Meadow birds on organic and conventional arable farms in the Netherlands: abundance and nest success

Intensification of agriculture is mentioned to be the key drive behind the decline of farmland birds on grassland and on arable land. This raises the question whether a less intensive system, such as organic, can stop or reverse these declines. The present study compares (1) the territory densities of meadow birds on organic and conventional arable farms, and (2) the nesting success of Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) on both farm types. The study was carried out in Oostelijk Flevoland and Noordoostpolder, two polders reclaimed during the 1950s and 1930s respectively. Both areas are homogenous, large-scale, and mainly arable areas. In total 20 pairs of arable farms were selected, each pair consisting of one organic and one conventional farm. Both farms of a pair were selected in such a way that landscape features and soil type were equal for both. All organic farms have been managed organically for at least 5 years. Conventional farms grew relatively more potatoes, sugar beet and winter cereals, whereas organic farms had a more diverse cropping pattern with larger areas of spring cereals. In 2004 and 2005 territories were mapped on respectively 10 and 20 pairs of farms. In total 6 meadow bird species were found: Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava), Lapwing, Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis), Skylark (Alauda arvensis), Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix), and Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus). In both years Skylarks were more abundant on organic farms. The same held true for the Lapwing in 2004. In contrast Yellow Wagtails showed higher densities on conventional farms in 2005. For all other species no differences in abundances were found. Differences in crop rotation convenschemes between organic and conventional farms are likely to explain the differences in abundances of Skylark and Yellow Wagtail. The Skylark showed a preference for spring cereals that were more grown on organic farms. In contrast Yellow Wagtails reached highest densities in winter cereals and potatoes. These both crops are grown more on conventional farms. Comparisons on crop level (e.g. organic potatoes vs. conventional potatoes) showed no differences in abundances. This indicates that the crop itself is more important for territory establishment than crop management. For Lapwings differences in crop rotation scheme were unlikely to explain the differences in abundance in contrast to crop management. The latter might affect the densities of prey species, e.g. earthworms and ground-dwelling insects, of the Lapwing. In 2005 the nesting success of Lapwings was determined for 80 nests on organic farms and 45 nests on conventional farms. The daily nest survival rates were almost significantly lower on organic farms as a result of higher farming activities, notably tilling of land and mechanical weeding.Als eine der Hauptursachen für den Rückgang der Wiesenvögel in westeuropäischen Grünland- und Ackerbaugebieten wird die Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft gesehen. Es stellt sich deshalb die Frage, ob eine weniger intensive Bewirtschaftung, z.B. in Form des ökologischen Landbaus, diese Abnahmen stoppen oder sogar wieder umkehren kann. Die hier präsentierte Studie beschäftigt sich vergleichend (1) mit den Siedlungsdichten von Wiesenvögeln auf konventionell und ökologisch bewirtschafteten Ackerflächen, sowie (2) mit dem Schlupferfolg von Kiebitzgelegen auf diesen Standorten. Die Studie wurde in zwei Poldergebieten (Oostelijk Flevoland, Noordoostpolder) durchgeführt, die erst in den 1950er bzw. den 1930er Jahren dem Meer abgerungen wurden. Beide Gebiete weisen homogene, großräumige Ackerflächen auf. Insgesamt wurden 20 „Hofpaare“ ausgewählt, wobei jedes Paar aus einem ökologisch und einem konventionell bewirtschafteten Betrieb bestand. Die beiden Betriebe eines jeden Paares wurden so gewählt, dass sich ihre Betriebsflächen in Landschaftsstruktur und Bodenverhältnissen nicht unterschieden. Alle ökologisch geführten Betriebe produzierten seit mindestens 5 Jahren in dieser Weise. Während die konventionell wirtschaftenden Betriebe mehr Kartoffeln, Zuckerrüben und Wintergetreide anbauten, wiesen die ökologisch arbeitenden Betriebe ein größeres Spektrum an Anbaufrüchten und mehr Flächen mit Sommergetreide auf. In 2004 und 2005 wurden die Brutvogeldichten auf Betriebsflächen von 10 bzw. 20 „Hofpaaren“ ermittelt. Dabei wurden insgesamt 6 Arten in größerer Dichte festgestellt: Schafstelze (Motacilla flava), Kiebitz (Vanellus vanellus), Wiesenpieper (Anthus pratensis), Feldlerche (Alauda arvensis), Wachtel (Coturnix coturnix), und Austernfischer (Haematopus ostralegus). In beiden Jahren war die Feldlerche auf ökologisch bewirtschafteten Flächen häufiger vertreten. Kiebitze traten in solchen Flächen ebenfalls in höherer Dichte auf, wenn auch nur in 2004 statistisch signifikant. Die Schafstelze dagegen siedelte in 2005 auf konventionell bewirtschafteten Flächen in höherer Dichte. Für alle anderen Arten konnten keine Abundanzunterschiede zwischen beiden Bewirtschaftungstypen ermittelt werden. Flächenunterschiede im Fruchtanbau zwischen ökologisch und konventionell wirtschaftenden Betrieben scheinen für die Abundanzunterschiede bei Feldlerche und Schafstelze verantwortlich zu sein. Feldlerchenreviere fanden sich vor allem in Sommergetreide, das stärker von ökologisch arbeitenden Betrieben angebaut wird. Schafstelzen besiedelten dagegen vor allem Kartoffeläcker und Wintergetreideflächen. Diese Früchte werden häufiger auf konventionell bewirtschafteten Äckern angebaut. Ein Vergleich der Siedlungsdichte beider Vogelarten auf der Ebene einzelner Feldfrüchte (z.B. Öko-Kartoffelfläche vs. konventionell bewirtschafteter Kartoffelacker) ergab keine Unterschiede. Es zeigt aber, dass die Feldfrucht für die Habitatwahl wichtiger ist als die Bewirtschaftungsweise. Beim Kiebitz gehen die Abundanzunterschiede zwischen ökologisch und konventionell bewirtschafteten Flächen nicht auf Flächenunterschiede im Anbau einzelner Feldfrüchte zurück. Vielmehr scheinen Unterschiede in der Bewirtschaftung einzelner Feldfrüchte wesentlich entscheidender zu sein. In 2005 wurde vergleichend der Schlupferfolg von Kiebitzgelegen auf ökologisch bewirtschafteten (n = 80 Gelege) und konventionell bewirtschafteten Ackerflächen (n = 45 Gelege) ermittelt. Die Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit der Gelege war auf ökologisch bewirtschafteten Flächen deutlich niedriger. Ursächlich war der höhere Maschineneinsatz sowohl bei der Feldbestellung als auch beim Jäten der Flächen

Time Deadline For Modem Mitigation Actions In Regards To Thermal Mitigation

This publication describes techniques for dynamic mitigation actions performed by a modem in response to a thermal situation. Dynamic mitigation actions can be completed by a modem after it receives a deadline time calculated by a caller (e.g., Application Programming Interface (API)) of the modem based on the thermal situation. The deadline time will represent how long the modem has to fully complete one or more mitigation action(s). The modem can decide the mitigation action timeline based off of the deadline time to allow for a better user experience. For example, if it is determined that the thermal situation is less critical (e.g., the temperature is increasing very slowly), a longer deadline time can be communicated from the API to allow the modem to slowly mitigate processes executing on the device. If it is determined that the thermal situation is more critical, the mitigation can be more aggressive with a shorter deadline time

Requirements and challenges for hybrid intelligence: A case-study in education

The potential for Artificial Intelligence is widely proclaimed. Yet, in everyday educational settings the use of this technology is limited. Particularly, if we consider smart systems that actually interact with learners in a knowledgeable way and as such support the learning process. It illustrates the fact that teaching professionally is a complex challenge that is beyond the capabilities of current autonomous robots. On the other hand, dedicated forms of Artificial Intelligence can be very good at certain things. For example, computers are excellent chess players and automated route planners easily outperform humans. To deploy this potential, experts argue for a hybrid approach in which humans and smart systems collaboratively accomplish goals. How to realize this for education? What does it entail in practice? In this contribution, we investigate the idea of a hybrid approach in secondary education. As a case-study, we focus on learners acquiring systems thinking skills and our recently for this purpose developed pedagogical approach. Particularly, we discuss the kind of Artificial Intelligence that is needed in this situation, as well as which tasks the software can perform well and which tasks are better, or necessarily, left with the teacher

Throttling downlink throughput to mitigate device temperature increase

The temperature of a mobile device can increase due to heavy use, e.g., high-speed downloads, large computational load, etc. Sustained periods of high temperature can damage the mobile device. The techniques of this disclosure reduce downlink throughput upon detection of device temperature that exceeds a threshold. Throughput is reduced, e.g., by signaling the thermal state to the network, by reporting lower channel quality indicator (CQI) values to the network, etc. After the temperature drops to a safe level, throughput is brought back up in a phased manner

Students’ ability to solve process-diagram problems in secondary biology education

Process diagrams are important tools in biology for explaining processes such as protein synthesis, compound cycles and the like. The aim of the present study was to measure the ability to solve process-diagram problems in biology and its relationship with prior knowledge, spatial ability and working memory. For this purpose, we developed a test that represents process diagrams and adjacent tasks used in secondary education biology. Results show that the ability to solve process-diagram problems is correlated to prior knowledge, spatial abilities and visuospatial working memory capacity. A difference in impact of spatial skills was demonstrated for the level of cognitive demand when solving process-diagram problems

Aggressive Smartphone Thermal Mitigation at High Temperatures

Thermal mitigation at a smartphone is improved by employing an emergency disconnect mode that is entered in response to heat at the smartphone exceeding a specified threshold. In the emergency disconnect mode, the smartphone is disconnected from a cellular network. This allows the components of a radio front-end of the smartphone to be turned off or placed in a low power mode while the smartphone is in the emergency disconnect mode, thereby rapidly decreasing the amount of heat generated at the device and allowing the smartphone to return to a normal mode of operation more quickly

Thermal Downlink Throttle UE Specific Approach

During operation, temperatures of a mobile communication device of an end user (user equipment or “UE”) can increase to high levels. In particular, UE temperatures can rise when receiving large amounts of data during downlink communication with a network. Generally, there is no ability to limit the amount of downlink throughput when the UE device is in single carrier mode. However, downlink throughput throttling can be used to thermally mitigate increasing UE temperatures. As the temperature of the UE increases, the network can be notified to decrease the amount of downlink throughput, thus reducing the power levels and the temperature of the UE. Once the temperature of the UE starts to reduce, the network can then be notified to increase downlink throughput in a gradual manner

Breeding birds on organic and conventional arable farms

As a result of agricultural intensification, farmland bird populations have been declining dramatically over the past decades. Organic farming is often mentioned to be a possible solution to stop these declines. In order to see whether farmland birds really benefit from organic farming a study was carried out comparing breeding bird densities, breeding success and bird food abundance between organic and conventional arable farms in Flevoland, the Netherlands. skylark (Alauda arvensis) and lapwing were both found in higher densities on organic farms, but for other species no differences were found. Differences in skylark densities were caused by relative large areas of spring cereals grown on organic farms. Differences in lapwing densities were probably caused by higher food abundance and greater availability of suitable breeding habitat on organic farms. In contrast with the higher densities of breeding pairs, indications were found that breeding success of lapwings is lower on organically managed farms. This is a result of mainly mechanical weeding and other agricultural operations. Also for skylarks breeding on organic farms agricultural operations are the most important cause of nest failure. Greater food availability on organic farms might compensate for this high nest loss through higher chick survival rates.LEI Universiteit LeidenConservation Biolog