Large Land Mass Research Articles

Optimal Mini-grid for Rural Electrification: A Case Study of Sekoukou-Niger

The electricity access rate in Niger is one of the worst in Sub-Saharan Africa and is an issue of paramount importance to the Government of Niger. This energy insecurity has negatively affected industrialization and developmental plans, making Niger one of the poorest countries in the world. With a large landmass and several pockets of habitation in Niger, mini-grids remain the optimal way of providing electricity to people living in rural areas. Nigerienne Agency for the Promotion of Rural Electrification (ANPER), which is the institute responsible for rural electrification, currently operates about 110 diesel-powered mini-grids in Niger. With global warming looming, the operation of these diesel generators is not only expensive but also has an adverse effect on the environment. This paper seeks to analyze the techno-economic feasibility of a hybrid system for rural electrification in Niger with Sekoukou village as a case study. Load assessment, component technical configuration and component cost are simulated in HOMER software as objective functions to find the optimal size and cost. Results show that the most economical and efficient system for mini-grid operation in Sekoukou in Niger, is the generator-photovoltaic (PV) hybrid mini-grid which produces a levelized cost of energy of $0.271. A load shifting approach is applied to the existing load profile, which further reduces the levelized cost of energy from $0.271 to $0.177. This hybrid mini-grid system coupled with the load shifting approach would help improve the village’s ability and willingness to pay for electricity.

The loss of biodiversity in Madagascar is contemporaneous with major demographic events

Only 400km off the coast of East Africa, the island of Madagascar is one of the last large land masses to have been colonized by humans. While many questions surround the human occupation of Madagascar, recent studies raise the question of human impact on endemic biodiversity and landscape transformation. Previous genetic and linguistic analyses have shown that the Malagasy population has emerged from an admixture that happened during the last millennium, between Bantu-speaking African populations and Austronesian-speaking Asian populations. By studying the sharing of chromosome segments between individuals (IBD determination), local ancestry information, and simulated genetic data, we inferred that the Malagasy ancestral Asian population was isolated for more than 1,000 years with an effective size of just a few hundred individuals. This isolation ended around 1,000 years before present (BP) by admixture with a small African population. Around the admixture time, there was a rapid demographic expansion due to intrinsic population growth of the newly admixed population, which coincides with extensive changes in Madagascar's landscape and the extinction of all endemic large-bodied vertebrates. Therefore, our approach can provide new insights into past human demography and associated impacts on ecosystems.

Geoheritage and geodiversity elements of the SW Pacific: A conceptual framework

The Soutwest (SW) Pacific is an expansive oceanic region with many of its islands difficult to access and relatively unexplored in a geoheritage context. Here we provide a potential framework for systematically assessing geoheritage values of the SW Pacific and creating a holistic and multi-value inventory. We outline the use of digital terrain models as landform classification tools, and other newly available spatial data. While New Zealand is scientifically and culturally recognised as part of the SW Pacific, due to its large landmass and significant scientific data already available, here we excluded it from our analysis. Rather, the aim of our ongoing research is to provide the first comprehensive overview of the geoheritage potential and unique characteristics of small island nations of the SW Pacific. Only those islands were included in this study where geoheritage research has been initiated and include islands reflecting a good spectrum of geodiversity such as Vanuatu (Ambrym, Ambae, Lopevi, Kuwae group, Tanna), Tonga (Tongatapu, Tofua), and Samoa (Savai’i and Upolu). In a geotectonic context the SW Pacific sits on the western extremity of the large Pacific plate, resulting in a broad array of geotectonic situations where convergent plate boundary processes govern the broad geological evolution and geomorphological processes seen on the islands of our study area. Volcanism associated with plate boundaries is one of the most characteristic and recognisable geological processes linked with the region in the public perception of the area. Volcanism is associated with arc-type geosystems forming complex and compound polygenetic volcanism which offers unique geological-geomorphological elements shaping geodiversity of the region. In addition, these volcanic processes have shaped human communities since the earliest days of their establishment. The interaction of Polynesian societies with volcanism provides a unique geocultural perspective based on accumulated oral traditions, forming the basis of cultural practices that remain part of everyday life into the 21st century.

Warm-waterTcherskidiumfauna (Brachiopoda) in the Late Ordovician Northern Hemisphere of Laurentia and peri-Laurentia

AbstractThe Late Ordovician (late Katian)Tcherskidiumfauna consisted of large- and thick-shelled virgianid pentamerid brachiopods characterized by large and ribbed shells ofTcherskidiumandProconchidiumand usually associated withHolorhynchus,Deloprosopus, andEoconchidium. This unique fauna was widely distributed across several tectonic plates, largely confined to the paleoequatorial and especially the northern paleotropical zones, such as northern Laurentia, accretionary terranes of Alaska, Kolyma, Baltica, Siberia, Kazakh and adjacent terranes, and South China. In Laurentia, the eponymous genusTcherskidiumwas predominant in regions north of the paleoequator and, in sharp contrast, was absent south of the paleoequator. In this study,Tcherskidium lonein. sp. andProconchidium schleyin. sp. are described from Alaska and North Greenland, respectively, adding new data on theTcherskidiumfauna of the Late Ordovician Northern Hemisphere. Shell gigantism, together with the sharp paleobiogeographic division, suggests that the Late Ordovician (late Katian) Northern Hemisphere had a prevailing warm-water mass, probably due to the lack of large landmass beyond the northern tropics. This was in sharp contrast to the Southern Hemisphere, which was frequently influenced by cold-water invasions from the ice-bearing Gondwana supercontinent centered on the South Pole.UUID:http://www.zoobank.org/25d9b772-bd7d-4ad6-bfc6-ba02b1567cf3

Prominence, property, and inductive inference

The legal principle of accession suggests that people sometimes extend ownership of a prominent item to related objects, resources, and benefits. For example, people might assume that whoever owns a large land mass is also likely to possess surrounding islands. In three experiments on 4–7-year-olds (N = 526) and adults (N = 498), we find that prominence affects inductive inferences about both ownership and liking. In Experiment 1, children were more likely to infer that a character owned various individual blocks when the character was initially described as owning a pile of blocks (prominent) than a single block (regular). Experiment 2 replicated this pattern in both children and adults, and found it extends across three stimuli sets, but not a fourth. Experiment 3 then revealed that prominence also affects children’s and adults’ inductive inferences about preferences. Together, the findings suggest that prominence affects inductive inferences of both ownership and preferences, and the findings likewise suggest that parts of property law could reflect aspects of psychology present from early in the lifespan.

Three dispersal routes out of Africa: A puzzling biogeographical history in freshwater planarians

AbstractAimFreshwater planarians may have a wide geographical range despite their assumed low vagility. Found across four continents, Dugesia may have either an ancient origin on a large palaeo landmass, followed by colonisation in different regions before continental fragmentation, or a more recent origin and subsequent transoceanic dispersal. We seek to resolve between these two hypotheses.LocationAfrica, Eurasia and Australasia.TaxonGenus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Dugesiidae).MethodsWe used data from the sequencing of six gene fragments and comprehensive taxonomic sampling of Dugesia from across its distribution range to reconstruct the phylogeny of this genus using maximum likelihood and bayesian inference methods. We conducted two phylogenetic dating analyses using Platyhelminthes fossils and palaeogeological events. Basing on the time‐calibrated molecular phylogenetic framework we evaluated the contribution of vicariance and dispersal to the biogeographical evolution of Dugesia. By reconstructing the ancestral areas and present‐day potential distribution using BioGeoBEARS and niche modelling, we elucidated the biogeographical history of the genus.ResultsThe present‐day distribution of Dugesia is a result of different vicariance and dispersal events. However, we also found evidence of transoceanic dispersal. Consistent with previous hypotheses, Dugesia dates to the Upper Jurassic in the Afro‐Malagasy Gondwana region. We unveiled a novel biogeographical scenario for the genus, involving multiple events of colonisation in Eurasia from continental Africa via at least three dispersal routes.Main conclusionsDugesia is an ancient genus having reached its present distribution through a complex history of dispersal and vicariant events following its origin in southern Gondwana. Despite the low vagility of Dugesia, we found evidence of their overseas dispersal.

Food Insecurity in Small Island Developing States

Food Insecurity in Small Island Developing States

Shearwaters sometimes take long homing detours when denied natural outward journey information.

The cognitive processes (learning and processing of information) underpinning the long-distance navigation of birds are poorly understood. Here, we used the homing motivation of the Manx shearwater to investigate navigational decision making in a wild bird by displacing them 294 km to the far side of a large island (the island of Ireland). Since shearwaters are reluctant to fly over land, the island blocked the direct route home, forcing a navigational decision. Further still, on the far side of the obstacle, we chose a release site where the use of local knowledge could facilitate a 20% improvement in route efficiency if shearwaters were able to anticipate and avoid a large inlet giving the appearance of open water in the home direction. We found that no shearwater took the most efficient initial route home, but instead oriented in the home direction (even once the obstacle became visible). Upon reaching the obstacle, four shearwaters subsequently circumnavigated the land mass via the long route, travelling a further 900 km as a result. Hence, despite readily orienting homewards immediately after displacement, shearwaters seem unaware of the scale of the obstacle formed by a large land mass despite this being a prominent feature of their regular foraging environment.

Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) in Oceania: Origin, evolution and dispersal

AbstractMetrosideros (Myrtaceae) comprises 58 woody species distributed across Oceania and with three singleton outliers in Philippines, South America and Africa. Centres of species richness occur in New Zealand and New Caledonia. This distribution accords with a proposed Gondwanan origin for the family. While the phylogeography of one component of the genus – subgenus Metrosideros – has received some examination, the rest of the genus has not been resolved. In this study, we improve resolution of the phylogeny of Metrosideros and consider origin, possible vicariant relationships, long‐distance dispersal events and dispersal routes for the genus. A Bayesian phylogeny, with all but one recently described species of Metrosideros, was constructed using concatenated ITS + ETS rDNA from samples we collected and sequenced. Relative to previous work on Metrosideros using ITS alone, here, using ITS plus ETS, we produce a more detailed and robust phylogeny with a near threefold increase in significant nodal support. Putative centres of origin/diversification, vicariant events and dispersals were considered with reference to the phylogeny, present‐day diversity and fossil record of Metrosideros. Metrosideros occurs as five clades, including the former genera Tepualia and Carpolepis. The paraphyletic and now superseded subgenus Mearnsia included elements of four of these clades, whereas subgenus Metrosideros forms a single clade with robust support. Our phylogeography indicates multiple dispersal/vicariant events within the history of the genus, a number of which involved New Zealand. Among other such events, we infer an exceptional 6300 km trans‐equatorial dispersal from Fiji to the Bonin Islands (Japan). Australia and New Zealand, respectively, are the likely landmasses of origin and diversification for Metrosideros. Typical patterns of floral dispersal proceed from large continental landmasses onto increasingly remote islands and with distance from continent species diversity usually declines. However, Metrosideros shows a countervailing pattern since relatively remote islands are the main centres of speciation and dispersal.

Meso-Neoproterozoic arc-related sediments of the Xiahe Group in the Qinling block, central China: Implications for the paleogeographic reconstruction of Rodinia

The Meso-Neoproterozoic Rodinia supercontinent formed a coherent large landmass, which was later dispersed over all current major continents and a number of microcontinents. The Qinling block is a Precambrian continental mass, located in the Qinling orogenic belt, which marks the junction of the North China and South China cratons. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the petrology, whole-rock geochemistry and geochronology of metasedimentary rocks from the Xiahe Group, which is a key unit of the Precambrian basement in the Qinling block, to constrain the paleogeographic reconstruction of Rodinia. The studied metasedimentary rocks have detrital zircon ages of 3054–1082 Ma that peak at 1172 Ma and 1582 Ma. The protoliths of the metasedimentary rocks are mainly shales and wackes with maximum depositional ages from 1147 to 1082 Ma, representing a part of a continental arc-related sedimentary sequence. Combining our results with existing data, we propose that their protoliths constituted a sedimentary series including an older sequence of basement and a younger sequence with depositional ages between 1262 and 840 Ma. The detritus that is older than 1266 Ma was sourced from the continental margin of the Indian craton, which was part of the Columbia supercontinent. There was a Paleo-Mesoproterozoic continental nucleus in the Qinling block that split from the margin of the Indian craton during the breakup of Columbia. The source rocks for the younger detritus were arc magmatic rocks in the Qinling block, which formed in a continental arc by oceanic lithosphere subduction during the assembly of Rodinia. A sequence of oceanic subduction beneath the continental nucleus of the Qinling block (1262–981 Ma), arc-continent collision between the continental nucleus and the Indian craton (981–911 Ma), continuous subduction of oceanic crust beneath the block with formation of a mature volcanic arc (929–833 Ma), and continental rifting (833–774 Ma) during the formation of the Qinling block was identified. The block faced the Neoproterozoic ocean during the assembly of Rodinia, and finally rifted off the supercontinent during its breakup to form an isolated arc terrane

Paleogeography and biogeography of the Gondwanan final breakup and its terrestrial vertebrates: New insights from southern South America and the “double Noah's Ark” Antarctic Peninsula

The Mesozoic plate tectonic and paleogeographic history of the final break up of West Gondwana had a profound effect on the distribution of terrestrial vertebrates in South America. As the supercontinent fragmented into a series of large landmasses (South America, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, the Indian subcontinent, and Madagascar), particularly during the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, its terrestrial vertebrates became progressively isolated, evolving into unique faunal assemblages. The episodic nature of South American mammalian Cenozoic faunas became apparent in its modern formulation after George Gaylord Simpson's seminal works on this topic. Two aspects add complexity to this generally accepted scheme: first, the fact that South America is not (and was not) a biogeographic unit, as the Neotropical Region does not include its southernmost tip (the Andean Region, including Patagonia and the southern Andes). Second, and intimately linked with the first one, that South America was not an island continent during the Late Cretaceous and the beginning of the Cenozoic, being its southernmost portion closely linked with West Antarctica up to the late Paleocene at least. Here we stress on this second aspect; we summarize a series of recent, detailed paleogeographical analyses of the continental breakup between Patagonia (including the Magallanes Region) and the Antarctic Peninsula crustal block, beginning with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in the Early Cretaceous and running up to the Early Paleogene with the expansion of the Scotia Basin. In second place, we comment on the implications of these distinct paleogeographic and paleobiogeographic scenarios (before and after their geographic and faunistic isolation) for the evolution of South American terrestrial mammalian faunas. Summarizing, (1) we recognize a West Weddellian terrestrial biogeographic unit with the assemblage of the southern part of South America (Patagonia and the Magallanes Region) and the Antarctic Peninsula (and probably Thurston Island) crustal block of West Antarctica, spanning from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) through the Early Paleogene (Paleocene); (2) we suggest that the Antarctic Peninsula acted as a double "Noah's Ark” regarding, first, the probable migration of some non-therian lineages into southern South America; later, the migration of metatherians to Australasia.

Genomic analysis of the brassica pathogen turnip mosaic potyvirus reveals its spread along the former trade routes of the Silk Road

Plant pathogens have agricultural impacts on a global scale and resolving the timing and route of their spread can aid crop protection and inform control strategies. However, the evolutionary and phylogeographic history of plant pathogens in Eurasia remains largely unknown because of the difficulties in sampling across such a large landmass. Here, we show that turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV), a significant pathogen of brassica crops, spread from west to east across Eurasia from about the 17th century CE. We used a Bayesian phylogenetic approach to analyze 579 whole genome sequences and up to 713 partial sequences of TuMV, including 122 previously unknown genome sequences from isolates that we collected over the past five decades. Our phylogeographic and molecular clock analyses showed that TuMV isolates of the Asian-Brassica/Raphanus (BR) and basal-BR groups and world-Brassica3 (B3) subgroup spread from the center of emergence to the rest of Eurasia in relation to the host plants grown in each country. The migration pathways of TuMV have retraced some of the major historical trade arteries in Eurasia, a network that formed the Silk Road, and the regional variation of the virus is partly characterized by different type patterns of recombinants. Our study presents a complex and detailed picture of the timescale and major transmission routes of an important plant pathogen.

The Relationship between Precipitation and Precipitable Water in CMIP6 Simulations and Implications for Tropical Climatology and Change

AbstractIt is well documented that over the tropical oceans, column-integrated precipitable water (pw) and precipitation (P) have a nonlinear relationship. In this study moisture budget analysis is used to examine this P–pw relationship in a normalized precipitable water framework. It is shown that the parameters of the nonlinear relationship depend on the vertical structure of moisture convergence. Specifically, the precipitable water values at which precipitation is balanced independently by evaporation versus by moisture convergence define a critical normalized precipitable water, pwnc. This is a measure of convective inhibition that separates tropical precipitation into two regimes: a local evaporation-controlled regime with widespread drizzle and a precipitable water–controlled regime. Most of the 17 CMIP6 historical simulations examined here have higher pwnc compared to ERA5, and more frequently they operate in the drizzle regime. When compared to observations, they overestimate precipitation over the high-evaporation oceanic regions off the equator, thereby producing a “double ITCZ” feature, while underestimating precipitation over the large tropical landmasses and over the climatologically moist oceanic regions near the equator. The responses to warming under the SSP585 scenario are also examined using the normalized precipitable water framework. It is shown that the critical normalized precipitable water value at which evaporation versus moisture convergence balance precipitation decreases as a result of the competing dynamic and thermodynamic responses to warming, resulting in an increase in drizzle and total precipitation. Statistically significant historical trends corresponding to the thermodynamic and dynamic changes are detected in ERA5 and in low-intensity drizzle precipitation in the PERSIANN precipitation dataset.

Linear Statecraft along the Nile: Landscapes and the Political Phenomenology of Ancient Egypt

Abstract States in archaeological and historical parlance generally are large and dynamic entities with continually fluctuating borders and boundaries across large land masses. States also are characterized by multiple nodes of settlement and multiple regions of resource availability within those large land masses, including agricultural fields, animal pastures, raw materials, and labor power. The northeastern African continent however provides a rather different spatial configuration for states’ prerequisites of agricultural intensification and social integration: the ancient Egyptian state—and all subsequent political entities called “Egypt”—have been framed by the valley of the Nile as a long and narrow corridor of human viability. Using “flow” as a phenomenological concept in which experiences are heightened by restraint conditions, this article examines the characteristics of political and social cohesion given geographic limitations on communication, migration and territorial expansion. The constraints of a viable landmass surrounded by uninhabitable desert parallel the conditions experienced by island states, enabling the productive application of island and archipelagic models to the analysis of the ancient Egyptian state.

Challenges and Opportunities Underlining Africa’s Aviation Landscape: A Multiple Lenses Analysis

Aim/Purpose: This study sought to apply the Structure Conduct Performance paradigm to Africa´s air transport landscape in general. To do that it examines the past, present and future expectations of four of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest avia-tion economies namely South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Second-ary data containing historical passenger traffic was analysed and predictions for growth in the next ten years proposed. Background: There is consensus that overall the future of aviation in Africa has significant economic potential with significant other challenges needing to be overcome. The existence of a large land mass that requires connecting with itself, a growing population and specifically a growing middle class with an appetite for air travel, an extensive extractives sector and a growing tourism sector can provide the necessary demand conditions. In support of this, regional economic communities have led the way in implementation of Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD). This is especially so in West Africa through the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the Banjul Accord Group (BAG), which have facilitated the development of the most, liberalized air transport market in Africa. At a higher level, the full implementation of YD requires that states disengage from the industry, liberalise access and facilitate the increased participation of the private sector. Some of the challenges that need to be actioned include high user charges and taxes, under-capitalization of African airlines and insufficient management experience, which have contributed significantly to the low profitability of African airlines. Methodology: The case study approach is generally used to generate an in-depth comprehension of a complex issue in real-life. It is an established research design that is used extensively in a wide variety of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences. The study adopts a quantitative methodology based on the selected regional sample of countries under study and adopts the Structure Conduct Performance (SCP) model as a framework for analysis. The data set was for the previous twenty years and it was exposed to linear extrapolation to determine the expected future growth. Trend lines were included and standard regression modelling revealed the R2 value for international and total air passengers per country. Findings: The research findings exposed the possibility of a significant upside in the development of the aviation industry in Africa ceteris paribus. In all the countries analysed it appears that the development of the industry is sup-ported by strong tourism and travel demand by international tourists, and the various individual country as well as continent-wide measures towards lib-eralization of the African airspace. Impact on Society: The findings of this study have shown that intra-Africa travel can be en-hanced by a strong collaboration between airlines and states. Some strong opportunities have arisen from the enhancement of deep ties between na-tional champions like Ethiopian Airlines and regional carriers in West Afri-ca. Indicating that cross border and cross airline partnerships are a key in-gredient for airlines to make a significant contribution to the economies in Africa.

Triple Oxygen Isotopes in Evolving Continental Crust, Granites, and Clastic Sediments

This Chapter considers triple oxygen isotope variations and their 4 Gyr temporal evolution in bulk siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and in granites. The d18O and D'17O values provide new insights into weathering in the modern and ancient hydrosphere and coeval crustal petrogenesis. We make use of the known geological events and processes that affect the rock cycle: supercontinent assembly and breakup that influence continent-scale and global climate, the fraction of the exposed crust undergoing weathering, and isotopic values of precipitation. New data from a 5000 m Texas drillhole into the Oligocene Frio Formation demonstrate minimal isotopic shifts from mudrocks to shales during diagenesis, mostly related to expulsion of water from smectite-rich loosely cemented sediment and its conversion to illite-rich shale. Inversion of triple oxygen isotope fractionations return isotopic values and temperatures along the hole depth that are more consistent with weathering conditions in the Oligocene and modern North America (d18O = -7 to -15‰, and T of +15 to +45°C) rather than d18O from 8 to 10‰ diagenetic water in the drill hole at 175-195°C. More precise T and d18Owater are obtained where the chemical index of alteration (CIA) based detrital contribution is subtracted from these sediments. Triple oxygen isotopes from suspended sediments in major world rivers record conditions (T and d18Ow) of their watersheds, and not the composition of bedrock because weathering is water-dominated. In parallel, the Chapter presents new analyses of 100 granites, orthogneisses, migmatites, tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG), and large-volume ignimbrites from around the world that range in age from 4 Ga to modern. Most studied granites are orogenic and anatectic in origin and represent large volume remelting/assimilation of shales and other metasediments; the most crustal and high-d18O of these are thus reflect and record the average composition of evolving continental crust. Granites also develop a significant progressive increase in d18O values from 6-7‰ (4-2.5 Ga) to 10-13‰ (~1.8-1.2 Ga) after which d18O stays constant or even decreases. More importantly, we observe a moderate -0.03‰ step-wise decrease in D'17O between 2.1 and 2.5 Ga, which is about half of the step-wise decrease observed in shales over this time interval. We suggest that granites, as well as shales, record the significant advent and greater volumetric appearance of low-D'17O, high-d18O weathering products (shales) altered by meteoric waters upon rapid emergence of large land masses at ~2.4 Ga, although consider alternative interpretations. These weathering products were incorporated into abundant 2.0-1.8 Ga orogens around the world, where upon remelting, they passed their isotopic signature to the granites. We further observe the dichotomy of high-D'17O Archean shales, and unusually low-D'17O Archean granites. We attribute this to greater contribution from shallow crustal hydrothermal contribution to shales in greenstone belts, while granites in the earliest 3.0-4.0 Ga crust and TTGs require involvement of hydrothermal products with lower-D'17O signatures at moderately high-d18O, which we attribute to secondary silicification of their protoliths before partial melting. The Chapter further discusses evolution of the shale record through geologic history and discusses the step-wise change in d18O and D'17O values at Archean/Proterozoic transition. Denser coverage for shales in the past 1 billion years permits investigation of the rocks and their weathering in the last supercontinent cycle, with observed lighter d18O values, characteristic for the mid-Phanerozoic at the initiation of Gondwana breakup. The continuing increase in d18O values of the shales since 4 Ga is interpreted to reflect accumulation of weathering products via shale accretion to continents, as low-density and buoyant shales tend to not subduct back into the mantle. The rock cycle passes triple oxygen isotopic signatures from precipitation to sedimentary, metasedimentary, and finally to anatectic igneous rocks. Continental crust became progressively heavier in d18O, lighter in D'17O due to incremental accumulation of high-d18O sediments in accretionary wedges. Second-order trends in d18O and D'17O are due to supercontinent cycles and glacial episodes.

Western Australia

Working as a regional psychiatrist in Western Australia requires work-time to be divided between clinical roles as a generalist psychiatrist within the public mental health system, and as a clinical academic focusing on research, advocacy, and teaching in psychiatry across rural and remote Australia. The challenge during 2020 has been ensuring clinical service and teaching delivery across a large landmass of more than 2 660 000 km2 with communities often spread hundreds of kilometres apart. Western Australia is about as rural and remote an area as you can find anywhere in the world, leading to unique challenges in treating and transporting patients with mental health conditions.

Why have USA firms been more effective than the UK firms in the market since the industrial revolution?

17th and early 18th centuries as that nation became an economic and colonial powerhouse and the Second Industrial Revolution took place in the United States. beginning in the mid-1800s, transforming and positioning America for its rise to a global superpower. Even though the industrial revolution has been started in Britain, American firms overtake British firms so spectacularly and the US has become the world’s leading economic power. The purpose of the present article is to explore Some Historical Events During the Industrial Revolution and try to find the reasons behind the advance of the US based on reliable data and numbers. After examining numerous articles, books, blogs, and data related to the subject we find that natural sources like America's large landmass, the diversity of US population, the availability of mineral sources followed by numerous reasons as technological innovation capability, dynamic financial system, well-spread infrastructure, transportation stand behind the superpower economy of the United States.

African Land Mammal Ages

ABSTRACT We define 17 African land mammal ages, or AFLMAs, covering the Cenozoic record of the Afro-arabian continent, the planet’s second largest land mass. While fossiliferous deposits are absent on the eroded plateau of the continent’s interior, almost 800 fossil genera from over 350 locations have now been identified in coastal deposits, karst caves, and in the Neogene rift valleys. Given a well-developed geochronologic framework, together with continuing revision to the fossil record—both stimulated by the story of human evolution in Africa—and also to compensate for the variation in fossil ecosystems across such great distances, the AFLMAs are biochronological units defined by type localities, and not biozones to be recognized by the occurrence of certain genera. Disparities are notable: Africa is the highest of all continents, but almost every Paleogene locality was formed at sea level; the fossil record of its great rainforest ecosystem remains virtually unknown; and the Paleogene fauna is relatively isolated, whereas the Neogene begins with open exchange with Laurasia following the Tauride collision, with a simultaneous opening of the East African rift valleys in which the newly revolutionized fauna is abundantly preserved. Notably, the continent-wide and comprehensive documentation of the African mammalian record reveals an unparalleled rate of transformation in the hominin lineage, unmatched by any other group, in response to the Neogene expansion of the open-country ecosystem.

Mountain endemism in Malesian geckos: can biotic interactions push lizards up hills?

Historical and contemporary processes shaping striking variation in terrestrial biodiversity along elevational gradients have received much attention from evolutionary biologists, often by way of comparisons to latitudinal environmental gradients. Here we synthetically review what is known of the diversity and origin of upland endemic geckos across the Malesian region (south-east Asia and Melanesia). Approximately 20% of the regional gecko fauna is endemic to mountains, but only around 8% have distributions centred on what we consider true montane habitats over 1000 metres above sea level. A majority of upland lineages lack close relatives in surrounding lowlands (although there are many exceptions) and some are highly phylogenetically divergent (e.g., estimated divergence from all other gecko taxa dating to the mid-Miocene or earlier). In several cases upland radiations are allied to other taxa centred on small islands or in disturbed lowland habitats, but absent or exceptionally rare in most lowland rainforest areas. A number of other upland lineages may have originated on smaller islands that are now merged into larger landmasses such as Sumatra and New Guinea. Based on often deep phylogenetic divergences, low community diversity and disjunct distributions across uplands and islands, we suggest that at least some upland lineages are more limited by biotic interactions than they are by climate. As global climates continue to warm in coming decades, such taxa may be particularly affected by upslope shifts of competitors and predators from lower elevations.