Globalization, Greed and Glocal Ecology: A Psychological Perspective

Evidently, a globalized society causes global environmental crises. Undoubtedly, survival of human life on the planet Earth is threatened. Is there any connection between globalization, environmental crises and psychological manifestations? What are the psychological perspectives linking the ecological damages from local to the global scale? This article explores such intricate relationships and discusses the implications. The underlying principal cause is human’s unending greed to acquire maximum materials and power to control the planet and entire humanity. The greed is believed to be a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. The greedy people are supposed to have biological, psychological and sociological drives. Evidently, global destruction of the ecosystems and natural environment are directly or indirectly linked to unprecedented chronic human greed and self-indulgence. Undoubtedly, unencumbered chronic greed of a few elite institutions led by top capitalists has put the entire planet in havoc and infiltrated widespread sufferings at the global scale. Conclusively, psychological basis of environmental problems has a sociological and socio-historical scope within the frame of globalization. Psychological account of the environmental crisis is explained subsequently in this article followed by a case study of deforestation of Carpathian Mountains staged by a greedy Austrian man.

Serological Evidence of Common Equine Viral Infections in a Semi-Isolated, Unvaccinated Population of Hucul Horses

Huculs (Equus caballus) are an old breed of primitive mountain horses, originating from the Carpathian Mountains. To the best of our knowledge, data concerning the epidemiology of viral infections observed within this breed are sparse. The objective of this study was to estimate the serological status of a semi-isolated, unvaccinated Hucul herd, with respect to both common equine viral infections and horse-infecting arboviruses, the presence of which was previously reported in Poland. Twenty horses of the Hucul breed, living in a remote area in Poland, were studied in 2018 from March to May. Using nasal secretion swabs as a specimen source, isolation attempts were negative regarding ERAV, EHV-1, EAV, and EIV. According to the virus neutralisation method, in the sera obtained from the animals, antibodies against the following viruses were detected: EHV-1 in 12 horses (60%; with titres from 1:8 to 1:64), EIV A/H7N7 in 13 (65%; titres from 1:20 to 1:80), EIV A /H3N8 in 12 (60%; titres from 1:20 to 1:80), USUV in 5 (25%; titres from 1:10 to 1:80), and ERAV in 1 (5%; titre 1:32). Antibodies against EAV, EIAV, and WNV were not present in the tested sera. The detected presence of specific antibodies associated with five out of the eight equine viruses investigated indicates that the Hucul herd, due to its partial separation and lack of specific prophylaxis, could serve as a sentinel animal group for the detection of equine viruses/arboviruses present within the local ecosystem. The detection of common equine viral infections within the herd provides additional epidemiological data concerning the breed.

II Brygada Legionów Polskich w Karpatach (listopad-grudzień 1914 r.). Cz. II

The Brigade II of the Polish Legions in the Carpathian Mountains (November‑December 1914): Part II In this article, the author presents the activity of the Polish Legions, at that time commanded by the general Karol Durski, in the Carpathian Mountains. Polish soldiers had to fight there under very difficult conditions as a result of the numerous deficiencies in equipment and arms. Nonetheless, they tried to perform the tasks to which they were entrusted as best as they could. As opposed to the weakness of the Austro‑Hungarian army, the Polish units in this region played a decisive rule in halting the Russian offensive. This was a significant factor because if the Russians had crossed the Carpathians, this would have led to an invasion of Hungary, which could have had unpredictable consequences. In the first phase, the Polish units participated in the fight to liberate Máramaros County. The second phase comprised the armed conflict in the Nadvirna and Bohorodchany regions. This part of the skirmishes was finished with the bloody Battle of Mołotków on October 29, 1914. Although it ended with a tactical defeat of the Polish units, which were forced to retreat, it was, however, a tactical victory, as the Russians, exhausted by the daylong battle, were forced to cease their offensive manoeuvres.

Drivers of Solidago species invasion in Central Europe---Case study in the landscape of the Carpathian Mountains and their foreground

Aim: The invasion process is a complex, context-dependent phenomenon; nevertheless, it can be described using the PAB framework. This framework encompasses the joint effect of propagule pressure (P), abiotic characteristics of the environment (A), and biotic characteristics of both the invader and recipient vegetation (B). We analyzed the effectiveness of proxies of PAB factors to explain the spatial pattern of Solidago canadensis and S. gigantea invasion using invasive species distribution models. Location: Carpathian Mountains and their foreground, Central Europe. Methods: The data on species presence or absence were from an atlas of neophyte distribution based on a 2 × 2 km grid, covering approximately 31,200 km2 (7752 grid cells). Proxies of PAB factors, along with data on historical distribution of invaders were used as explanatory variables in Boosted Regression Trees models to explain the distribution of invasive Solidago. The areas with potentially lower sampling effort were excluded from analysis based on a target species approach. Results: Proxies of the PAB factors helped to explain the distribution of both S. canadensis and S. gigantea. Distributions of both species were limited climatically because a mountain climate is not conducive to their growth; however, the S. canadensis distribution pattern was correlated with proxies of human pressure, whereas S. gigantea distribution was connected with environmental characteristics. The varied responses of species with regard to distance from their historical distribution sites indicated differences in their invasion drivers. Main conclusions: Proxies of PAB are helpful in the choice of explanatory variables as well as the ecological interpretation of species distribution models. The results underline that human activity can cause variation in the invasion of ecologically similar species.

Late Glacial and Holocene multi-proxy paleoecology in the Southern Carpathian Mountains: quantitative reconstructions and promising new molecular research directions

<p>Over the last 10 years several alpine lakes were studied from the Southern Carpathian Mountains (SCM) using paleoecological, geochemical and stable isotope techniques. The aim of these studies were to obtain quantitative climate reconstructions for the alpine region for the Late Glacial (LG) and Holocene, reconstruct tree and timberline changes and examine how rapid climate change events manifested in this region, what are the regions characteristics. Absolute chronologies were also supported here for the first time with tephra chronology in the Early Holocene. In addition, environmental DNA studies were used to explore what molecular techniques can add to a more exact and often species level reconstruction of past floristic compositions. This talk will summarize these researches and use multivariate statistics to examine leads and lags in ecosystem response at multiple sites (Retezat, Pareng, Fogaras, Ciomadul Mts). These analyses first of all demonstrate that the amplitude of warming was attenuated in the SCM at the GS-2/GI-1 transition relative to NW Europe (~2,8-3 <sup>o</sup>C), summer temperatures increased abruptly already at 16.2 ka cal BP in direct response to the weakening polar circulation and the tripartite GS-1 had weak summer temperature decrease (<1 <sup>o</sup>C), but winter cooling was strong. Regarding the order of ecosystem changes, lead and lag analysis revealed <50 yr lag in vegetation response, 0-100 lag in aquatic floristic response and ~100-150 yr lag in aquatic faunal response to external forcing. Environmental DNA studies showed that despite the method is capable to better capture grass (Poaceae) floristic diversity and replicates woody specie composition obtained by plant macrofossil data, it fails to provide higher resolution for the herbaceous flora around the studied lakes that feature was explained partly by the incompleteness of reference DNA sequences for the trnL region and the DNA preservation characteristics of alpine lakes. Using these pioneer studies, several promising research directions were identified for this region: modelling of projected tree and timberline changes in combination with reconstructed data, using eDNA techniques to decipher alpine farming histories in the mountains and its impact on late Holocene tree and timberline change, reconstruction the accelerating speed of ecosystem change over the last 100 yr. in alpine lakes and calling attention for the irreversibility of these changes, demonstrating tipping points. These will be discussed in the presentation.</p>