Umweltmanagement im landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb

Although problems may occur in the implementation of environmental management systems (EMS) in agriculture, an EMS can be a suitable farm management tool. In the past, pilot projects have revealed that the environmental audit as a base analysis still contains methodical weak points. A uniform procedure for the implementation process is not possible due to variations in the structure of farms in Germany with respect to size, employee structure and capital resources. While the resource costs which occur on larger farms can lead to a benefit due to increased efficiency, this has not yet been established for smaller farms. In these cases, other measures such as the implementation of generic management systems (especially environment and quality) or a farm-specific implementation of a management system without the cost-intensive certification may be a possible alternative.     

Development and application of GIS datasets for assessing and managing coastal impacts and future change on the central coast of Western Australia

The coastal zone between Guilderton and Kalbarri, north of Perth, Western Australia, is a highly dynamic area of high landscape and conservation values under increasing development pressures. Intensification of terrestrial and coastal impacts has highlighted the need to develop a georeferenced data base for land management. The Coastal Assessment and Restoration project aimed to document the natural resources and coastal developments to the region and to identify & assess threats to the coastal strip through the creation of GIS datasets. GIS datasets provide a key source of reference information which can be accessed by a number of stakeholders for future coastal planning and management and provide a basis for developing a risk management assessment of the coastal zone and a strategy for coastal managers in our climate change future.     

Use of GIS in siting stabilization pond facilities for domestic wastewater treatment

Geographic information systems (GIS) use is presented in the problem of sitting areas for construction of natural systems such as stabilization ponds (SPs) for domestic wastewater treatment. For this purpose, several variables, such as topography, land use, type of geological formation, distance to major rivers or lakes, distance to existing cities and villages, existence of environmentally protected areas, mean minimum monthly temperatures and required wastewater effluent characteristics were analyzed with the GIS, in order to accept or reject a particular area within a region. The method is applied in the region of Thrace (Northeast Greece) at the municipal level. The required area for SP systems was calculated in each of the 36 municipalities of Thrace (including two islands, Thassos and Samothraki) as a function of the population of each municipality, temperature and local wastewater effluent discharge criteria. Based on the GIS analysis, suitable locations were identified in each municipality first, and then the total required surface area of these systems was compared to the available surface area of each municipality, in order to decide whether SP systems could be a viable solution to the wastewater management problem in the particular region. In that way the present methodology offers a fast and simple method to check the suitability of new areas for construction of such systems.     

Sonography in prenatal diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive disorder with an incidence of 1/15 000. More than 90% of CAH cases result from mutations of CYP21, leading to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. In its classical form, CAH is severe and consists of the virilizing (increase of androgens) and salt-wasting (lack of aldosterone) phenotype. When a proband exists, early prenatal diagnosis for CAH can be performed by direct molecular analysis in the first trimester. We describe herein two cases suggesting that the prenatal diagnosis of CAH can be initiated by the sonographic appearance of the adrenal gland at the second-trimester scan in the absence of a family history. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Going beyond work and family: A longitudinal study on the role of leisure in the work–life interplay

Going beyond the relation of work and family, the present three‐wave longitudinal study spanning one year assessed different forms of conflict and facilitation between leisure and the life domains work and family and their relation to subjective well‐being. A sample of N = 277 employed men and women reported their perceived conflict and facilitation between leisure, work, and family and subjective well‐being. Results suggest that leisure is a source of facilitation for work and family, and, at the same time, a major recipient of conflict from work and family. Moreover, leisure conflict was negatively correlated and leisure facilitation was positively associated with concurrent subjective well‐being. Both conflict and facilitation between all three life domains remained highly stable over the course of one year. Only few and non‐systematic lagged effects were found, indicating that the variance of the stability of the constructs and their relations over time leave little room for longitudinal predictions. Taken together, the study demonstrates that, similar to work–family relations, conflict and facilitation with the leisure domain are also associated with subjective well‐being and remain highly stable over the course of a year in the lives of young and middle‐aged adults. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Repeatable female preferences, mating order and mating success in the poeciliid fish, Heterandria formosa

Sexual selection via female choice can afford preferred males comparably higher mating success than those males that lack preferred traits. In addition, many models of sexual selection assume that both male traits and female preferences are heritable. In this study we test whether females of the poeciliid fish, Heterandria formosa, have repeatable pre-copulatory preferences for larger males. We also test whether female pre-copulatory preferences are always reliable indicators of male mating success. When given a choice between a large and a small male, females prefer larger males, and the repeatability of this preference is high. Although there are no overall differences in male mating success between large and small males, large males have a higher mating success when they are the first to mate than when they are the second to mate. Likewise, preferred males also have higher mating success when they are the first to mate than when they mate second. Therefore, the repeatable female preferences observed in this study only predict male mating success when the preferred male mates first. These results illustrate that even significantly repeatable female preferences do not translate into male mating success, which is an assumption of many examinations of the importance of female choice in sexual selection.     

Detour experiments with homing pigeons: information obtained during the outward journey is included in the navigational process

Summary To test the hypothesis that information on the route of the outward journey is involved in the orientation of displaced homing pigeons, we compared the behavior of control pigeons that had been displaced by the most direct route with that of experimental pigeons that had been transported along detours to the same release sites. At distances of 40 km we found no consistent effect. At distances between 75 and 130 km, however, deviations to the left of the direct route induced deflections to the left, while deviations to the right induced deflections to the right, i.e. the deflections of the vanishing bearings tended to compensate for the initial detour of the outward journey. The deflections were smaller than the deviations of the routes; they were not related to the routes themselves or the location of the release sites. A significant correlation emerged with the vector length of the controls, as longer vectors were associated with smaller deflections. This suggests that information on the route of the outward journey is used together with local map information in the navigational process, the significance of the route-specific information apparently depending on quality and reliability of the available local information. The nature of factors controlling the detour effect is still open.Correspondence to: R. Wiltschko