The phylogenetic diversity of bacterial communities in response to environmental disturbances such as organic pollution has been well studied, but little is known about the way in which organic contaminants influence the acclimation of functional bacteria. In the present study, tolerance assays for bacterial communities from the sediment in the Pearl River Estuary were conducted with the isolat...

Forest dynamics in New Zealand are shaped by catastrophic, landscape-level disturbances (e.g. volcanic eruptions, windstorms and fires). The long return-intervals of these disturbances, combined with the longevity of many of New Zealand’s tree species, restrict empirical investigations of forest dynamics. In combination with empirical data (e.g. palaeoecological reconstructions), simulation mod...

the present study was conducted to see the effect of non-specific genital infections and ovulatory disturbances on clinical signs of oestrusnamely oestrus duration, tonicity of uterus, relaxation of cervix and persistence of follicle. the mean values of oestrus duration, tonicity of uterus and relaxation of cervix varied significantly (p

Industrial ecology, promoted as a discipline of ‘sustainability science,’ applies ecological concepts to industrial systems to improve their sustainability. Concepts such as diversity, food webs and nutrient recycling have been investigated for industrial systems. Complex systems theory may also prove to be an appropriate framework for industrial systems research. This framework can identify th...

Recent research on ecological networks suggests that mutualistic networks are more nested than antagonistic ones and, as a result, they are more robust against chains of extinctions caused by disturbances. We evaluate whether mutualistic networks are more nested than comensalistic and antagonistic networks, and whether highly nested, host-epiphyte comensalistic networks fit the prediction of hi...

Previous studies have demonstrated that physical therapy accompanied by Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) can improve the motor skills of patients with Parkinson’s disease and, in particular, their gait disturbances. In the present work we describe the neurological bases and perceptual-motor deficits generally associated with Parkinson’s disease, with a specific focus on gait disturbances. Wi...

Some social-ecological systems (SESs) have persisted for hundreds of years, remaining in particular configurations that have withstood a variety of natural and social disturbances. Many of these long-lived SESs have adapted their institutions to the particular pattern of variability they have experienced over time as well 20 as to the broader economic, political, and social system in which they...

This project aims to develop new prospective analytical tools to determine the ability of marine mammal populations to compensate for behavioural disturbances. We aim for these tools to be generic and applicable in data-poor situations. To do so, we will extend on recent advances in behavioral ecological modelling in which behavioral strategies are defined using hierarchical models where behavi...

Environmental security, as the opposite of environmental fragility (vulnerability), is multilayered, multi-scale and complex, existing in both the objective realm of biophysics and society, and the subjective realm of individual human perception. For ecological risk assessments (ERAs), the relevant objects of environmental security are social-ecological landscapes (SELs). ERAs, in this case, ar...