Rodent outbreaks affect many farmland areas worldwide and the negative environmental impacts of control campaigns cause intense social tensions. In such conservation conflicts, understanding stakeholders’ viewpoints is critical to promote ecologically sustainable management. We used Q-methodology, a framework standing between qualitative and quantitative social research, to investigate human subjectivity and understand conflicts caused by rodent outbreaks in Spain. We interviewed farmers, conservationists, hunters, and governmental agencies, and identified five main discourses about the origins and consequences of the conflictive situation. Finding sustainable management is impaired by opposing views about causes and consequences of vole outbreaks and their management, which are at the root of the conflict. Social tensions will likely remain until the underlying conflicts between people holding different views are also managed. Decision-making should therefore focus on mitigating underlying conflicts. Using trained independent mediators would help the effective resolution of conservation conflicts caused by rodent outbreaks and their management.
Egg data from ichthyoplankton monitoring sites in the western English Channel (1988–2003) and northern Spain (1990–2000) and
macroscopic maturity data from biological samples of purse seine landings in western and southern Iberia (1980–2004) are used
to describe the spawning seasonality of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) in European waters of the northeast Atlantic using generalised additive models. The fitted models reveal a double peak in
spawning activity during early summer and autumn in the western Channel, a wider spring peak off northern Spain and a broad
winter season in the western and southern Iberian Peninsula. At all sites, a high probability of spawning activity was observed
over at least 3 months of the year, with the duration of the season increasing with both decreasing latitude and increasing
fish size. Off western and southern Iberia there are indications that the spawning season has been of longer duration in recent
years for all size classes (reaching in some cases 8 months of the year for large fish). These patterns are in general agreement
with existing literature and theoretical expectations of sardine spawning being driven locally by the seasonal cycle of water
temperature, assuming preferences for spawning at 14 –15°C and avoidance for temperatures below 12°C and above 16°C. Regional
quotient plots indicated that spawning tolerance to higher temperatures increases progressively with decreasing latitude.
Despite the weak evidence for geographical differences in temperature tolerance that may have some genetic origin, the degree
of spatio-temporal overlap in sardine-spawning activity within Atlantic European waters is unlikely to promote any reproductive
isolation in that area. 相似文献
Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) banding patterns were compared between samples of the netted dogwhelk Nassarius reticulatus from 11 locations along the NW Iberian Peninsula coast. To detect if rias (estuaries formed by drowned river valleys) might
promote genetic differentiation, five sampling sites were located within a ria (ria of Muros) and the remaining six were scattered
along open-coast areas at increasing distances from the ria mouth. Population differentiation statistics (Φ-values) were estimated
using a hierarchical analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) with samples sorted into two groups: open-coast and ria populations.
Despite a high potential to disperse, AMOVA demonstrated a modest, statistically significant genetic heterogeneity among N. reticulatus populations. Most of the genetic structure resided in differences among open-coast populations; ria populations were genetically
homogeneous. No obvious geographical pattern was detected for the pairwise genetic distances (non-metric multidimensional
scaling; UPGMA tree; Mantel test). Unlike previous studies with other species at a variety of estuarine systems other than
rias, there was no evidence that the ria of Muros may enhance the genetic divergence of N. reticulatus populations. This discrepancy is discussed in relation to the biological features of the species (high dispersal potential
and a preference for mid-low estuarine habitat) and the strong hydrographic connectivity between ria and neighbouring off-shore
waters. 相似文献
The air pollution profiles of organic xenobiotics (including chlorinated insecticides and benzenes, PCBs and PAHs) were comparatively analyzed in the climatically different regions of Leipzig-Halle (Germany) and Greater Mendoza (Argentina) using two-year-old pine needles (Pinus sylvestris L.) as passive biomonitors. In addition to total compound contents, the levels of potentially bioavailable fraction in the inner needle compartment were determined. The peak levels of chlorinated insecticides and PAHs in an urban park in Mendoza were found to exceed the maximum levels in the Leipzig-Halle region by one to two orders of magnitude, indicating the recent substantial tropospheric input of the compounds from local sources. Bioavailable fractions were observed to exhibit considerable variations for some of these compounds, which became even more distinct when needle samples from Germany and Argentina were compared. Generally speaking, an increase in permeability under semiarid climatic conditions was observed for most of the xenobiotics examined. The discussion of the results reflects the problems associated with using biomonitoring for semivolatile compounds. Interpretation takes into account pollution measurements in the air at Argentine and German reference sites. 相似文献
Terrestrial salamanders of the genus Salamandra represent one of the most prominent groups of amphibians. They are mainly distributed across Europe but also reach Northern Africa and the Near East. Members of the six currently accepted species have long been known to be poisonous; however, work on their toxins was mostly published in German language, and therefore, many nuances of these studies have remained hidden from the majority of herpetologists and toxinologists. Several Salamandra species are called fire salamanders due to their highly contrasted, black-yellow colouration which probably serves to deter predators, although thorough evidence for aposematism in Salamandra is still lacking. Salamandra skin toxins do not only represent a potent antipredator defence but may also have antimicrobial effects. A better understanding of this dual function of Salamandra skin secretions is of utmost importance in the face of the emergence of a fungal disease causing catastrophic declines of fire salamanders in Central Europe, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans. In this review, we summarize the knowledge on Salamandra toxins, providing a list of the compounds so far isolated from their secretion and focusing on the bioactivity of the major compounds in Salamandra secretions, the steroidal alkaloids. We identify priorities for future research, including a screening of co-occurrence of steroidal alkaloids and tetrodotoxins in salamandrids, chemical characterization of already identified novel steroidal compounds, elucidation of the presence and role of peptides and proteins in the secretion, and experimental in vitro and in vivo study of the interactions between bioactive compounds in Salamandra skin secretions and cutaneous fungal and bacterial pathogens. 相似文献
We describe a new mantelline frog of the genus Blommersia found in rainforest in North East Madagascar, from the protected areas of Ambatovaky, Betampona, Masoala, and Zahamena. Blommersia angolafa n.sp. is a small frog, with a body size of 17–21 mm, expanded finger and toe tips, and colouration ranging from yellow to
dark brown, with pale-bluish spots on the flanks and light tips of fingers and toes. A peculiar aspect characterising this
new species is its novel life history and reproductive mode. Both sexes live and breed in a phytotelmic habitat of water accumulated
within fallen prophylls and fallen leaf sheaths of at least three species of Dypsis palms. Within these phytotelmata, egg laying and complete larval development occur. Thus, B. angolafa n.sp. represents a new evolutionary lineage of Malagasy frogs in which phytotelmy is known. Up to now, reproduction in phytotelmata
in Malagasy frogs has been reported for many cophyline microhylids, most species of Guibemantis, Mantella laevigata, and possibly in a still-undescribed species belonging to the genus Spinomantis. We consider the reproductive mode of B. angolafa as a derived character, having evolved from the more typical reproduction in lentic water bodies. The general scarcity of
lentic habitats in Malagasy rainforests may have provided the conditions that favoured the evolution of this phytotelmic breeding
strategy. The new species, being specialised to a habitat represented by a few selected Dypsis species, potentially suffers the selective exploitation of these palms. 相似文献