Island Geography Research Articles

Solar Nadirs in Pre-Contact Hawaiian Cultural Astronomy

Pre-contact Hawaiian cultural astronomy, including the major stations of the Sun, remains understudied. Kūkaniloko, on the island of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands, is recognised as the piko, the navel, of the island - that is, not only the geographical centre, but also culturally the centre. The island's geography includes features that serve as landscape markers for the rise and set of the Sun at the Sun stations and for the rise and set of stars which centre on Kūkaniloko. The site thus offers a window into pre-European-contact Hawaiian astronomy and shows the attention paid to the eight tropical Sun stations. This paper considers least-known of these stations, the solar nadir, and the resulting cultural functions from the point of view of Kūkaniloko.

Geckos from the middle Miocene of Devínska Nová Ves (Slovakia): new material and a review of the previous record

New species of a gecko of the genus Euleptes is described here—E. klembarai. The material comes from the middle Miocene (Astaracian, MN 6) of Slovakia, more precisely from the well-known locality called Zapfe`s fissure fillings (Devinska Nova Ves, Bratislava). The fossil material consists of isolated left maxilla, right dentary, right pterygoid and cervical and dorsal vertebrae. The currently known fossil record suggests that isolation of environment of the Zapfe`s fissure site, created a refugium for the genus Euleptes in Central Europe (today, this taxon still inhabits southern part of Europe and North Africa—E. europea), probably resulting from the island geography of this area during the middle Miocene. The isolation of this territory might have facilitated allopatric speciation.

Diversification in continental island archipelagos: new evidence on the roles of fragmentation, colonization and gene flow on the genetic divergence of Aegean Nigella (Ranunculaceae).

Disentangling the relative roles of past fragmentation (vicariance), colonization (dispersal) and post-divergence gene flow in the genetic divergence of continental island organisms remains a formidable challenge. Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were used to (1) gain further insights into the biogeographical processes underlying the Pleistocene diversification of the Aegean Nigella arvensis complex; (2) evaluate the role of potential key factors driving patterns of population genetic variability (mating system, geographical isolation and historical contingencies); and (3) test the robustness of conclusions previously drawn from chloroplast (cp) DNA. Genetic diversity was analysed for 235 AFLP markers from 48 populations (497 individuals) representing 11 taxa of the complex using population genetic methods and Bayesian assignment tests. Most designated taxa are identifiable as genetically distinct units. Both fragmentation and dispersal-driven diversification processes occurred at different geological time scales, from Early to Late Pleistocene, specifically (1) sea barrier-induced vicariant speciation in the Cyclades, the Western Cretan Strait and Ikaria; and (2) bi-regional colonizations of the 'Southern Aegean Island Arc' from the Western vs. Eastern Aegean mainland, followed by allopatric divergences in Crete vs. Rhodos and Karpathos/Kasos. Outcrossing island taxa experienced drift-related demographic processes that are magnified in the two insular selfing species. Population genetic differentiation on the mainland seems largely driven by dispersal limitation, while in the Central Aegean it may still be influenced by historical events (island fragmentation and sporadic long-distance colonization). The biogeographical history of Aegean Nigella is more complex than expected for a strictly allopatric vicariant model of divergence. Nonetheless, the major phylogeographical boundaries of this radiation are largely congruent with the geography and history of islands, with little evidence for ongoing gene exchange between divergent taxa. The present results emphasize the need to investigate further biological and landscape features and contemporary vs. historical processes in driving population divergence and taxon diversification in Aegean plant radiations.

Rightlessness in an Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants by Ayten Gündoğdu

Reviewed by: Rightlessness in an Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants by Ayten Gündoğdu Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann (bio) Ayten Gündoğdu, Rightlessness in an Age of Rights: Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Struggles of Migrants (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), ISBN 9780199370412, 298 pages. In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt famously called for the "right to have rights." Reflecting on her own status as a stateless refugee from Germany, Arendt broadened her analysis to include the problem of statelessness as a whole. Ayten Gündoğdu engages with the entirety of Arendt's opus, especially with The Human Condition and On Revolution as well as with The Origins, to unpack the various meanings and implications of this call. Gündoğdu starts with what Arendt called the "perplexity" of the contradiction between state sovereignty and the universal enjoyment of human rights. Then and now, rights are protected—or not—by sovereign states that normally extend their protection only to their citizens, and perhaps non-citizens legally in their territory. The naked human being, unmoored from the state-people-territory framework, has no rights. Gündoğdu extends Arendt's argument to cover all migrants, not only stateless people, focusing on their powerlessness and dehumanization. She grounds her analysis empirically in the dehumanization experienced by residents of camps for refugees and displaced people. She also refers to the appalling detention camps now dotting the world's island geography, where potential refugee claimants live in endless limbo. Gündoğdu discusses the ways in which human beings actually manufacture, claim, and win human rights. She notes that Arendt criticized the "urge to approach social issues with a moralistic framework centered on compassion," positioning those who faced injustice as "victims…erasing their singularity and denying them equal standing."1 Gündoğdu analyzes the limits of compassion in the treatment of camp-dwellers, people without political agency who are mere objects to be administered. She is [End Page 755] correct that compassion is not the best basis for solidarity. Camp dwellers cannot rely on compassion if they are to be treated as equal human beings enjoying liberty. Compassion and charity leave the human being at the mercy of others, mostly those of higher status who cannot help but look down upon those who are their administrative objects. Nevertheless, the real problem here is not that residents of refugee camps must rely on the compassion of those who administer them. Such administrators are probably well aware of the problems of subjecting residents to charity, but they are limited in what they can do by financial constraints and the state system. The UNHCR, other agencies of the UN system such as UNICEF, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Médecins sans Frontières are dependent upon voluntary financial contributions from states and compassionate private citizens. These voluntary contributions rarely, if ever, reach the amount needed merely to ensure that residents are not riddled by disease or suffering from malnutrition. Gündoğdu defends Arendt against charges of elitism made by other philosophers with whose work she engages. Arendt is criticized for denigrating manual and other kinds of labor, but Gündoğdu argues that she views both labor and work as crucial to human dignity. According to Gündoğdu, Arendt defined labor as dayto-day bodily maintenance and maintenance of one's home and surroundings. This labor grounds the individual in the material world and provides her with a sense of routine, permanence, and community with others. By work, Arendt apparently meant creativity, the ability to make or build something new and worthwhile. Both labor and work are denied to residents of camps. Dependent for their every need on the compassion of others, they endure lives of complete boredom without social roles or responsibilities. This is a degraded form of "life," without meaning or substance. Gündoğdu argues that Arendt did not rely on what philosophers call foundational principles of human rights. Rather, Arendt used an approach that Gündoğdu calls "founding." Rights, she argues along with Arendt, are founded in political action, including "inaugural speech acts that bring forth new...

Avantgarde und Modernismus. Dezentrierung, Subversion und Transformation im literarisch-künstlerischen Feld ed. by Wolfgang Asholt

Reviewed by: Avantgarde und Modernismus. Dezentrierung, Subversion und Transformation im literarisch-künstlerischen Feld ed. by Wolfgang Asholt Sage Anderson Avantgarde und Modernismus. Dezentrierung, Subversion und Transformation im literarisch-künstlerischen Feld. Edited by Wolfgang Asholt. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014. Pp. viii + 360. Cloth $140.00. ISBN 978-3110348330. The popularity of "avant-garde" as a cultural qualifier belies the ambivalence of the term's conceptual legacy. Connotations of innovation clash with associations of frustration and failure, not only when it comes to the artistic production of so-called historical avant-gardes, but also with respect to subsequent theoretical invocations. Far from offering an introduction, this volume serves as a continuation of scholarly debates about the contemporary relevance of the avant-garde as a concept within and beyond aesthetic spheres; it will thus be of greatest interest to specialists. Edited by Wolfang Asholt, Avantgarde und Modernismus follows two volumes edited by Asholt and Walter Fähnders: "Die ganze Welt ist eine Manifestation": Die europäische Avantgarde und ihre Manifeste (1997), and Der Blick vom Wolkenkratzer. Avantgarde, Avantgardekritik, Avantgardeforschung (2000). Where the former is oriented by genre, and the latter focuses on Theoriebildung, the current volume revolves around the question: "Was bleibt vom Avantgarde-Projekt?" This and related questions posed by Asholt in his short introduction provide impetus for the seventeen articles that make up the book, the result of a conference held at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies in June 2012. While the conjunction of avant-garde and modernism staged by the collection's title is thematized by some contributors, emphasis remains on the status of the avant-garde beyond its historical heyday. The volume is predominantly concerned with western European contexts, with exceptions concentrated in the central section, "Dezentrierungen der Avantgarden." Otherwise, this reviewer did not find the book's organization into three sections particularly useful for orientation. More helpful are questions that recur throughout, such as the one reiterated by Asholt in his closing [End Page 430] article, "Nach Altern und Scheitern: Brauchen wir noch eine Avantgarde-Theorie?" Before suggesting an affirmative, if qualified, answer, Asholt focuses on the difference between theories of the avant-garde and poststructuralist theory, which he locates "im Risiko der Verbindung von ästhetischer Erfahrung und Lebenspraxis" (340). Asholt highlights the avant-garde readiness to risk connection in the name of change as a legacy worth perpetuating in altered form. "Oder anders gesagt: die Veränderung der Lebenspraxis soll von Literatur und Kunst ausgehen und bedarf ihrer" (340). Ottmar Ette also questions the relationship between "Theorie der Avantgarde" and "Avantgarde der Theorie" in his article on "Nanotheorie." Ette considers Lévi-Strauss's notion of the artwork as modèle réduit along with relational geography of islands in order to indicate how theoretical landscapes might yet be remapped, analyzing the "microtexts" of Roland Barthes as an example of avant-garde potential transformed through a writing practice of constant reconfiguration. Christine Magerski provides a different take on the possibility of avant-garde theory today, focusing on the cultural implications of past artistic paradigms. Her account of the treatment of art in the social theories of Reckwitz, Bourdieu, Luhmann, and Gehlen convincingly demonstrates how the avant-garde is "nicht nur ein Teil der Genese moderner Kunst, sondern vielmehr ein konstitutives Element unserer Gegenwartsgesellschaft" (292). These and other responses indicate that the continued relevance of the avant-garde is contingent upon a renegotiation of its place in larger theoretical frameworks. Several accounts devoted to the constitution and dissolution of specific historical movements help to situate the concept of the avant-garde, which at times throughout the volume becomes frustratingly general. One of the few to focus on the 1920s, Aage A. Hansen-Löve looks at the logic of endings that uncomfortably underlies artistic programs based on perpetual beginning. Working through late phases of the Russian avant-garde with close readings of texts by, among others, Chlebinikov, Mandelstam, Charms, and Platonov, Hansen-Löve shows how figures of death gain dominance. Thomas Pavel provides useful prehistory by framing his critique of Clement Greenberg's influential 1939 dichotomy between avant-garde and kitsch with an account of pre-twentieth-century attitudes toward artistic accomplishment. He thus...

Geology and Geography of uninhabited islands around Daeheuksando and Hongdo

Geology and Geography of uninhabited islands around Daeheuksando and Hongdo

Local Stressors, Resilience, and Shifting Baselines on Coral Reefs.

Understanding how and why coral reefs have changed over the last twenty to thirty years is crucial for sustaining coral-reef resilience. We used a historical baseline from Kosrae, a typical small island in Micronesia, to examine changes in fish and coral assemblages since 1986. We found that natural gradients in the spatial distribution of fish and coral assemblages have become amplified, as island geography is now a stronger determinant of species abundance patterns, and habitat forming Acropora corals and large-bodied fishes that were once common on the leeward side of the island have become scarce. A proxy for fishing access best predicted the relative change in fish assemblage condition over time, and in turn, declining fish condition was the only factor correlated with declining coral condition, suggesting overfishing may have reduced ecosystem resilience. Additionally, a proxy for watershed pollution predicted modern coral assemblage condition, suggesting pollution is also reducing resilience in densely populated areas. Altogether, it appears that unsustainable fishing reduced ecosystem resilience, as fish composition has shifted to smaller species in lower trophic levels, driven by losses of large predators and herbivores. While prior literature and anecdotal reports indicate that major disturbance events have been rare in Kosrae, small localized disturbances coupled with reduced resilience may have slowly degraded reef condition through time. Improving coral-reef resilience in the face of climate change will therefore require improved understanding and management of growing artisanal fishing pressure and watershed pollution.

A generalization of the taxon cycle

A generalization of the taxon cycle

Phylogeographic structure in long-tailed voles (Rodentia: Arvicolinae) belies the complex Pleistocene history of isolation, divergence, and recolonization of Northwest North America's fauna.

Quaternary climate fluctuations restructured biodiversity across North American high latitudes through repeated episodes of range contraction, population isolation and divergence, and subsequent expansion. Identifying how species responded to changing environmental conditions not only allows us to explore the mode and tempo of evolution in northern taxa, but also provides a basis for forecasting future biotic response across the highly variable topography of western North America. Using a multilocus approach under a Bayesian coalescent framework, we investigated the phylogeography of a wide‐ranging mammal, the long‐tailed vole, Microtus longicaudus. We focused on populations along the North Pacific Coast to refine our understanding of diversification by exploring the potentially compounding roles of multiple glacial refugia and more recent fragmentation of an extensive coastal archipelago. Through a combination of genetic data and species distribution models (SDMs), we found that historical climate variability influenced contemporary genetic structure, with multiple isolated locations of persistence (refugia) producing multiple divergent lineages (Beringian or northern, southeast Alaska or coastal, and southern or continental) during glacial advances. These vole lineages all occur along the North Pacific Coast where the confluence of numerous independent lineages in other species has produced overlapping zones of secondary contact, collectively a suture zone. Finally, we detected high levels of neoendemism due to complex island geography that developed in the last 10,000 years with the rising sea levels of the Holocene.

Effect of island geography on plant species on uninhabited islands in southeastern South Korea

Abstract We investigated the pattern of floral diversity including naturalized plant species and three ecological factors (area, el-evation and distance from mainland) of plant species on 53 uninhabited islands in Gyungsangnam-do, southeastern South Korea. A total of 206 taxa in 67 families were observed, and the species of Compositae was most common. Thirteen taxa in eight families of the naturalized plants were observed on 33 islands. The numbers of total plant species, area and elevation were significantly correlated, but no relationship with distance from the mainland was observed. In addition, no relationship was found among the numbers of naturalized plants, area and elevation. However, the average rate of naturalization on islands with different elevations differed significantly, indicating the smallest proportion of naturalized plant species was on high islands. Multiple regression of total species richness identified elevation as a significant factor, while no significant variables were correlated with naturalized plant species. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination identified three major variables, distance from mainland, number of naturalized plant species and elevation. These findings indicate that the geography of islands such as area and elevation affected the species richness of plants on uninhabited islands, while human disturbance had a greater effect than geography on the species richness of naturalized plants on islands in southeastern South Korea.

Fire history and moisture influences on historical forest age structure in the sky islands of southern Arizona,USA

AbstractAimThe purpose of this study was to examine the influence of moisture and fire on historical ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosaDougl. ex Laws.) age structure patterns.LocationWe used a natural experiment created over time by the unique desert island geography of southern Arizona.MethodsWe sampled tree establishment dates in two sites on Rincon Peak and another site in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The influence of regional moisture patterns was investigated by examining synchrony among tree age peaks and periods of favourable moisture. The influence of fire was investigated by examining the relationship between local fire histories and age peaks.ResultsTree age peaks (recruitment events) were synchronized with periods of reduced fire frequencies, suggesting that periods of reduced fire activity allowed time for young trees to develop fire‐resistant characteristics. For example, two age peaks (1670s–1680s and 1770s–1780s) in the Rincon Peak‐north site coincided with a period of reduced fire frequency. These age peaks were absent in the Rincon Peak‐south site where fires were more frequent during that time. All three sites had age peaks in the early 19th century, coinciding with regional climate variability (i.e. El Niño Southern Oscillation patterns) that reduced fire activity.Main conclusionsHistorically prior to fire suppression, the survivorship, and thus cohort establishment, of ponderosa pine was ultimately determined by local fire history patterns. The importance of fire as a tree establishment regulator highlights the need to use fire at appropriate intervals not just to restore but to maintain healthy forests.

Skilled Migration in Australia: Policy and Practice

By virtue of its island geography and isolation, Australia is able to control the scale and composition of immigration more than most nations. Accordingly, it has one of the most highly managed migration programs and intakes. Skill selection has been the major focus of both permanent and temporary migration programs in Australia over the last two decades. Government has continually modified the Permanent Migration Program so that not only are a higher proportion of settlers coming to Australia under the Skilled Migration Program but the skill selection is tied increasingly to skill shortages in the labor market. Increasingly, permanent settlers are selected from student migrants and skilled temporary migrants because they have Australian qualifications and experience. The article analyzes the increasingly complex nexus between temporary and permanent skilled migration in Australia, and discusses the changing scale and composition of skilled migration to Australia. One particular feature of Australian immigration has been the continual shifts in the process of selection of skilled temporary and permanent immigrants on the basis of empirical evidence to achieve better economic outcomes.

Determinants of bird species richness, endemism, and island network roles in Wallacea and the West Indies: is geography sufficient or does current and historical climate matter?

Island biogeography has greatly contributed to our understanding of the processes determining species' distributions. Previous research has focused on the effects of island geography (i.e., island area, elevation, and isolation) and current climate as drivers of island species richness and endemism. Here, we evaluate the potential additional effects of historical climate on breeding land bird richness and endemism in Wallacea and the West Indies. Furthermore, on the basis of species distributions, we identify island biogeographical network roles and examine their association with geography, current and historical climate, and bird richness/endemism. We found that island geography, especially island area but also isolation and elevation, largely explained the variation in island species richness and endemism. Current and historical climate only added marginally to our understanding of the distribution of species on islands, and this was idiosyncratic to each archipelago. In the West Indies, endemic richness was slightly reduced on islands with historically unstable climates; weak support for the opposite was found in Wallacea. In both archipelagos, large islands with many endemics and situated far from other large islands had high importance for the linkage within modules, indicating that these islands potentially act as speciation pumps and source islands for surrounding smaller islands within the module and, thus, define the biogeographical modules. Large islands situated far from the mainland and/or with a high number of nonendemics acted as links between modules. Additionally, in Wallacea, but not in the West Indies, climatically unstable islands tended to interlink biogeographical modules. The weak and idiosyncratic effect of historical climate on island richness, endemism, and network roles indicates that historical climate had little effects on extinction-immigration dynamics. This is in contrast to the strong effect of historical climate observed on the mainland, possibly because surrounding oceans buffer against strong climate oscillations and because geography is a strong determinant of island richness, endemism and network roles.

Escrituras contestatarias en contextos dictatoriales. Las Palmas durante el tardofranquismo (1959-1975)

The main goal of this task is to contribute with knowledge in the «criminal writings» during Francisco Franco's dictatorship, choosing Las Palmas as a spatial framework. To that end, we had consulted the Information Service Of the Civil Guard documentation, the Direccion General de Seguridad, and Las Palmas Civil Governor collection, where we had found the «paintings» transcriptions, or where the «leaflets» were attached, threw through the island's geography, using the method given by the Social History of the Writing Culture. We had pay special attention to the both sides of the phenomenon. Firstly, the content of the texts, who produced it and in which context were them distributed. Secondly, we had paid attention to the repression the State had on this kind of writing, which us provides a broad and comprehensive overview (from the cancellation of the texts, government fines, criminal proceedings, the risk of being shooted, to ultimately try to calibrate the possibilities of lecture and movement). This examination reveals the importance that this graphic testimonials had against franquism, and for the Regime itself.

Building resiliency: a cross-sectional study examining relationships among health-related quality of life, well-being, and disaster preparedness.

BackgroundWorldwide, disaster exposure and consequences are rising. Disaster risk in New Zealand is amplified by island geography, isolation, and ubiquitous natural hazards. Wellington, the capital city, has vital needs for evacuation preparedness and resilience to the devastating impacts and increasing uncertainties of earthquake and tsunami disasters. While poor quality of life (QoL) is widely-associated with low levels of engagement in many health-protective behaviors, the relationships among health-related quality of life (HrQoL), well-being, and preparedness are virtually unknown.MethodsWe hypothesized that QoL and well-being affect household evacuation preparedness. We performed a quantitative epidemiologic survey (cross-sectional design) of Wellington adults. Our investigation assessed health-promoting attributes that build resiliency, conceptualized as health-protective attitudes and behaviors. Multidimensional QoL variables were measured using validated psychometric scales and analyzed for associations with evacuation preparedness, and we determined whether age and gender affected these relationships.ResultsWe received 695 survey responses (28.5% response rate; margin of error ±3.8%; 80% statistical power to detect true correlations of 0.11 or greater). Correlational analyses showed statistically significant positive associations with evacuation preparedness for spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, and life satisfaction. No associations were found for mental health, social well-being, or gender; physical health was weakly negatively associated. Evacuation preparedness increased with age. Regression analyses showed that overall health and well-being explained 4.6-6.8% of the variance in evacuation preparedness. Spiritual well-being was the only QoL variable that significantly and uniquely explained variance in preparedness.ConclusionsHow well-being influences preparedness is complex and deeply personal. The data indicate that multidimensional readiness is essential, and meaningfulness is an important factor. Inadequate levels of tangible preparedness actions are accompanied by gaps in intangible readiness aspects, such as: 1) errors in perceived exposure to and salience of natural hazards, yielding circumscribed risk assessments; 2) unfamiliarity with the scope and span of preparedness; 3) underestimating disaster consequences; and 4) misinterpreting the personal resources required for self-managing disaster and uncertainty. Our results highlight that conceptualizing preparedness to include attitudes and behaviors of readiness, integrating well-being and meaningfulness into preparedness strategies, and prioritizing evacuation planning are critical for resiliency as a dynamic process and outcome.

Framing the application of adaptation pathways for rural livelihoods and global change in eastern Indonesian islands

In developing countries adaptation responses to climate and global change should be integrated with human development to generate no regrets, co-benefit strategies for the rural poor, but there are few examples of how to achieve this. The adaptation pathways approach provides a potentially useful decision-making framework because it aims to steer societies towards sustainable futures by accounting for complex systems, uncertainty and contested multi-stakeholder arenas, and by maintaining adaptation options. Using Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia, as an example we consider whether generic justifications for adaptation pathways are tenable in the local context of climate and global change, rural poverty and development. Interviews and focus groups held with a cross-section of provincial leaders showed that the causes of community vulnerability are indeed highly complex and dynamic, influenced by 20 interacting drivers, of which climate variability and change are only two. Climate change interacts with population growth and ecosystem degradation to reduce land, water and food availability. Although poverty is resilient due to corruption, traditional institutions and fatalism, there is also considerable system flux due to decentralisation, modernisation and erosion of traditional culture. Together with several thresholds in drivers, potential shocks and paradoxes, these characteristics result in unpredictable system trajectories. Decision-making is also contested due to tensions around formal and informal leadership, corruption, community participation in planning and female empowerment. Based on this context we propose an adaptation pathways approach which can address the proximate and systemic causes of vulnerability and contested decision-making. Appropriate participatory processes and governance structures are suggested, including integrated livelihoods and multi-scale systems analysis, scenario planning, adaptive co-management and ‘livelihood innovation niches’. We briefly discuss how this framing of adaptation pathways would differ from one in the developed context of neighbouring Australia, including the influence of the province's island geography on the heterogeneity of livelihoods and climate change, the pre-eminence and rapid change of social drivers, and the necessity to ‘leap-frog’ the Millennium Development Goals by mid-century to build adaptive capacity for imminent climate change impacts.

Island mammal extinctions are determined by interactive effects of life history, island biogeography and mesopredator suppression

AbstractAimUnderstanding extinction on islands is critical for biodiversity conservation. Introduced predators are a major cause of island extinctions, but there have been few large‐scale studies of the complexity of the effects of predators on island faunas, or how predation interacts with other factors. Using a large database of island mammal populations, we describe and explain patterns of island mammal extinctions as a function of introduced predators, life history and geography.LocationThree hundred and twenty‐three Australian islands.MethodsWe built a database of 934 island mammal populations, extinct and extant, including life history and ecology, island geography and the presence of introduced predators. To test predictors of extinction probability, we used generalized linear mixed models to control partially for phylogenetic non‐independence, and decision trees to more fully explore interactive effects.ResultsThe decision trees identified large mammals (> 2.7 kg) as having higher extinction probabilities than small species (< 2.7 kg). In large species, extinction patterns are consistent with island biogeography theory, with distance from the mainland being the primary predictor of extinction. For small species, the presence of introduced black rats is the primary predictor of extinction. As predicted by mesopredator suppression theory, extinction probabilities are lower on islands with both black rats and a larger introduced predator (cats, foxes or dingoes), compared with islands with rats but no larger predator. Similarly, extinction probabilities are lower on islands with both a mid‐sized (cats or foxes) and a larger (dingoes) predator, compared with islands with cats or foxes only.Main conclusionsIsland mammal extinctions result from complex interactions of introduced predators, island geography and prey biology. One conservation implication of our results is that eradication of introduced apex predators (cats, foxes or dingoes) from islands could precipitate the expansion of black rat populations, potentially leading to extinction of native mammal species whose remaining populations are confined to islands.

The end of the Pacific? Effects of sea level rise on Pacific Island livelihoods

As in the past, most Pacific Island people live today along island coasts and subsist largely on foods available both onshore and offshore. On at least two occasions in the 3500 years that Pacific Islands have been settled, sea level changes affected coastal bioproductivity to the extent that island societies were transformed in consequence. Over the past 200 years, sea level has been rising along most Pacific Island coasts causing loss of productive land through direct inundation (flooding), shoreline erosion and groundwater salinization. Responses have been largely uninformed, many unsuccessful. By the year 2100, sea level may be 1.2 m higher than today. Together with other climate‐linked changes and unsustainable human pressures on coastal zones, this will pose huge challenges for livelihoods. There is an urgent need for effective and sustainable adaptation of livelihoods to prepare for future sea level rise in the Pacific Islands region. There are also lessons to be learned from past failures, including the need for adaptive solutions that are environmentally and culturally appropriate, and those which appropriate decision makers are empowered to design and implement. Around the middle of the twenty‐first century, traditional coastal livelihoods are likely to be difficult to sustain, so people in the region will need alternative food production systems. Within the next 20–30 years, it is likely that many coastal settlements will need to be relocated, partly or wholly. There are advantages in anticipating these needs and planning for them sooner rather than later. In many ways, the historical and modern Pacific will end within the next few decades. There will be fundamental irreversible changes in island geography, settlement patterns, subsistence systems, societies and economic development, forced by sea level rise and other factors.

Historical biogeography and ecological opportunity in the adaptive radiation of native Hawaiian leafhoppers (Cicadellidae: Nesophrosyne)

AbstractAimOur aims were to infer the roles of ecology and geology in the adaptive radiation, historical biogeography, and diversification dynamics of the native Hawaiian leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Nesophrosyne).LocationThe Hawaiian Archipelago.MethodsA six gene molecular data set for 191 Nesophrosyne species was used to reconstruct relationships in absolute time with relaxed Bayesian methods. Dated phylogenetic hypotheses were used to reconstruct historical biogeography and host plant associations. Phylogenetic clustering methods were implemented to examine the structuring of Nesophrosyne species according to island. Lineage diversification dynamics were inferred using the γ‐statistic and birth–death likelihood methods.ResultsNesophrosyne split from a common ancestor with its sister genus 4.5 million years ago (Ma), with a basal divergence in Hawaii 3.2 Ma. Historical biogeographical reconstructions reveal a Kauai origin for the genus and complex island colonization patterns. Ancestral host plant associations reconstruct Urticaceae and Rubiaceae at the root, with host transitions resulting in host‐specific clades. Only species endemic to Kauai are significantly clustered with respect to the whole phylogeny; however, species show significant terminal level clustering for the four main high islands. Diversification rates in Nesophrosyne show an initial burst in net speciation rate with a subsequent decline.Main conclusionsNesophrosyne colonized the Hawaiian Islands after the formation of Kauai. Host plant arrival times and insect–insect competition may have been important in shaping diversification patterns. The plant families Urticaceae and Rubiaceae played critical roles in the early diversification of Nesophrosyne. Island geography imposed significant barriers to gene flow, leading to extensive allopatric speciation and intra‐island diversification. A high initial net speciation rate was associated with host plant transitions, and the formation and establishment of Nesophrosyne on multi‐volcano islands (e.g. Oahu and Maui Nui). Net diversification rates exhibit a diversity‐dependent decline, corresponding to the end phase of island formation.

China's Eco-Cities as Variegated1 Urban Sustainability: Dongtan Eco-City and Chongming Eco-Island

Proliferating environmental sustainability policy frameworks suggest that sustainability and economic competitiveness are essentially interdependent and mutually enhancing. Under these policy discourses, cities are designated as strategic geographical locales for fulfilling the green capitalist goal of reconciling the contradictions between the environment and development that have long bedeviled capitalism. While most urban sustainability agendas are crafted based on the experience of post-industrial countries, the promise of green capitalism and sustainability faces different challenges where industrial production still dominates the economy. However, research on whether and how urban sustainability policies are geographically variegated is still sparse, particularly beyond western (post)industrial capitalism. Examining the Dongtan eco-city project and the associated Chongming eco-island project in Shanghai, we interrogate how sustainability is imagined and practiced on the ground within the distinctive Chinese context. The meanings of sustainability in Dongtan and Chongming reflect the context of Chinese urbanization in the Shanghai area. Both Dongtan and Chongming seek to develop green technologies as a way to resolve the dilemma of being caught between urbanization and agriculture. This approach is also shaped by Chongming's island geography as enabling a self-sufficient development trajectory, and its desire to attract a cosmopolitan population. Through these place-specific contexts, the ecology and economy of Dongtan and Chongming become intertwined, producing and reproducing a variegated form of urban sustainability, and of “green capitalism.”