Ecological constraints on effective dispersal have been suggested to be a key factor influencing social evolution in animal societies as well as the shift from single queen colonies (monogyny) to multiple queen colonies (polygyny) in ants. However, little is known about the effective dispersal patterns of ant queens. Here we investigate the microgeographic genetic structure of mitochondrial hap...

17 Road verges have been proposed as refuges for vulnerable grassland species in the 18 modern, changing landscape, but little comparative knowledge exists on how 19 management regimes affect population dynamics of such species. We compared the 20 effects of various management regimes on population dynamics of Pimpinella saxifraga 21 in road verges and pastures, using elasticities and LTRE-anal...

Aims The Iberian oak wood-pastures are unique agroforestry systems supporting high levels of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Small rocky outcrops geological features commonly found in these constitute reservoirs, protecting sensitive species from grazing farming activities. We aimed to assess the relevance including outcrop conservation within increase biodiversity. To achieve this goal, w...

A total of 399 crossbred ewes born in 2 yr were maintained either on irrigated or dryland hill pastures. The ewes were sired by North Country Cheviot, Dorset, Finnsheep or Romney rams mated to Suffolk or Columbia-type ewes. The crossbred ewes were mated to Hampshire rams throughout the study and had the opportunity for either 4 or 5 yr of production. Annual feed cost was calculated based upon e...

Observations of wild boar damage to alpine grazing pastures in Romania's Carpathian Mountains were collected using photographs of the slopes from vantage points. We mapped the rooted areas and then used GIS software to estimate the relative proportions of the total grazing areas visible in the photographs that were damaged by wild boar. The amounts of damage from our two demonstration pastures ...

Wax palms are an important element of the cloud forests in the tropical Andes. Despite heavy deforestation, the density of adults seems to be similar in deforested pastures as in forests. We aimed to infer the mechanisms responsible for this apparent resilience in pastures and we tested two hypotheses to explain it: 1) adult palms survived in pastures because they were spared from logging, and ...