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Forest plantations mitigate environmental problems and favor low-carbon economies, but the growing demand for wood is driving the accelerated expansion of monocultures that are potentially harmful to biological diversity. In this research, the compatibility between taxonomic diversity of vascular plants and timber production of Pinus ponderosa was evaluated in stands with three levels of canopy cover, located in the steppe and the forest-steppe ecotone of Northwestern Patagonia from Argentina (40°5' S - 71°12' W). Soil moisture, diversity and site index were higher in the ecotone. The P. ponderosa cover was negatively correlated with the light intensity and diversity, and positively with the amount of litter and bare soil on the forest floor. After a 45-year rotation, the projected timber production was maximum for IDR>800, but the diversity decreased dramatically. The best option to conserve diversity was to maintain IDR<400 throughout the stand management cycle. However, the profitability of the production of quality wood would be negative with IDR<500, regardless the site quality, area, initial density, management scheme and distance to the market for goods and services of the plantation. The negative correlation between the environmental and productive indicators would imply that there is no a silvicultural regime that simultaneously maximizes these objectives. This spatial incompatibility does not imply a priori discouraging the productive initiatives based on tree plantations. Forestry contributes to solving deep environmental, social and economic problems, particularly in the current scenario characterized by the increase in human population, the consumption of resources and the degradation and destruction of natural forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Palermo Business Review is the property of Universidad de Palermo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Eggs are most fundamental and important foodstuff in everyday life for all developed and developing countries. It is not sufficient only to produce and transport eggs at a reasonable cost but arrangements must be made to ensure that the eggs reach the consumers well in time. In between the two extremes of minimization of eggs shipping cost and minimization of eggs shipping time, there exist a number of situations where an eggs transportation system decision maker would like a partial trade-off on shipping cost to attain a certain degree of shipping time advantages. From laying to the final destination, more eggs are broken during shipping than in any other step; therefore, losses due to eggshell breakage are greatest during shipping. In this paper, an algorithm and its underlying theory is developed to solve eggshell breakage restricted bi-criteria eggs transportation problem. This paper discusses a more realistic and general assumption that the eggs shipping time of bi-criteria eggs transportation problem depends on the quantity of the eggs transported and is an increasing piecewise constant function. The algorithm is also supported by a real life eggs shipping problem of Tamil Nadu, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

San Cristobal's micro watershed is a socioecological system (SES), located in the rural-urban border of Usaquen and the Eastern Hills Forest Reserve (Bogota D.C). This SES has been transformed by the phenomenon of urban growth, generating changes in land use and environmental degradation of the ecosystem, affecting biodiversity and the ecosystem service (ES) of water supply. For the case mentioned, this study analyzes spatial, temporal and social trade-offs, which are created by human decisions or interventions. The identification and subsequent analysis of these trade-offs is made from various sources and consultations with different types of actors. Thus, key moments as what led to the transformation of the ecosystem, the effects on the ecosystem service at different spatial scales and the balance of social actors that won or lost in the process were identified. Based on the lessons learned, key variables and social actors, possible scenarios, and actions aimed at the conservation or improvement of the SE are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to test some theoretical hypothesis related to the competitive priorities (CP) and strategic decision areas (SDA) in manufacturing strategy (MS). As a main contribution it was identified a complete set of PC respect to the previous studies; also, empirical evidence is provided about MS in the food sector. A study was conducted in 49 companies in the Caldas Region, Colombia. In CP their relative importance and the dominant management approach were identified (sand cone or trade-off). Regarding SDA, it was analyzed the relationship between their level of development and the company's performance in terms of their CP. The results corroborate diverse theoretical approaches, demonstrating that there is no a single way to address a manufacturing strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants have limited resources to invest in reproduction, vegetative growth and defense against herbivorous. Trade-off in resources allocation promotes changes in plant traits that may affect higher trophic levels. In this study, we evaluated the trade-off effect between years of high and low fruiting on the investment of resources for growth and defense, and their indirect effects on herbivory in Copaifera langsdorffii. Our questions were: (i) does the resource investment on reproduction causes a depletion in vegetative growth as predicted by the Carbon/Nutrient Balance hypothesis (CNBH), resulting in more availability of resources to be allocated for defense?, (ii) does the variation in resource allocation for growth and defense between years of high and low fruiting leads to indirect changes in herbivory? Thirty-five trees located in a Cerrado area were monitored during 2008 (year of high fruiting) and 2009 (year of no fruiting) to evaluate the differential investment in vegetative traits (biomass, growth and number of ramifications), plant defense (tannin concentration and plant hypersensitivity) and herbivory (galling attack and folivory). According to our first question, we observed that in the fruiting year, woody biomass negatively affected tannin concentration, indicating that fruit production restricted the resources that could be invested both in growth as in defense. In the same way, we observed an inter-annual variation in herbivorous attack, and found that plants with higher leaf biomass and tannin concentration, experienced higher galling attack and hypersensitive reaction, regardless years. These findings suggested that plants' resistance to herbivory is a good proxy of plant defense and an effective defense strategy for C. langsdorffii, besides the evidence of indirect responses of the third trophic level, as postulated by the second question. In summary, the supra-annual fruiting pattern promoted several changes on plant development, demonstrating the importance of evaluating different plant traits when characterizing the vegetative investment. As expected by theory, the trade-off in resource allocation favored changes in defense compounds production and patterns of herbivory. The understanding of this important element of insect-plant interactions will be fundamental to decipher coevolutionary life histories and interactions between plant species reproduction and herbivory. Besides that, only through long-term studies we will be able to build models and develop more accurate forecasts about the factors that trigger the bottom-up effect on herbivory performance, as well the top-down effect of herbivores on plant trait evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes the potential effects that a redistributive fishing quota policy could have on the profits and employment of the artisanal fisher organizations. We use a multi-objective programming model and apply it to the common sardine and anchovies fisheries in the Biobío Region for year 2011. The results indicate the presence of trade-offs between the equity -profits and equity- employment objectives. Moreover, the results suggest the existence of widespread inefficiencies in the effort allocation within the organizations, independently of the weight given to the different objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigación Económica is the property of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facultad de Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Antropomedia is the property of Antropomedia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)