Vegetation disturbance and human population in Colombia – a regional reconstruction

Antiquity ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (302) ◽  
pp. 828-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Marchant ◽  
Hermann Behling ◽  
Juan Carlos Berrio ◽  
Henry Hooghiemstra ◽  
Bas van Geel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Vegetation Disturbance ◽  
The People ◽  
Regional Reconstruction ◽  
Last Ice Age

Palaeoecologists using pollen to map vegetation since the last ice age have noted numerous changes – which they feel increasingly obliged to blame on humans. These changes, such as deforestation or the dominance of certain plants, may happen suddenly or take place over thousands of years. The authors study the pollen record in Colombia, identify plants diagnostic of cultivation or disturbed ground (“degraded vegetation”) and use them to map human activities by proxy. They show how the people move and the landscape changes between 5000 BP and the present day, from the coast inland, and from the lowlands up into the Andes.

scholarly journals In Anticipation of Extirpation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Past ◽  
Coastal Cities ◽  
The People ◽  
Northwest Europe ◽  
Last Ice Age

Abstract As concern about sea level rise grows and optimal solutions are sought to address its causes and effects, little attention has been given to past analogs. This article argues that valuable insights into contemporary discussions about future sea level rise can be gained from understanding those of the past, specifically the ways in which coastal peoples and societies reacted during the period of postglacial sea level rise. For much of the Holocene, most continental people eschewed coastal living in favor of inland areas. In many places large coastal settlements appeared only after the development of polities and associated crosswater networks. Postglacial sea level rise affected coastal living in ways about which we remain largely ignorant. Yet, millennia-old stories from Australia and northwest Europe show how people responded, from which we can plausibly infer their motivations. Stories from Australia say the people have succeeded in halting sea level rise, whereas those from northwest Europe indicate that people have failed, leading to the drowning of coastal cities such as Ys (Brittany) and Cantre’r Gwaelod (Wales). This distinction is explained by the contrasting duration of postglacial sea level rise in these regions; around Australia, sea level stopped rising 7,000 years ago, while along many coasts of northwest Europe it has risen unceasingly since the last ice age ended. The nature of past human and societal responses to postglacial sea level rise holds important insights for the future.

Geomorphological Development of the Memphite Floodplain Over the Past 6,000 Years

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Bunbury
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Change ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
River Systems ◽  
The Past ◽  
Landscape Processes ◽  
Northern Egypt ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
River Migration

Abstract The Memphite ruin mounds around the modern town of Mit Rahina in northern Egypt form a part of a region around which the capital of Egypt mi grated through time. Some of these migrations were the responses to landscape changes and the area is one that is subject to a number of types of landscape change. The delta and river systems as well as the deserts that surround Memphis changed profoundly as global temperatures rose at theend of the last ice age. This paper summarises the main landscape processes that affected the area and pro poses a model for river migration and delta-head change in the Memphite floodplain.

The Quaternary history of Fuego-Patagonia

1960 ◽  
Vol 152 (949) ◽  
pp. 507-516 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Tierra Del Fuego ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Ice Ages ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Westerly Winds ◽  
History Of ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Quaternary History ◽  
Important Evidence

Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia are geographically so closely related that they can he called Fuego-Patagonia. Its two main units are the Andes and the region of the mesetas to the east of them. As a result of the predominantly westerly winds, the rainfall and the forests are concentrated in the Andes whereas in the region of the mesetas and the plains there are steppes and semideserts. The boundary between them seems to be a zone of struggle between the forest and the steppe. Its past oscillations can be studied against the background of palaeogeographic evolution especially since the last ice age. The stratigraphy of bogs and alluvial clays provides most important evidence on this topic. Tierra del Fuego is especially suitable as a study area since bogs are present all over the main island. In order to separate the ice ages with certainty, and thus to find out how many ice ages there were in Fuego-Patagonia, I looked for organic interglacial layers. Those found are the only ones so far recorded in South America. The southernmost is on the east coast of Tierra del Fuego in a till cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 km from the Viamonte estancia (figure 26). The peat is, according to a dating at the Yale Geochronometric Laboratory, over 41000 years old. Its macro- and microscopic plant remains reflect a richer flora than the present one.

scholarly journals The rise and fall of the Refugial Hypothesis of Amazonian speciation: a paleoecological perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark B. Bush ◽  
Paulo E. de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Andes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Northern Hemispheric ◽  
Amazonian Forests

The refugial hypothesis is treated as the definitive history of Amazonian forests in many texts. Surprisingly, this important theoretical framework has not been based on paleoecological data. Consequently, a model of Amazonian aridity during the northern hemispheric glaciation has been accepted uncritically. Ironically, the Refuge Hypothesis has not been tested by paleobotanical data. We present a revision of the concept of Neotropical Pleistocene Forest Refuges and test it in the light of paleocological studies derived from pollen analysis of Amazonian lake sediments deposited during the last 20,000 years. Our analysis is based primarily on paleoenvironmental data obtained from sites in Brazil and Ecuador. These data are contrasted with those that favor the hypothesis of fragmented tropical forests in a landscape dominated mainly by tropical savannas under an arid climate. The Ecuadorian data set strongly suggests a 5ºC cooling and presence of humid forests at the foot of the Andes, during the last Ice Age. The same climatic and vegetational scenario was found in the western Brazilian Amazon. On the other hand, somewhat drier conditions were observed in the central Amazon, but the landscape remained a forested landscape during the supposedly arid phases of the Late Quaternary. Data obtained from the Amazon Fan sediments containing pollen derived from extensive sections of the Amazon Basin, were fundamental to the conclusion that the predominance of savannas in this region is not supported by botanical data. Our revision of the assumptions derived from the Refuge Hypothesis indicates that it has succumbed to the test now permitted by a larger paleocological data set, which were not available during the golden age of this paradigm, when indirect evidence was considered satisfactory to support it.

An Exploration of Elements of Folklore in Ntuli’s Translation of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Masubelele
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The People ◽  
Story Pattern

 The telling of stories forms an integral part of human activities. It dominated pre-modern cultures and is still a human preoccupation today. All aspects of human life may be turned into a story, which may take one of many forms. Stories may be original creations in the language and culture in which they are told, or they may be derived—that is, they may be taken from another language and culture. Whatever the case, the people who are telling or retelling the story pattern the language they use in a manner that will arouse interest in their audience. It is against the backdrop of retelling stories that this article examines Ntuli’s use of elements of folklore in his translation of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. The elements to be explored in Ntuli’s translation include proverbs and idioms. Gottschall’s notion of The storytelling animal underpins the discussions in this article. Accordingly, the article demonstrates how the use of the elements of folklore helped the translator to adorn his work in order to assert his presence in the text and to relate the receptor to modes of behaviour relevant to their culture. 

Impact of Environmental Degradation on Human Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
_______ Archana ◽  
Charu Datta ◽  
Pratibha Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Economic Institute ◽  
Day By Day

Degradation of environment is one of the most serious challenges before the mankind in today’s world. Mankind has been facing a wide range of problem arising out of the degradation of environment. Not only the areas under human inhabitation, but the areas of the planet without human population have also been suffering from these problems. As the population increase day by day, the amenities are not improved simultaneously. With the advancement of science and technologies the needs of human beings has been changing rapidly. As a result different types of environmental problems have been rising. Environmental degradation is a wide- reaching problem and it is likely to influence the health of human population is great. It may be defined the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water, and soil. The destruction of ecosystem and extinction of wildlife. Environmental degradation has occurred due to the recent activities in the field of socio-economic, institute and technology. Poverty still remains a problem as the root of several environmental problems to create awareness among the people about the ill effect of environmental pollution. In the whole research it is clear that all factors of environmental degradation may be reduced through- Framing the new laws on environmental degradation, Environment friend policy, Controlling all the ways and means of noise, air, soil and water pollution, Through growing more and more trees and by adapting the proper sanitation policy.  

scholarly journals Arctic Ocean stratification set by sea level and freshwater inputs since the last ice age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse R. Farmer ◽  
Daniel M. Sigman ◽  
Julie Granger ◽  
Ona M. Underwood ◽  
François Fripiat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Phytoplankton Productivity ◽  
Nitrate Consumption ◽  
Western Arctic ◽  
Last Ice Age

AbstractSalinity-driven density stratification of the upper Arctic Ocean isolates sea-ice cover and cold, nutrient-poor surface waters from underlying warmer, nutrient-rich waters. Recently, stratification has strengthened in the western Arctic but has weakened in the eastern Arctic; it is unknown if these trends will continue. Here we present foraminifera-bound nitrogen isotopes from Arctic Ocean sediments since 35,000 years ago to reconstruct past changes in nutrient sources and the degree of nutrient consumption in surface waters, the latter reflecting stratification. During the last ice age and early deglaciation, the Arctic was dominated by Atlantic-sourced nitrate and incomplete nitrate consumption, indicating weaker stratification. Starting at 11,000 years ago in the western Arctic, there is a clear isotopic signal of Pacific-sourced nitrate and complete nitrate consumption associated with the flooding of the Bering Strait. These changes reveal that the strong stratification of the western Arctic relies on low-salinity inflow through the Bering Strait. In the central Arctic, nitrate consumption was complete during the early Holocene, then declined after 5,000 years ago as summer insolation decreased. This sequence suggests that precipitation and riverine freshwater fluxes control the stratification of the central Arctic Ocean. Based on these findings, ongoing warming will cause strong stratification to expand into the central Arctic, slowing the nutrient supply to surface waters and thus limiting future phytoplankton productivity.

scholarly journals Latin America in Global History: An Historiographic Overview

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (60) ◽  
pp. 253-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Olstein
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
New World ◽  
World History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Global History ◽  
The World ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Great Divergence

Abstract World history can be arranged into three major regional divergences: the 'Greatest Divergence' starting at the end of the last Ice Age (ca. 15,000 years ago) and isolating the Old and the New Worlds from one another till 1500; the 'Great Divergence' bifurcating the paths of Europe and Afro-Asia since 1500; and the 'American Divergence' which divided the fortunes of New World societies from 1500 onwards. Accordingly, all world regions have confronted two divergences: one disassociating the fates of the Old and New Worlds, and the other within either the Old or the New World. Latin America is in the uneasy position that in both divergences it ended up on the 'losing side.' As a result, a contentious historiography of Latin America evolved from the very moment that it was incorporated into the wider world. Three basic attitudes toward the place of Latin America in global history have since emerged and developed: admiration for the major impact that the emergence on Latin America on the world scene imprinted on global history; hostility and disdain over Latin America since it entered the world scene; direct rejection of and head on confrontation in reaction the former. This paper examines each of these three attitudes in five periods: the 'long sixteenth century' (1492-1650); the 'age of crisis' (1650-1780); 'the long nineteenth century' (1780-1914); 'the short twentieth century' (1914-1991); and 'contemporary globalization' (1991 onwards).

Ice-Core Pollen Record of Climatic Changes in the Central Andes during the last 400 yr

2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kam-biu Liu ◽  
Carl A. Reese ◽  
Lonnie G. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Ice Accumulation

AbstractThis paper presents a high-resolution ice-core pollen record from the Sajama Ice Cap, Bolivia, that spans the last 400 yr. The pollen record corroborates the oxygen isotopic and ice accumulation records from the Quelccaya Ice Cap and supports the scenario that the Little Ice Age (LIA) consisted of two distinct phases�"a wet period from AD 1500 to 1700, and a dry period from AD 1700 to 1880. During the dry period xerophytic shrubs expanded to replace puna grasses on the Altiplano, as suggested by a dramatic drop in the Poaceae/Asteraceae (P/A) pollen ratio. The environment around Sajama was probably similar to the desert-like shrublands of the Southern Bolivian Highlands and western Andean slopes today. The striking similarity between the Sajama and Quelccaya proxy records suggests that climatic changes during the Little Ice Age occurred synchronously across the Altiplano.

Evidence for a large surface ablation zone in central East Antarctica during the last Ice Age

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Siegert ◽  
Richard C. A. Hindmarsh ◽  
Gordon S. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Internal Layers ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Ice Flows ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
The Hill

AbstractInternal isochronous ice sheet layers, recorded by airborne ice-penetrating radar, were measured along an ice flowline across a large (>1 km high) subglacial hill in the foreground of the Transantarctic Mountains. The layers, dated through an existing stratigraphic link with the Vostok ice core, converge with the ice surface as ice flows over the hill without noticeable change to their separation with each other or the ice base. A two-dimensional ice flow model that calculates isochrons and particle flowpaths and accounts for ice flow over the hill under steady-state conditions requires net ablation (via sublimation) over the stoss face for the predicted isochrons to match the measured internal layers. Satellite remote sensing data show no sign of exposed ancient ice at this site, however. Given the lack of exposed glacial ice, surface balance conditions must have changed recently from the net ablation that is predicted at this site for the last 85,000 years to accumulation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document