Suchergebnisse

In a spectacular case of bad timing and even worse judgment, Vogue magazine published a glam profile of President Bashar al-Assad's wife last March, just around the time her husband's regime started brutalizing unarmed regime protestors. Deeming Asma al-Assad 'the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,' the puff piece glossed over the dictatorial essence of the Assad dynasty and missed altogether the fact that it was about to experience the heavy weather of the Arab Spring. Adapted from the source document.

Fragmented economic development efforts that are not coordinated either strategically or operationally have limited impact. Across rural America, individual economic development agencies have lacked the capacity to use their complementary strengths to shape a vision of how to develop a region. Often, these efforts do not relate to the real customers of rural development, the existing firms that create most new jobs. The projects that are implemented are of short term and limited scale, and the real systems that influence the direction of an economy are ignored. Many European countries seek to improve the competitiveness of a region through accelerating the modernization of firms. It takes a systems approach to enhance the private initiative of firms by improving the relationship between firms and the supporting relationships of institutions involved in training, technology, and finance. Lessons can be drawn from this approach, and a new rural model for taking a systems approach to improving the competitiveness of firms in northern Michigan is discussed.

Across the rural US individual economic development agencies have lacked the capacity to use their complementary strengths to shape a vision of how to develop a region. The projects that are implemented are short term & of limited scale, & the real systems that influence the direction of an economy are ignored. Many European countries seek to improve the competitiveness of a region through accelerating the modernization of firms. They take a systems approach to improve the relationship between training, technology, & finance. A new rural model for taking a systems approach to improving the competitiveness of firms in northern MI is discussed. 2 Figures. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract
ContextFeral cats (Felis catus) are known predators of northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus). Management to suppress feral cat densities often uses the poison sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080) in baits broadcast aerially. Eradicat® baits have demonstrated efficacy at reducing feral cat densities in some environments. However, these are not registered for use in northern Australia because their risk to non-target northern quolls remains unknown.
AimsWe investigated the risks of aerially deployed feral cat Eradicat® baits containing 4.5mg of the poison 1080 on the survival of free-ranging northern quolls.
MethodsThe study was conducted over a 20000-ha area in the Pilbara bioregion in Western Australia. Twenty-one wild northern quolls from a baited area and 20 quolls from a nearby reference area were fitted with radio-collars, and their survivorship was compared following the aerial deployment of over 9700 feral cat baits. Survivorship of quolls was assessed before and after the baiting campaign.
Key resultsFive radio-collared quolls died at the baited area; four mortalities were due to feral cat predation, and the cause of one death was uncertain. At the reference area, seven radio-collared quolls were confirmed dead; three mortalities were due to feral cat predation, two from wild dog predation, and the cause of death of two could not be determined. Evidence for sublethal poison impacts on quolls, inferred by monitoring reproductive output, was lacking; average litter size was higher in quolls from the baited area than in those from the unbaited area, and within range of litters reported elsewhere, suggesting that acute effects of 1080 (if ingested) on reproductive success were unlikely.
ConclusionsRadio-collared northern quolls survived the trial using Eradicat® baits, and females showed no acute effects of sublethal poisoning on the basis of reproductive output. A lack of quoll deaths attributed to 1080 poisoning suggests that the use of Eradicat® poses a low risk to northern quolls in the Pilbara. Importantly, the high level of mortalities associated with predation by feral cats, and to a lesser extent, canids, validates the threats of these introduced predators on quolls, suggesting that their control in areas where quolls are present is likely to be beneficial for the recovery of this species.
ImplicationsLand managers aiming to conserve northern quolls in the Pilbara would see conservation benefits if they introduced an operational landscape-scale feral cat baiting program using Eradicat® baits, with appropriate monitoring.