Inhospitable Areas Research Articles

Offshore vagrancy in passerines is predicted by season, wind-drift, and species characteristics

BackgroundMigratory birds accomplish remarkable feats of long-distance navigation. Vagrants, few individuals who migrate to incorrect locations, reveal conditions where orientation and navigation fail. Studies of vagrancy on a continental scale reveal the importance of external factors such as strong winds driving birds off course, clouds obscuring migratory landmarks, and natural disruptions in the Earth’s magnetic field interfering with migratory orientation. Species may also possess characteristics that make them more prone to vagrancy. The external drivers of vagrancy on a smaller scale are less understood.MethodsI used eBird, a community science dataset comprising millions of bird observations, to study land passerines observed over the Pacific Ocean, here termed offshore vagrants. These data present the opportunity to study a particular case of vagrancy: small-scale displacement into highly inhospitable areas. I modeled how season, wind, lack of visibility, interference with magnetoreception, and species differences may predict offshore vagrancy. Then, I modeled how species vagrancy likelihood is predicted by morphological and life history traits.ResultsVagrancy was more common in the fall and positively associated with stronger tail winds in the spring. Species with greater preference for understory foraging habitat were less likely to occur as vagrants. Species vagrancy likelihood was higher in birds with a longer migration distance and rounded wings, but the relationship was weaker in birds with a pointed wings. Brown-headed Cowbirds were the most common offshore species in terms of absolute number of records and proportional to onshore frequency.ConclusionsOffshore community science records proved revealing of mechanisms for small scale vagrancy in passerines. Offshore vagrancy can be driven by wind drift in the spring, but not in the fall despite higher overall levels of vagrancy. Life history characteristics like foraging habitat preference and migration duration may make some species more vulnerable to the effects of wind drift. Species with longer migrations may have more time to encounter vagrancy causing events, but greater aerodynamic efficiency may counteract this effect.

Modelling current and future distribution of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) under climate change scenarios in Africa

Climate change is altering mosquito distribution by expanding the geographic range of species like Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) into previously inhospitable areas due to rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. This shift increases the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in regions that were once unaffected, posing new public health challenges globally. Ae. aegypti is the vector that spreads the arboviral illnesses dengue fever, chikungunya, and zika. Studying Ae. aegypti's probable geographic distribution habitats in Africa under present and projected climatic circumstances is the goal of the current research. The scenarios used are the Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model (BCC-CSM2-MR) with two Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) for each of the general circulation model (GCMs): SSP126. Altitude, temperature, seasonality (standard deviation *100; bio4), and yearly precipitation (bio12) were found to be the most significant environmental factors influencing Ae. aegypti's spread.

Can a poverty alleviation programme really help vulnerable rural households? Insights from China

ABSTRACT Poverty alleviation through relocation (PAR) is an important component of poverty alleviation programmes and relocates vulnerable rural households from inhospitable areas to help them get out of poverty. To examine the impact of a poverty alleviation programme on rural households’ ability to establish a sustainable livelihood, this article analyzes the influence of PAR on rural households from the perspective of livelihood vulnerability in a two-way fixed effects model. We have found that PAR significantly reduced rural households’ livelihood vulnerability, and the longer the households remained relocated, the stronger the effect. PAR reduced livelihood vulnerability by lowering exposure and increasing adaptive capacity. Moreover, adaptive capacity increased with the relocation time. Finally, the influence of PAR was stronger in rural relocation than urban relocation, but the influence of relocation time was opposite. Given this, the government should improve the construction of the resettlement areas to reduce the risk exposure of the relocated population. Industry and employment assistance need to be implemented to enhance their adaptive capacity. Finally, it’s necessary to promote the social integration of urban relocated households and help them adapt to life in new communities to accelerate the reduction of livelihood vulnerability.

Chemical weathering detection in the periglacial landscapes of Maritime Antarctica: New approach using geophysical sensors, topographic variables and machine learning algorithms

The chemical weathering intensity in Antarctica is underestimated. As the chemical weathering intensity increases, hydrological, geochemical and geophysical changes occur in the different environmental spheres and at their interfaces through reactions and energy flows. Thus, once chemical weathering rates are understood and estimated, they can be used to predict and assess changes and trends in different environmental spheres. Few studies on the chemical weathering intensity have been performed in Antarctica. We used radiometric and magnetic properties associated with terrain attributes and the chemical degree of alteration of the igneous rock to model the chemical weathering intensity in Maritime Antarctica by using machine learning. Then, we related the chemical weathering intensity and geophysical variables with periglacial processes. To do this, gamma-spectrometric and magnetic readings were carried out using proximal-field sensors at 91 points located on different lithologies in a representative area of Maritime Antarctica. A qualitative analysis of chemical alteration for the different lithologies was carried out based on field observations and rock properties, and the levels of the chemical weathering degree were established. The geophysical data associated with terrain attributes were used as input data in the modeling of the weathering intensity. Then, the levels of the rock weathering degree were used as the “y” variable in the models. The results indicated that the C5.0 algorithm had the best performance in predicting the weathering intensity, and the most important variables were eTh, 40K, 40K/eTh, 40K/eU, the magnetic susceptibility and terrain attributes. The contents of radionuclides and ferrimagnetic minerals in different lithologies, concomitantly with the intensity at which chemical weathering occurs, determine the contents of these elements. However, the stability and distribution of these elements in a cold periglacial environment are controlled by periglacial processes. The chemical weathering intensity prediction model using gamma-spectrometric and magnetic data matched the in situ estimate of the chemical degree of alteration of the rock. The pyritized andesites showed the highest intensities of weathering, followed by tuffites, diorites, andesitic basalts and basaltic andesites, and the lowest weathering intensity was shown by undifferentiated marine sediments. This work highlighted the suitability of using machine learning techniques and proximal-field sensor data to study the chemical weathering process on different rocks in these important and inhospitable areas of the cryosphere system.

Impact of poverty alleviation through relocation: From the perspectives of income and multidimensional poverty

Poverty alleviation through relocation (PAR) is a milestone project in winning the battle against extreme poverty and aims to relocate poor people from inhospitable areas and lift them out of poverty. The effect of PAR on poor households merits evaluation as it is also the basis for understanding the achievements of targeted poverty alleviation and preventing a large-scale return to poverty. This study analyzed the effect of PAR on poor households from the perspectives of income and multidimensional poverty, based on panel data of 1009 poor households from eight provinces in China. The results showed that the incidence of multidimensional poverty in poor households exceeded that of income poverty, and its decline was faster than that of income poverty. However, the overlap between multidimensional poverty and income poverty was low, at 26.3%, 4.9%, and 0% in 2016, 2018, and 2020, respectively. PAR showed a significantly negative effect on poor households’ income and multidimensional poverty, and the longer the relocation time, the more significant the effect. PAR reduced the income poverty of poor households mainly by increasing their wage income and property income, and multidimensional poverty mainly by improving their living standards. The impact of PAR on income and multidimensional poverty is regional heterogeneous. Post-relocation measures should improve the income and capability of poor households through industrial development, employment assistance, infrastructure upgrades, and public service improvements. In addition, the income and multidimensional poverty standards should be jointly adopted in the governance of relative poverty.

A preliminary study on the features of Chinese social work forces’ involvement in rural anti-poverty

ABSTRACT In 2015, the Chinese government announced the “Statement on Winning the Battle against Extreme Poverty” and launched a series of more intensive nationwide programmes targeting absolute poverty eradication. Chinese social agents from all walks of life, such as professional social work forces, were called and united by the central government to be involved in the battle. Through document research and in-depth interviews, this qualitative research aims to explore the Chinese features of social workers’ involvement in rural anti-poverty by figuring out why and how Chinese social workers undertook the campaign. The authors found that Chinese social workers’ anti-poverty work had strong state-oriented characteristics, and this work was greatly influenced by practical conditions, namely, embracing the administrative work method of designating staff to poor areas, pairing assistance, following up the social inclusion of the relocated population from inhospitable areas and taking full advantage of the new farm tool, e-commerce.

Effective Education Mode for the Mental Health of Students in Schools Relocated from Inhospitable Areas

Effective Education Mode for the Mental Health of Students in Schools Relocated from Inhospitable Areas

Effect of Farmland Transfer on Poverty Reduction under Different Targeted Poverty Alleviation Patterns Based on PSM-DID Model in Karst Area of China

Rural farmland transfer is a key factor in the successful implementation of targeted poverty alleviation strategies in China. In this paper, a multidimensional index system with 15 indicators from five dimensions, namely, natural, human, physical, financial, and social capital was established. It analyzed the effect of farmland transfer on poverty alleviation under four typical poverty alleviation models implemented in a karst area in China by using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Difference (DID) to analyze 467 rural households questionnaire responses from five representative villages in Guizhou Province. The results show that different models had different effects on poverty reduction. In the model of "three changes" + relocation for poverty alleviation + rural tourism + poor households, farmland transfer was the most effective in poverty alleviation, as attested by its average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) value of 0.44. Rural households' nonfarm income increased significantly to develop rural tourism after relocation from inhospitable areas. In the model of "farmland lease/shareholding" +cooperative + enterprise + poor households, farmland transfer had a moderate effect on poverty alleviation, with an ATT value of 0.06. Its effect on the total income of rural households was the lowest among the four models. This study's results can provide a theoretical reference for solidifying the benefits of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies in karst areas.

Philomatry in plants: why do so many species have limited seed dispersal?

Many have noted limited seed dispersal of plants in diverse environments and attempted evolutionary explanations for it. Although philopatric ("love of fatherland") is used by zoologists to describe organisms that remain near their place of origin, philomatric ("love of motherland") is proposed as more appropriate for plants because seeds develop on the maternal parent, fecundity and dispersal are maternally influenced characteristics, and the term dovetails with the mother-site hypothesis (MSH) for the evolution of restricted dispersal. Proximate reasons for philomatry include intrinsic drivers such as morphological features of diaspores and where on the maternal parent they are produced. Extrinsic drivers include local environmental conditions, surrounding vegetation, and ineffective dispersal agents. The MSH proposes that selection should favor philomatry in a population adapted to a particular habitat because offspring will likewise be adapted to that same habitat. Several studies show philomatry can mitigate distance-dependent costs of dispersing into surrounding inhospitable areas. Undispersed diaspores can eliminate energetic costs of accessory structures or biochemicals needed by dispersible diaspores, but it is unclear whether these costs are significant to the evolution of philomatry. Disadvantages of limited dispersal are inability to escape deteriorating habitat conditions, inability to colonize new habitats, and inbreeding among offspring. Heterocarpic species offset these disadvantages by producing dispersed plus undispersed diaspores. A conceptual framework is presented relating dispersal distance to the probability of seedling establishment. Future research should recognize dispersal as a covarying syndrome of multiple life history traits and focus on ecological selection agents that favor philomatry.

Paper Trails: The US Post and the Making of the American West by Cameron Blevins

Reviewed by: Paper Trails: The US Post and the Making of the American West by Cameron Blevins Jesse R. Andrews Paper Trails: The US Post and the Making of the American West. Cameron Blevins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 249. $35.00, hardcover, ISBN 978-0-1900-5367-3. By 1880 the US Post Office was the most expansive communication network in world history. Cameron Blevins's Paper Trails traces how this network grew so large and discusses its role in the history of the western United States from roughly the 1860s to 1913. Blevins avoids writing a traditional historical monograph, instead relying on a dataset of the tens of thousands of post office locations and routes that opened and closed over the roughly sixty years the work covers. While this may seem like dry reading, the book manages to masterfully blend individual narratives to give context to the data, even including a surprisingly touching chapter devoted to an orphaned family of four children. Nonetheless, despite the fruitful excursions into narrative-based history, this is a work of digital history, utilizing computational methods and visualizations to inform us about the past. Where was the state? As simple as the question sounds, it is a question often elided by scholars. Blevins notes Max Weber's model of the state as consisting of bureaucracy and coercive functions. However, Blevins finds that neither of those functions adequately describes the workings of the US Post Office during the nineteenth century. Despite geographic synecdoches like Washington, DC, the American state in the late nineteenth century was dispersed over a continent in tens of thousands of places, many of which the federal government in Washington possessed only a vague awareness. Blevins convincingly argues that in [End Page 82] the guise of the post office, the state, far from being an abstraction to those on the American frontier, was its crucial link to state power. As Blevins documents, the post office was frequently the first and only connection to the federal government in newly occupied territory. Blevins presents the model of the nineteenth-century American state as agency-based. Almost all functions of the post office were contracted out to local operators. This model saved on expenses and made the state much more nimble than it would have been otherwise, dramatically speeding up the process of expropriation of native lands, railroad construction, white settlement, and resource extraction. Blevins also documents how, unlike other nineteenth-century postal systems that required profitability, the United States had virtually no rules concerning locations. The postal apparatus based in Washington acted as a rubber stamp in approving new postal locations with no understanding of conditions on the ground. In this way, the agency-based model was essential in rapidly replicating state functions wherever white Americans took up residence on the continent. This agency-based model also helps explain why the area of the country most dependent on the federal government for its creation and continued existence is the most skeptical of state power. The federal government felt local to the residents of the dispersed settlers of the region because federal power was mediated through local agents. Blevins points out that the agency model often also had the side effect of emboldening local actors, often acting against the explicit direction of the US military in occupying native land and abrogating treaties, and in fomenting conflict on the frontier, but this did little to curtail its use. Maintaining connections back east made moving to remote, often marginal lands more attractive than it would have otherwise been. How much did the ability to receive correspondence, news and entertainment, and even financial support (via postal money order) from loved ones affect the willingness of individuals to relocate to inhospitable areas far away from even a modicum of the conforms of settler societies? This is a difficult question to quantify. However, in chapter 3, Blevins argues convincingly that the effects were significant through his sketch of the orphaned Curtis family. These siblings whose lives are documented through forty years of letters to one another act as a stand-in for the hundreds of thousands of white settlers moving west who used the post office as a...

Calving Event Led to Changes in Phytoplankton Bloom Phenology in the Mertz Polynya, Antarctica

AbstractPolynyas are subject to variability in winds and ocean circulation and are important sites of ecological productivity. In February 2010, the B09B iceberg collided with the Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT), calving a 78 × 40‐km giant iceberg which modified the icescape and primary productivity of the Mertz polynya. In this study, we use satellite ocean color and sea ice concentration to investigate the variability, trends, and drivers of phytoplankton blooms in the Mertz polynya since 1997. During the bloom, over 21 years, we found (i) a later ice retreat time, (ii) an increase in sea ice concentration, (iii) a decrease in open‐water period, (iv) a later bloom start, and (v) a decrease in bloom duration. Our results suggest that major postcalving changes in the physical characteristics of the polynya, mainly its icescape, are the primary drivers of phytoplankton phenology. More specifically, the MGT calving event resulted in significant seasonal and regional changes, with higher eastern chl‐a and mean summer chl‐a postcalving. While satellite data are useful to study long‐term variability in these inhospitable areas, they only focus on the ocean surface and are obscured by ice and clouds. Additional subsurface parameters from seal tags, gliders and moorings in the southernmost polar regions would strengthen our comprehension of phytoplankton and physical changes in ocean dynamics that may have far‐reaching consequences, from global circulation to carbon export.

Winds at departure shape seasonal patterns of nocturnal bird migration over the North Sea

On their migratory journeys, terrestrial birds can come across large inhospitable areas with limited opportunities to rest and refuel. Flight over these areas poses a risk especially when wind conditions en route are adverse, in which case inhospitable areas can act as an ecological barrier for terrestrial migrants. Thus, within the east‐Atlantic flyway, the North Sea can function as an ecological barrier. The main aim of this study was to shed light on seasonal patterns of bird migration in the southern North Sea and determine whether departure decisions on nights of intense migration were related to increased wind assistance. We measured migration characteristics with a radar that was located 18 km off the NW Dutch coast and used simulation models to infer potential departure locations of birds on nights with intense nocturnal bird migration. We calculated headings, track directions, airspeeds, groundspeeds on weak and intense migration nights in both seasons and compared speeds between seasons. Moreover, we tested if departure decisions on intense migration nights were associated with supportive winds. Our results reveal that on the intense migration nights in spring, the mean heading was towards E, and birds departed predominantly from the UK. On intense migration nights in autumn, the majority of birds departed from Denmark, Germany and north of the Netherlands with the mean heading towards SW. Prevailing winds from WSW at departure were supportive of a direct crossing of the North Sea in spring. However, in autumn winds were generally not supportive, which is why many birds exploited positive wind assistance which occurred on intense migration nights. This implies that the seasonal wind regimes over the North Sea alter its migratory dynamics which is reflected in headings, timing and intensity of migration.

The Time for Insects Is Now

The Time for Insects Is Now

Speciation Associated with Shifts in Migratory Behavior in an Avian Radiation.

Migratory animals move up to thousands of kilometers every year [1]. Losses of migration (i.e., migratory drop-offs) occur when individuals of a migratory species stop migrating and establish founder sedentary populations, a phenomenon documented in birds [2-5] and butterflies [6]. In theory, losses-and also gains-of migration might promote speciation if sedentary and migratory populations become reproductively isolated [7-9]. Because migratory and sedentary strategies involve alternative physiological, behavioral, and morphological traits [10-13], divergence along multiple axes of organismal function is expected to accompany switches in migratory behavior, potentially accelerating speciation. We present evidence of speciation driven by a migratory drop-off in the fork-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) resulting in reproductive isolation likely driven by changes in breeding schedules (allochronic speciation [13-15]) and geographic isolation of breeding grounds (allopatric speciation [16]). Phylogenetic analyses across New World flycatchers (Tyrannidae) showed that an association between speciation and drop-offs is also observable at a macroevolutionary scale. Loss of migration was significantly more frequent than its gain, and speciation rates of migratory and partially migratory lineages (i.e., species having both migratory and sedentary populations) exceeded those of sedentary lineages. Models of trait evolution indicated that partial migration is an intermediate step between migratory and sedentary states in this family. Given that partial migration is widespread across migratory animals (e.g., of all migratory birds, ca. 51% are partially migratory [5]), speciation via switches in migratory behavior might be an important yet overlooked mechanism of animal diversification.

Technological surveillance and competitive intelligence as opportunities for Argentina in the deployment phase of the information and communication technologies era

Currently, the latest technological revolution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a fact. It has reached to the most inhospitable areas. In this setting, the massive expansion ...

International trade of global scarce water use in agriculture: Modeling on watershed level with monthly resolution

Fresh water is a renewable yet limited natural resource. While abundant in some areas, fresh water is scarce in others where its consumption in agriculture leads to negative impacts on humanity, ecosystems and biodiversity. International trade in water intensive products can help to reduce water stress or may increase water consumption in water stressed regions.We attribute the share of global scarce water use by the agricultural production to individual countries and regions. We convert the volume of blue water use to cubic meters of scarce water equivalent by reflecting local and temporal water scarcity on a watershed and monthly level and allocate to final consumers, who pull the production chains.Our results indicate that international trade “helps” to limit water stress in arid regions, such as the Middle East region, Portugal and Mexico. However, the Middle East and Mexico still embody high scarce water use in exported products, which counter-acts stress mitigation. From the global perspective, the role of international trade in water stress mitigation is ambiguous as it enables humanity to thrive in inhospitable areas of the Middle East region; and consumption of products which are not available under domestic climatic conditions, e.g. cotton, sugar cane and rice.

Spring migration strategies of Whinchat Saxicola rubetra when successfully crossing potential barriers of the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea

The flexibility for migrant land birds to be able to travel long distances rapidly without stopovers, and thus to cross wide inhospitable areas such as deserts and oceans, is likely to be a major determinant of their survival during migration. We measured variation in flight distance, speed and duration of major stopovers (more than 2 days), using geolocator tracks of 35 Whinchats Saxicola rubetra that migrated successfully from central Nigeria to Eastern Europe in spring, and examined how these measures changed, or depended on age, when crossing the barriers of the Sahara or the Mediterranean Sea. In all, 31% of Whinchats crossed at least the Sahara and the Mediterranean before a major stopover and 17% travelled over 4751 km on average without any major stopovers. Flight distance and speed during, and duration of major stopovers after, crossing the Mediterranean Sea were indistinguishable from migration over Continental Europe. Speed during a migration leg was lowest crossing Continental Europe and fastest, with longer duration major stopovers afterwards, when crossing the Sahara, but there was much individual variation, and start date of migration was also a good predictor of stopover duration. As the distance travelled during a leg increased, so major stopover duration afterwards increased (1 day for every 1000 km), but the speed of travel during the leg had no effect. There were no differences in any migration characteristics with age, other than an earlier start date for adult birds. The results suggest that adaptive shortening or even dropping of daily stopovers may occur often, allowing rapid, long‐distance migration at the cost of major stopovers afterwards, but such behaviour is not restricted to or always found when crossing barriers, even for birds on their first spring migration. The results may highlight the importance of stopover sites rather than barrier width as the likely key component to successful migration. Individual variation in spring migration may indicate that small passerine migrants like Whinchats may be resilient to future changes in the extent of barriers they encounter, although this may not be true of first autumn migrations or if stopover sites are lost.

Footpaths Marked by Changes in Geological Clasts as Indicators of Mobility in Tenerife, Canary Islands

ABSTRACTStudies on the mobility of past populations are useful in the interpretation of trade and lifestyle. Preservation of ancient paths is uncommon. In Tenerife, a volcanic island of the Canary Archipelago, ancient paths are still preserved, due to the dry climatic conditions and the presence of extensive lava fields in inhospitable areas of the Island. The Guanches who inhabited this island before the Spanish conquest, those surviving in the highlands after the conquest, and modern goatherders, utilised a still identifiable net of paths to access the central mountains. Clasts in the beds of these paths have suffered variable abrasion, depending on the time during which the path was used and on the number of people and/or animals that have walked on it. We estimated roundness of 1819 clasts collected at different parts of the net of paths crossing different lava fields of known antiquity. Significant differences in roundness of clasts among different parts of the paths allowed an inference about the relative importance of each of the paths constituting the net. Therefore, assessment of roundness of the clasts of the beds of paths may aid in the understanding of the migrations of people.

Switching behavior of droplets crossing nodes on a fiber network

Lately, curious structures have been erected in arid regions: they are large nets able to catch water from fog. Tiny droplets condense on the mesh and are collected on the bottom of it. This innovative technology is crucial to obtain drinkable water in these inhospitable areas. Many studies aim to understand the behavior of droplets trapped on this entanglement of fibers. However, the motion of a droplet sliding on a network of inclined fibers and encountering several crossings when going down remains an open question. Here, we look at the path chosen by such a drop and, especially, we analyze its behavior at the different nodes of the array. We show that droplets may change from one fiber to another one depending on the slope and the diameter of these fibers. We prove that we can force a droplet to follow a specific path simply by carefully designing the fiber mesh. These findings are expected to provide a very convenient way to manipulate small droplets in applications from microfluidics to fog harvesting.

CHANGES IN LAND COVER AND LAND USE IN THE KARST AREA OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

UDK 631.4:551.435.8(497.6)
 Natural characteristics of karst areas (lack of water on the surface, scarce soil and vegetation) are rather specific and because of them they are often viewed as unsuitable for human habitation. They are often described as inhospitable and passive areas, and Aley (1992) states that karst areas in America are correlated with areas of rural poverty. A large part of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of karst areas (karst land extending northwest-southeast) which on average are quite sparsely populated. The scarcity of nature, and especially of soil functions in terms of agriculture, as well as the previous period of industrial development caused depopulation which became particularly apparent after the recent war. This contributed to the fact that in some karst areas population has been drastically reduced, in some places by more than 60%, which affects the condition of land cover and land use as well as change in functions of soil in the ecosystem.
 Given the fact that the soil formation process on karst terrain is very slow (these are mainly shallow and skeletal soils) and in view of the importance of soil and its multi- functionality, this paper is aimed at analyzing the extent and nature of changes which occurred in land cover and in land use in this part of BiH, namely at analyzing the causes and effects. In order to be able to make such analysis, we used land cover databases, aerial photographs as well as orthophoto maps of the terrain.