Pine Grove Research Articles

Estructura y composición de la vegetación de pinares de Alturas de Pizarras en la Empresa Agroforestal Minas, Cuba

Esta investigación fue realizada en pinares en Alturas de Pizarra de la Empresa Agroforestal Minas, con el objetivo de determinar la estructura y composición de estos pinares, para el manejo de los mismos. Se seleccionaron dos áreas; en cada área fueron establecidas 30 parcelas circulares de 15 metros de radio; se consideraron tres estratos en la vegetación para cuantificar las especies presentes y hacer los análisis correspondientes. Se calculó la diversidad alfa y beta, se evaluó la estructura horizontal mediante el índice de importancia ecológica y la distribución por clases diamétricas, se describió la estructura vertical a través de la riqueza de especies en cada estrato, así como su posición sociológica. En ambos pinares se identificaron en total 36 familias, 47 géneros y 61 especies de plantas, 42 especies en el área de Pinus caribaea y 36 especies en el área de Pinus tropicalis, observándose diferencias en cuanto a la composición de la vegetación acompañante en sus estratos. Las especies que mayor valor de importancia ecológica alcanzaron en las áreas estudiadas fueron Pinus caribaea con 205.96 y Pinus tropicalis con 175.59, siendo la abundancia y la frecuencia relativas los parámetros que más influyeron. Las parcelas, según la composición de especies, se agruparon en cuatro grupos diferenciándose por la altitud, altura de los árboles, el área basal y la abundancia de árboles muertos presentes en las mismas. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio, al precisar en algunos de los parámetros de esta formación vegetal en Cuba, constituyen un referente el manejo de estos pinares.

Funerary Offerings from the Keasler Site Cemetery (41HS235), Harrison County, Texas

The Keasler site (41HS235) is a post-ca. A.D. 1430 Late Caddo period, Titus phase cemetery with at least 31 burials in the East Texas Pineywoods. The site was excavated by collectors in the late 1970s on the property of Sid Keasler of Hallsville, Texas. Minimal records on the burials at the site, and their contents, were provided by Red McFarland, one of the collectors, to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas (TARL). The Keasler site is near Little Creek, a northward-flowing tributary to Little Cypress Creek. It is perhaps one of the easternmost-known Titus phase cemeteries in East Texas, in an area where few Titus phase sites or cemeteries have been identified or investigated by professional archaeologists. Based on the analysis of the available records and vessel images at TARL, Perttula noted that funerary offerings in the burials primarily included ceramic vessels—both utility and fine wares—in almost all of the burials, along with clay pipes and arrow points in only a few of the graves. The subtle differences between two different burial groups in the number and kind of funerary offerings in the cemetery do not provide much evidence of differential status or social rank, and the frequency of funerary offerings as attested to in the TARL records is at the low end of the scale in Titus phase cemeteries. The burials at the Keasler site appear to be those of common members of the Caddo community living in the lower part of the Little Cypress Creek basin. The range of decorated utility ware and fine ware vessels placed in the burial features are consistent with use of the cemetery by ancestral Caddo peoples in parts of the 16th and 17th centuries A.D. Subsequent to the analysis of the available records at TARL from the Keasler site, funerary offerings from the site in the Sid Keasler collection have come to light. In July 1999, Mark Walters and Bo Nelson photo-documented the Keasler collection, which represents approximately 50 percent of the funerary offerings recovered by Red McFarland. This article summarizes the character of the funerary offerings in the collection. Walters also recorded the nearby Pine Grove site (41HS826), which may represent one habitation area associated with the use of the cemetery at the Keasler site by ancestral Caddo peoples.

Microclima e Conforto Térmico de um Fragmento de Floresta Urbana em Curitiba, PR

O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar o microclima e conforto térmico proporcionado por um fragmento de floresta urbana existente no Campus III da UFPR com outros ambientes gramado, estacionamento e bosque de pinus. Para isso foram coletados dados meteorológicos nas quatro estações do ano. Os resultados encontrados mostram que os demais ambientes estudados são estatisticamente distintos do fragmento de floresta urbana, pois apresentaram maiores valores de temperatura do ar (3,5 °C em média) e menores valores de umidade relativa (em média 16%). O bosque de pinus apresentou a mesma classe de conforto térmico que o fragmento de floresta urbana em todas as estações, predominando a classe “sem estresse”. Os resultados demonstram a importância da cobertura arbórea, pois tanto o fragmento florestal como o bosque de pinus apresentam microclimas mais agradável e confortável termicamente do que os ambientes gramado e estacionamento.

Multi-scale monitoring of landscape change after the 2011 tsunami

Abstract. The Great East Japan Earthquake (magnitude 9.0; occurred on 11th March 2011) and subsequent huge tsunami caused widespread damage along the Pacific Ocean coast of eastern Honshu, Japan. This research utilizes multi-resolution remote sensing images to clarify the impact on landscapes caused by this disaster, and also to monitor the subsequent survival and recovery process in the Sendai Bay region. The coastal landscape in the target area features a narrow strip of coastal sand barrier, historically stabilized by planted pine groves; backed by a low-lying plain that has traditionally been diked and converted to irrigated rice paddies. Farmsteads on the flat alluvial plain are surrounded by groves called “Igune”, consisting primarily of conifers. MODIS data (250 m resolution) were employed to map the overall extent of inundation and damage on the regional landscape scale. The major damage caused by the tsunami, destruction of coastal pine forests and inundation or rice paddies on the plain, was identified at this level. Progressively finer scale analysis were then implemented using SPOT/HRG-2 (10 m resolution) data; GeoEye-1 fine resolution data (0.5 m) and very fine resolution aerial photographs (10 cm) and LiDAR. These results demonstrated the minute details of the damage and recovery process. Some patches of pine forest, for example, were seen to have survived, and some coastal plant communities were already recovering only a year after the disaster. Continuous monitoring using field work and remote sensing is required for balanced regional strategies that provide for economic and social recovery and as well as restoration of vegetation, biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.

Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence by Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola (review)

Reviewed by: Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence by Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola Franklin G. Miller Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence By Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2015. Pp. 192. $20 (cloth). Plants comprise over 99% of the biomass of the earth, and without them there would be no animal life on the planet. Moreover, the thriving of trees and other plants will be necessary for life on earth to survive, and continue to cope with, the negative consequences of human-induced climate change. The importance of plants is not just biological. Imagine the impoverishment of life in great cities like London, Paris, and New York without the green spaces and flowers of Hyde Park, the Tuileries Garden, and Central Park. Metropolitan Washington, DC—my home environment—is graced by the presence of Rock Creek Park, an expansive woodland resource in the center of the city. In the first spring of my retirement, I have been walking the trails adjacent to the creek, admiring and transported by the profusion and beauty of plant life. A recent sojourn in the park brought to mind Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” (1798), in which he relates that he is A lover of the meadows and the woods,And mountains; and of all that we beholdFrom this green earth; [End Page 569] … well pleased to recognizeIn nature and the language of the sense,The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul. … (ll. 105–12) Wordsworth here and elsewhere suggests a spiritual connection between the plant world and the human psyche. In his famous poem about encountering daffodils “dancing in the breeze,” he exclaims that “A poet could not but be gay, / In such a jocund company” (“I wandered lonely as a cloud” [1815], ll. 6, 15–16). Indeed, the memory of the daffodils fills his heart with pleasure when at later times, “In vacant or in pensive mood,” he thinks of them (l. 20). One doesn’t have to be a Romantic poet to feel a deep connection with plants. Walking many years ago in a quiet and remote mountainous grove of bristlecone pines, breathing the thin air and experiencing the sight of these ancient dwarfs had an effect on my atheistic self that I wouldn’t hesitate to call spiritual. It would be a sacrilege for someone to willfully damage them. To be sure, some are indifferent to the greenness of the earth; indeed, the existentialist philosopher and writer, Jean-Paul Sartre, according to his companion Simone de Beauvoir, was “allergic to chlorophyll” (Barnes 1959, 391). But this is unusual, and virtually anyone can appreciate what plants have to offer. Readers of Brilliant Green will have that appreciation greatly enhanced. This short book is written by a professor at the University of Florence and director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Italy (Mancuso), and a science journalist (Viola). The authors pose the central question of their book in the first paragraph: “Are plants intelligent? Do they solve problems and communicate with their surroundings—with other plants, insects, and higher animals? Or are they passive, unfeeling organisms without a trace of individual or social behavior?” (1). In an entertaining and thought-provoking way, they endeavor to answer to this question by making the case for plants being intelligent, and even sentient. They proceed by describing and characterizing the behaviors—including the relationships between plant and animals—that plants rely on for reproduction, defense against predators, and even in some cases for nourishment. Under the impact of Darwinian biology over the past 150 years, humans have embraced, or at least been forced to recognize, the continuity between their mental abilities and those of animals. The authors demonstrate that when the impressive abilities of plants are contemplated, the many similarities between plants and animals come into view. Plants, of course, are not inert like rocks; they not only grow and reproduce, but they respond to stimuli. Mancuso and Viola relate that “plants use their senses to orient themselves in the world, interacting with other plant organisms, insects, and animals, communicating...

농어업유산의 경관 잠재력 파악을 위한 IPA 연구 - 청산도를 중심으로 -

The purpose of this study is to derive landscape characteristic elements of agricultural and fishery heritage and to classify landscape characteristic elements of Cheongsando designated as Korean agricultural and fishery heritage No.1 as well as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Additionally, this study was conducted to suggest priority for conservation and management of Cheongsando by grasping differences between factors which visitors deem as important and satisfying. To implement this study, the literature review was written, an on-site survey to derive landscape characteristic elements of Cheongsando and a survey on importance and satisfaction of landscape characteristic elements of Cheongsando were conducted, and reliability analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and IPA analysis were performed using SPSS 20.0. The results are as follows: The analysis showed the factors requiring persistent efforts in the first quadrant are the rape flower garden, the sea, green barley field, flat stone paddy field, breakwater and lighthouse, abalone farms, stone houses, thatched houses, a coastal road, the slow road, Stonewall Walkway of Seongseo Village, and residents` agricultural behaviors. The analysis showed the factors needing intensive management strategies in the second quadrant are the surrounding mountain area, dock, Docheong Harbor, vessels, fish market, Doksari stone wall, garish-roofed farm villages, excursion school to a slow island, pension and cafe, bus stop, shade trees, Raw Fish Street, the beach and the filming site. Analysis indicated that the factors needing management control in the third quadrant are the pine grove, the beach, tidal mudflat, the garlic fields, vinyl greenhouses, grain drying yard, sea mustard drying yard, heritage center, Choboon, Dangri exorcism, the market place, residents` fishery behaviors, residents` industrial behaviors, residents` ordinary behaviors, visitors` behaviors that visiting the dock, visitors` behaviors that walking the slow road, visitors` behaviors that eating and shopping for specialties, visitors` behaviors that experiencing agriculture and fishery. Excessive effort factors in the fourth quadrant were not derived.

Mucilaginibacter pineti sp. nov., isolated from Pinus pinaster wood from a mixed grove of pines trees

Bacterial strain M47C3B(T) was isolated from the endophytic microbial community of a Pinus pinaster tree branch from a mixed grove of pines. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this organism represented one distinct branch within the family Sphingobacteriaceae, most closely related to the genus Mucilaginibacter. Strain M47C3B(T) formed a distinct lineage, closely related to Mucilaginibacter dorajii KACC 14556(T), with which it shared 97.2% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. The other members of the genus Mucilaginibacter included in the same clade were Mucilaginibacter lappiensis ATCC BAA-1855(T) sharing 97.0% similarity and Mucilaginibacter composti TR6-03(T) that had a lower similarity (95.7%). The novel strain was Gram-staining-negative, formed rod-shaped cells, grew optimally at 26 °C and at pH 7, and was able to grow with up to 0.3% (w/v) NaCl. The respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7) and the major fatty acids of the strain were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, representing 73.5% of the total fatty acids. The major components of the polar lipid profile of strain M47C3B(T) consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminophospholipids, one unidentified aminolipid and three unidentified polar lipids. The G+C content of the DNA was 40.6 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic analysis and physiological and biochemical characteristics we propose the name Mucilaginibacter pineti sp. nov. for the novel species represented by strain M47C3B(T) ( = CIP 110632(T) = LMG 28160(T)).

Pedobacter jejuensis sp. nov., isolated from soil of a pine grove, and emended description of the genus Pedobacter

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, THG-DR3T, was isolated from soil of a pine grove in Jeju island, Republic of Korea. Strain THG-DR3T grew optimally at 20-25 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in R2A broth without added NaCl. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain THG-DR3T belongs to the genus Pedobacter. The closest relatives based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity were Pedobacter aquatilis AR107T (98.0%), Pedobacter alluvionis NWER-II11T (97.7%), Pedobacter borealis G-1T (97.7%) and Pedobacter ginsengiterrae DCY49T (97.4%). The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain THG-DR3T was 47.5 mol%. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain THG-DR3T and its closest phylogenetic neighbours were below 44.7%. The presence of menaquinone 7 and of iso-C15:0 and summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c) as the major fatty acids supported the affiliation of strain THG-DR3T to the genus Pedobacter. The polar lipids of strain THG-DR3T consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminophospholipids, five unidentified aminolipids and three unidentified lipids. The results of physiological and biochemical tests allowed the differentiation of strain THG-DR3T from recognized species of the genus Pedobacter. Strain THG-DR3T (=KACC 17172T=JCM 18824T) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species of the genus Pedobacter, Pedobacter jejuensis sp. nov. An emended description of the genus Pedobacter is also proposed.

Curious Music in the Great Outdoors: Robert Morris's <em>Coming Down to Earth</em> in Webster Park

CURIOUS MUSIC IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS: ROBERT MORRIS’S COMING DOWN TO EARTH IN WEBSTER PARK JOSHUA B. MAILMAN HERE’S A NEW WAY TO ENJOY the outdoors in upstate New York.* Composer Robert Morris is showing us the way through his own artistic genre, which amounts to a new form of recreation: park-music. Morris, professor and chair of the Eastman School’s Composition Department, composed for the outdoors before. Eastman’s studentrun New Music ensemble, Ossia, performed his first outdoor work, Playing Outside, in Webster Park in 2001. * This article originally appeared in Rochester City Newspaper, September 29, 2004, now online here: http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/curious-music-inthe -great-outdoors/Content?oid=2129337. The article is reprinted by permission of Rochester City Newspaper and with kind thanks to editor Mary Anna Towler. T Curious Music in the Great Outdoors 87 But you can never get enough of a good thing. So, in a beautiful pine grove near Webster Park’s Cattaraugus cabin, Ossia will perform again. This time it’s the world premiere of Morris’s second outdoor work: Coming Down to Earth. Judging from the attendance, the applause, and the grapevine, the audience and the composer of Playing Outside seemed to agree: Webster Park provides an ideal environment for listening to New Music. In some ways it beats conventional classical music venues. “The performance of Playing Outside,” says Morris, “confirmed that one does not need to put music in a concert hall for it to have resonance and reverberation. Trees provide a beautiful reflective surface and fields carry sound far and wide.” The open air opens minds and ears too. Music, such as Morris’s, that expands the boundaries of convention, often presents a challenge to audiences. Morris finds, however, when that same music moves from the concert stage to the outdoors, audiences tend to enjoy it much more. “I believe this happens,” says Morris, “because when my music is performed in the midst of natural surroundings, it becomes obvious that it is inspired by and reflects my love of natural processes, textures, and sounds.” Sure, nature is fertile ground for the creative impulse, but actually performing a concert in nature opens a whole ecological can of worms: What’s nature’s role? Are the animals part of the audience, or part of the performance? What about the trees and plants, the streams and brooks? Theatrical possibilities abound: “How will the birds and other creatures in the forest respond to this uninvited musical performance in their habitat?” wonders pianist, composer, and co-producer of the event, Marcus Macauley. “Will they interact with the electronic bird calls, or with the high licks in the flute, oboe, and violin, contributing their own unwritten part to the score? . . . Will [the animals] watch in silence, bewildered? Curious? Captivated? Or will they flee the area, frightened out of their wits?” If animals could read music, indeed they might get frightened. The score of Coming Down to Earth looks utterly strange—more like experimental visual art, astrological charts, or imaginary biochemical recipes. One page looks like a pebbly landscape, another looks like a pictorial invitation to the afterworld as inscribed on some prehistoric tomb. Yet the seemingly unnatural look of the score grows naturally out of Morris’s purpose: to harmonize music with nature. “Coming Down to 88 Perspectives of New Music Earth is not concert music per se,” says Morris, “but something like ambient music, where the music blends into and comments musically on the sounds and sights of the natural location in which it is performed.” “There are no melodies, phrases, or chords in the woods, just textures and single sounds, sometimes groups of sounds. So how can my music ‘harmonize’ with the sounds of the woods, rather than drown them out, or impose others? And not to imitate, either.” Part of the answer is to have the musicians improvise, in various ways. In one section, called “Clamor” (Example 1), the musicians improvise somewhat freely. Yet the score guides them, producing a cloud of sound in which just a few pitches shine out like headlights in the fog. In some styles, such as jazz, improvisation also blurs the boundaries...

Silicate Melt Inclusion Evidence for Extreme Pre-eruptive Enrichment and Post-eruptive Depletion of Lithium in Silicic Volcanic Rocks of the Western United States: Implications for the Origin of Lithium-Rich Brines

To evaluate whether anatectic and/or highly fractionated lithophile element-enriched rhyolite tuffs deposited in arid lacustrine basins lose enough lithium during eruption, lithification, and weathering to generate significant Li brine resources, pre-eruptive melt compositions, preserved in inclusions, and the magnitude of post-eruptive Li depletions, evident in host rhyolites, were documented at six sites in the western United States. Each rhyolite is a member of the bimodal basalt-rhyolite assemblage associated with extensional tectonics that produced the Basin and Range province and Rio Grande rift, an evolving pattern of closed drainage basins, and geothermal energy or mineral resources. Results from the 0.8 Ma Bishop tuff (geothermal) in California, 1.3 to 1.6 Ma Cerro Toledo and Upper Bandelier tephra (geothermal) and 27.9 Ma Taylor Creek rhyolite (Sn) in New Mexico, 21.7 Ma Spor Mountain tuff (Be, U, F) and 24.6 Ma Pine Grove tuff (Mo) in Utah, and 27.6 Ma Hideaway Park tuff (Mo) in Colorado support the following conclusions. Melt inclusions in quartz phenocrysts from rhyolite tuffs associated with hydrothermal deposits of Sn, Mo, and Be are extremely enriched in Li (1,000s of ppm); those from Spor Mountain have the highest Li abundance yet recorded (max 5,200 ppm, median 3,750 ppm). Forty-five to 98% of the Li present in pre-eruptive magma was lost to the environment from these rhyolite tuffs. The amount of Li lost from the small volumes (1–10 km3) of Li-enriched rhyolite deposited in closed basins is sufficient to produce world-class Li brine resources. After each eruption, meteoric water leaches Li from tuff, which drains into playas, where it is concentrated by evaporation. The localized occurrence of Li-enriched rhyolites may explain why brines in arid lacustrine basins seldom have economic concentrations of Li. Considering that hydrothermal deposits of Sn, Mo, Be, U, and F may indicate potential for Li brines in nearby basins, we surmise that the world’s largest Li brine resource in the Salar de Uyuni (10 Mt) received Li from nearby rhyolite tuffs in the Bolivian tin belt.

Summer Rain

Summer Rain Jane Hicks (bio) For Ron Rash The second Sunday in July marks homecoming at Pine Grove Freewill Baptist, celebrated not with football and marching bands, but dinners on the ground among our departed and a background of good gospel music, down home food, and talk of recipes, quilts and bloodlines. After a pooling of memory, my great aunts send me to the old cemetery where my great-great grandfather rests under odd knob of quartz in a portion of graves marked with crude stones beneath a row of ancient oaks that whisper and jostle in the breeze. Out of the shade, in the heat of the new grounds marked with flat bronzes, silk flowers and American flags, I see the stir and bob of balloons, walk to where they lift and settle, a chain of them, a card tied to the string to trace flight, attract friends in far flung places. I stoop to retrieve the card, stub my toe upon my youth, see the carved name of love that tasted of lake water and Juicy Fruit on a blanket weighted with battered Keds and penny loafers. A scratchy transistor soundtrack of Dock of the Bay and Summer Rain, hourly newscasts of Chicago riots, assassinations of hope, Hanoi, Haiphong, the burning of draft cards like the new one in his pocket, all made me believe in nothing but green eyes with little boy lashes, summer freckled skin, smooth honeysuckle nights by the river with rain on the car roof. [End Page 110] He suffered awful in his mind, the aunties recall, like so many that went over there. They detail his end while we repack the bounty under rumbling threats. I promise to replace the fieldstone with one that named my ancestor. Rain lashes the windshield as I tune in the Oldies and Forever Young knifes my heart. I retrieve the balloon card from my pocket and drive toward the post office drop box to obey the careful crayon message “send me back.” [End Page 111] Jane Hicks Jane Hicks is retired as a teacher of gifted students and a guidance counselor. An avid quilter and NASCAR fan, she lives in Blountville, Tennessee, and is the author of Blood & Bone Remember: Poems from Appalachia (2005), a poetry collection. Her second book, Driving with the Dead, will be published in 2014 by the University Press of Kentucky. Copyright © 2013 Berea College

Thermochronometrically constrained anatomy and evolution of a Miocene extensional accommodation zone and tilt domain boundary: The southern Wassuk Range, Nevada

AbstractApatite (AHe) and Zircon (ZHe) (U‐Th)/He thermochronometric data from the southern Wassuk Range (WR) coupled with 40Ar/39Ar age data from the overlying tilted Tertiary section are used to constrain the thermal evolution of an extensional accommodation zone and tilt‐domain boundary. AHe and ZHe data record two episodes of rapid cooling related to the tectonic exhumation of the WR fault block beginning at ~15 and ~4 Ma. Extension was accommodated through fault‐block rotation and variably tilted the southern WR to the west from ~60°–70° in the central WR to ~15°–35° in the southernmost WR and Pine Grove Hills, and minimal tilting in the Anchorite Hills and along the Mina Deflection to the south. Middle Miocene geothermal gradient estimates record heating immediately prior to large‐magnitude extension that was likely coeval with the extrusion of the Lincoln Flat andesite at ~14.8 Ma. Geothermal gradients increase from ~19° ± 4°C/km to ≥ 65° ± 20°C/km toward the Mina Deflection, suggesting that it was the focus of Middle Miocene arc magmatism in the upper crust. The decreasing thickness of tilt blocks toward the south resulted from a shallowing brittle/ductile transition zone. Postmagmatic Middle Miocene extension and fault‐block advection were focused in the northern and central WR and coincidentally moderated the large lateral thermal gradient within the uppermost crust.

Undrowning a lost world — The Marine Isotope Stage 3 landscape of Gibraltar

The Rock of Gibraltar, at the south-western extreme of the Iberian Peninsula and 21km from the North African coast, is a 6-km long limestone peninsula which was inhabited by Neanderthals from MIS 5e until the end of MIS 3. A total of 8 sites, either with Neanderthal fossils or their Mousterian lithic technology, have been discovered on the Rock. Two, Gorham's and Vanguard Caves, are the subject of ongoing research. These caves are currently at sea level, but during MIS 3 faced an emerged coastal shelf with the shoreline as far as 5km away at times. They hold a unique archive of fauna and flora, in the form of fossils, charcoal and pollen, helping environmental reconstruction of now-submerged shelf landscapes. In addition, geological and geomorphological features — a 300-metre dune complex, elevated aeolian deposits, raised beaches, scree, speleothems — complement the biotic picture.The work is further complemented by a study of the ecology of the species recorded at the site, using present-day observations. The species composition in this fossil record closely matches the present day fauna and vegetation of the Doñana National Park, SW Spain: a mosaic of pine groves, coastal dunes, shrubland and seasonal wetlands and currently the richest reserve in terms of biodiversity in the Iberian Peninsula, located only 100km to the northwest from Gibraltar.All this information permits, for the first time, the quantification of the vegetation structure of the ancient coastal plain and the modelling of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the MIS 3 coastal shelf off Gibraltar.

The High, Hunted Trees

The High, Hunted Trees Suzanne Underwood Rhodes (bio) At the Constance du Pont Darden Preserve in Sussex County, Virginia, where mature, fire-resistant pines are the required nesting sites for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. This quiet grows from our not seeing the bird we came to see in the pine grove forged by fire, in the hollow of her heartwood, the quiet of a chapel empty but for the sun that fills it and names each tree “my lightfall,” “my greenlit singer,” and lingers as we pause on the pathway to scout the high trees for the telltale sign, a red cockade, the little resistance badge he wears like one of God’s revolutionaries, ill-matched against encroachers of silent spaces, but spared by one who asked why we kill the gift for gain, and bought the woods. Leaving, we take a last look at the pines climbing the lordly shafts of sun. [End Page 134] Suzanne Underwood Rhodes Suzanne Underwood Rhodes lives and writes in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is a college professor at the Art Institute of Virginia Beach and the author of several books of poetry and prose poems, including: A Welcome Shore, What a Light Thing, This Stone, Weather of the House, and Sketches of Home. suzan-nelrhodes@gmail.com Copyright © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press

An evaluation of a novel instrument for measuring macular pigment optical density: the MPS 9000

Of the antioxidants found in the human retina, only the macular carotenoid quantities can be estimated noninvasively (albeit in a collective fashion), thus facilitating study of their role in that tissue. The aim of this study was to evaluate concordance between macular pigment optical density (MPOD) values recorded on a commercially available instrument, the MPS 9000, with those of an already validated heterochromatic flicker photometry instrument. Also, we assessed and compared test-retest variability for each instrument. Macular pigment optical density at 0.5 retinal eccentricity was measured using two different heterochromatic flicker photometers, the MPS 9000 and the Macular Densitometer(TM), in 39 healthy subjects. Test-retest variability was evaluated separately for each instrument by taking three readings over a 1-week period in 25 subjects. There was a moderate positive correlation for MPOD at 0.5° of retinal eccentricity between the MPS 9000 and the Macular Densitometer described by the linear equation y = 0.763x + 0.172 (r = 0.68, p < 0.001, r(2) = 0.46); however, a paired-samples t-test showed a significant difference in terms of mean values, with a bias of lower MPOD values being yielded by the MPS 9000 (t = -4.103, p < 0.001). Bland-Altman analysis indicated only moderate agreement between the two instruments, reflected in 95% limits of agreement of 0.1 ± 0.27. Inter-sessional repeatability, expressed as a coefficient of repeatability, ranged from 0.18 to 0.21 [mean (±SD): 0.19 (0.02)] for the MPS 9000 and from 0.11 to 0.12 [mean (±SD): 0.12 (0.01)] for the Macular Densitometer. The results demonstrate that the MPS 9000 consistently yields MPOD readings, which are lower than that found with the Macular Densitometer, and exhibits substantial test-retest variability.

The Dark

The Dark Robley Wilson (bio) The first time Brian Varney, tourist, drove past the orange gate in the rented Opel, a number of automobiles were parked at the edges of the drive leading to the gate, and others were pulled off on both sides of the dirt road beyond. Brian counted seven cars in all. "Whoever lives there is throwing a party," he told the woman beside him. "So it seems," Delia said. It was a Saturday evening, half past eight, the Irish sky still vividly alight as it would be until after ten, so the party hypothesis made sense. It was only in the following days that the two Americans realized the cars belonged to hikers, who parked them near a trail entrance in the morning and reclaimed them at the tired end of each day—long days, fifteen or sixteen hours in July. They began to speculate about who lived behind the orange gate. Wealth was involved, Brian said, for you could see the several dormers of a rambling house that must hold a dozen rooms at least. Perhaps an Irish dot-com millionaire who cashed in before the market collapsed. Wealth, yes, Delia agreed, but inherited, a retired British couple choosing to settle in this evergreen countryside, safe from all social distractions save the occasional black-faced sheep trespassing innocently. One noon they walked up the graveled drive for a closer inspection of the brightly painted gate. The gabled house seemed deserted; the only sound was of the wind in a grove of tall pines beyond. Beside the gate was a wooden kiosk, a kind of sentry box with an intercom system, the kiosk as orange as the gate itself. At either side of the gate, [End Page 309] invisible from the road, barbed wire extended to left and right through the brush and goldenrod. Above that wire was another, thinner, attached to white porcelain insulators on fence posts in both directions. "Let's not disturb these folks today," Brian said. Delia punched him playfully on the arm. "Idiot," she said. "Were you seriously thinking of calling on them?" "I thought it was a possibility," he said. "'Hello, we're renting the cottage just down the road. We thought we'd make a neighborly visit.'" "Idiot," she said, and she punched his arm again. "Don't," he said. She took his hand as they strolled away from the gate. Halfway to the road Brian pointed out a thin black cable laid across the drive. "Early warning," he said. "This owner is super security-conscious. Maybe he's a retired godfather." In the days that followed they did the usual: overnight trips to Galway, to Tipperary, to Killarney and the Ring of Kerry; a dreadful visit to Cork and its mad insular traffic; a tour of Waterford Crystal and a detour to Kinsale, where Brian had roots. Each night, in their rooms at one or another hotel or "modernized" castle, they went to bed early and read the Irish Times, trying to make heads and tails of events in the North—murders, petrol bombings, Protestant marches past Catholic ghettos; Unionists, R.U.C., Sinn Fein, I.R.A., splinters and spokesmen whose motives were baffling to them. "I give up," Brian would say. "Screw both sides." Then they switched off the lights and dreamed the dreams of tourists, which frequently involved the appearance of persons who had long been dead, and who spoke to them as if there were no boundary between death and life. "Ancestors," he said one morning after they had shared their dreams. [End Page 310] "But no river of forgetfulness and no ferryman." That was Delia: literate to a fault. So their holiday passed evenly and swiftly. When they woke in the morning, sometimes there was sun to make the dew glisten on the leaves of the buttercups behind the cottage. If there was rain instead—as often there was—the yellow blossoms bowed dully, the grasses around them laid flat with wet. On the dry mornings they went walking along the one-lane road that took them to a layby overlooking the lakes of Killarney, or through the fields in the shadow of...

'This Barbarous Habit': Nineteenth Century Reactions to Classical Placenames in Central N. Y.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that a widespread predilection for ancient Greek and Roman culture in 18th and 19th century America resulted in a “culture of classicism” (Winterer 2002; Reinhold 1984, Richard 1994 & 2009, Shalev 2009, and Winterer 2007). In the words of Caroline Winterer, “from the time of the first European settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts to the era of the Civil War, reverence for ancient models helped to structure ethical, political, oratorical, artistic, and educational ideals, sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly” (Winterer 2002:1).On occasion, however, enthusiasts of classical culture could push ancient models too far - to the point of obfuscating the purpose of their analogy or even eliciting a wave of criticism in certain instances. For example, given the overall tone and purpose of Parson Weems’ biographies of George Washington (1800 & 1806), the following analogies may seem humorous, but hardly out of place: “Washington was as pious as Numa, just as Aristides, temperate as Epictetus, and patriotic as Regulus. In giving public trusts, impartial as Severus; in victory, modest as Scipio - prudent as Fabius, rapid as Marcellus, undaunted as Hannibal, as Cincinnatus disinterested, to liberty firm as Cato, and respectful of the laws as Socrates” (cited by Richard 1994:70). Perceived abuses of classical models could meet with severe criticism and ridicule, such as Horatio Greenough’s colossal sculpture of a scantily-clad George Washington, erected in the Capitol’s Rotunda in 1841 (and relocated outside shortly thereafter). Another perceived abuse - termed “this barbarous habit” by one 19th century traveler - is the (over)use of classically-inspired placenames. In this presentation, I will consider one such example: the origins of and 19th century reactions to the classical placenames of central NY, in general, and the Military Tract of Central New York (established in 1782 for Revolutionary War veterans), in particular. The Tract was surveyed in 1789 and the towns were named in 1790. Credit for the primarily classical names, which included Virgil, Ovid, Homer, Cicero, Pompey, Scipio, and Brutus, was (incorrectly) given to Surveyor General Simeon DeWitt (Farrell 2002), who - along with the placenames - became the object of scathing criticism in poetry and prose. Works Cited:Farrell, W. R. 2002. Classical Place Names in New York State: Origins, Histories and Meanings. Pine Grove Press.Reinhold, M. 1984. Classica Americana: The Greek and Roman Heritage in the United States. Detroit.Richard, C. J. 2009. The Golden Age of the Classics in America: Greece, Rome, and the Antebellum United States. Cambridge (MA).Richard, C. J. 1994. The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment. Cambridge (MA).Shalev, E. 2009. Rome Reborn on Western Shores: Historical Imagination and the Creation of the American Republic. Charlottesville.Winterer, C. 2007. The Mirror of Antiquity: American Women and the Classical Tradition, 1750-1900.Winterer, C. 2002. The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life 1780-1910. Baltimore.

The Intelligentsia Meets the Enemy: Educated Soviet Officers in Defeated Germany, 1945

She Is, Accursed Germany! Major Lev Kopelev entered East Prussia on a Ford truck. There were no markers, so he had to distinguish border himself: had already been agreed upon earlier: as soon as we crossed border, we would mark it in an appropriate fashion. Having stopped precisely on line according to map, I commanded, 'Here is Germany, get out and relieve yourselves!' It seemed witty to us, standing right next to cuvette, to mark initial entry into enemy territory in precisely way. (1) Germany welcomed Vladimir Gel'fand, commander of a mortar platoon, in an ungracious manner, a snow storm, ferocious wind, and empty, almost extinct villages. (2) war correspondent Vasilii Grossman entered German territory toward evening. It was foggy and rainy, and scent of forest rot was in air. Dark pine trees, fields, farms, service buildings, houses with sharp edged stretched out along highway. was great charm in scenery, Grossman wrote, the small but very thick woods were nice, with bluish-gray asphalt and brick roads running through them. His notes might seem like those of a tourist if not for reference to huge sign on shoulder of road: Soldier, here it is--the lair of fascist beast. (3) commander of a cannon platoon, Lieutenant Boris Itenberg, crossed border of East Prussia in region of Gumbinnen on an armored train. He saw Germany, this accursed country, for first rime on 25 March 1945. (4) Three weeks later, Lance-Corporal David Kaufman crossed German border: From Birnbaum to Landsberg runs a narrow highway with trees planted accurately alongside Approaching Schwerin, a wide placard across road read: 'Here was border of was Germany. I involuntarily felt anxious crossing unseen border. Tiled roofs of settlements reddened welcomingly amid clear winter crops on brilliant and green backdrop of a spring morning. serenity of morning smoothed over emptiness of villages and ugliness of ruins. It introduced a certain simplicity to regular and tidy landscape, small pine groves, rolling hills, even, cultivated fields. (5) Lieutenant Elena Kogan entered Germany along same highway: Outside Birnbaum there was a control-admission point (KPP). A large arch read, 'Here was border of Germany.' Everyone who in those days traveled on Berlin highway read yet another inscription, made with tar by some soldier on a half-destroyed house closest to arch, in huge curved letters: Here she is, accursed Germany! (6) Major Boris Slutskii ended war not in Germany but in Austria. For men in his unit, however, there was no difference between Germans and Austrians: The army could sense a German. We didn't know German well enough to distinguish between Prussian and Styrian dialects. We knew too little about world history to assess autonomy of Austria within Great German system.... soldiers listened attentively to admonitions about difference between Germany and Austria and didn't believe a word of it. (7) This article was written on basis of letters, diaries, and memoirs of Soviet servicemen who ended war in territory of Third Reich. youngest of them, Evgenii Plimak, a sergeant-major and translator for army intelligence, turned 20 in 1945; oldest, already well-known writer Vasilii Grossman, was 40. majority were between ages of 22 and 34, with ranks from junior lieutenant to major. (8) They were not typical representatives of Soviet officer corps. First, majority came from Moscow; second, they had either completed or interrupted their studies in institutions of higher education, and third, many of them could communicate in German--some haltingly, some excellently. For several of them, work with enemy became a military profession: they were either translators or propagandists. …

Soil fertility evolution and landscape dynamics in a Mediterranean area: a case study in the Sant Llorenç Natural Park (Barcelona, NE Spain)

The cartography of land covers was used to study fertility and soil evolution in a mountainous Mediterranean area during the anthropocene period ( Crutzen P J 2002 Geology of mankind Nature 415 23). The aim was to determine changes in fertility as agricultural lands were abandoned in the 14 000 hectare area that constitutes Sant Llorenç del Munt Natural Park in a pre‐coastal Catalan mountain range (north‐eastern Iberian Peninsula). The analysis of land covers using vegetation maps, orthorectified images and aerial photography has allowed us to differentiate six vegetation groups: holm‐oak wood, pine grove, oak wood, scrub, active agricultural fields and abandoned agricultural fields. The anthropic covers over the past 100 years were subdivided into five categories: active fields and those abandoned over four time periods. Study variables include field shape (concave, convex, flat), orientation (north, south) and slope (ranging from 12º to 24º). The parameters used for the physical‐chemical soil analysis included organic material, phosphorous and potassium; fertility was classified based on groups, types and classes. The results indicate that even when the visual appearance of certain landscapes is similar, the edaphic characteristics may be very different. Changes induced by human disturbance share this phenomenon. Therefore, land management should be considered globally, taking into account vegetation, soils and water as interdependent factors, since it is their interaction that produces landscape and most affects its evolution over time.

Distribución vertical de las aves Dendroica pityophila y Teretistris fernandinae (Passeriformes: Parulidae) en Pinar del Río, Cuba

The Yellow-Headed Warbler (Teretistris fernandinae) and the Olive-Capped Warbler (Dendroica pityophila) are two bird species that co-exist in Western Cuba. Their spatial distribution has not been studied. This study evaluated their vertical distribution in pine forests during 2007. Six field trips were conducted to the Tibisí pine groves, Minas de Matahambre, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, to determine the differential use of forest strata, with the fixed-radio round parcel method. A total of 30 counting points were located in every forest formation. The forest stratum was recorded for each detected bird according to three categories: low stratum (0-2m over ground), medium stratum (2-6m) and high stratum (6m or more). From the 360 counts carried out, the Olive-Capped Warbler reached greater abundances (3.33+/-0.14ind/UM) than the Yellow-Headed Warbler (2.32+/-024ind/UM). No abundance differences were found among both forest formations. The Olive-Capped Warbler had the highest frequency in the high stratum and it was observed in the low stratum only during the reproductive season. The Yellow-Headed Warbler had a preference for the low and medium strata, and was seen less frequently in the high stratum.