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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Bumblebees do best where there is less pavement and more floral diversity
Dec. 24, 2012 ? Landscapes with large amounts of paved roads and impervious construction have lower numbers of ground-nesting bumblebees, which are important native pollinators, a study from The University of Texas at Austin and the University of California, Berkeley shows.
The study suggests that management strategies that reduce the local use of pavement and increase natural habitat within the landscape could improve nesting opportunities for wild bees and help protect food supplies around the word.
The study also suggests that increasing the number of species-rich flowering patches in suburban and urban gardens, farms and restored habitats could provide pathways for bees to forage and improve pollination services over larger areas.
The findings have major implications for global pollinator conservation on a rapidly urbanizing planet.
"We are potentially in a pollinator crisis," said Shalene Jha, lead author and assistant professor of biology at The University of Texas at Austin. "Honey bees are declining precipitously, and wild bees have also been exhibiting population declines across the globe. Native bees provide critical pollination services for fruit, nut, fiber and forage crops. Understanding how bees move around the landscape can help us both preserve biodiversity and improve crop yields."
Animal pollination is estimated to be worth over $200 billion in global crop yields.
For the research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jha and senior author Claire Kremen, a professor at UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, studied a native California bumblebee, Bombus vosnesenskii, in habitats across exurban areas, farms and nature reserves.
In addition to finding that pavement negatively affects the bees, the scientists discovered that:
- Bees will move longer distances to find patches of flowers that are rich in species; it's not floral density that determines how far a bumblebee will fly, but floral diversity.
- Bees will also forage further away from their home nest if the surrounding landscape is less heterogeneous. "In some ways, it's a bet-hedging strategy," said Jha. "If the landscape is composed of consistently dense flowering patches, bees take a risk and forage farther afield to find species-rich patches."
"In combination with earlier work showing that bumblebees have become rare in agricultural landscapes, our study suggests that farmers could promote these valuable pollinators by diversifying crop types and by planting cover crops and flowering hedgerows to enhance floral diversity," said Kremen.
Though it may seem obvious that pavement and ground nesting don't mix, Jha said that our understanding of the effects of pavement and urban growth on native bees has been largely anecdotal.
"Using genetic tools, we can now estimate the number of colonies in an area," said Jha, who began this work as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. "This is helping us better understand how wild pollinators live and move across large, diverse landscapes."
Bumblebees nest in the ground, and each colony contains a queen and a force of workers. As with honeybees, all of the bumblebee workers are sisters who spend some of their time flying around searching for flowers from which to collect pollen and nectar to feed the larvae back in the hive.
Unlike honeybees, which are not native, bumblebees do not make harvestable honey. They do, however, provide important pollination services to plants.
"Bumblebees are among the most effective native pollinators," said Jha. "They are large and can carry a lot of pollen. They also vibrate or 'buzz' flowers with their bodies and thus are excellent at extracting pollen and moving it from plant to plant."
To study the bumblebees, Jha did not scour the landscape for nests in the ground, which has proved in the past to be very difficult, especially over large areas. Instead, she analyzed the genetic relatedness of bees foraging in the landscape.
If bees collected in an area were genetically identified as sisters, they came from the same colony. Unrelated bees came from different colonies. Jha used this information, plus the bees' locations, to estimate the number of bee colonies in an area and determine how far afield the individual bees were foraging.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas at Austin.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- S. Jha, C. Kremen. Resource diversity and landscape-level homogeneity drive native bee foraging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208682110
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/sMBqHKgy3yI/121226080902.htm
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US gun support runs far deeper than politics
In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, a customer checks out a shotgun at Burdett & Son Outdoor Adventure Shop in College Station, Texas. More civilians are armed in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, with Yemen coming in a distant second, according to the Small Arms Survey in Geneva. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, a customer checks out a shotgun at Burdett & Son Outdoor Adventure Shop in College Station, Texas. More civilians are armed in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, with Yemen coming in a distant second, according to the Small Arms Survey in Geneva. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 taxidermist Bill Moos displays one of his shotguns in his shop in Bryan, Texas. Moos, who owns a collection of more than 30 guns, can be spotted any given morning, prowling his roughly 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch with his dogs and a shotgun slung over his shoulder. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, gun store owner Dave Burdett talks about gun rights as he displays a hand gun in his store in College Station, Texas. Burdett, who owns an outdoors and adventure shop across the street from the sprawling Texas A&M University campus in College Station, says his affinity for guns is rooted in history, not sport. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, a stuffed deer heads hang from the walls of taxidermist Bill Moos' shop in Bryan, Texas. Moos, who owns a collection of more than 30 guns, can be spotted any given morning, prowling his roughly 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch with his dogs and a shotgun slung over his shoulder. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
BRYAN, Texas (AP) ? Adam Lanza's mother was among the tens of millions of U.S. gun owners. She legally had a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle and a pair of handguns, which her 20-year-old son used to kill 20 children and six adults in 10 minutes inside a Connecticut school.
In the raw aftermath of the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history, countless gun enthusiasts much like Lanza's mother complicate a gun-owning narrative that critics, sometimes simplistically, put at the feet of a powerful lobby and caricatured zealots. More civilians are armed in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, with Yemen coming in a distant second, according to the independent Small Arms Survey in Geneva.
Take Blake Smith, a mechanical engineer who lives near Houston and uses an AR-15 style rifle in shooting competitions.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who famously claimed to have shot a coyote while jogging with a pistol holstered to his running shorts, has signed a half-dozen certificates applauding Smith as one of the state's top marksmen. "But I won't call myself a fanatic," said Smith, 54, whose father first let him handle a gun around age 6.
"I sit at a desk all day. And when I get out to the range, I don't hear any gunfire going on," said Smith, who likens his emotional detachment to his guns to the way he would feel about a car or any other machine. "I'm so intent on my sight alignment, my trigger pull, my position. I don't worry about anything. I don't think about anything. It's relieving. It's therapeutic. Everybody has to have their Zen."
Since the school shooting, President Barack Obama has asked for proposals on reducing gun violence that he can take to Congress in January, and he called on the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun-rights organization, to join the effort.
Gun laws in the U.S. vary from state to state ? for instance, as of last month it is now legal to carry a gun in public view in Oklahoma ? and are defended by the firearms industry and the NRA. On Friday, the NRA broke a weeklong silence since the Connecticut massacre by calling for armed volunteers at public schools, prompting criticism from many quarters.
But in the U.S., gun-control advocates are up against a sizeable bloc of mainstream Americans for whom guns are central to their lives, whether for patriotism or personal sense of safety, or simply to occupy their spare time.
Dave Burdett, who owns an outdoors and adventure shop across the street from the sprawling Texas A&M University campus in College Station, says his affinity for guns is rooted in history, not sport.
"It isn't about hunting. Everyone says, 'Well, I can understand having a sporting rifle, but not an AR-15," Burdett said. "But wait a second ? the idea of the Second Amendment was to preserve and protect the rights of individuals to have those guns."
"Remember that the (American) revolution was fought by citizen soldiers," he added. "To this day, that's one of the cornerstones of our military defense. We have an all-volunteer military."
An NRA poster picturing a bald eagle is taped to the glass door of his office. He started as a lawyer, dabbling in everything from commercial land to trying to block the deportation of an illegal immigrant, before seguing into selling guns.
When his daughter graduated with a business degree from Texas A&M, Burdett figured she would move somewhere cosmopolitan like Dallas and work in a downtown high-rise. She instead went to work in the store, built her own AR-15 out of spare parts and used it to join what her father described as the "let's-go-pig-hunting-tonight circuit." Those feral hog hunts often include high-powered rifles as well as night-vision goggles.
"The other thing is, shooting is fun. It really is," Burdett said.
Many think so. Smith, the mechanical engineer, said that includes teenage girls. At national shooting competitions, Smith has run into a group of girls around 13 or 14 years old who call themselves "The Pink Ladies," firing high-powered rifles at targets. He also recalls meeting Australians, whose country bans guns, who told him, "I love to shoot, so I'm going to the U.S."
Others add safety to the list of reasons for allowing people easy access to guns.
"To me it's obvious ? the more people that have guns, or at least in their homes, it's more of a criminal deterrent," said Bill Moos, a local taxidermist in the small town of Bryan, near College Station. Moos, who owns more than 30 guns, can be spotted any given morning, prowling his roughly 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch with his dogs and a shotgun slung over his shoulder.
He tells a story of standing in the post office one day and hearing about a suspect driving around, wanted by the police. He thought of the woman behind the counter near him.
"My first thought was, 'How are you going to protect yourself?' Does she have a gun, in case someone tries to rob her?" he said. "It's the first thing you think of: How are you going to defend yourself?"
On the television in the corner of his workshop, above a stuffed gray fox and a clutch of animal jawbones dangling on a ring like a set of keys, Obama is holding his first press conference since the Connecticut tragedy. He's promising to send Congress legislation tightening gun laws and urging them to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons, like the one used by Lanza.
Moos turns down the volume.
"I guess it's something you get used to," he said of guns. "That you grow up around, and you enjoy them, and you accept the fact that you can own. It's a privilege. It's a whole different way of life. I guess I don't need three pick-ups and a Corvette. But I have them."
___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
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Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Discipline OK even if employee has complained ? Business ...
Courts are consistently hesitant to second-guess well-founded employment decisions. Of course, they won?t let you get away with discriminating or retaliating against an employee for filing an EEOC complaint or lawsuit. But that doesn?t mean you can?t discipline an employee if she needs prodding to meet your legitimate expectations.
You can and should discipline everyone who deserves it, whether she?s involved in litigation or not.
Recent case: Raquel worked for the U.S. Department of Justice. On an evaluation, she received a lower ranking than she had on earlier appraisals, which had rated her ?outstanding.? Her supervisor said the downgrade was because she made slow progress on a big project. She filed a discrimination complaint.
Two years later, she was suspended for five days. Her supervisor said she was punished for missing work for two days without letting her supervisors know and then refusing to submit medical paperwork when she claimed she had been ill.
Raquel sued, alleging discrimination and retaliation for her earlier complaint.
The court tossed out her case. It reasoned that Raquel?s lower evaluation wasn?t enough to justify a lawsuit, since she hadn?t lost pay, benefits or anything else important. Plus, it was clear that there was a legitimate reason for her downgrade from ?outstanding??she had missed important deadlines.
Finally, the court said too much time had passed for the suspension to be retaliation for her earlier complaint. In addition, the suspension was clearly based on her own misconduct. (Allard v. Holder, No. 11-50481, 5th Cir., 2012)
Final note: As long as you treat all employees alike when it comes to discipline, you have little to fear. The employers that get in trouble are those that target or ?throw the book? at employees they?re seeking to get rid of for reasons that aren?t legitimate?or legal.
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A New Teach-Yourself Afan Oromo Book by Dr. Mohammed ...
Editor?s Note: This book is listed at the Gadaa.com Store (which is an Amazon.com-powered store). We?d like to take this opportunity to clarify that Gadaa.com does not sell any item or handle any transaction. All transactions of books and other items at the Gadaa.com Store are handled by Amazon.com, one of the most trusted online stores in the world.
Similar to other Oromo related books, the following book is also linked at the Gadaa.com Store. Note that, though the book is listed in the Gadaa.com Store, it?s currently unavailable; if and when it becomes available through Amazon.com, Gadaa.com will notify its readers.
Title: Learn to Read, Write and Speak the Oromo Language (Afaan Oromoo Dubbisuu, Barreessuu! Dubbachuu Baradhu)
Author: Mohammed O. Badasso (Dr.)
Pages: 240
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Afran Qalloo University Press (AQUP) (2012)
Where to Buy: For further information on where to buy the book, please contact the author at mbaddaso@yahoo.com
Future Locations to Buy the Book: Gadaa.com Store (Powered by Amazon.com)
(Or, local Oromo shops in most major cities in the US, and most countries in Europe)
Future Location to Buy the Book:
Short Description:
This book is designed for people, both within and outside Oromo Diaspora, who desire to speak, write and read the Oromo language (Afan Oromo.) It is a practical handbook for anyone who speaks and writes the English language. The book covers the basic rules of writing and reading the Oromo alphabet (Qubee), essential grammar, personal introductions, descriptions, dialogues, exercises and so much more. The numerous exercises are formulated to help you see your progress in reaching your ultimate goal of reading, writing and speaking the language. This book is also essential for those Oromo and others who work as professional Afan Oromo interpreters in various settings, and a practical guide for Afan Oromo instructors teaching students at various levels.
About The Author
Mohammed O. Badasso, Ph.D., is a professional scientist from the University of London, England. He has later worked at the School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, and was the Academic and Research Vice-President at Adama University, Oromia. He has published numerous publications in several scientific journals and in textbooks. Mohammed is an educator and leader by profession. He lives in Minnesota with his family and is conducting independent research in Oromo studies. Learn To Read, Write And Speak The Oromo Language is one of a series of books that will be written in collaboration with others both in Oromia and the Oromo Diaspora.
Why This Book?
Future Location to Buy the Book:
?I Challenge you to read it. This is a gift to all of you,? the author.
This is the first of its kind book written for Oromo Diaspora, both for those who do not read and write their language, and the expatriates who want to learn the Oromo language (Afan Oromo). This is an AFAN OROMO-ENGLISH teach-yourself handbook, not only made available for the Diaspora, but soon will be published in Oromia, where it is needed the most. As you all are aware, there is no single book of this sort that you can buy, or an expatriate buys, from a bookstore to learn Afan Oromo completely. For the first time, English-speaking Oromo Diaspora and those Oromo at home who speak English can now benefit from it. The Oromo in Diaspora can now learn to read, write and speak their own language, be at their own home comfort, at their work places, at their community centers, and elsewhere. This has been a problem that I have seen exist while I was at home that you could not buy a single complete handbook to learn Afan Oromo unless you go to school to learn, and this has been true for the Diaspora as well. Now, this gap has been fulfilled, the next major tasks are to produce Afan Oromo books in other major world languages, such as Afan Oromo?German, Afan Oromo?Arabic, Afan Oromo?French, etc. I hope this work will give some guidance for those who will embark upon these timely tasks.
I say, this is a must have book. It has all the ingredients required to learn Afan Oromo. It consists of ? the alphabet, essential grammar to learn the system of the language, personal introductions and descriptions, numerous dialogues, questions and answers, positives and negatives, imperative forms and commands, knowing Oromo family, what is the homes, foods and related words, Oromo time reckoning, counting in Oromo, money matters, health matters, important phrases and vocabularies, and miscellaneous exercises for each chapter. The book is written exactly the way the Oromo speak to one another based on their culture. Every sentence in this book is written carefully to reflect the culture of the people. So, it is a living book, and when you talk to the book, you can feel one another and engage in real communication, thus you will learn proper usage of words and speak the language properly.
For the first time, in this book, the rules of writing Afan Oromo are precisely described and presented with appropriate examples. All unwanted complications that make harder to learn the alphabet, such as the so-called ?combined letters,? ?hudhaa? and ?irra-butaa? are either eliminated from the alphabet or described exactly what it is, to make as simple as possible to learn the alphabet in a very short time. Various examples and adequate exercises are provide to enable you master the alphabet in no time. Furthermore, the grammar of the language has been described in such a way to make the learning very interesting by providing examples and numerous exercises to navigate through the language easily. The book is also written in chapters to be read consecutively, so, at the end, you can challenge yourself with miscellaneous exercises based on the entire book.
Some Praises for the Book
This book is an excellent companion for those interested in learning the Oromo language. It is a book you will refer to again and again to read, write and speak the Oromo language. The book consists of all fundamental elements required to learn the language properly ? starting with the alphabet followed by essential grammar, dialogues, vocabularies and numerous examples and exercises to help you with. In short, the book surpasses all Oromo language books to date. It is, therefore, a must have reference book that you should have by you all the time, and if you want to learn the language in an entirely new way or approach read this book now.
Furthermore, this beautifully written book is a gift to all Oromo and others, who want to learn the language without many unnecessary or unwanted complications ? avoiding such things as ?combined letters? (digraphs), ?irra-butaa,? confusion with ?hudhaa? and many more making the roadmap much more easier to learn the Oromo language. I call it a ?one-stop? shopping where everything you need to learn this language is in one package.
Having read the book, I am also compelled to tell you that, those who can read, write and speak the Oromo language, can learn more, with so much obvious further additions added to this book, such as the use of ?fi,? ?dha,? ?the definite article? and the emphasis put to write what is said in Oromo to mention a few. Above all, I admire the clarity, and how it is made simply to learn the language. The book speaks to me and I speak to it. I felt the interconnections of the entire sections of the book. Finally, this is a single book that one can rely on to learn Afan Oromo. The time to buy many different and confusing books to learn how to read, write and speak the Oromo language has gone by. I definitely say, well done, and this is a worthwhile contribution to the ongoing development of the Oromo language.
Ibrahim Hajii Ali Boru
Editor-in-chief of Radio Fana
Afan Oromo Program, Finfinne
This book is a great guide for people who want to learn, revisit or refresh their knowledge of the Oromo language. Written by an educator whose love for the language and the culture of the Oromo people, it incites readers to research and explore their own journey into the communication and history of this fascinating Cushitic language.
Antu Yacob
Actor, Teacher
New Jersey
A wonderful resource for people to learn the Oromo language. Whether you are a beginner or fluent, this book will help deepen your understanding of the language and enable you to strengthen you conversation skills. It also serves as a great lifelong reference book.
Sara, Graduate Student
New York
A great resource for people who want to learn the Oromo language
Dr. Abdulsamad Mohammed
Minneapolis, Minnesota
An excellent resource and reference book for learning the Oromo language
Mahdi Hamid Muudee
Atlanta, Georgia
Source: http://gadaa.com/oduu/17397/2012/12/23/a-new-teach-yourself-afan-oromo-book-by-dr-mohammed-badasso/
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