Degraded or Just Dusty? Examining Ecological Change in Arid Lands

AbstractThe ecological history of rangelands is often presented as a tale of devastation, where fragile drylands are irreversibly degraded through inappropriate land use. However, there is confusion about how to recognize and measure degradation, especially in low-productivity environments characterized by extreme natural variability and where abrupt and comprehensive management upheavals preclude benchmarks. These issues have important consequences for rangeland management programs, which are typically founded on presumptions of substantial and ongoing degradation from former “natural” states. We explore complementary approaches to critically assess degradation: the historical record, long-term grazing exclosures, surveys for potentially rare and sensitive plant species, and assessment of water-remote areas in relation to rare plant occurrence. Employing these approaches in inland Australia, we show that prevailing paradigms have become entrenched despite being inconsistent with empirical evidence. Our methodology can be applied to drylands with abrupt changes in management and contentious ecological narratives.

Download Full-text

Advancing the long view of ecological change in tundra systems

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2012.0477 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 368 (1624) ◽

pp. 20120477 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Eric Post ◽

Toke T. Høye

Keyword(s):

Species Interactions ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Ecological Change ◽

Special Issue ◽

Research Personnel ◽

Ecological Responses ◽

History Of ◽

Population And Community Dynamics ◽

Long Term Studies

Despite uncertainties related to sustained funding, ideological rivalries and the turnover of research personnel, long-term studies and studies espousing a long-term perspective in ecology have a history of contributing landmark insights into fundamental topics, such as population- and community dynamics, species interactions and ecosystem function. They also have the potential to reveal surprises related to unforeseen events and non-stationary dynamics that unfold over the course of ongoing observation and experimentation. The unprecedented rate and magnitude of current and expected abiotic changes in tundra environments calls for a synthetic overview of the scope of ecological responses these changes have elicited. In this special issue, we present a series of contributions that advance the long view of ecological change in tundra systems, either through sustained long-term research, or through retrospective or prospective modelling. Beyond highlighting the value of long-term research in tundra systems, the insights derived herein should also find application to the study of ecological responses to environmental change in other biomes as well.

Download Full-text

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the Interchurch World Movement of 1919–1920: A Different Angle on the Ecumenical Movement

Church History ◽

10.2307/3165836 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 198-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Charles E. Harvey

Keyword(s):

Historical Record ◽

Social Gospel ◽

Historical Trends ◽

Standard Interpretation ◽

Moral Majority ◽

Significant Aspect ◽

Ecumenical Movement ◽

History Of ◽

Organization Research

There is a certain irony in the title of Eldon G. Ernst's Moment of Truth for Protestant America, the standard interpretation of the Interchurch World Movement (IWM) of 1919–1920, because this broad and generally perceptive study of the IWM is based primarily upon an elaborate falsification of the historical record. That falsification was perpetrated in a document entitled “History of the Interchurch World Movement” prepared under the direction of Raymond B. Fosdick. Fosdick, who was the lawyer and long-term adviser of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., had the document compiled precisely to conceal the real role Rockefeller played in the organization. Research in Rockefeller's papers reveals the truth about his role and thereby illumines a significant aspect of the ecumenical movement and its relationship to wider historical trends. This overlooked aspect from the background of the liberal side of the fundamentalist controversy is particularly pertinent today as tensions mount between those who identify themselves as “liberals” and those who claim to lead a “moral majority” of resurgent conservatism. Perhaps Washington Gladden, the old social gospel advocate, was not entirely wrong when he referred to a Rockefeller contribution as “tainted money,” however idealistic Rockefeller's motives may have been.

Download Full-text

Ecological History of the Lake Superior Basin

Sustaining Lake Superior ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300212983.003.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Nancy Langston

Keyword(s):

High Resistance ◽

Lake Superior ◽

Fur Trade ◽

Ecological Change ◽

Ecological History ◽

Geographic Context ◽

Ecological Changes ◽

Rapid Changes ◽

History Of ◽

Geological Context

The cumulative ecological changes from the fur trade, mining, logging, and farming on Lake Superior were profound. While contemporary observers understood that these rapid changes might cause problems, it was rare to recognize that Lake Superior’s geological context and history made the watershed particularly vulnerable to sudden ecological change. After the retreat of the ice, the Canadian Shield’s thin soils and high resistance of its rocks to weathering had ensured that Lake Superior was biologically unproductive and slow to accumulate sediments. Lake Superior’s geographic context meant that its waters were very cold, and that coldness shaped its ecology in profound ways. Lake Superior’s enormous size, which made planners hope that dilution might be the solution to pollution, actually worked against them. Lake Superior is large enough and cold enough that when thermal bars form, as mentioned above, they hold pollution where people and fish are more likely to encounter it.

Download Full-text

An ecological history of Koala habitat in Port Stephens Shire and the Lower Hunter on the Central Coast of New South Wales, 1801-1998

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc980354 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 354 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Tiffany Knott ◽

Daniel Lunney ◽

Dionne Coburn ◽

John Callaghan

Keyword(s):

Historical Record ◽

Historical Records ◽

Swamp Forest ◽

Ecological History ◽

European Settlement ◽

South Wales ◽

Open Forest ◽

History Of ◽

Original Vegetation ◽

Port Stephens

This paper describes the vegetation of Port Stephens Shire and environs at the time of European settlement, defines the sequence of vegetation clearance since that time, and estimates the extent to which the pre-European vegetation represented Koala habitat. A study of historical records, newspapers, documents and reports was undertaken in conjunction with interviews with long-standing Port Stephens residents. The historical records show that Koalas were widespread and common during early settlement. Reconstruction of the original vegetation was based on descriptions by early explorers and settlers from the early 1800s, when settlement commenced. Most of the land on either side of the Hunter River was vegetated by Shrubby Tall Open Forest intermingling with either Open Swamp Forest, or VineFern Closed Forest, or cedar brush. The first area to be settled was the alluvial land on the banks of the rivers where the soil was fertile and well watered. Settlement proceeded rapidly in the western part of the Shire from the early 1800s, concentrating on the Lower Hunter and Williams Rivers, but not progressing to the east until much later (mid to late 1800s). The historical record was sufficiently detailed to allow reconstruction of Koala habitat distribution at the time of settlement. Ecological history is now emerging as a discipline that has far more than curiosity value. It can provide the essential framework for conserving and restoring those landscapes exploited in the first century of European settlement.

Download Full-text

Ecological history of Lachlan Nature Reserve, Centennial Park, Sydney, Australia: a palaeoecological approach to conservation

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892914000083 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 84-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

REBECCA HAMILTON ◽

DAN PENNY

Keyword(s):

Environmental History ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

Management Policy ◽

Melaleuca Quinquenervia ◽

Ecological History ◽

History Of ◽

Conservation Values ◽

Normative Basis ◽

Colonial Settlement

SUMMARYReconstructing the environmental history of protected areas permits an empirically-based assessment of the conservation values ascribed to these sites. Ideally, this long-term view can contribute to evidence-based management policy that is both ecologically ‘realistic’ and pragmatically feasible. Lachlan Nature Reserve, a protected wetland in Centennial Park, Sydney, is claimed to be the final remnant of early and pre-European swamplands that were once extensive in the area, and the site is thus considered to have indigenous cultural and natural conservation significance. This study uses palynological techniques to reconstruct vegetation communities at the Reserve from the late Holocene to the present in order to assess whether these values adequately reflect the history, character and development of the site. The findings indicate that the modern site flora is a modified Melaleuca quinquenervia low forest assemblage formed in response to aggregated anthropogenic disturbance since colonial settlement. This assemblage replaces an Epacris-dominated heath-swampland community that was extirpated in the mid-20th century. These results emphasize the value of long-term studies in contributing to a realistic management policy that explicitly reflects the normative basis of conservation, and values the influence of past land-uses on contemporary protected ecosystems.

Download Full-text

Atypical Femoral Fracture in McCune-Albright Syndrome

Journal of Research in Orthopedic Science ◽

10.32598/jrosj.7.3.711.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 147-152

Author(s):

Salman Ghaffari ◽

◽

Mehran Razavipour ◽

Parastoo Mohammad Amini ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Femoral Fracture ◽

Dynamic Compression ◽

Plate Fixation ◽

Medullary Canal ◽

Mccune Albright Syndrome ◽

Café Au Lait Spots ◽

History Of ◽

Albright Syndrome ◽

Mccune Albright

McCune-Albright Syndrome (MAS) is characterized by endocrinopathies, café-au-lait spots, and fibrous dysplasia. Bisphosphonates are the most prescribed treatment for reducing the pain but their long-term use has been associated with atypical fractures of cortical bones like femur in patients. We present a 23-year-old girl diagnosed with MAS. She had an atypical mid-shaft left femoral fracture that happened during simple walking. She also had a history of long-term use of alendronate. Because of the narrow medullary canal, we used 14 holes hybrid locking plate for the lateral aspect of the thigh to fix the fracture and 5 holes dynamic compression plate (instead of the intramedullary nail) in the anterior surface to double fix it, reducing the probability of device failure. With double plate fixation and discontinuation of alendronate, the complete union was achieved five months after surgery

Download Full-text

European Integration

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474455893.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Johann P. Arnason

Keyword(s):

European Integration ◽

Eastern European ◽

The European Union ◽

Historical Processes ◽

History Of ◽

External Conditions ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

Totalitarian Regimes ◽

The Eu

Different understandings of European integration, its background and present problems are represented in this book, but they share an emphasis on historical processes, geopolitical dynamics and regional diversity. The introduction surveys approaches to the question of European continuities and discontinuities, before going on to an overview of chapters. The following three contributions deal with long-term perspectives, including the question of Europe as a civilisational entity, the civilisational crisis of the twentieth century, marked by wars and totalitarian regimes, and a comparison of the European Union with the Habsburg Empire, with particular emphasis on similar crisis symptoms. The next three chapters discuss various aspects and contexts of the present crisis. Reflections on the Brexit controversy throw light on a longer history of intra-Union rivalry, enduring disputes and changing external conditions. An analysis of efforts to strengthen the EU’s legal and constitutional framework, and of resistances to them, highlights the unfinished agenda of integration. A closer look at the much-disputed Islamic presence in Europe suggests that an interdependent radicalization of Islamism and the European extreme right is a major factor in current political developments. Three concluding chapters adopt specific regional perspectives. Central and Eastern European countries, especially Poland, are following a path that leads to conflicts with dominant orientations of the EU, but this also raises questions about Europe’s future. The record of Scandinavian policies in relation to Europe exemplifies more general problems faced by peripheral regions. Finally, growing dissonances and divergences within the EU may strengthen the case for Eurasian perspectives.

Download Full-text