Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna

Wood plays a vital role in the terrestrial carbon cycle, both sequestering and subsequently releasing carbon to the atmosphere via decomposition. Decomposition has largely been studied in fallen and standing deadwood; much less is known about decomposition occurring inside live trees due to hollowing by wood‐feeding termites and microbial heart rot. Internal stem damage is difficult to measure, leaving many unresolved knowledge gaps. Little is known regarding the location and total amount of damage done by termites and microbes, as well as whether these decomposers act in concert or separately. Furthermore, tree species, wood density and stem size can influence fallen deadwood decomposition, but their role in living tree internal damage is largely unknown. We destructively harvested 63 trees, finding internal damage in 32. We intensively sampled the internal stem damage in these 32 to investigate the relative contributions of microbes and termites in a tropical savanna in Queensland, Australia. We tested if damage changed at different heights in the tree, quantified tree‐level termite and microbial damage and examined if termite and microbial damage co‐occurred. We also tested the influence of tree species, wood specific gravity and size on tree‐level internal stem damage across four species. Termite and microbial damage were present in 45% and 33% of all trees, respectively. On average, termite damage reduced total tree biomass by 3.3% (maximum 28%, SD = 4.7%) and microbial damage by 1.8% (maximum 26%, SD = 5.3%). The amount of damage from both decomposers decreased with increasing heights up the tree. Termite and microbial damage co‐occurrence was greater within trees than within individual cross section samples, suggesting local competitive exclusion or niche partitioning by decomposers. Tree species was a better predictor of damage than either wood specific gravity or tree size. Half of the trees in our study had substantial internal stem damage, highlighting the considerable role that termites and microbes play in decomposing wood within living trees. Our findings unveil the previously concealed wood decomposition dynamics occurring inside trees, with implications for accurate carbon estimation across savanna ecosystems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Ecological niche theory dictates that sympatric species cannot occupy the same ecological niche at the same time. Sympatric granivorous finch species in tropical savannas appear to contradict this theory by moving in mixed‐species flocks and feeding together upon the same resources. Here, we explored this contradiction by tracking individuals from three finch species (Gouldian—Chloebia gouldiae, long‐tailed—Poephila acuticauda and masked finch—P. personata) often seen feeding together, while simultaneously determining the dietary composition during periods of high and low resource abundance. Dietary composition was characterised using stable isotope ratios of δ13C and δ15N within the blood, and foraging areas were determined from continuous detection using passive VHF radio telemetry. Individuals were sampled early in the dry season when grass seeds were abundant, in the middle of the dry season and at the end when seeds were very scarce. The results showed plasticity in ecological niche overlap among the three finch species depending on grass seed availability within the landscape. In the early dry season, the species foraged together on the abundant grass seed. As the dry season progressed and grass seed availability declined, masked and long‐tailed finches exhibited greater spatial partitioning, masked and Gouldian finches increased dietary partitioning, and long‐tailed and Gouldian finches increased both dietary and spatial partitioning. Our study showed that sympatric granivorous finches utilise trophic and spatiotemporal partitioning to enable coexistence through periods of low resource availability in tropical savannas. Gouldian finches increased activity and ranging behaviour, while long‐tailed and masked finches diversified their diet. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

This paper investigates several aspects of the sophisticated deployment of the literary tradition of the locus amoenus (”pleasant place”) and locus horridus (”fearful place”) in the Metamorphoses of the Roman poet Ovid. Ovid draws on a series of poetic conventions associated with such literary landscapes in the work of his Augustan predecessors. Elegiac poets such as Tibullus imagine dallying with their mistresses in peaceful landscapes far away from the strife of war, political competition, or urban disorder. In the Eclogues of Vergil, the locus amoenus may function as a site of poetic power, where the landscape itself both inspires and responds to the singer. In contrast to the pleasure and inspiration associated with these sites elsewhere in Augustan literature, the locus amoenus in Ovid's Metamorphoses often becomes the site of violent rapes and physical transformations. For example, Jupiter's rape of Callisto occurs in such a pleasant spot, as does Narcissus' fatal act of self-contemplation. The peace and beauty of these sites are set in deliberate contrast with the violence of the actions that occur within them. The locus horridus in the Metamorphoses is typically inhabited by personifications such as Somnus (Sleep) or Fames (Hunger). Somnus' sleep-inducing castle and the bare crag occupied by Fames show the inseparability of the personifications from their functions. They transform the landscape as well as their human victims into versions of themselves. Both types of Ovidian locus inspire the description of similar allegorical sites in later medieval and Renaissance poetry.This paper examines how the descriptions of such places in the Metamorphoses form part of the poem's construction of its physical, moral, and literary universe. The vision developed throughout the Metamorphoses of the relationship between human being and natural landscape contrasts sharply with earlier Latin poetry. The metamorphosis of characters into parts of the natural landscape (Daphne into a laurel tree; Cyane into a pool, and so forth) disturbs the stable boundaries that might otherwise be drawn between figure and background. Such descriptions also serve aetiological purposes: the poem points to the features of today's landscape as authority for the events narrated within it. Ovid's descriptions of landscape, finally, are always intertextual and metapoetic. By showing the operations of amor (passion), cupido (desire), furor (madness), and other passions on both character and landscape, they assist the poet in defining the character of a multigeneric work that combines aspects of both epic and elegiac literary tradition.

William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction provides a guide to the life and writings of one of the world’s greatest and best-known dramatists: William Shakespeare. Looking at his early life and education, it explores Shakespeare’s social and intellectual background and the literary traditions on which Shakespeare drew. Examining the theatres and theatrical profession of the time, it also considers how Shakespeare experienced this world, both as an actor and as a writer. Examining Shakespeare’s narrative poems, sonnets, and all of his plays, this VSI outlines their sources, style, and originality over the course of Shakespeare’s career, to consider the fundamental impact his work has had for subsequent generations.

In his literary activity, Alisher Navoi portrayed numerous historical figures, including characters from the pre-Islamic era. This article deals with the image of one such figure Nushiravan and examines its sufi interpretation within Navoi’s creative framework. The methodological approach is based on auto-interpretation, meaning the poet’s own hermeneutic lens. A selected couplet from Navoi’s ghazals serves as the basis for analysis, wherein the artistic imagery and symbolic essence are interpreted through a comparative lens alongside a character from the narrative poem “Hayrat ul-abror” (The Wonder of the Righteous). The study concludes that although Navoi’s literary tradition is historically situated within the Islamic period and geographical sphere, he often references figures from pre-Islamic history solely for their names or symbolic resonance, without aligning them ideologically with Islamic doctrine. Specifically, in the portrayal of Nushiravan, Navoi employs the figure as a symbolic vessel for conveying Sufi ethical ideals, rather than a historical or religious endorsement.

“The United Family” is a title of one of the novels by Zygmunt Trziszka published in 1965 as “The Great Pigsticking”, that made writer’s debut and initiated the rural theme in the literature of Ziemia Lubuska. Since 1965 Trziszka, considered as one of the most eminent regional writers, had written many novels and stories focused on the same topic: a village located on the Polish Recovered Territories. As a consequence, his prose output, presenting a wide spectrum of Polish post-war rural problems, gives the base local narrative and creates the identity of a new region and its community which was in the state of establishing itself and – most of all – the identity of immigrants settled in this area after World War II. Ziemia Lubuska, in contradistinction to the other Polish regions, wasn’t an industry-developed, where area and the agrarian culture prevailed over urban culture, and that’s why the rural subjects became were so popular here. The second reason for favouring this theme in post-war literature of Ziemia Lubuska, was a propaganda concept, so-called “western subject” in Polish culture – in the first post-war decades it concerned all rural issues (it was changed after political transformation and since 1989 the urban theme became more interesting to the Polish western writers). That’s why I concentrate mostly on the literature of the 60’s and 70’s. It was just the beginning of Lubuska literature. The aim of my paper is to give an outline of Trziszka’s work and other writers’ who followed him, and to picture of Lubuska village, created both in accordance with propaganda pressure and the expatriates’ and settlers’ expectations. I would like to take a closer look at the view shaped mainly by two literary traditions: the epos and the arcadian idea. The purpose of long narrative poem, announced by Polish cultural policy in 1959, and taken over by western writers, was to recount the deeds by heroic pioneer settlers’ deeds and to describe the process of after-war establishing the community (community unified as “one family”). Similar to the Arcadian as the dream of people living peacefully together in a beautiful landscape and in harmony with nature, that was attractive and helpful in the process of assimilation. Yet the literary image of Lubuska village was not only composed by these two crucial features, but also by subversive narrative, painting the strange, unpleasant and even damned land – a portrait, I would also devote attention to.

Measuring what citizens perceive and value about landscapes is important for landscape monitoring. Capturing temporal, spatial and cultural variation requires collection of data at scale. One potential proxy data source are textual descriptions of landscapes written by volunteers. We implemented a gamified application and crowdsourced a multilingual corpus of in-situ descriptions of everyday lived landscapes. Our implementation focused on the aesthetics of exploration, expression and fellowship in the mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics (MDA) framework. We collected 503 natural language landscape descriptions from 384 participants in English (69.7%), German (25.1%) and French (5.3%) and most contributions were made in urban areas (54.7%). The most frequent noun lemma in English was “tree” and in German “Fenster” (window). By comparing our English collection to corpora of everyday English and landscape descriptions, we identified frequent lemmas such as “tree”, “window”, “light”, “street”, “garden” and “sky” which occurred significantly more than expected. These terms hint as to important components of the everyday landscapes of our users. We suggest a number of ways in which our corpus could be used in ongoing research on landscapes, complementing existing PPGIS approaches, providing data for domain specific lexicons for landscape analysis and as an input to landscape character assessment.

Narrative poem is a term in the traditional literary genre that has long appeared in the literature of ethnic groups in the Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asia’s narrative poem is not only a unique genre in the type of regional literature that is very popular and beloved with its residents, but also is a rich, diverse development genre in both quantity and quality, has a great position and role in the literary history progress of ethnic groups in the Southeast Asia. The article gives an understanding of the concept as Narrative poem in terms of theory and historical literature, using the method of comparing types, semiotics, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, analytical and intuitive methods in literary research to study the basic characteristics of the genre of narrative poem in some Southeast Asian countries, typically scholarly narrative poems (written narrative poems). The research results show that some basic characteristics of the Southeast Asia’s narrative poem genre of structure and plot have developed from the preservation of the structure of folk tales to new creation, ensuring logically, closely, gradually reducing the folk factor and increasing the scholarly element

In Denmark, trophic rewilding in state‐owned, fenced‐off nature areas open to the public has given rise to fierce debates about recreational impacts. Based on a nationally representative survey (n = 5061) in 2022, we report overall attitude, interest in visiting, and changes in intended visit frequency. Associational analyses included two belief constructs (costs and benefits), four sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education and residence) and a recreational profile. Most of the respondents believed that benefits from rewilding, including creating good conditions for wild flora and fauna (82%), thriving of the released animals (60%) and good recreational opportunities (66%), would accrue. Some believed there would be costs relating to more difficult walking access (30%) and feelings of not being safe (26%). A clear majority (75%) had a positive or very positive attitude to this form of rewilding, and 70% of the respondents expressed that they were highly or moderately interested in visiting these areas. Most (66%) would visit the areas with the same frequency. Multivariable regression analyses showed that respondents who expected benefits, had a longer education, lived in larger urban areas or were members of a nature conservation society were more likely to report a very positive attitude and a very high interest in visiting the areas. To avoid only focussing on the views prevalent in an often polarised media debate about nature planning and management, clarifying the variety of views found among members of the wider public is important. A challenge for managers and policymakers is that most members of the public who are positive about rewilding belong to a mainly silent majority. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Scientific progress occurs as ideas are developed, challenged and debated. Such debates between different schools of thought are plentiful in the history of ecology (Real and Brown, 1991). One emerging ecological paradigm is that tropical forest and savanna can be alternative stable states under the same environmental conditions. There is increasing consensus that savannas can be self-stabilizing through a positive feedback mechanism between fire and low tree cover. Also, the closed canopies of forests can prevent fire to occur by outshading flammable herbaceous vegetation and creating a humid microclimate (Hoffmann et al., 2012). Thus, under given climatic conditions, both forest and savanna can be present. Evidence for this forest–savanna bistability is derived from fire-exclusion experiments (Moreira, 2000; Higgins et al., 2007), vegetation mosaics observed in the field (Warman and Moles, 2009; Favier et al., 2012; Hoffmann et al., 2012; Dantas et al., 2013; Gray and Bond, 2015), vegetation shifts in the paleo-ecological record (Fletcher et al., 2014), mathematical models (Staver and Levin, 2012; Van Nes et al., 2014; Baudena et al., 2015; Staal et al., 2015) and analyses of remotely sensed estimates of tree cover (Hirota et al., 2011; Staver et al., 2011a, b). The latter studies have fueled this debate by showing that tree-cover frequency distributions across the global tropics are bimodal within a range of climatic conditions (with peaks around 20 and > 80 % cover and intermediate cover being rare). In a recent publication in this journal, Veenendaal et al. (2015) presented a global field study of tropical forest– savanna ecotones (or “zones of transition”), arguing that their data are inconsistent with the hypothesis that tropical forest and savanna can be alternative stable states through a feedback between fire and low tree cover. Here we assert that the results presented do not refute but rather support the emerging view of alternative stable states in the tropics and the role of fire therein. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the picture is far from complete and believe that insights presented by the authors can contribute to a coherent understanding of forest–savanna dynamics. Veenendaal et al. (2015) investigated the effect of climate and soil conditions on vegetation structure of 61 one-hectare plots near forest–savanna ecotones in South America, Africa and Australia. Based on their extensive data collection, they provide two main arguments supporting inconsistency with the alternative stable states hypothesis. Firstly, in contrast to what is expected from discontinuities in the remote sensing data (Hirota et al., 2011; Staver et al., 2011b), they argue that woody plant cover in their field plots shows no signs of discontinuity. Secondly, they consider a soil–climatic envelope to be sufficient to explain the forest–savanna transition

The framework of the plant economics spectrum advanced our understanding of plant ecology and proved as a unifying concept across plant taxonomy, growth forms and biomes. Similar approaches for animals mostly focus on linking life‐history and metabolic theories, but not on their application in ecosystem research. To fill this gap, we propose the animal economics spectrum (AES) based on broadly available traits that describe organismal size, biological times and rates. To exemplify the feasibility and general usefulness of constructing the AES, we compiled data on adult and offspring body mass, life span, age at first reproduction, reproductive and metabolic rate of 98 terrestrial taxa from seven selected animal classes and mapped these taxa into an exemplary quantitative trait space. The AES consists of two principal axes related to reproductive strategies and the pace of life; both axes are linked by animal metabolism. The AES thus closely mirrors seminal ideas on fundamental life‐history strategies and more recent discoveries and developments in the fields of life‐history and metabolic theories. Furthermore, we find associations between the positions of animals within the AES and taxonomy, thermoregulation and body plan. The AES shows that key dimensions describing different ecological strategies of animals can be depicted with functional traits that are relatively easily accessible for a broad spectrum of animal taxa. We suggest future steps towards an application of the AES in ecosystem research aiming at the understanding of ecological processes and ecosystem functions. Additionally, we urge for databases that compile comparable functional traits for a large proportion of animals, but also for further groups of organisms with the ultimate goal to map the economics spectrum of life. The framework of the AES will be relevant for understanding ecological processes across animal taxa at species, community and ecosystem levels. We further discuss how it can facilitate predictions on how the functional composition and diversity of animal communities can be affected by global change. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Land‐use change is a major driver of biodiversity loss, affecting tropical forests and savannas at an unprecedented rate. To protect these ecosystems and their biodiversity, national conservation areas and international conservation funding have increased considerably in these regions. Understanding of how conservation funding allocation relates to dynamics in deforestation and conservation areas is crucial to identifying what mobilizes and distributes conservation funding. By applying fixed‐effect models on 30 years of dynamics in forest cover, conservation areas and conservation funding in the main deforestation regions of South America, we analysed the conservation funding allocation strategies in relation to deforestation (proactive vs. reactive), conservation areas (expanding or consolidating) and previous investment (agglomerating or not). We also assessed whether allocation strategies vary across regions and the stages of deforestation and conservation. We found that funding allocation followed conservation areas and higher prior funding levels over space and over time, across all regions and deforestation stages. This highlights the important role of recognized conservation areas (including protected areas and Indigenous territories) in mobilizing financial support for conservation. The allocation strategies relating to forest dynamics, however, varied depending on the scale of analysis, whether we look at the temporal or spatial dimension, and in which regions we assessed the allocation patterns. Capturing region‐level biases and within‐region dynamics is crucial for more effective and equitable conservation. As public and private actors commit to mobilizing more conservation funding and conserving more areas of the Earth, our insights on the relations between forest change and conservation efforts can help improve the allocation of conservation areas and conservation funding. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

The remarkable congruence of New and Old World savanna origins.

This article research subject are features of landscape descriptions in the novel by Honore de Balzac «Letters of Two Brides». The novel was written in 1841 and is included in «Scenes of private life», which the writer dedicates it to Georges Sand. The author of the article bases the analysis of Balzac’s book on the landscape descriptions given by L. N. Dmitriyevskaya. She defines the landscape as an artistic image of nature, a «portrait» of the soul and person’s worldview and an image of the world. The landscapes in the novel are multifaceted and include a love motive related to the development of one of the main themes of «Scenes from private life» - topics of women’s happiness. It is manifested in two variations: amour spiritualis (spiritual love) and amour infernalis (love to oneself, love-passion). In the course of work we use historical-literary method, cultural-historical method and method of motive analysis. The relevance and novelty of research is related to the significance of the creativity of Honoré de Balzac in the history of world literature, the constant interest of foreign and domestic scientists to problems of writer’s style and attention to modern literacy study to the ethics of descriptions as an important element of the artistic world and low knowledge of the characteristics of the Balzac’s narrative technique. Landscape descriptions in the novel by Honore de Balzac «Letters of Two Brides» are considered as an important compositional element in the narrative structure. They serve as an exposure to each new stage of heroines’ life. Nature descriptions become «portraits of soul», reflecting the difference in the natures of girls. And yet the landscape becomes one of the main image system components, forming the symbolic space of heaven or hell.

Wild deer are iconic symbols of Scotland's natural and cultural heritage, but their burgeoning populations are increasingly contributing to ecological and socio‐economic harm. In response, the Scottish Government is considering new policy measures to increase the annual deer cull. However, deer management in Scotland is deeply rooted in cultural, economic, and ecological histories and increased culling could be morally contentious. Deer management is topical and frequently in the media. Understanding whether there is a social licence to increase the cull is valuable for anticipating public responses to and the success of suggested policy reforms. We used an online experiment to test whether members of the Scottish public perceived increasing the deer cull in Scotland to be more or less socially acceptable depending on how messages are framed in mock online news articles. Drawing from frames supported by previous literature and present in national news coverage, we tested the influence of text frames (i.e. justifications for deer culling), gain/loss frames (i.e. “increasing” a positive outcome vs. “reducing the loss of” the same positive outcome), and image frames (i.e. “healthy” vs. “unhealthy” deer and setting). Participants generally perceived increasing the cull to be more acceptable than unacceptable, indicating broad public support. We found little evidence that perceptions of acceptability are sensitive to message framing. Participants were slightly more likely to perceive increasing the deer cull as more acceptable if they were shown the healthy image frame compared to the unhealthy image frame. Instead, participants' gender identity, self‐reported social identities (deer stalker, i.e. hunter, or animal protectionist), general experiences and perceptions of deer, and trust in the Scottish Government explained differences in perceptions. Policy implications . Public beliefs, knowledge, social identities, and trust in institutions can help explain why people hold different perspectives on lethal control of deer in Scotland. Engaging with these aspects could help attenuate social conflict as Scotland moves towards a more sustainable system of deer management, which will involve higher levels of culling, a controversial aspect of wildlife conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.