The misrepresentation of the planktonic diatom assemblage in traps and sediments: southern Lake Malaŵi,Africa

Sediment trap collections near Cape Maclear, Lake Malai, were compared to phytoplankton and surface sediment diatoms to assess taphonomic variations. The sedimenting diatom community became progressively different from the diatom plankton with increasing depth: long Nitzschia species were strongly under-represented in the traps (annually, 53% among planktonic diatoms vs. 14% in the offshore 29 m trap; p0.005 by Kruskal-Wallis test), while Melosira was greatly over-represented in traps (32% vs. 57%; p<0.005). The abundances of the minor taxa (Rhopalodia, Fragilaria, Cymbella, and Surirella) were greatly enhanced in traps relative to the plankton, but they were still relatively uncommon (<3% of all diatoms each). Differences in grazing, dissolution, and sinking rates alone are insufficient to account for these distortions; a combination of these, plus perhaps unknown factors, strongly influence the deposited assemblage.These misrepresentations were also present at the sediment surface. The greatest discrepancy was noted for Melosira (32% of plankton vs. 53% of sediment surface diatoms; p<0.005) and for elongate Nitzschia species (53% of plankton vs. 0.8% in sediments; p<0.005). In Lake Malai, at least, paleolimnologists must not assume a straightforward correlation of modern and fossil assemblages.     

The differences of water balance components of Caragana korshinkii grown in homogeneous and layered soils in the desert–Loess Plateau transition zone

Soil texture greatly influences soil water movement, thus may affect the water balance and vegetation growth in the desert–Loess Plateau transition zone. This study is to determine if the water balance differs in homogeneous and layered soils with Caragana korshinkii stands in semiarid region. Soil water measurements up to 500-cm depth were taken in 2006 and 2007 on homogeneous sandy soil, homogeneous silt loam soil, and layered soil with sand overlying silt loam. HYDRUS-1D was used to simulate the soil water balance. The results indicated the annual water balance components were greatly affected by soil layering. The ratio of average actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) to precipitation (P) during the two years in the layered soil was slightly lower than that in homogeneous soils. The ratios of annual actual transpiration (T_r) to evapotranspiration were 50.9%, 41.2% and 30.6% in layered soil, homogeneous sandy soil, and homogeneous silt loam soil, respectively. C. korshinkii grown in layered soil had deeper soil water recharge and higher T_r/ET_a ratio, thus had more available water for transpiration than that in homogeneous soils. This study suggested the layered soil with sand overlying silt loam is more favorable to C. korshinkii growth in terms of water use than homogeneous soils in the desert–Loess Plateau transition zone.     

Feminizing the University: The Mobilities,Careers, and Contributions of Early Female Academics in the University of Cambridge, 1926–1955

This article examines the role of early female academics at the University of Cambridge in the production and dissemination of knowledge between 1926 and 1955. A statistical comparison of women's use of academic leave of absence with that of their male colleagues reveals that, across disciplines, women were less integrated into (inter)national knowledge networks and thus less visible in their epistemic communities than men because women focused their academic leaves more on research, rarely attended conferences, traveled overseas less often than men, and went more frequently to destinations within Europe than the United States as the new economic hegemon. Biographical case studies of these early female academics demonstrate the importance, variously, of their upper middle-class background, academic excellence, and familial and nonfamilial patronage in developing their careers, overcoming multiple hurdles, and producing intellectual contributions of equal quality to that of their male peers. Conceptually, this article calls for the inclusion of academic travelers from disciplines other than geography into feminist histories of geographical knowledge and argues that rather than stereotyping gender differences, greater comparative research on the experiences of female and male academics is needed to understand the mechanisms of gender inequality within the university.     

“Building glass refrigerators in the desert”: discourses of urban sustainability and nation building in Qatar

Planners around the Arab Gulf states are increasingly drawing on narratives about “urban sustainability,” despite the fact that the explosive growth of urban centers in the Arabian desert largely defies the logic of sustainability. In this article, I consider how and with what effect these narratives have been deployed by various actors in Doha, Qatar. Eschewing a simple economistic reading, I highlight political geographic context and analyze how actors mobilize and rework these discourses. Drawing on mixed-methods fieldwork in Fall 2013, I illustrate how sustainability narratives are mobilized together with nationalist tropes about modernizing Qatar and building up the country’s international prestige, while preserving local traditions and culture through the built environment. With a focus on recent efforts to green Doha, this analysis sheds light on the disciplining function of nationalist discourses in the production and constitution of what it means to label development practices “green” in contemporary Qatar.     

The population of the southern Alps: a new equilibrium?

Recent demographic trends in the Alpine areas of France are examined. It is found that a shift of population away from the Cote d'Azur has occurred since 1975. The importance of tourism for population growth in the Alpine areas is noted.     

Using multiple archives to understand past and present climate–human–environment interactions: the lake Erhai catchment,Yunnan Province,China

A 6.48 m sediment core sequence from Erhai lake, Yunnan Province, provides a multi-proxy record of Holocene environmental evolution and human activity in southwest China. These sedimentary records provide proxy time series for catchment vegetation, flooding, soil erosion, sediment sources and metal workings. They are complemented by independent regional climate time-series from speleothems, archaeological records of human habitation, and a detailed documented environmental history. The article attempts to integrate these data sources to provide a Holocene scale record of environmental change and human–environment interactions. These interactions are analysed in order to identify the roles of climate and social drivers on environmental change, and the lessons that may be learned about the future sustainability of the landscape. The main conclusions are: lake sediment evidence for human impacts from at least 7,500 cal year BP is supported by a terrestrial record of cultural horizons that may extend back to ∼9,000 cal year BP. A major shift in the pollen assemblage, defined by detrended correspondence analysis, at ∼4,800 cal year BP marks the transition from a ‘nature-dominated’ to a ‘human-dominated’ landscape. From 4,300 cal year BP, a change in river discharge responses may signal the beginning of hydraulic modification through drainage and irrigation. Major increases in disturbed land taxa and loss of forest taxa from 2,200 cal year BP onward, also associated with the start of significant topsoil erosion, register the expansion of agriculture by Han peoples. It is also the start of silver smelting linked to trade along the SW Silk Road with Dali becoming a regional centre. Peak levels of disturbed land taxa, topsoil and gully erosion are associated with the rise and fall of the Nanzhao (CE 738–902) and Dali (CE 937–1253) Kingdoms, and the documented environmental crisis that occurred in the late Ming and Qing dynasties (CE 1644–1911). The crisis coincides with a stronger summer monsoon, but exploitation of marginal agricultural land is the main driver. These historical perspectives provide insight into the resilience and sustainability of the modern agricultural system. The largest threat comes from high magnitude-low frequency flooding of lower dry farmed terraces and irrigated valley plains. A sustainable future depends on reducing the use of high altitude and steep slopes for grazing and cultivation, maintaining engineered flood defences and terraces, and anticipating the behaviour of the summer monsoon. This article is based on a keynote address delivered by John Dearing at the 10th International Paleolimnology Symposium, June 2006, Duluth, Minnesota, USA.     

Restructuring in Cooperatives: The Example of the Danish Pork Processing Industry, 1968–2002

This article investigates the degree to which large cooperative organizations behave like other multilocational firms when they restructure. An examination of the restructuring of the Danish pork processing industry over thirty-five years reveals that cooperative ownership does matter in subtle ways. In particular, the coordination of the market achieved under cooperative ownership results in a restructuring that preserves both global economic position and fundamental institutions, particularly the cooperative movement and the set of beliefs that underpin it. This preservation of the beliefs of the cooperative movement is particularly evident in the lack of price “squeezing” on pigs delivered to the slaughter facilities.     

The Growth and Location of High Order Services in the Canadian Urban System, 1971–1991

In spite of the considerable economic importance of high order (intermediate demand) services, research on the growth and location of these activities has remained at a fairly aggregate level. The behavior of the individual elements of this group has rarely been documented in detail. In this paper, we seek to determine if individual high order service activities are becoming spatially more concentrated or dispersed across the Canadian urban system, and to determine if differential rates of growth may be observed by region and by urban size category. These issues are of considerable importance in the ongoing debate concerning the impact of the tertiarization of the economy on uneven spatial development. We examine the performance and location of 17 individual high order service activities over a set of 152 Canadian urban areas with populations greater than 10,000 inhabitants. Most of these activities are highly concentrated in a small number of very large urban areas, and their level of concentration declined only very slightly over the period 1971–1991. We conclude with an examination of the factors underlying the geographic concentration of high order services at the upper end of the urban hierarchy.     

A pollen-based record of late glacial–Holocene climatic variability in the southern lake district, Chile

A pollen record from Puyehue area (40°S; 72°W) in the southern Lake District, Chile, indicates that prior to 13,410 ¹⁴C yr BP (ca. 16,500–15,200 cal yr BP), cold resistant and hygrophilous vegetation, particularly Nothofagus forest and myricaceous vegetation, covered the area. From ca. 15,000 cal yr BP onward, the forest became increasingly dense. Between 10,010 and 7450 ¹⁴C yr BP (ca. 11,000–8000 cal yr BP), the expansion of Nothofagus obliqua and the spread of grasses suggests the climate became warmer and semi-arid. Lowland deciduous forest (Nothofagus obliqua, Aextoxicon punctatum, Laurelia sempervirens) and Valdivian rainforest (Nothofagus dombeyi, Eucryphia cordifolia, Caldcluvia paniculata, Aextoxicon punctatum, Laureliopsis philippiana) were abundant. During the next two thousand years, stable warm climatic conditions prevailed, and the diversity of the vegetation increased. From 5760 to 1040 ¹⁴C yr BP (ca. 6500–900 cal yr BP), the North Patagonian rainforest expanded. The presence of Pilgerodendron/Fitzroya, together with Nothofagus forest, suggests that humid conditions prevailed. During the last millennium, human impact intensified and regional vegetation was disturbed, particularly the lowland deciduous forest and Valdivian rainforest. North-Patagonian and subantartic taxa, such as Podocarpus nubigena, Pilgerodendron/Fitzroya, Nothofagus dombeyi type, Austrocedrus chilensis and Drimys winteri, occupied the low and high-altitude parts of the Cordillera. Five hundred years ago, shrub and grasses expanded in the Nothofagus forest, suggesting that forest became more open under cool–cold, and humid climatic conditions. These conditions prevail to the present day. This is the fourth in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M.-F. Loutre and E. Chapron.     

The influence of air–sea–ice interactions on an anomalous phytoplankton bloom in the Indian Ocean sector of the Antarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean during the austral summer, 2011

An anomalous phytoplankton bloom was recorded in the Indian Ocean sector of the Antarctic Zone (AZ) of the Southern Ocean (SO) during the austral summer, 2011. Possible mechanisms for the triggering of such a large bloom were analyzed with the help of in situ and satellite data. The bloom, which formed in January 2011, intensified during February and weakened by March. High surface chlorophyll (Chl) concentrations (0.76 mg m⁻³) were observed in the area of the bloom (60°S, 47°E) with a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum (DCM) of 1.15 mg m⁻³ at a depth of 40–60 m. During 2011, both the concentration and spatial extent of sea ice were high on the western side of the bloom, between 0°E and 40°E, and enhanced freshwater influx was observed in the study area as a result of melting ice. A positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM) (with a resultant northward horizontal advection) and an intense La Niña during 2010–2011 are possible reasons for the high sea-ice concentrations. The enhanced Chl a observed in the study region, which can be attributed to the phytoplankton bloom, likely resulted from the influx of nutrient-laden freshwater derived from melting sea ice.     

Repositioning zoogeography within the nature–culture borderlands: An animal geography of reptiles in southern Ghana

Few studies examine the impact of large reptile presence on local livelihoods in West Africa. This article investigates how land users share habituated and resource areas with pythons, cobras and monitor lizards in southern Ghana. An innovative animal geography approach is used, evaluating both reptiles and people as individually active subjects, this being combined with a positivist zoogeographical and landscape analysis. Cobras, pythons and monitor lizards significantly affected local livelihood decision-making. Reptiles, especially cobras and monitors also adapted to human behaviour by foraging in settled and farmed areas, despite significant losses of dense vegetation habitat over the study period. This study of reptiles as active adapters adds new insights to reptilian zoogeography and conservation policy.     

The δ~(18)O in the Guliya shallow ice core during the prevailing summer monsoons and sea-air interactions

1 Introduction The Tibetan Plateau is gigantic in extent and has the highest elevation and the most complex topography in the world. Its existence is of important significance for the formation of atmospheric circulation, weather and climate in China, much of Asia and even of the globe. Therefore, great attention is given to it. The analyses show that the influencing range of the Tibetan Plateau is the widest during the summer[1]. The powerful updrafts from the plateau warm low flow towar…     

Vegetation changes in the southern Pyrenean flank during the last millennium in relation to climate and human activities: the Montcortès lacustrine record

We report vegetation changes of the last millennium inferred from palynological analysis of a sediment core from Lake Montcortès, situated at ~1,000 m elevation in the southern pre-Pyrenean flank. The record begins in the Middle Ages (~AD 800) and ends around AD1920, with an average resolution of ~30 years. The reconstructed vegetation sequence is complex and shows the influence of both climate and humans in shaping the landscape. Pre-feudal times were characterized by the presence of well-developed conifer forests, which were intensely burned at the beginning of feudal times (AD 1000) and were replaced by cereal (rye) and hemp cultivation, as well as meadows and pastures. In the thirteenth century, a relatively short period of warming, likely corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period, was inferred from the presence of a low Mediterranean scrub community that is today restricted to <800 m elevation. This community disappeared during Little Ice Age cooling in the fifteenth century, coinciding with a decline in human activities around the lake. Forest recovery began around AD 1500, at the beginning of the Modern period, coinciding with wetter climate. Forests, however, declined again during the seventeenth century, coinciding with maximum olive and hemp cultivation. This situation was reversed in post-Modern times (nineteenth century), characterized by an intense agricultural crisis and a significant decline in population that favored forest re-expansion. Correlations with nearby Estanya Lake, situated about 350 m below, provide a regional picture of environmental change. Besides some climate forcing evident in both sequences, human activities seem to have been the main drivers of landscape and vegetation change in the southern Pyrenean flank, in agreement with conclusions from other studies in high-mountain environments.     

Palaeosurfaces and major valleys in the area of the Kjǿlen Mountains,southern Norway - consequences of uplift and climatic change

Protected area management in Norway is undergoing institutional changes with the implementation of management models aimed at increased public participation. At the same time tourism enterprises are increasing in number within the protected areas. Greater levels of interaction with stakeholders place new demands on lead institutions in terms of communication, transparency, involvement, and power sharing. A governance perspective was used to examine some facets of the interaction between a local council managing a national park in Norway and tourism companies using the park for their operations. The main objective was to assess how the tourism sector perceives the cooperation and interface with the management institution. Semi-structured interviews were used, together with a framework of United Nations Development Programme principles of good governance: legitimacy and voice, direction, performance, accountability, and fairness. The results showed rather negative evaluations by the tourism sector, and operators expressed views, implying that the current management model fails to achieve most of the principles of good governance. Although based on a one-sided view by one group of stakeholders, the study suggests that lack of access to important processes and decisions, perceived bias towards traditional conservation, neglect of cultural heritage, and undue restrictions on access could have serious implications for developing an effective management model.     

Geography Deserts: State and Regional Variation in the Formal Opportunity to Learn Geography in the United States, 2005–2015

The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor’s degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into quintiles. For APHG exams, states in the southeastern region of the United States are in the uppermost quintiles while states in the northeastern region are in the lowermost quintiles. The pattern for bachelor’s degrees in geography is somewhat the spatial inverse of that for APHG.     

Trends in sunshine duration and atmospheric visibility in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, 1961–2005

Using the observed data from 184 stations over the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YGP) from 1961 to 2005, the long-term trends in sunshine duration, cloud amount, dry visibility (Vd), dry extinction, and water vapor over the YGP are analyzed. The results show that 85% of the stations recorded shortening annual sunshine duration, with the decrease rates between ?12.2 and ?173.7 h/10yr. Results of Mann-Kendall tests indicate that, among the stations with decreasing sunshine duration, 63.7% of them experienced an abrupt change that started in the 1970s and peaked in the 1980s. This decreasing trend has reversed in the early years of the 21st century. The cloud cover and water vapor content in the mid and lower levels over the YGP had no obvious changes during the study period. The annual averages of Vd declined from 34 km in the 1960s to 27 km at present. The annual mean dry extinction coefficient trended upward, from 0.176 to 0.190, on the YGP from 1980 to 2005. Analyses of cloud cover, water vapor, atmospheric visibility, and dry extinction coefficient revealed that emitted tropospheric aerosols (including air pollutants) resulting from increased energy consumption over the YGP could be a major factor influencing the reductions of sunshine duration and atmospheric visibility.     

Working in a Landscape of Recession and Expansion: Academic Jobs in Geography in the United States, 1990–2011

The recent economic recession brought much university hiring to a standstill in the United States. Geography, in spite of strong prerecession growth, was no exception. Without a sense of how the academic geography job market has changed over the past decades, however, it is difficult to assess any recession-related decline or the relative strength of any recovery. This article presents an analysis of academic job postings in the field of geography from 1990 through 2011. Using data aggregated from the AAG Newsletter, which acts as an informal clearinghouse for most academic openings for geographers at four-year colleges and universities in the United States, we assess changes in the overall magnitude in numbers of academic job openings, with the particular goal of placing the recession-based paucity of openings within its broader historical context. Our results indicate that, indeed, the recession led to a very sharp decline in advertisements, but compared to previous recessions, the recovery appears to have occurred very quickly. Open-rank and temporary/non-tenure-track positions appear to have been fairly robust to the poor economic conditions, whereas assistant professor openings were particularly hard hit.     

Landscape,development, technology and drivers: The geography of drownings associated with automobiles in Texas floods, 1950–2004

More than 200 people have died in automobiles that have encountered flooded roadways in Texas from 1950 to 2004. This study examines the geographical processes that create flood hazards associated with automobile travel to discern the most important factors in their genesis. A database of drowning cases caused by motorists' interactions with flooded roadways in Texas was compiled for the study period. We examine the circumstances and spatial patterns of these events by addressing the following questions: where have motorists drowned? How did rates and spatial patterns of accidents change over the study period? To the extent that we can determine, what were the characteristics of the roads, the drivers, and the landscapes when and where deaths occurred? What factors appear to explain the temporal and spatial distributions of hazard? We conclude that roadway familiarity might have emboldened drivers to attempt to surmount water rushing across a road, that time of day was clearly an important characteristic of the accidents, and that roadway characteristics and sex and age of the drivers seem not to be key contributing factors. The most important factors, however, are associated with growth: increases in population and increased automobile registrations drive the propensity for increased automobile-flood hazards.