农业灾害成灾机理研究

从农业灾害的发生过程入手, 重点探讨了自然变异因子在一定发生阶段上为害农业生产的内在机制, 指出农业抗灾力与农业灾害破坏力之间的矛盾关系     

论地震谣传与社会信息沟通

地震谣言和地震误传的产生过程是社会信息沟通的过程,也是一种社会心理现象。分析研究我国十多年来所发生的地震谣传;无一不是社会信息沟通的结果。为了利用社会信息沟通对地震谣言、误传进行有效的控制,作者提出了地震谣言、误传在社会信息沟通中的控制原则和一般的对策模式,为社会组织提供在地震谣传事件中的决策依据。     

乐山市诱发地震的社会影响及对策

本文简述了健为县罗城镇的注水采盐诱发地震和沙湾区铜街子水库蓄水诱发地震的影响及对策。     

Global environmental assessments: Impact mechanisms

Many impacts of Global Environmental Assessment (GEA) processes on policy processes, and the mechanisms underlying these impacts, remain underappreciated. In this research, we focus on the 5th Global Environment Outlook and the Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Based on the perception of GEA process participants, we describe the mechanisms through which assessments create or alter interpersonal interactions which can affect the dissemination of ideas. In particular, we find that GEAs can contribute to framing international coordinative discourses in intergovernmental negotiations. This can be achieved by widening, improving and/or maintaining the active participation of policy actors in the discussions of global environmental risks and by creating the scientific foundations for intergovernmental negotiations. GEAs can also contribute to national coordinative discourses by facilitating reflexive learning amongst participants, empowering them to diffuse and translate global information, and by providing methodological guidance. They can contribute to national communicative discourses by reviving interest and awareness of the urgency to address environmental problems. In this way they provide powerful arguments for governmental societal actors to challenge or strengthen existing national coordinative discourses. Finally, GEAs can improve scientific discourses worldwide by enhancing the capacity of individual researchers to produce and communicate relevant research insights. This is achieved by participating in a learning exercise with an extended community of peers and policy actors. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented global environmental assessments.     

Queen and worker policing in the tree wasp Dolichovespula sylvestris

Insect societies are sometimes exploited by workers who reproduce selfishly rather than help to rear the queens offspring. This causes a conflict-of-interest with the mother queen and, frequently, with the non-reproductive workers as well. One mechanism that can reduce conflict is policing, whereby either the queen or other workers aggress egg-laying workers or destroy worker-laid eggs. Here we present the first direct observations of queen and worker policing in natural, unmanipulated colonies of a social insect, the tree wasp Dolichovespula sylvestris. Worker reproduction was common, with workers producing 50% of all male eggs. However, most worker-laid eggs, 91%, were policed within 1 day, whereas most queen-laid eggs, 96%, remained unharmed. The workers were responsible for 51% of all policing events and the queen for 49%. The workers and mother queen also commonly aggressed ovipositing workers, and successfully prevented them from depositing eggs in 14% and 6% of all attempted ovipositions. Hence, both queen policing and worker policing occur and policing acts via two distinct mechanisms: selective destruction of worker-laid eggs and aggression of ovipositing workers. At a general level, our study shows that both centralized and decentralized control can act together to suppress conflict within social groups.Communicated by R. Page     

Maternal effects on post-weaning physical and social development in juvenile mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus)

Little is known about maternal effects on post-weaning development, yet they may be important because maternal care could have long-term consequences only evident when offspring approach adulthood. We have assessed the effects of maternal age, current reproduction (presence of a kid of the year) and social rank on the body mass, horn length and social rank of 1- and 2-year-old mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus). Maternal reproductive status and social rank did not affect the mass or horn length of either yearlings or 2-year-olds. Maternal age was positively correlated with yearling body mass for males but not females. We could not detect any maternal age effects on body mass of 2-year-olds. Maternal age and spring forage quality were positively correlated with horn length of yearlings of both sexes, but not of 2-year-olds. Juvenile females showed compensatory growth in mass between 1 and 2 years of age, but males did not. Neither sex showed compensatory growth in horn length. None of the maternal characteristics we examined directly affected the social rank of juveniles, which increased with body mass. Social rank in female mountain goats seems to be established early in life and maintained to adulthood. By affecting yearling development, maternal age could affect the reproductive success of males.     

Towards an ecological solution to the folivore paradox: patch depletion as an indicator of within-group scramble competition in red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles)

A number of socioecological models assume that within-group food competition is either weak or absent among folivorous primates. This assumption is made because their food resources are presumed to be superabundant and evenly dispersed. However, recent evidence increasingly suggests that folivore group size is food-limited, that the primates prefer patchily distributed high-quality foods, and display some of the expected responses to within-group scramble competition. To investigate this apparent contradiction between theoretical models and recent empirical data, we examined the foraging behaviour of red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We found that red colobus monkeys foraged in a manner that suggests they deplete patches of preferred foods: intake rate slowed significantly during patch occupancy while movement rate, an index of foraging effort, increased. Furthermore, patch occupancy was related to the size of the feeding group and the size of the patch. These results suggest that within-group scramble competition occurs, may limit folivore group size, and should be considered in models of folivore behavioural ecology.     

Prior experience with eggs laid by non-nestmate queens induces egg acceptance errors in ant workers

We studied the effect of prior experience to eggs laid by nestmate and non-nestmate queens on the acceptance of queen-laid eggs by worker wood ants, Formica fusca. We transferred eggs from a non-nestmate queen into colonies during early spring, when their own queen was recommencing egg laying. A few weeks later, workers from these “experienced” colonies accepted eggs of both familiar (44% acceptance) and unfamiliar (40%) non-nestmate queens much more than workers from control colonies (2%) that had only had previous contact with their own queen’s eggs. Thus, prior exposure to eggs laid by a non-nestmate queen induces much greater acceptance of all non-nestmate queen-laid eggs. Mechanistically, we hypothesize that exposure to eggs from several queens may increase acceptance by causing a highly permissive acceptance threshold of non-nestmate queen-laid eggs rather than by widening the template for acceptable queen-laid eggs. These novel results show that egg-discrimination behaviour in F. fusca is flexible and that workers respond to the diversity of eggs experienced in their colony.     

A multi-level perspective on learning about climate change adaptation through international cooperation

International cooperation and learning may accelerate climate change adaptation and help countries and regions to adapt more effectively and efficiently. Recognizing the importance and opportunities for mutual learning and knowledge transfer, international and supranational organizations, such as the European Commission, have put programmes for international cooperation in place. This paper presents and tests a framework for assessing multi-level learning outcomes of such international cooperation processes and the conditions that produce these outcomes. The framework distinguishes between: (1) group learning by individual process participants; (2) organizational learning by organizations represented in the process; and (3) network and societal learning by actors external to the process. We verify the analytical potential of the framework by comparing learning by six partners in an adaptation-oriented European cooperation project. The project scores rather high on group learning with participants learning from and – to a lesser extent – also with each other. Learning by partner organizations varied and was generally less whereas learning by external actors was very limited. The case study confirms our expectation that learning outcomes are produced by combinations of partner-specific, process-specific and process-external conditions. The presented framework and insights can be used to stimulate learning in and from international cooperation processes.     

How you start matters: A comparison of Gold Fields' Tarkwa and Damang Mines and their divergent relationships with local small-scale miners in Ghana

This paper argues that actions of large-scale mining companies at the early stages of a mining project establish a legacy which sets the tone for that mine's long-term relationship with the local artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) stakeholders. This paper compares the experiences of Gold Fields' Tarkwa and Damang mines and the divergent histories of each of these mines' relationship with local small-scale mining stakeholders. Circumstances at Damang during the discovery and early development of the project drove a rift between the mine and the ASM community. As the mine developed, a chain of ASM engagement strategies were enacted in an attempted to repair the relationship but which has never able to regain sufficient trust between the mine and ASM stakeholders. At the nearby Tarkwa mine, ASM confrontations have been much easier to manage. Despite early disagreements at Tarkwa, a relationship characterized by greater trust between the mine and ASM communities was established early and therefore ASM engagement strategies have been simpler and more effective. This paper will conclude that establishing and maintaining a positive mine legacy as early as the exploration phase of a mining project is critical to maintaining a positive, trust-based relationship between LSM companies and their local ASM stakeholders over the life of a mine.