1,720,974 research outputs found
Expansive reed populations – alien invasion or disturbed wetlands?
Full text linkThe tall statured grasses in the genus Phragmites are dominant vegetation in wetlands worldwide and thus play a vital role in ecosystem functioning. As a result, Phragmites spp. are some of the most widely studied plants; particularly in areas where changes to their abundances have occurred, most notably in Europe and North America. In southern Africa a pattern of reed expansion has occurred in recent decades that has shown a similar trend to cryptic invasions reported in North America. This study used molecular techniques to explore the phylogeography of P. australis and P. mauritianus in the region to investigate whether the expansion is due to an alien invasion or local factors such as wetland disturbance. Three haplotypes were found and all haplotypes are presently considered African haplotypes (Haplotype K for P. australis and Haplotype V and AP for P. mauritianus). Both Phragmites spp. were found to have high genetic diversity. Microsatellite and grass-waxy analysis also found evidence of hybridisation between the two species. No evidence was found for a recent cryptic invasion of non-native haplotypes in southern Africa. The expansion of P. australis and P. mauritianus is therefore most likely a result of anthropogenic activity. Identifying and mitigating the human-mediated factors that may be contributing to reed growth, such as eutrophication and sedimentation, should be the focus of future management protocols
The potential for biological control on cryptic plant invasions
Full text linkCryptic invasions can be defined as ‘the occurrence of an invasive species or genotype that was not previously recognised as alien in origin or not distinguished from other aliens’. Such invasions can result in negative impacts on the recipient ecosystems and disturb the evolutionary history of native plant populations. Many cryptic invasions have become so problematic that there is a need to implement control measures. This paper explores the potential for biological control to be implemented as a means of managing cryptic invasions. Firstly, the paper defines the different forms of cryptic invasion, differentiating between interspecific and intraspecific invasions; this hierarchy influences how to detect, study and ultimately implement biological control when cryptic invasions occur. Secondly, unique challenges associated with biological control programmes for cryptic invasions are addressed, including: the need for intraspecific level host specificity in agents, the occurrence of hybridisation between native species/lineages and the target weed, the role of enemy release in cryptic invasions in the presence of closely related native plant species/lineages, and a review of potential stakeholder conflicts of interest and legislation. Biological control of cryptic invasions has been shown to be possible, however the process will be more difficult and complex than controlling traditional targets and will likely take up more time and resources. If these challenges are overcome, then biological control programmes against cryptic invasions should be able to proceed and maintain the same standards as traditional biological control programmes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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