Mountain Communities Research Articles

Summer Freezing Resistance: A Critical Filter for Plant Community Assemblies in Mediterranean High Mountains.

Assessing freezing community response and whether freezing resistance is related to other functional traits is essential for understanding alpine community assemblages, particularly in Mediterranean environments where plants are exposed to freezing temperatures and summer droughts. Thus, we characterized the leaf freezing resistance of 42 plant species in 38 plots at Sierra de Guadarrama (Spain) by measuring their ice nucleation temperature, freezing point (FP), and low-temperature damage (LT50), as well as determining their freezing resistance mechanisms (i.e., tolerance or avoidance). The community response to freezing was estimated for each plot as community weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (FD), and we assessed their relative importance with altitude. We established the relationships between freezing resistance, growth forms, and four key plant functional traits (i.e., plant height, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and seed mass). There was a wide range of freezing resistance responses and more than in other alpine habitats. At the community level, the CWMs of FP and LT50 responded negatively to altitude, whereas the FD of both traits increased with altitude. The proportion of freezing-tolerant species also increased with altitude. The ranges of FP and LT50 varied among growth forms, and only leaf dry matter content was negatively correlated with freezing-resistance traits. Summer freezing events represent important abiotic filters for assemblies of Mediterranean high mountain communities, as suggested by the CWMs. However, a concomitant summer drought constraint may also explain the high freezing resistance of species that thrive in these areas and the lower FD of freezing resistance traits at lower altitudes. Leaves with high dry matter contents may maintain turgor at lower water potential and enhance drought tolerance in parallel to freezing resistance. This adaptation to drought seems to be a general prerequisite for plants found in xeric mountains.

Accident causes and organizational culture among avalanche professionals

We report on a study of 392 avalanche professionals (AVPRO). We describe their demographics, organizational work environment, and the causes and incidence of accidents. We find evidence of strong and weak cultures of safety among AVPRO organizations and analyze differences between the two with respect to avalanche safety work procedures, personal work skills and attitudes, and causes of accidents. Demographics between the two groups are not different but the perceived causes for accidents were. Those organizations we classify as having a strong culture of safety are identified by their employees as having better avalanche training and reporting procedures and, more positive working behaviors. With respect to accident causes, we report that “operational pressures” and “management overriding personal judgement” during operations were reported by those in organizations with a weak culture of safety as contributing factors. Whereas we find value in large scale surveys of the AVPRO industry, we acknowledge that alternative methods of understanding of organizational culture AVPROs exist and should be utilized. Management implications●AVPRO organizations differ with respect to the culture of safety inherent in the organization. While we find no organization with no culture of safety, we can identify them as strong vs. weak.●AVPRO managers should be cognizant that organizational culture may influence how AVPROs do their job and that causes of accidents may be correlated to a restrictive management culture.●Communication and better personal decision making are encouraged where an organizational culture of safety exists.●High risk workers have a high level of self-efficacy independent of management, indicating that their professional and personal skills can be enhanced where management recognizes and rewards independent behavior.●Because of the dynamic conditions in which the AVPRO mountain community operates, accident causes are rarely simple and linear. They are more likely to be a combination of personal and organizational factors. As such, managers and members of the AVPRO community would benefit from greater understanding of the role of organizational culture in the workplace and could benefit from research in other risk oriented professions.

Dataset of Passerine bird communities in a Mediterranean high mountain (Sierra Nevada, Spain).

In this data paper, a dataset of passerine bird communities is described in Sierra Nevada, a Mediterranean high mountain located in southern Spain. The dataset includes occurrence data from bird surveys conducted in four representative ecosystem types of Sierra Nevada from 2008 to 2015. For each visit, bird species numbers as well as distance to the transect line were recorded. A total of 27847 occurrence records were compiled with accompanying measurements on distance to the transect and animal counts. All records are of species in the order Passeriformes. Records of 16 different families and 44 genera were collected. Some of the taxa in the dataset are included in the European Red List. This dataset belongs to the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory (OBSNEV), a long-term research project designed to compile socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types in order to identify the impacts of global change in this area.

Introduction: Opening: Haiti Scene

WEST INDIAN WAS THE EPONYMIC TITLE ESTHER HYMAN (Chapman) gave to her debut play which opened at Kingston's Ward Theatre on 14 March 1936. The play was a remarkable achievement. On sheer production scale alone it featured elements hitherto unseen on Jamaican stage. These included own symphony score, realistic set design, vibrant costumes, and a literary style that told history of region in blank verse; a dangerous experiment by Hyman's own admission.1 The most notable - and controversial - feature of play was concept. Hyman, a Britisher who had chosen Jamaica as her home, intended to use medium of stage to recount challenging history of Caribbean with its mixtures and conflicts in a two-act play that presented a picture of West Indian, showing his evolution, physical and mental, and pointing a finger to future.2 She did this by following historical course from oppression of eighteenth-century sl7avery to simmering social tensions of mid1930s.3 This made for a fair amount of criticism from Ward's elite audience. Indeed, prior to play's opening Hyman was warned that subtext could prove too volatile for Kingston. Critics praised high standard of production, but some were uneasy with closing act in which a would-be leader of a nineteenth-century slave revolt travels through time to a 1930s elite dinner party held in ruins of an old sugar estate where he waxes on continuities of social inequalities.4 The message was subtle but clear: Hyman understood that unreckoned horrors of past still haunted region in ways that demanded more discussion. In her words, play merely attempted to analyse calmly a social problem, and to find a solution for those hurt and oppressed souls who were puzzled and confused by it.5Hyman's attention to this West social problem was driven largely by her sense of connections among islands manifest in play's use of setting and time. In all but one scene setting is an undetermined West location. Profoundly, scene where this device is abandoned is first act, which was set in 1930s Haiti. The scene was of a Vodou ceremony in which a paternalistic Vodou priest presides over a local court. It was replete with tropes of day. But it set tone that Haiti was foundational to play and concept of West Indian. To ensure as much authenticity as possible, Hyman brought two dancers from Port-au-Prince - Louis Roger Regner and Renee Marlene DuBois - to perform scene's climactic Voodoo dance.6Hyman's decision to anchor story of West in Haiti reflected her own relationship with Haiti, which she regarded as the most interesting of West countries.7 The play, in fact, was only one reflection of this experience. In January 1934, Hyman spent several weeks in Haiti observing closely dismantling of nineteen years of US marine rule. It was in mountain community of Kenscoff that she alighted on idea for West Review, an important pioneering literary journal of 1930s that endeavoured to create bonds of closer intellectual union among islands by being entirely West Indian in content. True to this motto, Hyman insisted that Haitian themes, reviews and short stories - some of which were her own - would be regularly featured in journal's pages.This assertion of Haiti's centrality in West Indies was nothing new. The spirit that guided Hyman, in writing West Indian, and other writers from region, most notably C.L.R. James - whose work on The Black Jacobins was not coincidentally undertaken during mid-1930s - existed from earliest struggles for Haitian independence at turn of nineteenth century. It also guides enduring presence of Haiti as a nodal point in Caribbean historiography and intellectual circles, as evidenced in this special issue. …

Dance, “Stereotypes,” and Gender Relations: The Case of Lowland and Mountain Communities of Karditsa (Thessaly)

Gender identity is the main topic within the field of anthropology of gender: it is an identity with a polysemic character. The present paper focuses on the identity of social gender, since gender is a field of negotiation and a criterion for the analysis of culture. Social gender is a result of social-cultural constructions, established through the repetition of stereotypical dance acts. In this context, dance functions as a symbol, and its study allows the understanding of social structures, and therefore, the understanding of gender identity. Every dance event can be approached as a conceptual field, in which participants act according to gender standards and experience themselves as gender subjects.The aim of this paper is to show the gender social structures and relations within dance and dance practices, as they are imprinted on the mountain and lowland areas of Karditsa (Thessaly), in combination with the predominant social structures. For this purpose, we made use of the theoretical model of Hanna, where dance and dance executions are fields of negotiation of gender identity, as well as Cowan’ s model, according to which social gender can be studied within the context of “dance events.”Through the analysis of these “events,” several discrepancies in social structures and relations were detected between the lowland and mountain communities. These differences are based on dance occasions, and participation or lack of participation of both genders in these occasions, according to dance norms, dance order, and dance types. The above discrepancies constitute gender diversity among lowland and mountain communities, as a result of local social structures and the performative acts.

Not Real Good at Modern Life: Appalachian Pentecostals in the Works of Lee Smith

In his 1996 essay Writing on the Cusp: Double Alterity and Minority Discourse in Richard Cunningham urges Appalachian writers start writing about, and therefore defining, themselves: we Appalachian writers are en(cou)raged fill in the blanks ourselves ... displace the categories of domination in both directions and thereby push open vacuum but creative space (46). The directions Cunningham refers are the North and the South; while the North uses the stereotypes of Appalachia characterize all of the Southern United States, the South displaces those caricatures solely on the Appalachian themselves, making them akin Other's Other (42). Elsewhere, Cunningham, like many Appalachian scholars, has noted that Appalachian are frequently portrayed never really moving beyond some 'classic' period (Appalachianism 127). Appalachian are Others who are not regarded as adults but as children ... as legitimate offshoots but as arrested earlier forms--not as rejected brothers but contemporary ancestors (129). Appalachian literature written by Appalachians, according Cunningham, would resist the definitions and stereotypes imposed on Appalachia by both the North and the South. Cunningham clear that what he calling for has already begun at the time Writing on the Cusp was published in 1996. As an example, he points Lee Smith's Oral History (1983). It no surprise that Cunningham chooses novel by Smith, who was born and raised in Grundy, Virginia. She perhaps the best-known Appalachian writer outside of Appalachia, and one of the most championed authors inside Appalachia. Oral History particularly important novel for Smith's career, and for the way readers imagine Appalachia. The novel was Book-of-the-Month featured selection, giving her national exposure she had previously enjoyed. But it more than simply the popularity of the novel, and its author, which led Cunningham select it as his primary example of Appalachian writers filling the blank. Citing an unnamed native Appalachian reviewer, Cunningham argues that Oral History a pastiche of every kind of stereotypical writing about Appalachia in the past hundred years (47). Drawing attention the unreliability of the narrators, and by extension, the stereotypical writing from which the narrative voices are drawn, points what left unsaid. According Cunningham, readers begin hear the whispers of the authentic voice underneath, voice present by erasure--a blankness made articulate (48). A crucial part of this narrative strategy the character of Richard Burlage. Unlike most of the characters in Oral History, Richard does grow up in Appalachia. He an upper-class man from the city of Richmond, come Black Rock as school teacher in the early twentieth century. Cunningham equates Richard's journals those of anthropologists and journalists who condescendingly write about Appalachia as local colour. Cunningham argues that by making Richard's voice just as unreliable as the residents of Hoot Holler, if more so, Smith resists dominant narratives about Appalachia. Most critics of the novel agree with Cunningham's assessment. For example, Suzanne Jones suggests that Smith uses Richard and Jennifer, another outsider character, to examine the causes and consequences of typical twentieth-century perceptions of Appalachia ... revealing the naivete and the condescension that often characterize the outsider's perception of mountain people (102). Likewise, Paula Gallant Eckard argues that while Richard is product of powerful Western influences and Latinate education, he kind of Other, true outsider in the mountain community (Prismatic Past 126). This the dominant interpretation of Richard's role in the novel: as stand-in for outsiders who perpetuate the condescending narrative of Appalachian as part of contemporary past. …

基于地学信息图谱的重庆岩溶石漠化植被恢复演替研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于地学信息图谱的重庆岩溶石漠化植被恢复演替研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201411122233 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金资助项目（41201436） Quantifying vegetation restoration in a karst rocky desertification area in Chongqing based on Geo-informatic Tupu Author: Affiliation: 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:重庆岩溶石漠化区的植被恢复演替动态变化研究对于该地区的石漠化治理和生态恢复具有十分重要的指导意义。而多时相的遥感数据和地学图谱分析法为植被恢复的研究提供了一种动态性和综合性的研究方法。以重庆市中梁山的典型植被恢复区为例，在基于1996、2001、2007和2013年4期遥感影像解译分类的基础上，采用“空间代替时间”的生态学植被演替研究方法，建立重庆市中梁山区退耕还林前后的植被恢复演替图谱，并结合地学图谱的相关分析方法，得到该区的植被恢复演替动态格局演变规律，体现了空间信息科学技术、生态学方法和地学信息图谱分析法在植被恢复演替研究中的有效结合。结果表明：（1）运用BP神经网络和BP算法进行分类，分类精度达到87.42%，比传统监督分类提高了5.57%。（2）自2002年全国范围内的“退耕还林（草）”工程全面启动后，该区域植被恢复演变特征明显，耕地面积明显减少而植被面积明显增加。（3）从2001-2013年，植被演替在该时期内依然存在着进展演替和逆向演替两个方向。虽然逆向演替比例仅占到18.63%，但它却使该区的演替研究变得复杂。（4）质心反映了各植被类型在恢复演替过程中的聚散与迁移，1996-2013年，马尾松群落和落叶阔叶林群落的质心变化较小，其他植被群落的质心都有很明显的变化。 Abstract:Karst rocky desertification (KRD) has become one of the most important ecological and environmental problems in China, and the control of rocky desertification has been listed as a goal of both social development and national environmental managment projects. However, patterns of plant succession in the process of KRD reversal activities are still unclear. Understanding plant dynamics is important for both the theory and practice for successful ecosystem restoration. We used multi-temporal, remotely sensed images and a Geo-informatic Tupu method to investigate the succession patterns of vegetation restoration at Zhongliang Mountain in Chongqing, Southwest China. This region is a typical KRD vegetation restoration area, with a rich diversity of regional vegetation types. In this study, remotely sensed images for four different time periods (1996, 2001, 2007, and 2013), representing four different stages in vegetation succession, were selected and analyzed using back-propagation (BP) neural network models for interpretation and classification. This resulted in maps of vegetation restoration based spatial structure rather than time series images, captured before and after the Grain for Green project, and thus, established information about principles for vegetation restoration succession in the region. Thereafter, the maps were analyzed using Geo-informatic Tupu to identify the dynamic patterns of vegetation restoration succession in the region. Our results indicate the following. (1) The BP neural network model provides an efficient vegetation classification method in the Zhongliang Mountain region. The overall accuracy of the (BP) neural network classification was 87.42%, which was 5.57% higher than traditional supervised methods. (2) Since 2002, a series of ecological restoration projects, including the Grain for Green project (the conversion of cropland into forest or pasture), have been implemented in this region, leading to a reduction in the area of farmland and an increase in the area of natural vegetation. The positive trends observed in the study site are interpreted as being the result of human-induced restoration. Comparing vegetation change in the different sub-regions of the study site, the most significant vegetation changes occurred on farmland that was located in the valley and foothills of Zhongliang Mountain. In contrast, regions with moderate change included the acid and the alkaline soil areas at higher elevations of Zhongliang Mountain. Here, the Masson pine community and kashiwagi community, respectively, are dominant. These communities have effective energy and nutrient conversion capabilities and form stable ecosystems that moderate changes in the natural succession of vegetation. (3) The Zhongliang Mountain communities were classified into two different stages, forward succession and reverse succession, during the period 2001-2013. In 18.63% of the region, reverse succession occurred, resulting in complex patterns of vegetation change. (4) Analysis of changes in vegetation structure was performed based on the centroid shifting method. From 1996 to 2013, the centroid of the Masson pine community and deciduous broad-leaved forest communities changed only slightly, while changes observed in other vegetation types were more marked. The Tupu method quantified the spatial pattern, distribution, and change processes of vegetation in different successional stages. It appears that the Tupu method can identify the state of each image element in each sampling time and achieve an integration of Space-Property-Process, providing a strong scientific basis and technical means for vegetation restoration in karst rocky desertification regions. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

The 2013 flood event in the South Saskatchewan and Elk River basins: Causes, assessment and damages

In late June 2013, heavy rainfall and rapidly melting alpine snow triggered flooding throughout much of the southern half of Alberta. Heavy rainfall commenced on 19 June and continued for 3 days. When the event was over, more than 200 mm and as much as 350 mm of precipitation had fallen over the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Tributaries to the Bow River including the Ghost, Kananaskis, Elbow, Sheep and Highwood, and many of their tributaries, all reached flood levels. The storm had a large spatial extent causing flooding to the north and south in the Red Deer and Oldman Basins, and also to the west in the Elk River in British Columbia. Convergence of the nearly synchronous floodwaters downstream in the South Saskatchewan River system caused record high releases from Lake Diefenbaker through Gardiner Dam. Dam releases in Alberta and Saskatchewan attenuated the downstream flood peak such that only moderate flooding occurred in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. More than a dozen municipalities declared local states of emergency; numerous communities were placed under evacuation order in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The media reported that more than 100,000 people needed to evacuate their homes, and five people died. At CAD$6 billion, the Province of Alberta estimated that it was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. At their peak, the water levels were the highest in the past 60 years, and nearing those of historic events of the late 1800s and early 1900s where records exist. There was major damage to infrastructure roads, bridges and culverts. Downtown Calgary was inundated, as were many communities such as High River and Bragg Creek. Debris flows and debris torrents affected communities such as Canmore and Exshaw, and isolated many mountain communities including closing the TransCanada Highway for several days. Environment Canada called it the “Flood of Floods.” Insured losses of CAD$2 billion included thousands of cars and homes demolished and damaged by backed-up sewers. Flood damage losses and recovery costs from the flood are projected to exceed CAD$6 billion.

Morels of Palas Valley, Pakistan: A Potential Source for Generating Income and Improving Livelihoods of Mountain Communities

Morels of Palas Valley, Pakistan: A Potential Source for Generating Income and Improving Livelihoods of Mountain Communities. The local economy in the Palas Valley of Pakistan is agro-pastoral, and people rely on income and subsistence from livestock production followed by wild-collection of morels. The purpose of this study was to investigate the market potential of morels, their folk uses, traditions, and habitat conditions. Market and field surveys were conducted in various regions of the country. The information regarding ethnic uses of morels and the traditional beliefs of people in the Palas Valley and its surroundings were recorded. The data we collected included supply and demand, pricing, and market fluctuations and trends. A specially designed questionnaire was used to gather details from focus groups, and individual discussions and personal interviews during field visits were conducted. The study areas included: Palas Valley, Peshawar, Lahore, and Karachi, which are the major herbal market places in Pakistan. The Palas Valley was found to have the potential and natural resources to become an excellent market for morels. The results of the present study indicate that five species of morels (Morchella esculenta, M. conica, M. elata, M. deliciosa, and M. gigas) growing in Palas Valley are traded all over Pakistan. We found that a total of 15,000 kg morels from the Palas Valley were exported annually to national and international markets. This generated significant revenue (USD 343,000 per year) at the valley level. Local people, especially herdsmen, together with their wives and children, were mainly collecting this resource. Local knowledge about the methods of morel collection, drying, storage, and market price was limited. A continuous decline was observed in morel market supply in Pakistan. The main reasons identified included quality variation due to poor harvest treatments, trade practices of middlemen, availability of materials, and poor marketing strategies. The study concludes that morels are a potential source of income generation and improving livelihoods for underprivileged mountain communities. However, morel populations seem to be gradually declining due to possibly unsustainable collection techniques. There is tremendous potential to boost the income of ethnic communities by promoting training and enhancing the trade of morels based on modern scientific studies. This would not only bring considerable income opportunities for the population of Palas Valley, but would also decrease their dependence on timber sales and thus decrease the pressure on local forests.

Some Like it High! Phylogenetic Diversity of High-Elevation Cyanobacterial Community from Biological Soil Crusts of Western Himalaya.

The environment of high-altitudinal cold deserts of Western Himalaya is characterized by extensive development of biological soil crusts, with cyanobacteria as dominant component. The knowledge of their taxonomic composition and dependency on soil chemistry and elevation is still fragmentary. We studied the abundance and the phylogenetic diversity of the culturable cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microalgae in soil crusts along altitudinal gradients (4600-5900m) at two sites in the dry mountains of Ladakh (SW Tibetan Plateau and Eastern Karakoram), using both microscopic and molecular approaches. The effects of environmental factors (altitude, mountain range, and soil physico-chemical parameters) on the composition and biovolume of phototrophs were tested by multivariate redundancy analysis and variance partitioning. Both phylogenetic diversity and composition of morphotypes were similar between Karakorum and Tibetan Plateau. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene revealed strains belonging to at least five genera. Besides clusters of common soil genera, e.g., Microcoleus, Nodosilinea, or Nostoc, two distinct clades of simple trichal taxa were newly discovered. The most abundant cyanobacterial orders were Oscillatoriales and Nostacales, whose biovolume increased with increasing elevation, while that of Chroococales decreased. Cyanobacterial species richness was low in that only 15 morphotypes were detected. The environmental factors accounted for 52% of the total variability in microbial data, 38.7% of which was explained solely by soil chemical properties, 14.5% by altitude, and 8.4% by mountain range. The elevation, soil phosphate, and magnesium were the most important predictors of soil phototrophic communities in both mountain ranges despite their different bedrocks and origin. The present investigation represents a first record on phylogenetic diversity of the cyanobacterial community of biological soil crusts from Western Himalayas and first record from altitudes over 5000m.

A typology for complex social-ecological systems in mountain communities

Effective and standardized assessment of social-ecological systems is crucial for supporting increased resilience of human communities and for developing adaptation strategies. However, few analytical frameworks exist to assess the social-ecological resilience and vulnerability of different landscapes. To help fill the gap in this literature, we investigated the utility of a conceptual social-ecological systems typology by assessing 21 mountain communities in the western United States. Our results show that larger cities or urban areas are generally more resilient than smaller communities, but the variation is not particularly notable. Resilience differences are found most often among communities of different population sizes. In our sample, no community was deemed to be highly vulnerable to socialecological change. More broadly, development of standardized social-ecological systems typologies can be applied toward accommodating unique environmental niches while allowing for cross-comparisons among regions on a broader continental scale.

Ants, elevation, phylogenetic diversity and community structure

Testing the degree of support for macroecological patterns requires that the data behind these hypotheses be available for examination and re‐testing. Using geographically wide‐spread incidence matrices and a multi‐gene phylogeny for ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), I calculated phylogenetic measurements of alpha and beta diversity and elevation to test the degree of support for the expected relationships between diversity and elevation (negative) and between phylogenetic clustering and elevation (positive). Whether diversity was estimated morphologically or phylogenetically, the elevational decay of alpha diversity was more frequently a linear decline than a mid‐elevation peak. However the expectation that phylogenetic community structure would more likely be clustered with increasing elevation was not supported. This might be due to the fact that the physiological limitations filtering the taxa present are expressed at the species level and are thus beyond the resolution of this phylogeny. Trends linking elevational decay in beta diversity to temperature and precipitation were weak, but the results do support Janzen's 1967 prediction that communities on tropical mountains were less similar to each other than in temperate mountain communities. At the genus level, these data suggest that there is no general pattern regarding whether environmental/habitat filters (clustering) or inter‐specific competition (dispersion) filter the taxa present. Instead, this analysis suggests that the community assemblages are not significantly different from random across elevation or temperature. These findings reinforce how important it is to support intuition with data and how critical it is to make data public and accessible so that hypotheses can be re‐examined and tested.

Homeland as Sound and Sound as Homeland: Cultural and Personal Soundscapes in Christos Christovasilis's Short Stories. By Panayotis Panopoulos. Translated by Vasiliki Chatzopoulou.

This essay is an original contribution to the ethnomusicology of literature in Greece. Concepts and perspectives from the anthropology of music, soundscape studies, and the ethnography of sound and the senses are used to approach and analyze the sound world of Christos Christovasilis’s literary work. Christovasilis (1860-1937) is an important figure in the so-called “ethographic” literary movement in Greece of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; his work is of exceptional interest concerning the presentation of sound and hearing in Greek mountain communities. Panayotis Panopoulos’s sharp ear identifies the strong presence of sound in the short stories of Christovasilis, which he interprets in terms of the ethnography of the senses and the role of sound and hearing in the cultural construction of community and personhood among Greek pastoralists. In this text Panopoulos places special emphasis on the sound of animal bells in everyday and ritual contexts, developing further his earlier ethnographic work on animal bells (see “Animal Bells as Symbols: Sound and Hearing in a Greek Island Village,”Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9 (2003): 639-56; and Skyros Carnival, photographs by Dick Blau, essay by Agapi Amanatidis and Panayotis Panopoulos, CD + DVD by Steven Feld, Santa Fe, NM: VOXLOX, 2011). More importantly, Panopoulos challenges received ideas in which text is understood as a predominantly visual, linguistic construct and he eloquently depicts how experiences of sonic imagination are culturally reproduced in text. In this way, he makes an important contribution to the ethnomusicological reading of literary text by showing how text is mediated through acoustic environment and how sound produces, surrounds, and immerses itself in text.
 Citation: Panopoulos, Panayotis. Homeland as Sound and Sound as Homeland: Cultural and Personal Soundscapes in Christos Christovasilis’s Short Stories. Translated by VasilikiChatzopoulou. Ethnomusicology Translations, no. 1. Bloomington, IN: Society for Ethnomusicology, 2015.
 Originally published in Greek in Dokimes: Journal of Social Studies 13-14 (2005): 277-307.

Adapting in the Shadow of Annapurna: A Climate Tipping Point

Abstract Rapid climate change in the Himalaya threatens the traditional livelihoods of remote mountain communities, challenges traditional systems of knowledge, and stresses existing socio-ecological systems. Through semi-structured interviews, participatory photography, and repeat photography focused on climate change and its impacts on traditional livelihoods, we aim to shed light on some of the socio-cultural implications of climate related change in Manang, a remote village in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Western Nepal. Observed changes in temperature, precipitation, permanent snow cover, and glacial extent directly inform villagers’ perceptions of and adaptations to Himalayan climate change. Adaptation strategies include a shift from traditional agropastoral practices to a more diversified blend of agropastoralism, tourism services, and cash-crop production. Climate change has tipped the scales in favor of the production of fruits and vegetables, cash crops previously unsuitable to the local cl...

Determinants of vulnerability to the hydrological effects of climate change in rural communities: evidence from Nepal

The vulnerability of communities in the Himalayas to water stress caused by climate change depends on changes in the availability of water as well as how it is used. There has been little work done to reconcile these drivers of water stress in the Himalayas. This paper evaluates how climate change may affect water availability in two Nepalese mountain communities, Panglin and Tallo Lorpa, and assesses whether these changes drive vulnerability to water stress. First, estimates of hydrological change are made based on climate model output and hydroclimatological theory. Household surveys, focus group discussions and participatory rural appraisal techniques are used to assess vulnerability and adaptive capacity in each community. Finally, the expected effects of climate change on water availability are linked to findings on the communities’ vulnerability to these changes. The results show that both communities are vulnerable to changes in water availability under climate change, but this vulnerability is small in comparison to adaptation opportunities. However, the ability to appropriate benefits from these opportunities is constrained, and it is the extent of this inhibition that determines vulnerability. These findings demonstrate that Malthusian interpretations may be inappropriate in the Himalayas, and highlight the importance of the constraints to climate change adaptation.

Factors from multiple scales influence the distribution and abundance of an imperiled fish – mountain sucker in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA

An understanding of the factors associated with the distribution of fishes is fundamental to stream ecology, and can be used to assess and prioritize conservation areas. Mountain sucker Catostomus platyrhynchus is generally stable across its range in Western North America, but recent studies have documented declines at finer spatial scales near the periphery of its range, including the Black Hills of South Dakota. Despite its wide-ranging distribution, little information exists on mountain sucker autecology or community dynamics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the hierarchical influence of physical and biological variables on the distribution and abundance of mountain sucker in streams of the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. We evaluated the support for candidate models that incorporated multiple spatial scales and potential biotic interactions to model mountain sucker presence and abundance using an information theoretic approach. Mountain sucker presence was best explained by a combination of reach-scale habitat and fish assemblage variables, including a negative influence of trout abundance. Mountain sucker abundance increased with periphyton coverage, a food resource. These models increase understanding of mountain sucker ecology, can be used to assess and prioritize areas of conservation interest for this native fish in the Black Hills, and can identify management actions that will provide the most effective conservation strategies for this species.

Gender and climate change in the Indian Himalayas: global threats, local vulnerabilities, and livelihood diversification at the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve

Abstract. Global climate change has numerous implications for members of mountain communities who feel the impacts in both physical and social dimensions. In the western Himalayas of India, a majority of residents maintain a livelihood strategy that includes a combination of subsistence or small-scale agriculture, livestock rearing, seasonal or long-term migration, and localized natural resource extraction. While warming temperatures, irregular patterns of precipitation and snowmelt, and changing biological systems present challenges to the viability of these traditional livelihood portfolios in general, we find that climate change is also undermining local communities' livelihood assets in gender-specific ways. In this paper, we present a case study from the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (Uttarakhand, India) that both outlines the implications of climate change for women farmers in the area and highlights the potential for ecotourism (as a form of livelihood diversification) to strengthen both key livelihood assets of women and local communities' adaptive capacity more broadly. The paper intentionally employs a categorical focus on women but also addresses issues of inter-group and gender diversity. With this special issue in mind, suggestions for related research are proposed for consideration by climate scientists and social systems and/or policy modelers seeking to support gender justice through socially transformative perspectives and frameworks.

Prevalence of radiographic hip osteoarthritis and its association with hip pain in Japanese men and women: the ROAD study

Although hip osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of hip pain and disability in elderly people, few epidemiologic studies have been performed. We investigated the prevalence of radiographic hip OA and its association with hip pain in Japanese men and women using a large-scale population of a nationwide cohort study, Research on Osteoarthritis/osteoporosis Against Disability (ROAD). From the baseline survey of the ROAD study, 2975 participants (1043 men and 1932 women), aged 23-94 years (mean 70.2 years), living in urban, mountainous, and coastal communities were analyzed. The radiographic severity at both hips was determined by the Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grading system. Radiographic hip OA was defined as K/L ≥ 2, and severe radiographic hip OA as K/L ≥ 3. The crude prevalence of radiographic hip OA was 18.2% and 14.3% in men and women, respectively, that of severe radiographic hip OA was 1.34% and 2.54%, and that of symptomatic K/L ≥ 2 OA was 0.29% and 0.99%, respectively. The crude prevalence of hip OA, including severe OA, was not age-dependent in men or women. Male sex was a risk factor for radiographic hip OA, whereas female sex was a risk factor for severe radiographic hip OA and hip pain. Compared with K/L = 0/1, hip pain was significantly associated with K/L ≥ 3, but not with K/L = 2. The present cross-sectional study revealed the prevalence of radiographic hip OA and severe hip OA in Japanese men and women. Hip pain was strongly associated with K/L ≥ 3.

Management of mountain areas in Norway and the persistence of local–national conflicts

We have investigated why conflicts linked to the distribution of power between governments and actors at the national and local levels concerning environmental management of mountain areas in Norway persist despite political intentions to strengthen local powers. We seek to explain this by analysing changes in policies, institutional frameworks, and regional contexts, and the local perceptions of these changes. Paradoxically, the national government's power has apparently been strengthened by new sectoral regulations and more stringent enforcement of the existing ones, increases in the number and extent of protected areas, and failures to act on intentions to devolve power. An additional factor spurring conflicts is the increased importance of tourism to mountain communities. To become more relevant to policies and development in mountain areas, future studies on multilevel governance must address multilevel politics, entire mountain areas, and the context of their development, rather than focusing on minor projects and protected areas.

A participatory method to enhance the collective ability to adapt to rapid glacier loss: the case of mountain communities in Tajikistan

The rapid loss of small glaciers worldwide might result in mountain villages changing from having plenty of water during the growing season, to facing a scarcity even in scenarios with adaptation. Climate-change effects might cause the need for significant changes in rural mountain economies that currently rely on irrigated agriculture, pastoralism and labor migration. Previous research mainly focuses on geophysical aspects and little is known about the local ability to understand climate-change indicators or local collective adaptive capacity. A 2010 participatory case study in the Zerafshan Range, Tajikistan, disclosed a local lack of awareness of climate change and its consequences. We present a social learning method based on scenarios and visualization. The process exposed a remarkable potential for comprehensive adaptation, including in water harvesting, choice of crops and livestock, environmental enhancement, skills and conflict management. We recommend the approach as a model to promote local collective adaptive capacity development. The case study revealed high risks of massive out-migration from mountain villages if adaptation starts too late: countries with a high proportion of mountain agriculture might see significant losses of agricultural area, a reduction in food production and an increase in conflicts in areas where immigration occurs.