1,720,994 research outputs found
Optimisation of reintroduction protocols for cryptic species: Reintroducing the sand lizard Lacerta agilis to a lowland heath site
No full textAt a time of high biodiversity loss and in the light of global climate change, some species are at particular risk. Geographically restricted specialists may undergo biotic homogenisation. Less charismatic and smaller taxa are often under-studied, with cryptic species raising additional monitoring challenges. The close links between reptile biological cycles and temperature and moisture leave many populations facing an uncertain future. Following dramatic population declines of the sand lizard Lacerta agilis in the UK due to habitat loss, fifty years of captive breeding and reintroduction efforts have focused on returning populations to sites in their former range. Ongoing presence of the species shows reintroduction efforts are broadly successful, but the cryptic nature of the sand lizard has raised post-release monitoring difficulties. This research addressed the challenges associated with this species, offering a more quantitative assessment of reintroduction practice to determine efforts are best-placed and to inform protocols going forward. Microhabitat preference of the sand lizard was studied in the light of monitoring difficulties. Detectability of sand lizards varied, with less dominant adults spatiotemporally restricted to less optimal environmental conditions. Juveniles showed aggregative behaviour as a thermoregulation mechanism, the benefits of which may influence post-release movement. Survey methodologies ere assessed at the receptor site, Eelmoor Marsh SSSI in Hampshire, UK. Recommendations were made for the sand lizard as well as the wider reptile community, including the more generalist common lizard Zootoca vivpara and slow worm Anguis fragilis, and predators adder Vipera berus and grass snake Natrix helvetica. Refugium materials of felt and slate proved favourable to sand lizards and common lizards, both species highlighted as being poor users of traditional tin refugia. eintroduction protocols currently focus on hatchlings. Hatchlings, yearlings, and a small number of two-year-olds were released in this study. Releases were undertaken in September 2017 and September 2018, of 80 and 86 lizards respectively, and post-release monitoring occurred for a year following each. Overwinter survival favoured yearlings over hatchlings. Yearlings also showed predictable post-release movement and survival; hatchlings did not. Yearlings displaying higher locomotor performance and those that showed a less exploratory and less active behavioural response to the novel release site, were more likely to survive overwinter. The furthest travelled yearlings pre-winter showed more exploratory and active traits. Many yearling lizards showed release site fidelity, remaining in or returning repeatedly to the area, highlighting the importance of maintaining this as optimal, structurally diverse habitat. Released yearlings were observed having successfully bred within a year, at two years of age; released hatchlings would likely not breed until their third year. Observations of sand lizards in less favourable environmental conditions and beyond the normal active season indicated release may be favourable earlier in the year; this would benefit from further study. Continued monitoring is recommended to observe longer-term trends. This research highlighted the potential and benefits of developing a rigorous post-release monitoring approach for cryptic species. It showed the importance of building on current understanding of species ecology and biology at demographic and individual levels to aid conservation initiatives
Data underlying PhD thesis: 'Optimisation of reintroduction protocols for cryptic species: Reintroducing the sand lizard Lacerta agilis to a lowland heath site'
No full textData underpinning thesis 'Optimisation of reintroduction protocols for cryptic species: Reintroducing the sand lizard Lacerta agilis to a lowland heath site'; behavioural data (Chapter 2), reptile survey data (Chapter 3) individual and demographic sand lizard data (Chapter 4 & 5)</span
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
- …
