scholarly journals The chronology of reindeer hunting on Norway's highest ice patches

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 171738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Pilø ◽  
Espen Finstad ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Julian Robert Post Martinsen ◽  
Atle Nesje ◽  
...  

The melting of perennial ice patches globally is uncovering a fragile record of alpine activity, especially hunting and the use of mountain passes. When rescued by systematic fieldwork (glacial archaeology), this evidence opens an unprecedented window on the chronology of high-elevation activity. Recent research in Jotunheimen and surrounding mountain areas of Norway has recovered over 2000 finds—many associated with reindeer hunting (e.g. arrows). We report the radiocarbon dates of 153 objects and use a kernel density estimation (KDE) method to determine the distribution of dated events from ca 4000 BCE to the present. Interpreted in light of shifting environmental, preservation and socio-economic factors, these new data show counterintuitive trends in the intensity of reindeer hunting and other high-elevation activity. Cold temperatures may sometimes have kept humans from Norway's highest elevations, as expected based on accessibility, exposure and reindeer distributions. In times of increasing demand for mountain resources, however, activity probably continued in the face of adverse or variable climatic conditions. The use of KDE modelling makes it possible to observe this patterning without the spurious effects of noise introduced by the discrete nature of the finds and the radiocarbon calibration process.

2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ramanzin ◽  
E. Sturaro ◽  
D. Zanon

Although it has been demonstrated that European roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus (L. 1758)) may migrate seasonally in areas with snow gradients, this behaviour remains scarcely understood. From 1999 to 2002, radio-tracking techniques in an Italian alpine area showed that 40% of the 32 monitored roe deer migrated (12.0 ± 6.2 km, mean ± SD) from the high-elevation summer ranges to the low-elevation winter ranges. Proportions of migratory deer were similar for fawns and adults and for males and females. We documented a mixed migration strategy, with most deer migrating once to the winter range in years of heavy snowfalls, but many deer migrating inconsistently or only for a short period to the winter range in one year with very scarce snowfalls. Seasonal home-range sizes were similar for migratory and stationary deer, except in a winter with very shallow snow when migrators used unusually large home ranges. In all seasons, migrators showed a lower within home range site fidelity than did stationary deer. Our results indicate that seasonal migrations may be a common strategy exhibited by roe deer living in mountain areas to avoid deep snow, and that variability in climatic conditions might be responsible for the development of variable spatial strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. eabd8352
Author(s):  
Dirk Seidensticker ◽  
Wannes Hubau ◽  
Dirk Verschuren ◽  
Cesar Fortes-Lima ◽  
Pierre de Maret ◽  
...  

The present-day distribution of Bantu languages is commonly thought to reflect the early stages of the Bantu Expansion, the greatest migration event in African prehistory. Using 1149 radiocarbon dates linked to 115 pottery styles recovered from 726 sites throughout the Congo rainforest and adjacent areas, we show that this is not the case. Two periods of more intense human activity, each consisting of an expansion phase with widespread pottery styles and a regionalization phase with many more local pottery styles, are separated by a widespread population collapse between 400 and 600 CE followed by major resettlement centuries later. Coinciding with wetter climatic conditions, the collapse was possibly promoted by a prolonged epidemic. Comparison of our data with genetic and linguistic evidence further supports a spread-over-spread model for the dispersal of Bantu speakers and their languages.


Author(s):  
Rafail R. Mukhametzyanov ◽  
◽  
Nikolay G. Platonovskiy ◽  
Akhmed M. Khezhev ◽  
Tatiyana V. Ostapchuk ◽  
...  

In the context of the modern global financial world order, an important element of the stability of the national monetary unit of the overwhelming majority of countries in the world, especially developing countries, is foreign exchange earnings. For some countries with favorable natural and climatic conditions, the production, processing and export of agricultural products plays a significant role in the overall structure of foreign exchange earnings in the country. The constantly increasing demand from consumers for fruits, berries, nuts and their processed products allows economic entities of national fruit and berry subcomplexes to increase the volume of growing and exporting these types of products. This study analyzes the change in the volume of exports and imports of fruit and berry products in value terms for the period 2010-2019. It is revealed that some states, being the largest exporters of fruits, berries, nuts and products of their processing, occupy significant positions in the import of these types of products from abroad. Based on the author’s calculations, the top 30 countries of the world have been compiled in terms of net foreign exchange earnings from international trade in this type of product. According to this indicator, the first line with a level of $ 7.506 billion was occupied by Spain, while it increased it by $ 1.675 billion over 10 years. As for Russia, despite the counter-sanctions against the countries of the European Union and some other countries of the world, as well as the ongoing policy of import substitution, including in domestic gardening, it continues to be one of the main importers of fruits, berries, nuts and their processing products in the world. Thus, our country supports both foreign producers and other commercial structures that carry out the processes of commodity circulation of fruit and berry products, and the receipt of foreign exchange earnings in these powers.


1973 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1931-1934
Author(s):  
F. E. Popper

The contribution made by Canada in providing the means for the Technical Conference was gratefully acknowledged, and the terms of reference were summarized as approved by Council of the FAO. Briefly, these are — to discuss the scientific and technical means of solving problems and reaching objectives in fisheries management and development. Significant problems that have become evident since the UN Conference in 1955 are: an urgent need for management of most of the traditionally fished stocks; decreasing rate of growth of the world fish catch in the face of increasing demand; economic interactions from greatly intensified fisheries and fishing enterprises; importance of development in relation to management. The need to take the long view in approaching these problems was emphasized, as well as the great value to be derived from recognition of existing deficiencies in organizations or methods. Universally acceptable rules for control of fisheries, and participation by all nations in supplying fisheries data essential for efficient management, are obvious requirements of high priority.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 2601-2611 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Reverter ◽  
E. P. Sánchez-Cañete ◽  
V. Resco ◽  
P. Serrano-Ortiz ◽  
C. Oyonarte ◽  
...  

Abstract. Two years of continuous measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) using the eddy covariance technique were made over a Mediterranean alpine shrubland. This ecosystem was found to be a net source of CO2 (+ 52 ± 7 g C m−2 and + 48 ± 7 g C m−2 for 2007 and 2008) during the two-year study period. To understand the reasons underlying this net release of CO2 into the atmosphere, we analysed the drivers of seasonal variability in NEE over these two years. We observed that the soil water availability – driven by the precipitation pattern – and the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) are the key factors for understanding both the carbon sequestration potential and the duration of the photosynthetic period during the growing season. Finally, the effects of the self-heating correction to CO2 and H2O fluxes measured with the open-path infrared gas analyser were evaluated. Applying the correction turned the annual CO2 budget in 2007 from a sink (− 135 ± 7 g C m−2) to a source (+ 52 ± 7 g C m−2). The magnitude of this change is larger than reported previously and is shown to be due to the low air density and cold temperatures at this high elevation study site.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şerban Procheş ◽  
Syd Ramdhani ◽  
Alice C. Hughes ◽  
Lian Pin Koh

The plight of Southeast Asia’s animals, plants and ecosystems in the face of unsustainable exploitation and habitat destruction has been illustrated in several recent studies, despite often falling outside the global discourse on global conservation priorities. Here, we collate biogeographic and phylogenetic information to argue that this beleaguered region is one of world’s primary macrorefugia, and possibly its best chance of regaining its natural biodiversity distribution patterns after the current Anthropocene upheaval. The region uniquely combines top diversity values in (a) ancient lineage diversity and (b) cosmopolitan lineage diversity, suggesting that it has acted in the past as a biodiversity museum and source of global colonization. This is at least partly due to the interplay between latitudinal diversity gradients and continental connectivity patterns. However, the peak values in South China/North Indochina for cosmopolitan tetrapods and their sister lineages suggest that a key feature is also the availability of diverse climatic conditions. In particular, the north-south orientation of the mountain ranges here has allowed for rapid recolonization within the region following past climatic changes, resulting in high survival values and overall exceptional relict lineage diversity. From this starting point, global colonization occurred on multiple occasions. It is hoped that, with urgent action, the region can once again fulfill this function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-112
Author(s):  
T. M. Kolombar

Annually in the world, insect pests kill 10–15 % of the crop yield, which in the face of increasing humanity creates a global problem for food security. For the territory of Ukraine in some years, the loss of wheat yields reach 25 % and, in the face of this tendency, real risks to the security of the state are created. Considering that the agrarian trend of the state development has been increasing in recent years, the development of grain-adapted to the ecological and climatic conditions of Ukraine is a priority direction of the development of domestic agriculture. And the development of new environmentally friendly methods of controlling pests of wheat using parasitic organisms will become a fundamentally new and pressing issue in the development of organic production in the country. The general list of pest species that can cause serious wheat yield and forage reduction in Ukraine includes more than 230 names, but only 18 species are able toentail the biggest losses. Among them belong to the order Coleoptera. One insect species is usually a host of several species of mites, nematodes and up to ten species of gregarines and microsporidia. Unfortunately, the taxonomic composition of parasites of phytophagous pets of wheat in Ukraine has not been thoroughly investigated. We studied the interrelation between parasites of 4 phytophagous insects of wheat as well as of 14 insect species found in granaries. The study of the species composition of parasitic organisms of wheat and grain pests is based on the study of the elementary part of the consortium ecosystem, where they act as second order consortia. Phytophagous parasites of wheat and collar pests of cereals, as second-order consorts, have been fragmented worldwide. The purpose of this work is to determine the species composition of gregarine as a component of wheat consortium for their further use in the creation of integrated methods of protection of wheat and products of its processing. As a result, 28 species of gregarines were registered, which belong to seven families (Didymophyidae, Ophryocystidae, Hirmocystidae, Lipotrophidae, Stylocephalidae, Actinocephalidae and Gregarinidae). On the average, 1–2 species of gregarines parasitize in one pest species. 7–10 species of parasites were identified in some insects of the family Tenebrionidae (Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 1758 and Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val, 1863). Each presented parasite is characteristic of 1–2 species of pests, but there are species of gregarines that infect up to four species of model species, such as Gregarina cuneata Stein, 1848. The largest number of individuals who are infested with gregarines belong to such families as Tenebrionidae and Dermestidae (38,6 % and 36,0 % of the total number of species, respectively). On pests – phytophages parasitizes about 8 species of gregarine families Stylocephalidae, Gregarinidae, Actinocephalidae. For barns pests are recorded barnacles of all 7 families.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Thoyyib ◽  
Roshni Menon ◽  
Brinda G. David

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Facial melanosis (FM) which refers to brown, black or blue pigmentation over the face is a common cosmetic concern in Indian patients. This increased incidence could be due to remarkable diversity of Indian ethinic population. Pigmentary disorders of the face are a great cosmetic and psychological concern for the patients.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This is an extensive descriptive clinico epidemiological study comprising of 1024 patients, conducted at Sri Venkateshwara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Puducherry, for a period of one and a half years. A detailed clinical history and examination was done, and all the clinical photographs and data were recorded. Necessary investigations like skin biopsy and patch testing was done wherever required.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The maximum number of patients belong to the age group of 21-35 years with a female predominance (67.2%). Among patients of FM, post inflammatory pigmentation (35.3%) was the most common comprising of 362 patients, followed by melasma (17.2%), periorbital melanosis (15.7%), seborrheic melanosis (7.5%) followed by other causes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> FM is common in Indian skin, several of which have overlapping features, and some have defined clinical classification. Additionally, climatic conditions, cosmetic usage and social parameters predispose to the increased incidence of FM.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Ghodbane Mokhtar

Air conditioning is one of the indispensable conditions of well-being in human life, so the face of this research to provide this basic necessity in remote areas and in desert places far from power grids. To achieve this goal, solar air conditioning has been adopted, where the compressor was replaced by an ejector, a parabolic trough solar collector and a small pump; this means that the solar air conditioner does not need a huge amount of electrical energy to operate. This paper is studding the thermodynamic cycles of this air conditioner as a function of changing the climatic conditions of Bouzaréah region in Algeria under several practical conditions of heat exchangers (Condenser, Evaporator and Generator). This study will allow the determination of the optical and thermal efficiency of the solar collector used as a solar thermal generator, refrigeration subsystem performance (COPEje) and system thermal ratio of the air conditioner, where the cooling load is estimated at 18 kW.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Moos ◽  
Antoine Guisan ◽  
Randin Christophe ◽  
Lischke Heike

&lt;p&gt;In mountain areas, forests play a crucial role in protecting people and assets from natural hazards, such as rockfall. Their protective effect is strongly influenced by their structure and state, which are expected to be affected by climate change. More frequent drought events, but also changing natural disturbance regimes, may lead to abrupt diebacks of contemporary species followed by a slow reforestation. In this study, we investigated how a changing climate can affect the protective capacity of mountain forests against rockfall. We therefore combined dynamic forest modelling with a detailed rockfall risk analysis at three case study sites in the Western Swiss Alps. Future forest development was simulated for a moderate and an extreme climate scenario for 200 years with the dynamic forest model TreeMig (Lischke et al., 2006). We then calculated rockfall risk for different forest states based on three-dimensional rockfall simulations with RockyFor3D (Dorren 2016). First results indicate that both at high elevation near the tree line (1500-2200 m a.s.l.) as well as at lower elevations (500-1000 m a.s.l.), increasing drought can lead to diebacks of trees and a reduction of tree density and diameters resulting in a substantial loss of the protective function. Depending on the speed of migration of other, more drought tolerant species, this loss can be partially compensated, but a permanent reduction of the protective effect is to be expected at least for an extreme climate scneario due to a reduced basal area of the forest.&lt;/p&gt;


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