“Les Sçioux n’étoient bons qu’à manger”: La Colle and the Anishinaabeg-Dakota War, 1730–1742

La Colle was an influential Anishinaabe ogimaa (leader) and mayosewinini (war chief) who led the Monsoni (moose) doodem (clan) in the Rainy Lake region during the 1730s and 1740s. A biographical study of La Colle not only restores an individual Indigenous voice to the tapestry of Native North America but also provides insight into a conflict between the Anishinaabeg, Nêhiyawak (Crees), Nakoda (Assiniboines), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Dakota, Yankton, Yanktonai, and Lakota) that took place in the borderlands between Lake Superior and the Upper Missouri Valley. Ultimately, the conflict saw the beginning of a considerable reorientation of Indigenous geopolitics west of Lake Superior, which were, in part, driven by the actions of a cunning political and military leader—La Colle. By uniting Anishinaabeg, Nêhiyawak, and Nakoda into a coalition powerful enough to challenge the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, La Colle made one of the most significant bids for power in eighteenth-century North America, one that eventually reconfigured the political, demographic, and environmental landscapes of the Northwest.

How Local People Use Their Indigenous Knowledge to Respond to Floods and Droughts: A Case Study of Tonle Sap Lake Community, Cambodia

<p>This thesis investigates the impacts of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region and examines to what extent the local communities’ indigenous knowledge (IK) is used to deal with floods and droughts. The thesis begins by exploring the Tonle Sap Lake communities’ perceptions of climate change, especially floods and droughts and their impacts on local livelihoods. It then examines how the communities have used their IK to develop livelihood adaptation methods to cope with floods and droughts. To conduct this study, a qualitative methodology was adopted using semi-structured interviews, and non-participant and unstructured observation as the main methods. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and local authorities from two communities, and NGO staff. The study found that the intensity of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region has increased in the last few years. Floods and droughts have threatened local livelihoods and food security. To mitigate the effects of floods and droughts, the local communities in this region have developed various livelihood adaptation strategies to adapt to the hazards. The communities appeared to use both IK and technologies for their adaptation strategies. IK is seen as an invaluable local community asset in developing livelihood adaptation methods. Although a mixture of IK and new knowledge has been used to develop various adaptation strategies, the sufficiency of the adaptation is still limited. The current severity of climate change is seen to limit the local communities’ response capacities. To strengthen the communities’ adaptation capacity, contribution and involvement from non-governmental organisations and the government in developing climate change adaptation policy at a local level are essential.</p>

How Local People Use Their Indigenous Knowledge to Respond to Floods and Droughts: A Case Study of Tonle Sap Lake Community, Cambodia

<p>This thesis investigates the impacts of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region and examines to what extent the local communities’ indigenous knowledge (IK) is used to deal with floods and droughts. The thesis begins by exploring the Tonle Sap Lake communities’ perceptions of climate change, especially floods and droughts and their impacts on local livelihoods. It then examines how the communities have used their IK to develop livelihood adaptation methods to cope with floods and droughts. To conduct this study, a qualitative methodology was adopted using semi-structured interviews, and non-participant and unstructured observation as the main methods. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and local authorities from two communities, and NGO staff. The study found that the intensity of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region has increased in the last few years. Floods and droughts have threatened local livelihoods and food security. To mitigate the effects of floods and droughts, the local communities in this region have developed various livelihood adaptation strategies to adapt to the hazards. The communities appeared to use both IK and technologies for their adaptation strategies. IK is seen as an invaluable local community asset in developing livelihood adaptation methods. Although a mixture of IK and new knowledge has been used to develop various adaptation strategies, the sufficiency of the adaptation is still limited. The current severity of climate change is seen to limit the local communities’ response capacities. To strengthen the communities’ adaptation capacity, contribution and involvement from non-governmental organisations and the government in developing climate change adaptation policy at a local level are essential.</p>

Pollen-based paleoclimate reconstructions of Beloslav Lake (Northeastern Bulgaria) during the last 6000 years using modern analog technique (MAT)

The aim of the present study is to reconstruct the palaeoclimate variables in the Beloslav Lake Region (Northeastern Bulgaria) during the last 6000 years, based on the pollen analysis from lacustrine core Bel-1 and using modern analog technique (MAT). Pollen data was used for reconstructions of four parameters: average annual temperature, average temperature of the warm and cold half-year and average annual precipitation.

Spatiotemporal Variation Characteristics and Driving Factors of Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Wheat–Rice Rotation Systems in the Taihu Lake Region

During the past three decades, a large amount of nitrogen (N) fertilizers has been applied in the rice and wheat rotation system in the Taihu Lake region of southern China to achieve high yield, resulting in low N use efficiency (NUE). China is implementing the national strategy “fertilizer reduction with efficiency increase” to solve the serious ecological problems caused by excessive fertilization. However, the effects of N fertilizer reduction on soil fertility and their integrated effect on NUE of rice–wheat rotation systems in the Taihu Lake region are not fully understood. In this study, test fields with different soil-fertility qualities were selected in typical rice–wheat areas in the Taihu Lake region to perform a 2-year rice–wheat N fertilizer effect test to obtain the comprehensive quantitative relationship among the integrated fertility index (IFI), nitrogen application level (NA), and NUE. Through the investigation and spatial analysis of NA and IFI in the study area in 2003 and 2017, the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of NA and IFI in the study area in the past 15-year period were obtained, and this information was spatially coupled with the comprehensive quantitative relationship model of NUE to reveal the variation characteristics and driving factors of NUE in the study area. The result shows that the wheat and rice NA in the study area in 2017 increased by 35.5 and 8.4%, respectively, compared with 2003. Due to excessive fertilization, the soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content of cultivated land in the study area in 2017 was greater than that in 2003, especially soil-available phosphorus and potassium contents, whereas soil organic matter (SOM) content was reduced. The cultivated land IFI of the study area as a whole increased by 7.2% in the 15-year period. The NUE of rice and wheat rotation increased by 5.8% in 2017 compared with that of 2003 due to the improvement in crop varieties and N fertilizer yield benefits. The increases of NA and IFI both have negative correlations with the NUE improvement, and the NA increase has a greater impact. In addition, the terrain, soil type, texture, and parent material also affect the soil nutrient-preserving capability and, thus, affect the spatial variation of IFI and NUE improvement. These factors have greater influence on NUE improvement of wheat than rice. This study provides a novel and effective method for analyzing the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of NUE in the rice–wheat system and is conducive to guide precise fertilization and N fertilizer reduction based on the spatial analysis of NA with IFI and NUE.

Assessment of waste grain densities to aid waterfowl conservation in the Klamath Basin of northeastern California and southeastern Oregon

Post-harvest waste seed from cereal grains is a major dietary component of waterfowl in the Klamath Basin in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon, a region that plays host to over a million waterfowl annually. Understanding food abundance is critical to local waterfowl management, therefore we conducted a study in 2008 to investigate waste grain densities in barley, oat and wheat fields. We used hierarchal mixed effect models to assess several factors that may affect waste grain densities post-harvest. We also compared the effects of residue management practices to measure the effect of these treatments. To understand the scope of post-harvest practices, we conducted a weekly road survey to document treatments applied to fields in our study area. We found that, region, best explained the variance of post-harvest waste grain in barley fields, where the Tule Lake region had 89% greater densities than Lower Klamath. Neither harvester age or baling affected waste grain in oats fields. In wheat fields, the model containing region and lodging ranked highest, where the Tule Lake region had 66% greater waste densities than Lower Klamath and lodging increased waste grain by 70%. Burning did not reduce waste grain in barley or oat fields. Chisel-disking reduced waste grain by 94% in wheat fields, compared to post-harvest. Our field treatment survey found that 70% of barley fields were untreated while 18% were disked and 13% were burned and flooded. We estimated that 82% of oat fields were burned post-harvest while 18% were burned and flooded. In wheat, 61% of fields were left untreated, while 16% were disked, 8% were chisel-plowed and 7% were flooded post-harvest. Flooding and burning occurred primarily on National Wildlife Refuges while disking, chisel-plowing and post-harvest irrigation occurred solely on private properties. Our results indicate that reducing tillage treatments would boost accessibility of cereal grain food resources to waterfowl in the Klamath Basin, and incentives to flood grain fields on private properties should be considered for the same purpose when and where possible.