Ecological intensification to mitigate impacts of conventional intensive land use on pollinators and pollination

Worldwide, human appropriation of ecosystems is disrupting plant–pollinator communities and pollination function through habitat conversion and landscape homogenisation. Conversion to agriculture is destroying and degrading semi‐natural ecosystems while conventional land‐use intensification (e.g. industrial management of large‐scale monocultures with high chemical inputs) homogenises landscape structure and quality. Together, these anthropogenic processes reduce the connectivity of populations and erode floral and nesting resources to undermine pollinator abundance and diversity, and ultimately pollination services. Ecological intensification of agriculture represents a strategic alternative to ameliorate these drivers of pollinator decline while supporting sustainable food production, by promoting biodiversity beneficial to agricultural production through management practices such as intercropping, crop rotations, farm‐level diversification and reduced agrochemical use. We critically evaluate its potential to address and reverse the land use and management trends currently degrading pollinator communities and potentially causing widespread pollination deficits. We find that many of the practices that constitute ecological intensification can contribute to mitigating the drivers of pollinator decline. Our findings support ecological intensification as a solution to pollinator declines, and we discuss ways to promote it in agricultural policy and practice.     

Women's physical and psychological condition independently predict their preference for apparent health in faces

Physical condition (e.g., health, fertility) influences female mate preferences in many species, with females in good condition preferring "higher quality" (e.g., healthier) mates. In humans, condition may comprise both physical (e.g., health and fertility) and psychological factors (e.g., stress, anxiety, and depression). We found that women with low waist-to-hip ratios (indicating health and fertility) or who scored low on anxiety, depression, and stress measures expressed greater attraction to composite male (but not female) faces with color and texture cues associated with apparent health than did women with relatively high waist-to-hip ratios or who scored relatively high on the anxiety, depression, and stress measures. These effects of physical and psychological condition were independent and were not mediated by women's perceptions of their own attractiveness. Our findings indicate that women's physical and psychological conditions both contribute to individual differences in face preferences.     

Are husbands a barrier to women's family planning use? The case of Morocco

Little is known about men's role in the adoption of family planning. Recent studies suggest that men may be a barrier to women's use of family planning. However, it is not clear whether husbands represent a true or a perceived barrier. Using the 1992 Morocco Demographic and Health Survey data, this study examines (1) whether women and men report concordant fertility desires, discussions, and contraceptive use; (2) the accuracy of women's perceptions of their husbands' fertility desires; and (3) whether husbands are a barrier to women's family planning use. The results demonstrate that, controlling for women's own fertility desires, husbands' true fertility desires are associated with family planning use. Likewise, women who perceive their husbands to want fewer children than they want are more likely to use family planning. Future fertility and family planning programs need to include men to reduce their role as both perceived and true barriers to family planning use.     

Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: a phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis.

The following cultural variables were tested for their association with sexual dimorphism: sexual division of labor, type of subsistence (hunting and agriculture), and polygyny. The transmission of these traits among populations was investigated. All the traits were found to be associated with phylogeny, indicating that they are inherited from mother to daughter populations. A cross-cultural comparative method was used which controls for the statistical effects of similarity due to common ancestry (Galton's problem). Cross-cultural variation in sexual dimorphism in stature is negatively associated with women's contribution to subsistence. Women are taller, relative to men, in societies where women contribute more to food production. This may be because female nutritional status is better in these societies. No relationship was found between sexual dimorphism and other aspects of subsistence or polygyny. These results are discussed in relation to other studies of sexual dimorphism in modern and archaeological populations, and in relation to cross-cultural variation in sex-biased parental investment.     

Women's autonomy and reproductive preferences in Eritrea

Current research and policies on reproductive behaviours in many East African countries focus primarily on proxy indicators of women's autonomy, and very little emphasis is placed on direct indicators of women's autonomy. In this paper, data from the 2002 Eritrea Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) are used to address some of the most frequently raised questions about the link between women's autonomy and reproductive behaviour. The results from the multivariate logistic models show that although the relationship between women's autonomy and reproductive preferences in Eritrea is complex, some clear, broad patterns exist that have implications for theory and policy. First, although the different dimensions of women's autonomy influence the outcome variables differently in terms of magnitude and statistical significance, most of them have a strong connection; in particular, women's final say in decisions regarding day-to-day household purchases and spousal communication are significant explanatory variables in fertility preferences and ever-use of modern contraception. Second, many background (proxy) variables, particularly household economic condition and employment, exert a strong and independent influence over fertility preferences and ever-use of contraception regardless of a woman's autonomy. In their relationship to reproductive behaviours, therefore, employment and economic status cannot be considered as proxies for women's autonomy in Eritrea. A complete explanation of the relationship between women's autonomy and reproductive preferences must recognize the effects of both the background and direct autonomy indicators. Interventions are needed to improve women's decision-making autonomy and strengthen their negotiating capacity on family planning if an increased desire to limit fertility is to be attained.     

Factors affecting Common Quail’s Coturnix coturnix occurrence in farmland of Poland: is agriculture intensity important?

Over the last four decades, the majority of European farmland birds have shown marked population declines attributed to the intensification of agriculture. The Common Quail is a widespread farmland breeder across most of Europe. Its populations have shown marked decline, particularly pronounced at the end of the previous century. Ongoing agriculture intensification may be the factor responsible for the observed declines; however, links between species occurrence and farming intensification have not been addressed so far. We analyzed factors affecting the occurrence of the Quail in Poland using data from 722 1 × 1-km study plots and a set of 22 environmental variables, including proxies for agriculture intensification. Predictors were aggregated using PCAs and related to species presence/absence data using GAMs. The best-supported model of the species’ occurrence included eight variables and was clearly better (AIC weight = 0.54) than other models. Quails preferred open fields, showing high photosynthetic activity in March or June, with rather low precipitation and often at relatively high altitudes (up to 900 m a.s.l.). Importantly, quails were more frequent on plots located in regions with rather high inorganic fertilizer input, and showed no avoidance of areas with a high level of agriculture mechanization. We postulate that singing male quails are attracted to areas with medium or high intensity of agriculture but it may represent a maladaptive habitat choice enhanced by changing agriculture practices and peculiarities of the quail’s breeding strategy. Given the results, the quail cannot be classified as a good indicator of extensive traditional agriculture.     

Anthropology, Demography, and the Search for a Critical Analysis of Fertility: Insights from Russia

The socialist and postsocialist contexts offer important challenges for anthropologists developing a critical analysis of fertility. The need for fertility studies to address class and gender inequities is often overlooked by postsocialist scholars, whose work is mired in responses to the socialist past and ongoing pronatalist campaigns. I examine the ways that fertility analysis has been used in national political struggles in Russia, and explain why supporters of democratic reforms and women's rights have neglected to address gender and class issues in their fertility studies. While Russian nationalists cite fertility decline as proof that market reforms threaten Russia's existence, defenders of neoliberalism draw on demographic transition theory to redefine fertility decline as a universal sign of socioeconomic development. Working with conventional demographic paradigms and a postsocialist cultural logic, Russian transition theorists simultaneously oppose pronatalist politics, support women's reproductive choice, and reproduce the limitations of liberal paradigms regarding the family, society, and public policy. This article shows how anthropological critiques of demographic transition theory can be expanded and nuanced by considering the ways this theory gets adapted to particular cultural logics and political contests. [Keywords: anthropology and demography, postsocialism, Russia, fertility decline]     

Empowerment in family planning as viewed by Iranian women: a qualitative study

Women carry the primary responsibility for family planning in most parts of the world, and should be afforded the power of decision-making and control over their fertility. This study seeks to gain insight into Iranian women's perception of the meaning of empowerment in family planning. Using a qualitative study, seven focus group discussions and five individual interviews were conducted with 35 married Iranian women of reproductive age. The data were analysed using a conventional content analysis approach, in which themes and categories were explored to reveal women's experiences of empowerment in family planning. The results demonstrated four main categories: control over fertility plan, participative family planning, maintaining health and access to optimal family planning services. They viewed knowledge of family planning and autonomy of decision-making in fertility issues as essential elements for control of their fertility plan. Participants felt more empowered when joint family planning decisions were made with their partners in an atmosphere of agreement. Therefore, family planning policymakers should plan services with new approaches that focus on women's health and empowerment.     

Risk-sensitive fertility: The variance compensation hypothesis

Two conditions are sufficient to indicate the need for risk-sensitive, adaptive analysis: (i) the outcomes of a behavior must be unpredictable to some degree and (ii) the relationship between outcomes and their value (in terms of fitness or utility) must be nonlinear. We argue that these conditions are common, and develop a general model for the analysis of risk-sensitive fertility behavior when long-term reproductive outcomes are unpredictable. We show that unpredictability is likely to have a patterned effect on fertility behavior, beyond adjustment for expected or average mortality, and we analyze the conditions under which that effect will be to promote or dampen fertility (positive or negative variance compensation, respectively). We then describe the implications of this variance compensation hypothesis (VCH) for the analysis of demographic transitions, agricultural intensification, fertility differences in natural-fertility populations, and clutch size. We conclude by lamenting that data are lacking to test the VCH, probably because it has not been appreciated that there can be patterned and effective behavioral adjustments to stochastic features of the environment.     

Parental age difference, educationally assortative mating and offspring count: evidence from a contemporary population in Taiwan

Using contemporary population data from Taiwan, we examine the relationships between parental age difference, educationally assortative mating, income and offspring count. Controlling for women's reproductive value (measured by age at first birth), we find that an older husband is associated with fewer offspring, whereas a husband with similar or higher education is associated with more offspring. Concerning resources, we find that women's income is negatively associated with fertility and husband's income is positively associated with fertility among highly educated women. These results are consistent with the view that women compensate for trade-offs between education, income generation and childbearing by seeking mates with a higher status.     

有机农业与可持续发展

从国内外有机农业研究与生产发展状况出发,阐述了我国绿色食品研究的目标、生产中坚持的原则;结合国外有机农业和可持续农业的争论,论证了“替代农业”的理论和实践意义．与常规农业高强度农业生产方法相比。有机农业生产方式能够培肥土壤,对环境的影响很小．有机农业为代表的“替代农业”的研究与实践已近一个世纪,我国的绿色食品事业的发展已历时十几年．讨论有机农业“环境友好”和对人体健康为主要宗旨的食品生产方式,以及维持农业系统的可持续性问题,对我国绿色食品产业的发展具有积极的指导作用。     

The preference for an additional child among married women in Seoul, Korea

South Korea reported a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.08 in 2005. This is the lowest level of all nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Recently, the decline in the fertility rate has been a dominant phenomenon in Korea's major cities. This study investigated the relationship between social environmental factors and fertility intentions for married women in Seoul, the capital of Korea, using a sample of 2211 married women who responded to the Seoul Citizens Health and Social Indicators Survey, 2005. Here, the effects of selected social environmental characteristics on fertility intentions are explored using multivariate logistic regression models. The relationships among a woman's age, number of living children, job type, housing type, and social group participation were strong indicators of the intention to have additional children. Younger women living with fewer children generally have a higher intention to have additional children. Among women's job types, blue-collar workers have a lower preference for additional children than white-collar workers and housewives. Married women participating in social groups have a lower preference for additional children than non-participants. Women's participation in social activities appears to have various benefits, both individually and socially. However, whereas women's participation in economic activities has been linked to questions of fertility in previous studies, the relationship between fertility and social activities has been downplayed. Women's participation in social activities has increased over the past several decades, and the trend continues to grow. Therefore, women's participation in social activities must be accepted as the status quo, and compatibility between women's participation in social activities and childrearing needs to be increased. Consequently, a strong foundation for a fertility-friendly environment is needed, focusing on blue-collar workers and participation in social activities by married women.     

Drought and soil fertility modify fertilization effects on aphid performance in wheat

Agricultural intensification and climate change are expected to affect pest performance through excessive inputs of chemical fertilizers and increased probability of extreme drought events. Potential interactive effects of fertilization and water availability on aboveground pest performance may depend on soil fertility because of its effect on nutrient availability. In a greenhouse experiment, we examined the effects of inorganic fertilization on the performance of the grain aphid (Sitobion avenae, F.), an important pest of wheat, under different conditions of soil fertility and water availability. We found soil fertility and water availability to influence the positive effects of inorganic fertilizers on aphid growth, i.e. fertilization promoted faster aphid development time and higher fecundity and biomass under low fertility and under well-watered conditions. Moreover, although increased soil fertility favored aphid growth under well-watered conditions, it simultaneously sustained plant development. The current practices promoting soil fertility do not have direct negative consequence on crop protection under conventional cropping systems.     

Human oestrus

For several decades, scholars of human sexuality have almost uniformly assumed that women evolutionarily lost oestrus--a phase of female sexuality occurring near ovulation and distinct from other phases of the ovarian cycle in terms of female sexual motivations and attractivity. In fact, we argue, this long-standing assumption is wrong. We review evidence that women's fertile-phase sexuality differs in a variety of ways from their sexuality during infertile phases of their cycles. In particular, when fertile in their cycles, women are particularly sexually attracted to a variety of features that likely are (or, ancestrally, were) indicators of genetic quality. As women's fertile-phase sexuality shares with other vertebrate females' fertile-phase sexuality a variety of functional and physiological features, we propose that the term oestrus appropriately applies to this phase in women. We discuss the function of women's non-fertile or extended sexuality and, based on empirical findings, suggest ways that fertile-phase sexuality in women has been shaped to partly function in the context of extra-pair mating. Men are particularly attracted to some features of fertile-phase women, but probably based on by-products of physiological changes males have been selected to detect, not because women signal their cycle-based fertility status.     

Risk and Agricultural Intensification During the Formative Period in the Northern Basin of Mexico

The relationship between the development of hydraulic agriculture and the formation of sociopolitical hierarchies is a major issue in studies of the evolution of early civilizations in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. Previous explanations of agricultural intensification have emphasized population pressure and the effects of settlement nucleation and distance to markets. Neither factor, however, adequately explains the shift to hydraulic farming at relatively low population levels in arid and semi-arid environments. This paper attempts to demonstrate that risk of crop failure was significant in promoting land-use intensification and the development of hydraulic agriculture during the Formative period in the northern Basin of Mexico.     

The neolithic demographic transition and oral health: The Southeast Asian experience

The purpose of this article is to present new oral health data from Neolithic An Son, southern Vietnam, in the context of (1) a reassessment of published data on other Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age Southeast Asian dental series, and (2) predictions of the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). To this end, frequencies for three oral conditions (caries, antemortem tooth loss, and alveolar lesions) were investigated for seven Southeast Asian adult dental series from Thailand and Vietnam with respect to time period, age‐at‐death and sex. A clear pattern of elevated rates for oral disease in the Neolithic followed by a marked improvement in oral health during the Bronze and Iron Ages was observed. Moreover, rates of caries and antemortem tooth loss for females were almost without exception higher than that for males in all samples. The consensus view among Southeast Asian bioarchaeologists that oral health did not decline with the adoption/intensification of agriculture in Southeast Asia, can no longer be supported. In light of evidence for (1) the low cariogenicity of rice; (2) the physiological predisposition of females (particularly when pregnant) to poorer oral health; and (3) health predictions of the NDT model with respect to elevated levels of fertility, the most plausible chief explanation for the observed patterns in oral health in Southeast Asia is increased levels of fertility during the Neolithic, followed by a decline in fertility during the subsequent Bronze and Iron Ages. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:197–208, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Importance of Native Seeds in White-Winged Dove Diets Dominated by Agricultural Grains

ABSTRACT Agricultural intensification is a key factor in the decline of many avian populations throughout the world, yet the exact mechanisms that contribute to these declines are relatively unresolved, especially for seed-eating species. We tested the hypothesis that forage quality, particularly protein content, limits productivity in birds consuming diets dominated by agricultural grains and lacking in native forages. We used white-winged doves (Zenaida asiatica) because columbids are highly granivorous and white-winged doves have declined in areas dominated by grain agriculture. We randomly assigned 52 pairs of captive doves to 1 of 2 treatments: we fed one treatment sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and the second sorghum plus native seeds (croton [Croton sp.] and native sunflower [Helianthus sp.]). Birds with access to native seeds fledged 123% more young per pair, with young weighing 32% more at fledging than those fed only sorghum. Doves with access to native seeds selected a diet consisting of 43% sorghum, 32% croton, and 25% sunflower. We conclude that agricultural grains, which typically have high metabolizable energy and low to moderate protein concentrations, are not sufficient for normal productivity of white-winged doves. The lack of native forages with sufficient metabolizable energy and protein content may be a factor in the declining productivity of white-winged doves in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, USA, as well as other species in regions dominated by agriculture.     

Towards an understanding of the genetics of human male infertility: lessons from flies

It has been argued that about 4–5% of male adults suffer from infertility due to a genetic causation. From studies in the fruitfly Drosophila, there is evidence that up to 1500 recessive genes contribute to male fertility in that species. Here we suggest that the control of human male fertility is of at least comparable genetic complexity. However, because of small family size, conventional positional cloning methods for identifying human genes will have little impact on the dissection of male infertility. A critical selection of well-defined infertility phenotypes in model organisms, combined with identification of the genes involved and their orthologues in man, might reveal the genes that contribute to human male infertility.     

Male chimpanzees prefer mating with old females

Cross-cultural studies indicate that women's sexual attractiveness generally peaks before motherhood and declines with age. Cues of female youth are thought to be attractive because humans maintain long-term pair bonds, making reproductive value (i.e. future reproductive potential) particularly important to males. Menopause is believed to exaggerate this preference for youth by limiting women's future fertility. This theory predicts that in species lacking long-term pair bonds and menopause, males should not exhibit a preference for young mates. We tested this prediction by studying male preferences in our closest living relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). We show that despite their promiscuous mating system, chimpanzee males, like humans, prefer some females over others. However, in contrast to humans, chimpanzee males prefer older, not younger, females. These data robustly discriminate patterns of male mate choice between humans and chimpanzees. Given that the human lineage evolved from a chimpanzee-like ancestor, they indicate that male preference for youth is a derived human feature, likely adapted from a tendency to form unusually long term mating bonds.     

Women's estradiol predicts preference for facial cues of men's testosterone

A growing body of research has shown that women express stronger attraction to more masculine traits when they are tested near ovulation than when tested during other times in the menstrual cycle. Although these effects have been interpreted as increased preferences for markers of elevated testosterone during times in the cycle when conception is most likely, no previous studies have directly demonstrated that women express stronger attraction to higher testosterone men at different times in the cycle. In addition, little research has addressed which hormonal or other physiological mechanisms may regulate temporal shifts in women's attractiveness judgments. In this research, we demonstrate that women with higher estradiol concentrations exhibit stronger preferences for the faces of men with higher testosterone concentrations, and that women's testosterone preference and estradiol curves track one another across days of the cycle. The findings are the first direct demonstration in humans that hormone concentrations in one sex are associated with attraction to cues of hormonal status in the opposite sex. The results support a functional role for estradiol in calibrating women's mating psychology to indices of their current fertility, analogous to similar processes that have been documented in nonhuman species. A strong correlation between estradiol and testosterone preference specifically during the luteal phase further suggests that women's mate preferences may track their fertility between different cycles in addition to being calibrated to the timing of ovulation within individual cycles.