Deep reef ecosystems of the Western Indian Ocean: addressing the great unknown

Indian Ocean coral reef ecosystems are some of the least explored, least funded and least protected worldwide. "First Descent: Indian Ocean" represents a series of research expeditions undertaken by Nekton between 2018-2022 in partnership with Governments in the Indian Ocean region to contribute to establishing a baseline of marine life and catalyse 30% protection by 2030. Two recent expeditions, the 2018 WILDOCEANS/ACEP Comoros Mesophotic Biodiversity Expedition (led by WILDTRUST), and the 2019 First Descent: Seychelles (led by Nekton Foundation) systematically surveyed deeper reef ecosystems in those areas, resulting in collections of biological meterial and underwater footage. In August 2019, taxonomic experts from across the globe, attended a workshop in order to identify the collected material and provide a first snapshot of the diversity of the surveyed habitats. Part of the workshop also focused on providing taxonomic training to host nation scientists and early career researchers. This document is a report on the proceedings and some of the first outcomes of this workshop.

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India’s Strategic Interests and Partnership with Island States of Africa in the Western Indian Ocean Region

Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs ◽

10.1177/2347797020938996 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 227-243

Author(s):

Raghvendra Kumar

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

Western Indian Ocean ◽

Power Dynamics ◽

Indian Ocean Region ◽

Island States ◽

Global Power ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Ocean Region ◽

Indian Ocean Island ◽

The Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean has turned into the new geographical centre of power, where global power dynamics is being revealed. It has been transformed into a geostrategic heartland, forecasting new challenges and opportunities, and at the core of this is an emerging power, India, which, being located at a strategic juncture in the Indian Ocean, shapes much of this geostrategic transformation. Therefore, sustaining and improving security and continuing economic expansion, with an increased strategic presence in the region to safeguard its national, regional and global interests are some of the elements which greatly influence India’s involvement with the strategic island states of Africa in the Western Indian Ocean Region. In this backdrop, this article has tried to contextualise the ‘Western Indian Ocean Region’ and ‘situate the actors’ to explore the various contours of geostrategic engagements the region is witnessing. Further, the article examines India’s strategic interests in the Western Indian Ocean, which are critical for its global power aspirations. It discusses the linkages between India and the Western Indian Ocean island states of Africa, which would become the precursor for newer strategies and help in harnessing the potential of mutually beneficial cooperation. Lastly, the article seeks to re-engage with the island states of Africa to help forge a deeper cultural and strategic bond, which would be crucial in balancing the power equation in the region.

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Networks and social cohesion in ancient Indian Ocean trade: geography, ethnicity, religion

Journal of Global History ◽

10.1017/s1740022813000338 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 373-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Eivind Heldaas Seland

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

Early Modern ◽

Social Cohesion ◽

Geographical Origin ◽

Western Indian Ocean ◽

Home Networks ◽

Indian Ocean Trade ◽

Ocean Region ◽

The Indian Ocean ◽

Trading Networks

AbstractThe Indian Ocean is famous for its well-documented Jewish and Islamic trading networks of the medieval and early modern periods. Social networks that eased the challenges of cross-cultural trade have a much longer history in the region, however. The great distances covered by merchants and the seasonality of the monsoons left few alternatives to staying away for prolonged periods of time, and shipwreck, piracy, and the slave trade caused people to end up on coasts far away from home. Networks of merchants developed in the Indian Ocean region that depended on a degree of social cohesion. This article draws up a map of selected merchant communities in the western Indian Ocean, and argues that geographical origin, ethnicity, and religion may have been different ways of establishing the necessary infrastructure of trust.

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Diversity and distribution of avian haematozoan parasites in the western Indian Ocean region: a molecular survey

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s0031182011001831 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 139 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

FARAH ISHTIAQ ◽

JON S. BEADELL ◽

BEN H.WARREN ◽

ROBERT C. FLEISCHER

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

Western Indian Ocean ◽

Parasite Community ◽

Indian Ocean Region ◽

Molecular Survey ◽

Limited Sampling ◽

Avian Blood ◽

Ocean Region ◽

History Of ◽

The Indian Ocean

SUMMARYThe genetic diversity of haematozoan parasites in island avifauna has only recently begun to be explored, despite the potential insight that these data can provide into the history of association between hosts and parasites and the possible threat posed to island endemics. We used mitochondrial DNA sequencing to characterize the diversity of 2 genera of vector-mediated parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in avian blood samples from the western Indian Ocean region and explored their relationship with parasites from continental Africa. We detected infections in 68 out of 150 (45 3%) individuals and cytochrome b sequences identified 9 genetically distinct lineages of Plasmodium spp. and 7 lineages of Haemoproteus spp. We found considerable heterogeneity in parasite lineage composition across islands, although limited sampling may, in part, be responsible for perceived differences. Two lineages of Plasmodium spp. and 2 lineages of Haemoproteus spp. were shared by hosts in the Indian Ocean and also on mainland Africa, suggesting that these lineages may have arrived relatively recently. Polyphyly of island parasites indicated that these parasites were unlikely to constitute an endemic radiation and instead probably represent multiple colonization events. This study represents the first molecular survey of vector-mediated parasites in the western Indian Ocean, and has uncovered a diversity of parasites. Full understanding of parasite community composition and possible threats to endemic avian hosts will require comprehensive surveys across the avifauna of this region.

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Editorial Introduction

The Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies ◽

10.26443/jiows.v4i1.68 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Editors of the JIOWS

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Indian Ocean ◽

Western Indian Ocean ◽

Late Nineteenth Century ◽

Fourth Volume ◽

History Of ◽

The Indian Ocean ◽

Complex Relationships ◽

Indian Ocean World ◽

Shed Light

The editors are proud to present the first issue of the fourth volume of the Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies. This issue contains three articles, by James Francis Warren (Murdoch University), Kelsey McFaul (University of California, Santa Cruz), and Marek Pawelczak (University of Warsaw), respectively. Warren’s and McFaul’s articles take different approaches to the growing body of work that discusses pirates in the Indian Ocean World, past and present. Warren’s article is historical, exploring the life and times of Julano Taupan in the nineteenth-century Philippines. He invites us to question the meaning of the word ‘pirate’ and the several ways in which Taupan’s life has been interpreted by different European colonists and by anti-colonial movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. McFaul’s article, meanwhile, takes a literary approach to discuss the much more recent phenomenon of Somali Piracy, which reached its apex in the last decade. Its contribution is to analyse the works of authors based in the region, challenging paradigms that have mostly been developed from analysis of works written in the West. Finally, Pawelczak’s article is a legal history of British jurisdiction in mid-late nineteenth-century Zanzibar. It examines one of the facets that underpinned European influence in the western Indian Ocean World before the establishment of colonial rule. In sum, this issue uses two key threads to shed light on the complex relationships between European and other Western powers and the Indian Ocean World.

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A Contest of Status and Legitimacy in the Indian Ocean

10.1093/oso/9780199479337.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

David Brewster

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

International System ◽

Special Role ◽

Indian Ocean Region ◽

Major Powers ◽

Threat Perceptions ◽

Ocean Region ◽

The Status ◽

The Indian Ocean ◽

The Asymmetry

This chapter examines Indian and Chinese perspectives of each other as major powers and their respective roles in the Indian Ocean. It focuses on the following elements: (a) China’s strategic imperatives in the Indian Ocean Region, (b) India’s views on its special role in the Indian Ocean and the legitimacy of the presence of other powers, (c) China’s strategic vulnerabilities in the Indian Ocean and India’s wish to leverage those vulnerabilities, (d) the asymmetry in Indian and Chinese threat perceptions, and (d) Chinese perspectives of the status of India in the international system and India’s claims to a special role in the Indian Ocean. The chapter concludes that even if China were to take a more transparent approach to its activities, significant differences in perceptions of threat and over status and legitimacy will produce a highly competitive dynamic between them in the maritime domain.

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Heat and freshwater changes in the Indian Ocean region

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment ◽

10.1038/s43017-021-00192-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Caroline C. Ummenhofer ◽

Sujata A. Murty ◽

Janet Sprintall ◽

Tong Lee ◽

Nerilie J. Abram

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

Indian Ocean Region ◽

Ocean Region ◽

The Indian Ocean

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Spatiotemporal Evolution and Determinant Factors of the Intra-Regional Trade Community Structures of the Indian Ocean Region

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi10040214 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 214

Author(s):

Lihua Yuan ◽

Xiaoqiang Chen ◽

Changqing Song ◽

Danping Cao ◽

Hong Yi

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Community Structures ◽

Indian Ocean Region ◽

Spatiotemporal Evolution ◽

Regional Trade ◽

Determinant Factors ◽

Ocean Region ◽

The Indian Ocean ◽

The Impact

The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has become one of the main economic forces globally, and countries within the IOR have attempted to promote their intra-regional trade. This study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of the community structures of the intra-regional trade and the impact of determinant factors on the formation of trade community structures of the IOR from 1996 to 2017 using the methods of social network analysis. Trade communities are groups of countries with measurably denser intra-trade ties but with extra-trade ties that are measurably sparser among different communities. The results show that the extent of trade integration and the trade community structures of the IOR changed from strengthening between 1996 and 2014 to weakening between 2015 and 2017. The largest explanatory power of the formation of the IOR trade community structures was the IOR countries’ economic size, indicating that market remained the strongest driver. The second-largest explanatory power was geographical proximity, suggesting that countries within the IOR engaged in intra-regional trade still tended to select geographically proximate trading partners. The third- and the fourth-largest were common civilization and regional organizational memberships, respectively. This indicates that sharing a common civilization and constructing intra-regional institutional arrangements (especially open trade policies) helped the countries within the IOR strengthen their trade communities.

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