Archipelago Of Small Islands Research Articles

Review: Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice, by Hilda Lloréns

Book Review| April 01 2023 Review: Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice, by Hilda Lloréns Hilda Lloréns, Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021. 207 pages. 4 illustrations. ISBN: 978-0295749402 Guillermo Rebollo Gil Guillermo Rebollo Gil Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus grebollogil@gmail.com Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar grebollogil@gmail.com Journal of Autoethnography (2023) 4 (2): 311–313. https://doi.org/10.1525/joae.2023.4.2.311 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Guillermo Rebollo Gil; Review: Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice, by Hilda Lloréns. Journal of Autoethnography 1 April 2023; 4 (2): 311–313. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/joae.2023.4.2.311 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of Autoethnography Search Anthropologist Hilda Lloréns describes her book as anauto theoretical and engaged ethnographic reflection, as well as a critical description of what it means to be living in a United States colonial archipelago of small islands living with, living through, and struggling against the powerful forces of the present.1 In truth, Making Livable Worlds is a reckoning with the lies we often tell ourselves about race and racism in Puerto Rico. Specifically, Lloréns studies the environmental activism of Black and Afro-Puerto Rican women in the southeastern region of the main island and, in doing so, looks to shed light on the multifarious but oft-ignored ways in which racism—at the systemic level—has relegated Black communities to precarity, political disenfranchisement, and discursive invisibility. Lloréns’s work is part of a relatively recent, urgent, and inspiring corpus of critical writing and research centering on racism and/or applying an intersectional lens to contemporary Puerto... You do not currently have access to this content.

In Support of Sustainability: The Historical Ecology of Vertebrate Biodiversity and Native American Harvest Practices in the Florida Keys, USA

The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cultural heritage due to sea-level rise, catastrophic storm events, unsustainable traditions of resource exploitation, and land development. Yet, these islands have a long history of human occupation and socioecological systems underlying their current sustainability crisis that date back at least 2500 years. Here we report early results of ongoing zooarchaeological research from Upper Matecumbe Key designed to explore anthropogenic engagement with vertebrate fauna between AD 800 and 1250, providing an approximately 500-year window on marine fisheries and terrestrial faunal harvesting for this small island archipelago. Focusing on one of the few remaining, nearly intact Native American archaeological sites in the region, our research contributes to critically needed long-term anthropogenic perspectives on harvest patterns relevant to regional biodiversity conservation and sustainability initiatives.

The city‐island‐state, wounding cascade, and multi‐level vulnerability explored through the lens of Malta

In this paper, we introduce the concept of “city‐island‐state” into a discussion of small highly urbanised islands. We place the “city” at the forefront of our analysis by bringing together the geographies of the “city” and “state,” together with a wider discussion of factors that may cause both the wounding of the city and an increase in the precariousness of the “island.” We apply this concept to the advanced city‐island‐state of Malta (Central Mediterranean), which is a densely populated, urbanised small island archipelago with about 500,000 inhabitants and operates as a single city with an urban core, suburbs, and a rural hinterland that is rapidly decreasing in size. This city‐island‐state is frequently considered as being “safe” from external geophysical, climatic, and anthropogenic wounding, but, in reality, Malta, as a city, an island, and an independent nation‐state, is faced with multiple internal and external pressures that increase its precariousness and vulnerability to such externalities. Some of these are socio‐economic, but others are environmental. We argue that the potential for wounding is particularly marked in Malta, that it is exacerbated by the contemporary globalised neoliberal world of flows and interconnectivities, and that this represents a multi‐level wounding cascade: wounding the city wounds the island and, by extension, the state.

Conservation status of three endemic plants of the Selvagens Islands (Northern Atlantic Ocean): Argyranthemum thalassophilum, Asparagus nesiotes subsp. nesiotes and Euphorbia anachoreta

Argyranthemum thalassophilum, Asparagus nesiotes subsp. nesiotes and Euphorbia anachoreta are three threatened taxa that are endemic to the Selvagens Islands, a very isolated archipelago of small islands in the Atlantic Ocean. As a part of a conservation project for the three taxa, we conducted fieldwork that included detailed censuses and identification of threatening factors, which ultimately allowed the assessment of their IUCN Red List status. The three species should be categorized as Endangered under the criterion D, as for all the cases there are fewer than 250 mature individuals (79, 119, and 58 for Argyranthemum thalassophilum, Asparagus nesiotes subsp. nesiotes and Euphorbia anachoreta, respectively). In spite of the fact that A. thalassophilum does not show the lowest census size, this taxon should be regarded as the most threatened because it is the only one showing no regeneration (i.e. a total lack of seedings and/or juveniles).

Old-Growth Trees in Homesteads on the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan: Uses, Management, and Conservation

Greening in urban areas and forests can provide people with valuable environmental and social benefits. Active involvement by local stakeholders is crucial for effective tree conservation. Our study focused on the past and current uses, management, and conservation of old-growth fukugi (Garcinia subelliptica) trees from the perspective of local stakeholders in rural homesteads on Ryukyu Archipelago, a small island archipelago in Japan. We conducted semi-structured interviews with local communities and local leaders on five small islands and in two hamlets on mainland Okinawa. We found that residents highly valued fukugi homestead trees as windbreaks. Other benefits derived from these trees included traditional dyeing material and green manure. Problems associated with these trees, such as fallen leaves and fruits, and the potential risk of injury caused by strong winds have jeopardized conserving the existing trees. Our results indicate that the value of trees to human wellbeing and society has changed dramatically from largely providing provisioning services meeting local people’s basic needs to regulating services, e.g., protecting the houses from natural disasters, and cultural services. Opinions in terms of services and disservices differed among islands and stakeholders. Accordingly, decision-makers should consider these changes/differences when developing conservation policies. We highlight several alternative uses for old-growth trees, such as tourist attractions, and propose a multi-stakeholder conservation strategy, which will be important for the sustainable management of fukugi trees.

Water management and planning in a small island archipelago: the Azores case study (Portugal) in the context of the Water Framework Directive

Abstract Water management is critical in small islands such as the Azores (Portugal), and the present paper address changes that have occurred in the last decades through national constitutional arrangements and the adoption of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD provided an opportunity to implement integrated river basin planning, whose main results are also discussed, surpassing early approaches mainly focused on complying with European Union sanitation goals and eutrophication control. Therefore, new policies emerged, and take into account exemptions that all water bodies will comply with WFD environmental objectives by 2027 (83.7% in 2015). The main constraints are the result of (1) insufficient funding, (2) lack of empowerment by water authority, and (3) no consideration of the economic dimension.

What role for trade in food sovereignty? Insights from a small island archipelago

The food sovereignty movement has been gathering momentum in advocating the rights of individuals and nations to control their own food systems. Alongside this is a mounting critical engagement regarding its privileging of local food production as the means through which to achieve this goal. Adopting a place-based approach, we explore the foodways of diverse communities across a small island archipelago – the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies. Based on interviews and focus groups, we unpack narratives relating to islanders’ changing food practices and aspirations. These are understood as two competing but inter-related themes of disruption and reification of current practices shaped by wider food regimes in interaction with ecological challenges. Given that conditions of historic dependency implicate the islands in a myriad of dependent trade relationships, we argue that small island economies offer, and require, unique cases for understanding how sovereign conditions for trade might be developed in line with a food sovereignty framework. We underline the importance of an inter-disciplinary focus for bringing forth a nuanced understanding of what might be required to shape more sustainable, sovereign and secure food futures. Doing so is necessarily rooted in an appreciation of islanders’ accounts of social, economic, political and ecological change over time.

Landslide Dynamics and Determination Critical Condition Using of Resistivity Method in Desa Negeri Lima Ambon


 
 
 Ambon Island is a volcanic island arc and included in the territory of the archipelago of small islands are associated with subduction zones that have a high degree of vulnerability to natural disasters, such as erosion and landslides on a particular slope conditions. This study aims to determine the dynamics of avalanches below the surface in the area of the landslide and determine the position of the gelincirnya. The study area in the mountains of Ulak Hatu Negeri Lima Ambon. Research using geoelectric of resistivity with Wenner-Schlumberger configuration. Geoelectric interpretation results correlated with the drill data to obtain landslide field located at a depth of approximately 5 m - 30 m and lithology dominated by low resistivity values with the structure of a layer of clay mixed with layers of weathered rock and clay layer with water saturated. Both of these layers contact each other and form the slope of the ground, causing the potential for critical slip thereon and allows the subsequent landslides. Critical location landslide direction of the obliquity of the avalanche that is, toward the cliff and the geometry of the type of debris avalanches of rocks and debris flow. Estimation of landslides occur in addition to the local geological conditions, but strongly influenced by rainfall reached 335.0 mm, earthquakes and coupled with a slope of 119.0%.
 
 

A new species of the genus Paracypria (Crustacea: Ostracoda: Cypridoidea)from the Fiji Islands.

A new marine species of the genus Paracypria (Paracypria fijiensis n. sp.) is reported from the Fiji Islands, a small island archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean. This is the first report of a Paracypria species from the Fiji Islands. Descriptions of soft parts and valves of Paracypria fijiensis n. sp. are presented herein, and morphological comparisons are made with existing Paracypria species from Australia, Japan and New Caledonia. Although eight coastal sites were sampled across the Fiji Islands, the new Paracypria species was found at only three sites. Large numbers of P. fijiensis n. sp. were recorded from intertidal flats, indicating it to be highly tolerant of the dynamic intertidal zone conditions.

Landslide hazard and risk assessment for Ambon city using landslide inventory and geographic information system

Ambon Island is a volcanic islands arc and included in the territory of the archipelago of small islands are associated with subduction zones that have a degree of high vulnerability to natural disasters, such as erosion and landslides on the slopes of certain conditions. Landslides that occur various in the city of Ambon, usually occurs during the rainy season so that the impacts that occur not only occurs on site but also off site with amount of large sedimentation. This paper presents the application of digital image analysis techniques and tools Geographic Information Systems to describe the degree of landslide hazard and risk areas in locations Ambon City, Moluccas. The cause of the landslide is analyzed through various thematic layers attribute data for the study area. Landslide hazard zonation assessment is done by using historical data, while the landslide risk analysis is done by using the results of landslide hazard assessment and socioeconomic factors by using geospatial models. The risk assessment of landslides can be used to estimate the risk to the population, property and infrastructure. The study results in the form of a map of landslide hazard and the risk of landslides that act to support urban spatial planning based on disaster mitigation.

Species Richness and Endemism of Amphibian along the Riparian System of Clarin River, Misamis Occidental

The small island archipelago of the Philippines is both a megadiverse nation and global conservation hotspot. The combination of high biodiversity, together with high rates of forest loss and increasing human population places the country at the top global list for conservation. Amphibian communities are known to be sensitive to environmental changes, and their conservation is one of the main priorities for land vertebrates in the Philippines. Taking into account that amphibians are very good indicators of ecosystem health, a study on the anuran species in Clarin River, Misamis Occidental was conducted using the cruising method to determine the species richness and endemism of the amphibians present in the area. Data gathered in this study will serve as baseline information about the amphibian species in the river. Twelve species under ten genera and five families were recorded. Seven species (58.33%) are endemic which includes a Mindanao Faunal Region endemic, Hylarana grandocula and two Mindanao Island endemic, Ansonia muelleri and Ansonia mcgregori . Among the recorded endemic species, three are Vulnerable, and one is Near Threatened. The highest species richness (N=8) and species diversity (H'=1.829) were recorded at sampling site 2 (midstream). The threats in Clarin River include land conversion, anthropogenic disturbances and overhunting for food. The presence of vulnerable, near threatened, and endemic species indicates the need to protect the riparian system of the river. Â Keywords: anurans, conservation, endemic, indicators, threats, land vertebrate

A Theory of Island Biogeography for Exotic Species.

The theory of island biogeography has played a pivotal role in the way ecologists view communities. However, it does not account for exotic species explicitly, which limits its use as a conservation tool. Here, I present the results of a long-term study of plant communities inhabiting an archipelago of small islands off the coast of New Zealand and derive a modified version of the theory of island biogeography to predict differences in the turnover and diversity of native and exotic species. Empirical results showed that, although species richness of both native and exotic plant species increased with island area, native species consistently outnumbered exotic species. Species turnover increased with species richness in both groups. However, opposite to species-area patterns, turnover increased more rapidly with species richness in exotic species. Empirical results were consistent with the modified version of the theory of island biogeography, which distinguishes exotic species from native species by decoupling extinction rates of exotic species from island area, because they are represented by only small populations at the initial stages of invasion. Overall results illustrate how the theory of island biogeography can be modified to reflect the dynamics of exotic species as they invade archipelagos, expanding its use as a conservation tool.

A multi-scale analysis to support the implementation of a regional conservation policy in a small-island archipelago – the Azores, Portugal.

ABSTRACT Calado, H., Bragagnolo, C., Silva, S.F., Pereira, M. 2014. A multi-scale analysis to support the implementation of a regional conservation policy in a small-island archipelago – the Azores, Portugal. In: Green, A.N. and Cooper, J.A.G. (eds.), Proceedings 13th International Coastal Symposium (Durban, South Africa), Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 70, pp. 485–489, ISSN 0749-0208. Small islands present both exceptional biodiversity and higher vulnerability. Their isolation has been identified as the main driver contributing to preserve the unique natural capital (10 of the 34 terrestrial biodiversity hotspots listed by Conservation International are wholly comprised of islands). However, small-island archipelagos may present a great variability among islands in terms of size and population, remoteness, incomes, natural and cultural landscapes, human pressures and vulnerabilities to global changes. This inexorably leads to different values, life-styles, and land use forms, which combin...

Benefits of migration in relation to nutritional condition and predation risk in a partially migratory moose population

The costs and benefits of alternative migratory strategies are often framed in the context of top-down and bottom-up effects on individual fitness. This occurs because migration is considered a costly behavioral strategy that presumably confers explicit benefits to migrants in the form of either decreased predation risk (predation risk avoidance hypothesis) or increased nutrition (forage maturation hypothesis). To test these hypotheses, we studied a partially migratory moose (Alces alces) population and contrasted explicit measures of predation risk (i.e., offspring survival) and nutrition (i.e., accumulation of endogenous energy reserves) between resident and migratory subpopulations. We relied on data collected from migratory and nonmigratory radio-marked moose (n = 67) that inhabited a novel study system located in coastal Alaska between 2004 and 2010. In this area, 30% of the population resides year-round on a coastal foreland area, while 48% migrate to either a small island archipelago or a subalpine ridge system (the remainder exhibited one of six different low-occurrence strategies). Overall, we determined that accumulation of body fat during the growing season did not differ between migratory or resident modalities. However, calf survival was 2.6-2.9 times higher for individuals that migrated (survival, islands = 0.49 +/- 0.16 [mean +/- SE], n = 35; ridge = 0.52 +/- 0.16, n = 33) than those that did not (survival, resident = 0.19 +/- 0.08, n = 57). Our results support the predation risk avoidance hypotheses, and suggest that migration is a behavioral strategy that principally operates to reduce the risk of calf predation and does not confer explicit nutritional benefits. We did not directly detect trade-offs between predation risk and nutrition for migratory individuals. Yet we identify an indirect life history mechanism that may mildly dampen the apparent fitness benefits of migration. The proximate factors accounting for differences in migration-specific neonate survival are likely linked to accessibility of refugial habitats for moose at local and landscape scales, landscape factors that affect hunting efficacy of large carnivores, and interactions with rural human communities. Conservation of ungulate populations can be aided by integrating knowledge about migratory behavior, life history strategies, and factors that alter ungulate vulnerability, particularly those induced by human activity.

The Role of Tourism in Addressing Illegal Fishing: The Case of a Dive Operator in Indonesia

Tackling illegal fishing through traditional state-centred approaches has proven difficult and largely ineffective in the extensive maritime environment of Southeast Asia, and particularly in the archipelagic state of Indonesia. This article focuses on the involvement of a new for-profit actor — a private tourism dive operator — in addressing illegal fishing in a small island archipelago in eastern Indonesia. The case study demonstrates that the dive operator has been able to employ conventional enforcement methods such as patrolling and the capture of illegal fishers, in combination with alternative approaches to addressing the root causes of illegal fishing. It also explores the relationship of the dive operator with civil society actors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and various state agencies involved in maritime security and conservation governance in the area. With a particular focus on the dive operator’s relationship with government agencies, the case study shows that local governments are collaborating with private actors and providing opportunities for new kinds of enforcement agents since they themselves lack sufficient resources to patrol waters effectively. The dive operator, however, operates only within a space granted by the district government, and must invest considerably in this relationship to maintain his position.

Wood-boring limnoriids (Crustacea, Isopoda) including a new species from mangrove forests of the Tukang Besi Archipelago, Indonesia

In a survey of the fauna inhabiting fallen wood in Rhizophora-dominated forests of an archipelago of small islands to thesouth of Sulawesi, in Indonesia, four species of limnoriid (Limnoria insulae, L. pfefferi, L. sellifera new species and L.unicornis) were found feeding on the wood. L. sellifera is characterised by a saddle-shaped pleotelson that is smaller thanpleonite 5, transverse rows of teeth-like tubercles dorsomedially on pleonites 2–4 and a uropod with relatively small ex-opod, two rows of pointed tubercles on the peduncle, and one row on the endopod. L. sellifera is the second species ofLimnoria to be found exclusively on mangrove wood. The cephalon and pereon of the four species of limnoriids are anatomically similar, but they differ markedly in features of pleonite 5, the pleotelson and the uropods.

Coastal Hazards in the Azores Archipelago — Coastal Storms and Flooding

ABSTRACT BORGES, P., NG, K and CALADO, H., 2011. Coastal Hazards in the Azores Archipelago - Coastal Storms and Flooding. In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3-2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 474. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749-0208. The Azores, a small island archipelago, is vulnerable to coastal hazards because of its limited land availability for anthropic activity and its location in the North Atlantic Ocean. In spite of the presence of extreme hazards, most of the population and economic activities tend to cluster along the coast, thereby amplifying its vulnerability. Furthermore, shorelines are recently experiencing increased pressures as a result of rapid population growth along the coast and associated construction and development. These factors contribute to an increase in human vulnerability to coastal hazards. The increased frequency and intensity of coastal storms in the Azores, as well as associated flooding are becoming growing concerns for i...

Oceanological conditions and reproduction of the spotted seal (Phoca larga) in Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan

The long-term studying of the reproduction of the spotted seal Phoca larga and the analysis of the oceanological conditions in Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan have shown that the ice situation is not right for the successful parturition and breeding of pups due to the impossibility of synchronization of the reproduction processes with the dynamics and properties of the ice substratum. A major factor promoting the spotted seal’s coastal reproduction in this area is the existence of an archipelago of small islands with a specific geomorphological structure. Being the historical norm, the coastal reproduction has a number of advantages in comparison with ice reproduction and, as a whole, allows the existence in Peter the Great Bay of local groupings of the spotted seal with extremely small numbers of members.

An Introduction to the Biocomplexity of Sanak Island, Western Gulf of Alaska

The Sanak Biocomplexity Project is a transdisciplinary research effort focused on a small island archipelago 50 km south of the Alaska Peninsula in the western Gulf of Alaska. This team of archaeologists, terrestrial ecologists, social anthropologists, intertidal ecologists, geologists, oceanographers, paleoecologists, and modelers is seeking to understanding the role of the ancient, historic, and modern Aleut in the structure and functioning of local and regional ecosystems. Using techniques ranging from systematic surveys to stable isotope chemistry, long-term shifts in social dynamics and ecosystem structure are present in the context of changing climatic regimes and human impacts. This paper presents a summary of a range of our preliminary findings.

Interspecific competition and coexistence between ants and land hermit crabs on small Bahamian islands

Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence of intra- and interspecific competition among ants, but few have investigated direct competitive interactions between ants and other taxa. In this paper, I present the first evidence of direct competitive interactions between ants and crabs. Evidence of competition for food between ants and the land hermit crab, Coenobita clypeatus (Herbst), was derived from observations and experiments in an archipelago of small islands in the central Exumas, Bahamas. Correlational evidence of competition for food based on occurrences at baits was found between ants and hermit crabs in multiple years. Observations at baits over time revealed species turnover occurred due to aggressive interactions. C. clypeatus discovered food items rapidly, but lost control of food over time, particularly to the ant Brachymyrmex obscurior Forel, which took longer to find food items but recruited large numbers of workers that drove off hermit crabs. A second ant species, Dorymyrmex pyramicus Roger, discovered baits quickly but did not recruit to baits in large numbers, and was not a superior competitor to either C. clypeatus or B. obscurior. Competition between ants and land hermit crabs was not intense enough to cause complementary distributions, and mechanisms of coexistence apparently include temporal variation in foraging activity and complementary foraging strategies when ants and crabs are active at the same time. Because of the widespread distributions and generalist scavenger diets of many ants and crabs, such competitive interactions are likely to be a common facet of many tropical and subtropical insular and coastal communities.