Territory Size Research Articles

The importance of patch shape at threshold occupancy: functional patch size within total habitat amount.

The habitat amount hypothesis (HAH) stresses the importance of total patch amount over the size of individual patches in determining species richness within a local landscape. However, the absence of some species from patches too small to contain a territory would be inconsistent with the HAH. Using the association of territory size with body size and the circle as optimal territory shape, we tested several HAH predictions of threshold patch occupancy and richness of 19 guilds of primarily insectivorous breeding birds. We characterized 16 guild-associated patch types at high spatial resolution and assigned one type to each guild. We measured functional patch size as the largest circle that fit within each patch type occurring in a local landscape. Functional patch size was the sole or primary predictor in regression models of species richness for 15 of the 19 guilds. Total patch amount was the sole or primary variable in only 2 models. Quantifying patch size at high resolution also demonstrated that breeding birds should be absent from patches that are too small to contain a territory and larger species should occur only in larger patches. Functional patch size is a readily interpretable metric that helps explain the habitat basis for differences in species composition and richness between areas. It provides a tool to assess the combined effects of patch size, shape and perforation on threshold habitat availability, and with total patch amount can inform design and/or evaluation of conservation, restoration or enhancement options for focal taxa or biodiversity in general.

Habitat and other environmental correlates of the decline of breeding Whinchats Saxicola rubetra in the UK since the mid-1990s

ABSTRACT Capsule Declines in Whinchat Saxicola rubetra breeding abundance in the UK vary with habitat and other environmental conditions. Aims To test for associations between changes in Whinchat abundance between 1994 and 2018 and measures of habitat and environmental conditions on UK breeding sites. Methods Whinchat counts collected through a national monitoring scheme were tested at coarse 1 km2 square and finer 200 m transect scales against habitat data collected in 2017/2018, plus remotely sensed data to test for long-term change. Results At the 1 km2 square scale, mean change in Whinchat abundance was more negative where woodland occurred more frequently, and at more northerly latitudes. Rates of decline were lower where there was greater cover of Purple Moor-grass Molinia caerulea and non-bracken vegetation height was taller. At the finer 200 m transect scale, more closely resembling Whinchat territory size, rates of decline were greatest in areas dominated by human sites, woodland, and enclosed farmland, compared to unenclosed open semi-natural habitats; however, within the latter category, declines were lower in grass-dominated relative to heather-dominated habitats. Rates of decline were also lower closer to valley bottoms, with greater Bracken Pteridium aquilinum cover and at mid-elevations (300 m), and greatest where there was greater cover of bare ground and trees, and moderate cover of grasses (excluding Molinia and Lolium spp.). The strength of the finer-scale associations varied between dominant habitat types. Whinchat abundance was lower where a remotely sensed index of vegetation productivity (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) was higher, and abundance change more negative where temporal increases in NDVI were greater. Conclusion Unenclosed semi-natural grassland showed the lowest rate of decline and offers the best opportunities to conserve Whinchats. Woodland expansion is likely to have a detrimental impact on breeding Whinchats. Future research should investigate how important habitat and environmental correlates influence key demographic rates affecting recruitment.

Nationalism and the Puzzle of Reversing State Size

abstract: Having increased for centuries, territorial state size began to decline toward the end of the nineteenth century and has continued to do so. The authors argue that processes triggered by ethnic nationalism are the main drivers of this development. Their empirical approach relies on time-varying spatial data on state borders and ethnic geography since the nineteenth century. Focusing on deviations from the nation-state ideal, the authors postulate that state internal ethnic fragmentation leads to reduction in state size and that the cross-border presence of dominant ethnic groups makes state expansion more likely. Conducted at the systemic and state levels, the analysis exploits information at the interstate dyadic level to capture specific nationalist processes of border change, such as ethnic secession, unification, and irredentism. The authors find that although nationalism exerts both integrating and disintegrating effects on states' territories, it is the latter impact that has dominated.

Action-oriented planning methods as a tool for improving regional governance in Switzerland: Evidence from the Sisslerfeld area

Faced with challenges such as rapid transformation of existing settlements, reorganisation of mobility patterns, and climate change mitigation management, the governance of spatial development in Switzerland demands institutional and procedural innovations, particularly noticeable at the regional scale. Although cantons, the middle-governmental tier between the federal and communal authorities (municipalities), play a coordinating role supported by numerous formal and informal planning instruments, the small size of the institutional territory, coupled with administrative decentralisation of the country and autonomy of the lowest administrative levels, often challenges a multi-governmental and multi-sectorial approach to regional spatial development. Against the concepts of regional governance, regional planning and the action-oriented planning, and using the mixed-method research approach (focusing on documentary analysis and ethnographic methods), the article critically assesses a planning method – test planning – applied in the process of creating a development vision of Sisslerfeld, the largest land reserve in the Swiss canton of Aargau. Research results highlight the potential and limitations of informal collaborative procedures and elucidate the approaches of critical actors in an effort to achieve joint institutional action.

Reproductive payoffs of territoriality are snow‐dependent in a mountain ungulate, the Alpine chamois

AbstractFemale density and distribution are dependent on resource phenology and female availability strongly influences male mating behaviour and success. When a male adopts a ‘resource defence’ tactic, his reproductive success depends on the location and attractiveness of his territory. Environmental factors associated with territory quality are expected to influence mating success, for example, through territory features or male–male competition. In a protected population of a mountain‐dwelling polygynous herbivore, the Alpine chamois Rupicapra r. rupicapra, we investigated the relationships among mating opportunities, some environmental variables (snow depth, topographic features and size of territories) and male intra‐sexual competition for mating. We recorded the mating behaviour and territory size of 15 GPS‐GSM radio‐tagged territorial males, during five rutting seasons (early November to early December: N = 8 individuals in 2011, N = 9 in 2012, N = 8 in 2015, N = 11 in 2016, N = 7 in 2017; 80% of them were observed for more than one mating season) and related them to snow depth and topography of territories. In ruts with deep snow cover, territorial males had smaller territories and higher number of mating opportunities than in ruts with lower snow cover. Smaller territories showed the highest values of terrain roughness, in turn with little or no snow cover in the mating season, and were visited by a greater number of females, than larger territories. Number of wins was positively influenced by snow depth and negatively related to the frequency of aggressions. The frequency of male–male aggressive interactions was greater during ruts with deep snow cover and for males with territories at higher elevations; additionally, it was negatively related to interactions won. Thus, snow depth, which influences resource distribution and female movements, is confirmed as a strong determinant of male mating opportunities and mating behaviour.

Horneros consider their neighbors as precious foes regardless of territory size and human disturbance

Research on neighbor-stranger discrimination theory has revealed the significance of social context and biological traits affecting the mechanisms that drive social discrimination, such as the dear enemy or nasty neighbor effects (strangers or neighbors more threatening, respectively). Nevertheless, the effects of territory size and human activity on neighbor-stranger experiments have yet to be explored. By examining behavioral responses to spontaneous duets of neighbors and playbacks of strangers’ duets, we tested whether rufous horneros (Furnarius rufus) in smaller territories show heightened aggression, responding more strongly to strangers and less to neighbors than those in larger territories. This could be expected because birds in larger territories might struggle to differentiate competitors due to limited interactions, hindering familiarity with neighbors. Meanwhile, birds in smaller territories are likely to treat neighbors as dear enemies due to the need to minimize territorial costs caused by presumed frequent intrusions or to protect limited resources. Contrary to predictions, rufous horneros responded more strongly to strangers than neighbors, regardless of owner territory sizes. This suggests that the presumed higher intruder frequency in smaller territories does not necessarily lead to adjusted dear enemy relationships. Yet, small territory holders exhibited heightened vocal responses to duets of unfamiliar intruders, indicating a stronger 'dear enemy' effect compared to birds with larger territories. We also tested whether dear enemy relationships would be heightened during weekends. This is linked to the difficulty urban birds might face in distinguishing neighbors from strangers during high human activity days (i.e., on weekdays), due to factors like noise masking intruder acoustic cues and heightened vigilance. Territorial owners exhibited consistent dear enemy behavior towards neighbors, regardless of our proxy for human activity. This underscores their ability in identifying competitor identities within urban settings.

Plaque Territory Detection in IVUS Images based on Concentration of Entropy and Gradient Magnitude via Spiral Random Walk-based Approach

This paper presents a simple and optimal approach for automatically identifying the location and size of plaque territories in IVUS images, thus improving plaque territory classification. Unlike existing circular-based algorithms, we leverage the anatomical structure of IVUS images to enhance accuracy. The adventitia, which constitutes the largest part of the image, serves as a landmark; however, its low contrast makes edge detection challenging. To address this issue, we enhance the brightness of the adventitia, identify and remove intima blobs, and accurately determine the media boundary. This aids in simplifying the calculation of plaque territory. To locate the plaque territory, we employ a spiral random walk-based approach that utilizes the concentration of entropy and gradient magnitude in the target area. Our approach outperforms existing methods, contributing to automated plaque analysis for cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment. The results show that the proposed approach achieves an accuracy of 0.89, precision of 0.81, recall of 0.77, and F1-Score of 0.83, respectively.

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF GREATER SPOTTED EAGLES (<i>CLANGA CLANGA</i>, ACCIPITRIDAE, ACCIPITRIFORMES) DURING THE WINTERING PERIOD AND FEATURES OF THEIR HABITATS DETERMINED USING GPS-GSM TELEMETRY

Using GPS-GSM trackers, data on the spatial distribution and habitat features during the wintering period were obtained for five young greater spotted eagles (Clanga clanga) tagged in the center of European Russia or the Middle Volga region. The wintering areas of the studied birds, with the exception of one individual in the second and third winters, were located in the Middle East (Israel, northern Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran), in South Africa (Sudan and South Sudan), and in Azerbaijan. An uneven distribution of greater spotted eagles in winter territories was revealed, within which the birds spent most of their time in preferred areas where they stayed for long periods. The size and configuration of winter territories depended on the availability of forage lands. Ecological features of the territories caused a difference in the square of wintering grounds and the character of daytime movements of different individuals. The bird wintering in the arid landscapes of the Arabian Peninsula with extremely poor forage conditions was forced to make maximal daily movements in search of prey. At the same time, individuals wintering in the deltaic Caspian plains in Iran and in the Prikubanskaya Plain in southern Russia found areas with a rich and affordable food which caused minimal daily movements and a minimum radius of the daytime territory. Based on telemetry and visual observations, a previously unknown area of sustainable wintering of greater spotted eagles in the south of European Russia has been localized. The paddy rice fields in the Prikubanskaya Plain as the most important forage habitat and the probable significance of the numerous and available brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) as the main prey species in winter are discussed. The data obtained form an important basis for the development of a strategy for the protection of this rare vulnerable species across the entire distribution range.

Tree cover and built-up area regulate the territory size in Eurasian Magpie Pica pica in Ladakh, India

Eurasian Magpie Pica pica is one of the well-studied corvids, but the majority of our understanding of this species is from Europe. In India, its distribution is restricted to some valleys of Ladakh such as the northwestern part of the Indus, Nubra, Zanskar, Drass, and Suru. The present study aimed at understanding the territorial behavior of this species in small urban settlements of Ladakh region. Twenty-five pairs were studied in March 2020–April 2021. Territories were outlined for each color-banded individual, and data on habitat variables (namely built-up, agriculture, and green cover) was extracted. Generalized linear mixed models were used to study the effect of the habitat structure on territory size. The territory size (Mean ± SD) was 0.042 ± 0.025 km2, with tree cover comprising the highest proportion (24.36 ± 15.41 %) of area within territories. Built-up area was a feature of all territories, highlighting the affinity of magpies towards human presence. Presence of tree cover and built-up area significantly (~ <0.002) reduced territory size. High adaptability, foraging, and nesting opportunities, and protection from predators have been recognized as the reasons for magpies’ affinity with human habitation. Foraging opportunities are minimal outside human settlements in this region, magpies’ territories are largely shaped by the fulfilment of foraging requirements.

Communication distance predicts territory size: implications for an urban songbird

Communication distance predicts territory size: implications for an urban songbird

Assessing the Effect of the Coronary Artery and Myocardial Territory Size on Fractional Flow Reserve and Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio

Assessing the Effect of the Coronary Artery and Myocardial Territory Size on Fractional Flow Reserve and Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s Multifarious Activities in England

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the British Empire surpassed all the earlier empires in territorial size, during this time period British Empire earned the illustrious title ‘the Empire which never sees a sunset’. From 1858 to 1947, known as the British Crown Raj, the entire territory encompassing India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh was under the direct rule of Britain by the Parliament working on behalf of the British Crown. During this era, a substantial number of Indians - largely professionals - went to Britain. Indian students won scholarships for pursuing higher education and vital professional qualification in the UK, subsequently entering into the established system of colonial hierarchy upon their return to India. Political activists being qualified stayed on to practice their professions in England. Businessmen went to seek economic opportunities. In such an environment, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan decided to visit Britian. As a philosopher, activist, historiographer, thinker and educationist, he was interested in exploring and observing Britain and its culture. He was the first Muslim who intended to visit Britain just to boost up the Muslim community and indeed, his visit made history. The purpose of this article is to narrate Syed Ahmad’s social, political and literary engagements during his stay in England.

Diet composition of White-tailed Eagles inhabiting two adjacent inland lakes in Northern Greece

Abstract In territorial raptors, breeding performance and foraging behaviour are affected by territory characteristics as the abundance and availability of different prey species varies between habitats. In this study, we examined the diet of two White-tailed Eagle pairs, occupying neighbouring territories in two adjacent inland lakes in Northern Greece. We assess the diet composition of the species in the southernmost part of its European range and evaluate any intraspecific differences in the diet that may reflect resource and/or niche partitioning between territories. We found that birds and specifically waterbirds comprise the largest and quantitatively most important part of the White-tailed Eagle´s diet, with fish being the second most important prey group that was only found in the nest remains from one territory. There was high diet overlap between the two territories and when considering only avian prey our results suggest that the species predates on heavier (and the most common) waterbird species. A main factor that could be driving differences in the abundance and availability of different prey species between territories could be lake physiography, as our results point to a segregation and a subsequent resource partitioning between territories, with each pair utilizing an adjacent lake and its associated habitats. Competition and territoriality therefore seem to be important intraspecific interactions that along with prey availability could promote changes in territory size and ultimately affect individual fitness.

Establishing feasibility for porcine zona pellucida immunocontraception in a large population of free-roaming horses inhabiting the Virginia Range of Nevada, USA

In North America, range constraints are increasingly encroaching on wild horse habitat, necessitating effective but humane reproductive management (Kirkpatrick and Turner. J. Zoo Wildl. Med. 1991; 23:445-452). The largest free-roaming wild horse fertility control program, both in terms of population (>4,000) and territory size (≈300 000-acres), inhabits Nevada's Virginia Range. This program, commenced in 2019, provided a unique opportunity for an extended temporal field study investigating feasibility of porcine zona pellucida (pZP) immunocontraception. Vaccine is administered via remote intra-muscular dart-delivery with an initial treatment of 0.5mL native pZP formulated with 0.5mL Freund's complete (primer) and incomplete (booster) adjuvant, respectively and thereafter at intervals ≈8-12 months. A database, continuously updated from field observations, provides individual animal records including date and type of intervention and of births, deaths and movements. This ongoing study aims to establish feasibility by evaluating vaccine efficacy measurable via annual birth rates and population demographics and concurrently analyze the effects of treatment frequency and season. For this reported initial phase, analyses included monthly data (January 2019 - December 2021; 36 months) for all females. This was characterized by:number of cumulative vaccinations subset into four further classifications considering vaccine having no efficacy loss or loss within a 6-, 12-, and 18- month period post vaccination; based on foaling data, likelihood of being in-foal; based on foaling data, likelihood of conceiving in that month; and based on age, considered as mature or immature (<1-year-old). Foaling rate and population size were descriptively presented over time at monthly intervals. Results described mean numbers of vaccinations per mature mare for any month, vaccination count in relation to conception rate (within mare) and population conception rates. A total of 1,501 individual mares were treated with administration of 4,795 vaccinations. Population data showed a decreased number of immature mares, declining pregnancy rate and a seasonal breeding peak that declined dramatically from 2020. The proportion of vaccinated mares increased steadily and by 2021 showed population coverage ≈40-80%. The most salient findings showed that the system reached stability, assuming a 12-month decay rate, at an average ≈1.0 vaccination/mare/year and can be recommended as a treatment frequency. As data collection and treatment is ongoing, future analyses will provide evidence-based and robust recommendations for best management practices.

Optimal foraging strategies for mutually avoiding competitors

Many animals are known to exhibit foraging patterns where the distances they travel in a given direction are drawn from a heavy-tailed Lévy distribution. Previous studies have shown that, under sparse and random resource conditions, solitary non-destructive (with regenerating resources) foragers perform a maximally efficient search with Lévy exponent μ equal to 2, while for destructive foragers, efficiency decreases with μ monotonically and there is no optimal μ. However, in nature, there also exist situations where multiple foragers, displaying avoidance behavior, interact with each other competitively. To understand the effects of such competition, we develop a stochastic agent-based simulation that models competitive foraging among mutually avoiding individuals by incorporating an avoidance zone, or territory, of a certain size around each forager which is not accessible for foraging by other competitors. For non-destructive foraging, our results show that with increasing size of the territory and number of agents the optimal Lévy exponent is still approximately 2 while the overall efficiency of the search decreases. At low values of the Lévy exponent, however, increasing territory size actually increases efficiency. For destructive foraging, we show that certain kinds of avoidance can lead to qualitatively different behavior from solitary foraging, such as the existence of an optimal search with 1<μ<2. Finally, we show that the variance among the efficiencies of the agents increases with increasing Lévy exponent for both solitary and competing foragers, suggesting that reducing variance might be a selective pressure for foragers adopting lower values of μ. Taken together, our results suggest that, for multiple foragers, mutual avoidance and efficiency variance among individuals can lead to optimal Lévy searches with exponents different from those for solitary foragers.

Reconstructing Middle and Upper Paleolithic human mobility in Portuguese Estremadura through laser ablation strontium isotope analysis

Understanding mobility and landscape use is important in reconstructing subsistence behavior, range, and group size, and it may contribute to our understanding of phenomena such as the dynamics of biological and cultural interactions between distinct populations of Upper Pleistocene humans. However, studies using traditional strontium isotope analysis are generally limited to identifying locations of childhood residence or nonlocal individuals and lack the sampling resolution to detect movement over short timescales. Here, using an optimized methodology, we present highly spatially resolved 87Sr/86Sr measurements made by laser ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry along the growth axis of the enamel of two marine isotope stage 5b, Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal teeth (Gruta da Oliveira), a Tardiglacial, Late Magdalenian human tooth (Galeria da Cisterna), and associated contemporaneous fauna from the Almonda karst system, Torres Novas, Portugal. Strontium isotope mapping of the region shows extreme variation in 87Sr/86Sr, with values ranging from 0.7080 to 0.7160 over a distance of c. 50km, allowing short-distance (and arguably short-duration) movement to be detected. We find that the early Middle Paleolithic individuals roamed across a subsistence territory of approximately 600km2, while the Late Magdalenian individual parsimoniously fits a pattern of limited, probably seasonal movement along the right bank of the 20-km-long Almonda River valley, between mouth and spring, exploiting a smaller territory of approximately 300km2. We argue that the differences in territory size are due to an increase in population density during the Late Upper Paleolithic.

The introduction of African cheetahs to India was planned without considering their spatial ecology

The introduction of African cheetahs to India was planned without considering their spatial ecology

Demographics of Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Packs Recolonizing Variable Habitats in Central Wisconsin

Some Canis lupus (Gray Wolf, hereafter Wolf) live in disjunct populations including Wisconsin's Central Forest Region (CFR), recolonizing there in the early 1990s. We examined how habitat factors and period of initial recolonization facilitated successful re-establishment of Wolves to this region. We divided this event into 3 periods: early (1994–1999), middle (2000–2005), and late (2006–2012). We defined habitat classes of individual pack territories as optimal, mixed, and marginal, based on: (1) percent public land, (2) percent agricultural land, and (3) road density. We analyzed the influence of time and habitat classes on pack territory size, winter pack size, pup presence, Wolf–human conflicts, human-caused Wolf mortalities, territory persistence, and reproductive performance. Pack demographics were similar across time, except pup presence was slightly lower during the middle period. Wolf–human conflicts increased over time and were correlated with population growth. Packs in marginal habitat were smaller in winter, exhibited lower reproductive performance, had more conflicts with humans, and experienced human-caused mortalities at rates 4 and 7 times higher than mixed and optimal habitats, respectively. We demonstrate that Gray Wolves tolerate some level of human-altered landscapes and identify demographic parameters that impact the Wolves' ability to survive in human-dominated landscapes.

Regional experience in organizing the protection of minors from a destructive information environment (by the example of non-central regions)

Achievements in the field of new technologies, on which the formation of the modern information society is based, have led to the rapid development of the global computer network Internet. The Internet as a means of social communication has both a positive impact on the world community and has negative consequences. The relevance of protecting minors from destructive information is quite high, since in the modern world, where technology has taken a leading position in human life, including children. Researchers believe that a comprehensive solution to the problem of ensuring the information security of minors is impossible without coordinated actions of federal and regional authorities. The following regions were selected for the study: the Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk Region, Khanty-Mansiysk District, Yamalo-Nenets District. This was not done by chance, since these regions have their own specifics: the first and main ones are located geographically far from the center of Russia, from the capital Moscow. They have their own special climatic and economic features. In terms of their territorial size, these regions are many times larger than the average regions in the central part of Russia. This specificity determines the relevance of the study of these regions. The study analyzes the legislative framework of the regions regulating the protection of minors from negative information, as well as law enforcement practice.

"A Sixth Part of the World": The Career of a Spatial Metaphor in Russia and the Soviet Union (1837–2021)

"A Sixth Part of the World"The Career of a Spatial Metaphor in Russia and the Soviet Union (1837–2021) Frithjof Benjamin Schenk (bio) On 23 December 2021, President Vladimir Putin of Russia held his annual large-scale press conference. It lasted almost four hours and was perfectly staged. Seated alone at an imposing desk, Putin took questions from hand-picked Russian and international journalists. Behind the president's podium, a massive map of the Russian Federation was projected onto a screen.1 The image served to remind those present, and those watching at home and around the world, that this was the political leader of a nation whose territory extends across more than 17 million square kilometers and 11 time zones. In other words, it served as a political statement, communicating pride in a literally great nation to the home audience and demanding respect for a great power from those watching abroad. The knowledge of living in the world's largest country had previously been a key performative point of reference for both the tsarist empire and the Soviet state, forming an integral component of concepts of imperial and national identity. For the few prominent voices that cursed the state's size and figured it as a burden, a greater number drew from it a sense of national pride and an imperial claim to dominion. Occasionally, pointing to the size of the national and imperial territory constituted a compensatory act that sought to distract both speaker and addressee from the fact that Russia, or the USSR, was not up there with the "big players" in other arenas of international competition, be that economic power or socioeconomic development. We continue to witness the use of this strategy today, with Putin's press conference of December 2021 providing an illustrative example. Russia is once more asserting the status of a great power, staking a [End Page 349] claim to be respected and feared on the international stage. In view of the lack of economic clout backing up the international ambitions of a country whose GDP is lower than that of Italy, Russia's government draws its claim to dominion from other resources: its status as a military and nuclear power, its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and the sheer size of its territory.2 Taking a historical perspective covering the tsarist empire and the USSR and noting developments in the Russian Federation up to the present day, this article examines the interrelationship between discourses around the size of the national territory and conceptions of collective identity. The object of this case study is a history of the spatial metaphor of Russia/the USSR as "a sixth part of the world" from the 19th to the early 21st centuries. I argue that the idea of living in a country whose territory covers one-sixth of the earth has been a foundational element in the national and imperial self-image of Russians since the 1830s, strikingly surviving the historical cesuras of 1917 and 1991 relatively intact despite all the dramatic differences in the political forms taken by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation and despite the fluctuations in the size of Russian/Soviet territory during the period under consideration. The image of Russia (and the Soviet Union) as a sixth of the world is part of the longue durée of the country's history over the last two centuries. Interestingly, historical research has yet to produce a close study of this spatial metaphor and of its strong identity-forging power. This article seeks to fill the gap, an endeavor that appears promising for three key reasons. First, the history of this metaphor may serve as a prism for the exploration of the relationship linking spatial discourses and imagined geographies to Russian conceptions of national or imperial identity from tsarist times to the post-Soviet era.3 Second, this history provides insights into how Soviet ideologues in the 1920s succeeded in presenting the new state as the antithesis to the [End Page 350] hated tsarist empire while simultaneously co-opting important elements of imperial self-presentation. Third, the discursive career of this image can cast new...