Demonstration-Based Education Generates Behavior Change Related to Conservation Practices

Getting agricultural producers to make changes to their operations is difficult, especially related to complex systems such as the water cycle on managed agricultural lands. We surveyed participants who had watched a rainfall simulator demonstration during the summer of 2015. Results indicate that the demonstration was effective in providing educational outreach on the impact of the water cycle and prompting the adoption of conservation practices and monitoring techniques among producers. The study reinforces the importance in conservation education of learning experiences involving simulation, observation, and group discussion. Our findings may be applicable not only to Extension professionals working with agricultural producers but also to those involved in encouraging conservation practices among other audiences

EFFECTS OF HERBICIDES AND GRAZING ON FLORISTIC QUALITY OF NATIVE TALLGRASS PASTURES IN EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA

Historic herbicide use and grazing have influenced natural diversity and quality of native pasturelands in the Great Plains. Floristic quality assessments are useful to assist agencies in prioritizing conservation practices to enhance native grasslands. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of past land-use practices on the floristic quality of remnant native pastures in eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Floristic quality assessments were conducted on 30 native pastures and categorized by past management practices (herbicide application and grazing intensity). Mean coefficient of conservatism (C) and floristic quality index (FQI) were calculated for each site~Results showed that increased herbicide use and grazing intensity resulted in a lower species richness, forb C ,and FQI. However, grass and grasslike plants were minimally affected. Pastures that were infrequently sprayed with herbicides and lightly grazed consistently had the highest species richness, C ,and FQI. Pastures with no grazing produced similar values to those with moderate grazing. Pastures managed as preserves or wildlife habitat areas had higher FQI than those managed for livestock grazing. The implications of this study should further help ecologists and managers understand the positive and negative effects of grazing practices and herbicide application on tallgrass prairie remnants

EFFECTS OF HERBICIDES AND GRAZING ON FLORISTIC QUALITY OF NATIVE TALLGRASS PASTURES IN EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA

Historic herbicide use and grazing have influenced natural diversity and quality of native pasturelands in the Great Plains. Floristic quality assessments are useful to assist agencies in prioritizing conservation practices to enhance native grasslands. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of past land-use practices on the floristic quality of remnant native pastures in eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Floristic quality assessments were conducted on 30 native pastures and categorized by past management practices (herbicide application and grazing intensity). Mean coefficient of conservatism (C) and floristic quality index (FQI) were calculated for each site~Results showed that increased herbicide use and grazing intensity resulted in a lower species richness, forb C ,and FQI. However, grass and grasslike plants were minimally affected. Pastures that were infrequently sprayed with herbicides and lightly grazed consistently had the highest species richness, C ,and FQI. Pastures with no grazing produced similar values to those with moderate grazing. Pastures managed as preserves or wildlife habitat areas had higher FQI than those managed for livestock grazing. The implications of this study should further help ecologists and managers understand the positive and negative effects of grazing practices and herbicide application on tallgrass prairie remnants

Characterization of fungal biodiversity and communities associated with reef macroalga Sargassum ilicifolium reveals fungal community differentiation according to geographic locality and algal structure

Marine environments abound with opportunities to discover new species of fungi even in relatively well-studied ecosystems such as coral reefs. Here, we investigated the fungal communities associated with the canopy forming macroalga Sargassum ilicifolium(Turner) C. Argardh (1820) in Singapore. We collected eight S. ilicifolium thalli from each of eight island locations and separated them into three structures—leaves, holdfast and vesicles. Amplicon sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and subsequent analyses revealed weak but significant differences in fungal community composition from different structures. Fungal communities were also significantly different among sampling localities, even over relatively small spatial scales (≤ 12 km). Unsurprisingly, all structures from all localities were dominated by unclassified fungi. Our findings demonstrate the potential of marine environments to act as reservoirs of undocumented biodiversity that harbour many novel fungal taxa. These unclassified fungi highlight the need to look beyond terrestrial ecosystems in well-studied regions of the world, and to fully characterize fungal biodiversity in hotspots such as Southeast Asia for better understanding the roles they play in promoting and maintaining life on our planet

Exploring the impact, value and limitations of reflective practice groups for clergy in a Church in Wales diocese

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Mental Health, Religion and Culture on 3rd September 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1789571This research explores the impact, value and limitations of reflective practice groups for Clergy in a Church in Wales diocese. The aims were to explore what participants of reflective practice groups experience as the impact, value and limitations of their groups, and to better understand any implications for delivery of reflective practice groups for Clergy. Two focus groups comprising of the participants from two reflective practice groups from a diocese in the Church in Wales were interviewed, and the data analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Two superordinate themes emerged along with ten subordinate themes. The key findings are that the participants of both groups clearly found them to be a valuable experience and self-defined the impact on their ministries as: creating more reflective clergy; developing greater wisdom; building and gaining affirmed strategies that they could take back into relationships within their parishes; enabling a different perspective to be gained on management expectations; development of self-preservation strategies for coping with those expectations; improvement in practice and relationships within their work; improving their priestly skills; managing boundaries more appropriately; approaching meetings more positively; managing situations in more helpful ways; and discerning what God may be saying in certain situations

Creativity out of chaos

Creativity is said to be highly desired in post-modern and post-industrial organizations Creativity and anarchy on the one hand, and managerialism, on the other, can be seen as different forms of knowledge, two opposed ideals. In many organizational as well as societal reforms we currently observe it is the managerialist ideal that wins over the anarchic. In this paper, we wonder if people fear anarchy? We reflect on the possible reasons for the fear, and we also try to explain why we believe that anarchic organizing should not be avoided or feared

Integration of Crop-Livestock Systems: An Opportunity to Protect Grasslands from Conversion to Cropland in the US Great Plains

The Great Plains is a mixture of cropland and grassland mainly used for agricultural purposes, with grasslands under continual threat of conversion to cropland. Agriculturists are advocating for the integration of crop-livestock systems (ICLS) to recouple nutrient cycles, improve biodiversity, and increase resilience of agricultural operations. We address the benefits of ICLS in the Great Plains, contending that focus on improving soil health and financial stability of agricultural operations should reduce the conversion of grasslands to cropland. Using US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Census of Agriculture survey data from the 1925−2017 category “cropland used only for pasture or grazing,” which represents land that had been cropped but converted to annual/perennial pasture and grazed, we showcase that the number of farms and the land area in this category is a reasonable proxy of ICLS. As expected, ICLS dramatically decreased in the entire United States from 1925 to 1945, but from 1945 to 2002 in the Great Plains ICLS remained relatively constant, providing evidence of sustained crop-livestock integration. Consistent high numbers of beef cows during this period and the wide availability of forages and crop residues for ruminants facilitated opportunities for producers to use ICLS on their individual operations (within farm) or among operations where row crop farmers and forage-based producers integrated beef cattle use across the landscape (among farms). This integration, however, was decoupled from 2006 to 2013, a period of high grain prices. As a result, economic value of grasslands was decreased and conversion to cropland was increased. Thus, conservation efforts in the Great Plains for grasslands should focus on keeping grasslands intact for provision of multiple ecosystem goods and services by emphasizing incorporation of ICLS within and among farms to reduce the risk of converting grassland to cropland

Leptomeningeal disease in oligodendroglial tumors: a population-based study

In this population-based study, we determined the frequency and clinical characteristics of leptomeningeal disease (LMD) developing in the context of oligodendroglial tumors (oligodendrogliomas and oligoastrocytomas). LMD occurred in only 3.9% (8/204) of oligodendroglial tumors and in patients with more recurrences [mean 2.88 vs. 1.27 in LMD and non-LMD, respectively (p = 0.001)]. In contrast to LMD from systemic solid tumors, the median survival following the diagnosis of LMD in oligodendroglial tumors was surprisingly long at 22 months (95% CI 11–33 months). Treatment with oral chemotherapy seemed as effective as more aggressive treatments (e.g. repeat RT or intrathecal chemotherapy) in these patients

“A very orderly retreat”: Democratic transition in East Germany, 1989-90

East Germany's 1989-90 democratisation is among the best known of East European transitions, but does not lend itself to comparative analysis, due to the singular way in which political reform and democratic consolidation were subsumed by Germany's unification process. Yet aspects of East Germany's democratisation have proved amenable to comparative approaches. This article reviews the comparative literature that refers to East Germany, and finds a schism between those who designate East Germany's transition “regime collapse” and others who contend that it exemplifies “transition through extrication”. It inquires into the merits of each position and finds in favour of the latter. Drawing on primary and secondary literature, as well as archival and interview sources, it portrays a communist elite that was, to a large extent, prepared to adapt to changing circumstances and capable of learning from “reference states” such as Poland. Although East Germany was the Soviet state in which the positions of existing elites were most threatened by democratic transition, here too a surprising number succeeded in maintaining their position while filing across the bridge to market society. A concluding section outlines the alchemy through which their bureaucratic power was transmuted into property and influence in the “new Germany”