Drivers of biodiversity patterns in parks of a growing South American megacity

How urban habitats contribute to biodiversity conservation is a key challenge in a rapidly urbanising world. Urban parks can provide important habitats for native species, but previous studies are geographically biased; fast growing megacities, in particular in South America, are clearly understudied. To assess habitat functions and underlying drivers in parks of Santiago de Chile, we analysed the assemblages of wild growing plant species in two ubiquitous park habitat types (grasslands, wooded areas) in 15 parks (150 plots) along an urban-rural gradient. We first used linear contrasts to compare species richness, beta diversity and the proportion of introduced species. We then tested for the explanatory value of environmental variables operating at different spatial scales (plot, park, urban matrix). Unlike in most previous studies, biodiversity patterns were not related to the position of the parks on the urban-rural gradient. Introduced species, mostly from Europe, generally dominated both habitat types (>90 %). Socio-economic (population growth or density), but not spatial, variables were retained in most models. Maintenance intensity was most influential in predicting species assemblages, complemented by park age in wooded areas. A high proportion of European grassland species indicates a trend of homogenisation in park grassland at a cross-continental scale. We conclude that habitat functions of urban parks for native species that have been mainly demonstrated for Europe cannot be generalised to South American megacities. This highlights the need for innovative and locally appropriate conservation approaches (e.g., re-introduction of native species) to foster biodiversity functions in urban parks of South American megacities.     

Digitales Recruiting

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. provides an overview of past, present and future of recruitment and assessment. It illustrates how in the process of digitization the methods of recruitment and assessment change through the use of Artificial Intelligence, which opportunities and risks are associated with these developments, and what needs to be considered when introducing the new technologies.     

Gewalt in ihren Deutungen

The article addresses relations between violence and culture. One central characteristic of violence is its culturality. Violent interactions, as well as fantasies of violence, depend on cultural patterns of meaning. A certain act of violence can be interpreted differently from one culture to the other. At the same time, cultures generate specific forms of violence. Violence is imagined, enacted and interpreted in cultural opportunity spaces. These do not necessarily limit violence to the forms already known, but they do shape their developments. The culturality of violence is countered by the possibility of its purposive culturalization. Violent action is open to interpretation, this is, multiple and disparate meanings can be given to a certain act. Also, violence is tightly connected with power. These two characteristics predestine violence as an object of conflicts about definitions. Certain meanings of violence can be propagated and thus used politically, which may also influence further violent actions. Confronting these two relations between violence and culture, the problem is addressed as to how sociological research on violence can, on the one hand, take into account the culturality of violence without, on the other hand, adopting purposeful culturalizations of violent phenomena by political forces, instead of probing into them analytically.     

A Recast Framework for Welfare Deservingness Perceptions

Social Indicators Research - Many important societal debates revolve around questions of deservingness, especially when it comes to debates related to inequality and social protection. It is...     

The moderating role of personality characteristics on the relationship between job insecurity and strain

The experience of job insecurity has been linked to several different outcomes, such as negative attitudes towards work and the organization, turnover intention, as well as health complaints. However, since the strength of these effects have been found to vary across studies, it is vital to identify factors that could influence the relationships. The present study examines the moderating role of three personality characteristics (negative affectivity, positive affectivity, and external locus of control) on the relation between job insecurity and outcomes (mental health complaints, job dissatisfaction, and job-induced tension). Data from 400 nurses at a Swedish acute care hospital (response rate 71%; 91% women, aged 20-68 years) showed that both job insecurity and personality were related to strain. Also, the data indicated some buffering effect of personality. Despite the gender bias of the sample, the study provides additional support for the notion that job insecurity affects strain even after controlling for individual characteristics. The study also expands the literature on job insecurity by pointing out the influence of personality characteristics on the relationship between stressors and strain.     

Editorial: Soziologie der Emotionen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Comparison of Maximum Likelihood with Conditional Pairwise Likelihood Estimation of Person Parameters in the Rasch Model

This paper is concerned with person parameter estimation in the binary Rasch model. The loss of efficiency of a pseudo, quasi, or composite likelihood approach investigated. By means of a Monte Carlo study, two quasi likelihood estimators are compared to two well-established maximum likelihood approaches, one of which being a weighted likelihood procedure. The results show that the observed values of the root mean squared error are practically equivalent for the compared estimators in the case of a sufficiently large number of items.