Multispecies Perspective Research Articles

Eating catch of the day: the diet of porbeagle shark Lamna nasus (Bonnaterre 1788) based on stomach content analysis, and the interaction with trawl fisheries in the south-western Atlantic (52° S-56° S).

This work examined the diet of the porbeagle shark Lamna nasus in the south-west Atlantic Ocean (SWAO, Argentina, 52° S-56° S) by analysing the stomach content information obtained by scientific observers who sampled specimens captured as by-catch on-board commercial fishing vessels from 2010 to 2020. A total of 148 fishing sites were analysed, in which the estimated catch was composed mainly of hoki Macruronus magellanicus (56.00%) and southern blue whiting Micromesistius australis (33.13%). From 413 porbeagle sharks sampled (292 females and 121 males) ranging from 71 to 241 cm total length (LT ) (mean: 179.76 ± 26.74 cm), 310 (75.06%) contained food in the stomachs. The forage fish were mainly hoki M. magellanicus (23.53%) and southern blue whiting M. australis (19.05%), followed by the Patagonian sprat Sprattus fuegensis (4.48%) and nototheniids (1.4%). Cephalopods and crustaceans accounted for 10% of the diet. The estimated trophic level was 4.35. Generalized linear models revealed that the consumption of hoki M. magellanicus and southern blue whiting M. australis increased with the LT of the porbeagle shark. Moreover, smaller porbeagle sharks preyed upon both small and large teleost fish, whereas larger porbeagle sharks predated exclusively upon large fish. The diet of porbeagle shark involved interactions with fisheries as it fed upon the fish species that constituted the main catch in the analysed fishing sites, as well as the main catches of the austral trawl fisheries. The ecological role of porbeagle shark observed in the SWAO exposed implications for fisheries management from a multispecies perspective.

Cage less diving with white sharks, a multispecies perspective.

Cage less diving with white sharks, a multispecies perspective.

Ecologías queer caribeñas y capitalismo del desastre en La mucama de Omicunlé (2015) de Rita Indiana

This article analyzes Rita Indiana’s novel La mucama de Omicunlé (Dominican Republic, 2015) from the perspective of queer ecologies. This approach seeks to dismantle normative conceptions of sexuality and nature through discourses and practices that articulate the relationships between human and non-human bodies from a fundamentally non-evolutionary, non-reproductive and multi-species perspective. La mucama de Omicunlé offers a unique opportunity to explore this approach by presenting an eco-political conspiracy plot -involving transgender characters, Afro-Caribbean rituals, magical animals, and time travel- to save the Caribbean Sea from a maritime disaster in the Dominican Republic. All this is framed in the context of the Caribbean, where the historical exploitation of nature intersects with the potentiality of this insular space to question the logics of disaster capitalism and imagine dissident and alternative ways of experiencing the body, sexuality, and the defense of the environment.

Men and cockfight through the lens of multispecies ethnography: from the symbolism of masculinity to multispecies collaboration

ABSTRACT This paper calls for another perspective on cockfight and the symbolism of masculinity. Previous research on cockfighting has its own perspective and interesting findings, one such work on the matter was that of Geertz who focused on the symbolism of cockfighting within the context of Balinese culture. I argue that, as anthropological studies develop a number of anthropological approaches that produce a more holistic ethnography also evolve. One of them is multispecies ethnography. This approach places culture and nature on one equal level of analysis. This research involves Kampung Laut People in Segara Anakan, Indonesia. The data is collected through observation and in-depth interviews through the ‘art of noticing’ method. The findings of this research show a different perspective in understanding the practice of cockfighting through interspecies collaboration. In terms of scientific contributions, this paper introduces a multispecies ethnographic approach as another approach to understanding the socio-cultural phenomenon of cockfighting and human interactions with non-human species. This perspective complements Geertz’s symbolic cultural perspective. In terms of its contribution to humanitarian issues, the holistic multispecies perspective employed within this research advocates for a balanced interrelation between humans and other species in creating a sustainable ecological system.

Designing and Living with Organisms Weaving Entangled Worlds as Doing Multispecies Philosophy

The emergence of biodesign opens new ways for textile design and production processes by e.g. using living organisms directly for growing or dyeing textiles. Researchers and designers who engage in such practices often describe their processes as a collaboration with the living. Since maintenance or acts of caring are often fundamental for a successful result, supportive environments for the living are created. However, most of the organisms are only used to carry out a specific task given by the designers’ intention, e.g., excreting pigments to dye a piece of silk, and are killed after the successful completion of the “collaborative” project, which is one of the reasons why the anthropocentric perspective remains an integral part of the textile design process. This research aims to challenge the anthropocentrism inherent in textile design methodologies. Drawing from the work of Donna Haraway, in this exploratory paper, I advocate for exploring more than anthropocentric and multispecies perspectives to textile design by understanding the textile design practice as a way of being-with and staying-with, rather than as a solution-driven practice. Therefore, I revisit and reflect on three stories that derived from encounters between humans and insects in shared textile contexts. The stories on multispecies cohabitation resulted from the autobiographic research ‘Textile Farming’. Weaving connections between contemporary approaches to design, this paper proposes a conceptual framework of the levels that designers can engage with the living e.g., designing with, for, or together with living organisms up to living-with and becoming-with. I found these reflections to offer valuable perspectives to reflect on, analyze, and discuss processes in which living organisms play a role. Consequently, the paper contributes to reflective practice and opens up the textile design practice towards open-ended events as a more than anthropocentric approach to designing textiles.

Evaluating the use of marine protected areas by endangered species: A habitat selection approach

Abstract1. Optimizing the design of marine protected area (MPA) networks for the conservation of migratory marine species and their habitats involves a suite of important considerations, such as appropriate scale requirements and the distribution of anthropogenic impacts. Often, a fundamental component of the conservation planning process is delineating areas of high use or high biodiversity within a region of interest.2. However, basing conservation strategies off merely the number of individuals in an ecosystem is outdated and potentially subject to arbitrary thresholds. To be effective at protecting marine megafauna, MPAs would ideally encompass habitats used by focal species. Through satellite‐tracking studies, evidence of whether species actually use protected areas is emerging.3. Here, we present a multispecies perspective on habitat selection within existing MPAs throughout the Floridian ecoregion, which encompasses coastal Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Using an 11‐year satellite‐tracking dataset on 235 marine turtles, we used integrated step selection analysis to quantify the effects of sea turtle behavioural state (identified by a switching state‐space model), protected area status, chlorophyll and bathymetry on habitat selection.4. Our results show that sea turtles do select for existing protected areas, specifically multi‐use zones, while controlling for the effects of depth and primary productivity. However, our analysis revealed that turtles showed no selection for the no‐take zones within MPAs, during either transiting or foraging.5. These findings contribute to the existing literature base of MPA use for highly mobile, imperilled species and could inform management of existing MPAs or changes to zoning, specifically multi‐use to no‐take. Our use of a robust spatial modelling framework to evaluate habitat selection relative to MPAs could be incorporated into conservation planning to build MPA networks designed to accommodate migratory species.

Diel vertical migration of a Southern Ocean euphausiid, Euphausia triacantha, and its metabolic response to consequent short-term temperature changes

Diel vertical migration is a widespread behaviour amongst zooplankton, yet its effect on the rate at which individuals respire remains poorly understood. To address this, we investigated the effect of short-term temperature change on the respiration rate ofEuphausia triacantha, a common component of the Southern Ocean zooplankton and a prominent vertical migrator. We found respiration to vary in response to size, with a value of 0.84 for the scaling coefficient,b. When scaled tob, respiration varied strongly in response to transitory temperature change, ranging from 0.37 to 1.65 µl O2mg dry weight (DW)-bh-1between 0.17 and 4.74°C, resulting in aQ10of 3.6. ThisQ10is higher than found by other studies examining the short-term respiration response of euphausiids, including those taking a multi-species perspective. This indicates thatE. triacanthashows little compensation during short-term exposure to temperatures normally encountered during migration. Furthermore, it shows a distinct metabolic cost to diel vertical migration (DVM) when substantive changes in temperature are encountered over the course of the transit. This temporal variability in respiration rate has important implications for how community respiration is estimated, and for our understanding of DVM behaviour. Our results also have particular relevance to estimating the flux and sequestration of respiratory products, such as dissolved carbon dioxide, to and within the ocean interior.

Multispecies entanglements in the virosphere: Rethinking the Anthropocene in light of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak.

In this essay, we reevaluate the 2019 outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from the perspective of multispecies entanglements. It is argued that anthropogenic alterations in the biosphere will most likely accelerate the rate of multispecies pandemics in the Anthropocene. Using a textual analysis approach of anthropological and historical sources on the example of coronaviruses and live animal markets in China, we trace how the virosphere of wild animals from tropical regions comes into contact with the virosphere of humans and farmed animals in highly industrialized landscapes. We suggest that adopting a multispecies perspective on viruses can allow them to be understood as living processes that interact with other species in a realm called the virosphere. The rate at which novel infectious diseases are transmitted by bacteria and viruses has increased in recent decades. We argue that this is caused by side effects of the Anthropocene, such as deforestation, the surge in population growth and density, and anthropogenic climate change, which give rise to an increased number of unusual encounters between humans, nonhuman companion species, and wild animals. In this way, the virospheres of host organisms, which were formerly partly isolated, are allowed to converge and freely exchange infectious diseases, leading to a more homogenized virosphere. As anthropogenic alterations are set to continue in the future, we suggest that multispecies pandemics will likely increase in the following decades.

From reflection to diffraction: exploring the use of vignettes within post-humanist and multi-species research

This article explores the use of vignettes in qualitative research from a post-humanist and multi-species perspective. Drawing on methodological principles espoused by Karen Barad and Donna Haraway, as well as empirical data from the Dementia Dog pilot project in Scotland, UK, we explore the use of vignettes as a technique for understanding human–dog relations in dementia. In so doing, we outline an approach to using vignettes that is guided by principles of diffraction, which is contrasted with humanist principles of interpretivism, reflection and representation. Moving away from humanist methodology, we argue, calls for new approaches to evaluating the quality of vignettes. This involves disrupting conventional approaches, within which vignettes are defined by their purpose and evaluated according to fixed criteria (e.g. validity, authenticity and trustworthiness). In their place, we argue for an approach to evaluating vignettes that is rooted in performativity and guided by the question: What can a vignette do?

Keepers as social companions: Tactile communication and social enrichment for captive apes

The article addresses the topic of great ape–keeper tactile communication. The aim of this paper is to understand whether direct physical contact can be considered a source of enrichment for captive apes and whether it could be used to enhance animal welfare in zoos. We make use of a multispecies perspective provided by umwelt theory in an attempt to determine the role of touch in zoological gardens. By referring to Konrad Lorenz, we describe keeper–animal relationships as a special case of companionship, highlighting the role of keepers in apes’ social behaviour. The paper considers social touch as the primary means used by social animals to create and maintain increasingly complex relationships. Since tactile communication in interspecific contexts has been underestimated previously, our theoretical framework allows for a better understanding of physical contact in zoological gardens without assuming an anthropocentric point of view. Our hypothesis is that physical contact with keepers may provide enriching opportunities for social animals and help strengthen the bond between animals and their keepers. We emphasize that ape–animal interactions in zoos need to involve keeper–animal physical contact as a possible means for enhancing the apes’ welfare.

Jakob von Uexküll: The Concept of Umwelt and its Potentials for an Anthropology Beyond the Human

ABSTRACT In his book A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans, originally published in1934, Jakob von Uexküll argued that all living beings – no matter how simple or complex – had to be understood as subjects, and that the worlds they lived in were constituted through their specific ways of perceiving their Umwelten. This article focuses on an exploration of Uexküll’s argument set out in this classic text, considering its relevance for contemporary thought in anthropology that seeks to move beyond the human to embrace more-than-human world making and multispecies perspectives. Despite its largely positive reception in anthropology and other disciplines the paper also points to possible problems and limitations that Uexküll’s argument might pose for more-than-human anthropology by considering the ethnographic example of falconry practice in which humans and birds of prey, learn to communicate and cooperate in hunting.

More‐than‐human emotions: Multispecies emotional labour in the tourism industry

The concept of emotional labour has been subject to critique, evaluation, development and extension over the last 35 years, but it remains firmly anthropocentric. This article begins to address this shortcoming by illustrating some of the productive potential of extending the concept of emotional labour to include more‐than‐human and multispecies perspectives. Organizations are not solely human phenomena, but research usually fails to consider the role of non‐humans in work in contemporary capitalism. Using the example of trail horses in tourism, I argue that some non‐human animals should be considered workers, and that they do perform emotional labour in service to commercial organizations. More‐than‐human and multispecies perspectives capture some of the complexities of everyday organizational practices, and can inform feminist research attuned to the experiences of marginalized others, human and non‐human.

Training Dogs to Feel Good: Embodying Well-being in Multispecies Relations.

Social science concepts of well-being are largely premised on notions of a common humanity with shared physical needs and broadly legible experiences of the world. While medical anthropologists have interrogated ideas of universal bodily subjectivities, articulations of well-being across species boundaries remain underexplored. This article offers a conceptualization of well-being that attends to species difference. Drawing on ethnographic research with an animal rescue organization, I argue that in the context of partially connected bodily experiences, rescue workers navigate distinctions between dogs' internal feelings and external actions, and they train their bodies alongside dogs' bodies to cultivate canine well-being. A multispecies perspective complicates ideals of autonomy and self-actualization long associated with well-being and opens up avenues for considering well-being as an intercorporeal relationship conditioned in unequal bodies and embodied interactions.

What’s in it for the cats?: cat shows as serious leisure from a multispecies perspective

ABSTRACTThe breeding and showing of pedigree cats provides a novel lens through which to explore more-than-human intersections within leisure. Based on multispecies ethnographic fieldwork at multiple cat shows across the United Kingdom and on interviews with those who breed and exhibit cats, this article explores the relevance of the concept of ‘serious leisure’ to the ‘hobby’ of cat showing and asks ‘what’s in it for the cats?’ For the human participants, it provides opportunities for social interaction, knowledge and skill progression, as well as contributing to individual and collective identities. There are also substantial costs to this form of engagement for the human, but particularly, I argue, for the feline competitors. This article asserts that human leisure needs are given precedence over the well-being of feline individuals. Exhibition spaces and show requirements present substantial challenges for many of the cats involved and can limit, or even deny altogether, the expression of feline agency. This is not to state that there are not relations based on intersubjectivity between cats and humans in cat showing, but the focus of the activity and its power dynamics result in human interests being prioritised.

It's a bird! It's a plane! An aerial biopolitics for a multispecies sky

Bird strikes were catapulted into headline news in 2009 when US Airlines flight 1549's engines ingested a flock of Canada geese and lost all power, leaving the pilot no option but to ditch into the freezing cold Hudson River. Although everyone on board survived, thousands of birds were killed in the years that followed in attempt to redress aviation safety concerns. This article follows the story of Flight 1549 and considers the different stages of bird strike prevention at a variety of sites: the factory, the airfield, the sky and the accident aftermath. Drawn from empirical research and grey literature analysis of aviation safety documents, it unpicks the various assemblages that are formed at each site and how they are gathered together through inhuman air forces. Situated within theories of biopolitics, it moves beyond a materialist analysis of the solid and the visible and attends to the immateriality of air and its elemental properties which are integral to both life and death. Through an analysis of the aerial as a socio-material spatial categorisation, it considers bird strike management within a multispecies perspective by examining the frictions and entanglements of both human and non-human agency that are generated by differential air spaces. By highlighting the different forms of biopolitics produced by the aerial, it shows how configurations of life shift in relation to the dynamic and unpredictable inhuman forces of air, and how aviation safety practices attempt to harness these forces.

Moving beyond anthropocentrism in leisure research: multispecies perspectives

ABSTRACTThis commentary challenges the anthropocentrism of leisure research and raises some of the limitations of considering leisure solely from human-centric perspectives. Research from the emerging subfield of human-horse relationships is used to illustrate how more-than-human analyses can enrich understandings of leisure as multispecies practices, encounters and interactions. Embracing multispecies perspectives may open up new and challenging ethical, theoretical, methodological and practical issues for the field of leisure studies.

The Neolithic tell as a multi-species monument: Human, animal, and plant relationships through a micro-contextual study of animal dung remains at Koutroulou Magoula, central Greece

Neolithic tells are traditionally considered synonymous to prolonged and persistent human activity. In this paper, micro-contextual examination of dung-related evidence at the Neolithic tell of Koutroulou Magoula, central Greece challenges this anthropocentric view. Thin section analysis demonstrates the abundance of dung indicators – including faecal spherulites, phytoliths, phosphatic impregnative features, and microlaminated fabrics – within a range of deposits and contexts across the site; such evidence was observed in built and unbuilt spaces, and enabled identification of possible penning areas and documentation of the use of dung as fuel source. Targeted archaeobotanical and phytolith analyses of dung-rich deposits point to diverse animal feeding practices and joint human-animal engagement with a range of ecological resources. Based on this integrated evidence which illustrates the significance of animals in co-creating and sharing living environments with humans at Koutroulou Magoula, we argue for the value of a multi-species perspective in Neolithic research.

Does one size fit all? A multispecies approach to regional landscape corridor planning

AbstractAimThe practical value of the single‐species approach to conserve biodiversity could be minimal or negligible when sympatric species are limited by factors that are not relevant to the proposed umbrella species. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated as follows: (1) habitat suitability and potential movement corridors of a single umbrella species, giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca); (2) habitat suitability of sympatric mammals; and (3) the potential effectiveness of the single‐species corridor planning to preserve suitable habitat and its connectivity of other focal species.LocationQinling Mountains, central part of China (15,000 km2).MethodsWe collected species distribution, environmental and anthropogenic data and conducted species occupancy modelling for giant panda and six other sympatric species (i.e., takin Budorcas taxicolor, tufted deer Elaphodus cephalophus, Chinese goral Naemorhedus griseus, Reeve's muntjac Muntiacus reevesi, leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis and yellow‐throated marten Martes flavigula). We then conducted circuit models to identify potential corridors for each species and evaluated the effectiveness of giant panda corridors to restore the habitat connectivity for these sympatric mammals.ResultsOccupancy modelling revealed that each species had a unique set of environmental variables associated with its distribution in the Qinling Mountains. We found that giant panda and all other focal species had some degree of fragmentation to their suitable habitat that required restoring habitat connectivity. Among the eight potential giant panda corridors, conservation efforts to reduce anthropogenic impacts would significantly improve the effectiveness of six corridors, while the other two corridors would require altering the vegetation. Five proposed giant panda corridors had remarkable overlap with corridors proposed for other species. We suggest two giant panda corridors as a priority due to their potential to maximize the benefits to both giant panda and a broader suite of mammals.Main conclusionsCorridor planning in this region of China will likely continue using the single‐species policy, but our results highlight that not all potential giant panda corridors have equal effectiveness for other wildlife species. When offered multiple alternative actions, conservation planners can prioritize corridor development based on a multispecies perspective without loss of connectivity for the priority species. This approach has strong implications to the conservation of wildlife communities in China, and elsewhere, where conservation plans developed for a single‐species garner most available funding and institutional support.

Art in the Archives of Natural History: The Temporalities of Spoerri’s Ein Inkompetenter Dialog?

The essay analyzes contemporary artist Daniel Spoerri’s 2012 retrospective exhibition, titled Ein Inkompetenter Dialog?, held at the Vienna Natural History Museum (NHM). The exhibition comprised a selection of works from Spoerri’s œuvre shown alongside a selection of the Museum’s specimens. I argue that juxtaposed with the Museum collection, Ein Inkompetenter Dialog?, both as a collection of works and as an archive of the career of the artist, playfully calls into question the “nature” of art, the presentation of nature in the NHM, and the temporality of the archive and natural history. Much of Spoerri’s œuvre involves the reworking and assemblage of his own collections of found objects. I argue that these imaginative assemblages, which merge human and non-human life, present concrete visions of possible alternative natural histories and prompt us to rethink natural history from a multispecies perspective, where humans and non-humans function as co-agents, and where history and natural history are fused. Overall, I argue that Spoerri’s creative exploration of the material archives of natural history presents an alternative approach to re-collecting the past, and the possibility of writing history for a non-anthropocentric future.

Frequency and maintenance of unreduced gametes in natural plant populations: associations with reproductive mode, life history and genome size.

Fertilization involving unreduced (2n) gametes is considered the dominant mechanism of polyploid formation in angiosperms; however, our knowledge of the prevalence of and evolutionary mechanisms maintaining 2n gametes in natural populations is limited. We hypothesize that 2n gametes are deleterious consequences of meiotic errors maintained by mutation-selection balance and should increase in species with relaxed opportunities for selection on sexual processes (asexuality), reduced efficacy of selection (asexuality, selfing) and increased genome instability (high chromosome number). We used flow cytometry to estimate male 2n gamete production in 60 populations from 24 species of Brassicaceae. We quantified variation in 2n gamete production within and among species, and examined associations with life history, reproductive mode, genome size and chromosomal number while accounting for phylogeny. Most individuals produced <2% 2n male gametes, whereas a small number had >5% (up to 85%) production. Variation in 2n gamete production was significant among species and related to reproductive system; asexual species produced significantly more 2n gametes than mixed-mating and outcrossing species. Our results, unique in their multi-species perspective, are consistent with 2n gametes being deleterious but maintained when opportunities for selection are limited. Rare individuals with elevated 2n gamete production may be key contributors to polyploid formation.