1,511 research outputs found
Effect of climate on traits of dominant and rare tree species in the world’s forests
No full textSpecies’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. The extent to which traits of dominant and rare tree species differ remains untested across a broad environmental range, limiting our understanding of how species traits and the environment shape forest functional composition. We use a global dataset of tree composition of >22,000 forest plots and 11 traits of 1663 tree species to ask how locally dominant and rare species differ in their trait values, and how these differences are driven by climatic gradients in temperature and water availability in forest biomes across the globe. We find three consistent trait differences between locally dominant and rare species across all biomes; dominant species are taller, have softer wood and higher loading on the multivariate stem strategy axis (related to narrow tracheids and thick bark). The difference between traits of dominant and rare species is more strongly driven by temperature compared to water availability, as temperature might affect a larger number of traits. Therefore, climate change driven global temperature rise may have a strong effect on trait differences between dominant and rare tree species and may lead to changes in species abundances and therefore strong community
reassembly.EEA Santa Cruz, INTAFil: Hordijk, Iris. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Institute of Integrative Biology; SuizaFil: Hordijk, Iris. Wageningen University and Research; Países BajosFil: Poorter, Lourens. Wageningen University and Research; Países BajosFil: Liang, Jingjing. Purdue University. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Reich, Peter B. University of Minnesota. Department of Forest Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Reich, Peter B. Western Sydney University. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment; Australia.Fil: de-Miguel, Sergio. University of Lleida. Department of Crop and Forest Sciences; EspañaFil: de-Miguel, Sergio. Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC); EspañaFil: Nabuurs, Gert-Jan. Wageningen University and Research; Países BajosFil: Gamarra, Javier G. P. Organization of the United Nations. Forestry Division, Food and Agriculture; ItaliaFil: Chen, Han Y. H. Lakehead University. Faculty of Natural Resources Management; Canadá.Fil: Zhou, Mo. Purdue University. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Wiser, Susan. Fil: Wiser, Susan. Landcare Research; Nueva Zelanda.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Crowther, Thomas W. Institute of Integrative biology. Crowther Lab. Department of environmental Systems Science; Suiz
'Pilings of Thought Under Spoken': The Poetry of Susan Howe, 1974-1993.
No full textPhDThis thesis discusses the poetry published by contemporary American poet Susan
Howe over a period of almost two decades. The dissertation is chiefly concerned with
articulating the relationship between poetic form, history, and authority in this body
of' work. Howe's poetry dredges the past for the linguistic effects of patriarchy,
colonialism and war. My reading of the work is an exploration of the ways in which a
disjunctive poetics can address such historical trauma. The poems, rather than
attempting to reinstate voices lifted from what Howe has called "the dark side of
history", are a means of reflecting the resistance that the past offers to contemporary
investigation. It is the effacement, and not the recovery, of history's victims, that is
discernible in the contours of these highly opaque texts. Notions of authority are most
often addressed in the poetry through the figure of paternal absence, which has a
threefold function in the work, serving to represent social authority, an aporetic
conception of divinity and an autobiographical narrative. Alongside the antiauthoritarian
currents in the writing - critiques, for example, of the doctrine of
Manifest Destiny or of scapegoating versions of femininity - my thesis stresses Howe's
engagement with negative theology and with a strain of American Protestant
enthusiasm that has its roots in 17th century New England. The dissertation explores
the dissonance caused by the co-existence in the poetry of elements of political dissent
and religious mysticism. Finally, I consider Howe's engagement with literary history
and authors such as Shakespeare, Swift, Thoreau and Melville. The manner in which
Howe deploys the words of others in her work, I argue, allows for a mixture of textual
polyphony and a more conventional notion of authorial 'voice'
Subjective Versus Objective: An Exploratory Analysis of Latino Primary Care Patients With Self-Perceived Depression Who Do Not Fulfill Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Patient Health Questionnaire Criteria for Depression
No full textObjective: Identification and treatment of depression may be difficult for primary care providers when there is a mismatch between the patient’s subjective experiences of illness and objective criteria. Cultural differences in presentation of symptoms among Latino immigrants may hinder access to care for treatment of depression. This article seeks to describe the self-perceptions and symptoms of Latino primary care patients who identify themselves as depressed but do not meet screening criteria for depression.
Method: A convenience sample of Latino immigrants (N = 177) in Corona, Queens, New York, was obtained from a primary care practice from August 2008 to December 2008. The sample was divided into 3 groups according to whether participants met Patient Health Questionnaire diagnostic criteria for depression and whether or not participants had a self-perceived mental health problem and self-identified their problem as “depression” from a checklist of cultural idioms of distress. Psychosocial, demographic, and treatment variables were compared between the 3 groups.
Results: Participants’ descriptions of symptoms had a predominantly somatic component. The most common complaints were ánimo bajo (low energy) and decaimiento (weakness). Participants with “subjective” depression had mean scores of somatic symptoms and depression severity that were significantly lower than the participants with “objective” depression and significantly higher than the group with no depression (P < .0001).
Conclusions: Latino immigrants who perceive that they need help with depression, but do not meet screening criteria for depression, still have significant distress and impairment. To avoid having these patients “fall through the cracks,” it is important to take into account culturally accepted expressions of distress and the meaning of illness for the individual.Peer reviewe
International year of older persons: Mentoring research project
No full textA report, by Judith MacCallum and Susan Beltman, Murdoch University, that identifies models of good practice of mentoring in school settings. The report looks at issues associated with the implementation of mentoring programs in school settings and key recommendations for consideration by Australian schools and education systems
Disturbance affects short-term facilitation, but not long-term saturation, of exotic plant invasion in New Zealand forest
No full textWe investigate the spread of an exotic herb, Hieracium lepidulum, into a New Zealand Nothofagus forest with the aim of understanding how stand-development of tree populations, propagule pressure and invader persistence, affect invasion across the landscape and within communities. Using data repeatedly collected over 35 years, from 250 locations, we parametrize continuous-time Markov chain models and use these models to examine future projections of the invasion under a range of hypothetical scenarios. We found that the probability of invasion into a stand was relatively high following canopy disturbance and that local abundance of Hieracium was promoted by minor disturbances. However, model predictions extrapolated 45 years into the future show that neither the rate of landscape-level invasion, nor local population growth of Hieracium, was affected much by changing the frequency of canopy disturbance events. Instead, invasion levels were strongly affected by the ability of Hieracium to persist in the understorey following forest canopy closure, and by propagule supply from streams, forest edges and plants already established within the stand. Our results show that disturbance frequency has surprisingly little influence on the long-term trajectory of invasion, while invader persistence strongly determines invasion patterns.Laura A. Spence, Joshua V. Ross, Susan K. Wiser, Robert B. Allen and David A. Coome
How Did I Get to Princess Margaret? (And How Did I Get Her to the World Wide Web?)
No full textThe paper explores the growing use of
tools from the arts and humanities for investigation
and dissemination of social science research.
Emerging spaces for knowledge transfer, such as
the World Wide Web, are explored as outlets for
"performative social science". Questions of ethnics
and questions of evaluation which emerge from
performative social science and the use of new
technologies are discussed. Contemporary thinking
in aesthetics is explored to answer questions
of evaluation. The use of the Internet for productions
is proposed as supporting the collective
elaboration of meaning supported by Relational
Aesthetics.
One solution to the ethical problem of performing
the narrations of others is the use of the writer's
own story as autoethnography. The author queries
autoethnography's tendency to tell "sad" stories and
proposes an amusing story, exemplified by "The
One about Princess Margaret" (see Appendix).
The conclusion is reached that the free and open
environment of the Internet sidelines the usual
tediousness of academic publishing and begins to
explore new answers to questions posed about
the evaluation and ethics of performative social
science
Teaching Notes: Rights and Rebuilding in El Salvador
No full textWe have prepared this two-part case study with two pedagogical purposes in mind: (1) To develop an understanding of the concept (and political meaning) of human rights. (2) To facilitate discussion about processes of reconciliation and reconstruction and the importance of holistic conceptions of rights and security for future stability.
© Elaine K. Denny & Susan Waltz. All rights reserved.
This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author
How to assess higher-order thinking skills: in your classroom
No full textEducators know it is important to get students to engage in higher-order thinking. But what does higher-order thinking actually look like? And how can K-12 classroom teachers asses it across the discipline? Author, consultant, and former classroom teacher Susan M. Brookhaart answers these questions and more in this straightforward, practical guide to assessment that can help teachers determine if children are actually displaying the kind of complex thinking the current content standards emphasize
Rights and Rebuilding in El Salvador: A Case Study in Two Parts
No full textIn January 2007, on the 15th anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended 12 years of civil war and grave human rights violations in El Salvador, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised El Salvador as a model for other countries emerging from conflict: “The groundbreaking accords signed in Mexico City in January 1992 not only set El Salvador on a new course. They also provided precedents and experiences that continue to inspire others who are striving to rebuild their societies following conflict. And they continue to be a point of reference for the United Nations, as we assist others on their path to peace.”
© Elaine K. Denny & Susan Waltz. All rights reserved.
This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author
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