Association patterns and population dynamics of bottlenose dolphins in the Strait of Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea): implication for management

An understanding of the population dynamics and social organization of cetaceans is essential to manage the influence of anthropogenic activities. In this study, the population size, site fidelity and social interactions of bottlenose dolphins in the Strait of Sicily (Italy) were investigated to provide recommendations for their conservation. Mark-recapture analysis was based on the encounter histories of 103 marked dolphins from 2004 to 2015. The POPAN formulation of the Jolly–Seber model in MARK software was used to estimate the size of the super-population. Site fidelity and social organization were estimated for individuals re-sighted ≥3 times. The estimated population size was 140 (SE = 15.75; 95% CI = 106–164). Dolphins had low site fidelity, and both adults and sub-adults move outside the study area. Females with calves used the area longer than other individuals. Based on our results, dolphins’ home range likely extended beyond the study area. The mean value of the Half-Weight Association Index was low and the preferred association was by casual acquaintance. However, we found a distinct aggregation of post-parturition females during the final 2 years of the study. Therefore, the pattern of association was apparently a response to an ecological requirement, which was the possibility to breed in high productivity waters. Whether these individuals are part of a larger pelagic population is unknown; however, we can conclude that the management of only coastal waters is insufficient for the conservation of dolphins in the Strait of Sicily.     

Ecological Aging: The Settings Approach in Aged Living and Care Accommodation

As the proportion of older people increases within populations, financial demands related to the cost of health service delivery threaten global stability. This population trend challenges the traditional approach to health service delivery to older populations. This article presents the Australian context as a case study to argue that the application of a health promoting settings approach to aged care may lead to improved well-being for older people to the extent that the periods of chronic morbidity often associated with aging can be compressed into an ever shorter period of time. Promoting an ecological perspective to aged care suggests that there is no need to manage older people in isolation, as is common practice, but as integral to the way society lives, works, and plays. The article maps parallels between characteristics of health promoting settings such as Health Promoting Schools and the aged living and care industry, arguing that the setting encompassing services for the elderly is a prime location for the establishment of a new health promotion setting. Supporting life opportunities for our aged is central to such an approach. More broadly, an ecological approach orients us toward the connection between environment and health, and encourages increased attention and action within the aged living and care sector on reducing environmental impacts of this growing population. As such, the application of this approach to the aged living and care sector has the potential to reduce the threat that a dependant older population has on global sustainability.     

Female social dynamics in a provisioned free-ranging band of the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in the Qinling Mountains, China

Little information is available on the social dynamics of the Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana). Here, we provide 5-year observational data on a provisioned free-ranging band in the Qinling Mountains, central China, from October 2001 to December 2005. The results of this study suggested that females place a high priority on maintaining long-term relationships with other female in their one-male units (OMUs). Females had more social interactions with unit members than with nonunit individuals. They showed relatively high rates of affiliation with their unit females, intermediate levels with the resident males, and low levels with individuals outside the unit. Females had few interactions with other resident males. Social interactions, especially affiliative interactions, were more symmetrical between focal females and their unit females than between focal females and the resident males. Thus female social interactions appeared to resemble those of other female-bonded primate societies. On the other hand, female transfers occurred sometimes. We recorded 11 cases of female immigration and 5 cases of female disappearance, 1 case of female intraband shift, and 2 cases of "merging of OMUs," which suggested that unit females might be loose-knit in this species. We discussed influencing factors on female Sichuan snub-nosed monkey social dynamics, by comparing them with those of Hamadryas and gelada baboons that also have multilevel societies.     

Talking biotech with the public

In the estimation of risks involved in complex technical applications, such as, for example, gene technology or nanotechnology, the problem of communication between science and the wider society becomes evident. The path towards transparent, authentic and credible communication must be built upon the reconciliation of the risk perceptions of the scientist--and of his or her institution--with the corresponding ideas of risk and communication existing in the society. Additionally, to accomplish goal-oriented discourse within the public sphere and to realistically assess his or her effective options when addressing this public, the scientist is faced with the necessity of reflecting upon his or her own determining assumptions on the condition, constitution and functionalities of this "public". Combined with the use of modern tools--and supported with supplementary coaching and organizational consultation--such a foundation allows the establishment of targeted communication with specific groups.     

A Burning Issue: Rethinking the Transition from Hunter‐Gatherer to Industrial Sociometabolic Regimes

Hunter‐gatherers are commonly seen as having a fundamentally different sociometabolic regime from agrarian and industrial societies because they are thought to directly appropriate the products of natural ecosystems without modifying those systems in order to enhance their productivity. However, ethnographic and archeological evidence reveals that many hunter‐gatherers extensively employed fire to manage their ecosystems so as to increase production of desirable wild resources, thus engaging in “colonization of nature” that is not qualitatively different from that practiced by other types of society. They systematically burned wild vegetation in order to increase populations of edible wild plants consumed by humans and promote growth of forage for game animals. Deliberate ecosystem burning by Australian Aborigines represented an energy expenditure of 1,512 gigajoules per capita per year (GJ/capita/yr), a level of energy use that is more than three times higher than the United States (445 GJ/capita/yr). It is their profligate consumption of biomass energy that explains why the quality of life of many hunter‐gatherers was often better than that of traditional settled peasant farmers. Hence, the extent to which hunter‐gatherers have a distinct type of sociometabiolic regime is called into question. It can be argued that in the course of social evolution, there have been only two sociometabolic regimes. In one type, which includes hunter‐gatherers, swidden agriculturalists, and industrial societies, extrasomatic energy does most of the productive work, whereas in the other type, that of premodern settled agriculturalists, production is largely dependent on human muscle power.     

Reconsidering Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Austronesian Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews previous attempts to characterise the nature of social differences among the Austronesian speakers of Taiwan and the theoretical roots of these efforts, including the contrast Marshall Sahlins’s drew between Melanesian Big-Men (achieved status) and Polynesian Chiefs (ascribed status). This contrast was later applied to the diverse social organisations found among the Austronesian speakers of Taiwan. However, linguistic research over the past three decades has suggested that Proto-Austronesians may have already developed chiefdoms and social hierarchies and that Taiwan was one of the key sites for the origin of Austronesian speakers. Some scholars thus concluded that the ‘egalitarian’ type of societies among the Austronesian Taiwan must have been the result of Japanese colonial policies. This paper intends to re-think this dichotomy with ethnographic material from Austronesian Taiwan, especially the Paiwan; to distinguish the ideological and practical dimensions of this historical reconstruction; and to examine the viability of the analytical tools which have been widely adopted in the anthropological literature on other Austronesian societies.     

生态功益:自然生态过程对人类的贡献

大自然是维系人类社会生存和维持文明发展的生命之舟,为人们的物质和精神生活提供必不可少的资源和环境条件及生态服务。生态功益是这些由自然生物过程产生和维持的环境资源方面的条件和服务的统称。本文从自然生产,维持生物多样性,调节气象过程、气候变化和地球化学物质循环,调节水循环和减缓旱涝灾害,改善与保持土壤,净化环境,为作物与自然植物传粉播种,控制病虫害,维护改善人的身心健康和激发人的精神文化追求等方面探讨和介绍生态功益及生态功益的经济评价。迅猛的人口增长、社会变化和技术发展已使承载人类社会的生命之舟受到严重破坏和巨大威胁。减少这些破坏和威胁是整个社会,特别是生态学エ作者面临的重大挑战.     

Biodiversity and stakeholder participation

Consensus building through stakeholder participation is a promising new trend that takes into account the interactive character of the communication process. There is a growing realisation that stakeholder participation has a significant role to play in the development and delivery of biodiversity policy and practice. Experience and best practice from activities such as the designation and management of Natura 2000 and Integrated Coastal Zone Management shows that problem solving and conflict management are significantly enhanced through participative processes. There is therefore the potential for a change to take place in the way that biodiversity policy is developed and implemented. This brings challenges to the biodiversity community in terms of developing new skills and processes and in engaging with new agendas and sectors.