As defined in BS EN 350-1 [1], natural durability is ‘the inherent resistance of wood to attack by wood destroying organisms’. Eaton and Hale [2] defined natural durability or decay resistance as the ability of the Heartwood of any wood species to resist decay. Normally, natural durability is measured by exposing the wood to biological agents such as termites, beetles, fungi and marine borers (...

This research explores the causes of dealer demand amplification leading to a high volume of seed returns in a typical agribusiness supply chain. Seed production occurs months in advance of grower demand, resulting in a limited supply of specific seeds. To hedge against shortages, dealers inflate orders. If demand materializes, dealers benefit from their inflationary behavior. If it does not, t...

To provide more insights into the responses of the soil seed bank and vegetation to human disturbance intensity, we selected four land use types, including: native grassland (no human disturbance), abandoned artificial grassland (light human disturbance), artificial grassland (moderate human disturbance), and farmland (severe human disturbance) in a semi-arid climate of northern China. The spec...

Seed banking remains a cornerstone in the conservation of plant genetic resources. To be successful, it relies on the collecting and banking of high-quality seeds. In 1995 there was relatively little guidance available to seed collectors (especially of wild plant species), who had to make decisions in the field about what to collect and how to handle collected material. Since then, research int...

—Pocket gophers have the potential to alter the dynamics of grasslands by creating mounds that bury existing vegetation and locally reset succession. Gopher mounds may provide safe sites for less competitive species, potentially increasing both species diversity and vegetation heterogeneity (spatial variation in species composition). We compared species composition, diversity and heterogeneity ...

A spatial lattice model for binary data is constructed from two spatial scales linked through conditional probabilities. A coarse grid of lattice locations is specified and all remaining locations (which we call the background) capture fine-scale spatial dependence. Binary data on the coarse grid are modelled with an autologistic distribution, conditional on the binary process on the background...

Genetically modified corn crops have been developed to reduce the impact of potentially devastating agricultural pests such as the European Corn Borer (Ostrinia nubilalis). Continuous exposure to Bt toxins in genetically modified corn results in the increased prevalence of European Corn Borers that are resistant to these toxins. In this article, we first analyze the evolution of resistance in a...

The analysis of volatile emissions of coffee berries in different physiological states of ripeness was performed using dynamic headspace and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis for Coffea arabica, var. Colombia. The composition of the volatiles emitted by coffee berries is dominated by very high levels of alcohols, mainly ethanol, in all stages of ripeness in comparison with other com...