The Paradox of Rattus Tunneyi: Endangerment of a Native Pest.

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
RW Braithwaite ◽  
AD Griffiths

An analysis of mark-recapture data for Rattus tunneyi in Kakadu National Park from a 7-year period was performed. Capture rates declined 500-fold during this period. The species exhibits a strong preference for riparian vegetation. The diet is primarily herbivorous, with little insect material. High-nutrient plant parts are generally chosen. Reproduction is most common in the wet season but some breeding extends throughout the year if unseasonal rain occurs during the dry season. Fire regime seems to have little effect on population numbers. The level of groundwater irrigating the riparian system and to a lesser extent current rainfall have a much stronger influence. Museum records show a contraction since European colonization from a near-total continental distribution to one-seventh of its former distribution along the north-west Australian and southern Queensland coast. The contraction from the more arid regions is likely to be due to the impact of introduced mammalian herbivores on the riparian habitats which previously functioned as refuge areas during periods of low water availability. Historically, R. tunneyi is likely to have fluctuated in distribution and abundance throughout the continent. In recent times, this has included irruptions into commercial crops in some areas. The loss of local refuges plus relatively poor powers of dispersal have resulted in the distribution now being fragmented, with the north-western and central east coasts of Australia providing the most significant habitat for the species.

1970 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Claus Peter Zoller

We owe to Ralph Lilley Turner the correct classification of Romani as originating from a central or inner form of Indo-Aryan. Turner also clarified that the “Dardic” elements in Romani have been borrowed into early Romani after its speakers had left their original home and reached the north-west of South Asia where they stayed for several hundred years before finally leaving the subcontinent. Until now, the extent of the “Dardic” influence on early Romani was poorly understood. In the present article much data has been put together which shows that this impact indeed is considerable. But it is intelligible only if we accept Turner’s hypothesis of a long stopover in north-western South Asia. The data presented below will also show that the notion of “Dardic” is too narrow in this context: the impact on early Romani, in fact, comprises linguistic elements and features found in Nuristani, Dardic and West Pahāṛī.


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Guy Letts ◽  
Mark Mulligan

Photosynthesis was limited by low-intensity photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and leaf wetness in a lower montane cloud forest (LMCF) of Cauca, Colombia. Mean PAR intensity remained below the saturation level for leaf-scale net photosynthesis (Pn) throughout the solar day during the wet season and for most of the solar day during the dry season. PAR represented a smaller fraction of total solar radiation (K↓) in LMCF than in lowland rain forest (LRF). In LMCF trees and shrubs, mean PAR-saturated Pn ranged from 4.3–10.6 μmol C m−2 s−1 at 1450 m, and from 3.5–10.2 μmol C m−2 s−1 at 2150 m. Pn was reduced by abaxial wetness in leaves of some trees and shrubs, and eliminated in others. This study indicates that persistent cloudiness and interception of cloud water by leaves limit LMCF productivity.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Venkat Ratnam ◽  
S. Ravindra Babu ◽  
S. S. Das ◽  
Ghouse Basha ◽  
B. V. Krishnamurthy ◽  
...  

Abstract. Tropical cyclones play an important role in modifying the tropopause structure and dynamics as well as stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) process in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) region. In the present study, the impact of cyclones that occurred over the North Indian Ocean during 2007–2013 on the STE process is quantified using satellite observations. Tropopause characteristics during cyclones are obtained from the Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) measurements and ozone and water vapor concentrations in UTLS region are obtained from Aura-Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite observations. The effect of cyclones on the tropopause parameters is observed to be more prominent within 500 km from the centre of cyclone. In our earlier study we have observed decrease (increase) in the tropopause altitude (temperature) up to 0.6 km (3 K) and the convective outflow level increased up to 2 km. This change leads to a total increase in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) thickness of 3 km within the 500 km from the centre of cyclone. Interestingly, an enhancement in the ozone mixing ratio in the upper troposphere is clearly noticed within 500 km from cyclone centre whereas the enhancement in the water vapor in the lower stratosphere is more significant on south-east side extending from 500–1000 km away from the cyclone centre. We estimated the cross-tropopause mass flux for different intensities of cyclones and found that the mean flux from stratosphere to troposphere for cyclonic stroms is 0.05 ± 0.29 × 10−3 kg m−2 and for very severe cyclonic stroms it is 0.5 ± 1.07 × 10−3 kg m−2. More downward flux is noticed in the north-west and south-west side of the cyclone centre. These results indicate that the cyclones have significant impact in effecting the tropopause structure, ozone and water vapour budget and consequentially the STE in the UTLS region.


2020 ◽  
pp. 250-266
Author(s):  
Jonathan Scott

This chapter studies cultural invention in light of the North-Western European cultural movement called Enlightenment. Enlightenment refers, in the first place, to a description by European intellectuals of what they took to be an advanced present state of moral and natural knowledge by comparison to that of the ancients. With related self-confidence, in the heyday of their empires, some described their culture as possessed of a dynamic modernity to be distinguished from the ‘oriental' lethargy and backwardness existing elsewhere. Yet Enlightenment also originated as European self-criticism. One context for that was the comparative perspective acquired by discovery of non-European cultures. In this and in other ways the origin of Enlightenment, including its ‘conviction that progress had become unstoppable', lies in the period when Renaissance and Reformation combined with printing and natural philosophy to establish the culture of the European North-West.


Finisterra ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (62) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Pike ◽  
Mário Vale

The industrial policy in the UK and in Portugal, as in most EU countries, seeks to attract new investment capacity, to create jobs and to promote the impact of the so-called "demonstration efect" of "greenfield" development strategies pursued in the new plants of inward investors on existing or "brownfield" plants. This industrial policy focus is particularly evident in the automobile industry.This paper compares the industrial policy oriented towards the automobile industry in the UK and in Portugal. Two recent "greenfield" investments are analised: Nissan in the North-East region (UK) and Ford/VW in the Setúbal Peninsula (Portugal), as well as three "brownfield" plants: Ford Halewood and GM Vauxhall Ellesmere Port in the North-West region (UK) and Renault in Setúbal (Portugal). The first part starts with a discussion of industrial policy in the automobile sector, the role of "greenfield" development strategies and the "demonstration effect" on "brownfield" plants. Then, the limits of new inward investment are pointed out, basically their problems and restrictions. Afterwards, the structural barriers to the "demonstration effect" within "brownfield" plants are outlined and some possabilities for alternative "brownfield" development strategies are presented.


Author(s):  
A.Yu. Ozerov ◽  
◽  
O.A. Girina, ◽  
D.V. Melnikov, ◽  
I.A. Nuzhdaev ◽  
...  

February 18, 2021, a flank eruption started on the north-western slope of the Klyuchevskoy Volcano (Kamchatka, Russia). Cinder cone was formed at the altitude of 2 850 m above sea level, from which a lava flow was spreading north-west. Having moved 1.2 km downslope, the lava flow entered the Ehrmann Glacier, which resulted in the formation of huge mud-stone flows. The latter made their way further north-east along the Kruten’kaya River bed and reached the length of about 30 km. The eruption brought onto the surface high-aluminous basaltic andesites typical of the Klyuchevskoy Volcano. By March 21, the flank eruption ended. It has been named after G.S. Gorshkov, associate member of USSR Academy of Science, famous Russian volcanologist.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-72
Author(s):  
Boris I. Chibisov

Introduction. History of the North-West area of Novgorod land at the end of the XV century attracted the attention of researchers mainly in the socio-economic aspect. This is due to the fact that Novgorod scribal books are dated by the end of the XV century. From the standpoint of socio-economic history their value is not in doubt, but from an ethno-historical point their onomastic content is underestimated. Materials and methods. The main source of research was the scribe book of the Vodskaya Pyatina 1499/1500. The descriptive method of research is to identify and record the Baltic-Finnish oikonyms (names of rural settlements) and anthroponyms mentioned in the scribe books. Baltic-Finnish anthroponyms are identified on the basis of an analysis of formal indicators of borrowing the anthroponyms. Results and Discussion. There are several areas where the Baltic-Finnish oikonymy and anthroponymy were concentrated, namely Korboselsky graveyard in the northern Prinevye, Lopsky and Terebuzhsky graveyards in the southern Ladoga, as well as Dudorovsky and Izhora graveyards south of the Neva. Archaeological sources record a significant presence of the Izhora antiquities. The presence of Karelians is noted in the northern Prievye and southern Ladoga. Slavic onomastic materials are recorded throughout Orekhovsky and Ladoga counties, but to mostly in the cities of Oreshka, Ladoga and their nearest areas. Conclusion. By the end of the XV century the north-western graveyards of Novgorod land were inhabited by representatives of various ethnic groups: Slavs, Vodians, Izhora and Karelians, as evidenced by the data of anthroponyms and toponyms of the scribe’s books and confirmed by archaeological sources.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 51-59
Author(s):  
Вера [Vera] Астрэйка [Astrėĭka]

The Baltic elements in the grammar of traditional local dialects of north-western BelarusThe article analyzes a number of grammatical features typical for the North-West dialect zone of the Belarusian language. These peculiarities are interpreted as a possible result of Slavic-Baltic contacts in the region. Some phenomena can be explained as a Baltic (mainly (great)Lithuanian) substratum in North-West Belarusian dialects.The factor of areal neighborhood has to be taken into consideration too. Such phenomenon as language support has effect just in connection with the last one. A lot of the appropriate lingual facts are in restricted and inconsistent use. However, it is possible to be said about more or less significant (now or/and before) tendencies of regional lingual development. These tendencies has not got the status of a structural (= constitutional) lingual regularity. As a rule the wide and compact areas are characterized of some lingual facts (= lexemes), which illustrate the given transformations in the system of Belarusian dialects. Baltic influence upon the North-West Belarusian dialects grammar is detected on as the formal level so the structural one. And it is not noticeable at all times. The definite changes in the sphere of morphology and syntax can provoke different modifications in the other parts of a language system (word building, semantics). The results of this process are the evidences of ethnic and language assimilation of native Balts by Slavs in the region. That comes in support of forming the singular North-West Belarusian regiolect (= the regionally marked variety of a dialect language). Балтийские грамматические элементы в говорах северо-западной БеларусиВ статье анализируется ряд грамматических черт, характерных для говоров северо-западной диалектной зоны беларусского языка. Эти особенности квалифицируются автором как весьма вероятное следствие славяно-балтского языкового взаимодействия в соответствующем регионе. Отдельные явления есть основания рассматривать в качестве возможного проявления балтского (главным образом (пра-) литовского) субстрата в северо-западных беларусских говорах. Фактор ареальной смежности здесь также должен быть принят во внимание. В связи с последним следует упомянуть и действие феномена языковой поддержки. Многие соответствующие языковые факты имеют существенные ограничения в употреблении, в говорах выступают не всегда последовательно и регулярно. В некоторых случаях, однако, можно говорить о действии более или менее выраженных (в настоящем и/или прошлом) тенденций регионального языкового развития, которые пока не приобрели статус структурно значимой (= конститутивной) языковой закономерности. Широкие и компактные ареалы образуют, как правило, лишь отдельные языковые факты (= лексемы), иллюстрирующие данные трансформации в системе традиционных беларусских говоров. Балтское влияние на грамматический строй беларусских говоров северо-западной диалектной зоны выявляется как в плане формального выражения, так и на внутриструктурном уровне. Оно не всегда может быть заметно на первый взгляд. Определенные сдвиги в сфере морфологии и синтаксиса могут повлечь за собой изменения в других областях языковой системы (словообразовании, семантике). Результаты этого процесса являются ярким свидетельством того, что на отмеченной территории действительно имела место этноязыковая ассимиляция неславянского (= балтского) населения и происхо- дило формирование своеобразного северо-западного беларусского региолекта (= регионально обусловленной разновидности диалектной речи).


Author(s):  
Carlo Bottaini ◽  
Ignacio Montero-Ruiz ◽  
Susana Lopes ◽  
Lídia Baptista ◽  
Sérgio Gomes ◽  
...  

This paper deals with the preliminary results of the typological and analytical study of a collection of copper-based objects found at the site of Castelo Velho (Freixo de Numão). This collection is associated to different contexts from the 3rd millennium BC (Chalcolithic). The analyses, performed by non-destructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF), show that the metals were produced with almost pure copper and arsenical copper (> 2% As). Impurities, such as As (<2%), Fe, Bi, Ag, Sn, Sb and Ni, were also identified, likely due to their presence in the ores used for the production of the objects. The data suggest that the metals from Castelo Velho may be framed within the metallurgical production already known for the Chalcolithic of the North-Western Iberian Peninsula.


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