Catastrophic impact of wild boars: insufficient hunting pressure pushes snakes to the brink

International audienceClimatic changes, habitat loss and invasive species are important threats for many animal populations. Here, we report rapid declines and extinctions of adder populations monitored during 12 years in Belgium where none of the above causes was involved. This study provides the first large‐scale data showing that wild boars represent a major risk for snakes, pushing populations to extinction. Drastic population declines were observed in the sites impacted by wild boars (N = 14), while in other sites spared by wild boars populations remained stable (N = 9). Wild boars are highly fertile and their main predators have been extirpated from Western Europe; yet, recreational hunting kept populations in check during decades. Hunting pressure is currently insufficient to control the rapid expansion of wild boars, demographic outbreaks are increasingly frequent. Wild boars are omnivorous; they can destroy snakes directly and indirectly through the depletion of snake's preys and via the destruction of key microhabitats. Snakes exhibit limited dispersal capacities; they cannot escape local perturbations and thus are highly vulnerable. Because wild boars have a very eclectic diet, are prolific breeders and are able to devastate a range of habitats their negative impact under relaxed hunting pressure applies to a huge variety of organisms, including reptiles. Policies to limit wild boar populations are urgently needed. Recommendations to target reproductive females and piglets should be generalized and applied

Fine‐scale vegetation complexity and habitat structure influence predation pressure on a declining snake

International audienceIn Western Europe, omnipresent human activities have considerable impacts on habitats at several spatial scales resulting in direct shifts in habitat characteristics. These modifications in habitat features can disrupt biotic interactions such as predation. Surprisingly, although snake species are facing a worldwide decline, relationships between habitat characteristics and predation pressure in snakes remain poorly understood. The main goal of this study was to assess predation pressure on a snake species (the common adder; Vipera berus) in relation to two habitat characteristics: fine-scale (microhabitat) vegetation complexity and habitat structure (linear/non-linear). Using 2400 artificial plasticine models of adder as lures in 12 sites in Wallonia (Belgium), we quantified and compared the relative predation risk with respect to these two habitat features. We showed that, all predators combined (mammals and birds), increasing vegetation complexity had a positive impact by decreasing predation pressure, while habitat linearity increased attack risk on adders. However, for mammalian predators, increasing structural complexity reduced predation risk in non-linear habitats while this risk remained constant and substantial in linear habitats. This suggests that the abiotic benefits of linear strips or edges may be balanced by high predation risks. For bird predators, habitat linearity had no effect on attack rates while an increase in structural complexity reduced attack probabilities. In the light of these results, we suggest applying management practices that ensure a high degree of structural complexity in semi-natural habitats concerned with snake conservation. Moreover, we recommend creating non-linear, highly structured habitat elements to hamper predation pressure by mammals

Ecology and conservation of Belgian populations of Viola calaminaria, a metallophyte with restricted geographic distribution

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Mass Customization vs. Mass Production: Variety and Price Competition

We study competition between two multiproduct firms with distinct production technologies in a market where customers have heterogeneous preferences on a single taste attribute. The mass customizer (MC) has a perfectly flexible production technology and thus can offer any variety within a product space, represented by Hotelling's linear city. The mass producer (MP) has a more focused production technology and therefore offers a finite set of products in the same space. The MP can invest in more flexible technology, which reduces its cost of variety and hence allows it to offer a larger set of products; in the extreme, the MP can emulate the MC's technology and offer infinite variety. The firms simultaneously decide whether to enter the market, and the MP chooses its degree of product-mix flexibility on entry. Next, the MP designs its product line--i.e., the number and position of its products--the MC's perfectly flexible technology makes this unnecessary. Finally, both firms simultaneously set prices. We analyze the subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium in this three-stage game, allowing firm-specific fixed and variable costs that together characterize their production technology. We find that an MP facing competition from an MC offers lower product variety than an MP monopolist to reduce the intensity of price competition. We also find that the MP can survive this competition, even if it has higher fixed cost of production technology, higher marginal cost of production, or both.product variety management, mass customization, operations-marketing interface, discrete consumer choice, competitive product strategy, pricing

Research in university colleges in Belgium

As in many other countries, university colleges in Belgium, are rather new, having developed mainly after the 1970s. The core business of the UCs was – and for many of the UC teachers still is – to train professionals such as accountants, Industrial engineers, infant- and primary-school teachers and nurses. Scientific research was of minor importance, since it has long been considered the domain of universities. Nevertheless, in recent decades, policymakers and some UC managers and teachers have insisted that UCs should also conduct scientific research. This article offers an overview of scientific research delivered at university colleges or universities of applied sciences.status: publishe