91 research outputs found
Comments to Froese et al. (2008): Size matters: Ne quid nimis
No full textLetter to the editor: Comments to Froese et al. (2008
Crossing the (Wallace) line: local abundance and distribution of mammals across biogeographic barriers
No full textParaecology for Community Bushmeat Hunting Monitoring, Modelling, and Management
No full textSelf-determined community hunting governance and management is increasingly promoted as a key pathway towards the equitable sustainability of wild food systems, vital to the well-being of Indigenous peoples and local communities and the conservation of biodiversity. Yet there is scant scientific research providing robust, quantitative evidence of a community approach. Here I present the creation and use of a novel community bushmeat monitoring program to address this need across twenty villages in northeastern Gabon. Paraecologists conducted standardized monitoring of bushmeat, and hundreds of hunters conducted GPS self-follows mapping village hunting catchments. I integrated these data to estimate the proportion of bushmeat sampled and make robust extrapolations of total offtake across space and time, estimating an annual offtake of ~30,000 animals of >56 species across all villages.Such community- and landscape- level SES dynamics are the aggregate of individual motivation for the use of CPRs, which can be fluid, with the line between subsistence and commercial often unclear and in flux. I applied hierarchical Bayesian structural equation modelling to 910 hunts from 111 gun and trap hunters across nine villages. I first establish the human behaviour driving gun-hunting and trapping success and predict its effect on offtake across villages, and then linked fluid motivation of gun hunters to their behaviour, number of animals hunted, biomass yielded, and income earned. Gun hunts across villages yielded more animals during the night than the day, and when hunters brought high amounts of ammunition and walked far distances from villages. Gun hunts were less successful when coupled with trapping while per-hunt success of trapping itself was generally low and difficult to predict. Fluid gun hunters hunted fewer animals when motivated strictly by subsistence, despite no reduction in ammunition brought or distance walked, while offtake from strictly commercial versus mixed motivation was the same. Numbers of animals hunted, biomass, and income were tightly linked.In ten villages, the project facilitated community exploration of self-determined bushmeat hunting management, which three villages established. I used the paraecology data to quantify changes in offtake in these three villages in relation to fourteen other villages over the same period, and enriched insight in changes in offtake with participatory data analyses, long-term community engagement, and a mixed quantitative-qualitative survey of hunters’ perceived quality of their governance. The three communities created from three to nine different management rules, including no-hunting reserves and limits on ammunition and traps. Different management strategies in two villages both caused reductions in offtake of „ 400 animals a year; scaling up to 10–30% of Gabon’s total ~2500 villages could reduce national offtake by ~100,000–300,00 animals a year, with widespread community reserves driving substantial growth of wildlife populations. Hunters generally perceived the governance of their hunting management as high quality, though perceptions of conformity to rules and overall success varied across villages and hunters. Hunters perceived a lack of state support in their management; research and policy both should pay further attention to the governance of hunting management and the enabling conditions needed to improve it across SESs.</p
Contingent Protection Measures and the Management of the Softwood Lumber Trade in North America
No full textThis article examines CanadaÂ’s softwood lumber dispute with the United States in the context of new juridical models of international dispute settlement and an evolving trade policy environment in North America. Two questions are of central importance to this study. First, what does the rise of contingent protection measures mean for CanadaÂ’s regulatory model? Strong antidumping legislation has created a new order of trade conflict at a time when intrasectoral competition has increased state support in a number of sectors. Second, how do American antidumping trade remedy measures come to bear in this dispute? In the softwood case, dispute settlement has been less effective because Canada, as the smaller economy, faces the challenge of enforcing panel decisions when the respondent has the power to avoid compliance.Antidumping, countervailing duties, dispute settlement, softwood, trade policy, WTO, International Relations/Trade,
Trade Friction, Dispute Settlement and Structural Adjustment, Or, Why Canada-Wheat Doesn’t Matter in North American Trade Relations
No full textThis article examines the substance of the WTO panel decision for Canada-Wheat as it relates to trade friction in North American agricultural markets. I provide an overview of recent economic literature on state trading enterprises (STEs) and examine the WTO’s approach to regulating the behaviour of STEs. The Canada-Wheat panel was the first WTO panel to consider Canada’s single-desk marketing system for Western Canadian wheat and barley and was the first test of the WTO’s regulation of STEs under GATT Article XVII. The panel rejected the American argument, opting for a line of reasoning that highlights the rules of non-discrimination while maintaining some of the ambiguity of Article XVII. I conclude by examining the competitive pressures that exacerbate trade frictions between North American wheat producers. From a legal perspective, this panel decision is significant because it clarifies the WTO’s position on STEs, to a certain extent. In the context of continental politics, however, the ruling will likely have little impact on Canada/U.S. trade relations because it must be analyzed in relation to the domestic demands that arise from ongoing structural adjustment in both nations’ agricultural sectors.agricultural exports, Canadian Wheat Board, dispute settlement, state trading enterprises, World Trade Organization, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy,
Life Just Isn’t What It Used to Be: An Exploration of the Maternal, the Mirror Stage, and Cinematic Suture:
No full textHave you ever wished to return to days past? Has the popular idiom describing a healthier and more vibrant grass on the opposite side of a dividing fence ever applied to your life? Does the idea of repeating the innocent days of youth sound appealing? It is very common for these questions to be answered with a reminiscent “yes”, and while most adults, if questioned, would likely not wish to return to their childhood bodies and forfeit the rights and freedoms granted by maturity, few will deny the desire to reclaim the innocence and whimsy held within the years of infancy. Indeed, no cognizant experience can compare to the unconscious delight experienced by an unborn child, safely nestled within the womb of their caretaker, with nothing but the muffled sounds and distant experiences of the mother to create a soundtrack to a blissful state that can only be described as being. However, this elation has a very early expiry date, terminating once the newborn has left the womb and experiences themselves in the form of Jacques Lacan’s mirror stage, where their own vision forever alters the onlooker’s perspective of reality. Nevertheless, there is a unity within these opposite occurrences. Although sound plays an integral part in the tranquility of maternal existence, and sight assists in the angst and uncanny sustained by the mirror stage’s outcome of self-realization, the two senses combine, in the form of cinema, and suture the viewer back to a near-tranquil experience, which is as close as we can come to achieving the carefree life we all once lived.Suture, Cinema, Womb, Maternal, Bliss, Suture, Cinematic, Mirror, Stage, Uncanny, Fil
First structured camera-trap surveys in Karen State, Myanmar, reveal high diversity of globally threatened mammals
No full textAbstractThe hill forests of Karen State, Myanmar, were previously inaccessible to biologists and conservationists for security and political reasons. We have, however, now been able to conduct six surveys across the area, using camera traps, for a total of 9,511 trap-nights, to ascertain the presence of threatened mammal species. We obtained 4,191 records of at least 31 mammal species, including 17 categorized as Near Threatened, Vulnerable or Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Carnivores were especially diverse, with 19 species recorded, indicating a globally significant community, including the tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus and dhole Cuon alpinus. Our methodology was not appropriate for estimating relative abundance or occupancy but the species richness of the mammal community, the number of records and the number of locations where species were detected suggest the area is important for the conservation of a globally threatened mammal community that is in decline across the majority of its range. Despite long-standing conservation efforts undertaken by the Karen people, their forests are threatened by hunting and habitat loss. These threats are likely to be exacerbated as political change brings rapid development. Urgent action is thus needed to assist the Karen people to protect one of South-east Asia's last intact rich and diverse ecosystems.</jats:p
Effects of EMFs from Undersea Power Cables on Elasmobranchs and Other Marine Species.
No full textAnthropogenic electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have been introduced into the marine environmentaround the world and from a wide variety of sources for well over a century. Despite this, littleis known about potential ecological impacts from EMFs. For decades, power transmissioncables have been installed across bays and river mouths, and connecting near-shore islands to themainland, with little consideration of possible effects to marine species from EMFs. At a time ofgreater environmental awareness, the US now faces the possibility of a new source of EMFs overa much greater extent of the seabed from offshore renewable energy facilities in coastal waters.This literature review synthesizes information on the types of power cables and models theexpected EMFs from representative cables. Available information on electro- and magnetosensitivityof marine organisms, including elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) and other fishspecies, marine mammals, sea turtles, and invertebrates is summarized and used in conjunctionwith the power cable modeling results to evaluate the level of confidence the existing state ofknowledge provides for impact assessment. Gaps in our knowledge of power cablecharacteristics and the biology needed to understand and predict impacts are summarized andform the basis of recommendations for future research priorities. Potential mitigationopportunities are described with a discussion of their potential secondary impacts as well assuggested methods for monitoring mitigation effectiveness. Finally, because interest in offshorerenewable energy has increased throughout US coastal waters, there is a concern that organismscould be exposed to multiple seabed power cables. Cumulative effects of this exposure are discussed
Parasitic copepods from Egyptian Red Sea fishes: Bomolochidae Claus, 1875
No full text© The Author(s) 2015
Open Access - This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
What are the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-profit organizations (NPOs)
No full textNPOs are institutions that operate for the benefit of the public (City of Vancouver, 2020). These support vulnerable community members by assessing local needs, providing shelter, delivering mental health services, and distributing goods such as food, clothing, and supplies. As future psychiatric nurses, we will refer clients to these much-needed services. However, if NPOs are closed or services are reduced, many individuals will lack adequate community support. Thus, it is important to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted NPOs. To combat financial difficulties, NPOs should advocate for adequate funding and access financial support programs offered by foundations and governments. They should further engage in financial analysis and planning to re-establish stable income. In addition, publicly-owned facilities may be used to reduce costs. To meet operational challenges, NPOs should continue to adapt their services and fundraisers online (Conway et al., 2020; Hernadez, 2020; Perri et al., 2020). Vital in-person supports such as walk-in programs, harm reduction sites, and shelters may continue if NPOs are able to maintain social distancing and provide sufficient PPE. NPOs should address workforce barriers by providing clear guidance and training on health and safety protocols to staff and volunteers, including information on burnout, safe staffing ratios, and transition to online work. As well, mental health support for staff should be provided. This poster was presented at the Douglas College Student Research Day 2022 on April 15, 2022.Not peer reviewedStudent Research Day Poster (2022
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