Human Migration Patterns Research Articles

Analyzing the Climate Change and Deforestation Education Discourses at Social Studies Grade Eighth Sindh Textbook Board: A Content Analysis

Climate change and deforestation education play a crucial role in raising awareness of environmental issues, fostering eco-literacy, promoting environmental responsibility, and enabling young minds to take action. It has a broader scope across the globe, and many research studies have been carried out worldwide to provide awareness of environment-related consequences. Textbooks are the primary sources of information for students. How these topics are presented can significantly influence their understanding and awareness of climate change and deforestation. The discourse in textbooks can shape public opinion on these issues, impacting policy discussions and societal actions. For this purpose, the study was conducted to analyze climate change and deforestation. This research methodology was qualitative, and the content analysis method was used for this study. The data was collected through document analysis and criterion sampling and one book of social studies Sindh textbook for grade 8th has been used as a sample size for this research. Thematic analysis was used, where coded data was analyzed thematically to identify recurring themes, topics, patterns, and points related to environmental education discourses within the textbook. The findings revealed that the textbook highlights the influence of climate change and deforestation on human health, migration patterns, and economic activities. It is recommended that the state take immediate measures to protect the environment from all forms of pollution and practices that directly or indirectly impact global climate. Social studies textbooks should include Projects and activities that foster hands-on and problem-solving skills to prepare students for natural disasters.

The complex network patterns of human migration at different geographical scales: network science meets regression analysis

Migration’s influence in shaping population dynamics in times of impending climate and population crises exposes its crucial role in upholding societal cohesion. As migration impacts virtually all aspects of life, it continues to require attention across scientific disciplines. This study aims to bridge the gap between theoretical understanding and practical application by integrating network analysis and regression methodologies within Migration Studies. In the study we employ network analysis to elucidate migration patterns at various geographical scales-city, country, and global. Additionally, regression analysis is discussed on an exploratory level, where we focus on the underlying factors driving migration, and identifying the key independent variables to enhance predictive accuracy. The study exposes distinct migration network structure and its features, and the consequences these have on conventional regression analysis applications. We conclude on the importance of methodological coherence and disciplinary integration, and highlight the avenues for enhancing the predictive power of migration models.

Macro-Scale Population Patterns in the Kofun Period of the Japanese Archipelago: Quantitative Analysis of a Larger Sample of Three-Dimensional Data from Ancient Human Crania

The present study collected a larger set of three-dimensional data on human crania from the Kofun period (as well as from previous periods, i.e., the Jomon and Yayoi periods) in the Japanese archipelago (AD 250 to around 700) than previous studies. Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics were employed to investigate human migration patterns in finer-grained phases. These results are consistent with those of previous studies, although some new patterns were discovered. These patterns were interpreted in terms of demic diffusion, archaeological findings, and historical evidence. In particular, the present results suggest the presence of a gradual geological cline throughout the Kofun period, although the middle period did not display such a cline. This discrepancy might reflect social changes in the middle Kofun period, such as the construction of keyhole-shaped mounds in the peripheral regions. The present study implies that a broader investigation with a larger sample of human crania is essential to elucidating macro-level cultural evolutionary processes.

What can location-based social media reveal on human migration patterns in Europe?

ABSTRACT Numerous visualisation methods have been proposed, including Origin-Destination maps to represent movement patterns gathered from social media; however, visual clutter remains a persistent issue due to complex data dimensionality. Besides, most Origin-Destination maps fail to illustrate the temporal dimension of social network phenomena within the geographical environment. To tackle this issue, we propose the visualisation method for geo-located Facebook social-media data while emphasising the time aspect. Based on the citizen-generated data for the European Union (EU), we estimated the EU citizens’ residing or travelling across the EU member states as a means of current and previous destinations to reveal the extent of the hypothetical human migration. The proposed methodology consists of Origin-Destination maps implemented within the time geography framework as a model to support the process of analysis for decision-making. The generated visualisation allows comprehension of the scale of human movement distribution internally within the EU from a space–time perspective.

Spatio-temporal variations of climate along possible African-Arabian routes of H. sapiens expansion

Eastern Africa and Arabia were major hominin hotspots and critical crossroads for migrating towards Asia during the late Pleistocene. To decipher the role of spatiotemporal environmental change on human occupation and migration patterns, we remeasured the marine core from Meteor Site KL 15 in the Gulf of Aden and reanalyzed its data together with the aridity index from ICDP Site Chew Bahir in eastern Africa and the wet-dry index from ODP Site 967 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea using linear and nonlinear time series analysis. These analyses show major changes in the spatiotemporal paleoclimate dynamics at 400 and 150 ka BP (thousand years before 1950), presumably driven by changes in the amplitude of the orbital eccentricity. From 400 to 150 ka BP, eastern Africa and Arabia show synchronized wet-dry shifts, which changed drastically at 150 ka BP. After 150 ka BP, an overall trend to dry climate states is observable, and the hydroclimate dynamics between eastern Africa and Arabia are negatively correlated. Those spatio-temporal variations and interrelationships of climate potentially influenced the availability of spatial links for human expansion along those vertices. We observe positively correlated network links during the supposed out-of-Africa migration phases of H. sapiens. Furthermore, our data do not suggest hominin occupation phases during specific time intervals of humid or stable climates but provide evidence of the so far underestimated potential role of climate predictability as an important factor of hominin ecological competitiveness.

Reconstructing colonization dynamics to establish how human activities transformed island biodiversity

Drivers and dynamics of initial human migrations across individual islands and archipelagos are poorly understood, hampering assessments of subsequent modification of island biodiversity. We developed and tested a new statistical-simulation approach for reconstructing the pattern and pace of human migration across islands at high spatiotemporal resolutions. Using Polynesian colonisation of New Zealand as an example, we show that process-explicit models, informed by archaeological records and spatiotemporal reconstructions of past climates and environments, can provide new and important insights into the patterns and mechanisms of arrival and establishment of people on islands. We find that colonisation of New Zealand required there to have been a single founding population of approximately 500 people, arriving between 1233 and 1257 AD, settling multiple areas, and expanding rapidly over both North and South Islands. These verified spatiotemporal reconstructions of colonisation dynamics provide new opportunities to explore more extensively the potential ecological impacts of human colonisation on New Zealand’s native biota and ecosystems.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis on Climate Change Impact on Human Migration Patterns and Social Vulnerability

This study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate the impact of climate change on human migration patterns and social vulnerability. The CFA model consisted of two factors: Factor 1 (engineering knowledge) and Factor 2 (problem-solving skills). The model fit indices showed a good fit: χ²/df = 2.35, RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.93, and TLI = 0.92. The factor loadings ranged from 0.44 (SV3) to 0.87 (MP2), indicating moderate to strong relationships between the indicators and their respective factors. The average variance extracted (AVE) values were 0.36 (Factor 1) and 0.41 (Factor 2), indicating adequate convergent validity. The heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratios ranged from 0.63 (MP1) to 1.00 (MP2), indicating good discriminant validity. The residual covariances between indicators ranged from -0.21 (CC2 ↔ SV2) to 0.14 (MP2 ↔ CC1), indicating some remaining relationships between indicators. The misfit plot showed small residuals for most indicators, indicating a good fit between observed and predicted values. Overall, the results suggest that climate change impacts human migration patterns and social vulnerability through two distinct factors: engineering knowledge and problem-solving skills. The findings have implications for policymakers and researchers seeking to understand and address climate change's effects on human migration and social vulnerability.

Investigating the genetic makeup of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in the United Arab Emirates population through next-generation sequencing

The Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules are central to immune response and have associations with the phenotypes of various diseases and induced drug toxicity. Further, the role of HLA molecules in presenting antigens significantly affects the transplantation outcome. The objective of this study was to examine the extent of the diversity of HLA alleles in the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using Next-Generation Sequencing methodologies and encompassing a larger cohort of individuals. A cohort of 570 unrelated healthy citizens of the UAE volunteered to provide samples for Whole Genome Sequencing and Whole Exome Sequencing. The definition of the HLA alleles was achieved through the application of the bioinformatics tools, HLA-LA and xHLA. Subsequently, the findings from this study were compared with other local and international datasets. A broad range of HLA alleles in the UAE population, of which some were previously unreported, was identified. A comparison with other populations confirmed the current population’s unique intertwined genetic heritage while highlighting similarities with populations from the Middle East region. Some disease-associated HLA alleles were detected at a frequency of > 5%, such as HLA-B*51:01, HLA-DRB1*03:01, HLA-DRB1*15:01, and HLA-DQB1*02:01. The increase in allele homozygosity, especially for HLA class I genes, was identified in samples with a higher level of genome-wide homozygosity. This highlights a possible effect of consanguinity on the HLA homozygosity. The HLA allele distribution in the UAE population showcases a unique profile, underscoring the need for tailored databases for traditional activities such as unrelated transplant matching and for newer initiatives in precision medicine based on specific populations. This research is part of a concerted effort to improve the knowledge base, particularly in the fields of transplant medicine and investigating disease associations as well as in understanding human migration patterns within the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions.

Contemporary and historical human migration patterns shape hepatitis B virus diversity.

Infection by hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for approximately 296 million chronic cases of hepatitis B, and roughly 880,000 deaths annually. The global burden of HBV is distributed unevenly, largely owing to the heterogeneous geographic distribution of its subtypes, each of which demonstrates different severity and responsiveness to antiviral therapy. It is therefore crucial to the global public health response to HBV that the spatiotemporal spread of each genotype is well characterized. In this study, we describe a collection of 133 newly sequenced HBV strains from recent African immigrants upon their arrival in Belgium. We incorporate these sequences-all of which we determine to come from genotypes A, D, and E-into a large-scale phylogeographic study with genomes sampled across the globe. We focus on investigating the spatio-temporal processes shaping the evolutionary history of the three genotypes we observe. We incorporate several recently published ancient HBV genomes for genotypes A and D to aid our analysis. We show that different spatio-temporal processes underlie the A, D, and E genotypes with the former two having originated in southeastern Asia, after which they spread across the world. The HBV E genotype is estimated to have originated in Africa, after which it spread to Europe and the Americas. Our results highlight the use of phylogeographic reconstruction as a tool to understand the recent spatiotemporal dynamics of HBV, and highlight the importance of supporting vulnerable populations in accordance with the needs presented by specific HBV genotypes.

Collateral Damage: The Legacy of the Secret War in Laos

Abstract We investigate the long-term impact of conflict on economic development, focusing on the US ‘Secret War’ in Laos (1964–73). Our study employs multiple empirical strategies and data on bombing campaigns, satellite imagery, and development indicators to demonstrate that regions heavily bombed during this period experienced lower economic development almost fifty years after the conflict officially ended. A one-standard-deviation increase in bombing intensity is associated with a 7.1% decrease in GDP per capita. We demonstrate the persistent effects of bombing campaigns on human capital accumulation, structural transformation and migration patterns, stressing the role of unexploded ordnance contamination as the primary mechanism of transmission of these effects.

Tracing Roots: Understanding Family Trees and their Importance in Modern Society

In the context of a rapidly globalizing world, the study of family trees has gained increasing significance as individuals strive to understand their origins and cultural identities amid shifting social landscapes. The objective of this paper is to review the current status of research works on the importance of family trees as well as to provide an overview of existing literatures to facilitate future research. The present study reviewed 26 current and high-quality articles from 2019 to 2024 to identify the importance of family trees in the modern world especially Malaysia. The findings indicate that family trees are not only crucial for personal identity formation but also hold significant value across various academic fields, such as genetics, sociology, anthropology, and history. In genetics, they help identify hereditary diseases and contribute to medical research and preventive healthcare strategies. Sociologically, they provide a framework for analyzing family dynamics, social stratification, and cultural transmission, while anthropologically, they offer insights into human migration patterns and the evolution of societal structures. The study also highlights the growing popularity of digital platforms and DNA testing services, which have made genealogical research more accessible, thus enabling individuals to reconstruct their family histories with greater ease and accuracy. In Malaysia, the exploration of family trees and the preservation of genealogical records reflect a broader societal interest in cultural heritage and identity, particularly among its diverse ethnic groups. Several recommendations are highlighted related to conducting more qualitative studies, to have specific and a standard systematic review method for guide research synthesis as well as to practice complimentary searching techniques such as citation tracking, reference searching, snow balling and contacting experts. This research concludes that understanding family trees is vital for cultural preservation and national identity, serving as a means for individuals to assert their heritage and strengthen communal bonds.

Climate change adaptation and the back of the invisible hand.

A good deal of contemporary work in cultural evolutionary theory focuses on the adaptive significance of culture. In this paper, we make the case that scientifically accurate and politically feasible responses to the climate crisis require a complex understanding of human cultural practices of niche construction that moves beyond the adaptive significance of culture. We develop this thesis in two related ways. First, we argue that cumulative cultural practices of niche construction can generate stable equilibria and runaway selection processes that result in long-term existential risks within and across cultural groups. We dub this the back of the invisible hand. Second, we argue that the ability of cultural groups to innovate technological solutions to environmental problems is highly constrained in ways that are exacerbated by sustained intergroup conflict, inequality and by inherently unpredictable cascades in climate change and human migration patterns. After developing these theoretical points about human cultural practices of niche construction in detail, we conclude our discussion with some tentative practical suggestions about the way that cultural evolutionary history can more fruitfully be used in efforts to remit the climate crisis and contribute to sustainable practices of human climate change adaptation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.

World’s human migration patterns in 2000–2019 unveiled by high-resolution data

Despite being a topical issue in public debate and on the political agenda for many countries, a global-scale, high-resolution quantification of migration and its major drivers for the recent decades remained missing. We created a global dataset of annual net migration between 2000 and 2019 (~10 km grid, covering the areas of 216 countries or sovereign states), based on reported and downscaled subnational birth (2,555 administrative units) and death (2,067 administrative units) rates. We show that, globally, around 50% of the world’s urban population lived in areas where migration accelerated urban population growth, while a third of the global population lived in provinces where rural areas experienced positive net migration. Finally, we show that, globally, socioeconomic factors are more strongly associated with migration patterns than climatic factors. While our method is dependent on census data, incurring notable uncertainties in regions where census data coverage or quality is low, we were able to capture migration patterns not only between but also within countries, as well as by socioeconomic and geophysical zonings. Our results highlight the importance of subnational analysis of migration—a necessity for policy design, international cooperation and shared responsibility for managing internal and international migration.

Analytics of historical human migration patterns: use cases of Amsterdam and Copenhagen

ABSTRACT Human migration is associated with a dynamic process that stimulates the generation of large data streams that hold valuable information and is possible to comprehend through different visualisation methods. In this research, we present an analytical approach to understanding human migration patterns in urban areas of Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Unlike other methods, we propose to map migration data within grid cells by retaining data characteristics and plotting statistical calculation analysis for better visualisation and analytics.

Turning up the heat: A conceptual model for understanding the migration and health in the context of global climate change

BackgroundThe triangular relationship between climate change-related events, patterns of human migration and their implications for health is an important yet understudied issue. To improve understanding of this complex relationship, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary conceptual model will be useful. This paper investigates relationships between these factors and considers their impacts for affected populations globally. MethodsA desk review of key literature was undertaken. An open-ended questionnaire consisting of 11 items was designed focusing on three themes: predicting population migration by understanding key variables, health implications, and suggestions on policy and research. After using purposive sampling we selected nine experts, reflecting diverse regional and professional backgrounds directly related to our research focus area. All responses were thematically analysed and key themes from the survey were synthesised to construct the conceptual model focusing on describing the relationship between global climate change, migration and health implications and a second model focusing on actionable suggestions for organisations working in the field, academia and policymakers. ResultsKey themes which constitute our conceptual model included: a description of migrant populations perceived to be at risk; health characteristics associated with different migratory patterns; health implications for both migrants and host populations; the responsibilities of global and local governance actors; and social and structural determinants of health. Less prominent themes were aspects related to slow-onset migratory patterns, voluntary stay, and voluntary migration. Actionable suggestions include an interdisciplinary and innovative approach to study the phenomenon for academicians, preparedness and globalized training and awareness for field organisations and migrant inclusive and climate sensitive approach for policymakers. ConclusionContrary to common narratives, participants framed the impacts of climate change-related events on migration patterns and their health implications as non-linear and indirect, comprising many interrelated individual, social, cultural, demographic, geographical, structural, and political determinants. An understanding of these interactions in various contexts is essential for risk reduction and preventative measures. The way forward broadly includes inclusive and equity-based health services, improved and faster administrative systems, less restrictive (im)migration policies, globally trained staff, efficient and accessible research, and improved emergency response capabilities. The focus should be to increase preventative and adaptation measures in the face of any environmental changes and respond efficiently to different phases of migration to aim for better “health for all and promote universal well-being” (WHO) (World Health Organization 1999).

Systemic risk and compound vulnerability impact pathways of food insecurity in Somalia

In a strongly interconnected world, extreme and compound events pose systemic risks to food security and populations already vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Pre-existing vulnerabilities can also compound, interfering with adaptation strategies and affecting human migration patterns. While some drivers of compound vulnerability are known on a normative level, there remains a critical gap on the relationship between drivers of vulnerability systemic risk, and food insecurity outcomes. We use a systemic risk impact pathway (SRIP) model to gain data-driven insights on the drivers of systemic risk and the impacts on food insecurity in Somalia. By applying data on extreme weather and food insecure internally displaced populations from 2011 to 2019 we isolate different components of vulnerability and show how they compound and relate to systemic risk drivers. Our findings contribute to the empirical evidence on limits to adaptation indicating that systemic risk impacts compound vulnerabilities and act as adaptation ‘roadblocks’ for food security. We argue that a systems design can provide guardrails to resilience opportunities where compound vulnerabilities overstretch fragile resilience levels.

Genomic footprints of Kam Sweet Rice domestication indicate possible migration routes of the Dong people in China and provide resources for future rice breeding

The Dong people are one of China’s 55 recognized ethnic minorities, but there has been a long-standing debate about their origins. In this study, we performed whole-genome resequencing of Kam Sweet Rice (KSR), a valuable, rare, and ancient rice landrace unique to the Dong people. Through comparative genomic analyses of KSR and other rice landraces from south of the Yangtze River Basin in China, we provide evidence that the ancestors of the Dong people likely originated from the southeast coast of China at least 1000 years ago. Alien introgression and admixture in KSR demonstrated multiple migration events in the history of the Dong people. Genomic footprints of domestication demonstrated characteristics of KSR that arose from artificial selection and geographical adaptation by the Dong people. The key genes GS3, Hd1, and DPS1 (related to agronomic traits) and LTG1 and MYBS3 (related to cold tolerance) were identified as domestication targets, reflecting crop improvement and changes in the geographical environment of the Dong people during migration. A genome-wide association study revealed a candidate yield-associated gene, Os01g0923300, a specific haplotype in KSR that is important for regulating grain number per panicle. RNA-sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription–PCR results showed that this gene was more highly expressed in KSR than in ancestral populations, indicating that it may have great value in increasing yield potential in other rice accessions. In summary, our work develops a novel approach for studying human civilization and migration patterns and provides valuable genomic datasets and resources for future breeding of high-yield and climate-resilient rice varieties.

Collective cell migration during human mammary gland organoid morphogenesis.

Organ morphogenesis is driven by cellular migration patterns, which become accessible for observation in organoid cultures. We demonstrate here that mammary gland organoids cultured from human primary cells, exhibit oscillatory and collective migration patterns during their development into highly branched structures, as well as persistent rotational motion within the developed alveoli. Using high-resolution live-cell imaging, we observed cellular movement over the course of several days and subsequently characterized the underlying migration pattern by means of optical flow algorithms. Confined by the surrounding collagen matrix, characteristic correlated back-and-forth movements emerge due to a mismatch between branch invasion and cell migration speeds throughout the branch invasion phase. In contrast, alveolar cells exhibit continuous movement in the same direction. By modulating cell-cell adhesions, we identified collective migration as a prerequisite for sustaining these migration patterns both during the branching elongation process and after alveolus maturation.

Investigating internal migration with network analysis and latent space representations: an application to Turkey.

Human migration patterns influence the redistribution of population characteristics over the geography and since such distributions are closely related to social and economic outcomes, investigating the structure and dynamics of internal migration plays a crucial role in understanding and designing policies for such systems. We provide an in-depth investigation into the structure and dynamics of the internal migration in Turkey from 2008 to 2020. We identify a set of classical migration laws and examine them via various methods for signed network analysis, ego network analysis, representation learning, temporal stability analysis, community detection, and network visualization. The findings show that, in line with the classical migration laws, most migration links are geographically bounded with several exceptions involving cities with large economic activity, major migration flows are countered with migration flows in the opposite direction, there are well-defined migration routes, and the migration system is generally stable over the investigated period. Apart from these general results, we also provide unique and specific insights into Turkey. Overall, the novel toolset we employ for the first time in the literature allows the investigation of selected migration laws from a complex networks perspective and sheds light on future migration research on different geographies.

Migration 2030: Governing migration in a globalising world

AbstractInternational migration is arguably an important challenge and opportunity for the world today. In these two first decades of the 21st century, we are witnessing important changes in the direction of flows, the motivations of people on the move and the complex patterns of human migration. In addition, 2020 has brought an extraordinary and unexpected pandemic crisis, that has temporarily brought international migration to a standstill while further exacerbating inequalities and vulnerabilities of migrants and their families. This special issue finds its origins in the inaugural conference of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration programme at Ryerson University in Toronto which took place in February 2020, while the COVID‐19 epidemic was being felt in China but was still believed to remain a regional and short‐lived challenge. As we developed our writing, COVID‐19 turned into a global pandemic pushing us also to rethink some of our considerations and arguments. The first set of papers aims to unsettle the main migration policy narratives and to critically engage with dominant views of international migration governance. The second set of papers focuses on the new complex realities of temporary migration, investigating critically policies and practices in different world regions, and how they compound vulnerabilities for migrants while failing to offer a sustainable way forward.