One of the most typical agro-ecosystems in the Llanos de Ojuelos, a semi-arid region of central Mexico, is that of fruit-production orchards of nopales (prickly pear cacti). This perennial habitat with complex vertical structure provides refuge and food for at least 112 species of birds throughout the year. Nopal orchards vary in their internal structure, size and shrub/tree composition, yet th...

Slash-and-burn agriculture is a sequence of interactions between farmers and ecosystems, which includes forest, cropping, fallow, and cropping after fallow. In sampling across this sequence in Pucallpa, Peru, 235 plant species were recorded in the forest, of which 143 were not found in any successive land use. However, plants not occurring in the forest colonized fields and fallow. In total, 59...

This paper describes the course and variation in the brain base arteries in fallow deer. The metrical features of the brain base arteries were determined with an image analysis system. The main sources of blood supply to the brain in fallow deer are internal carotid arteries; vertebral arteries rarely participate in blood supply. The brain base arteries in fallow deer show variation both in the...

Thrips were sampled from six nectarine orchards in the Dry Central Interior, British Columbia, Canada, between April and June 1993 using yellow sticky cards on posts spaced around the perimeter of each orchard. Although 12 identified species of thrips were captured, >90% of individuals were the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). The flight patterns and abundances of w...

Taylor's Power Law was fit to Tylenchulus semipenetrans population data obtained from individual trees in a survey of 50 Florida citrus orchards (geographic survey) and to data from individual trees within a single orchard collected at regular intervals for 2 years (temporal survey). No significant differences were detected between slope or intercept values when log variance was regressed again...

To estimate relative risk for exposure to ticks infected with Lyme disease-causing spirochetes in different land-use types along a trail in Germany, we compared tick density and spirochete prevalence on ruminant pasture with that on meadow and fallow land. Risk was significantly lower on pasture than on meadow and fallow land.

At any point in time, a cleared parcel of forest land (CPFL) used for swidden agriculture exists in either the fallow or in the non-fallow state. Further, the practice of swidden agriculture requires one to operate in an environment of uncertainty. These two points notwithstanding, there are virtually no probabilistic models of swidden agriculture that explicitly account for the above dichotomy...