Estimated Financial Performance of Exotic and Indigenous Tree Species in Smallholder Plantations in Leyte Province

This paper examines the need for estimates of financial performance of individual tree species for promoting smallholder forestry on Leyte Island in the Philippines, and presents some initial estimates of net present value and internal rate of return for smallholder plantings of indigenous and traditionally grown (exotic) tree species. Levels of profitability are found to be marginal for commercial production, particularly for native species. Data deficiencies are noted, and improved estimates of tree growth rates and rotation lengths in particular are needed to improve predictions of financial performance of smallholder forestry

Partnering and parenting transitions in Australian men and women: associations with changes in weight, domain-specific physical activity and sedentary behaviours

Background: Partnering and parenting are important life-stage transitions often accompanied by changes in social networks, roles and responsibilities. There have been no longitudinal studies examining associations of partnering and parenting with changes in domain-specific physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours, and our understanding of whether these transitions are associated with weight change is limited. Methods: Two thousand one hundred and twenty-four Australian adults from a national cohort (mean age 31.7 (2.7) years, 47.5% male) completed questionnaires at baseline (2004-06) and follow-up (2009-11), reporting marital and parental status. Weight (kg) was measured at baseline and self-reported at follow-up. PA and sedentary behaviours (sitting and television (TV) viewing) were self-reported in a subset (n = 1221). Linear regression estimated the longitudinal associations of parenting and partnering transitions with PA, sedentary behaviours and weight at follow-up, adjusted for baseline value of the respective outcome variable, age, education, follow-up duration and other life-stage transition. Results: During the 5-year follow-up, 17.3% men and 12.9% women partnered, and 27.3% men and 19.1% women had their first child. Compared to staying not partnered, partnering was associated with an increase in total PA (177.5mins/week, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 18.0 to 337.0) among men and a greater weight gain (2.2 kg, 95% CI 0.6 to 3.7) among women. Compared to remaining child-free, having a first child was associated with greater reductions in total PA (- 123.9mins/week, 95% CI - 248.8 to 1.1) and TV viewing time (- 27.0mins/day, 95% CI - 50.6 to - 3.3) among men. Women who had their first child had greater weight gain (1.4 kg, 95% CI 0.1 to 2.7) but spent less time sitting (- 103.8mins/day, 95% CI - 135.5 to - 72.1) than those remaining child-free. For women, having additional children was associated with less sitting time (- 39.4mins/week, 95% CI - 66.0 to - 12.8) than having the same number of children. Conclusions: Partnering was associated with an increase in men's total PA and women's weight. Transitions into parenthood with a first child or additional children were associated with potentially health-impairing changes in weight and PA, but health-promoting changes in sedentary behaviours. Future PA promotion strategies should pay attention to men who had their first child to mitigate declining total PA

The challenge of abandonment for the sustainable management of Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands

Disturbance by biomass removal is a crucial mechanism maintaining the diversity of Palaearctic grasslands, which are unique biodiversity hotspots. The century-long traditional land use of mowing, grazing and burning, has been fundamentally changed in many parts of the Palaearctic. Due to socio-economic changes, large areas of former pastures and meadows have been abandoned, leading to a succession towards secondary scrublands or forest and the encroachment of competitor grass species, all leading to a decrease in biodiversity. Here we report the causes and consequences of the cessation of traditional grassland management regimes, provide strategies for reducing the impact of abandonment and consider these from the perspective of sustainability. We consider the possibilities for initiating sustainable management regimes in the contemporary socio-economic environment, and discuss the prospects and limitation of alternative management regimes in the conservation of grassland biodiversity. These themes are also the core topics of this Special Feature, edited by the EDGG. We hope that this Special Feature will encourage steps towards more sustainable strategies for the conservation of Palaearctic grasslands and the integration of the sustainability perspective into their conservation. © by Orsolya Valkó 2018.Peer reviewe

The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) in 2016-2017

This report summarizes the activities and achievements of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) from mid-2016 through to the end of 2017. During this period, the 13th Eurasian Grassland Conference took place in Sighişoara, Romania, and the 14th conference was held in Riga, Latvia. The 10th EDGG Field Workshop on Biodiversity patterns across a precipitation gradient in the Central Apennine mountains was conducted in the Central Apennines, Italy, this time in addition to multi-scale sampling of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens, also including one animal group (leaf hoppers). Apart from the quarterly issues of its own electronic journal (Bulletin of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group), EDGG also finalised five grassland-related Special Features/Issues during the past 1.5 years in the following international journals: Applied Vegetation Science, Biodiversity and Conservation, Phytocoenologia, Tuexenia and Hacquetia. Beyond that, EDGG facilitated various national and supra-national vegetationplot databases of grasslands and established its own specialised database for standardised multi-scale plot data of Palaearctic grasslands (GrassPlot). © by Stephen Venn 2018.Peer reviewe

Testing Rotational Mixing Predictions with New Boron Abundances in Main Sequence B-type Stars

(Abridged) New boron abundances for seven main-sequence B-type stars are determined from HST STIS spectroscopy around the BIII 2066A line. Boron abundances provide a unique and critical test of stellar evolution models that include rotational mixing since boron is destroyed in the surface layers of stars through shallow mixing long before other elements are mixed from the stellar interior through deep mixing. Boron abundances range from 12+log(B/H) = 1.0 to 2.2. The boron abundances are compared to the published values of their stellar nitrogen abundances (all have 12+log(N/H) < 7.8, i.e., they do not show significant CNO-mixing) and to their host cluster ages (4 to 16 Myr) to investigate the predictions from models of massive star evolution with rotational mixing effects (Heger & Langer 2000). Only three stars (out of 34) deviate from the model predictions, including HD36591, HD205021, and HD30836. These three stars suggest that rotational mixing could be more efficient than currently modelled at the highest rotation rates.Comment: 10 figures, 7 tables; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Pristine survey II: a sample of bright stars observed with FEROS

Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars are old objects formed in the first Gyr of the Universe. They are rare and, to select them, the most successful strategy has been to build on large and low-resolution spectroscopic surveys. The combination of narrow- and broad band photometry provides a powerful and cheaper alternative to select metal-poor stars. The on-going Pristine Survey is adopting this strategy, conducting photometry with the CFHT MegaCam wide field imager and a narrow-band filter centred at 395.2 nm on the CaII-H and -K lines. In this paper we present the results of the spectroscopic follow-up conducted on a sample of 26 stars at the bright end of the magnitude range of the Survey (g<=15), using FEROS at the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope. From our chemical investigation on the sample, we conclude that this magnitude range is too bright to use the SDSS gri bands, which are typically saturated. Instead the Pristine photometry can be usefully combined with the APASS gri photometry to provide reliable metallicity estimates.Comment: AN accepte

Boron Abundances in Main Sequence B-type Stars: A Test of Rotational Depletion during Main Sequence Evolution

Boron abundances have been derived for seven main sequence B-type stars from HST STIS spectra around the B III 2066 A line. In two stars, boron appears to be undepleted with respect to the presumed initial abundance. In one star, boron is detectable but it is clearly depleted. In the other four stars, boron is undetectable implying depletions of 1 to 2 dex. Three of these four stars are nitrogen enriched, but the fourth shows no enrichment of nitrogen. Only rotationally induced mixing predicts that boron depletions are unaccompanied by nitrogen enrichments. The inferred rate of boron depletion from our observations is in good agreement with these predictions. Other boron-depleted nitrogen-normal stars are identified from the literature. Also, several boron-depleted nitrogen-rich stars are identified, and while all fall on the boron-nitrogen trend predicted by rotationally-induced mixing, a majority have nitrogen enrichments that are not uniquely explained by rotation. The spectra have also been used to determine iron-group (Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni) abundances. The seven B-type stars have near solar iron-group abundances, as expected for young stars in the solar neighborhood. We have also analysed the halo B-type star, PG0832+676. We find [Fe/H] = -0.88 +/- 0.10, and the absence of the B III line gives the upper limit [B/H]<2.5. These and other published abundances are used to infer the star's evolutionary status as a post-AGB star.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figures. accepted to Ap

The Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) in 2015-2016

Peer reviewe

The scatter about the "Universal" dwarf spheroidal mass profile: A kinematic study of the M31 satellites, And V and And VI

While the satellites of the Milky Way (MW) have been shown to be largely consistent in terms of their mass contained within one half--light radius (M_{half}) with a "Universal" mass profile, a number of M31 satellites are found to be inconsistent with such relations, and seem kinematically colder in their central regions than their MW cousins. In this work, we present new kinematic and updated structural properties for two M31 dSphs, And V and And VI using data from the Keck Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (LRIS) and the DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) instruments and the Subaru Suprime-Cam imager. We measure systemic velocities of v_r=-393.1+/-4.2km/s and -344.8+/-2.5km/s, and dispersions of sigma_v=11.5{+5.3}{-4.4}km/s and sigma_v=9.4{+3.2}{-2.4}km/s for And V and And VI respectively, meaning these two objects are consistent with the trends in sigma_v and r_{half} set by their MW counterparts. We also investigate the nature of this scatter about the MW dSph mass profiles for the "Classical" (i.e. M_V<-8) MW and M31 dSphs. When comparing both the "classical" MW and M31 dSphs to the best--fit mass profiles in the size--velocity dispersion plane, we find general scatter in both the positive (i.e. hotter) and negative (i.e. colder) directions from these profiles. However, barring one exception (CVnI) only the M31 dSphs are found to scatter towards a colder regime, and, excepting the And I dSph, only MW objects scatter to hotter dispersions. We also note that the scatter for the combined population is greater than expected from measurement errors alone. We assess this divide in the context of the differing disc-to-halo mass (i.e. stars and baryons to total virial mass) ratios of the two hosts and argue that the underlying mass profiles for dSphs differ from galaxy to galaxy, and are modified by the baryonic component of the host.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Small modifications made for referee report. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (29/06/2011