The ecology of red foxes (vulpes vulpes) in anthropogenic landscapes

Human population is growing steadily (Goujon, 2019) and with this growth landscapes have been altered trough anthropogenic activities (Chase & Chase, 2016). An increasing amount of natural and semi-natural habitat is being transformed to provide residential space and associated infrastructure. Habitat transformation and loss of habitat connectivity exposes wildlife to new challenging conditions and novel environmental pressures including noise, chemical and light pollution (Grimm et al., 2008). Not all species can cope with these extensive and rapid changes. Urbanisation is identified as one of the main reasons for biodiversity loss (Altherr, 2007; Concepción et al., 2015; Luck & Smallbone, 2010; McKinney, 2006). Vertebrate loss is typically considered to be worst in urbanised areas because of intense and long-term disturbances that permanently alter habitats and depreciate food webs (Lombardi et al., 2017; McKinney, 2008). Nevertheless, there are always animal species that have adjusted to city life, so-called urban dwellers. An outstanding example of a successful urban dweller is the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Foxes appear to be increasingly moving into human settlements throughout their range. Examples include Oslo, Norway (Christensen, 1985), Arhus, Denmark (Nielsen, 1990), Toronto, Canada (Adkins & Stott, 1998), Zurich, Switzerland (Gloor, 2002), or (in my focal area around) Berlin, Germany (Börner et al., 2009). Detailed knowledge of animal communities, food and competition relationships among the species, as well as species movement patterns and health status allows us to better understand the dynamics and predict the resilience of an ecosystem (Leibold et al., 2004). We need to know which characteristics allow species to persist in urban areas to prevent human-wildlife conflicts and promote biodiversity in cities. Identifying the biological traits favouring synurbisation is decisive to inform current management as well as to generate predictions for the future. In order to understand why the red fox is so successful in our anthropogenic world, we have to study different aspects of its ecology in, both, rural and urban settings. Therefore, this thesis investigates the diet, parasite spectrum and resting behaviour of red foxes along an urbanisation gradient in Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany). The diversity of these topics required the application of different analytical methods. For the investigation of the dietary strategies of rural and urban foxes, food niches were discovered using stable isotope analysis and compared with potentially available food items using Bayesian isotope mixing models (chapter 1). To study the diversity of helminths in the intestinal tract of foxes along a rural-urban gradient and to uncover environmental drivers of helminth communities I applied rarefaction curves, joint species distribution modelling (jSDM) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) to helminth presence-absence data obtained by DNA metabarcoding. Finally, I compared the resting behaviour of foxes from Brandenburg and city foxes from Berlin using high resolution GPS and acceleration data. The assignment of behaviours based on the acceleration data served to determine temporal patterns of resting behaviour. Recurse analysis and the application of clustering algorithms allowed the identification of resting sites and their use. Our investigation on the red fox diet (Chapter 1) shows that dietary range of urban red foxes is smaller compared with that of rural conspecifics. Furthermore, higher δ13C values and lower δ15N values of urban foxes suggest relatively high input of anthropogenic food sources of urban foxes. Low within-individual variation compared to the between-individual variation lead to the conclusion that generalist fox populations consist of individual food specialists in urban and rural populations. Main results of the parasitological investigation (Chapter 2) show that the helminth diversity in the city Berlin is lower compared to surrounding rural Brandenburg and male red foxes tend to have higher helminth diversity than females. Diet features can drive helminth communities in red fox populations. Additionally, with increasing human population density, helminths transmitted via diet are less prevalent than pet-related helminths. Finally, I investigated habitat-dependent differences in resting patterns of red foxes from Berlin and Brandenburg (Chapter 3) and results revealed that urban foxes tend to rest more, with their resting behaviour concentrated during the day compared to rural red foxes. This increase in daily rest behaviour is reflected in an increased number of rest events. Moreover, the long-term resting events of city foxes last longer than those of foxes from Brandenburg. Even if rural foxes spend less time resting, rural red foxes of Brandenburg tend to have more resting sites compared to Berlin foxes. Overall, dietary specialisation and the use of anthropogenic food resources, in particular, have an overarching impact on the ecology of urban foxes. If proper food supply has such an extensive influence on the ecology, behaviour and lifestyle of red foxes, management strategies should focus on this topic. Reduced food availability would probably increase the competitive pressure within the fox population, reduce population density and thus also the contact rate between humans, domestic animals and foxes. Human-wildlife conflicts in the city could thus be reduced and the general acceptance of wild animals in the city increased. This could ultimately lead to the sharing of urban areas by humans and wildlife

Making Gameful Work Work: The Gamification of Strategic Human Resource Management

The recent pandemic enforced a massive digitalization in the working world and enabled the widespread utilization of gamification in organizations. Still, gamification in Human resource management (HRM) is rarely integrated into the human resources (HR) strategy and is often done on an operational level. We intend to portray the conceptual evolution of gamification in HRM. Through integrating the basic rationale of gamification design, we systematically utilize three resulting evolutionary gamification levels – structure, process, and dynamic capability – to explain how gamification in HR matures from a beginner level to a master level to contribute to the leverage of strategic potentials in HRM. At a meta-level, we will discuss the consequences of gamified HRM in terms of professionalization, hybridization, and captivation, finally concluding with a radical gamification vision for HRM

Stock Market Behavior on Ex-Dividend Dates: The Case of Cum-Ex Transactions in Germany

The paper explores the effect of cum-ex trading on the stock market on ex-dividend days. A loophole in the German withholding tax system until 2011 enabled cum-ex traders to achieve the issuance of cash-equivalent withholding-tax certificates without previous tax payment. The paper discusses the implications for the capital market equilibrium and derives empirical predictions for stock market behavior. The results indicate a major impact of the loophole on the capital market and trading volumes

Effects of mining activities on fish communities and food web dynamics in a lowland river

Fish communities of streams and rivers might be substantially subsidized by terrestrial insects that fall into the water. Although such animal‐mediated fluxes are increasingly recognized, little is known about how anthropogenic perturbations may influence the strength of such exchanges. Intense land use, such as lignite mining, may impact a river ecosystem due to the flocculation of iron (III) oxides, thus altering food web dynamics. We compared sections of the Spree River in North‐East Germany that were greatly influenced by iron oxides with sections located downstream of a dam where passive remediation technologies are applied. Compared to locations downstream of the dam, the abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates at locations of high iron concentrations upstream of the dam was significantly reduced. Similarly, catch per unit effort of all fish was significantly higher in locations downstream of the dam compared to locations upstream of the dam, and the condition of juvenile and adult piscivorous pike Esox lucius was significantly lower in sections of high iron concentrations. Using an estimate of short‐term (i.e., metabarcoding of the gut content) as well as longer‐term (i.e., hydrogen stable isotopes) resource use, we could demonstrate that the three most abundant fish species, perch Perca fluviatilis, roach Rutilus rutilus, and bleak Alburnus alburnus, received higher contributions of terrestrial insects to their diet at locations of high iron concentration. In summary, lotic food webs upstream and downstream of the dam greatly differed in the overall structure with respect to the energy available for the highest tropic levels and the contribution of terrestrial insects to the diet of omnivorous fish. Therefore, human‐induced environmental perturbations, such as river damming and mining activities, represent strong pressures that can alter the flow of energy between aquatic and terrestrial systems, indicating a broad impact on the landscape level.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Fischereiabgabe Brandenburg, Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Umwelt und Klimaschutz des Landes BrandenburgPeer Reviewe

Withholding-tax non-compliance: the case of cum-ex stock-market transactions

Abstract This paper explores withholding-tax non-compliance in the context of dividend taxation. It focuses on a specific type of stock-market transactions around ex-dividend dates, so-called “cum-ex” trades, which caused considerable revenue losses due to illegitimate tax refunds in Germany and other countries. We use a stylized model of the stock-market equilibrium to analyze the incentives of traders on the German stock market and find that cum-ex trades are only profitable for both buyer and seller in the presence of collusive tax fraud. Our empirical analysis of market data for publicly traded German stocks from 2009 to 2015 confirms that transaction numbers of stocks suitable for cum-ex trades show the expected increase shortly before ex-dividend dates in the period before the tax refunding was reformed. In line with the collusion hypothesis, effects on stock-market prices are not found

From RNA-seq to large-scale genotyping - genomics resources for rye (Secale cereale L.)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The improvement of agricultural crops with regard to yield, resistance and environmental adaptation is a perpetual challenge for both breeding and research. Exploration of the genetic potential and implementation of genome-based breeding strategies for efficient rye (<it>Secale cereale </it>L.) cultivar improvement have been hampered by the lack of genome sequence information. To overcome this limitation we sequenced the transcriptomes of five winter rye inbred lines using Roche/454 GS FLX technology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>More than 2.5 million reads were assembled into 115,400 contigs representing a comprehensive rye expressed sequence tag (EST) resource. From sequence comparisons 5,234 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified to develop the Rye5K high-throughput SNP genotyping array. Performance of the Rye5K SNP array was investigated by genotyping 59 rye inbred lines including the five lines used for sequencing, and five barley, three wheat, and two triticale accessions. A balanced distribution of allele frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 was observed. Residual heterozygosity of the rye inbred lines varied from 4.0 to 20.4% with higher average heterozygosity in the pollen compared to the seed parent pool.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The established sequence and molecular marker resources will improve and promote genetic and genomic research as well as genome-based breeding in rye.</p

Toward solving the global green-green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation.

Wind energy production is growing rapidly worldwide in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, wind energy production is not environmentally neutral. Negative impacts on volant animals, such as bats, include fatalities at turbines and habitat loss due to land-use change and displacement. Siting turbines away from ecologically sensitive areas and implementing measures to reduce fatalities are critical to protecting bat populations. Restricting turbine operations during periods of high bat activity is the most effective form of mitigation currently available to reduce fatalities. Compensating for habitat loss and offsetting mortality are not often practiced, because meaningful offsets are lacking. Legal frameworks to prevent or mitigate the negative impacts of wind energy on bats are absent in most countries, especially in emerging markets. Therefore, governments and lending institutions are key in reconciling wind energy production with biodiversity goals by requiring sufficient environmental standards for wind energy projects

Анализ и оптимизация распределения ресурсов в беспроводных сетях с использованием БПЛА для передачи информации и энергии

Объект исследования: проектирование системы, распределение ресурсов и оптимизация ресурсов для сетей беспроводной связи с беспроводным питанием от БПЛА при сохранении ожидаемых параметров качества обслуживания в сетях 5G и выше. Цель исследования: Одновременная беспроводная передача информации и мощности (ОБПИМ) является недорогим, а также потенциально способным повысить эффективность использования спектра методом. Компромисс между скоростью передачи информации и количеством собранной энергии становится критическим фактором для оценки производительности сети связи. Следовательно, эффективное и действенное распределение и оптимизация ресурсов в сети связи имеет первостепенное значение для совместных сетей связи БПЛА с поддержкой ОБПИМ и беспроводные сенсорные сети.Subject of research: system design, resource allocation and resource optimization for wireless communication networks with wireless power supply from UAVs while maintaining the expected quality of service parameters in 5G and higher networks. Objective of the study: Simultaneous wireless transmission of information and power (SWIPT) is inexpensive, and also potentially capable of increasing the efficiency of spectrum use. The trade-off between information transfer rate and the amount of collected energy becomes a critical factor in assessing the performance of a communications network. Consequently, efficient and effective allocation and optimization of resources in the communication network is of paramount importance for joint communication networks of UAVs with support for SWIPT and WSN

Aberrant phase separation and nucleolar dysfunction in rare genetic diseases

Thousands of genetic variants in protein-coding genes have been linked to disease. However, the functional impact of most variants is unknown as they occur within intrinsically disordered protein regions that have poorly defined functions1-3. Intrinsically disordered regions can mediate phase separation and the formation of biomolecular condensates, such as the nucleolus4,5. This suggests that mutations in disordered proteins may alter condensate properties and function6-8. Here we show that a subset of disease-associated variants in disordered regions alter phase separation, cause mispartitioning into the nucleolus and disrupt nucleolar function. We discover de novo frameshift variants in HMGB1 that cause brachyphalangy, polydactyly and tibial aplasia syndrome, a rare complex malformation syndrome. The frameshifts replace the intrinsically disordered acidic tail of HMGB1 with an arginine-rich basic tail. The mutant tail alters HMGB1 phase separation, enhances its partitioning into the nucleolus and causes nucleolar dysfunction. We built a catalogue of more than 200,000 variants in disordered carboxy-terminal tails and identified more than 600 frameshifts that create arginine-rich basic tails in transcription factors and other proteins. For 12 out of the 13 disease-associated variants tested, the mutation enhanced partitioning into the nucleolus, and several variants altered rRNA biogenesis. These data identify the cause of a rare complex syndrome and suggest that a large number of genetic variants may dysregulate nucleoli and other biomolecular condensates in humans.© 2023. The Author(s)

Risk governance in organizations

Dieses Buch dokumentiert 10 Jahre Risk-Governance-Forschung an der Universität Siegen. In 50 Beiträgen reflektieren Forscher und Praktiker Risk Governance vor dem Hintergrund ihrer eigenen Forschungen und/oder Erfahrungen und geben jeweils einen Entwicklungsimpuls für die Zukunft der Risk Governance. Das Buch zeigt die große Bandbreite und Tiefe des Forschungsgebietes auf und diskutiert Grundannahmen, Implementierungsfragen, die Rolle der Risk Governance als Transformationsmotor, ihre Wirkung in den verschiedenen betrieblichen Funktionen, Entwicklungsperspektiven und den Beitrag der Risk Governance zu einer nachhaltigen Ausrichtung von Unternehmen.This book documents 10 years of risk governance research at the University of Siegen. In 50 contributions, researchers and practitioners reflect on risk governance against the background of their own research and/or experience and provide a development impetus for the future of risk governance. The book shows the wide range and depth of the research field and discusses basic assumptions, implementation issues, the role of risk governance as transformation engine, its impact in the various operational functions, development perspectives, and the contribution of risk governance to a sustainable orientation of companies