Strategies to Improve Biodiversity Crisis

Strategies to Improve Biodiversity Crisis Shannon Stubbs Biodiversity Crisis Ireland, though famous for its greenery and beautiful scenery, has a culture of natural resource exploitation. Activities such as deforestation, agriculture and removal of peatlands/ bogs have harmed the countrys natural resources. Ireland has an extensive history of deforestation, spanning hundreds of years. Around 1390, significant deforestation due to land clearing for agriculture took place and continued until there was just 12 percent forest cover by 1600 (OHanlon, 2012). By the end of the 1800s, forest cover increased due to grants and the decline in population due to the famine (OHanlon, 2012). In 2012, there was only 10 percent forest cover in Ireland and over half of that is the non-native Sitka spruce (OHanlon, 2012). The demand for higher levels of productivity and an advance in farming methodologies/tools have led to an agricultural intensification in recent decades (Hutton Giller, 2003). Around 70% of Irelands total land area is used for agriculture (Hutton Giller, 2003). Clearing of land for agriculture has led to mass habitat loss and a subsequent extinction of species such as Crex crex (the corncrake), who lost their grassland habitats(Hutton Giller, 2003). Furthermore, studies such as Rushton et al. (1989) have illustrated that beetle and spider species decline in number and diversity when upland areas are agriculturally improved (Hutton Giller, 2003). Recently, the issue of invasive species has come to the forefront. Invasive species are a priority issue under the Convention on Biological Diversity and follow closely behind habitat destruction as one of the leading threats to global biodiversity (Caffrey et al., 2014; Caffrey et al., 2011). Invasive species can cost the Irish economy up to  £261,517,445 (Kelly et al., 2013). An example of a problematic invasive species is the Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea, which was first found in the River Barrow in 2010 (Caffrey et al., 2014). It quickly colonised SACs containing protected species such as sea lampreys and Atlantic salmon (Caffrey et al., 2014).      Ã‚   Since 2002, Ireland has produced two National Biodiversity Plan, with the most recent being published in 2011. The plan lays out 102 actions under 7 objectives that are largely based on Convention of Biological Diversity. These 7 objectives include incorporating conservation issues into political decisions, better management of protected habitats and their species and promotion of appreciation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (DAHG, 2011). However, this plan has a lacks a legislative basis, with much of Irelands conservation action coming because of the EU Habitats Directive. In January 2015, an interim review by the National Biodiversity Working Group (2015) of the plan found that only 24 of the 102 actions are currently implemented (Figure 2). A further 67 are in the process of being implemented and the remainder have not yet been adequately dealt with (Figure 2). Figure 2. Qualitative assessment of progress on implementation of the Actions of The Biodiversity Plan 2011-2016 (NBWG, 2015). Biodiversity provides us with essential ecosystem services such as provisions (e.g. fresh water, wood), environmental regulation (e.g. pollination, pest control, climate regulation), supporting services (e.g. soil formation) and cultural services (e.g. recreation, tourism) (Bullock et al., 2008). These services encompass every part of our lives and are critical to maintaining our standards of living and our basic well-being. Despite this, the public perception of conservation is often negative; it is perceived as a hindrance to the development of property, infrastructure, industry and economic progress (OConnor, 2016). Citizen science is a wonderful way to get the Irish public interested in conservation (Donnelly et al., 2013). A total of 20 citizen science projects run in Ireland (Donnelly et al., 2013); most of which are led by BirdWatch Ireland (Donnelly et al., 2013). Education of the next generation is key to conserving Irelands biodiversity. The role of conservation in the Primary School Curriculum needs to be further emphasized. School children tend to express more concern towards exotic, flagship species over the biodiversity that lies just outside their door (Ballouard et al., 2011) and Ireland appears to be no exception. It is our younger generations that will dictate the future of our biodiversity and therefore it is essential that we promote a deep appreciation of nature from an early age. Word count (excl. in-text citations, figure legends, references): 594 References Ballouard, J.M., Brischoux, F., Bonnet, X. (2011) Children Prioritize Virtual Exotic Biodiversity over Local Biodiversity. PLOS ONE 6(8). Bullock, C., Kretch, C. Candon, E. (2008) The Economic and Social Aspects of Biodiversity: Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland. In: Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government (ed.). Dublin: Government of Ireland. Caffrey, J.M., Evers, S., Millane, M., Moran, H. (2011) Current status of Irelands newest invasive species the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (Mueller, 1774). Aquatic Invasions 6(3): 291-299 Caffrey, J.M., Baars, J.R., Barbour, J.H., Boets, P., Boon, P., Davenport, K., Dick, J.T.A, Early, J. et al. (2014) Tackling invasive alien species in Europe: the top 20 issues. Management of Biological Invasions 5(1). DAHG (2011) Actions for Biodiversity 2011-2016. Irelands National Biodiversity Plan. Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland. Donnelly, A., Crowe, O., Regan, E., Begley, S., Caffarra, A. (2013) The role of citizen science in monitoring biodiversity in Ireland. Int J Biometeorol 58(6). Hutton, S. A. Giller, P. S. (2003) The effects of the intensification of agriculture on northern temperate dung beetle communities. Journal of Applied Ecology 40(6). Kelly, J., Tosh, D., Dale, K., Jackson, A. (2013) The economic cost of invasive and non-native species in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Report prepared for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service as part of Invasive Species Ireland, pp. 86. NBWG (2015) Interim Review of the Implementation of the Actions for Biodiversity 2011-2016. Draft for Consultation. OConnor, à . (2016) Incorporating nature conservation objectives and measures into the Water Framework Directive. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 116B(3). OHanlon, R. (2012) Forestry in Ireland: the reforestation of a deforested country. Forestry Source 17 6(7). Rushton, S.P., Luff, M.L. Eyre, M.D. (1989) Effects of pasture improvement and management on the ground beetle and spider communities of upland grasslands. Journal of Applied Ecology 26(2).

Employment Skills :: Job Work Academics Success Essays

Employment Skills Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In my essay I will talk about the skills required to get a good job nowadays. There will be three main points I will be discussing such as academic, personal management, and teamwork skills. I will give you examples of these skills, and reasons why this skill is important for you to get a job. Academic Skills   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Academic skills are probably the most important skill you will need to get a job. It is one of the or the first thing an employer looks for in an employee. They are skills which give you the basic foundation to acquire, hold on to, and advance in a job, and to achieve the best results. Academic skills can be further divided into three sub-groups; communication, thinking, and learning skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Communicate. Communication skills require you to understand and speak the languages in which business is conducted. You must be a good listener, and be able to understand things easily. One of the most important communicating skills would be reading, you should be able to comprehend and use written materials including things such as graphs, charts, and displays. One of the newest things we can add to communicating skills would be the Internet, since it is so widely used all around the world - you should have a good understanding of what it is and how to use it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Think. Thinking critically and acting logically to evaluate situations will get you far in your job. Thinking skills consists of things such as solving mathematical problems, using new technology, instruments, tools, and information systems effectively. Some examples of these would be technology, physical science, the arts, skilled trades, social science, and much more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Learn. Learning is very important for any job. For example, if your company, gets some new software, you must be able to learn how to use it, quickly and effectively after a few tutorials. You must continue doing this for the rest of your career. It is one thing that will always be useful in any situation, not just jobs. Personal Management Skills   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Personal management skills is the combination of attitudes, skills, and behaviors required to get, keep, and progress on a job and to achieve the best results. Personal management skills can be further divided into three sub- groups just as academic skills, which are positive attitudes and behaviors, responsibility, and adaptability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Positive Attitudes And Behaviors. This is also very important to keep a job. You must have good self-esteem and confidence in yourself. You must be honest, have integrity, and personal ethnics. You must show your employer you are happy at what you are doing and have positive attitudes toward learning,

Retail Services Characteristics

In this paper the most common services characteristics, namely perishability, intangibility, inseparability and heterogeneity will be applied to a well – known retail services brand. In this case the focus shall be on how the aforementioned characteristics apply to Starbucks. In order to better understand the problem the history of the company alongside current corporate objectives will be briefly described. In the following paragraphs the notice will be mainly on the retailer’s ability to cope with the theory’s implications. The first Starbucks coffee shop was opened in 1971 in Seattle.The name was inspired by Moby Dick and the logo which has now become somehow of a cult figure is a twin-tailed mermaid. However it wasn’t until 1987 when a major breakthrough came and the brand started to receive a world – wide recognition. In August, Howard Schultz backed with the capital from local investors bought the Starbucks. Since then the company grew in an e xponential manner which resulted in opening more than 16,000 stores in over 55 countries to this day. Similar as the majority of large enterprises Starbucks also incorporates its own business and social objectives.The goal is to project the brand image in a consumer and environmental friendly way. Their mission statement is to inspire and nurture the human spirit through their exceptional service and high quality coffee. In a very holistic approach they are aiming to improve every aspect of the business, from the customers and employees to the suppliers and shareholders. Moving on from this brief description of Starbucks the focus will now shift to the retail services characteristics, more precisely on intangibility and its implications. Experts agree that a service is intangible because the customer cannot sense it (Newman and Cullen, 2002).It is an abstraction which cannot be directly examined before the purchase. In the case of most goods a prospective buyer is able to inspect th e quality of the good by relying on his senses, whereas a pure service has to be purchased and consumed to fully verify its quality. The level of services’ tangibility can be seen from tangible goods, which are included and consumed within the service offer, it can also be extracted from the physical environment which surrounds the service or with the tangible evidence of the service performance (Palmer, 2005).In the case of various food and drink outlets, goods form an important component of a service offer. This also applies to Starbucks and therefore it is possible to place it somewhere in the middle of the tangible to intangible service dominant scale (Shostack, 1977). Starbucks uses scent of fresh coffee to attract customers and make them sense a tangible good which can be purchased at the premises. The physical environment also plays a big part in customer’s perception of service quality.Starbucks acknowledged this and therefore their outlets are usually very wel l furnished with comfortable chairs, Wi-Fi and other features which give a customer a sense of quality and comfort. Tangibility can be further provided with the evidence of service production methods. This is certainly the case in Starbucks where you can see the whole process of making a cup of coffee. A lack of physical evidences of services quality can increase the level of uncertainty that a customer faces when choosing between competing services.However, Starbucks developed a strong brand associated with quality of services provided and the company values therefore creating a positive image in consumers’ perception. From describing how intangibility applies to Starbucks we shall now turn the attention to another service characteristic, namely heterogeneity. Services heterogeneity means that the quality of services depends on who provides them as well as when, where and how they are provided. Products can be standardized and basically the same for every customer.However, s ervices on the other hand can be delivered in different ways, regarding on customer’s personal requirements. The service must normally be produced in the presence of the customer without the possibility of intervening quality control. Specific problems can occur where staff is involved in providing services on a one-to-one basis. In these cases no easy method of monitoring or control is possible. There are two particular aspects of heterogeneity which are relevant to the services. The first one is the extent to which production standards vary from a norm, both in terms of outcomes and of production processes.The second one is the extent to which a service can deliberately be varied to meet the specific needs of particular customers (Palmer, 2005). In order to tackle the aforementioned aspects of heterogeneity and also to satisfy customer needs retailers usually standardize the service as much as possible without noticeably affecting the perceived customer value. Many service organizations have reduced variability by adopting equipment-based production methods or by offering already prepared menus or meals. However Starbucks took a slightly different approach here then some fast-food outlets.They are offering more than 87,000 different drink combinations. With that in mind they cannot simply standardize the whole process of coffee making. Customers want to see consistency and quality in their stores so for that purpose they offer their front-line staff a basic training and they are also using some motivation tools to enhance staff performance. So for instance they refer to their employees as partners and their pay package is called â€Å"Your special blend†. The heterogeneity of service output can sometimes pose problems for brand-building in services compared to tangible goods.However Starbucks cope with these problems quite well through their excellent staff to management relation which results, again in a strong brand personality. From heteroge neity we shall now shift our attention to another characteristic, which is perishability. Perishability applies to services because unlike goods services cannot be stored for later use. So for an example a factory which produces cars and is unable to sell all its output in the current period can carry forward stocks to sell in a subsequent period.The only significant costs are storage and financing or the possibility of loss through obsolescence. However on the contrary, a producer of a service which is unable to sell all of its output produced in the current period gets no chance to carry it forward for sale in a subsequent period. A great example of perishability is an airline company. For instance if the plane departs at twelve o’clock and the airline company didn’t sell all the available seats, then it is impossible to sell the rest since the plane is already in the air. Another problem which defines perishability is the demand pattern through time.Demand fluctuate s because of many reasons however most common reasons for inconsistency of demand occur during the day, week and season. A typical example of seasonal fluctuation of demand is tourism. During the summer the demand for holidays is often off-peak and hotels by the sea are required to bring in extra work-force. On the other hand the demand in winter is significantly lower and some hotels are therefore unused. Inability to store services and short-term supply inelasticity are leading causes for perishability of services.As mentioned before problems occur when demand pattern is irregular. It can also happen where there is requirement for â€Å"just-in-time† production of service or if demand is not managed effectively (Palmer, 2005). Services providers are trying to even the demand with the use of pricing and promotion or with locating places where demand is more or less even during the day, such as it is in city centres or busy airports. Problems with storing the services have no w also been reduced with recent advancement of technology (Newman and Cullen, 2002).For instance Starbucks uses RFID technology to track perishable food delivered to its cafes thus ensuring freshness of products. Starbucks is usually located there where demand is relatively constant, such as shopping centres and airports and they are also using a lot of promotions ensuring a steady demand through the day. Even their menu is adapted to different seasons of the year. It does not consist only of hot drinks but they also offer other trendy beverages such as smoothies and a variety of bottled drinks which are suitable for hot summer days.Now we shall take a look at the last of four services characteristics. Inseparability of services should be the main topic through the following paragraphs. Inseparability means that the service is produced and consumed at the same time. Both, buyer and seller must be present for the exchange to occur (Newman and Cullen, 2002). The service provider is at the same time also a marketer and promotes both the service and the company. Interaction is of extreme importance in services and therefore the key to success is competent personnel.Inseparability of services leads to customers being co-producers and often being co-consumers of the service with other consumers. They are also usually required to travel to the service provider. This results in management to attempt to separate production and consumption. They are also trying to manage the consumer to producer interaction and improve the service delivery system. Starbucks is a typical example of services inseparability. They are offering a wide range of beverages and customers can choose their own mix.That means that customers are contributing in the production process of a cup of coffee. As mentioned before Starbucks normally furnish their stores in a very comfortable way which means that a lot of customers are consuming the product there, which results in being a co-consumer. Starbu cks stores are often located in city centres and this means that customers have to travel there to receive the service. Maybe in the future Starbuck will offer delivering their products to customers home, but this could possibly take away the charm of visiting a Starbucks coffee shop.However, they are already improving their service system with the opening of drive thru stores. In conclusion it is possible to say that all four services characteristics can be applied to Starbucks. However, some are more visible than others. Starbucks developed an extremely strong brand image and a loyal global population of consumers. This has established them as one of the biggest brands in the world. Through excellent quality of their products, care for the environment and bringing back the sense of community they have already become a household name.They are coping very well with all the services characteristic implications and are always striving for perfection. They are a prime example of the so called â€Å"cultural capitalism† and are setting an example for many companies. References: Adrian Palmer, 2005. Principles of services marketing, 4th edition. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education Andrew J Newman and Peter Cullen, 2002. Retailing: environment & operations. London: Cengage Learning Starbucks, 2011. Our heritage [online] Available at: http://www. starbucks. com/about-us/our-heritage [Accessed 16 April 2012 ]. RSA animate, 2010.Slavoj Zizek, First as tragedy, then as farce Available at: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=hpAMbpQ8J7g [Accessed 16 April 2012 ]. Starbucks, 2011. Our mission statement [online] Available at: http://www. starbucks. com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement [Accessed 16 April 2012 ]. Des Monk, Daniella Ryding, (2007),†Service quality and training: a pilot study†, British Food Journal, Vol. 109 Iss: 8 pp. 627-636 G. Lynn Shostack, 1977. Breaking Free from Product Marketing, Journal of Marketing, [online] Available at: < http://www. jstor. org/discover/10. 307/1250637? uid=24747&uid=3738032&uid=2134&uid=373370127&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=373370117&uid=24745&uid=5910784&uid=67&uid=62&uid=60&sid=47698847505567 > [Accessed 16 April 2012 ]. Lena Goldkuhl, Maria Styven, (2007),†Sensing the scent of service success†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41 Iss: 11 pp. 1297-1305 Marketingmagazine. co. uk, 2011. Starbucks to open 200 drive-thru stores [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 April 2012 ].Pedro M. Reyes, Patrick Jaska, (2007),†Is RFID right for your organization or application? â€Å", Management Research News, Vol. 30 Iss: 8 pp. 570-580 Starbucks, 2011. Store design [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 April 2012 ]. Starbucks, 2011. Working at Starbucks [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 April 2012 ]. Superbrands. co. uk, 2012. Starbucks [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 17 April 2012 ].

How To Calculate Percent

Calculating percent is a fundamental math skill, whether youre taking a class or just living life! Percentages are used to make car and house payments, calculate tips and pay taxes on goods. Percent calculations are fundamental to many classes, especially science courses. Heres a step-by-step tutorial on how to calculate percent. What Is Percent? Percentage or percent means per one hundred and expresses the fraction of a number out of 100% or the total amount. A percent sign (%) or the abbreviation pct is used to denote percentage. How To Calculate Percent Determine the total or whole amount. Divide the number to be expressed as a percent by the total.In most cases, youll divide the smaller number by the larger number.Multiple the resulting value by 100. Example Percent Calculation Say you have 30 marbles. If 12 of them are blue, what percent of the marbles are blue? What percent are not blue? Use the total number of marbles. This is 30.Divide the number of blue marbles into the total: 12/30 0.4Multiple this value by 100 to get the percent: 0.4 x 100 40% are blueYou have two ways to determine what percent are not blue. The easiest is to take the total percent minus the percent that are blue: 100% - 40% 60% not blue. You could calculate it, just like you did the initial blue marble problem. You know the total number of marbles. The number that is not blue is the total minus the blue marbles: 30 - 12 18 non-blue marbles.The percent that is not blue is 18/30 x 100 60%As a check, you can make sure the total of blue and non-blue marbles adds up to 100%: 40% 60% 100% Learn More How To Calculate Mass PercentHow To Calculate Percent Composition by MassPercent Error CalculationVolume Percent Concentration