Recent orders
Draft Recovery Plan For Spectacled Flying-Fox- Pteropus Conspicillatus
Draft Recovery Plan For Spectacled Flying-Fox- Pteropus ConspicillatusBackground
The spectacled flying fox is also known as the spectacled fruit bat. Richards and Hall (2000, p.13) note that the species can be easily identified from other flying foxes due to its distinctive straw-coloured fur that surrounds its eyes. This fur can also be present on the species’ shoulders as well as the head. The head and the body length is 22-25cm while its weight ranges between 400-1000 grams (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database, 2010). According to The Australian Society for Microbiology magazine (2005, p.59), the spectacled flying fox was one of the 36 identified as threatened in the country in 1999. As a result, the species was listed as vulnerable under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in the same year (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database, 2010).
Statistics from Richards and Hall (2000, p2) indicate that the genus Pteropus to which the spectacled flying fox belong form a population of 65 species worldwide. Spectacled flying foxes live in colonies in rainforests, mangroves, paper bark and eucalyptus forests. As such, their global colonies have been identified in Australia (North east Queensland, Northern Cardwell), Indian Ocean, India, Pakistan, Burma, South East Asia, Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and islands of West Pacific Ocean (Richards and Hall 2000, p.2) The Australian Government Biodiversity database (2010) notes that the population of the animal reduced from 820,000 to 80,000 in 2000, a recorded a decrease of 35%. The Australian Society for Microbiology (2005, p.59) lists habitat loss, roost disturbance and a variety of diseases as some of the primary causes of their extinct.
Characteristics of the spectacled flying fox which have accelerated their vulnerability include amongst others biological features such as relative longevity, late sexual maturity, seasonal breading and low fecundity. The spectacled flying fox has been known to host a contagious virus Hendra which has also been a concern for humans and horses (p.59).
The Table below shows the Scientific Classification of the Pteropus conspicillatus (Adopted from Gould, 2000).
Kingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass MammaliaOrder ChiropteraFamily PteropodidaeGenus PteropusSpecies Pteropus conspicillatusThreatening Processes
The following processes whether current or previous have been noted to reduce spectacled flying foxes numbers.
Increased Land Use
Population pressures have led to humans encroaching on the otherwise reserved bat ecological habitats. The Microbiology of Australia (2005, p. 59) argue that the destruction of lowlands and uplands have exposed the roosting bats. As a result of the interaction with human beings, the animals have been forced to break their colonies and seek new homes. The divided and smaller colonies become exposed to predators as a result
Volant Viruses and Diseases
Spectacled flying foxes, like many bats, have developed a long and intimate association with viruses (Microbiology of Australia 2005, p.59). As such, the dangerous Hendra and Menangle viruses have been known to be hosted by this animal. Its population in northern Queensland has also quickly reduced as a result of increased infestation by the scrub ticks. These scrub ticks make the animals to experience cardiovascular abnormalities which eventually cause paralysis and death of the foxes (p.77). The Australian Government biodiversity database (2010) acknowledges that the spread of ticks amongst the colonies has been enhanced by the changes in diets of the animal. When the animal changes her diet to Wild Tobacco, the ticks get a strategic place to the animals and as they feed, the ticks attached themselves beneath their fur and get transported to their camps. This increases the spread of the parasites. Climatic changes have been cited as the causes of the shifting diet to Wild Tobacco thus contributing in the spread and death of the foxes (Microbiology of Australia 2005, p.77).
Competition for food
The Black Flying Fox and the Little Red Flying Fox cause great displacement to the Spectacled Flying Fox when they compete for nectar (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Environmental Changes
Documented evidence reveal that increase in temperatures to a high of 45°C have resulted in the death of Flying Foxes species. In addition to the high temperatures, smokes from burnt habitats cause the animals to suffocate leading to their death (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010). Moreover, wet, windy and cold winter constitute unfavourable conditions for the existence of the animals’ natural food leading to their emancipation and eventually their death (Richard and Hall 2000, p.88).
Cyclones
Cyclones impact on the Spectacled Flying Foxe’s natural food when they cause fruits to fall from affected trees. Some cyclones, for instance, The Larry, cause mass movements and heavy damage to the since they are forced to migrate from their major Mabi Forest habitat (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Human Initiated obstacles
The migration of these bats towards urban areas has led to them encountering man made features for instance, power lines, barbed wires and increased traffic. When flying haphazardly nearby, the birds get electrocuted or trapped causing their death (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010). Lyster and others (2007, p.165) approximate that 20% of the population of adult female spectacled flying foxes were being killed by an aerial electric grid erected to protect an orchard in close proximity to the World Heritage area.
The use of a thin, loose net entangles the flying fox causing them shock and stress. As a result, they break their wing membrane and create deep wounds. These wounds can lead to death if not cured. Likewise, the entangled flying foxes may be older mothers and their continued separation from their young ones can lead to starvation of their young ones (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Physical impairments
Some flying foxes are born with natural defects, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the cleft palate syndrome. As such, most die when their mothers- as a result of experiencing difficulties in feeding such impaired young ones, give up and releases them.
Management Plan
Objectives
The main objective of developing this recovery plan is to protect extinction of Spectacled Flying Fox species and as a result protect the trees that form the rain forest canopy. The Bonnier Corporation magazine (1997, p.82) in highlighting the importance of these bats aver that, “these little pollinators are the biological glue that holds the ecosystem together.”
Other objectives include amongst others;
Provision of fleshy flowers on the vines of some tropical rain forests to increase the population of spectacled flying foxes since they will have abundant food to feed on
Inventing of non-lethal crop protection methods to reduce the bats’ deaths’ (of shock and stress) (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Reversing laws that promote the extinction of the flying foxes for instance, terminating the “shoot to kill” law to protect on their population numbers (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
The conservation agency can initiate projects that facilitate the recovery and preservation of the animals’ natural habitats to maintain their mortality rates. For instance, they can fund the rehabilitation of the encroached Mabi forest to provide the natural habit for the spectacled flying foxes (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Strategies to be implemented
Buying seedlings and planting flesh crops beneath the vines of the tropical trees. This provides abundant food for the spectacled flying foxes. Their increased population will be significant for pollinating trees as well as feeding on the harmful fruit flies (Bonnier Corporation Magazine 1997, p.82)
Adopting the use of white knitted mesh whose maximum mesh size reaches 40 mm to allow the foxes to spot and avoid them. This is useful the netting strategy should only be adopted with the main purpose of protecting crop destruction and not to kill the Spectacled Flying Foxes (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
The conservation agency can requesting for funds from orchard industries and relevant government ministries, for instance, The Ministries of Agriculture and Environmental Conservation to develop practical and cost effective and non-destructive methods for crop protection (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
Carrying out studies to determine the causes of the paralysis scrub tick and coming up with its control measures (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
The conserving agency should negotiate for conservation agreements for the regularly used colonies on private lands (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
The agency should also develop and implement population monitoring programs (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
The conserving agency should also feed and care for the injured adults, raise orphaned young as well as introduce weaning to them (Richards and Hall 2000, p.108-112).
Performance Criteria
The relevant bodies can carry out investigations on the status of occurrence of the tick paralysis within the Spectacled Flying Foxes and the associated relationship with the Wild Tobacco Plant (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010). If the occurrence is high, then the associated relationships must also be high meaning that the control measures in place may not be working accordingly.
The relevant bodies can investigate of the use of genetic fingerprinting to trace the movements of the bats. This can help the conservation agencies to know if their habits have been interfered with and review the control measures.
Using the microsatellite and amplified fragment length polymorphism genetic markers to identify the individual flying foxes killed by tick paralysis (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010). If many bats are identified, the relevant authorities should review the protection measures in place.
Micro-chipping all Spectacled Flying Foxes released back into their habitats. This provides feedback on the release programme carried out for the young and orphaned bats.
The authorities can adopt the use of satellite and radio-tracking collars on the bats with the aim of improving knowledge both on their movements and behaviours. In addition, this helps in understanding better the damage done by the species and the control measures to be effected (Australian Government’s Biodiversity database 2010).
In conclusion it should be noted that recovery plans constitute sensible conservation and management strategies and as such a lot a lot of attention should be emphasized at their creation. Markus (2009, p.31) points out that although tracking the plans recovery success remains a complicated issue due to the difficulties in identifying their real numbers, possible measures should be put in place to ensure the recovery plans are put to test to determine their viability.
References
Australian Government, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2010, Biodiversity: Species profile and threats database, viewed 15th March 2010, <http://www.environment.gov.au/cgibin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=185>
Bonnier Corporation, 1997, Popular Science, Vol. 251, No. 5, Stockholm
Lyster, R et al. 2007, Environmental and Planning Law in New South Wales, Federation Press, Sydney.
Markus, N 2009, On our watch: the race to save Australia’s environment, Melbourne University, Melbourne.
Richards, G & Hall, LS 2000, Flying foxes: fruit and blossom bats of Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney.
The Australian Society for Microbiology, 2005, Microbiology Australia
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY
Name:
Course:
Tutor:
Date
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY
MANAGING THE BUSINESSES ASSETS
Asset management refers to systems which manage, monitor or maintain things of value to any business group. It can apply to tangible assets like buildings and to the intangible ones such as goodwill and the intellectual property rights (Longenecker, Justin G (2012, pp456). It therefore refers to an intellectual process of maintaining, operating and upgrading asests and disposing them cost effectively.
There is a number of asset management practices which the business needs to take much into consideration;
Infrastructure asset management
This is a combination of financial, engineering and other practices with the aim of providing the required level of services at the most cost effective manner. The process involves design, construction, operating, repairing, modifying, replacing and disposing of physical equipment.
Financial asset management
This section should the one designed to deal with collecting of investment schemes and segregating of client accounts
Enterprise asset management
Is a business process with good enabling environment which supports management of assets in a business. In any business assets like the physical ones, fixed assets, IT assets, and the digital assets are supposed to be taken care off.
Corporate asset management
This type of asset management incorporates enterprise asset management and extends to municipal jurisdiction thus meeting the customer’s expectations. In this type we also find the use of GIS-Centric asset management which allows users to use the capability to coordinate, share information in an efficient manner through making of GIS geo data base an asset registry. It allows users to use, share and coordinate in usage of information in an efficient and a cost effective manner (Clayton & Patricia 2008, pp.70).
MANAGING OF LIABILITIES IN A BUSINESS
A business can incur a lot of losses if it does not have clear and effective ways of managing of liabilities. Companies with limited liability enjoys than those ones who operate in unlimited liability scenario. The following will be the benefits which shall accrue to these businesses if they operate in limited liability;
Separate legal entity
Limited companies will enjoy benefit of legal existence which is separable from management and its shareholders
They have limited liability for their members
This means that in case of dissolution which might result from insolvency, for example, the shareholders can only lose up to the value of their shares and not the personal property
Protection of the patent rights
This implies that for a limited company, cannot share the names with anyone else. This is the trademark registration for sole traders and partnerships.
continuity
Once the company has been formed, it has an everlasting life, the directors and management and the employees will act as the agents of this company.
Better pension schemes to its employees than those paid people employed in a contract or on in a sole trading business.
New shareholders can join and can freely negotiate on suitable engagement terms and conditions with their clients. It also ensures that there is equality among the members in terms of profit and loss sharing.
REVENUE MANAGEMENT
Revenue management refers to analytical ways that a company and use to predict consumer behavior and the price to maximize revenue growth. It is required that businesses to sell required or the right products to right customers at their right time for the right price.
There are revenue management levels which the business can apply so that to maximize revenue;
Pricing
It involves defining the best pricing policy or strategy. In this case the value set by customers is captured so that the best and specific price is set to capture that value. For example the company might decide to price against its competitors, in this case it should follow closely the market demand conditions at the market segment level.
Inventory
Here management should be concerned on how best to price or allocate capacity. For instance a company may decide to discount products so as to increase sales volume, it can also lower prices of products in order to overcome weak market demand and gain market share.
Marketing
Effective promotion techniques will help maximize revenue in situations where there is uncertainty in market distribution and the willingness to pay. Promotions will help attract more customers who will then commit themselves into signing contracts. The company needs to strategize on good promotion roll off policies so as to capture a large market share to trade in.
channels
Choice of good distribution channels will help the company make more profits than when the channels are complicated (Jaffe, Eugene et al, 2006 pp.276).
For effective operations, it is advisable for companies to reduce brokers on the way so that upon production, the goods are supplied directly to the market so that to make more revenues,
revenue management involves the following process; data collection from the field and in this case they are the customers, market segmentation which is the key market based pricing and revenue maximization strategy, forecasting on various elements of market like demand, inventory levels, ,market share, and the total market, optimizing which defines how customers are likely to respond when products are sold to them, Dynamic re-evaluation requires that a business should evaluate its prices, products and processes so as to maximize revenue.
INCOME MANAGEMENT
Income management refers to the methods applied for the business to maintain and keep good records so that to ensure continuity. Improper income management will imply that business will encounter losses hence resulting to insolvency thus termination. It is recommended that good management with good managerial skills be the one running the business, otherwise it will collapse.
In any company there are four main financial statements which are likely to be affected during the day to day operations of the business, they include: the balance sheet; it gives the financial position of a business as at given date, the cash flow statements; it gives revenues minus expenses, statement of owner’s equity also called the statement of retained earnings, and the statement of such flows; shows funds and whether they are enough to carry out routine operations.
References
Longenecker, Justin G. Small Business Management: Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Clayton, Patricia. Forming a Limited Company: A Practical Guide to Legal Requirements and Procedures. London: Kogan Page, 2008. Internet resource.
Jaffe, Eugene D, and Stephen Hilbert. Barron’s Gmat: Graduate Management Admission Test. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron’s, 2006. Print.
Family as a whole entity
Name:
Professors name:
Course:
Topic:
Date of submission:
Family as a whole entity.
Over the past few years, social values and behavior that affects the family structure have changed in a great deal. The families have to adapt to this changes by becoming flexible and dynamic. Communication among the family members aids to this adaptation in addition to visiting the necessary assistance outside the family boundaries.
As a form of psychotherapy, family therapy is used to tackle family problems in relationship and communication in the nuclear and the extended family. Just like the different organs of the body work together for a common purpose, the family is as well treated as a whole. The specific individuals in the family have specific roles to play for the family to work as a system. A reader would expect to understand how individual members of a family function together as one despite being separate entities. The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate a family as a living organism that is more than the sum of its parts. Each individual in the family has a role to play for common objective achievement within the family as a whole (Leslie 56).
Family as a system, possess several unique characteristics that includes; wholeness, interdependence and openness. The system is a complex organization that follows a set of rules while responding to each other in different ways through communication. Even though one can interact with a particular family, they cannot get to know them until they observe the behavior of the members (Jerry, 31).
Family therapy is based on the system theory, which likens the family to an organism that dynamically works together through organized interaction of the body parts. The human body is a good example of the interaction. Once a virus or bacteria invades the body, a marshal from various parts of the body unites to eliminate the invader and restore the normal body functioning (Leslie 56). Family is also compared to an automobile that has wheels, engine and the rest of the parts. Every parts of there are significant for mobility of the whole from place to place. There is not part of the automobile that is less important and none of the part is more important by itself when a part of break down, the automobile remains stagnant until the part is repaired.
The family psychologist started the therapy after the Second World War after observing how patients with schizophrenia were treated in their homes. They noticed that there was disturbed communication between the parents and the children who had the mental disorder. Although the family problems are not directly linked to the development of schizophrenia, family problems in relationship and communication may exacerbate the symptoms of the condition. The level of tension between the parents and their children may affect the severity of the symptoms. The family is therefore considered as a system that has its own rules and is probable to resist change. Instead of paying attention to the schizophrenic patient only, the psychotherapists consider to treat the whole family as the “patient”. The member with schizophrenia improved.
Communication has been considered as a system that is composed of different parts that are interrelated to function as a whole. An important characteristic of communication system is the interdependence between the different parts. The communication of an individual cannot be fully understood in isolation of his non-verbal activity and the communication behavior of the listeners. Interdependence means that a change in any part of the system will lead to change of the individual parts. For example, the grade curves represent the general performance of the students in a particular class. If a change occur as a result of error rectification of a student’s marks, the rest of the students grades automatically changes. This change will depend on the nature of the error rectification.
To demonstrate that the whole is not equal to its parts, the researchers compare the family to the constituent atoms that forms water. Addition of hydrogen atom to a water molecule leads to one molecule of water rather than three atoms of hydrogen. This is similar to a family communication system which is higher than the individual family member communication. Interaction among the family members causes synergy of the family communication system (Babbie 57).
The family communication system is not static, but rather remains in dynamic state. It remains in a state of balance that changes from time to time. The individual members of the family play a role for maintenance of this state of equilibrium. Take an example of a family that is not agreeing on the place spend their holiday. All of them are involved in frantic race of thought to proof how good or bad the venue is. At the end the family members cool down and reflect on the argument to come up with the right conclusion. It forms basis of reference for future argument. Each individual will have learnt the points to argue and which to leave, thus taking the communication system back to its equilibrium state.
Healthy families are considered as strong families that do not have the family stressors. Assessment of the health of the family involves assessment of the individual members as well as the family as whole (Bassavanthappa, 146). A healthy family tends to communicate to each other, and listen to each other. The members support each other and affirm the sense of trust among them. Furthermore, the member shares leisure together, shares the sense of responsibility, shares traditional, cultural and religious rituals and cores. They open the boundaries to seek for help and intervention from outside the family in case of problems that are not solvable within the internal boundaries (Bassavanthappa, 147).
In his study on family nursing, Bassavanthappa (148) emphasizes the view of the family as more than just the content of the specific individuals. This is central in family nursing where the nurse considers the family as the client. More focus is directed towards each individual as they affect the whole family. The nurse can questions like: ‘tell me how the members of your family are responding to your illness”
Interactions among the members of the family form the identity of each family member to the outside world. Many people use this as excuses to leave work place early or even quit in order to have “family time”. Through the interaction, the family members come up with family stories which form part of socialization. The stories also create a sense of belonging to a particular family. As the first place where socialization starts, the children come to know their relationship with each other. They know that this is the father, mother, sister and a brother hence it has monumental role of shaping people self concept (Chris 44).
Perhaps, we should know what makes the whole to be greater than the sum of it all. The relationship between the individual parts makes them a whole. The interdependency among them occurs because they exchange the communication behaviors. Families as part of human system are an open system. This means that the exchange of the information is not only among the family members, but also with the outside world. The system cannot remain closed for it needs interaction with other systems. Just as what happens in the ecosystem, where there is exchange of energy with the environment around it (Bryan B, 97).
Atmosphere created in the family is another aspect that determines effective communication among the members. It is important to embed dynamics into this social climate for successful communication. They include; cohesiveness, authority and democratic climate, friendly communication and control of emotions when addressing vital points. However some family member may address the issues in a grudging and authoritative manner insisting that the individual with the problem must change. This is out of anxiety and fear of the member with the problem (Willian, 186).
Conformity orientation refers to the degree in which the family members communicate to each other. It refers to the depth, breath and amount of conversation among the members of the family, which varies in different families. While some families encourage self exploration in seeking for information, others hold on family unity and control. Members with high conversation orientation can freely express their feelings, thoughts and talk about their various activities. The advantage of this form of communication ion the family is that all members of the family participate in the decision making. It also prepares the children for socialization and interaction outside the family boundaries. When the children are encouraged to talk openly, the parents have a rewarding family life (Ascan, 86).In families with low conversational orientation, the members are restricted to discussion of certain topics. Some topics are considered private or belong to older members of the family.
In families with high conformity orientation, encourages a climate of uniformity. The older members of the family offer guidelines to follow by the rest of the members. Children become obedient and family conflicts are avoided so as to encourage family harmony. The families with low conformity orientation allow diversity of beliefs, values, attitude and behaviors. It allows the member to have outside relationship that increases confidence and independence. In addition, it allows the members of the family to have private time alone or with friends outside the family (Ascan, 89).
As I reflect on my family in regard to the social theories, it is impossible for the family to remain as a closed system. It is the reason why we rely on external and extended support in case of conflicts among the siblings or between the siblings and the parents. Some changes of parts of the family members causes change in the equilibrium of the balance in the family. It is responsibility of every member to play their role in restoring the equilibrium by learning from the previous experiences. Seeking family therapy for the whole family in case where a family member is affected is beneficial for continued cohesion. It will form the basis of defining a strong and health family. Creation of time with our family for enough interaction will increase the exchange of ideas among the family members whish form s the first socialization forum in the society.
Work cited
Leslie, B and Babbie, E. The basic communication research. Belmont: CA 2004. Print.
Bassavanthappa. Midwifery and reproductive nursing. New Yolk, NY: 2006 Print.
Chris, S and Jeanne, F. Family communication. Routledge, 2014. Print.
Bryan, B. Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and examples. Routledge, 2006.Print.
.Ascan F. “Toward a Theory of Family Communication,” Communication Theory. New yolk, NY.2002 print.