Steel sharpens steel: A review of multilevel competition and competitiveness in organizations

Competition between individuals permeates people's lives as they strive for limited resources, services, and status. However, research on competition and competitiveness in organizations is limited despite its relevance to relational dynamics (e.g., rivalry), individual differences (e.g., traits and gender), social factors (e.g., competitive climate), and organizational outcomes (e.g., work performance and unethical behavior). In this article, we propose a multilevel model of competition and competitiveness that includes the individual, the group, and the situation. By providing a holistic overview of research across a broad array of disciplines, we organize the field and create a usable framework to advance knowledge of competition and competitiveness. In doing so, we identify what we know, what we still need to discover, and provide direction for future research. The article closes with an assessment of methods and measures used in studying competition. In conclusion, this review establishes a multilevel and integrative structure that incorporates individual and team competitiveness with competitive situations that prompt competitive processes and important organizational outcomes.     

Dynamics of land use land cover and its impact on carbon stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa: an overview

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Land use land cover change (LULCC) is a global environmental trend that plays a key role in worldwide environmental change and sustainable development....     

A Review of Water Quality Responses to Air Temperature and Precipitation Changes 2: Nutrients,Algal Blooms,Sediment, Pathogens

In this paper we review the published, scientific literature addressing the response of nutrients, sediment, pathogens, and cyanobacterial blooms to historical and potential future changes in air temperature and precipitation. The goal is to document how different attributes of water quality are sensitive to these drivers, to characterize future risk, to inform management responses, and to identify research needs to fill gaps in our understanding. Results suggest that anticipated future changes present a risk of water quality and ecosystem degradation in many United States locations. Understanding responses is, however, complicated by inherent high spatial and temporal variability, interactions with land use and water management, and dependence on uncertain changes in hydrology in response to future climate. Effects on pollutant loading in different watershed settings generally correlate with projected changes in precipitation and runoff. In all regions, increased heavy precipitation events are likely to drive more episodic pollutant loading to water bodies. The risk of algal blooms could increase due to an expanded seasonal window of warm water temperatures and the potential for episodic increases in nutrient loading. Increased air and water temperatures are also likely to affect the survival of waterborne pathogens. Responding to these challenges requires understanding of vulnerabilities, and management strategies to reduce risk.     

A Review of Water Quality Responses to Air Temperature and Precipitation Changes 1: Flow,Water Temperature,Saltwater Intrusion

Anticipated future increases in air temperature and regionally variable changes in precipitation will have direct and cascading effects on United States (U.S.) water quality. In this paper, and a companion paper by Coffey et al., we review technical literature addressing the responses of different water quality attributes to historical and potential future changes in air temperature and precipitation. The goal is to document how different attributes of water quality are sensitive to these drivers, to characterize future risk to inform management responses, and to identify research needs to fill gaps in our understanding. Here we focus on potential changes in streamflow, water temperature, and salt water intrusion (SWI). Projected changes in the volume and timing of streamflow vary regionally, with general increases in northern and eastern regions of the U.S., and decreases in the southern Plains, interior Southwest, and parts of the Southeast. Water temperatures have increased throughout the U.S. and are expected to continue to increase in the future, with the greatest changes in locations where high summer air temperatures occur together with low streamflow volumes. In coastal areas, especially the mid‐Atlantic and Gulf coasts, SWI to rivers and aquifers could be exacerbated by sea level rise, storm surges, and altered freshwater runoff. Management responses for reducing risks to water quality should consider strategies and practices robust to a range of potential future conditions.     

Lead contamination of UK dusts and soils and implications for childhood exposure: An overview of the work of the Environmental Geochemistry Research Group,Imperial College,London, England 1981–1992

Over the course of the last decade, research conducted by the Imperial College Environmental Geochemistry Research Group has focused on the nature and effects of lead in UK dusts and soils. An initial nationwide reconnaissance survey demonstrated that approximately 10% of the population is exposed to lead levels in excess of 2,000 g g^–1 in house-hold dust. Subsequent exposure studies revealed that for 2 year old children in the UK urban environment, approximately 50% of lead intake was from dust ingested as a result of hand-to-mouth activity. Follow-up computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) analysis of urban household dust and particulate material wiped from children's hands showed that important sources of dust lead include lead-based paint, road dust and soils. CCSEM identification of specific soil lead tracer particles (from minewaste contaminated soils) in dusts and on children's hands further documented the important role of soil as a source of exposure. Speciation studies of soil lead of this origin indicated that the form of the lead, which is largely influenced by the soil environment, is the primary control on bioavailability. It appears that although lead of minewaste origin may be present at elevated levels in dusts and soils, it does not necessarily contribute to elevated blood lead levels when the lead is present in relatively insoluble form.     

Fine-scale patchiness and genetic heterogeneity of recruits of the corallivorous gastropod Drupella cornus

The size-frequency distributions and genetic composition of recruits of the corallivorous snail Drupella cornus (Röding, 1798) were examined in outbreak populations collected from Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia in August 1990. The recruits are found in groups on digitate Acropora spp. corals. Among coral colonies, mean lengths of recruits in our samples ranged from <9 to 22 mm, but the snails within a group were generally similar in size. Despite the fact that D. cornus has planktonic larvae, there were marked genetic differences between groups of recruits on different coral colonies. The relatively large genetic subdivision among groups of recruits within sites over distances <80 m was measured as a value of F _ST (standardized variance in allelic frequencies) of 0.044. This was three times the value from comparisons of pooled samples of recruits from areas up to 119 km apart, and six times as great at the genetic subdivision among populations of adults over a distance of 180 km. Much of the genetic heterogeneity among groups of recruits is associated with mean size of the snails. Taken together, the size-frequency distributions and the genetic differences indicate that recruits within the same coral colony shared a common history of settlement, suggesting a cohesiveness of groups of larvae. Although the mechanisms for this patchiness are not understood, one implication is that studies of size-frequency distributions and genetic composition of cohorts of D. cornus must treat the group, not the individual snail, as the unit of replication.     

Supplanting by olive baboons: dominance rank difference and resource value

Summary Interactions in which one animal takes over a food resource from another (feeding supplants) are usually interpreted as evidence of feeding competition, and the level of competition is predicted to be proportionate to the value of the resource. However, in this study of juvenile olive baboons (Papio anubis) living in a troop near Gilgil, Kenya, individuals were less selective about the quality of the supplant food under certain social circumstances. Two major food classes, Grass and Corm, were compared. Corms were less common in the diet, more difficult to locate as a replacement food after a supplant, and then at greater distances than Grass: in general, corms were the favoured supplant food, as predicted. But in interactions between animals who were close in rank, supplants over Grass occurred more often than expected. It is suggested here that, in these particular interactions, the winner benefitted socially, even at some cost of time or energy. Further, such interactions which may serve to reinforce the winner's status will be most productively directed to those close in rank, where relationships are potentially less stable. These data provide evidence that baboons can discriminate the relative ranks of others, rather than simply distinguishing between individuals who are higher- or lower-ranking than themselves.     

Philopatry,reproductive success of females,and maternal investment in the red-necked wallaby

Summary Female red-necked wallabies settle within their mothers' home ranges, apparently for life, while males disperse at about two years of age. However, sons spend much more time with their mothers before dispersing than do daughters of similar ages. Females who associate regularly with their subadult offspring are less likely to reproduce successfully at their next breeding attempt than are females who spend little time with their subadults, and sons therefore impose greater short-term reproductive costs on their mothers than do daughters. Females who are generally gregarious also suffer reduced reproductive success, even though reproductive success is independent of local density. It is suggested that the reproductive costs to females of associating with their subadult offspring, and other relatives, are incurred through tolerance of ecological competition from those kin, and therefore reflect a form of prolonged maternal investment, which is initially heaviest in sons but is sustained for longer periods in daughters. Females produce equal numbers of male and female offspring, and spend equal amounts of time suckling them in infancy.     

Association of allozymes and temperature in the crested blenny Anoplarchus purpurescens

The crested blenny Anoplarchus purpurescens occurs intertidally in the Puget Sound area (USA), where it is subjected to substantial variation in temperature. A study of a polymorphic esterase in A. purpurescens has revealed a latitudinal cline and a correlation of allelic frequencies with summer water temperature. This finding agrees with previous results for a lactate dehydrogenase polymorphism in A. purpurescens, suggesting a pervasive genetic adaptation to temperature in this species. For each of these enzymes, comparisons within and between two species of Anoplarchus andicate an association between heterozygosity and temporal variability of the thermal environment.     

Hydrodynamic study of the functional morphology of the benthic suspension feeder Phoronopsis viridis (Phoronida)

Ambient water currents were altered by the morphology of an active suspension feeder, Phoronopsis viridis Hilton (phylum Phoronida), to produce a flow around its ciliated crown of feeding tentacles (lophophore). To test the effects of specific morphological characteristics on patterns of water movement, the morphology of model phoronids was varied and the resultant paths of water movement were compared to those around living phoronids. Living individuals were collected from the intertidal sandflats at Bodega Bay, California/USA, in the springs of 1984 and 1985. Although P. viridis actively produce a feeding current, use of various models demonstrated that the gross pattern of flow around a living phoronid was created by the physical interaction of its morphology with ambient currents. The important aspects of that morphology were the presence of a wide, porous crown of tentacles atop a cylindrically-shaped body. A hydrodynamic consequence of this morphology was that dye eroded off the substratum from a circular area around the base of the body and entrained upwards into the lophophore. In addition, rates of water movement were slowed at the lophophore and near the substratum adjacent to a phoronid, particles were slowed and diverted from horizontal paths immediately downstream of the lophophore, and the number of visible suspended particles within the wake per unit time increased with ambient velocity. Paths of water movement around a phoronid were also influenced by its angle and height relative to the substratum, indicating that P. viridis could behaviorally modify their local flow environment.