Abstract Predicting animal movements and spatial distributions is crucial for our comprehension of ecological processes and provides key evidence for conserving and managing populations, species and ecosystems. Notwithstanding considerable progress in movement ecology in recent decades, developing robust predictions for rapidly changing environments remains challenging. To accurately predict the effects of anthropogenic change, it is important to first identify the defining features of human‐modified environments and their consequences on the drivers of animal movement. We review and discuss these features within the movement ecology framework, describing relationships between external environment, internal state, navigation and motion capacity. Developing robust predictions under novel situations requires models moving beyond purely correlative approaches to a dynamical systems perspective. This requires increased mechanistic modelling, using functional parameters derived from first principles of animal movement and decision‐making. Theory and empirical observations should be better integrated by using experimental approaches. Models should be fitted to new and historic data gathered across a wide range of contrasting environmental conditions. We need therefore a targeted and supervised approach to data collection, increasing the range of studied taxa and carefully considering issues of scale and bias, and mechanistic modelling. Thus, we caution against the indiscriminate non‐supervised use of citizen science data, AI and machine learning models. We highlight the challenges and opportunities of incorporating movement predictions into management actions and policy. Rewilding and translocation schemes offer exciting opportunities to collect data from novel environments, enabling tests of model predictions across varied contexts and scales. Adaptive management frameworks in particular, based on a stepwise iterative process, including predictions and refinements, provide exciting opportunities of mutual benefit to movement ecology and conservation. In conclusion, movement ecology is on the verge of transforming from a descriptive to a predictive science. This is a timely progression, given that robust predictions under rapidly changing environmental conditions are now more urgently needed than ever for evidence‐based management and policy decisions. Our key aim now is not to describe the existing data as well as possible, but rather to understand the underlying mechanisms and develop models with reliable predictive ability in novel situations.
Objectives: Rural homelessness is increasing, yet there is limited infrastructure to intervene in rural communities. During COVID-19, additional funding helped repurpose motels as shelters, and some of these motel-based shelters continue today. The objectives of this study were to understand the experience of living in a rural motel, whether motels are a viable shelter option for rural communities, and strategies for their success. Methods: Interpretive description was used to guide qualitative interviews with 27 individuals who used or administered motels as rural homeless shelters across five communities in rural Ontario. On-site observations in two settings helped triangulate data and immersed the lead researcher in the regional context. Results: Participants with lived experience (N = 16) described many challenges living in a motel room yet were grateful for a secure and private space. Some participants felt happier, healthier, and their substance use decreased, although they also noted limited autonomy. Participants administering motel programs (N = 11) appreciated the opportunity to strengthen connections with clients and community partners yet struggled to prevent overdoses and motel damage. Staff worked hard to maintain relationships with motel owners and get ahead of problems, suggesting layout, 24/7 presence, and integrated services were important for program success. Longer-term programs offered more stability, feelings of belonging, and avoided the stress of not knowing when one might be asked to leave. Conclusions: Rural motel shelters offered an innovative response to unsheltered homelessness, demonstrating existing rural infrastructure can be repurposed as emergency shelter, transitional housing, or supportive housing with adequate supports.
Human ecology. Anthropogeography, Social sciences (General)
Subrata Haldar, Somnath Mandal, Subhasis Bhattacharya
et al.
Abstract The peri-urban region of Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC) area has experienced substantial socioeconomic changes throughout the last decade (2011–2023). Most of the literature focused on urban expansion, landuse changes and industrial expansion with little attention to complex interaction between urbanization, industrialization and their effects on livelihoods and quality of life (QoL). This study examines the socio-economic transformations in the peri-urban zone of the Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC) from 2011–2023, emphasizing how urbanization and industrialization shape livelihoods and quality of life (QoL). The study collected primary data and used satellite-driven data for constructing several indices like the Peri-Urban Development Index (PUDI), Peri-Urban Development Transition Index (PUDTI), Livelihood Diversity Index (LDI), and Quality of life (QoL). By the systematic sampling method, the study considered 830 households with 10% marginal error and 20% non-sampling for the primary survey. Furthermore, statistical analyses like multiple linear regression and ANOVA have been applied to identify the variation in QoL across the study units. The study reveals a positive association between livelihood diversification and PUDTI, underscoring how economic diversification supports socio-economic advancement in peri-urban areas. Multilinear regression analysis highlights that demographic and economic factors especially sex ratio, household mobility, and educational opportunities are stronger predictors of QoL than land use and infrastructure improvements. Additionally, ANOVA results show that inner peri-urban areas experience more substantial QoL improvements than outer areas, likely due to better access to educational institutions, healthcare, transportation, and banking facilities, which have all seen significant upgrades. Despite these advancements, the study also identifies challenges, including displacement from traditional occupations and rising income inequality. These findings underscore the need for integrated development policies to address the diverse and complex factors influencing urbanization and the well-being of peri-urban residents, offering valuable insights for policymakers aiming to foster balanced growth in peri-urban zones.
Cities. Urban geography, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Marcia Silva dos Santos, Silvana Nunes de Queiroz, Ricardo Monteiro de Carvalho
A necessidade da criação de uma Região Metropolitana surge com a conurbação das cidades, através do crescimento dos municípios com o núcleo, se interligando através de fluxos de bens, serviços, capitais e pessoas. A Região Metropolitana do Cariri (RM Cariri), instituída em 2009, é a área de estudo deste trabalho, que tem como objetivo analisar o fluxo migratório e distribuição espacial da e para a RM Cariri, no interregno 2005/2010. Os microdados da amostra do Censo Demográfico de 2010 (IBGE) são a principal fonte de informações. Os principais resultados mostram o baixo dinamismo econômico, falta de infraestrutura, oportunidades de trabalho e de estudo na maioria dos municípios da RM Cariri, sendo que o CRAJUBAR (Crato, Juazeiro do Norte e Barbalha) cresce cada vez mais e atrai migrantes, e os outros municípios perdem.
Human ecology. Anthropogeography, Physical geography
W tekście zaprezentowano problemy badawcze odnośnie do małych miast ziemi łęczyckiej w średniowieczu i wczesnej epoce nowożytnej. Na podstawie wybranych przykładów ukazano i omówiono takie trudności jak: brak ksiąg miejskich, niejednoznaczność łacińskich terminów, zaburzenia w chronologii źródeł, identyfikacja osób, odróżnienie wsi od miast o takich samych nazwach. Dokonano również charakterystyki źródeł pisanych, w których znajdują się informacje na temat małych miast. W obliczu wskazanych problemów to właśnie księgi grodzkie i ziemskie oraz rejestry podatkowe pozostają podstawowymi źródłami do badania dziejów tych terenów.
In nature, the interaction between pathogens and their hosts is only one of a handful of interaction relationships between species, including parasitism, predation, competition, symbiosis, commensalism, and among others. From a non-anthropocentric view, parasitism has relatively fewer essential differences from the other relationships; but from an anthropocentric view, parasitism and predation against humans and their well-beings and belongings are frequently related to heinous diseases. Specifically, treating (managing) diseases of humans, crops and forests, pets, livestock, and wildlife constitute the so-termed medical enterprises (sciences and technologies) humans endeavor in biomedicine and clinical medicine, veterinary, plant protection, and wildlife conservation. In recent years, the significance of ecological science to medicines has received rising attentions, and the emergence and pandemic of COVID-19 appear accelerating the trend. The facts that diseases are simply one of the fundamental ecological relationships in nature, and the study of the relationships between species and their environment is a core mission of ecology highlight the critical importance of ecological science. Nevertheless, current studies on the ecology of medical enterprises are highly fragmented. Here, we (i) conceptually overview the fields of disease ecology of wildlife, cancer ecology and evolution, medical ecology of human microbiome-associated diseases and infectious diseases, and integrated pest management of crops and forests, across major medical enterprises. (ii) Explore the necessity and feasibility for a unified medical ecology that spans biomedicine, clinical medicine, veterinary, crop (forest and wildlife) protection, and biodiversity conservation. (iii) Suggest that a unified medical ecology of human diseases is both necessary and feasible, but laissez-faire terminologies in other human medical enterprises may be preferred. (iv) Suggest that the evo-eco paradigm for cancer research can play a similar role of evo-devo in evolutionary developmental biology. (v) Summarized 40 key ecological principles/theories in current disease-, cancer-, and medical-ecology literatures. (vi) Identified key cross-disciplinary discovery fields for medical/disease ecology in coming decade including bioinformatics and computational ecology, single cell ecology, theoretical ecology, complexity science, and the integrated studies of ecology and evolution. Finally, deep understanding of medical ecology is of obvious importance for the safety of human beings and perhaps for all living things on the planet.
Marine ecosystem management is increasingly expected to take into account a wide range of ecological and socio‐economic factors. Decision‐making is helped by end‐to‐end ecosystem models that allow exploration of alternative management scenarios given a complex range of interacting factors. We present Atlantis – a spatially structured largely deterministic end‐to‐end marine ecosystem model written in C, available for all major operating systems, based on dynamically interacting physics, biology, fisheries, management, assessment and economics submodels. A detailed installation guide and example application files are also provided. One of the main features of Atlantis is its modularity. At the simplest level Atlantis can have uniform forcing of oceanographic processes, a single primary producer and a consumer. At the most complex level, Atlantis can be used with a range of environmentally driven ecological responses, complex and habitat‐dependent food web, dynamic assessment, management and fishing effort driven by market forces and human behaviour. The combination chosen should be guided by the available data and the questions to be answered. Atlantis provides a large and customizable list of output files and summary statistics that can be analysed and plotted using a number of dedicated r packages. When applying the Atlantis package, the users should be aware of the caveats associated with complex models, such as parameter and structural model uncertainty and challenges interpreting interactions of multiple processes.
D. Twidwell, Christine H. Bielski, R. Scholtz
et al.
ABSTRACT Fire ecology has a long history of empirical investigation in rangelands. However, the science is inconclusive and incomplete, sparking increasing interest on how to advance the discipline. Here, we introduce a new framework for qualitatively and quantitatively understanding the ranges of variability in fire regimes typical of experimental investigations in rangeland fire science compared with the range of conditions that actually occurred during contemporary social-ecological times. We implement this framework for one of rangelands' most pyrogenic systems—the Great Plains of North America. We identify four social-ecological fire eras that have epitomized people's relationship with wildland fire in the Great Plains since the last glacial maxima. These cultural fire eras include the now-extinct coexistence era (indigenous fire use), the suppression era (extermination of wildland fire occurrence), the shadow era (localized prescribed burning groups), and the emerging wildfire era (resulting from wildland fire management failures, continued decoupling of human-fire ignitions, and global change). Our synthesis demonstrates that experimental fire conditions have not explored the types and ranges of variation in fire regime components responsible for shaping rangeland vegetation—now, in the past, or into the future. Instead, scientific investigations have focused largely on controlling and minimizing sources of uncertainty and experimental variation, essentially eliminating ranges of variation that underpin the functioning of fire in modern social-ecological systems. Yet a series of scientific investigations exist that targeted a wider range of variability in fire regime components, leading to major advancements and the rejection of a number of long-standing rules of thumb in rangeland science and management. These include 1) the manipulation of fire return interval, 2) the pyric herbivory experiments, and 3) the extreme fire trials. We discuss the general philosophy shared among these studies, introduce scientific standards needed to avoid common pitfalls, and highlight opportunities to better understand how rangeland pattern and process correspond to critical ranges of variation in the human-fire relationship.
Cycads are an ancient group of tropical gymnosperms that are toxic to most animals - including humans - though the larvae of many moths and butterflies (order: Lepidoptera) feed on cycads with apparent immunity. These insects belong to distinct lineages with varying degrees of specialisation and diverse feeding ecologies, presenting numerous opportunities for comparative studies of chemically mediated eco-evolutionary dynamics. This review presents the first evolutionary evaluation of cycad-feeding among Lepidoptera along with a comprehensive review of their ecology. Our analysis suggests that multiple lineages have independently colonised cycads from angiosperm hosts, yet only a few clades appear to have radiated following their transitions to cycads. Defensive traits are likely important for diversification, as many cycad specialists are warningly coloured and sequester cycad toxins. The butterfly family Lycaenidae appears to be particularly predisposed to cycad-feeding and several cycadivorous lycaenids are warningly coloured and chemically defended. Cycad-herbivore interactions provide a promising but underutilised study system for investigating plant-insect coevolution, convergent and divergent adaptations, and the multi-trophic significance of defensive traits; therefore the review ends by suggesting specific research gaps that would be fruitfully addressed in Lepidoptera and other cycad-feeding insects.
Y. Jhala, Kausik Banerjee, Stotra Chakrabarti
et al.
Asiatic lions typify most challenges faced by large carnivores: single population, historical bottlenecks, habitat loss, poaching, and conflict with humans. Their recovery from 500 occupying 13,000 km2 of agro-pastoral Saurashtra landscape, Gujarat, India is an enigma. We review and evaluate the multidisciplinary aspects of lion conservation-strategy that covers ecology, conflict, community perceptions, economics, management, and politics. The history of modern lions in India dates back to ~4-6,000 BP, but evidence suggests presence as early as 10-15,000 BP. Asiatic lions can be distinguished from African lions by their belly-folds; adult males and females weighing 160(±5) and 116(±4) kg respectively. Lion density ranged from 2-15/100 km2 in the Saurashtra landscape. Demographic parameters of Asiatic lions were comparable to African lions. Prides were related females and cubs; males lived separately in hierarchical coalitions having overlapping ranges with multiple prides. Lionesses mated with multiple coalitions to reduce infanticide and enhance genetic diversity of their progeny. Few hectares of scrub sufficed as daytime refuges, while >4 km2 patches were required for breeding. Sink populations outside Gir Protected Area (PA) were maintained by immigrants. Lions within PA fed primarily on wild-prey, while scavenging and predation on livestock was the mainstay outside. Monetary compensation for livestock-depredation, legal-protection, lion-related profits, combined with religious and cultural sentiments were major drivers of population recovery. The lion has become a socio-political instrument in Gujarat, which despite a Supreme Court directive, has not parted with founders to establish another population. Threats from epidemics loom large and currently a canine distemper virus outbreak is prevalent. Attacks on humans were rare, however, with increasing lion density the intensity of conflict is increasing. This, coupled with lowered tolerance of communities due to erosion of traditional values sets the stage for retaliation. Future of lions outside PA is uncertain as breeding refuges and their connecting corridors are vanishing rapidly. A human-free National Park of ~1000 km2 is essential for ensuring a viable population that retains its ecological role and evolutionary potential. Legalising lion based ecotourism by forming village consortia holds promise to prevent land conversion and promoting lion-human coexistence.
Abstract Abstract Evolutionary perspectives on menopause have focused on explaining why early reproductive cessation in females has emerged and why it is rare throughout the animal kingdom, but less attention has been given to exploring patterns of diversity in age at natural menopause. In this paper, we aim to generate new hypotheses for understanding human patterns of diversity in this trait, defined as age at final menstrual period. To do so, we develop a multilevel, interdisciplinary framework, combining proximate, physiological understandings of ovarian ageing with ultimate, evolutionary perspectives on ageing. We begin by reviewing known patterns of diversity in age at natural menopause in humans, and highlight issues in how menopause is currently defined and measured. Second, we consider together ultimate explanations of menopause timing and proximate understandings of ovarian ageing. We find that ovarian ageing is highly constrained by ageing of the follicle – the somatic structure containing the oocyte – suggesting that menopause timing might be best understood as a by-product of ageing rather than a facultative adaptation. Third, we investigate whether the determinants of somatic senescence also underpin menopause timing. We show that diversity in age at menopause can be, at least partly, explained by the genetic, ecological and life-history determinants of somatic ageing. The public health implications of rethinking menopause as the by-product rather than the catalyst of biological ageing are discussed.
The founder of the homeostasis theory W. B. Cannon spoke about the lack of stability of homeostasis and systems of homeostatic regulation. However, to date, the postulate of the statistical stability of samples of homeostasis parameters in various functional systems has been working in human ecology. The aim of the study is to verify this fundamental postulate and to prove the lack of statistical stability of samples of the neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems. Methods: age-related dynamics of cardio intervals was studied in three groups (38 people in each group) of Khanty women and three groups of newcomers (228 people in total), tremor and tapping parameters were studied in two groups: women (18 people) and men (16 people). The Elox-01 device was used to record cardio intervals, and the patented tremograph was used to record tremorograms. Results: the absence of statistical stability of tremorograms was proved (the number of samples of k pairs that have one sampled population not more than k1 < 5 % for tremor and k2 < 12 % for tapping), for cardio intervals k3 < 17 %. The samples are not homogeneous, the probability of their statistical repeating in a row is p < 0.05 (for one subject in constant homeostasis). It is proposed to calculate the parameters of quasi attractors that really demonstrate statistical stability (in constant homeostasis). Conclusion: the samples of the parameters of neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems are not statistically homogeneous (they change chaotically). In this regard, to assess the norm (standard) of homeostasis, it is advisable to use the calculation of the parameters of quasi attractors along the first coordinate x1 (for example, the parameters of cardio intervals or tremorograms) and x2 (rate of change x1).
Abstract All human females who reach midlife experience menopause, however, it is currently unclear why women experience this period of infertility, and why it is accompanied by many unpleasant symptoms. Using primary data from four ethnic groups in China, we test an existing theory that age of menopause and its symptoms are the result of intragenomic conflict between maternally and paternally inherited genes, with the outcome of such conflict predicted to be contingent on the ancestral postmarital residence pattern of the female (Úbeda, Ohtsuki, & Gardner, Ecology Letters, 17, 2014, 165). The model predicts that being ancestrally patrilocal results in less intragenomic conflict, causing a shorter, less symptomatic perimenopause that terminates in a later menopause. Our findings show no support for this hypothesis and suggest current, rather than ancestral, residence patterns better predict aspects of the menopausal transition. Furthermore, current patrilocality when compared to duolocality is associated with more severe menopause symptoms, which may be due to sexual, rather than intragenomic, conflict. Open Research Badges This article has earned an Open Data Badge for making publicly available the digitally‐shareable data necessary to reproduce the reported results. The data is available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.27s8k0p.
The importance of the gut and the soil microbiomes as determinants of human and ecosystem health, respectively, is gaining rapid acceptation in the medical and ecological literatures. This suggests that there is a wealth of highly transferable knowledge about the microbial ecology of human and non-human ecosystems that is currently being generated in parallel, but mostly in isolation from one another. I suggest that effectively sharing this knowledge could greatly help at more efficiently understanding and restoring human health and the functioning of ecosystems, which are currently under wide-spread pressure. I illustrate this by comparing the effects of nitrogen deposition on ecosystem carbon sequestration with unhealthy dietary habits and human disease. The deposition of N, a key nutrient for plant growth, may increase carbon sequestration (equivalent to obesity) through several mechanisms, including a reduction in the ability of soil microbes to process organic matter, which some argue could help mitigate climate change. However, this usually results in a degradation of ecosystem health and, thus, cannot represent a real solution. Similarly, human obesity is linked to an alteration of the composition and functioning of microbial communities inhabiting the gut, which is often attributed to unhealthy dietary habits, including ingesting high amounts of simple sugars and processed foods. Finally, I advocate for the explicit recognition of the many commonalities between the functioning of the gut and ecosystems and a broader multidisciplinary collaboration among experts in ecology and human health, including the engineering of soil microbial communities designed ad-hoc to restore ecosystem health.
Fossil bird remains from the Pliocene hominin-bearing locality of Kanapoi comprise >100 elements representing at least 10 avian families, including previously undescribed elements referred to the 'giant' Pliocene marabou stork Leptoptilos cf. falconeri. The taxonomic composition of the Kanapoi fossil avifauna reveals an assemblage with a substantial aquatic component, corroborating geological evidence of this locality's close proximity to a large, slow-moving body of water. Both the taxonomic composition and relative abundance of avian higher-level clades at Kanapoi stand in stark contrast to the avifauna from the slightly older (∼4.4 Ma vs. 4.2 Ma) hominin-bearing Lower Aramis Member of Ethiopia, which has been interpreted as representing a mesic woodland paleoenvironment far from water. In general, the taxonomic composition of the Kanapoi avifauna resembles that from the Miocene hominoid-bearing locality of Lothagam (though Kanapoi is more diverse), and the aquatic character of the Kanapoi avifauna supports the idea that the environmental conditions experienced by Australopithecus anamensis at Kanapoi were markedly different from those experienced by Ardipithecus ramidus at Aramis. Additionally, the relative abundance of marabou stork (Leptoptilos) remains at Kanapoi may suggest a longstanding commensal relationship between total-clade humans and facultatively scavenging marabous. Additional avian remains from nearby fossil localities (e.g., the Nachukui Formation), ranging in age from 3.26 to 0.8 Ma, reveal the long-term persistence of an aquatic avifauna in the region.