Pacific Oceania Research Articles

Genomic population structure of great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran) across the Indo-Pacific

Context Currently, little information exists describing the population structure of great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran) in Australian waters. Aims This study used single nucleotide polymorphisms to investigate fine-scale population structure in S. mokarran across the Indo-Pacific. Methods DNA was extracted from 235 individuals across six Australian locations and a Red Sea outgroup. Population parameters were calculated and visualised to test structuring across locations. Key results No fine-scale population structuring was observed for S. mokarran across the Indo-Pacific. However, population structuring occurred for all Australian locations when compared to the Red Sea outgroup. Conclusions Findings suggest a single stock is most likely for S. mokarran found in Australian waters. Results provide key information for understanding the broad range movements of S. mokarran and help to define the scale of management required to preserve genetic diversity in this species. The structuring between Australia and the Red Sea indicates limited gene flow and movement. Implications Results indicate that large-scale movements of S. mokarran could be occurring to facilitate genetic mixing. Future research focusing on individual tagging to corroborate movements would be highly beneficial to determine how far (and often) individuals are dispersing, and to note where cross-jurisdictional management, including from neighbouring regions in the Indo-West Pacific–Oceania region, are most critical.

Archaeology of Pacific Oceania: Inhabiting a Sea of Islands, Mike T. Carson (2018)

Review of: Archaeology of Pacific Oceania: Inhabiting a Sea of Islands, Mike T. Carson (2018) London and New York: Routledge, 406 pp., ISBN 978 1 13809 717 9 (pbk), £36.99

PEOPLING OF OCEANIA: CLARIFYING AN INITIAL SETTLEMENT HORIZON IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS AT 1500 BC

ABSTRACTRadiocarbon (14C) has been instrumental in clarifying how people came to inhabit the expanse of Pacific Oceania, now supporting an “incremental growth model” that shows a number of long-distance sea-crossing migrations over the last few millennia. A crucial step in this narrative involved the initial settlement of the remote-distance Oceanic region, in the case of the Mariana Islands around 1500 BC. The Marianas case can be demonstrated through delineation of stratigraphic layers, dating of individual points or features within those layers, redundant dating of samples in secure contexts, localized and taxon-specific corrections for marine samples, and cross-constraining dating of superimposed layer sequences. Based on the technical and methodological lessons from the Marianas example, the further steps of the incremental growth model will continue to be refined across Pacific Oceania. Many of these issues may be relevant for broader research of ancient settlement horizons in other regions.

Island Studies Journal, 14(1), Book Reviews

Solution protocols to festering island disputes: ‘win-win’ solutions for the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands by Godfrey Baldacchino & contributors (reviewer: Romain Chuffart) Pacific futures, past and present by Warwick Anderson, Miranda Johnson, & Barbara Brookes (Eds.) (reviewer: Susanne Ferwerda) Archaeology of Pacific Oceania: inhabiting a sea of islands by Mike T. Carson (reviewer: David Burley) Relational undercurrents: contemporary art of the Caribbean archipelago by Tatiana Flores & Michelle A. Stephens (Eds.) (reviewer: Carlos Garrido Castellano)

Historical, current and expected future occurrence of rabies in enzootic regions.

Rabies is one of the oldest recorded pathogens, with the broadest distribution of any known viral zoonosis. Antarctica is believed to be free of all lyssaviruses, but no laboratory-based surveillance has taken place to support this supposition. Re-introduction of the disease is possible in Pacific Oceania, as evidenced by a historical outbreak in Guam and the translocation of rabid bats to Hawaii. Australia is the only inhabited continent with enzootic rabies, without the presence of rabies virus. Europe and North America have broken the cycle of dog-mediated rabies, with a few remaining focal points in Latin America and the Caribbean, but wildlife rabies predominates. The greatest burden resides in the 'Old World'. The elimination of human rabies mediated via dogs by 2030 in Africa, Asia and the Middle East will not be simple, rapid or inexpensive, but it may be achievable through the use of widely available tools and the application of lessons learned during the course of the 20th century.

China's Belt and Road Initiative and Its Implications for Southeast Asia

China's Belt and Road Initiative and Its Implications for Southeast Asia Hong Yu (bio) During state visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013, Xi Jinping announced the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the sea-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, respectively. Shortly after that, these two initiatives were combined to form one unified concept, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This grand initiative, comprising various routes by sea and land, is intended to connect China with Southeast and South Asia, Central Asia, Pacific Oceania, Africa, and Europe. BRI is centered on both soft and hard infrastructure connectivity, aiming to forge an integrated and extensive network of regional infrastructure with China at its hub. BRI has gradually emerged as a top Chinese national strategy. Given China's emergence as a global power through industrial redeployment and outward investment, this initiative could reshape the geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape of Asia and beyond. BRI signals a shift in China's foreign policy and a departure from its long-held low-profile approach. Since Xi came to power in 2012, the Chinese government has adopted a far more proactive foreign policy stance, driven by global thinking.1 BRI serves as the key driver to advance China's interests overseas and demonstrates China's growing confidence and aspirations to be a rule-shaper in the economic governance of the region and beyond. Meanwhile, the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), following the withdrawal of the United States, offers China further leeway to promote its New Silk Road agenda. The TPP's failure will increase the international momentum behind BRI to accelerate regional economic cooperation and integration through forging infrastructure, trade, and investment linkages. For the Southeast Asian countries, regional economic integration plays a very important role in mitigating external uncertainties and global economic vulnerabilities. The collapse of the TPP hit certain participating countries within Southeast Asia very hard, particularly Singapore. Being a tiny nation without an economic hinterland, Singapore has developed as the [End Page 117] most open and trade-dependent economy in the region. China's realization of BRI depends on the support and participation of other countries; in particular, the neighboring Southeast Asian countries are vital to the success of this grand initiative. The Southeast Asian countries, particularly developing countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, have largely welcomed BRI, which aims to promote close regional trade and investment linkage based on the improvement of interregional physical connectivity. Southeast Asia needs to focus consistently on constructing infrastructure in order to unleash the region's economic growth potential. The Southeast Asian countries consider that participating in BRI will help address their serious infrastructure deficits and accelerate industrial and economic growth. China has offered much-needed investment for connectivity-related infrastructure construction.2 This essay will first examine the opportunities for Southeast Asian countries to participate in BRI and then consider their perspectives on the challenges for the initiative. Opportunities for Southeast Asia Arising from BRI China's rise to become the world's second-largest economy and the largest trading nation has exerted a very powerful pull on the Southeast Asian economies. China has become the largest trading partner for all Southeast Asian countries except for the Philippines. The region, for its part, has benefited enormously from China's economic growth. It has taken advantage of the Sinocentric regional production network created since China's admission to the World Trade Organization in the early 2000s to export raw materials, intermediate goods, and mineral resources to China for final manufacturing into industrial goods before their export to the major consumption markets in the West. Setting aside for the moment the underlying geostrategic and geopolitical considerations, the potential benefits from BRI for Southeast Asia could be enormous. China has committed enormous financial resources to build a number of large-scale transportation projects aiming to improve interregional connectivity. For example, construction has already started on the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia and on a railway linking Mohan, on the Chinese border, with Vientiane, the capital of Laos. These two projects, both largely financed by Chinese banks and being [End Page 118] built by Chinese companies, mark Beijing's efforts to...

'Mutiny on the Bounty': the genetic history of Norfolk Island reveals extreme gender-biased admixture.

BackgroundThe Pacific Oceania region was one of the last regions of the world to be settled via human migration. Here we outline a settlement of this region that has given rise to a uniquely admixed population. The current Norfolk Island population has arisen from a small number of founders with mixed Caucasian and Polynesian ancestry, descendants of a famous historical event. The ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ has been told in history books, songs and the big screen, but recently this story can be portrayed through comprehensive molecular genetics. Written history details betrayal and murder leading to the founding of Pitcairn Island by European mutineers and the Polynesian women who left Tahiti with them. Investigation of detailed genealogical records supports historical accounts.FindingsUsing genetics, we show distinct maternal Polynesian mitochondrial lineages in the present day population, as well as a European centric Y-chromosome phylogeny. These results comprehensively characterise the unique gender-biased admixture of this genetic isolate and further support the historical records relating to Norfolk Island.ConclusionsOur results significantly refine previous population genetic studies investigating Polynesian versus Caucasian diversity in the Norfolk Island population and add information that is beneficial to future disease and gene mapping studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13323-015-0028-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Petrography of Temper Sands in 112 Reconstructed Lapita Pottery Vessels from Teouma (Efate): Archaeological Implications and Relations to Other Vanuatu Tempers

The remarkable cache of intact and reconstructed Lapita pottery vessels excavated from the Teouma site near the south coast of Efate in Vanuatu has made possible a petrographic temper analysis for which each sherd thin section is known without doubt to derive from a different single pot. Such positive vessel-by-vessel control for the specific provenience of each sherd has not been possible during petrographic study of any other collections of prehistoric potsherds from Pacific Oceania. Our study shows that 100 of 112 Teouma vessels were made using indigenous Efate temper sands of several kinds, but that three of the vessels derive from elsewhere in Vanuatu and nine derive from New Caledonia ~500 km away to the southwest. Petrographic comparison of the Teouma temper sands with tempers in 430 Lapita and post-Lapita sherds from elsewhere in Vanuatu and the geologically related eastern outliers of the Solomon Islands at the northern end of the New Hebrides island arc defines a discrete number of generic temper provinces identified geographically as a guide for future analysis of Vanuatu tempers. Where adequate age control for ceramics is available, no generic distinctions can be drawn between tempers in Lapita and post-Lapita wares from each temper province.

Two Northeast Pacific deep-water barnacle populations (Cirripedia: Calanticidae and Pachylasmatidae) from seamounts of the Juan de Fuca Ridge; "insular" endemics stemming from Tethys, or by subsequent dispersal from the Western Pacific center of distribution?

The first adults of the calanticid, Calantica moskalevi Zevina and Galkin, 1989, and specimens of a new pachylasmatine balanomorph genus and species, have been recovered by MBARI’s ROV Tiburon, from Juan de Fuca Ridge seamounts at ~46º N – 130º W in the NE Pacific off Oregon, ~1450 m and 2080 m depths, respectively. These two apparently allopathic populations evidently represent remnants of stocks most commonly confined to relatively deep waters around islands and occasionally continental margins of the Indo-West Pacific. These Juan de Fuca representatives can be inferred to be relicts of once broad Paleogene Tethyan populations rather than relatively recent immigrants by way of the NW Pacific. Apparently, the refugium afforded by seamount “islands” at bathyal and abyssal depths accounts for their survival in this relatively remote corner of Pacific Oceania.

No Room in the Ark? Climate Change and Biodiversity in the Pacific Islands of Oceania.

The islands of Pacific Oceania face unprecedented anthropogenic climate change within this century. Rising sea levels, increasing ocean acidification, warming land and sea temperatures, increasing droughts, and changes in the frequency and intensity of storms are likely to reorder or destroy ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangrove and montane forests, and coastal wetlands. For the developed nations, an array of measures could ameliorate these effects. Developing nations, whose economies may be significantly damaged by climate change, face major impacts on their citizens, identifying conservation of biodiversity as a lesser priority. Conservation in these countries may not succeed unless the rich nations are willing to pay for preservation of biodiversity hotspots or where preservation of biodiversity satisfies the needs of local communities, often through traditional management and land tenure systems in rural areas. These communities will need useable information, as well as technical advice on how to reduce stressors on changing ecosystems such as wetlands, mangrove forests and coral reefs, if they are going to achieve conservation. The resulting process if it involves local people may appear inefficient, relative to international expectations, but will be more effective over a wide area in conserving biodiversity.

The Greenwood encyclopedia of world popular culture: v.1: North America; v.2: Latin America; v.3: Europe; v.4: North Africa and the Middle East; v.5: Sub-Saharan Africa; v.6: Asia and Pacific Oceania

The Greenwood encyclopedia of world popular culture: v.1: North America; v.2: Latin America; v.3: Europe; v.4: North Africa and the Middle East; v.5: Sub-Saharan Africa; v.6: Asia and Pacific Oceania

On Meroitic Nubian Crania, Fordisc 2.0, and Human Biological History

Williams, Belcher, and Armelagos (CA 46:340–46) have reported and discussed the results of a study of Meroitic Period Lower Nubian crania in which, using Fordisc, a forensic identification program, they analyzed 42 crania individually as unknowns in what can be described as a morphometric experiment employing forced allocation (Campbell 1984) that is based on phenetic affinity (McNeil 1978; Cain and Harrison 1960). The results were unexpected in terms of biogeography; the crania were not primarily affiliated with the nearest neighbor (an Egyptian series) but grouped (although not always with strong statistical support) with series from all of the continents and Pacific Oceania and a range of U.S. social census groups. These results deserve further comment with regard to their possible “meanings.” Williams et al. seem to restrict their explanation to invoking the published finding of a greater within-group than between-group craniometric variation in one study and suggesting a role for nongenetic variation caused by the “conditions of growth” during development. They do not fully reconcile their claim that human biological variation is primarily clinal with the results of their study, which indicates a more complex situation. Clearly the demonstration of similarity using multivariate analyses does not always mean identity, close recent common origin, or even origin in an adjacent region. Williams et al. anticipate and effectively refute the criticism that a major flaw of their study is its use of a group not present in the database, noting that a forensic worker can never really know if an individual’s origin population is actually represented in the forensic tool’s database. Technically, however, this criticism is correct and is grounded in the concerns of both forensic science and the best-use parameters of canonical variate or discriminant function analysis when used for identification. The goal of forensics is the actual identification of the unknown with a recognized social group known to law enforcement and not the discovery of relative similarity (phenetic affinity). The aspect of discriminant function analysis relevant to this discussion is its secondary use to minimize the probability of misplacing an unknown object, in this case a cranium, in the nonorigin population (Albrecht 1980). Given the goal of identification (Campbell 1978), the use of

New taxa of signal flies (Diptera: Platystomatidae) of New Caledonia

Possible explanations are sought for the distribution patterns of platystomatid genera in Pacific Oceania, with special reference to those of New Caledonia. A key to the eleven known genera of New Caledonia (including the Loyalty Islands) is given. Five of these genera are endemic to this province of the Australasian Region. A key to the known Australasian species of Naupoda is given. Dayomyia molens n.gen. and n.sp., Eumeka koghii n.sp., Pogonortalis monteithi n.sp., Sors wrightae n.gen. and n.sp., and Naupoda (Gonga) burwelli n.sp. are described from New Caledonia (Grande Terre). Abrasion of part of the antenna in D. molens is apparently due to some unexplained behavioural trait.

British Logwood Extraction from the Mosquitia: The Origin of a Myth

British Logwood Extraction from the Mosquitia: The Origin of a Myth

Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools

Cook's European contemporaries did, in fact, report that the Hawaiians regarded Cook as their god Lono. In writing How Natives Think, rather than How Hawaiians Thought^ Sahlins broadens not only the appeal of his book, but the scope of his critique. Northwest Coast historians tend to regard their field as a subdiscipline of Canadian or American historiography — that is, we look east for our intellectual identity. Yet, the history of early contact here was as much, if not more, a part of a broader Pacific experience than it was an extension of historical processes stemming from the St. Lawrence Seaway or the Great Plains. If for no other reason than the temporal parallels linking contact on this coast with other parts of Pacific Oceania, we would be well advised to pay greater attention to the academic discussions emanating from our west. For while the particulars and even the subject matter of a controversy over Cook's Hawaiian apotheosis may have little in common with current Northwest Coast ethnohistorical debate, the issues addressed in the Sahl insObeyesekere exchange are central to ethnohistory. As ethnohistorians we must be cautious and reflective in our application of interpretive models, and we must be honest with regard to our archival and oral sources. We must not allow modern sensibilities and/or perceived contemporary polit ical objectives to taint our research. In light of this publication, and despite the fact that Sahlins's depiction of eighteenth-century Hawaiians might not coincide with modern Western understandings of practical rationali ty (and migh t , therefore, be politically unpopular in the short term), Sahlins's place in history as a leading twentieth-century thinker and scholar appears secure. So too, one hopes, are the exhaustive e thno historical research techniques, the cautious yet honest methodologies, and the critical processes of peer review Sahlins propounds.

Africa and AIDS: Dependent Development, Sexism, and Racism

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is epidemic in the United States, but AIDS is more than just an epidemic. AIDS is a pandemic, meaning that it is worldwide in distribution and began in a number of areas in the world almost simultaneously. In fact, by March 1987, 44,652 cases of AIDS had been reported in 99 countries and on every continent in the world. It has appeared in the Pacific Oceania complex of islands and Australia, in South and Central America, and, although delayed in its appearance, it is also now present in Asia. Nowhere, however, is its appearance more ominous than in Africa.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.