Specific Features of the Dynamics of Murine Rodent Communities under the Effects of Urbanization: 2. Maintenance of Population Size

The reproduction dynamics of nonsynanthropic rodents living in urbanized areas was compared with that of rodents from natural communities. The number of females in a community and the number of embryos and placental spots per female were estimated. The mechanisms providing for the maintenance of population size were different in different habitats. In particular, the urban communities of murine rodents proved to have a higher reproductive potential.     

Alternative Types of Ontogeny in Cyclomorphic Rodents and Their Role in Population Dynamics: An Ecological Analysis

Two alternative ontogenetic pathways regularly effected in the populations of small mammals are analyzed as a manifestation of developmental multiversality. The types of ontogeny in rodents are characterized. These data are reflected in the concept of the functional approach. Multiversality of development in plants and animals is considered. Based on the results of long-term (26-year) observations on the natural populations of six rodent species, the dynamics of relationships between the types of ontogeny, abundance, and basic population parameters are analyzed using an example of a background species (Clethrionomys glareolus). A trigger mechanism of switching to a certain type of ontogeny, the role of environmental factors in actuating this mechanism, and the role of the genotype as a basis of multivalence are discussed. The existence of two developmental variants is regarded as a basis for functional rearrangements providing for a high flexibility of population responses and as a mechanism of population regulation determining the dynamics of rodent fauna. An adaptive population response to a board spectrum of influences, including anthropogenic damage, depends not only on the type and strength of the influence, but also on the functional structure of the population. The concepts described in the paper may explain the significance of critical periods in the life of populations.     

Significance of rodent population dynamics for the formation of long-term community structure

Changes occurring with time in the structure of communities are evaluated and strategies of community functioning are described using the example of murine rodents from three areas of Western Siberia that differ in landscapes and geographical conditions. Many rodent species are common to all communities included in analysis. The populations of these species have different ranks in the dominance structure of communities, depending on the natural climatic conditions of the landscape, and differently influence the composition of communities and time course of changes in their structure.     

Urbanisation Without Development: Environmental and Health Implications in African Cities

Sustainable development advocates for a balance between socio-economic development and the environment in the pursuit of human advancement. In Africa, high population growth and inadequate infrastructure in urban areas exert pressure on the environment and this threatens the health and wellbeing of urban residents. The population of the African continent until the 1960s was predominantly rural. This scenario has taken a swift turn and some of the major shifts in the global urbanisation process are taking place on the continent. Factors including natural increase in the population, rural–urban migration, strife and hunger leading to the internal displacement of populations have exacerbated the urbanisation process in Africa. The situation has been worsened by the imposition of Western development policies, including structural adjustment programmes on African nations, which has eroded the subsistence base of rural agricultural communities and further ignited rural urban migration. The failure of industry to absorb the increasing labour force has created massive unemployment and deepening poverty crisis in urban centres. Inadequate provision of infrastructure and services to meet the growth in urban populations has resulted in inefficient spatial development of urban centres, the proliferation of squatter settlements, inadequate basic amenities including potable water, sanitation and waste disposal. Poor environmental sanitation has resulted in the upsurge of infectious diseases and deteriorating urban health. Urban populations in Africa are also the worst affected by newly emerging diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS. The poor bear a disproportionately large share of the problems due to their particular vulnerability to environmental and health risks. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Ecological aspects of rodent population control in natural plague foci on the territory of the Russian Federation

A concept of population control is proposed as applied to rodent carriers of plague and other infections with natural focality. The concept is based on the generalization of long-term experience gained in natural plague foci, differentiation of the enzootic territory with respect to the level of epidemic risk, analysis of the current state of rodent populations, and the necessity of biodiversity conservation in natural biocenoses.     

The elementary chorological structure of a species population as exemplified by voles

The results of 25-year monitoring have been used to develop a local approach to analysis of the spatiotemporal population dynamics of rodents. The main processes of the formation of the rodent population structure in a heterogeneous environment have been considered on the basis of experimental quantitative estimates obtained under natural conditions. The possibility of real-time identification of elementary chorological units of a species population has been substantiated. It has been found that complete cycles of vital activity of a model rodent species are usually no longer than 18 months. The strategy of the regional population functioning in species with short individual life cycles is considered at a new angle.     

Resilience of the poorest: coping strategies and indigenous knowledge of living with the floods in Northern Namibia

In Northern Namibia, the climate is highly polarised between dry and wet seasons, and local communities have lived with these varying weather extremes for centuries. However, the recent changes in socio-environmental dynamics—associated with urbanisation, inappropriate spatial planning, and population growth—have disturbed the river system in the area. These changes, together with torrential seasonal rains, have aggravated the social impacts of the flood events. By using various qualitative and quantitative data sources, and comparative analyses between the flood dynamics in urban and rural environments, this research studies local residents’ coping strategies to endure the irregular flood events from the perspective of socio-ecological resilience. Particular interest is placed on the learning processes that enhance the residents’ capability to cope and the role of indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge (IK) has been emphasised as a source of resilience in both theory and practice, as it is built upon learning from past experiences of natural hazards. The findings reveal that the floods are a result of complex and relational development without the necessary linear relationship between the causes and effects. The abrupt socio-ecological changes, together with the multiple stressors related to poverty, have made residents more vulnerable to the flood events and attenuated the communities’ coping strategies based on IK. Instead of focusing on the communities’ capacity to self-organise, the focus of resilience building needs to be directed to emphasising the broader socio-political processes, which are making the communities vulnerable in the first place.     

Farming dynamics and social capital: A case study in the urban fringe of Mexico City

Urban development has important implications for farmland preservation and natural resource management in local peri-urban communities. Social science research on recent changes in rural landscape of mega-cities tends to be limited to case studies in Latin-American nations. This study analyses the socioecomic dynamics of farming land use and the interactions between multiple cultural variables and the environment. Fieldwork was carried out during the 2002–2003 period in rural livelihoods of the five high mountain towns of south Mexico City. Data obtained from participatory survey and ethnographic techniques were integrated to assess changes in rural landscape and resource management and how urbanization, deforestation and market oriented agricultural production result in different livelihoods within a similar urban fringe context. The dynamic of mixture of urban and rural landscapes is based on farm productivity and social capital factors. The study concludes that policy support for regional agricultural production systems through enhancing ecosystems services, environmental protection and economic development is needed for sustainable development of local communities. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

Ecological assessment of murine rodent communities in the mountain forest belt of southern Central Siberia

The results of long-term studies on the fauna and ecology of murine rodents inhabiting the mountain forest belt of southern Central Siberia are considered. A comparative analysis of the composition and organization of rodent communities has been performed in 15 key plots located within three geographic-climatic facies: perhumid, humid, and semihumid. The species composition, dominance structure, and total abundance of these communities in each facies have significant distinctive features, despite the generally high similarity of the communities within the forest belt. Information indices have been used to determine parameters of the diversity and evenness of communities, which reflect their state and degree of resistance to various factors.     

Taxonomy, phenology, and trophics of the urban macrolepidoptera feeding on trees and shrubs

A total of 107 macrolepidopteran species from 12 families have been recorded in 2006–2010 on trees and shrubs in the city of Yekaterinburg; in contrast to natural communities, no lasiocampids and few nymphalids have been found. The proportion of specialized species among the Macrolepidoptera living in the city is decreased, although the proportion of obligate dendrophagous species is increased. Differences in the phenology of lepidopterans living in urban greenery from those living in natural communities have been observed: a decreased proportion of autumn-spring species and an increased proportion of summer species. These differences can be explained both by relatively weak colonization of urban territory by facultative dendrophagous species with their specific seasonal strategies and by differences in methods used to collect the insects.     

武汉市城市地貌灾害及防治对策

城市地貌灾害含自然地貌灾害与城市人类活动所导致的地貌灾害。而大城市人口密集,人类活动强度大,所发生的灾害常常表现为自然与人工共同作用所造成,而后者常常是自然灾害的诱发因素。     

Assessment of nonselective elimination effects in rodent communities by methods of geometric morphometrics

Methods of geometric morphometrics and population phenogenetics have been used to evaluate morphogenetic rearrangements in two sympatric species of Myodes voles (M. glareolus Schreb. 1780 and M. rutilus Pall. 1779) from syntopic populations recovering after exposure to local “ecological vacuum” created as a result of rodent extermination in a natural focus of hemorrhagic fever in the southern taiga subzone of the Udmurt Republic. The model used in the study simulates the situation that arises upon nonselective elimination of rodent populations and communities in spring and their subsequent recovery. Analysis of variation in the size and shape of the mandible and in a complex of 30 nonmetric cranial characters has revealed similar (parallel) and species-specific morphogenetic and epigenetic changes occurring during the recovery of local rodent community. Species-specific differences in the pattern of change in the parameter characterizing within-group morphological disparity in the mandible shape (MNND) have been revealed between the dominant species (M. glareolus) and the subdominant species competing with it for territory (M. rutilus). Different reactions of close Myodes species in the course of filling the ecological vacuum are considered as a result of reduction in the level of competition for the subdominant species and a compensatory increase of morphological disparity in the dominant species under conditions of low density and incomplete composition of the community, in accordance with Chernov’s (2005) ecological compensation principle.     

Unravelling the association between the impact of natural hazards and household poverty: evidence from the Indian Sundarban delta

Coastal regions have long been settled by humans due to their abundant resources for livelihoods, including agriculture, transportation, and rich biodiversity. However, natural and anthropogenic factors, such as climate change and sea-level rise, and land subsidence, population pressure, developmental activities, pose threats to coastal sustainability. Natural hazards, such as fluvial or coastal floods, impact poorer and more vulnerable communities greater than more affluent communities. Quantitative assessments of how natural hazards affect vulnerable communities in deltaic regions are still limited, hampering the design of effective management strategies to increase household and community resilience. Drawing from Driving Forces–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR), we quantify the associations between household poverty and the likelihood of material and human loss following a natural hazard using new survey data from 783 households within Indian Sundarban Delta community. The results suggest that the poorest households are significantly more likely to endure material and human losses following a natural hazard and repeated losses of livelihood make them more vulnerable to future risk. The results further suggest that salinization, tidal surge, erosion, and household location are also significant predictors of economic and human losses. Given the current and projected impact of climate change and importance of delta regions as the world’s food baskets, poverty reduction and increase societal resilience should be a primary pathway to strengthen the resilience of the poorest populations inhabiting deltas.     

Study on Simulating Spatial Distribution and Varying Patterns of Urumqi＇s Population

In this paper, an approach to simulate the spatial distribution of urban population is proposed using urban land use and population statistical data through the geographical information systems （GIS）. Then, the spatial population distribution of Urumqi as a case is simulated by the approach mentioned above and its varying patterns are analyzed by the raster population surface. As a result, producing raster population surface is more accurate and natural than the traditional choropleth map of population density. Concerning the spatial population distribution of Urumqi, the population density declines from south to north and the population distribution mainly presents＇ ＂T-type＂, the population distribution presents multicentre agglomeration and the population distribution of the districts shows different features. The population density varies significantly with the increase in the distance from central business district （CBD）. Finally, it is found in this paper that the development history of districts, terrain and traffic road are main factors that have an influence Urumqi＇s population distribution. This paper tries to provide more accurate population data for the plan and management of urban land, traffic and public facilities in order to enrich the researches on urban population distribution.     

Local communities' participation in decision-making processes through planning and budgeting in African countries

Community participation and community based management are topical themes in current policy and discussion revolving around decision-making processes especially those dealing with natural resources management.This review shows that while governments have accepted the need to either cede or devolve control and management of natural resources to the local communities,the communities are not part and parcel of the planning and budgeting which are crucial in decisionmaking.Communities were seen to be more involved in the implementation of natural resource management programs but lacked ownership of the projects.This causes lack of commitment to the programs and at times hostile reaction from the communities.The communities are always at the receiving end when it pertains to losses in the exchange.Community participation was shown to be effective when the local population is involved not as co-operating users but as natural resource managers or owner managers.     

Study on Simulating Spatial Distribution and Varying Patterns of Urumqi's Population

Abstract

In this paper, an approach to simulate the spatial distribution of urban population is proposed using urban land use and population statistical data through the geographical information systems (GIS). Then, the spatial population distribution of Urumqi as a case is simulated by the approach mentioned above and its varying patterns are analyzed by the raster population surface. As a result, producing raster population surface is more accurate and natural than the traditional choropleth map of population density. Concerning the spatial population distribution of Urumqi, the population density declines from south to north and the population distribution mainly presents “T-type”, the population distribution presents multi-centre agglomeration and the population distribution of the districts shows different features. The population density varies significantly with the increase in the distance from central business district (CBD). Finally, it is found in this paper that the development history of districts, terrain and traffic road are main factors that have an influence Urumqi's population distribution. This paper tries to provide more accurate population data for the plan and management of urban land, traffic and public facilities in order to enrich the researches on urban population distribution.     

Marine biodiversity and sustainability of fishing resources in Brazil: a case study of the coast of Paraná state

The subtropical coastal zone of Paraná state in southern Brazil is only 80 km long yet environmentally diverse, with relatively pristine coastal landscapes and high marine and coastal biodiversity supporting important artisanal fishing grounds. However, this region began to change in the early 1970s. The development of industrial harbors, as well as unregulated tourism and urban settlement and pollution caused the loss of natural habitats. In addition, commercial shrimp trawlers began to operate in the adjacent shallow shelf areas. Biodiversity was seriously affected, and local fish stocks have decreased drastically in the last four decades. This article describes a long-term program to protect coastal habitats, recover marine biodiversity and diversify the economic base of fishing communities in order to guarantee fish stocks for future generations, hence preserving the social and cultural identities of these communities. Although it is difficult to change traditional fishing practices, fishing communities may exploit alternate components of the marine biological resources in order to achieve environmental, social and cultural sustainability in the long term.     

Long-term population dynamics of ixodid ticks and development of tick-borne encephalitis foci under conditions of the middle taiga subzone

Long-term (1995–2003) population dynamics of ixodid ticks and their main hosts (small mammals) and conditions providing for the formation of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) foci were studies in the middle taiga subzone (Karelia). The results show that the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus Schr.) is the main host for the larvae and nymphs of Ixodes persulcatus Schulze, 1930 and for the larvae, nymphs, and adult individuals of I. trianguliceps Birula, 1895. The proportion of ticks feeding on this species (relative to their total number) reaches 63.3% (64.0% of I. persulcatus and 61.1% of I. trianguliceps). Activity of a TBE focus is determined primarily by the abundance of bank voles of older age groups.     

Using sustainability science to analyse social–ecological restoration in NE Japan after the great earthquake and tsunami of 2011

In the wake of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that devastated part of northeastern Japan in March 2011, proposals for reconstruction and rehabilitation are still subjects of debate. The claim by many climate scientists that large-scale extreme events can be expected in the future, with similar catastrophic effects in coastal areas, suggests the need for long-term planning that aims at building resilience, the ability for socio-ecological systems to withstand and recover quickly from natural disasters, and continue to develop. We hypothesize that ecosystems and socio-economic resilience will provide affected communities with flexible barriers against future disasters and greater protection in the long run than will hard/engineering solutions such as high seawalls aimed at ensuring only physical security. Building social/ecological resilience in the Tohoku region will increase general security and is anticipated also to contribute to an enhanced quality of life now and for generations to come. This paper argues that building resilience in the affected area requires a transformation to sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries and we describe how the links between satoyama and satoumi, traditional rural territorial and coastal landscapes in Japan, can contribute to this revitalization and to strengthening the relationship between local residents and the landscape in the affected communities. Decision makers at local, regional and national levels need to take a holistic approach based on sustainability science to understand the inter-relationships between these landscapes and ecosystems to develop a robust rebuilding plan for the affected communities. Moreover, this paper suggests that building resilient communities in Japan that demonstrate the strategic benefits of satoyama and satoumi linkages can be a model for building resilient rural and urban communities throughout the world.     

Functional patterns of life activities of rodent populations in the winter season

The results of 37-year continuous monitoring of basic rodent population parameters (the example of bank vole) are reviewed and generalized using the functional-ontogenetic approach. The role of the environment in synchronizing changes in certain biological indices is demonstrated. A detailed analysis is made of the pattern of change in population parameters during overwintering, including minimization of most biological parameters in this period and its adaptive significance. It is shown that successful winter survival largely depends on the functional status of animals (the type of ontogeny) and also on photoregulation. Consideration is given to the phenomenon of winter breeding and its types in murine rodents. A scheme is presented that describes the integrated (generalized), unspecific adaptive reaction of the population in response to irregular, extreme impacts of natural factors and some (short-term) anthropogenic impacts.