Population trends of the red palm mite, raoiella indica hirst (acari: tenuipalpidae) and associated entomopathogenic fungi in trinidad, antigua, st kitts and nevis and dominica

A survey to determine population trends and entomopathogenic fungi associated with the red palm mite (RPM), Raoiella indica, was conducted in Trinidad, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis and Dominica. RPM population density was evaluated by sampling a total of ten coconut palms per site in Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Trinidad (Manzanilla and Icacos). Mites from the four islands were either surface sterilized or left unsterilized before being cultured on Tap Water Agar (TWA). A total of 318 fungal colonies were retrieved. A further 96 mites from Dominica were kept on sterile moist filter paper in a humidity chamber and a further 85 colonies were isolated. Based on morphological observations of all 403 isolates, a sample consisting of 32 colonies (8 %) was sent for identification at CABI-UK. Of the 27 fungi positively identified, 15 isolates belonged to the genera Cladosporium, three to Simplicillium spp., and one to Penicillium. Other fungi genera with limited or no entomopathogenic potential included: Aspergillus, Cochliobolus, Fusarium, Pestalotiopsis and Pithomyces. The results show a potential use of entomopathogenic fungi for population management of the red palm mite in the Caribbean region.

Fiscal trends and policy issues and implications for the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Trends in policies, programs and practices in the Australasian First Year Experience literature 2000-2010. The First Year in Higher Education Research Series on Evidence-based Practice. Number 1

This publication is the first in a series of scholarly reports on research-based practice related to the First Year Experience in Higher Education. This report synthesises evidence about practice-based initiatives and pragmatic approaches in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia that aim to enhance the experience of commencing students in the higher education sector. Trends in policies, programs and practices ... examines the first year experience literature from 2000-2010. It acknowledges the uniqueness of the Australasian socio-political context and its influence on the interests and output of researchers. The review surveyed almost 400 empirical reports and conceptual discussions produced over the decade that dealt with the stakeholders, institutions and the higher education sector in Australasia. The literature is examined through two theoretical constructs or “lenses”: first, a set of first year curriculum design principles and second, the generational approach to describing the maturation of initiatives. These outcomes and suggested directions for further research provide the challenges and the opportunities for FYE adherents, both scholars and practitioners, to grapple with in the next decade.

Population, globalization and urbanization: Trends and underlying prosesses

Third World hinterlands provide most of the settings in which the quality of human life has improved the least over the decade since Our Common Future was published. This low quality of life promotes a desire for large number of offspring, fuelling population growth and an exodus to the urban centres of the Third World, Enhancing the quality of life of these people in ways compatible with the health of their environments is therefore the most significant of the challenges from the perspective of sustainable development. Human quality of life may be viewed in terms of access to goods, services and a satisfying social role. The ongoing processes of globalization are enhancing flows of goods worldwide, but these hardly reach the poor of Third World countrysides. But processes of globalization have also vastly improved everybody's access to Information, and there are excellent opportunities of putting this to good use to enhance the quality of life of the people of Third World countrysides through better access to education and health. More importantly, better access to information could promote a more satisfying social role through strengthening grass-roots involvement in development planning and management of natural resources. I illustrate these possibilities with the help of a series of concrete experiences form the south Indian state of Kerala. Such an effort does not call for large-scare material inputs, rather it calls for a culture of inform-and-share in place place of the prevalent culture of control-and-command. It calls for openness and transparency in transactions involving government agencies, NGOs, and national and transnational business enterprises. It calls for acceptance of accountability by such agencies.

Population status, seasonal variation in abundance, and long-term population trends of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) at the South Farallon Islands, California

We examined seasonal and annual variation in numbers of Steller (northern) sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) at the South Farallon Islands from counts conducted weekly from 1974 to 1996. Numbers of adult and subadult males peaked during the breeding season (May–July), whereas numbers of adult females and immature individuals peaked during the breeding season and from late fall through early winter (September–December). The seasonal pattern varied significantly among years for all sexes and age classes. From 1977 to 1996, numbers present during the breeding season decreased by 5.9% per year for adult females and increased by 1.9% per year for subadult males. No trend in numbers of adult males was detected. Numbers of immature individuals also declined by 4.5% per year during the breeding season but increased by 5.0% per year from late fall through early winter. Maximum number of pups counted declined significantly through time, although few pups were produced at the South Farallon Islands. The ratio of adult females to adult males averaged 5.2:1 and declined significantly with each year, whereas no trend in the ratio of pups to adult females was discernible. Further studies are needed to determine if reduced numbers of adult females in recent years have resulted from reduced survival of juvenile or adult females or from changes in the geographic distribution of females.

Trends and Determinants of Work-Retirement Transitions under Changing Institutional Conditions: Germany, England and Japan compared

Many governments world-wide are promoting longer working life due to the social and economic repercussions of demographic change. However, not all workers are equally able to extend their employment careers. Thus, while national policies raise the overall level of labour market participation, they might create new social and labour market inequalities. This paper explores how institutional differences in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan affect individual retirement decisions on the aggregate level, and variations in individuals’ degree of choice within and across countries. We investigate which groups of workers are disproportionately at risk of being ‘pushed’ out of employment, and how such inequalities have changed over time. We use comparable national longitudinal survey datasets focusing on the older population in England, Germany and Japan. Results point to cross-national differences in retirement transitions. Retirement transitions in Germany have occurred at an earlier age than in England and Japan. In Japan, the incidence of involuntary retirement is the lowest, reflecting an institutional context prescribing that employers provide employment until pension age, while Germany and England display substantial proportions of involuntary exits triggered by organisational-level redundancies, persistent early retirement plans or individual ill-health.

Trends and gaps in the academic literature on EU labour migration policies. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security No. 50/December 2012

This paper provides an overview of the ‘state of the art’ in the academic literature on EU labour migration policies. It forms part of the research agenda of Work Package 18 of the NEUJOBS project, which aims at reviewing legislation and practices regarding the labour market inclusion and protection of rights of different categories of foreign workers in European labour markets. Accordingly, particular attention is paid to the works of scholars who evaluate the status of rights of third-country national workers in relation to labour market access, employment security, social integration, etc., in European legislation on labour immigration. More specifically, the review has selected those scholarly works that focus specifically on analysing the manner in which policy-makers have addressed the granting of rights to non-EU migrant workers, and the manner in which policy agendas – through the relevant political and institutional dynamics – have found their translation in the legislation adopted. This paper consists of two core parts. In the first section, it reviews the works of scholars who have touched on these research questions with respect to the internal dimensions of EU labour migration policies. The second section does the same for the external dimensions of these policies. Both sections start off by analysing the main trends in the literature that reviews these questions for the internal and external dimensions of European migration policies as a whole, and then move on to how these ‘trends’ can (or cannot) be found translated in scholarly writings on labour migration policies more specifically. In the final section, the paper concludes by summarising the main trends and gaps in the literature reviewed, and indicates avenues for further research.

Population Trends of a Mixed-Species Colony of Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins in Southern Chile after Establishing a Protected Area

Worldwide marine protected areas (MPAs) have been designated to protect marine resources, including top predators such as seabirds. There is no conclusive information on whether protected areas can improve population trends of seabirds when these are further exploited as tourist attractions, an activity that has increased in past decades. Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) and Magellanic Penguins (S. magellanicus) breed sympatrically on Puñihuil Islets, two small coastal islands off the west coast of Chiloé Island (41° S) in southern Chile that are subject to exploitation for tourism. Our goal was to compare the population size of the mixed colony of Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins before and after protection from unregulated tourism and freely roaming goats in 1997. For this purpose, two censuses were conducted in 2004 and 2008, and the numbers compared with those obtained in 1997 by other authors. The proportion of occupied, unoccupied, and collapsed/flooded burrows changed between years; there were 68% and 34% fewer collapsed burrows in 2004 and 2008, respectively, than in 1997. For the total number of burrows of both species, we counted 48% and 63% more burrows in 2004 and 2008, respectively, than in 1997. We counted 13% more burrows of Humboldt Penguins in 2008 than in 1997, and for Magellanic Penguins, we estimated a 64% increase in burrows in 2008. Presumably, this was as a result of habitat improvement attributable to the exclusion of tourists and the removal of goats from the islets. Although tourist visits to the islets are prohibited, tourism activities around the colonies are prevalent and need to be taken into account to promote appropriate management.

Capitalism and population in Latin American agriculture: recent trends and problems

Includes bibliography