scholarly journals Drought Effects on Forests and Rangelands in the US Caribbean

2016 ◽  

Issues of water quality and scarcity are of great concern across the U.S. Caribbean. In recent years Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have experienced uncommonly dry weather that has caused moderate to severe droughts. In 2014-2015, severe drought in Puerto Rico required the implementation of water restrictions that affected millions of people. The summer of 2015 was the third driest period in Puerto Rico since 1898, forcing the strictest water rationing in its history. Emerging climate models for the region (Figure 1) predict an overall decrease in precipitation over the next century, but also to greater variance in seasonality and an increase in intense precipitation events. The temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall can have profound effects on the hydrology as well as the phenology and life-cycle of trees, rangeland species, pests and pollinators. Changing rainfall patterns will mean major adjustments in how working lands are managed by producers and planners.

Zootaxa ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 379 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMAZONAS C. JUNIOR ◽  
ROWLAND M. SHELLEY

In Mexico, the newportiine scolopocryptopid genus Newportia Gervais, 1847, comprises 10 species: N. mexicana (Saussure, 1858); N. azteca Humbert & Saussure, 1869; N. stolli (Pocock, 1896); N. spinipes Pocock, 1896; N. oreina Chamberlin, 1915; N. sabina and pelaezi, both by Chamberlin, 1942; N. atoyaca and morela, both by Chamberlin, 1943, and N. troglobia, n. sp. The last occurs in caves in Tamaulipas and appears to be an obligate troglobite; N. sabina, known only from caves in San Luis Potosi, is redescribed and illustrated. Newportia azteca is revived and returned to its rightful position as the third oldest name in the genus; despite having priority by 27 years, it had been considered to be “the same” as N. spinipes and dropped from nomenclature. Although Newportia and the Newportiinae are not known from the continental United States, they do inhabit the country’s territories in the Caribbean; N. heteropoda Chamberlin, 1918, is reported from Puerto Rico, and N. longitarsis virginiensis Lewis, 1989, is recorded from St. Thomas and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, and Tortola and Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. The northernmost Mexican record, of N. pelaezi in Nuevo León, is only 96 mi (154 km) south of the US border, suggesting that the taxa may potentially be discovered in the southern periphery of Texas; likewise, rafting from Cuba, where 4–5 species occur, could bring them to the Florida Keys. New localities from Mexico are presented for N. stolli, N. spinipes, N. oreina, N. atoyaca, and N. morela, and ranges are depicted on a distribution map.


2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Renken ◽  
W. C. Ward ◽  
I.P. Gill ◽  
Fernando Gómez-Gómez ◽  
Jesús Rodríguez-Martínez ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 242-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine E. Wirt ◽  
Pamela Hallock ◽  
David Palandro ◽  
Kathleen Semon Lunz

2008 ◽  
pp. 263-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis K. Hubbard ◽  
Randolph B. Burke ◽  
Ivan P. Gill ◽  
Wilson R. Ramirez ◽  
Clark Sherman

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-841
Author(s):  
Katherine Unterman

This article adds to the growing literature about how the Supreme Court's decisions in the Insular Cases affected the residents of the U.S. territories. It focuses on the territory of Guam, which lacked juries in both criminal and civil trials until 1956–nearly sixty years after the island became a U.S. possession. Residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands had limited jury trials, but Guam was left out due to its strategic military significance as well as racialized ideas about the capabilities of Chamorros, the native inhabitants of the island. This article recovers the struggle by Guamanians to gain jury trials. It argues that independence movements, like those in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, were not the only forms of resistance to American empire. Through petitions, court challenges, and other forms of activism, Guamanians pushed for jury trials as a way to assert local agency and engage in participatory democracy. For them, the Insular Cases were not just abstract rulings about whether the Constitution followed the flag; they deeply affected the administration of justice on the ground for ordinary Guamanians.


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