Northern Nicaragua Research Articles

A delineation of Nuclear Middle America biogeographical provinces based on river basin faunistic similarities

The biogeographical patterns of the obligate freshwater fishes of Nuclear Middle America, a region that expands from southern Guatemala to northern Nicaragua, are described herein. Historically, three broad ichthyological provinces have been assigned to Nuclear Middle America: the Usumacinta, and the San Juan in the Atlantic slope and the Chiapas-Nicaraguense in the Pacific slope. With the use of correspondence analysis and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean cluster analysis of a presence/absence matrix of 76 obligate freshwater fishes, we identified four ichthyological provinces in Nuclear Middle America: (1) the Honduras and Guatemala Caribbean Highlands Province, (2) the Honduras and Nicaragua Mosquitia Province, (3) the Chiapas-El Salvador-Nacaome Province, and (4) the Choluteca and Nicaragua Pacific Province. Differences between provinces in species composition and species turnover between provinces were tested by analysis of similarity, the calculation of beta-diversity indices and an indicator species analysis. We then further characterized each province by identifying the number of endemics and classifying species according to their salinity tolerance. The most striking patterns of Nuclear Middle America freshwater fish distribution are its paucity of primary freshwater fishes and limited numbers of endemics. The four ichthyological provinces are distinct as indicated by the ANOSIM and beta-diversity analysis, although one province showed low beta-diversity values. These results suggest that, despite of the active geological history that characterized the region, there has been limited isolation of species in any given province, and historical drainage connectivity has been high.

Assessing the Adequacy of the Simulation Model LATEBLIGHT Under Nicaraguan Conditions.

In this study, the adequacy of the late blight simulation model LATEBLIGHT (version LB2004) was evaluated under Nicaraguan conditions. During 2007 to 2008, five field experiments were conducted in three potato-production regions in northern Nicaragua. Two susceptible ('Cal White' and 'Granola') and one resistant ('Jacqueline Lee') potato cultivars were evaluated without use of fungicides and with three application intervals (4, 7, and 14 days) of the fungicide chlorothalonil. The simulation model was considered adequate because it accurately predicted high disease severity in susceptible cultivars without fungicide protection, and demonstrated a decrease in the disease progress curves with additional fungicide applications, similar to that observed in the plots. The model also generally predicted inadequate fungicide control, even with a 4-day spray interval, which also occurred in the field. Lack of adequate fungicide protection would indicate the need for cultivars with higher levels of durable resistance, and that farmers should consider more effective fungicides applications (higher dosages or different chemistries) if susceptible cultivars are used.

Population Density and Killing Capacity by Predators of Eggs and Larvae of the Diamondback Moth in Nicaragua

The diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is a serious pest of economically important brassica crops such as cabbage (Brassica oleracea Linne). To address the current lack of baseline information concerning predators of P. xylostella, and their potential role as biological control agents, especially in Central America, we aimed to 1) identify predators in northern Nicaragua, and estimate their population densities; 2) assess their killing rate of eggs and larvae of P. xylostella; and 3) assess if predators feed more of smaller P. xylostella larvae. Individuals of selected predator groups were offered eggs, second- or third-instar larvae. Our results indicate that there exists a broad spectrum of predators, within and around cabbage fields in Nicaragua that have the capacity to feed on P. xylostella eggs and larvae under laboratory conditions. Predators with the highest killing rates were adult and larval rove beetles (Staphylinidae), sheet weaving spiders (Linyphiidae), and larger jumping spiders (Salticidae). Although all predator densities varied in space and time the consistently most abundant predator groups with the highest consumption or killing rate, and consequently the highest potential for suppressing P. xylostella populations were wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and rove beetles (Staphylinidae), although sheet weaving spiders, jumping spiders, assassin bugs (Reduviidae), and damsel bugs (Nabidae) also can be important. We conclude that those generalist predators exhibiting the highest killing rates in the laboratory should be considered for further study in the field as candidate species with a role in the management of pest P. xylostella.

How standards compete: comparative impact of coffee certification schemes in Northern Nicaragua

PurposeSmallholder farmers are increasingly subject to different types of standards that offer specific conditions for their market incorporation. The proliferation of private and voluntary (civic) standards raises questions regarding their impact on farmers' welfare and their role in the upgrading of value chains. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachBased on extensive fieldwork and careful matching of 315 farmers in Northern Nicaragua who produce coffee under Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance and Café Practices labels or deliver to independent traders, the effects on income, production and investments are compared. Moreover, the implications of different contract conditions for risk behaviour, organizational force, loyalty and gender attitudes are assessed.FindingsThe paper finds that Fair Trade provides better prices compared with independent producers, but private labels out‐compete Fair Trade in terms of yield and quality performance. While Fair Trade can be helpful to support initial market incorporation, private labels offer more suitable incentives for quality upgrading.Research limitations/implicationsCivic standards exhibit major effects on local institutions' and farmers' behaviour, while B2B standards are more effective for improving production and management practices. Dynamic improvement standards may bridge the gap between both.Practical implicationsFair Trade standards are useful to provide initial market access to small‐holders, but private standards offer better prospects for subsequent quality upgrading.Originality/valueThis is the first large‐scale comparative impact assessment of coffee standards that delivers unbiased empirical results.

The joint development of JM-12.7: A technographic description of the making of a bean variety

Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) is one of the areas of Participatory Technology Development (PTD) in which collaboration of researchers and farmers has been reported as quite successful although its institutionalization remains problematic. This paper aims to contribute to better understanding of PPB processes. It focuses on the practices of developing a common bean variety ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) by a group consisting of a breeder, farmers and NGO technician in northern Nicaragua. The description is an example of a technography and uses the concept of boundary object to analyse how actors come together around a shared goal and how their knowledge and practices are combined in the material making of five varieties, eventually leading to JM-12.7 as a formally released variety. The material making of five bean varieties is central in the first part of the process and shows how in practice different knowledges within the group interact. The second part of the process leads to distinguishing socio-political boundaries. The formal registration of JM-12.7 required crossing of these boundaries and prompted the reorganization of the group into a co-operative.

Envisioning Adaptive Strategies to Change: Participatory Scenarios for Agropastoral Semiarid Systems in Nicaragua

Ravera, F., D. Tarrasón, and E. Simelton. 2011. Envisioning adaptive strategies to change: participatory scenarios for agropastoral semiarid systems in Nicaragua. Ecology and Society 16(1): 20. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03764-160120

A new species of worm salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Oedipina) in the subgenus Oeditriton from the highlands of northern Nicaragua

A new species of worm salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Oedipina) in the subgenus Oeditriton from the highlands of northern Nicaragua

Comparing decentralized participatory breeding with on-station conventional sorghum breeding in Nicaragua: I. Agronomic performance

Few studies have assessed the effective gains achieved by collaborative decentralized participatory breeding, in terms of yield and other agronomic traits, in comparison with centralized conventional breeding using the same breeding schemes. Our study concerned an experience of participatory improvement of tortillero sorghum for low-input cropping systems in northern Nicaragua. It set out to compare the effect of two breeding schemes simultaneously managed on-station and on-farm. Two synthetic populations were used as sources of genetic variability. The study was designed to distinguish between three “selection modes”: farmers’ selection on-farm (FoF), breeder’ selection on-station (BoS) and breeder's selection on-farm (BoF). After two selection cycles, we found that FoF selection reduced phenotypic variability as much as BoS selection. In general, BoS selection produced higher-yielding lines under the target on-farm conditions. But FoF selection was more effective in promoting lines with higher values for an index of agronomic suitability (IAS), expressing a better balance between earliness, plant height, grain size and yield. Such genotypes might cope more easily with local environmental constraints and farmers’ preferences. BoF selection did not prove to be effective for either yield or IAS. This research shows the need for close collaboration between farmers and breeders as well as complementarities between the selection phases managed on-farm and on-station, to make breeding for difficult environments fully efficient.

Improvements to water purification and sanitation infrastructure may reduce the diarrheal burden in a marginalized and flood prone population in remote Nicaragua

BackgroundThe isolated northern region of Nicaragua has one of the highest rates of diarrheal disease in Central America. Political and environmental hardships faced by inhabitants of this region are contributing factors to this health inequity. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between water and latrine infrastructure and the prevalence of diarrhea in this region.MethodsA population-based, cross-sectional survey of women of reproductive age was conducted in the Sahsa region of northern Nicaragua in July, 2009. Households were selected by two stage cluster sampling methodology. A questionnaire was administered in Spanish and Miskito with assessment of household and socioeconomic conditions, sanitation practices, and health care access. Diarrhea prevalence differences at the household level over a two week reporting period were estimated with a standardized instrument which included assessment of water treatment and latrine use and maintenance.ResultsThere were 189 women enrolled in the current study. The use of water purification methods, such as chlorine and filters, and latrine ownership were not associated with reduced prevalence of household diarrhea in the two week reporting period. Latrine overflow, however, was associated with an increased prevalence of diarrhea during the same two week period [adjusted prevalence difference and 95% CI: 0.19 (0.03, 0.36)].ConclusionsSimple, low cost interventions that improve water and latrine infrastructure may reduce the prevalence of diarrheal disease in the isolated regions of Nicaragua and Central America.

A new species of worm salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Oedipina) in the subgenus Oeditriton from the highlands of northern Nicaragua

We describe a new species of Oedipina (subgenus Oeditriton) from the highlands of north-central Nicaragua. The new species is most closely related to Oedipina kasios, a premontane species from north-central Honduras, and O. quadra, a lowland species from northern and eastern Honduras. It differs from O. kasios and O. quadra in molecular characters and by having a more slender habitus and fewer vomerine teeth. We also discuss the status of the additional populations of Oedipina from Nicaragua.

Deepwater carbonate deposition in response to re-flooding of carbonate bank and atoll-tops at glacial terminations

The late Quaternary has experienced large glacial/interglacial climatic variations and related 10’s to 100 meters high-amplitude sea level fluctuations at Milankovich frequencies from 10’s to 100 kyr during which carbonate platform tops have been exposed and re-flooded in many occasions. This study focuses on the accumulation of calci-turbidites, the aragonite onset/sharp increase in fine sediments and their timing in deep basins adjacent to carbonate platforms. A particular emphasis is developed on the occurrence of the first gravity flow event and aragonite onset/sharp increase and their linkage to the initial re-flooding of the platform tops during deglaciations. Three basins adjacent to isolated platforms in the Bahamas, the Northern Nicaragua Rise, and the Gulf of Papua, were selected to represent pure carbonate versus mixed systems, in quiescent versus tectonically active settings, and various carbonate bank top morphologies, ranging from atoll to relatively deeply and narrowly flooded flat top banks. In spite of these differences, each record illustrates a clear relationship between the timing of platform top re-flooding and initiation of significant carbonate export by gravity flows and low-density plumes into the surrounding basins. The concept of “re-flooding window” is introduced to characterize the prolific period of time during which bank and atoll-tops are flooded enough to produce large export of bank-derived aragonite and of calci-turbidites in adjacent basins. According to our datasets, the main re-flooding windows have occurred mainly on the last part of the sea level rise at each glacial termination (T), those periods being marked by some of the highest rates of sea level rise. The analysis of a long-piston core from the earthquakes-prone Walton Basin (Northern Nicaragua Rise) demonstrates that sea level, not seismic activities, played a major role as trigger mechanism for the initiation of gravity flows since the last four glacial/interglacial transitions, and supports the existence of an extra glacial termination during the early portion of the transition from MIS 7.4 to MIS 7.3 (TIIIA).

A revision of the Central American species related to Anolis pentaprion with the resurrection of A. beckeri and the description of a new species (Squamata: Polychrotidae)

Based on differences in coloration, morphometrics, and scalation, I recognize seven species of anoles related to Anolis pentaprion in Central America: Anolis beckeri (southeastern Mexico to northern Nicaragua), A. cristifer (Pacific lowlands of Chiapas to central Guatemala), A. fungosus (Caribbean premontane zone from central Costa Rica to western Panama), A. pentaprion (Caribbean lowlands of southern Nicaragua to northwestern Colombia, also on Pacific versant in central and eastern Panama), A. salvini (Pacific premontane and lower montane zones from central Costa Rica to western Panama), A. utilensis (restricted to Isla de Utila, Honduras), and a new species (from the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and western Panama) described herein. The new species differs from A. pentaprion by having a red male dewlap with few large, widely spaced gorgetal scales scattered across the dewlap (pink with purple pigment between rows of gorgetals, and with regular rows of numerous small, narrowly spaced gorgetal scales in A. pentaprion). Furthermore, I resurrect the name A. beckeri Boulenger for the pentaprion-like populations of anoles distributed from southeastern Mexico to northern Nicaragua. Anolis beckeri differs from A. pentaprion most obviously in the dorsal tail scalation (a serrated caudal crest present in A. pentaprion versus no such crest in A. beckeri) and dewlap scalation (gorgetal rows with 17–25 narrowly spaced scales in A. pentaprion versus gorgetal rows with 4–10 widely spaced scales in A. beckeri). Finally, SMF 83608 is proposed as the neotype for Anolis pentaprion. I provide standardized descriptions of A. beckeri, A. pentaprion, and the new species described herein.

Assessing the Impact of Fair Trade Coffee: Towards an Integrative Framework

This article presents an impact assessment framework that allows for the evaluation of positive and negative local-level impacts that have resulted from “responsible trade” interventions such as fair trade and ethical trade. The framework investigates impact relating to (1) livelihood impacts on primary stakeholders; (2) socio-economic impacts on communities; (3) organizational impacts; (4) environmental impacts; (5) policies and institutional impacts; and (6) future prospects. It identifies relevant local-level stakeholders and facilitates the analysis of conflicting interests. The framework was developed in the context of, and is applied in this article to, the fair trade coffee industry in northern Nicaragua. It was designed, however, so that it can be applied across commodity sectors and responsible trade initiatives. It is able to do this by accommodating for differences in the social, environmental, political and institutional contexts of different areas, and by taking into account the distinct nature of an initiative’s overall objectives, different levels of intervention, and the full range of stakeholders involved.

The nation is our mother: Augusto Sandino and the construction of a peasant nationalism in Nicaragua, 1927–1934

This article explores the creation of a nationalist identity in Nicaragua during the guerrilla war of Augusto Sandino against the occupying United States. The social base of Sandino was the mountain peasants of northern Nicaragua; a social sector usually described as unlikely to become the creators and carriers of a national identity. Yet by using a gendered and familial discourse, which described Nicaragua as the ‘madre patria’ (mother homeland) and the members as his army as brothers, Sandino was successful in activating strong nationalist feelings amongst his peasant followers. The article examines both Sandino's discourse, and how it was interpreted by his peasant followers. It is this attempt to bring their perspectives into the discussion that contributes to this new assessment of the construction of a national identity in Nicaragua.

Mineralogy and grain size variations along two carbonate margin-to-basin transects (Pedro Bank, Northern Nicaragua Rise)

The analysis of nine periplatform cores in the surrounding of the Pedro Bank carbonate platform showed the presence of characteristic depositional environments during the last 300 ky. This subdivision is based on mineralogical and grain size variations in space and time. Along the leeward, downcurrent transect the fine sediment fraction (< 63 μm) dominates the periplatform sediments during interglacial highstands in sea level, and no spatial variations in the fine sediment concentration could be observed within 100 km offbank distance. The sediments are mainly of neritic origin preferentially fine aragonite needles. With increasing distance from the margin (> 40 km) aragonite is still the most abundant mineral, but the percentage decreases, while the pelagic carbonate mineral content (LMC) increases. Within the subordinate coarse-fraction classes (> 63 μm) the very fine sand-fraction dominates at proximal sites (< 20 km) as a result of the influence of fine neritic sediments shed offbank. More distal sites (> 20 km) show a more bimodal distribution pattern in the coarse grain sizes with maximum percentages within the very fine and medium sand-fraction, indicating a mixed neritic/pelagic signal. During glacial lowstands in sea level a twofold division in the spatial distribution of the periplatform sediments is evident. A proximal environment (< 28 km) with enhanced coarse-fraction percentages vs. a distal environment (> 28 km) showing a strong dominance of the fine fraction (> 90%). The increased coarse-fraction percentage during glacials at proximal sites results from various interacting processes: (1) lower input of fine neritic sediments, (2) increased current winnowing, and (3) redepositional processes at the upper slope during lowered sea level, and the export of this material to “proximal basinal” sites (< 28 km). At upcurrent sites the mineralogy displays a similar spatial evolution as seen along the downcurrent margin, but with overall reduced percentages. This is the result of the lower export potential of the platform against the main direction of the Caribbean Current, the most important factor for neritic sediment dispersal in the study area. The coarse-fraction content is slightly higher during interglacials compared to the downcurrent margin. During glacials a similar reduction in the percentage of the coarse-fraction is evident in a spatial context. This also substantiates the reduced sediment export and redeposition potential at the upcurrent margin.

First Report of Arceuthobium hondurense and Sruthanthus deppeanus in Nicaragua

The Honduran dwarf mistletoe, Arceuthobium hondurense Hawksw. & Wiens (Viscaceae), is one of the rarest dwarf mistletoes known in Central America (1,2). It is only known from four general areas in Honduras, but has also been reported from three locations in southern Mexico (2,3). At one time, A. hondurense was thought to be in danger of extinction (1). During March 2006, we found three new populations of this rare dwarf mistletoe in the Cordillera Dipilto in northern Nicaragua (Department Nueva Segovia). One population was approximately 11 km northeast of San Fernando (13°44'55″N, 86°19'07″W; elevation 1,130 m), the second population was approximately 9 km north of Mozonte (13°44'09″N, 86°24'54″W; elevation 1,415 m), and the third population was approximately 6 km southwest of Depilto (13°42'51″N, 86°32'22″W; elevation 1,340 m). Honduran dwarf mistletoe was parasitizing Pinus tecunumanii Equiluz & J.P. Perry at each of these locations, and at the Mozonte population, it was also infecting P. oocarpa Schiede ex Schlecht. Only a few pines were infected at each of these localities and no pine mortality associated with dwarf mistletoe infection was observed. However, even lightly infected trees had large witches' brooms and some trees were severely broomed. These populations are 50 to 65 km southeast of the nearest population of Honduran dwarf mistletoe in Honduras and they represent the southern most populations of Arceuthobium spp. in the New World (1). The mistletoe, Struthanthus deppeanus (Cham. & Schlecht.) Bl. (Loranthaceae), also parasitizes pines in Central America and southern Mexico (3). We observed this mistletoe parasitizing P. tecunumanii at the San Fernando location described above, on P. oocarpa approximately 7 km north of Mozonte (13°43'57″N, 86°24'49″W; elevation 1,490 m), and on P. oocarpa approximately 3 km southwest of Dipilto (13°43'40″N, 86°31'56″W; elevation 1,170 m). Again, only a few pines were infected at each of these locations, and we did not observe pine mortality associated with infection by S. deppeanus. S. deppeanus does not cause the formation of witches' brooms on infected pines, but the mistletoe plants are often greater than 1 m long so they are easily observed. This mistletoe was most common southwest of Depilto. To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. hondurense and S. deppeanus in Nicaragua. Specimens of A. hondurense and S. deppeanus from Nicaragua have been deposited at the Deaver Herbarium, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff (Accession Nos. 81561-81567).

Evolution of the Northern Nicaragua Rise during the Oligocene–Miocene: Drowning by environmental factors

Possible causes to explain platform drowning have been hotly debated by carbonate sedimentologists for more than a decade now. In this paper, we present multiple evidence to explain the drowning of a carbonate megabank that covered most of the modern Northern Nicaragua Rise (NNR) during an interval spanning from late Oligocene to early Miocene by the interaction of several environmental factors. The recovery during ODP Leg 165 of late Oligocene to middle Miocene sedimentary sequences in the sub-seafloor of the modern channels and basin, Pedro Channel and Walton Basin, respectively, that dissect the NNR (Site 1000) and south of the rise in the Colombian Basin (Site 999), combined with information from dredged rock samples, allows us to explore in more detail the timing and possible mechanisms responsible for the drowning of the megabank and its relationship to Miocene climate change. The modern system of isolated banks and shelves dissected by a series of intervening seaways and basins on the NNR has evolved from a continuous, shallow-water carbonate “megabank” that extended from the Honduras/Nicaraguan mainland to the modern island of Jamaica. Available information suggests that this megabank broke apart and partially drowned in the late part of the late Oligocene at around 27 Ma and finally foundered during the late early Miocene around 20 Ma, resulting in limited neritic coral growth in the areas where the modern isolated carbonate banks and shelves are occurring today. Available information also suggests that the southern and central parts of Pedro Channel were already a deep-water area before the major episode of platform drowning, and its formation predates the initiation of the Caribbean Current. However, after the partial drowning of the megabank, the channel has become a major pathway for the Caribbean Current. Stratigraphic units identified in deep-water carbonates sampled at ODP Sites 999 and 1000 help to constrain the environmental setting leading to the drowning of the banks. Changes in lithology and mass accumulation rates of both the carbonate and non-carbonate fraction parallel stable isotope shifts and likely indicate regional changes in climate and circulation during the late Oligocene–middle Miocene interval. Carbonate mass accumulation rates (MARs) at Site 999 suggest increased regional productivity during the early Miocene. Terrigenous MARs at both Sites 999 and 1000 show a general increase from the Burdigalian through the Serravallian. The temporal association among episodes of neritic platform deposition, followed by increased productivity as identified by higher carbonate MARs and positive excursion in carbon isotopes, suggests that oceanographic changes such as local upwelling and nutrification have led to the partial drowning of the NNR “megabank”.

Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?

This paper links changing global coffee markets to opportunities and vulnerabilities for sustaining small-scale farmer livelihoods in northern Nicaragua. Changing governance structures, corporate concentration, oversupply, interchangeable commodity grade beans, and low farm gate prices characterize the crisis in conventional coffee markets. In contrast, certified Fair Trade and organic are two alternative forms of specialty coffee trade and production that may offer opportunities for small-scale producers. A research team surveyed 228 farmers to measure the impact of sales on organic and Fair Trade markets. The results suggest that participation in organic and Fair Trade networks reduces farmers’ livelihood vulnerability.

Through Revolution and Beyond: Mobilization, Demobilization, and Adjustment in Central America

Beyond the Barricades: Nicaragua and the Struggle for the Sandinista Press, 1979-1998. By Adam Jones. (Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies, Research in International Studies - Ohio University Press, 2002. Pp. 308. $30.00 paper.) Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs: Gender Identity Politics in Nicaragua, 1979-1999. By Lorraine Bayard de Volo. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Pp. 293, $24.95 paper.) After the Revolution: Gender and Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. By Ilja A. Luciak. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Pp. 297. $27.95 paper.) Lost Visions and New Uncertainties: Sandinista Profesionales in Northern Nicaragua. By Inger Lundgren. (Stockholm: Department of Sociology, University of Stockholm. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology, 2000. Pp. 258. $57.50 paper.) Assessment of the revolutionary experience in Central America continues as scholars examine how revolutionary organizations and institutions, civil society, and individuals experienced the turmoil of mobilization in the 1970s and 1980s and then adjusted to the end of revolution, armed struggle, and political peace in the 1990s. These books, three of which focus on Nicaragua and the Sandinista experience and one of which encompasses El Salvador and Guatemala as well, reveal much about the lived revolution and its aftermath. They explore how citizens and activists became mobilized into revolutionary collective action, their understanding of how political participation altered their sense of themselves, and how the passing of Central America's revolutionary moment has transformed their efforts, life conditions, and organizations. Adam Jones's Beyond the Barricades: Nicaragua and the Struggle for the Sandinista Press, 1979-1998 is a straightforward history of the Sandinista [End Page 202] daily newspaper Barricada from its birth to death. From extensive access to its files and back issues to dozens of interviews with key figures at the revolutionary paper, the author lays out the paper's evolution, from its inception marked by the capture of the plant of the Somoza-owned Novedades through nineteen years of evolution. The newspaper, owned by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), evolved from its early mission as a propaganda organ with a mobilizing and educative mission into a paper with a more professional journalistic mission during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jones relates how Barricada remained loyal to the party and revolution while developing a cadre of experienced, talented journalists under the leadership of editor Carlos Fernando Chamorro and the protection and advocacy of FSLN directorate member Bayardo Arce. Basically unsubsidized and supporting itself with circulation, state advertising revenues (shared with other papers), and a profitable printing business, the paper helped finance the FSLN (rather than the reverse). The revolution's demise cut circulation deeply, and losses of state printing contracts and state advertising during the Alemán administration destroyed the paper economically and forced it to close in 1998. Jones's most significant contribution concerns the struggle for control of Barricada during the early 1990s as the FSLN went through a power struggle and its subsequent self-criticism after losing the 1990 election. At the peak of its editorial quality, the paper identified with the Sandinista Renovation Movement that struggled to democratize the party. For this, editor Chamorro and many others others were sacked (others resigned) by the victorious hard-line wing of the party, led by Daniel Ortega, and were replaced in October 1994 by Tomás Borge and a new editorial team. The paper returned to its mobilizing mission, declined in editorial quality, and collapsed economically. The theme of loss and how to cope pervades Inger Lundgren's Lost Visions and New Uncertainties: Sandinista Profesionales in Northern Nicaragua. This social-anthropological study of Sandinista middle sector workers in the provincial city of Estelí after the end of the revolution examines the effects of lost influence, status, political vision, and party support after it was ousted from power, and the ramifications for economic resources, family, and social...

Timing and distribution of calciturbidites around a deeply submerged carbonate platform in a seismically active setting (Pedro Bank, Northern Nicaragua Rise, Caribbean Sea)

The sedimentological study of thirteen sediment cores from the periplatform setting surrounding Pedro Bank (Northern Nicaragua Rise, Caribbean Sea) shows that during the last 300 ka turbidite deposition is controlled by at least four factors: (1) late Quaternary sea level fluctuations, (2) prolific fine-grained sediment production and export resulting in oversteepening of the upper slope environment, (3) the proximity to the bank margin, and (4) local slope and seafloor morphology. The most intriguing finding of this study is the paucity of turbidites, with only 101 turbidites in 13 cores in this tectonically active setting near the Caribbean plate boundary. Throughout the last 300 ka, the frequency of turbidite input during interglacial stages is three times higher than during glacial stages. Also it is obvious that changes in sea level influence the timing of turbidite deposition. This is especially evident during the transgressions resulting in rapid renewed bank-top flooding, subsequent neritic sediment overproduction, and offbank export. The flooding event during each transgression is usually recorded by the onset of turbidite deposition at various sites along several platform-to-basin transects in down- and upcurrent slope settings. Overall, however, more turbidites are deposited during the regressive rather than the transgressive phases in sea level, probably as a result of sediment reorganisation on the slope resulting in slope failure. Five cores show "highstand bundling" of calciturbidites, i.e. higher number of turbidites during highstands than during lowstands in sea level.