Successful Adaptation Research Articles

애착불안과 대학생활적응과의 관계

This study is aimed to examine the structural relation between attachment anxiety andadaptation to college with mattering and interpersonal relationship competence as mediators andverify their mediating effects. To this end, data from 286 students attending universities in Seouland Gyeonggi-do was collected, and the data was analyzed with the use of SPSS 19.0 and AMOS18.0. The results are as follows. The university students’ attachment anxiety had a significantlynegative effect on mattering and adaptation to college but no significantly effect on interpersonalrelationship competence. A significantly positive effect of mattering on interpersonal relationshipcompetence was also found, but not on adaptation to college. Interpersonal relationshipcompetence had a significantly positive effect on adaptation to college. Second, according to the results of verifying the mediating effects of mattering andinterpersonal relationship competence in the relation between the university students’ attachmentanxiety and adaptation to college, mattering had a sequential partial double mediating effect onadaptation to college through interpersonal relationship competence. The results of this studyshow the need for intervention through the improvement of mattering and interpersonalrelationship competence identified as mediating variables along with efforts to help universitystudents lower their attachment anxiety for successful adaptation to college.

Risks for Companies during the COVID-19 Crisis: Dataset Modelling and Management through Digitalisation

The goal is to create a systemic risk profile of companies during the COVID-19 crisis, which reflects their cause-and-effect relationships and risk management. The research objects are the following types of risks for companies listed in “Global-500” (Fortune) and the top 55 most competitive digital economies of the world (IMD) in 2017–2022: (1) risk of reduction in competitiveness (rank), (2) risk of reduction in revenue, and (3) risk of reduction in profit. The research methodology is based on the method of structural equation modelling (SEM), which allowed for exploring the cause-and-effect relationships between risk changes and digital risk management for companies during the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, based on the SEM model, it was proven that risks for companies during the COVID-19 crisis only slightly increased compared with that at the pre-crisis level. It was determined that companies faced large risks during the COVID-19 crisis in developed countries. It was discovered that, due to successful adaptation, risk management of companies assuaged the manifestations of the COVID-19 crisis in the economy. The key conclusion is that, under the conditions of a crisis of a non-economic nature (e.g., the COVID-19 crisis), companies independently and successfully manage their risks with the help of measures of digitalisation: corporate risk management with the limitation of state intervention is preferable. The contribution to the literature consists of the development of the concept of risks for companies by clarifying the specifics of risks and risk management of companies during the COVID-19 crisis. The theoretical significance lies in the fact that the authors’ conclusions rethought the risks for companies under the conditions of a crisis given the special context of a crisis of a non-economic nature (via the example of the COVID-19 crisis). The practical significance is that the developed novel approach to risk management of companies through digitalisation, which is based on the experience of the COVID-19 crisis, will be useful for risk management of companies under the conditions of future crises of non-economic nature caused by epidemics/pandemics and/or environmental disasters.

Components Critical to Successful Adoption and Adaptation of CLUE, a Transformed General Chemistry Curriculum

Components Critical to Successful Adoption and Adaptation of CLUE, a Transformed General Chemistry Curriculum

Стратегии профессиональной мобильности в представлениях студентов-выпускников ИТ-специальностей (пилотажное исследование)

This pilot study is part of an initiative project dedicated to studying the professional mobility of Russian IT specialists. The relevance of the project is due to the problems of forming an adequate understanding of IT graduates’ professional mobility strategies, since such representations guide professional development from the very beginning of a career. An objective view of these strategies contributes to the successful adaptation and socialization of novice IT professionals in the information technology field. The scientific substantiation of methodological and methodical approaches to the study of IT graduates’ perceptions of professional mobility strategies, considered in the totality of objective (socio-structural, activity) and subjective (personal-motivational) factors. At the empirical level, methods for studying ideas about mobility strategies have been developed and tested. The conclusions about the peculiarities of graduate students’ perceptions of IT specialists’ professional mobility strategies are concretized.

‘Danger: Children at Play’: Uncanny Play in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary

Representations of play abound in Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary and its 1989 and 2019 subsequent film adaptations. However, play in Pet Sematary is not representative of the innocent actions designed to create functioning adults who meaningfully contribute to society. In the 1989 film, for example, “play” for a newly resurrected Gage is a version of hide-and-go-seek resulting in the death of neighbour Jud. Meanwhile, the 2019 adaptation sees a newly resurrected Ellie “playing” in her dirt-stained white funereal dress. These dirt stains become markers of lost innocence and transform her dance into an uncanny performance. Since Gage and Ellie are both somewhat monstrous child figures, their play, like their bodies, is transformed into something unsettling and ventures into the realm of the uncanny. However, play itself is also performed differently between the adaptations because the central child figure also changes. In the 1989 film, it is a male toddler, and in the 2019 film, it is a pre-pubescent female. Both adaptations focus on ideal, socially acceptable forms of play according to the time in which the film was made as well as how children diverge from these behaviours. Play is often rendered dangerous when not performed properly according to the paradigms of age and gender, resulting in what I call ‘uncanny play’. When children engage with ‘uncanny play’, the adults in the narrative are permitted to execute the children for the sake of preserving the memory of them as innocent beings, or what I call the ‘Save the Child’ discourse. Linda Hutcheon argues that ‘when we adapt […] we actualize or concretize ideas’, so that the socially acceptable play put forth in King’s novel becomes more realised and thus more at risk to transgression in each successive filmic adaptation.

Implementing Agile Data Workflows to Unlock Climate-Resilient Urban Planning

Cities around the world are facing the implications of a changing climate as an increasingly pressing issue. The negative effects of climate change are already being felt today. Therefore, adaptation to these changes is a mission that every city must master. Leading practices worldwide demonstrate various urban efforts on climate change adaptation (CCA) which are already underway. Above all, the integration of climate data, remote sensing, and in situ data is key to a successful and measurable adaptation strategy. Furthermore, these data can act as a timely decision support tool for municipalities to develop an adaptation strategy, decide which actions to prioritize, and gain the necessary buy-in from local policymakers. The implementation of agile data workflows can facilitate the integration of climate data into climate-resilient urban planning. Due to local specificities, (supra)national, regional, and municipal policies and (by) laws, as well as geographic and related climatic differences worldwide, there is no single path to climate-resilient urban planning. Agile data workflows can support interdepartmental collaboration and, therefore, need to be integrated into existing management processes and government structures. Agile management, which has its origins in software development, can be a way to break down traditional management practices, such as static waterfall models and sluggish stage-gate processes, and enable an increased level of flexibility and agility required when urgent. This paper presents the findings of an empirical case study conducted in cooperation with the City of Constance in southern Germany, which is pursuing a transdisciplinary and trans-sectoral co-development approach to make management processes more agile in the context of climate change adaptation. The aim is to present a possible way of integrating climate data into CCA planning by changing the management approach and implementing a toolbox for low-threshold access to climate data. The city administration, in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Constance, the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), and the University of Stuttgart, developed a co-creative and participatory project, CoKLIMAx, with the objective of integrating climate data into administrative processes in the form of a toolbox. One key element of CoKLIMAx is the involvement of the population, the city administration, and political decision-makers through targeted communication and regular feedback loops among all involved departments and stakeholder groups. Based on the results of a survey of 72 administrative staff members and a literature review on agile management in municipalities and city administrations, recommendations on a workflow and communication structure for cross-departmental strategies for resilient urban planning in the City of Constance were developed.

Gap analysis of climate adaptation policymaking in Coastal Virginia

Due to its inherent multidimensionality and complexities, successful climate adaptation policymaking requires a concerted effort among multiple governance levels. Discovering the challenges and governance gaps can provide insights for policymakers paving the way for more effective policies in the future. This paper intends to provide such analysis for Coastal Virginia, a strategic region in the United States receiving significant climate impacts, particularly sea-level rise (SLR) and flooding. Utilizing semi-structured interviews with the main stakeholders and building on the adaptation framework of Moser and Ekstrom, we identify, categorize, and relate main adaptation challenges to better understand the gaps and underlying institutional dynamics causing them. Intergovernmental coordination and comprehensive planning and prioritization are the main overarching challenges, with high emphasis in the literature, while the challenge of retreat and the private sector are less discussed. It is followed by recommendations for different levels of government, informing the path forward from the stakeholders' perspective. A discussion of findings provides several implications for local, state, and federal policymakers. This research could be extended to other coastal and non-coastal areas to help formulate national and sub-national adaptation policies that maintain a holistic vision for adaptation policymaking while pondering the context-specificities of states, regions, and localities. It would be an essential task as adapting to climate change is still in its infancy stages, with the prospect of staying with us for decades to come.

Mobile Health School Screening and Telemedicine Referral to Improve Access to Specialty Care in Rural Alaska: Integrating Mixed Methods Data to Contextualize Trial Outcomes.

To understand factors associated with outcomes in a cluster-randomized controlled trial that evaluated a telemedicine specialty referral intervention for school hearing screenings in 15 rural Alaskan communities. Hearing Norton Sound was a mixed methods cluster-randomized controlled trial that compared a telemedicine specialty referral pathway (intervention) to a standard primary care referral pathway (control) for school hearing screenings. As a mixed methods trial, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, analyzed, and integrated. Main trial results are published elsewhere, but integration of community-specific quantitative outcomes and qualitative results have not yet been reported. The constant comparative method was used to analyze qualitative data from semistructured interviews with six stakeholder groups across all 15 communities. Descriptive statistics were used to describe community-specific proportions of follow-up in both trial years. Qualitative and quantitative results were integrated to reveal relationships between contextual factors and follow-up outcomes across communities. The Hearing Norton Sound trial enrolled 1481 children from October 2017 to March 2019, with a total of 790 children requiring referral. Of the children who referred in the telemedicine specialty referral pathway communities (intervention), 68.5% received follow-up (268/391), compared to 32.1% (128/399) in primary care referral communities (control)(previously reported). When broken down by community, the mean proportion receiving follow-up was 75.26% (SD 22.5) and 37.9% (SD 11.4) for the telemedicine specialty referral communities and primary care referral communities, respectively. For qualitative data collection, semistructured interviews were conducted with 101 individuals between December 2018 and August 2019. Six stakeholder groups participated: elders (n = 14), parents (n = 25), children (n = 11), teachers/school staff (n = 18), principals (n = 6), and healthcare providers/clinic staff (n = 27). Six overall factors related to the outcomes of the telemedicine specialty referral pathway emerged during analysis: clinic capacity, personnel ownership and engagement, scheduling, telemedicine equipment/processes, communication, and awareness of the need for follow-up. We integrated these factors with the community-specific follow-up percentages and found associations for four of the six qualitative factors: clinic capacity, personnel ownership and engagement, communication, and awareness. An association was not seen for scheduling and telemedicine equipment/processes, which had variable relationships with the follow-up outcome. The Hearing Norton Sound trial demonstrated that a telemedicine specialty referral pathway can close the gap on children lost to follow up after school hearing screening. As a whole, the intervention profoundly increased the proportion of children receiving follow-up, but there was variability in outcomes within and between communities. To understand this variability, we analyzed community-specific intervention outcomes alongside community member feedback on factors related to the intervention. We identified four key factors that contributed to the success of the intervention. Attention to these factors will be essential to successful adaptation and implementation of this telemedicine specialty referral intervention and other similar interventions in future work in rural Alaska and beyond.

Functional and biotechnological potential of microbiome associated with soils colonised by cyanobacteria in drylands

Drylands are areas under continuous degradation and desertification frequently covered by cyanobacterial biocrusts. Several studies have indicated that soil microorganisms contribute to nutrient cycling. Nevertheless, little is still known about how those could potentially be participating according to their taxonomic groups. In addition, biocrust-associated communities still remain largely unexplored at taxonomic and functional levels and, therefore, biotechnologically underexploited in comparison with other terrestrial ecosystems. This work aimed at revealing the ecological and biotechnological potential of soil communities using a shotgun sequencing approach in cyanobacterial-colonised biocrusts in the Tabernas Desert regarding the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, sulfur, and potassium. The abundance and successful adaptation of major groups Rubrobacter and Conexibacter was explained by the presence of metabolic diversity regarding glycolytic and CO2 fixation pathways but also by exhibiting a rich pool of hydrolytic enzymes. Besides, Rubrobacter representatives might potentially be driving sulfate mineralisation. Others, such as Caulobacter representatives, were also suggested to have a potential key role in K+ uptake. Furthermore, iron uptake was found to potentially be mediated via synthesis and release of siderophores, mostly derived from pseudomonads. Importantly, this work revealed a meaningful biotechnological niche in which the recovery of novel isolates is a very desirable step forward for the industry and a step forward in unwrapping the potential role of those microorganisms in soil restoration as well as in the functioning of arid soils as CO2 sinks.

Two faces of vulnerability: Distinguishing susceptibility to harm and system resilience in climate adaptation

AbstractIn the climate adaptation literature, we can distinguish two seemingly distinct frameworks for the concept of vulnerability. We might think of vulnerability in terms of susceptibility to harm. Some discussions of vulnerability accordingly focus on the risk posed to well‐being. Alternatively, we might think of vulnerability in terms of a system's responsiveness to adverse conditions, often spelled out in terms of resilience. This article highlights and distinguishes these frameworks through a brief survey of climate adaptation literature. Understanding the relationship between these two frameworks is vital not only for conceptual clarity, but also for developing adaptation strategies that respond to the different sorts of vulnerabilities posed by climate change. Mitigating the vulnerability of an individual at risk of harm might well complicate efforts at mitigating the vulnerabilities of systems in which that individual is embedded. Humans are clearly at risk of harm from a changing climate, and changing climate challenges the resilience of systems on which humans depend. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the vulnerabilities that arise from the dissociation of people from their environments. Dissociation, whether through the migration of people or through changes to environmental background conditions not only makes clear the dual nature of vulnerabilities, but also serves as a lens through which we might consider the prospects for integrating a more cohesive account of vulnerability into successful climate adaptation strategies.This article is categorized under: Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Ethics and Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values‐Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation

Exploring interdependencies, vulnerabilities, gaps and bridges in care transitions of patients with complex care needs using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method

BackgroundHospital discharge is a complex process encompassing multiple interactions and requiring coordination. To identify potential improvement measures in care transitions for people with complex care needs, intra- and inter-organisational everyday work needs to be properly understood, including its interdependencies, vulnerabilities and gaps. The aims of this study were to 1) map coordination and team collaboration across healthcare and social care organisations, 2) describe interdependencies and system variability in the discharge process for older people with complex care needs, and 3) evaluate the alignment between discharge planning and the needs in the home.MethodsData were collected through participant observations, interviews, and document review in a region of southern Sweden. The Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) was used to model the discharge process and visualise and analyse coordination of care across healthcare and social care organisations.ResultsHospital discharge is a time-sensitive process with numerous couplings and interdependencies where healthcare professionals’ performance is constrained by system design and organisational boundaries. The greatest vulnerability can be found when the patient arrives at home, as maladaptation earlier in the care chain can lead to an accumulation of issues for the municipal personnel in health and social care working closest to the patient. The possibilities for the personnel to adapt are limited, especially at certain times of day, pushing them to make trade-offs to ensure patient safety. Flexibility and appropriate resources enable for handling variability and responding to uncertainties in care after discharge.ConclusionsMapping hospital discharge using the FRAM reveals couplings and interdependencies between various individuals, teams, and organisations and the most vulnerable point, when the patient arrives at home. Resilient performance in responding to unexpected events and variations during the first days after the return home requires a system allowing flexibility and facilitating successful adaptation of discharge planning.

Sequential adaptation to serum-free medium for Vero cells cultivation on ultraviolet/ozone (UVO) treated microcarrier

The adoption of serum-free media (SFM) in cell culture has gained prominence as an alternative to serum-supplemented media (SSM) owing to concerns regarding serum variability and quality assurance. Vero cells, widely utilized in viral vaccine production for their susceptibility to various viruses, were the focus of this study. Our primary objective was to adapt Vero cells from SSM to SFM and subsequently upscale the culture from T-flasks to spinner vessels using ultraviolet/ozone (UVO) treated polystyrene (PS) and polycaprolactone (PCL) microcarriers. Cell counting was conducted via haemocytometer and inverted phase microscopy. The results indicated that SFM-adapted Vero cells achieved higher maximum cell concentrations compared to those cultured in SSM, along with a shorter doubling time. However, during cultivation in spinner vessels, Vero cells exhibited lower maximum cell concentrations compared to T-flask cultures, attributed to factors such as cell inoculum size and microcarrier hydrophilicity. This study highlights the successful adaptation of Vero cells to SFM and the potential benefits in terms of cell density and growth kinetics. Furthermore, it sheds light on the challenges encountered during culture upscale, offering valuable insights for optimizing future large-scale production processes. The findings contribute to the advancement of serum-free cell culture systems and their applicability in the production of viral vaccines.

Formation of students’ creative thinking as a condition for successful professional adaptation

Formation of students’ creative thinking as a condition for successful professional adaptation

Adapted tissue assay for the assessment of ileal granulocyte degranulation following in ovo inoculation with select bacteria or coccidial challenge in chickens.

A previously described heterophil degranulation assay was adapted for use with ileal mucosal tissue via quantification of β-D-glucuronidase and assay end product 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU). Three initial experiments evaluated the effect of in ovo inoculations of Citrobacter freundii (CF) or mixed lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on ileal granulocyte degranulation. Inoculations were administered on embryonic d18, body weights (BW) were recorded on day of hatch (DOH) and d10 to calculate body weight gain (BWG), and ileal mucosal scrapings were collected on DOH or d10 for the 4-MU assay. In all experiments, treatments were statistically analyzed relative to control groups. Treatments minimally affected BWG in all in ovo experiments (p > 0.05) relative to respective control groups. Similarly, ileal degranulation in in ovo treatments did not statistically differ (p > 0.05). Based on BWG, in ovo treatments may have induced low-level inflammation unable to elicit detectable changes via the 4-MU assay. Four subsequent experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of Eimeria maxima (EM) on ileal degranulation. Treatments included non-inoculated controls and low, medium, or high EM infection. Across all four experiments, final BW or BWG over the inoculation period were suppressed (p < 0.05) in EM groups relative to respective controls with the exception of EM-low (p = 0.094) and EM-medium (p = 0.096) in one trial. Ileal mucosal scrapings for the 4-MU assay were collected on day of peak lesions. Resulting values were reduced (p < 0.05) for EM treated birds in three experiments with the exception of EM-medium (p = 0.247). No differences were observed in one experiment (p = 0.351), which may have been attributed to a variation in strain of infecting Eimeria. Although refinement for low level inflammation is warranted, results indicate successful adaptation of the 4-MU assay for use with intestinal tissue during significant gastrointestinal inflammation.

Parental Competence as a Teacher in the Auditory Development of Children with Cochlear Implants.

The number of children with partial or total hearing loss is increasing every day, and most of them are undergoing cochlear implant surgery. The paper aims to assess the teaching competence of parents of children with cochlear implants. The study took one year (2022) in 1 [Almaty, Kazakhstan] kindergarten and 1 specialized school. Twenty-four parents of children (mean age 3.5 ± 0.5 years) and 20 parents of children of primary school age (10.0 ± 0.5 years) who underwent surgery at the age of 1-2 and 6-9 years were included in the study. A minimal number of parents had a high level of competence; sufficient competence was noticed among the two times larger number of parents; however, most of the parents had insufficient competence. The indicators of children were as follows: 3 children had a high level of listening perception; twice as many of them had a sufficient level; the same number had an insufficient level. There were more children with a low level, 3 times more than with a high level. A high level of pedagogical competence of parents correlated with a high level of children's auditory verbal abilities (on the scale of auditory ability integration). There was also a direct relationship with the level of speech development (on the scale of speech use) for children who had the surgery a year earlier. The obtained data can apply to the educational process for children with cochlear implants to improve their auditory and speech skills as quickly as possible. The involvement of parents in the education and rehabilitation of children with cochlear implants is crucial for the successful adaptation and development of the child. Parents can become irreplaceable partners of specialists and educational institutions, providing their children with optimal support and assistance on their way to the development of auditory and communication skills. To enhance parental competence in the area of auditory development of children with cochlear implants, it is recommended to participate in specialized educational programs designed for parents, offered by professionals and organizations. Additionally, actively engaging with educational resources, online materials, and informational communities is beneficial for acquiring up-to-date knowledge and receiving support from other parents, specialists, and experts.

Relationship between spiritual intelligence and lifestyle with life satisfaction among students of medical sciences

BackgroundYoung people are the main resources of any country and entering university is considered a sensitive period in their lives. Satisfaction with life is one of the indicators of successful adaptation to life. Lifestyle and spiritual intelligence can complement and give meaning to this variable. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence and lifestyle with life satisfaction in students of Medical Sciences.MethodsThis descriptive-analytical study was conducted among the students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2017. One hundred thirty-nine students were included in this study. Data collection tools were the King's spiritual intelligence scale, Miller-Smith lifestyle assessment inventory, satisfaction with life scale (Diener), and demographic information checklist. To analyze the data, descriptive and analytical tests such as independent T-test and one-way analysis of variance and SPSS version 22 software were used. The significance level of all tests was considered less than or equal to 0.05.FindingsIn the present study, 108 were women and the rest were men. 49.6% of students were under twenty years old. The results of this research showed that there is a significant negative relationship between lifestyle and life satisfaction (r = -.33) and a significant positive relationship between spiritual intelligence and life satisfaction (r = .27) (p < 0.05). The mean scores of students in life satisfaction were 22.49 ± 5.92, lifestyle was 49.15 ± 8.35, and spiritual intelligence was 51.59 ± 11.43.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study showed the important role of spiritual intelligence and lifestyle in students' life satisfaction. These findings can be used by administrators and policymakers in formulating interventions and providing a suitable context to improve students' life satisfaction.

Thriving psychological well-being in undergraduate nursing student: a grounded theory study with the life grid approach

BackgroundPsychological well-being (PWB) plays a vital role in successful adaptation to the Bachelor of Nursing journey and affects career development. However, there is little known about the functional and social processes associated with enhancing well-being specific to the subjective perspective of nursing students.AimTo investigate how nursing students promote their psychological well-being to conceptualize thriving psychological well-being.MethodThis qualitative study analyzed and reviewed a life grid and semi-structured in-depth interviews of 20 Chinese Nursing graduates by investigators and participants, following Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory. The constant comparative method was used to analyze data. This study took place between 2020 and 2022.ResultsAll participants experienced fluctuations in psychological well-being. This study identified a new understanding of how nursing students enhance their psychological well-being. Thriving awareness was co-constructed as the core category and based on the relationship with a supportive environment, the thriving psychological well-being of nursing students is conceptualized.ConclusionsIt is imperative to enhance the psychological counseling and support for nursing students during their clinical placements, during the period just entering university as well as after repeated outbreaks of COVID-19. Nursing educators and administrators could develop appropriate educational programs and interventions based on the theoretical model—Thriving psychological well-being.

Visualisation Features of Mythological Image of Nezha in Chinese Animation

Mythological heritage is an integral part of Chinese culture, but in order to continue its existence, it has to transform and adjust to society and its demands, thus acquiring new content and reflecting new values. The article studies the visualization peculiarities of the Chinese mythological story of Nezha in the national animation. This article examines the transformation process of the mythological image of Nezha (哪吒), its sinification process, its features in the classic 16th century novel “Investiture of the Gods” by Xu Zhonglin, as well as features of film adaptation of mythological story of Nezha in the animated films “Nezha Conquers the Dragon King” (哪吒闹海), 1979, and “Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child” (哪吒之魔童降世), 2019. The plot of both movies and the image of Nezha in them inevitably differ from the original novel “Investiture of the Gods” and through these differences it is possible to identify the main social issues, existing in a certain period of time. The 1979 animated film is a milestone in Chinese animation development, and it is saturated with the mood of the times of change. Film directors attempt to reflect on the “Cultural Revolution”. The image of Nezha symbolizes a cruel but righteous hero who fights the enemies of the people and sacrifices himself for the common good. In the 2019 film the plot of the primary source is radically deconstructed, and the problems of growing up and self-determination of the individual, as well as the cruelty of modern society come into focus. Thanks to the successful adaptation of the classic mythology plot both films managed to gain success not only among Chinese audience and critics, but also among foreign ones.

Evolution at the arid extreme: the influence of climate on sand termite colonies and fairy circles of the Namib Desert.

In the hyperarid Namib Desert, the sand termite Psammotermes allocerus Silvestri, 1908 (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) establishes colonies that create conspicuous, barren patches known as 'fairy circles' on permeable, sandy soils. The central bare areas of fairy circles serve the key function of storing moisture received from sparse rainfall. The sandy soil texture allows rapid infiltration and percolation of precipitation, while localized herbivory by the termites creates the bare patch, thereby reducing the rapid loss of soil moisture by the uptake and transpiration of water by plants. The resulting storage of rain water even during prolonged periods of drought enables perennial life in hyperarid desert environments and forms a globally unique example of ecosystem engineering by social insects. During the past decade, most publications primarily debated the origin of fairy circles. Here, we contribute to the special issue with a focus on the functional and evolutionary dimension of the structure of the Psammotermes colony with two differing nest types and two spatially separated key resources, as a successful adaptation to extreme desert environment. The paper is primarily a review and a synthesis of previous work, with the inclusion of new, relevant findings. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach'.

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION: WITH OR AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES?

Climate change and its negative consequences represent a common problem for all the people on Earth and are likely to become one of the most serious challenges that humankind faces. As such, mitigation measures and adaptation actions are of particular importance. Although often thought as the two sides of the same coin, the climate change mitigation and adaptation differ from each other, especially in the context of indigenous peoples. Therefore, the first part of the paper centres on the relation between climate change mitigation and adaptation and their consequences for indigenous communities. The newest international treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement, establishes the global goal on adaptation, which should take into consideration vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems, and more importantly, should be based on and guided by the best available science and knowledge of indigenous peoples, often referred to as ‘traditional knowledge’. As such, the second part of the paper focuses on the adaptation methods guided by the traditional knowledge. Although examples include indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge from all over the globe, much attention is given to the Arctic Indigenous Peoples as, due to current speed of climate change, the Arctic is recognized as a global climate change hotspot. Although indigenous peoples have been living in their territories since the time immemorial, adapting their ways of life to the difficult weather and environmental conditions, with the current climate change happening so rapidly, their possibilities of adaptation are weakening and climate change renders them more vulnerable, altering their economic and cultural activities and threatening their very existence. However, the current rate of climate change is not the only factor impairing the indigenous peoples’ adaptive capacities. Therefore, the final part of the paper is aimed at presenting what the obstacles to the successful adaptation to climate change are and whether migration should be considered an adaptive action.