Search Results (5)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical-hydric properties of a Planosol under an Integrated Crop–Livestock–Forest (ICLF) system in the Agreste region of Paraíba, Brazil, after eight years of implementation, and to compare them with areas under a conventional cropping system and secondary native vegetation. The experiment was conducted at the experimental station located in Alagoinha, in the Agreste mesoregion of the State of Paraíba, Brazil. The experimental design adopted was a randomized block design (RBD) with five treatments and four replications (5 × 4 + 2). The treatments consisted of: (1) Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud) + Signal grass (Urochloa decumbens) (GL+SG); (2) Sabiá (Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia Benth) + Signal grass (SB+SG); (3) Purple Ipê (Handroanthus avellanedae (Lorentz ex Griseb.) Mattos) + SG (I+SG); (4) annual crop + SG (C+SG); and (5) Signal grass (SG). Two additional treatments were included for statistical comparison: a conventional cropping system (CC) and a secondary native vegetation area (NV), both located near the experimental site. The CC treatment showed the lowest bulk density (1.23 g cm⁻³) and the lowest degree of compaction (66.3%) among the evaluated treatments, as well as a total porosity (TP) higher than 75% (0.75 m³ m⁻³). In the soil under the integration system, the lowest bulk density (1.38 g cm⁻³) and the highest total porosity (0.48 m³ m⁻³) were observed in the SG treatment at the 0.0–0.10 m depth. High S-index values (>0.035) and a low relative field capacity (RFc < 0.50) and K_θ indicate high structural quality and low soil water storage capacity. It was concluded that the SG, I+SG, SB+SG, and CC treatments presented the highest values of soil bulk and degree of compaction in the layers below 0.10 m. The I+SG and C+SG treatments showed the lowest hydraulic conductivities and macroaggregation. The SG and C+SG treatments had the lowest available water content and available water capacity across the three analyzed soil layers. Full article

This paper presents the first data on the biodiversity of lithophytic algae from Bulgarian megaliths obtained after the application of the direct sampling method, subsequent cultivation, and processing by light microscopy. A rich algal flora was found: 90 species and 1 variety of 65 genera from Cyanoprokaryota/Cyanobacteria (29 species, 13 genera), Chlorophyta (40 species and 1 variety, 38 genera), Streptophyta (5 species, 1 genus), and Ochrophyta (16 species, 13 genera). Among them were the globally rare Pseudodictyochloris multinucleata (Chlorophyta), found for the first time in such lowland and warm habitats, and Scotiella tuberculata (Chlorophyta), for which this is the first finding in the country. Three of the recorded species are conservationally important. The low floristic similarity between the sites (0–33%) shows the diversity of the algal flora, with no common species found for all the megaliths studied. The most widespread were the strongly adaptive and competitive Stichococcus bacillaris, Apatococcus lobatus, and Chloroidium ellipsoidium (Chlorophyta). The correlations estimated between the species number and substrate temperature (18.1–49.6 °C) suggest the prospect of future research related to the impact of global warming. In addition, the study points to the safety aspects as it revealed species from nine potentially toxin-producing cyanoprokaryotic genera that could be harmful to visitors’ health. Full article

We examine the press representation of monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) and their population management in Madrid city. To do this, we analyze mentions of this species in six Spanish newspapers for the case of Madrid. We apply a mixed methodology composed of framing, text analysis, and sentiment analysis. This multi-method approach allows us to further examine the framing and word choice of the newspapers, concluding that the press representation of monk parakeets has been biased and non-ethically led. We discuss this outcome by proposing a media representation guided by non-speciesist ethical framings and avoiding the objectification of nonhuman animals. Full article

In a wave of global conservationism, Ecuador established two large protected areas in its Amazon region in 1979. One of these is the Reserva de Producción Faunística Cuyabeno (RPFC), located in the northeastern corner of the country. Given that this land was previously managed as commons by local indigenous groups, the establishment of protected areas has had numerous consequences for these people. The research conducted comprised three months’ fieldwork in three of the affected Siona communities, primarily through the use of participant observation. Based on the framework developed by Ensminger, this paper demonstrates how institutional change has occurred in the last few centuries with the arrival of various frontiers overriding the region. This has led to the almost total eradication of traditional institutions and the introduction of a new ideology, namely conservationism. In order to legitimize their existence in the Reserve, indigenous groups are compelled to argue in a conservationist discourse if they want to stay in their ancestral territory. The article discusses tourism as one key impact on the lives of the local Siona, alongside their response to the grabbing process, which takes the form of a re-creation of their identity, including institution shopping from below. This article contributes to the debate on commons grabbing from the perspective of local actors by arguing that institution shopping from below does not necessarily mean a loss of authenticity, considering different ontological perspectives in the process of identity construction. Full article

This paper proposes a survey of the many ways in which people look at and deal with animals in contemporary India. On the basis of ethnographic research and of multiple written sources (judgments, newspapers, websites, legal files, activist pamphlets, etc.), I present some of the actors involved in the animal debate—animal activists, environmental lawyers, judges, and hunter-conservationists—who adopt different, though sometimes interconnected, approaches to animals. Some of them look at animals as victims that need to be rescued and treated in the field, others fight for animals in Parliament or in Court so that they can be entitled to certain rights, others are concerned with the issue of species survival, where the interest of the group prevails on the protection of individual animals. In the context of a predominantly secularist background of the people engaged in such debates, I also examine the role that religion may, in certain cases, play for some of them: whether as a way of constructing a Hindu or Buddhist cultural or political identity, or as a strategic argument in a legal battle in order to obtain public attention. Lastly, I raise the question of the role played by animals themselves in these different situations—as intellectual principles to be fought for (or to be voiced) in their absence, or as real individuals to interact with and whose encounter may produce different kinds of sometimes conflicting emotions. Full article