Rescue Campaign Research Articles

Art Outside the Lines: New Perspectives on GDR Art Culture (review)

Reviewed by: Art Outside the Lines: New Perspectives on GDR Art Culture Nick Hodgin Art Outside the Lines: New Perspectives on GDR Art Culture. Edited by Elaine Kelly and Amy Wlodarski. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011. Pp. x + 278. Paper $87. ISBN 978-9042033412. GDR art culture has in recent years been the subject of a wide range of studies and commentary seeking to broaden the perspective on artistic life in the East German state beyond the limiting political and ideological references and instead to review art in and for itself. In the introduction to Art Outside the Lines, editors Elaine Kelly and Amy Wlodarski similarly set out to challenge reductive interpretations of GDR artistic culture, which was too long “limited to blunt paradigms of dissidence and conformism” (3). They emphasize that art in the GDR has not been well served by such evaluations; and the persistent view of Socialist Realism as a dogmatic bulwark to Modernism has precluded a nuanced view of the relationship between artists and the SED. Such views are not in fact as unwavering as the editors claim. Though there is undoubtedly a prevailing (nonspecialist) idea that all art produced in Socialist states was party-loyal, some scholars recognized even before 1989 that the relationship between artists and party was often more complicated and involved more negotiation. Still, the declared intention to “provide a broader picture of artistic life in the GDR” (8) by focusing not only on the public and international aesthetic debates but also on the private spheres is commendable, and aligns Art Outside the Lines with alternative accounts of the GDR provided in other recent studies. For the most part the essays, written by a variety of musicologists, cultural historians, Germanists, and curators, do succeed both in widening the debate on art culture in the GDR and establishing it in the context of contemporary GDR scholarship [End Page 449] and wider debates on, for example, gender studies (as in Nina Noeske’s thoughtful chapter on gender relations in East German musical life) and memory studies. The volume offers a wealth of subjects and disciplines, many of which have received scant attention in English-language studies. April A. Eisman’s essay on Bernhard Heisig, for example, provides a useful overview of the artist’s reputation in the GDR and concentrates in particular on the reaction to the murals he created in 1965, which were the subject of a fierce debate between Heisig and his supporters and Alfred Kurella, a debate that was in part conducted in the annals of various national newspapers and journals. That such a dialogue could be conducted so openly may surprise readers. Indeed, the volume’s eclectic range offers a number of surprising facts (another being that it was “primarily African-American poetry which was circulated throughout East Germany” in the postwar period). Further evidence of public discussion is provided by Laura Silverberg in one of the volume’s four chapters on music in the GDR. Silverberg examines the conflict concerning new directions in music that arose between reform-minded musicologists and composers and the stern musicologists who steadfastly opposed them. Sigrid Hofer considers the ways in which Dresdner artists in the 1950s and 1960s were influenced by the prewar avant-garde and the “lively dialogue” (89) with those in the west, a reminder that the GDR was not as consistently isolationist as accounts of the Cold War often suggest. Art in Dresden is also the subject of Silke Wagler’s essay, but Wagler focuses on those artists whose cultural cachet in the GDR often resulted in their works’ subsequent relegation or even destruction after 1989, often with “no regard to [their] actual value” (239). The gratuitous obliteration of aspects of GDR cultural life has been well documented, as have the rescue campaigns. Wagler, who is head of the Kunstfonds in Dresden, offers an informative account of the fate of such art and the reexamination of the GDR’s artistic legacy by contemporary artists and public. A curatorial perspective is also offered by Justinian Jampol, executive director of the Wende Museum in Los Angeles. The Californian collection of GDR art and ephemera has attracted much attention (not all of...

Factors affecting mortality of shearwaters stranded by light pollution

AbstractEvery year and across the world, thousands of fledglings of different petrel species crash into human structures because they are disorientated by artificial lights during their first flights. As this phenomenon is rather predictable, rescue campaigns are organized to help birds to reach the ocean, but unfortunately, a low proportion gets hurt or dies. Despite the huge number of affected individuals, and the fact that the problem was detected a long time ago, little is known on this source of mortality. We have studied the factors (i.e. body condition, plumage development, fledging date and sex) influencing the mortality of Cory's Shearwater Calonectris diomedea fledglings stranded inland due to light pollution in Tenerife (Canary Islands) during two consecutive breeding seasons (2009 and 2010). Late fledglings showed lower values of a body condition index than early ones. No sex biases were detected, neither considering stranded birds overall, nor for recovery dates or in the body condition of rescued fledglings. Our results indicate that late birds stranded by lights showing abundant down are more susceptible to fatal collisions and that the lights do not selectively kill birds with lower body condition indices. An enhancement of veterinary care should be done during the last part of the fledging period when more fatal collisions occur, especially focused on fledglings with abundant down. More research to determine why some individuals end up disoriented around artificial lights and others do not is urgently needed to minimize or prevent fallouts.

The A-Group Cemetery at Tunqala West*

Evidence for A-Group tomb superstructures is exceedingly rare and only one cemetery has ever shown definitive proof that such monuments existed, that of Tunqala West. Located during the UNESCO international rescue campaign of 1961, only one tomb from this cemetery was ever published. Although this tomb was the best preserved, it did not possess some features seen elsewhere in the cemetery, such as evidence for dedicated offering places above ground. The remaining tombs are presented here for the first time together with a discussion of the significance of the site in light of 50 further years of research since the cemetery was discovered.

Trends in numbers of petrels attracted to artificial lights suggest population declines in Tenerife, Canary Islands

The secretive breeding behaviour of petrels makes monitoring their breeding populations challenging. To assess population trends of Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea, Bulwer’s Petrel Bulweria bulwerii and Macaronesian Shearwater Puffinus baroli in Tenerife from 1990 to 2010, we used data from rescue campaigns that aim to reduce the mortality of fledgling petrels attracted to artificial lights as proxies for trends in breeding population size. Despite increases in human population size and light pollution, the number of rescued fledglings of Cory’s Shearwater and Bulwer’s Petrel increased and remained stable, respectively, whereas numbers of rescued Macaronesian Shearwaters sharply declined. In the absence of more accurate population estimates, these results suggest a worrying decline in the Macaronesian Shearwater’s breeding population.

Remote sensing to map influence of light pollution on Cory’s shearwater in São Miguel Island, Azores Archipelago

Global economic and population growth increase the extent and intensity of artificial night lighting. From an ecological perspective, this is light pollution, which causes changes in reproductive physiology, migration and foraging of many species and ultimately leads to loss of biodiversity. Some seabirds are intimately linked with the light features of their environments because they are nocturnally active. We report light-induced groundings of Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) during a 2-year study (2008 and 2009) in Sao Miguel Island, in the Azores archipelago, and investigate the spatial correlation of locations of grounded birds with an annual composite of remotely sensed stable lights. Results indicate that 16.7% of fledglings are attracted to lights. The exposure of shearwater colonies in the study area to artificial night lighting is low overall. Four colonies account for 87% of the grounded birds. The distance each bird was found from the closest colony was best explained by the ratio of the satellite-measured light levels at the grounding spot to the light levels at the assigned colony of origin. These results demonstrate that satellite-observed nighttime lights are sufficient to assess risk to marine birds at the scale of oceanic islands and indicate their utility for monitoring the effectiveness of programs to manage lighting to reduce risk for these species and conducting global assessments of species vulnerability. To minimize the impact on Cory’s shearwater and other marine birds, we recommend measures such as reduction and control of lighting intensity near colony locations, while continuing and re-enforcing rescue campaigns.

The impact of introduced predators, light-induced mortality of fledglings and poaching on the dynamics of the Cory’s shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea) population from the Azores, northeastern subtropical Atlantic

Cory’s shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea) is a procellariiform seabird which breeds in the Mediterranean and the north-eastern subtropical Atlantic, and which is considered “Vulnerable” in Europe due to recent declines at some localities. In the Azores archipelago (Atlantic), the introduction of mammalian predators by man has led to petrels being extirpated from the main islands, except for Cory’s shearwater. Currently, the Azorean population of Cory’s shearwaters represents 65% of the species’ world population. However, its dynamics remains unknown, although: (1) numbers might have declined by 43% between 1996 and 2001, (2) on the main islands, the young suffer mortality from introduced mammals, poachers, and urban lights upon fledging, and (3) at sea, the level of fishery mortality remains unknown. To fill this gap, we conducted a 7-year demographic survey on a mammal-free islet in the Azores to determine adult survival rate using capture-mark-recapture of the breeders and to estimate fecundity. We also assessed urban mortality using the data from the rescue campaigns annually conducted in the archipelago. Urban mortality concerned about 6% of fledglings, but its importance greatly varied among islands. When rescue campaigns occur, the rate might drop below 0.5%. Overall, our simulations concerning the next 100 years do not allow excluding a decrease in Cory’s shearwater numbers in the Azores without rescue campaigns (by 87% under the least favourable scenario). Rescue campaigns should only slow down the decline unless, simultaneously, lower competition for nests compared to Vila islet allows adults to breed almost every year on the main islands and juvenile survival exceeds a threshold value. Since adult survival rate was high (>0.93), an eventual decline of the Azorean population of Cory’s shearwaters would probably not result from fishery mortality of adults, but rather from poor fledgling productivity and perhaps also from low survival during the first year at sea.

Book Review of Ανασκαφές Μυκηνών ΙΙ: Το "Εργαστήριο" των Μυκηνών, by Despoina Danielidou

This is a comprehensive excavation report of the so-called workshop at Mycenae. This building complex, located on the north slope of the acropolis of Mycenae, was discovered when the site was cleared to make space for the new museum and excavated in a quick rescue campaign in the summer of 1979. Of course, most rescue operations do not receive a publication of their own, but this is Mycenae, and it is of immense value that all information on the workshop is brought together here. Nevertheless, the report raises as many questions as it answers.

Disaster phenomena of Wenchuan earthquake in high resolution airborne synthetic aperture radar images

The devastating Wenchuan Earthquake occurred in Sichuan Province, Southwestern China, with a magnitude of 8.0 on May 12, 2008. Most buildings along the seismic zone were ruined, resulting in infrastructure damage to factories, traffic facilities and power supplies. The earthquake also triggered geological disasters, such as landslides, debris flow, landslide lakes, etc. During the rescue campaign the remote sensing aircrafts of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical sensors, flew over the disaster area and acquired many high resolution airborne SAR images. We first describe the basic characteristics of SAR imagery. The SAR images of buildings are simulated, and the backscattering mechanism of the buildings is analyzed. Finally, the various disaster phenomena are described and analyzed in the high resolution airborne SAR images. It is shown that certain phenomena of ruins could be identified clearly in high resolution SAR images in proper imaging conditions, while the functional destruction is quite difficult to detect. With calibrated data, the polarmetric SAR interferometry could be used to analyze the scattering mechanism and 3D distribution of the scattering center, which are redound to earthquake damage assessment.

Attraction of petrels to artificial lights in the Canary Islands: effects of the moon phase and age class

The extent and intensity of artificial night lighting has increased with urban development worldwide. The resulting light pollution is responsible for mortality among many Procellariiformes species which show nocturnal activity on their breeding grounds. Here, we report light‐induced mortality of Procellariiformes during a 9‐year study (1998–2006) on Tenerife, the largest island of the Canary archipelago. A total of 9880 birds from nine species were found grounded, the majority being Cory’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea (93.4%). For this species the majority of grounded birds were fledglings (96.4%), which fall apparently while leaving their nesting colony for the first time; for the smaller species (storm‐petrels) adult birds were more often grounded than fledglings. For almost all species, grounding showed a seasonal pattern linked with their breeding cycle. Certain phases of the moon influenced grounding of Cory’s Shearwater, with the extent of grounding being reduced during phases of full moon. The percentage of fledglings attracted to lights in relation to the fledglings produced annually varied between species and years (0–1.3% for the Madeiran Storm‐petrel Oceanodroma castro; 41–71% for Cory’s Shearwater). Mean adult mortality rates also varied between species (from 0.4% for the European Storm‐petrel Hydrobates pelagicus and the Cory’s Shearwater, to 2.3% for the Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus). Here we show that light‐induced mortality rates are of concern, at least for petrels and small shearwaters. Thanks to efforts involving civil cooperation, 95% of grounded birds have been returned to the wild. To minimize the impact of artificial lights on petrels we recommend several conservation measures: continuing rescue campaigns, alteration of light signatures and reduction of light emissions during the fledging peaks. Furthermore, we recommend that a monitoring program for petrel populations be implemented, as well as further studies to assess the fate of released fledglings and continued research to address why petrels are attracted to lights.

Saint-Antoine à Vitrolles, locus 2 (Hautes-Alpes) : premiers résultats des fouilles de sauvetage urgent (1995-1996) d'un gisement épigravettien

Abstract The site of Saint-Antoine at Vitrolles (Hautes-Alpes) was excavated during two rescue campaigns in 1995 and 1996. They have shown the existence of three culturally homogenous loci, attributed to an advanced Epigravettian on the basis of the lithic industry. The second excavation campaign concerned "Locus 2 ", a multistratified spread of remains covering about 120 m2. The results provided by laboratory studies suggest the autumnal occupation of a site specialised in the acquisition and processing of cervidae carcasses. Among the most significant results, we wish to stress the discovery of obvious structures (a burnt surface and an accumulation of bones) and the first occurrence in an Epigravettian context of knapping with a soft hammerstone.

Alternate long and short foraging trips in pelagic seabird parents

Oceanic conditions determine food availability to seabirds and affect seabird reproductive parameters, such as breeding success, chick growth, and survival rates. In seabirds, juvenile survival at sea is positively correlated with body condition at fledging. In addition, in several seabird species, especially petrels and shearwaters (Order Procellariiformes), fledglings are disoriented by artificial lights during their maiden flights from their nests to the sea, and many of them fall on the ground and are rescued by volunteers to mitigate light-induced mortality. We studied variations in body condition and body mass in Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis) fledglings on Faial Island (Azores), using data from rescue campaigns conducted over 15 consecutive years. We checked if body condition was related to oceanic conditions. Late fledglings were in poorer body condition than early ones. Significant inter-annual variations in fledging body condition were observed. These were not related to North Atlantic Oscillation fluctuations. However, annual mean fledgling body condition was positively correlated with sea surface temperatures measured in the autumn of the previous year in a northern feeding area used by adults throughout the breeding season. This study broadens our knowledge of the factors affecting fledgling body condition in Procellariiformes and provides advice to better manage the rescue campaigns. Optimal management of rescue campaigns is essential given the limited economic or human resources allocated to such an aim.

Temples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia: The International Rescue Campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae, and Other Sites. Torgny Säve-Söderbergh

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsTemples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia: The International Rescue Campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae, and Other Sites. Torgny Säve-Söderbergh Bruce WilliamsBruce Williams Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 50, Number 1Jan., 1991 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/373473 Views: 6Total views on this site Copyright 1991 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Temples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia. The International Rescue Campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae and Other Sites

Temples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia. The International Rescue Campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae and Other Sites

Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (ed.). Temples and tombs of ancient Nubia: the international rescue campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae and other sites. London: Thames & Hudson/UNESCO, 1987. 256 pages, 43 colour, 68 black-and-white illustrations. £25 hardback.

Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (ed.). Temples and tombs of ancient Nubia: the international rescue campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae and other sites. London: Thames &amp; Hudson/UNESCO, 1987. 256 pages, 43 <i>colour</i>, 68 <i>black-and-white illustrations.</i> £25 <i>hardback.</i>

Black rhino rescue campaign in Rhodesia

Black rhino rescue campaign in Rhodesia