavily managed forest plantations

Population fluctuations of woodpecker species on the Baltic island of Aasla, SW Finland

The results of the monitoring of woodpecker abundance on the island ofAasla (Finnish Baltic coast) during 1979-1995 are presented and analysed. Population fluctuations on Aasla were similar to those in mainland Finland in the case of the Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus and the Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. Breeding abundance of Black Woodpeckers was negatively correlated with snow depth and positively correlated with temperature in February. Also, breeding densities ofGreat Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor correlated positively with mean January and February temperatures . We suggest that several mild winters in the second part of the study period (1988-1995), are the primary reasons for the continuously high population densities of Grey-headed and Black Woodpeckers . We did not find any evidence indicating competition between Grey-headed and Black Woodpeckers. We stress the need for creating foraging substrates (e .g . standing dead wood) as food sources for woodpecker species in boreal forests under severe winter conditions

Contribution des démarches prospectives différenciées au renforcement des logiques ségrégatives. Exploration dans l’aire d’influence de la « ville nouvelle » de Cergy-Pontoise

Terrains d’intenses mobilités résidentielles, les espaces urbains et périurbains se décomposent et se recomposent en permanence. Ces mobilités résidentielles résultent des choix effectués par les micro-acteurs que sont les ménages, choix susceptibles d’être interprétés comme des stratégies territoriales à part entière ou des tactiques face à des contraintes. À la différence des stratégies d’immobilité, celles qui conduisent à des mobilités contribuent, par leurs multiples impacts, à renforcer..

Vectorial Generalized g-Fractional Direct and Iterated Quantitative Approximation by Linear Operators

In this work we consider quantitatively with rates the convergence of sequences of linear operators applied on Banach space valued functions. The results are pointwise estimates with rates. To prove our main results we use an elegant and natural boundedness property of our linear operators by their companion positive linear operators. Our inequalities are generalized g-direct and iterated fractional involving the right and left vector Caputo type generalized g-direct and iterated fractional derivatives, built in vector moduli of continuity. We treat wide and general classes of Banach space valued functions. We give applications to vectorial Bernstein operators. See also[6]