Morobe Province Research Articles

Distribution and biogeography of Bactrocera and Dacus species (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Papua New Guinea

Abstract Based on literature records and the results of an extensive trapping program, presence records for 194 species of Bactrocera and Dacus in the 19 provinces of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are presented. Of the 770 records, over 500 are new. Based on species accumulation curves, Central, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, New Ireland and Bougainville provinces, plus the province pairs of East and West Sepik, East and West New Britain, and Southern Highlands and Enga, can be regarded as having been adequately sampled. The remaining provinces should still be regarded as being under‐collected. On mainland PNG, Morobe and Central provinces have the richest faunas and highest levels of endemism, approximately 15% each. All other mainland provinces have very low levels of endemism and are essentially subsets of the faunas of Morobe and Central Province. Although also with very low levels of endemism, the Highlands provinces have a statistically distinct fauna, suggesting that a pool of the PNG species are able to utilise both lowland and highland habitats. The fruit fly fauna of the island provinces is distinct from the mainland fauna, with further separation between the islands of the Bismark Archipelago (New Britain and New Ireland) and Bougainville. The greatest diversity of flies in PNG are associated with major northern geological elements, i.e., the New Guinea orogen, New Guinea accreted terranes and the off‐shore islands, rather than the primary southern geological element, the Australian creton.

Biomass analysis and selection of sugarcane genotypes for drought tolerance

In a completely randomized greenhouse pot trial, 26 sugarcane genotypes were evaluated under irrigated and water stress conditions during the formative growth phase (90 – 117 days after planting). The evaluation was based on visual assessment at 117 days after planting and measuring agronomical parameters of cane, leaf, root and biomass over four time intervals, viz. 90, 101, 109 and 117 days after planting. An ANOVA showed that the genotypes possessed high degree of diversity, in the selection process for drought tolerance. The interaction, genotype x water treatment, was highly significant for cane height, cane girth, root length, root fresh weight, root bulk density, biomass fresh weight and biomass dry weight. At the formative stage, cane height and cane girth were the only practically viable parameters; best reflected by biomass dry weight, where correlation coefficient was (r = 0.517) and (r = 0.314) for cane height and girth, respectively. The 26 genotypes were classified into three categories in response to water stress: 5 tolerant, 11 moderate and 10 sensitive. Visual evaluation matched the evaluation based on biomass analysis in 16 cases, nearly matched in 9 cases and differed in 1 case. Visual evaluation is fast, inexpensive and relatively accurate and it may be a useful predictor for drought tolerance in screening large number of genotypes. However, more objectively, the procedure highlights the importance of biomass analysis in the evaluation of reasonable number of genotypes in response to water stress. The study allowed for selecting drought tolerant sugarcane genotypes suitable for cultivation in Ramu Valley and Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea.

Fratricide and inequality: things fall apart in eastern New Guinea

AbstractThis paper contrasts models of increasing social integration in the central valleys of the New Guinea highlands advanced by Watson, Modjeska and Golson with that of a society constructed entirely differently at the eastern end of the central mountain chain, that of the Upper Watut of Morobe Province. Watut settlements were traditionally locked into a cycle of fission, foundation and accretion caused by the inability of lineage mates to live together without conflict. At a point in the recent past, population growth transformed the system into one of expansion and the conquest of new land until this was arrested by the advent of the colonial period.

Singing about the Land among the Biangai

ABSTRACTThis paper examines Biangai (Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea) expressions and transformations of environmental imaginaries through women's mourning songs (yongo ingi) and the songs of string bands. Biangai personhood, once intimately connected to garden lands and trees, hunting and forest paths, is increasingly influenced by global capitalism. Through their songs, they betray an increased tension between acting as an individual person and acting in terms of kin based relationality. While yongo ingi still memorialize the social spaces and land rights of the deceased, they also express conflicts in Biangai engagement with gold mining. Biangai string bands emerged just prior to Papua New Guinea's Independence in 1975, with the first band recording and releasing a national cassette in 1982. Dominated by young men, they depict the intersection of local music with a Melanesian modernity composed of compensation payments, gold mining, love, travel, and marketing. Both yongo ingi and string bands inform each other and provide insight into how local music engages images of both global economy and global ecology. By examining the uses, meanings, and performative contexts of these songs, this paper contributes to our understanding of the role of such expressive forms in connecting persons and their environment.

Piper (Piperaceae) in New Guinea: The Non-Climbing Species

Sixteen climbing Piper species are accepted for New Guinea. The three endemics, P. arfakianum, P. subcanirameum and P. versteegii, are fully described. Eight taxa of unclear circumscription are noted. A new variety of P. macropiper, endemic to Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea, is described. The presence of an ant-plant piper in West New Guinea is noted.

Litterfall, decomposition and nutrient release in a lowland tropical rain forest, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

The analysis of litter quantity, litter decomposition and its pattern of nutrient release is important for understanding nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Plant growth and maintenance are partly met through nutrient cycling (O'Connell & Sankaran 1997) which is dominated by litter production and decomposition. Litter fall is a major process for transferring nutrients from above-ground vegetation to soils (Vitousek & Sanford 1986), while decomposition of litter releases nutrients (Maclean & Wein 1978). The rate at which nutrients are recycled influences the net primary productivity of a forest. Knowledge of these processes from tropical rain forests is relatively poor (O'Connell & Sankaran 1997), and in particular there are no known published studies on nutrient cycling from lowland tropical forests in Papua New Guinea. The few studies from Papua New Guinea are confined to the mid-montane forest zone (Edwards 1977, Edwards & Grubb 1982, Enright 1979, Lawong et al. 1993).

The Northeast coast of Papua New Guinea: a bibliographic survey

National bibliographies for Papua-New Guinea have been compiled in the past and more may be completed in the future; there is also a need for regional or provincial bibliographies to help researchers working at these levels. This paper stems from the recent publication of bibliographies of Morobe, Madang, East and West Sepik provinces which are being combined as one regional bibliography in order to assist in the identification of sources of interest to future researchers. The series is now being expanded to include all the highland provinces.

Null Subjects, Switch-Reference, and Serialization in Jabem and Numbami

Null Subjects, Switch-Reference, and Serialization in Jabêm and Numbami Joel Bradshaw Abstract Analysis of null vs. overt subject NPs over successive clauses in texts from Numbami and Jabêm, two Austronesian languages of Papua New Guinea with rich subject-agreement morphology and rich verb serialization, reveals that optional null subjects normally signal subject retention across clauses while optional overt subjects signal switches. Comparison of these discourse-level switch-reference systems with clause-level verb serialization in the same languages, and with morphological switch-reference systems in neighboring Papuan languages and distant Austronesian languages reveals considerable functional overlap between canonical switch-reference systems and canonical verb-serialization systems, but with null subject NPs signaling similar types of continuity in both systems. Optional null subjecthood marks not just subject continuity across successive clauses at the discourse level, but also actor continuity, just as obligatory null subjecthood on noninitial verbs marks continuity of actors, patients, and other thematic roles across successive serialized verbs at the clause level. 1. Introduction. This study examines the occurrences of null vs. overt initial subject NPs in successive clauses in texts from Jabêm and Numbami, two Austronesian languages of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Both languages are SVO and have rich and uniform systems of prefixes that uniquely identify the person and number of the subject of each verb. Null subjects in clause-initial position are thus very common and normally signal retention of the subject (and actor) of the prior clause, while overt subject NPs signal a switch in clausal subject (and actor). That much is fairly easy to demonstrate, but the analysis is complicated by two intersecting phenomena. (1) Both languages are especially rich in serial verb constructions (SVCs) that allow SVC-internal subject-agreement switches between successive verbs. Like other clause types, Numbami and Jabêm SVCs allow subject NPs to be either overt or null in initial position, but allow no other overt subjects anywhere else in the same clause. Each succeeding verb in an SVC can introduce a new thematic [End Page 270] role (patient, goal, location) in object NP position, but it cannot place a competing entity in a role already assigned earlier in the clause. Thus, a null-subject sequence such as 'we-carry taro we-carry bananas' (with pronominal prefixes here signaling subject agreement) cannot be analyzed as a single SVC-despite actor continuity- because it contains two competing patients ('taro' and 'bananas'). The same goes for 'we-carry food we-go inland we-go seaward', because it contains two competing goals-of-motion. But 'we-carry food we-go we-put it-lie house-inside' is a fine SVC because the whole sequence shows continuity of actor ('we'), patient ('food'), and location ('house-inside')-as well as continuity of tense, polarity, illocutionary force, and so forth. (2) Both Numbami and Jabêm have long been in contact with Papuan languages that have canonical switch-reference (SR) systems that morphologically mark subject continuity (ss) and discontinuity (ds) in the medial verbs of clause chains. Such clause chains may sometimes show levels of cohesion that approximate those of SVCs. In fact, some SVCs and clause chains are close translation equivalents. Attention is thus devoted to sorting out the differences among tracking subject relationships within SVCs, within SR clause chains, and within stretches of independent clauses.1 1.1 Data Sources. Jabêm (sometimes spelt Yabem or Yabim) is already among the best-recorded languages in Melanesia. Dempwolff (1939) undertook a grammatical description as his last publication. Zahn (1940) provides a thorough pedagogical grammar, with abundant exemplification. Zahn earlier produced a (1917) Jabêm-German dictionary, and Streicher has produced both a (1937) German-Jabêm dictionary and a (1982) Jabêm-English dictionary. Since Jabêm was a church and mission-school lingua franca used since the turn of the century throughout Austronesian-speaking areas of Morobe Province, there are also abundant materials in the language: primers, texts about a variety of traditional and modern customs and scientific beliefs, historical accounts of World War II, traditional and biblical tales, hymnals and liturgy, the entire New Testament and most of the Old Testament (Streicher 1982:657-658). The Jab...

Null Subjects, Switch-Reference, and Serialization in Jabem and Numbami

Null Subjects, Switch-Reference, and Serialization in Jabêm and Numbami Joel Bradshaw Abstract Analysis of null vs. overt subject NPs over successive clauses in texts from Numbami and Jabêm, two Austronesian languages of Papua New Guinea with rich subject-agreement morphology and rich verb serialization, reveals that optional null subjects normally signal subject retention across clauses while optional overt subjects signal switches. Comparison of these discourse-level switch-reference systems with clause-level verb serialization in the same languages, and with morphological switch-reference systems in neighboring Papuan languages and distant Austronesian languages reveals considerable functional overlap between canonical switch-reference systems and canonical verb-serialization systems, but with null subject NPs signaling similar types of continuity in both systems. Optional null subjecthood marks not just subject continuity across successive clauses at the discourse level, but also actor continuity, just as obligatory null subjecthood on noninitial verbs marks continuity of actors, patients, and other thematic roles across successive serialized verbs at the clause level. 1. Introduction. This study examines the occurrences of null vs. overt initial subject NPs in successive clauses in texts from Jabêm and Numbami, two Austronesian languages of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Both languages are SVO and have rich and uniform systems of prefixes that uniquely identify the person and number of the subject of each verb. Null subjects in clause-initial position are thus very common and normally signal retention of the subject (and actor) of the prior clause, while overt subject NPs signal a switch in clausal subject (and actor). That much is fairly easy to demonstrate, but the analysis is complicated by two intersecting phenomena. (1) Both languages are especially rich in serial verb constructions (SVCs) that allow SVC-internal subject-agreement switches between successive verbs. Like other clause types, Numbami and Jabêm SVCs allow subject NPs to be either overt or null in initial position, but allow no other overt subjects anywhere else in the same clause. Each succeeding verb in an SVC can introduce a new thematic [End Page 270] role (patient, goal, location) in object NP position, but it cannot place a competing entity in a role already assigned earlier in the clause. Thus, a null-subject sequence such as 'we-carry taro we-carry bananas' (with pronominal prefixes here signaling subject agreement) cannot be analyzed as a single SVC-despite actor continuity- because it contains two competing patients ('taro' and 'bananas'). The same goes for 'we-carry food we-go inland we-go seaward', because it contains two competing goals-of-motion. But 'we-carry food we-go we-put it-lie house-inside' is a fine SVC because the whole sequence shows continuity of actor ('we'), patient ('food'), and location ('house-inside')-as well as continuity of tense, polarity, illocutionary force, and so forth. (2) Both Numbami and Jabêm have long been in contact with Papuan languages that have canonical switch-reference (SR) systems that morphologically mark subject continuity (ss) and discontinuity (ds) in the medial verbs of clause chains. Such clause chains may sometimes show levels of cohesion that approximate those of SVCs. In fact, some SVCs and clause chains are close translation equivalents. Attention is thus devoted to sorting out the differences among tracking subject relationships within SVCs, within SR clause chains, and within stretches of independent clauses.1 1.1 Data Sources. Jabêm (sometimes spelt Yabem or Yabim) is already among the best-recorded languages in Melanesia. Dempwolff (1939) undertook a grammatical description as his last publication. Zahn (1940) provides a thorough pedagogical grammar, with abundant exemplification. Zahn earlier produced a (1917) Jabêm-German dictionary, and Streicher has produced both a (1937) German-Jabêm dictionary and a (1982) Jabêm-English dictionary. Since Jabêm was a church and mission-school lingua franca used since the turn of the century throughout Austronesian-speaking areas of Morobe Province, there are also abundant materials in the language: primers, texts about a variety of traditional and modern customs and scientific beliefs, historical accounts of World War II, traditional and biblical tales, hymnals and liturgy, the entire New Testament and most of the Old Testament (Streicher 1982:657-658). The Jab...

Sedimentation in a complex convergent margin: the Papua New Guinea collision zone of the western Solomon Sea

Bathymetric, sidescan and `groundtruthed' acoustic facies maps incorporating 50,000 km 2 of HAWAII MR1 swath and 3.5 kHz data have been used to construct a tectono-sedimentary model for sedimentation along the western Solomon Sea region of the Papua New Guinea collision zone. The southern underthrust plate along the collision zone includes the Morobe and Trobriand tectono-sedimentary provinces. This region has an extensive platform to the east, a narrow shelf, and a moderately steep slope descending to the plate margin. Along the edge of the underthrust plate sediment accumulates mainly in numerous isolated slope basins and several canyon-fed slope fans. The former are 5 to 20 km across and filled with fine-grained hemipelagic sediment. The latter are larger (40 to 70 km across), coarser-grained and elongate along the margin. The overriding plate along the Papua New Guinea collision zone includes the Huon, Finsch, Siassi and New Britain tectono-sedimentary provinces. The edge of this plate has no shelf, is very steep, and sediments accumulate in fewer isolated slope basins and more numerous canyon-fed slope fans, which are also elongate along the margin. The basin floor is constrained along two elongate deep sea trenches (separated by oceanic lithosphere). Sediment supply from the northern overriding plate to the basin floor is limited, as most submarine canyons terminate at slope fans, slope basins or terraces. Sediment supply from the southern underthrusting plate is also believed to be low, as approximately half of the tributary submarine canyons debouch onto slope fans before joining the axial Markham Canyon. The sediment supplied to the western end of the trench is delivered axially down the collisional suture, much of it apparently derived from emergent landmasses to the west. This pattern of sediment delivery implies that the fill in ancient deep water collisional basins may be largely unrelated to terranes on either side of the basin, but derived from terranes further afield.

The Cultural Importance of Floristic Diversity: A Case Study from Nokopo village, Madang and Morobe Provinces, Papua New Guinea

AbstractBiodiversity is not exclusively a product of pristine natural processes but is also, to a considerable degree, caused by human activities. This is demonstrated by a detailed inspection of the use and classification of plants by the people of Nokopo village in the Finisterre Range of Papua New Guinea. Nokopo people recognise and value biodiversity on all its levels - genetic diversity, species diversity and diversity of ecosystems - and their activities enhance overall biodiversity. This can be partly explained by the usefulness biodiversity has to them, in terms of resource access and other utilitarian considerations. On the other hand, aesthetic concepts and values make a significant contribution. Both these intrinsically interwoven components - the utilitarian and the aesthetic component respectively - form the base for understanding the major role humans play in creating and maintaining biodiversity, the role of keystone species enhancing overall biodiversity in a given ecosystem.

Knowledge and use of maternal and child health services by mothers in Papua New Guinea.

A survey was conducted in the coastal area of Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea between March to April 1992 in order to obtain and examine the current health knowledge and practices of mothers with children under two years of age. The purpose of the survey was to gather data for the detailed planning and implementation of a Child Survival Intervention Project funded by USAID. A total of 30 villages in the area were selected utilizing the WHO 30-cluster sampling technique. The results indicated that breastfeeding was a very common practice. However, because nutritional intake was not increased during pregnancy and lactation for many of the women, it is likely that their nutritional intake was insufficient. Although many mothers knew the importance of immunization, they were unclear about the importance of completing immunization series. The utilization of contraceptive methods was very low among women who did not want to have another child within the subsequent two years. The most common methods were injections and pills. The dissemination of health education to isolated rural villages is one of the most important interventions in reducing maternal and infant mortality. As there currently is no health education unit at the Morobe Provincial Department of Health. It is crucial to establish the unit and to emphasize the importance of health education as the tool for disease prevention and health promotion.

: Of People and Plants: A Botanical Ethnography of Nokopo Village, Madang and Morobe Provinces, Papua New Guinea . Christin Kocher Schmid.

: Of People and Plants: A Botanical Ethnography of Nokopo Village, Madang and Morobe Provinces, Papua New Guinea . Christin Kocher Schmid.

English

Stevens. P.F. (Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Mass 02138, USA) 1993. A new species and new combination in Clusiaceae-Calophylloideae from New Guinea. Telopea 5(2): 359-361. A distinctive new species of Mammea, M. papyracea, known only from a single collection from the Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, is described. Following the recent separation of Kayea and Mesua, a new combination, K. coriacea, is made; a recent collection of this species represents a range extension of 1500 km. I ntrod uction The new species described below and the new combination made are necessitated by the forthcoming publication of Volume 3 of the 'Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea'. Mammea It is with some hesitation that I describe a new species of Mammea since the genus is very poorly known throughout its Malesian range, with the exception of the seaside M. odorata (Raf.) Kostermans and the Bornean M. acuminata (Kostermans) Koster­ mans. However, in the course of monographing the genus, it became clear that the specimen that is described below as M. papyracea has so many distinctive features that it merits formal description. Mammea papyracea P.F. Stevens, sp nov. A speciebus aliis Mammeae foliis petiolis 5-10 x c. 2.5 mm, laminis basibus rotunda­ tis vel subcordatis, venis utrinque haud prominentibus, venis submarginalibus 3-seriatis, venulis ultimis obscuris, et glandulis laticibus c. 3 mm distantibus, differt. TYPE: PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MOROBE: Lae subdistrict, Buso, 30 ft [9 m], H. Streimann et al., NGF 39414, 6/5/[19]69 (holo A; iso BO, CANB, K, L, LAE). Tree c. 9 m tall, c. 7.5 cm d.b.h. Outer bark light brown, pustular, middle bark creamy brown; inner bark brown; latex white, turning yellow. Sapwood straw-coloured; heart­ wood reddish brown. Terminal bud conoid, 6-7.5 x 1.2-1.5 mm, apex of perulae nar­ rowly cuneate; twigs slightly flattened, 2-3.4 mm across, drying striate when young, otherwise smooth, pale yellowish brown, with a transverse line at the node; innova­ tions with c. 3 pairs of perulae within 2 mm, another pair with an internode 5-20 mm long, and 1 or 2 pairs of expanded leaves with internodes 4.5-8 cm long. Petiole (3-)5-10 x c. 2.5 mm, strongly concave above; lamina elliptic-oblong, 14-23 x 4.2-9 cm, apex acuminate to almost rounded, acumen to 7 mm long, base broadly rounded to subcordate, margin narrowly recurved, texture thinly coriaceous, surface above smooth, below dull brown, slightly glaucous, midrib above slightly depressed at the base, becoming raised, 0.7-1.0 mm across at the midpoint of the blade, more or less

Cultural politics among the Siassi, Morobe province, Papua New Guinea

This article deals with relationships between, on the one hand, Papua New Gui?ean public institutions at the state and provincial levels and statewide organizations such as churches and, on the other hand, groups of rural Papua New Guineans. The article is subdivided into four parts. In the first part, I discuss principal features of the state-subject relationships in Papua New Guinea as they developed over the course of the colonial era. In the second part, I focus on how the Kovai in Morobe Province perceived these relationships and attempted to shape them so as to better their lot. In the third section, I relate their efforts to other similar Papua New Gui?ean efforts, and in the fourth section, I discuss the applicability of the concepts of 'nation' and 'nationalism' to Papua New Guinea.1 As for ethnography, this paper is based on my reading of Papua New Gui?ean literature and my own field research there. I refer in particular to my work among the Kovai, one of the ethnic groups on Umboi Island, located in the straits separating New Guinea and New Britain, where I worked in the late 1970s. I also use results from still earlier research among settlers, petty rural businessmen, in settlement schemes near Lae and in New Britain.

Red cell enzyme and serum protein types in the Watut Anga of Papua New Guinea.

Historically, the Angan populations of Papua New Guinea have maintained a strong isolation and absorbed limited genes from their neighbours. This lack of intermixing is reflected in their relatively homogeneous cultural, linguistic and genetic profiles. We have determined the electrophoretic variation at 26 red cell enzyme, serum protein and haemoglobin loci in the Watut Anga, a splinter group occupying the Upper Watut Valley of Morobe Province. Their genetic profile reveals the lack of a number-of variants, such as PGM2*10 and MDH*3, known to exhibit high frequencies in other highland populations. The average heterozygosity in the Watut is also much lower when compared with other Papua New Guinean populations. Their present numerical strength notwithstanding, it appears that the Angan populations have experienced population bottlenecks in their evolutionary history which may have accentuated their genetic divergence from other Papua New Guinean populations.

THE INCEST PASSIONS:AN OUTLINE OF THE LOGIC OF THE IQWAYE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

In the first part of this paper (Oceania 62(1)) I presented the mythopoeic‐cosmological foundations of incest among the Iqwaye people, a Yagwoia‐Anga group of the West Menyamya Census Division, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The core of incest passions derives from the primordial autosexual‐autonutritive, i.e. self‐procreative, cosmic man. Here I am demonstrating how incest as autocreation is realized in the main structural configurations of Iqwaye social organization, specifically the naming system, patrifiliation, matrifiliation, affinity, cross‐sex siblingship and, finally, institutionalized male homosexuality.

Ecology and Diet of Some Rodents From the Lower Montane Region of Papua-New-Guinea

Information relating to the habitat, reproduction and diet is given for five murine rodents from the vicinity of Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Rattus steini was found to be present in all four habitats investigated (kunai, gardens, coffee plantations, forest), whereas R. exulans was absent from the forest; Melomys rufescens, M. lorentzi and Pogonomys macrourus were only trapped in the forest, and in low numbers. Although climatically similar to other montane regions in Papua New Guinea, the Wau area appeared to have an earlier start to the peak breeding season than elsewhere, and litter sizes seemed to be higher. The diet of Melomys species and P. macrourus appeared to be largely frugivorous (>90%), whereas Rattus species consumed a wide range of food items. While there was considerable overlap between the diets of Ratlus species, R. steini consumed more leafy material and insects, and less fruit, woody and vegetable material than R. exulans. Habitat modification by human activity in the Wau area has radically affected the diversity and relative abundance of rodent species, although it was difficult to discern any strong relationship between diet and habitat. While specific and generic identification of particular food items was not possible, an index of invertebrate diversity in the diet of rodents is suggested as a means of assessing changes in food availability, and therefore habitat change.

A Leaf and Fruit Disease of Pandanus conoideus caused by Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora in Papua New Guinea

AbstractA disease of Pandanus conoideus which causes leaf necrosis and fruit rot is reported from Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. Biochemical, physiological and pathogenicity tests show the causal organism to be a strain of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. The disease is common on P. conoideus and also affects leaves but not fruit of P. julianettii, another pandanus widely grown in the area.

Archaeological investigation in the Vitiaz Strait region, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

Archaeological investigation in the Vitiaz Strait region, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea