The role of traditional knowledge policies in Egypt: the case of Wadi Allaqi

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Globally, traditional knowledge is at stake, notwithstanding intentions recorded in international policy conventions. Egypt has accepted and ratified...     

Benefits of protected areas for nonbreeding waterbirds adjusting their distributions under climate warming

Climate warming is driving changes in species distributions and community composition. Many species have a so-called climatic debt, that is, shifts in range lag behind shifts in temperature isoclines. Inside protected areas (PAs), community changes in response to climate warming can be facilitated by greater colonization rates by warm-dwelling species, but also mitigated by lowering extirpation rates of cold-dwelling species. An evaluation of the relative importance of colonization-extirpation processes is important to inform conservation strategies that aim for both climate debt reduction and species conservation. We assessed the colonization-extirpation dynamics involved in community changes in response to climate inside and outside PAs. To do so, we used 25 years of occurrence data of nonbreeding waterbirds in the western Palearctic (97 species, 7071 sites, 39 countries, 1993–2017). We used a community temperature index (CTI) framework based on species thermal affinities to investigate species turnover induced by temperature increase. We determined whether thermal community adjustment was associated with colonization by warm-dwelling species or extirpation of cold-dwelling species by modeling change in standard deviation of the CTI (CTI_SD). Using linear mixed-effects models, we investigated whether communities in PAs had lower climatic debt and different patterns of community change than communities outside PAs. For CTI and CTI_SD combined, communities inside PAs had more species, higher colonization, lower extirpation, and lower climatic debt (16%) than communities outside PAs. Thus, our results suggest that PAs facilitate 2 independent processes that shape community dynamics and maintain biodiversity. The community adjustment was, however, not sufficiently fast to keep pace with the large temperature increases in the central and northeastern western Palearctic. Our results underline the potential of combining CTI and CTI_SD metrics to improve understanding of the colonization-extirpation patterns driven by climate warming.     

Where clocks are redundant: weak circadian mechanisms in reindeer living under polar photic conditions

Biological rhythms are a result of interplay between endogenous clocks and the ambient light–dark (LD) cycle. Biological timing in resident polar organisms presents a conundrum because these experience distinct daily LD cycles for only a few weeks each year. We measured locomotor activity in reindeer, Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus (SR, n = 5 and 6) and R. tarandus tarandus (NR, n = 6), ranging freely at 78 and 70°N, respectively, continuously throughout 1 year using data loggers. NR, but not SR, are gregarious which enabled us to examine the integrated effects of differences in social organisation and the photic environment at two different latitudes on the organisation of activity. In both sub-species, ultradian bouts of activity and inactivity alternated across the 24-h day throughout the year. This pattern was modified by the LD cycle in NR but barely at all in SR. Periodogram analysis revealed significant ultradian rhythmicity in both sub-species; the frequency of daily cycles of activity increased from three per day in winter to nearly five in summer. We conclude that this increase, and a concomitant increase in the level of daily activity, reflected the seasonal increase in the animals’ appetite and the quality of their forage. Secondly, the combination, most evident in SR, of a weak photic response, weak circadian mechanisms and a weak social synchronization reduces the constraints of biological timing in an environment which is effectively non-rhythmic most of the year and permits expression of the basic ultradian pattern of ruminant activity. Third, the weaker 24-h rhythmicity in SR compared to NR indicates a latitudinal decrease in circadian organization and photic responsiveness in Rangifer.     

Protected area characteristics that help waterbirds respond to climate warming

Protected area networks help species respond to climate warming. However, the contribution of a site's environmental and conservation-relevant characteristics to these responses is not well understood. We investigated how composition of nonbreeding waterbird communities (97 species) in the European Union Natura 2000 (N2K) network (3018 sites) changed in response to increases in temperature over 25 years in 26 European countries. We measured community reshuffling based on abundance time series collected under the International Waterbird Census relative to N2K sites’ conservation targets, funding, designation period, and management plan status. Waterbird community composition in sites explicitly designated to protect them and with management plans changed more quickly in response to climate warming than in other N2K sites. Temporal community changes were not affected by the designation period despite greater exposure to temperature increase inside late-designated N2K sites. Sites funded under the LIFE program had lower climate-driven community changes than sites that did not received LIFE funding. Our findings imply that efficient conservation policy that helps waterbird communities respond to climate warming is associated with sites specifically managed for waterbirds.     

Multiple organizational identification levels and the impact of perceived external prestige and communication climate

Earlier studies have shown that perceived external prestige and communication climate influence organizational identification. In this paper we present the results of a study of the influence of communication climate and perceived external prestige on organizational identification at various organizational levels of a regional police organization. In total, 314 respondents filled out a questionnaire on communication climate, perceived external prestige and organizational identification. The results of this study show that communication climate has the strongest link with employee identification when it concerns the identification with the daily work group and a weaker one with the organization as a whole. It also appears that perceived external prestige has a stronger influence on the identification with the organization as a whole than on the identification at the more concrete organizational levels (such as department or work group). This research offers reasons to presuppose that organizational identification and communication climate are multiple constructs. If management wishes to influence organizational identification through a bottom‐up process, it is wise to pay particular attention to the communication climate in the work groups. Influencing organizational identification with the organization as a whole is better conducted through perceived external prestige. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Responses of wintering geese to the designation of goose foraging areas in The Netherlands

The Netherlands is important for wintering migratory herbivorous geese, numbers of which have rapidly increased, leading to conflict with agriculture. In 2005/2006, a new goose management policy aimed to limit compensation payments to farmers by concentrating foraging geese in 80 000 ha of designated ‘go’ areas—where farmers received payment to accommodate them—and scaring geese from ‘no go’ areas elsewhere. Monthly national counts of four abundant goose species during 10 years prior to the new policy and in 8 years following implementation found that 57% of all goose days were spent within ‘go’ areas under the new management, the same as prior to implementation. Such lack of response suggests no predicted learning effects, perhaps because of (i) increases in abundance outside of ‘go’ areas, (ii) irregularly shaped boundaries and enclaves of ‘no go’ farmland within ‘go’ areas and/or (iii) insufficient differences in disturbance levels within and outside designated areas.     

Trend analysis of urban NO2 concentrations and the importance of direct NO2 emissions versus ozone/NOx equilibrium

The annual air quality standard of NO₂ is often exceeded in urban areas near heavy traffic locations. Despite significant decrease of NO_x emissions in 1986–2005 in the industrial and harbour area near Rotterdam, NO₂ concentrations at the urban background remain at the same level since the end of the nineties. Trend analysis of monitoring data revealed that the ozone/NO_x equilibrium is a more important factor than increasing direct NO₂ emissions by traffic. The latter has recently been identified as an additional NO₂ source due to the introduction of oxy-catalytic converters in diesel vehicles and the growing number of diesel vehicles. However, in Rotterdam over the period 1986–2005 direct NO₂ emissions by road traffic only increased 3–4%. Due to the importance of the ozone/NO_x equilibrium, it is concluded that local NO_x emissions in Rotterdam need substantial reduction to achieve lower NO₂ urban background levels. This is a relatively costly abatement strategy and, therefore, a “hotspot” approach aiming at reducing NO_x emissions by local traffic measures is more effective to meet European air quality standards.     

Exploring the linkage between the home domain and absence from work: Health,motivation, or both?

The aim of this study was twofold. First, we examined depleting and enriching effects of employees' home domain (home demands and quality time spent at home) on unscheduled absence from work. Second, we tested the assumption of the medical and withdrawal models that absence duration and frequency are uniquely predicted by respectively health condition and job motivation. We used longitudinal, different‐source data from 1014 employees. The results showed that home quality time was negatively related to absence frequency and duration in the following year through a physical pathway (less physical stress symptoms and health complaints) and through a psychological pathway (less psychological stress symptoms, increased job motivation). Employees with heavy home demands reported more physical and psychological stress symptoms, more health complaints, and lower job motivation. Accordingly, they had longer and more frequent sick leaves in the consecutive year. We conclude that the home domain adds to our understanding of absence from work. In addition, the model including cross pathways between health complaints and job motivation on the one hand, and absence frequency and duration on the other, best fitted the data. Thus, a clear distinction between volitional absence (frequency) and absence due to illness (duration) seems hard to justify. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.