Landscape Of Hills Research Articles

Changes in vascular plant species composition, top-soil and seed-bank along coppice rotation in an Ostrya carpinifolia forest

Ostrya carpinifolia forests are formations traditionally managed as coppice, with a high biodiversity that characterizes much of the Italian and Balkan low mountain and hill landscapes. Here, we analyze changes in vegetation, seed-bank, soil and litter at six different stages during the coppicing rotation and after 10 years of abandonment of an Ostrya carpinifolia forest located in the central Apennines. Data show that the dynamism characterizing this coenose during traditional coppice rotation alters after cessation of the management practices. Although from the phytosociological point of view all the forest stands belonged to the same association, the highest biodiversity was achieved in the early stages after cutting. This was ascribed to the canopy removal, which creates favourable conditions for the germination of pre-mantels and mantels species stored in the soil seed-bank, while suitable conditions for the nemoral flora are maintained around the tree stumps. In later years, a reduction of non-strictly forest species and an increase in the relative thicknesses of the more superficial top-soil horizons occurred, reaching the maximum around 18 years after cutting. With the abandonment, simplification of the top-soil morphology, total loss of seed bank viability and increase of open-environments species were observed.

Genealogies and Politics of Belonging: People, Nature and Conservation in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu

The landscape of Gudalur, located in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, India, has been shaped and re-shaped by multiple waves of in-migration that date back to the mid-nineteenth century. The political-economic imperatives for these phases of migration have ranged from the development of capitalist relations within the estate economy to the compulsions of the Grow More Food Campaign to the political repatriation of 'Indian' Tamils from erstwhile Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. This article focuses on how the politics of belonging in Gudalur is a consequence of this history and has resulted in a sedentarist metaphysics shaping state policy and contestations around conservation. The article highlights how the state increasingly sees adivasis (=indigenous people) as a possible ethno-environmental fix for conservation and how non-adivasis project their environmental subjectivities to claim that they too belong. By unpacking the politics of belonging through a historical account of the making of conservation in the region, the article attempts to illustrate how conservation includes and excludes people from the hill landscape.

Soil evolution and origin of landscape in a late Quaternary tectonically mobile setting: The Po Plain-Northern Apennines border in Lombardy (Italy)

The interactions among Quaternary (paleo-) soil-forming, erosion, re-deposition and geomorphic processes at the origin of the present-day landscape are discussed at three isolated tectonic reliefs of the Southern Po Foredeep Basin of Lombardy (San Colombano, Casalpusterlengo and Zorlesco reliefs, Italy). These sites offer the possibility to combine different scales of geopedological, geomorphological, stratigraphic and structural observations, to unravel the contribution of climate and tectonics to the Quaternary geological evolution and to the origin of the landscape.Field surveys, laboratory analyses and soil micromorphology were used to characterize the Late Quaternary pedogenic processes acting on different (paleo)-surfaces, in combination with the detailed study of seven selected soil profiles. Pedo-stratigraphic correlations revealed that two alluvial/loess-paleosol sequences, which originated from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene glacial/interglacial fluctuations, are differently preserved throughout the present-day hill landscape. In situ paleosols allowed to localize the paleo-topographic surfaces of geomorphic, tectonic and sedimentary stabilization; redeposited paleosols, occurring systematically close to the main faults and/or at the erosional bottom of paleo-valleys, allowed to mark the stages of tectonic instability. The integrated approach contributed to unravel the composite nature and rank of the stratigraphic boundaries.Polycyclic loess-soil aggradation characterized the stable paleo-highs, uplifted during different phases of active thrusting of the northernmost Emilian arcs of the Apennine, while valley incision, fluvial terracing, soil truncation and redeposition occurred in the intervening structural lows. In the San Colombano hill area, Late Pleistocene transtensional faulting induced changes of the drainage network and enhanced redeposition of paleosols in colluvial wedges on the hangingwalls, along the fault scarps. LGM loess was preserved above different dissected remnants of the paleo-topography composing the hilltops. These new constraints permit to refine the Late Quaternary tectono-depositional history and landscape evolution at the southern margin of the Po Basin.

Caldera of Godean, Sleman, Yogyakarta: A Volcanic Geomorphology Review

Godean hills is located approximately 10 km westward from the Yogyakarta City. The landscape of Godean hills and plains is affected by various factors, such as lithology, geological structure, and sub-aerial process. The purpose of this study was to reveal the landscape of Godean. The method consisted of field study, morphological variables assessment, rock sampling, and laboratory analysis. The results of field mapping indicated that the landscape of Godean is an isolated hill with a steep slope of >40° and an elevation of +231 m a.s.l, passed by the rivers flows from northeast to southwest that disembogue into the west part of Kulon Progo. The morphologhy of Godean hills varies including G. (Gunung/Mountain) So (+173 m amsl), G. Gede (+218 m a.s.l), G. Wungkal (+187 m a.s.l), G. Butak (+154 m a.s.l), and G. Berjo ( + 175 m a.s.l), dominated by the lithology of igneous rock, which is composed of porphyry andesite-microdiorite, pumice lapilli, and quartz rich lapilli-tuff. In addition, most of the igneous rocks have weathered and have been altered to clays, while the deposition from Merapi volcano formed a landscape with an altitude between +100–+150 m a.s.l surrounding Godean hills. Sentolo Formation was found in Kembang, Bantul, which is located approximately ±5km in the south of the study area N93ºE/12º, while the distribution in the southwest and northeast relatively covers the Godean hills in curve shape. The results of the analysis provide information related with Godean landscape that it is the remains of the volcanic caldera, with various igneous rock types and volcaniclastics deposits, as well as endured the occurrences of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization. Further geophysical research is required to determine the configuration of igneous rocks under the earth's surface.

Disrespect and abuse of women during childbirth in Nigeria: A systematic review.

BackgroundPromoting respectful care at childbirth is important to improve quality of care and encourage women to utilize skilled delivery services. However, there has been a relative lack of public health research on this topic in Nigeria. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize current evidence on disrespect and abuse of women during childbirth in Nigeria in order to understand its nature and extent, contributing factors and consequences, and propose solutions.MethodsFive electronic databases were searched for relevant published studies, and five data sources for additional grey literature. A qualitative synthesis was conducted using the Bowser and Hill landscape analytical framework on disrespect and abuse of women during childbirth.ResultsFourteen studies were included in this review. Of these studies, eleven were cross sectional studies, one was a qualitative study and two used a mixed method approach. The type of abuse most frequently reported was non-dignified care in form of negative, poor and unfriendly provider attitude and the least frequent were physical abuse and detention in facilities. These behaviors were influenced by low socioeconomic status, lack of education and empowerment of women, poor provider training and supervision, weak health systems, lack of accountability and legal redress mechanisms. Overall, disrespectful and abusive behavior undermined the utilization of health facilities for delivery and created psychological distance between women and health providers.ConclusionThis systematic review documented a broad range of disrespectful and abusive behavior experienced by women during childbirth in Nigeria, their contributing factors and consequences. The nature of the factors influencing disrespectful and abusive behavior suggests that educating women on their rights, strengthening health systems to respond to specific needs of women at childbirth, improving providers training to encompass interpersonal aspects of care, and implementing and enforcing policies on respectful maternity care are important. This review has also shown that more robust research is needed to explore disrespect and abuse of women during childbirth in Nigeria and propose compelling interventions.

Subsurface Interpretation for Investigating The Landslidein HR Hadiyanto Street, Sekaran using Resistivity Method

Semarang city has a landscape of hills, valleys and the sea. That makes the city of Semarang potential to experience some disasters such as floods and landslides. Landslide-prone areas in the city of Semarang one of them is in the HR Hadiyanto street, Gunungpati districts. Based on the research that has been conducted to describe the lithological subsurface structures to map landslide prone zones and determine the positions of landslides based on resistivity measurements. The method used in this research is the 3D resistivity method in pole-pole configuration. The results of resistivity measurements indicate that there was a sliding plane along the road HR. Hadiyanto particularly is shown in cross-section image of the track 11 (ramp to the front of the north gate Trangkil Residential) and track 16 (the ramp ahead AKBID) at a depth of about 10 m allegedly due to differences in altitude layer of rock.

异质景观条件下江汉平原土壤空间分异研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 异质景观条件下江汉平原土壤的空间分异 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201503310634 作者: 作者单位: 地理过程分析与模拟湖北省重点实验室,地理过程分析与模拟湖北省重点实验室,地理过程分析与模拟湖北省重点实验室,资源与环境信息系统国家重点实验室,中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所,北京,中国科学院测量与地球物理研究所;中国科学院测量与地球物理研究所,华中师范大学城市与环境科学学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金项目（41271534，41371183，40771088）；华中师范大学中央高校基本业务费（CCNU15ZD001）；湖北省自然科学基金重点项目（2015CFA141） The spatial differentiation of soil in heterogeneous landscapes of the Jianghan Plain Author: Affiliation: Key Laboratory for Geographical Process Analysis Simulation,Hubei Province,College of Urban Environmental Sciences,Central China Normal University,Key Laboratory for Geographical Process Analysis Simulation,Hubei Province,College of Urban Environmental Sciences,Central China Normal University,Key Laboratory for Geographical Process Analysis Simulation,Hubei Province,College of Urban Environmental Sciences,Central China Normal University,State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System,Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics,CAS, Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:景观异质与土壤分异息息相关。以DEM数据为基础，以海拔50m、100m为界，将江汉平原划分为平原湖区景观、平缓岗地景观及起伏丘陵景观3种类型。在ArcGIS 10支持下，将江汉平原土壤图与景观类型图进行叠置分析，提取不同景观类型片区各土壤亚类斑块周长、面积等信息，计算了各景观类型片区各土壤亚类的分维数、平均斑块面积、稳定度等信息，定量分析了江汉平原各景观类型片区土壤空间分异特征，结论如下：（1）不同景观类型区各土壤亚类分布差异明显，起伏丘陵景观区主要以红壤和黄棕壤地带性土壤为主；平原湖区潮土和水稻土等耕作土非常发育；平缓岗地区地带性土壤和耕作土壤平分秋色。（2）连片性较好的土壤亚类呈现不同的景观选择性：耕作土集中分布于平原湖区景观片区；地带性土壤多集中分布于丘陵和岗地景观片区。（3）平原湖区面积很大，各类土壤都有发育的空间，土壤亚类之间分维数和稳定度差别比较大；平缓岗地景观区由于面积非常局限，土壤亚类发生发育受到空间的限制，边界破碎化，分维数平均都比较大，斑块镶嵌结构均比较复杂，稳定度差别较小。（4）主要土壤亚类的分维数和稳定性指数值一定程度地反映了各主要土壤亚类的最匹配的景观类型，即能够提供其发生发育的最佳条件。研究有利于深入认识土壤形成和演化规律，为土壤资源的合理利用及定向培育服务。 Abstract:Landscape heterogeneity is closely related to soil differentiation. The Jianghan Plain is divided into three landscape types:Plain Lake, Gently Gradated Mounds, and Rolling Hills, delineated according to contour lines of 50 m and 100 m, based on DEM data. The overlay analysis of the soil and landscape type maps was done to extract data describing the soil subgroup patches, as well as their perimeters and areas, etc. in different landscape types. This analysis was supported by the ArcGIS10 platform. Then, some indices, such as the fractal dimension, average patch area, and stability index were calculated to quantitatively analyze the spatial differentiation of the soil in different landscape types. The results are as follows:(1) There is significant spatial differentiation of soil subgroups in different landscape types. The Rolling Hills landscape is mainly composed of zonal soils, including red soil and yellow brown soil. Arable soil types such as fluvo-aquic and paddy soil are very well developed in the Plain Lake landscape, while zonal and arable soils are equally represented in the Gently Gradated Mounds landscape. (2) Every subgroup soil with good connectivity exhibited a landscape selectivity bias. Arable soils with good connectivity appear to be mostly concentrated in the Plain Lake landscape, while the most concentrated zonal soils are found in the Gently Gradated Mounds and Rolling Hills landscapes. (3) The Plain Lake landscape on the Jianghan Plain is large enough that all soil subgroups were found to be well developed in that area. Thus, the differences among the fractal dimension (D values) or the stability index values of the different soil subgroups are larger, which can better reflect soil intrinsic characteristics. However, in the Gently Gradated Mounds landscape, soil development and evolution is restricted by space, so the boundaries of the soil subgroups are fragmented and the associated fractal dimension values (D values) are larger on average. The larger fractal dimension values (D values) reflect the more complex mosaic structures of the soil subgroup patches in that landscape. However, because the D values are universally larger in the Gently Gradated Mounds landscape, the differences among the fractal dimension values of the different soil subgroup patches are smaller, as are the stability index values of the soil subgroup patches. (4) The value of the fractal dimension, or the stability index of a soil subgroup, reveals the best-matched landscape type to some degree, which in turn provides the ideal conditions for the soil subgroup to develop or evolve well. This research improves our understanding of the evolution of soil, and facilitates the rational use and the directed breeding of soil resources. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Pre-Historic and Recent Vicariance Events Shape Genetic Structure and Diversity in Endangered Lion-Tailed Macaque in the Western Ghats: Implications for Conservation.

Genetic isolation of populations is a potent force that helps shape the course of evolution. However, small populations in isolation, especially in fragmented landscapes, are known to lose genetic variability, suffer from inbreeding depression and become genetically differentiated among themselves. In this study, we assessed the genetic diversity of lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) inhabiting the fragmented landscape of Anamalai hills and examined the genetic structure of the species across its distributional range in the Western Ghats. We sequenced around 900 bases of DNA covering two mitochondrial regions–hypervariable region-I and partial mitochondrial cytochrome b–from individuals sampled both from wild and captivity, constructed and dated phylogenetic trees. We found that the lion-tailed macaque troops in the isolated forest patches in Anamalai hills have depleted mitochondrial DNA diversity compared to troops in larger and continuous forests. Our results also revealed an ancient divergence in the lion-tailed macaque into two distinct populations across the Palghat gap, dating to 2.11 million years ago. In light of our findings, we make a few suggestions on the management of wild and captive populations.

The Blue LED Nobel Prize: Historical context, current scientific understanding, human benefit

The Blue LED Nobel Prize: Historical context, current scientific understanding, human benefit

The influence of the ecohydrological rehabilitation in the cascade of Arturówek reservoirs in Łódź (Central Poland) on the cyanobacterial and algae blooming

Abstract The objective of the studies included a complex of three reservoirs (upper, middle and lower Arturówek) which play an important recreational role for the residents of the Łódź city and the surrounding areas. The reservoirs were constructed on the Bzura River and are located in the area of the Łódź Hills Landscape Park. The river, the ecological status of which was defined as moderate, has a great influence on the quality of water in the Arturówek reservoirs. A total of 36 planktonic samples were collected in 2011-2013 during spring, summer and autumn seasons. During the studies, the selected physical and chemical parameters were measured. In addition to taxonomic analysis of Cyanobacteria and algae, the analyses of abundance and biomass of phytoplankton and the concentration of microcystins in water were conducted. In 2013, ecohydrological rehabilitation of the Arturówek reservoirs was carried out. Investment works included: removal of the bottom sediments to reduce internal loads, construction of buffer vegetation zones (ecotones) and sedimentation-biofiltration systems to reduce the amounts of pollutants flowing into reservoirs with rainwater. Significant changes in the structure of phytoplankton were observed in 2013. Every year, the disappearance of Cyanobacterial blooms was observed in favor of an increasing contribution of algae.

DENUDATION MORPHOLITHOGENESIS OF THE PRIOL'KHONIE (PAPER 2. LOW HILL LANDSCAPE)

Mechanisms of the three types of low hill landscape (LH) are described. LH of watersheds is forming by exhumation processes, which wash out the crust of weathering on the planation surfaces and denude the inequalities of paleo relief. Karst, deflation, sheet wash and pediments formation are important parts of this process. Formation of slope LH is well described in literature. Streamside LH rises due to water erosion under the conditions of little basis changes. Prismatic shape of the hills is its characteristic feature. Selective denudation of heterogeneous substrate complicates all three relief types.

The search for onshore analogues for the offshore Upper Cretaceous Chalk of the North Sea

Suitable onshore analogues for offshore wind-farm turbine foundations in the Chalk of the North Sea would be invaluable. Such foundations require examples of near surface weathering illustrating both glacial and periglacial Quaternary processes as well as lithology and tectonic structure of the Chalk. From the Cenomanian to Early Campanian, the coast of East Yorkshire illustrates hard, high density, glacially eroded chalks similar to those found immediately offshore. Higher in the Campanian offshore East Yorkshire, younger, low density chalks, not present onshore, have been found (the Westermost Rough Member). In contrast, north Norfolk and its coastal cliffs provide examples of soft, high porosity, part glacially and part periglacially weathered chalks. Complex sedimentary structures seen in offshore seismic sections are similar to those on the French coast of the Pays de Caux. These coastal sections are compared with results from offshore wind farm ground investigations. Seismic sections illustrate Quaternary channels cutting into the Chalk and a landscape of hills and valleys similar to the onshore Wolds. High resolution 2D digital seismic sections, combined with cored boreholes, provide the evidence for applying the detailed Chalk lithostratigraphy to the offshore southern North Sea and illustrate the relationship between tectonic structure and sedimentation in the Chalk. The map for the offshore extension of Chalk provinces is revised, with Transitional Province lithologies typical of the Chiltern Hills and East Anglia, extending north-eastwards from Norfolk into the Dowsing Fault zone. Geotechnical properties are related to the buried offshore Chalk landscape as well as to Chalk lithostratigraphy.

Genetic Diversity Assessment of Acid Lime (Citrus Aurantifolia Swingle) Landraces of Eastern Nepal Using RAPD Markers

Acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) is an important commercial fruit crop, cultivated from terai to high hill landscapes of Nepal. However, production and productivity is very low due to various reasons including infestations by various diseases and pests, lack of diseases and pests resistant and high yielding varieties. In this context, determination of genetic variation at molecular level is fundamental to citrus breeders for the development of elite cultivars with desirable traits. In the present study, Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker technique has been employed to assess genetic diversity in 60 acid lime landraces representing different agro-ecological zones of eastern Nepal. Nine selected arbitrary primers generated 79 RAPD fragments of which 75 were polymorphic (94.94%). Phenogram was constructed by NTSYSPC ver. 2.21i using UPGMA cluster analysis based on Jaccard’s similarity coefficient to deduce overall genetic diversity and relationships of the acidlime genotypes under study. Sixty acid lime landraces formed seven clusters and similarity value ranged from 38% to 98% with an average of 72%. Genetic variation at different agro-ecological zones was assessed using Popgene ver. 1.32 and found 47% to 69.6% polymorphism. Shannon’s index and Nei’s gene diversity showed highest level of acid lime diversity in Terai zone (PPB, 69.62%; H, 0.213; I, 0.325) followed by mid-hill zone (PPB, 67.09%; H, 0.208; I, 0.317). The results obtained will be useful to citrus breeders for elite cultivar development. The RAPD-PCR technique is found to be the rapid and effective tool for genetic diversity assessment in acid lime landraces of Nepal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v2i3.10950 Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 2(3): 315-327

An animated landscape representation of CD4+ T-cell differentiation, variability, and plasticity: insights into the behavior of populations versus cells.

Recent advances in understanding CD4+ T-cell differentiation suggest that previous models of a few distinct, stable effector phenotypes were too simplistic. Although several well-characterized phenotypes are still recognized, some states display plasticity, and intermediate phenotypes exist. As a framework for reexamining these concepts, we use Waddington's landscape paradigm, augmented with explicit consideration of stochastic variations. Our animation program “LAVA” visualizes T-cell differentiation as cells moving across a landscape of hills and valleys, leading to attractor basins representing stable or semistable differentiation states. The model illustrates several principles, including: (i) cell populations may behave more predictably than individual cells; (ii) analogous to reticulate evolution, differentiation may proceed through a network of interconnected states, rather than a single well-defined pathway; (iii) relatively minor changes in the barriers between attractor basins can change the stability or plasticity of a population; (iv) intrapopulation variability of gene expression may be an important regulator of differentiation, rather than inconsequential noise; (v) the behavior of some populations may be defined mainly by the behavior of outlier cells. While not a quantitative representation of actual differentiation, our model is intended to provoke discussion of T-cell differentiation pathways, particularly highlighting a probabilistic view of transitions between states.

Hefting onto Place: Intersecting Lives of Humans and Sheep on Scottish Hills Landscape

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the phenomenon called hefting of sheep onto the landscape of hill sheep farms in the Scottish Borders. It is based upon data collected during extended periods of ethnographic fieldwork beginning in 1981 and continuing to the present. Hefting is the term used by sheep farmers for the natural tendency of hill sheep to graze, remain, and bond onto specific areas of the landscape without the need for fencing. The herding practices of hill sheep farms appropriate hefting in flock management and breeding. The analysis of hefting makes two contributions to understanding human–animal relations. First, because the of the centrality of territorial bonding, hefting makes explicit that we should always be ready to include a third dimension—place and emplacement—in understanding human–animal relations. Second, drawing on Haraway's concept of “becoming with,” hefting and herding demonstrate the fundamentally relational character of human–animal–place relations.

Distribution, Demography, and Conservation of Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) in the Anamalai Hills Landscape, Western Ghats, India

The status of the endemic and endangered lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) has not been properly assessed in several regions of the Western Ghats of southern India. We conducted a study in Parambikulam Forest Reserve in the state of Kerala to determine the distribution, demography, and status of lion-tailed macaques. We laid 5km2 grid cells on the map of the study area (644km2) and made four replicated walks in each grid cell using GPS. We gathered data on lion-tailed macaque group locations, demography, and site covariates including trail length, duration of walk, proportion of evergreen forest, height of tallest trees, and human disturbance index. We also performed occupancy modeling using PRESENCE ver. 3.0. We estimated a minimum of 17 groups of macaques in these hills. Low detection and occupancy probabilities indicated a low density of lion-tailed macaques in the study area. Height of the tallest trees correlated positively whereas human disturbance and proportion of evergreen forest correlated negatively with occupancy in grid cells. We also used data from earlier studies carried out in the surrounding Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Nelliyampathy Hills to discuss the conservation status in the large Anamalai Hills Landscape. This landscape harbors an estimated population of 1108 individuals of lion-tailed macaques, which is about one third of the entire estimated wild population of this species. A conservation plan for this landscape could be used as a model for conservation in other regions of the Western Ghats.

Hype in Halifax

Hype in Halifax

Geospatial Modeling To Assess Geomorphological Risk For Relentless Shifting Cultivation In Garo Hills Of Meghalaya, North East India

Due to shifting cultivation, the overall structure and composition of ecological condition is affected, hence landscape study becomes important for maintaining ecological diversity and appropriate scientific planning of any area. Garo hills region of northeast India is suffering from Geomorphological risk like sheet erosion, landslide etc. due to the age old tradition of shifting cultivation in the fragile hill slopes aided by other anthropogenic activities. The present study was conducted to examine the role of shifting cultivation for deforestation and degradation with variant of slope and elevation to relate vegetation cover with slope and elevation in the Garo Hills landscape of Meghalaya using temporal remote sensing data of 1991, 2001 and 2010. It revealed that there is decrease in dense forest and open forest during the 1st decade while areas under dense forest and non-forest increased in 2nd decade. This increased forest area is confined in the high slopes, which are inaccessible. The study shows increase in shifting cultivation near-about double fold in high slope and more than a double fold in the high altitudinal area in last decade, which is negative sign in terms of Geomorphological protection. International Journal of Environment, Volume-2, Issue-1, Sep-Nov 2013, Pages 91-104 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v2i1.9212

On the Trail of John McGahern

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, A FRIEND, WHO IS A WRITER, SUGGESTED that should read John McGahern. At that stage wasn't aware of his short stories and novels, and so was imme- diately interested in an Irish writer who lived in the country, wrote about farmers and the Catholic Church. My familial con- nections to Ireland date back to convicts transported to Aus- tralia in the 1820s on my mother's side of the family, and to a free settler on my father's side, John Ryan, who emigrated to Australia in the 1850s from Nenagh, Co., Tipperary. An Irish sensibility to language, storytelling and humor were a part of the air that breathed as a child. My paternal grandfather was known as Shine Ryan. One of the few books in our house was Around the Boree Log by John O'Brien. Growing up in the south- west of Victoria, was familiar with many typical Irish names: Gleesons, Kennedys, O'Briens, Moloneys, Gavins, etc. The po- tato fields of Tower Hill and Koroit are a direct connection to an Irish landscape of rolling hills, narrow lanes and small farms. The names of people buried in the Tower Hill cemetery are further testament to the influence of the Irish. When first read John McGahern's fiction it was as though was getting back in touch with an uncle.McGahern achieved infamy and notoriety in Ireland in the 1960s when his second novel, The Dark, was banned in Ireland. Shortly after, was sacked from his teaching position in Dublin. The McGahern affair caused a stir in Ireland, not only because of the so-called dirty but also because Mc- Gahern married a Finnish theatre director, Annikki Laaksi, in a foreign registry office. Such offences against the traditions and customs of Catholic Ireland could not be tolerated. An official from the Irish Teacher's Union commented to at the time: If it was just the auld book, maybe-maybe-we might have been able to do something for you, but with marrying this foreign woman you have turned yourself into a hopeless case entirely (Memoir 251'· After his dismissal as a teacher, McGa- hern moved to England to teach, and then later he taught at Colgate University in New York. In 1974, he bought a farm in County Leitrim and returned to live and write there with his second wife, Madeline Green.The first book that read was Amongst Women, his Booker Prize shortlisted novel. There was much that liked about the novel, despite the dark, gloomy protagonist of Moran, the former IRA soldier and farmer who ruled his family with an authoritarian glare. In many ways, could have been writing about a number of farmers from the Western District of Victoria. Leaving the IRA aside, these were strong, powerful dairy farmers who fathered large families, attended Mass regularly, and who ruled their families with the authority some farmers preserve for dealing with cattle. One of my neighbors used to chase his sons with a stock whip when he needed them. Another insisted on paying his sons wages rather than paying them a percentage of the milk check, which was a more common practice and was much greater in value. For that farmer, it was a way of maintaining his authority over his ten children.There were many other facets of Amongst Women that ap- pealed to me: the central focus of a family pulling together to make the best of a situation; the close proximity of the charac- ters to paddocks and farm animals; the importance of Church and community; the tensions between family members. But it was also the quality of the writing. McGahern's quips and telling statements that he allows his characters speak of hard truths and generational conflict. When the youngest son, Mi- chael, asks his brother Luke in London to return home and pay his father, Michael Moran, a visit in Ireland, Luke's reply is as sharp as Moran's might have been: I see no reason to go back there. found it hard enough to get out of the damn place. The tension creates between Moran and the children who fear him is also highlighted when Moran says to his new wife, Rose, who has brought change and a lightness of air into the previously somber household: If you listened a bit more carefully to yourself think you might talk a lot less. …

In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 by John-Henry Clay (review)

Reviewed by: In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 by John-Henry Clay Sabina Flanagan Clay, John-Henry , In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 11), Turnhout, Brepols, 2010; hardback; pp. xix, 487; 41 b/w illustrations, 21 maps; R.R.P. €105.00; ISBN 9782503531618. According to John-Henry Clay, the Wessex-born St Boniface, long known as 'the apostle of the Germans', is 'one of the most intensely studied figures of the early Middle Ages' (p. 403). So why should an account of just thirty-three years of his missionary campaign in an area equivalent to the pre-Reformation archidiaconate of Fritzlar require a 487-page book? Clay distinguishes his own work from previous scholarship on Boniface by its interdisciplinary nature. He describes himself as 'a historian of anthropological bent' but firmly places his work within the pale of 'landscape studies' (pp. 39-40). However, his chief methodological novelty consists in using the rich deposit of North Hessian archaeological research to explore how the mission was carried out at a regional level or, as we might say, on the ground. Nor is it just the physical landscape of hills, groves, and springs with names suggesting pagan cultic worship that Clay examines, for he projects upon it various metaphorical landscapes: 'the landscapes of politics, of shifting boundaries of settlement and control, of movement and trade, of ecclesiastical governance and religious devotion' (p. 5). Before reaching this point in Chapters 7 and 8, entitled 'Representing the Mission' and 'Experiencing the Mission', a great deal of preliminary territory must be traversed: namely 'Introduction', 'Historiography', 'West Saxon Origins', 'Hessia on the Eve of the Bonifatian Mission', and 'Chronology of the Bonifatian Mission in Hessia'. The thoroughness with which preliminary debates on such matters as pastoral care in the early Anglo-Saxon period and the interpretation of furnished inhumations arranged in large cemeteries are canvassed doubtless reflects the book's origin as a PhD thesis. Many readers might have been prepared to take on trust conclusions reached here only after extensive argumentation, so as to arrive more directly at Clay's original contributions to the subject of the mission to Hessia. [End Page 241] For all the interesting byways that the author traverses, it is not clear how history viewed through landscape differs from what historians have long been doing. R. H. Tawney spoke of the need for the historian to have a stout pair of boots, and even this review shows that topographical metaphors pervade everyday speech. Furthermore, what we might think of as traditional historical discourse is easily subsumed into the landscape project by metaphorical means. One of the most interesting sections of the book is Clay's analysis of the terms and expressions used in correspondence about the mission (pp. 238- 77 and App. 1 and 2). This kind of literary analysis would appear to be on quite a different plane from the discussion of the physical landscape until we recall (though surprisingly Clay does not) that many such tropes are what E. R. Curtius would have called topoi. So perhaps everything can be connected to 'landscape' if broadly enough conceived. Readers must make up their own minds about how novel and well-grounded such an approach may be. Sabina Flanagan School of History and Politics The University of Adelaide Copyright © 2013 by the Author