ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE IN THE LANDSCAPES OF HIGHLAND ECUADOR*

ABSTRACT. The anthropogenic nature of Andean ecosystems is discussed in the framework of tree‐line dynamics in selected sites in Ecuador. Indicators of human impact are evidence of the need for a scientific understanding of neotropical mountains that is better in tune with the special conditions of tropical Andean environments. Tropandean systems are neither tropical ecosystems nor midlatitude regions, and lessons from ecologically damaging activities in those ecosystems cannot be transferred readily to Tropandean systems. Better research from the ethnobiological and ecological fronts is needed if we are to comprehend the intricate functions of neotropical mountains, particularly the cloud‐forest belt, which is regarded as the most threatened ecosystem when considering sustainability scenarios.     

HUMBOLDT'S NODES AND MODES OF INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE IN THE ANDEAN WORLD*

ABSTRACT. Alexander von Humboldt engaged in a staggering array of diverse experiences in the Andes and adjoining lowlands of northwestern South America between 1801 and 1803. Yet examination of Humboldt's diaries, letters, and published works shows how his principal activities in the Andes centered on three interests: mining and geological landscapes; communications and cartography; and use and distribution of the quinine‐yielding cinchona trees. Each node represented a pragmatic concern dealing with environmental resources in the context of the Andes. To pursue these interests in his Andean field studies, Humboldt relied on varied cultural interactions and vast social networks for knowledge exchange, in addition to extensive textual comparisons. These modes of inquiry dovetailed with his pragmatic interests and his open‐ended intellectual curiosity. Fertile combinations in his Andean studies provided the foundation and main testing ground for Humboldt's fused nature‐culture approach as well as his contributions to early geography and interdisciplinary environmental science.     

THE PARLOR IN THE WILDERNESS: DOMESTICATING AN ICONIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPE*

ABSTRACT. Thirty years ago D. W. Meinig argued that certain landscapes “are part of the iconography of nationhood.” From the earliest European settlement, the North American “wilderness” forged the crucible that shaped U.S. culture. By the early nineteenth century romantic aesthetic theories and nationalistic patriotism influenced American perspectives on the emerging cultural landscape. Artists, writers, and travelers sought out places for their healthful and scenic qualities as well as for moral instruction from nature. The locus of this confluence of politics, philosophy, and art was the Hudson River Valley of New York State. Guesthouses and hotels, especially in and around the Catskill Mountains, accommodated these travelers. This article examines the cultural basis of the mountain resort in its appropriation and marketing of a regional landscape and its incorporation as a national icon, with a specific history of the development of Mohonk Mountain House by the Smiley family from 1869 to 2008.     

MESSAGE IN THE PLAZA: LANDSCAPE,LANDSCAPING, AND FOREST DISCOURSE IN HONDURAS*

ABSTRACT. As visible, material expression of human activities and goals, the landscape communicates as well as reflects. Specific landscapes communicate specific messages within the public sphere of which they are a part. In Honduras, many plaza landscapes have seen recent changes in form and in what they communicate. Once open, treeless spaces, many Honduran plazas are now filled with trees. These trees often support signs announcing the virtues of forests, linking the trees themselves to the official discourse on forest issues and illuminating the role of public‐space landscapes in influencing public perception. This article points out the links between such iconographic landscapes and the complex, multitiered environmental issues that are part of environmental conditions and their perception by local actors.     

哀牢山区梯田景观多功能的综合评价

景观多功能的概念、研究内容和评价是景观生态学的研究热点之一。以哀牢山区梯田景观为例,从景观的生产价值、生态价值、文化价值与美学价值等4个方面提出其多功能价值综合评价的体系和标准,并分析和评价了梯田景观的多功能价值。结果表明：（1）梯田景观美学价值的6个指标均处于比较高的水平,美学价值高;（2）梯田景观生产价值的7个指标说明其生产功能低下;（3）梯田景观生态功能的7个指标说明其生态功能良好;（4）梯田景观文化价值的6个指标说明其文化社会功能很高;（5）梯田景观四种价值的顺序是文化价值〉美学价值〉生态价值〉生产价值,而从景观价值的总体水平看,其价值仅为良好状态,可见高层的综合评价结果是其下一级水平的平均状态。     

REJECTING VIOLENCE ON THE LANDSCAPE IN LAWRENCE,KANSAS*

ABSTRACT. Lawrence, Kansas, survived a tumultuous beginning. The young town endured attacks twice, in 1856 and 1863. The second raid, by the guerrilla William Quantrill's troop of more than 400 men, resulted in the deaths of 143 citizens. Lawrence serves as an example of how Americans memorialize unconventional warfare, targeted at citizens, in a material and permanent fashion on the landscape. Small and obscurely placed memorials fill the town, to the point that they have become ordinary. The memorialized landscapes of these tragedies thus display ambivalence toward the past and symbolically reject the loss of lives despite this era's high position in the literature and archival history of the town. Additionally, Lawrence has found alternative sources for its historical identity that do not reflect these tragedies but instead celebrate the city's pioneer establishment. In this article I use a set of methods for reading the memorialized landscape that includes archival and landscape analysis and uncovers the processes that have led to this town's understated and ambivalent memorialization and identity.     

珠江三角洲东部常平地区景观异质性研究

本文以１９８８年－１９９６年６个时段景观遥感类型图为主要信息源,利用信息熵法和空隙度指数法对珠江三角洲东部常平地区的景观异质性进行了研究。重点探讨了景观组分的空间分布差异和异质性动态变化情况。结果显示,开发区主要呈宏观异质性分布,果园,农田和林地呈微观异质性分布,城镇和水体的异质性分布特征均出现显著变化。     

HIGH-RISE HOMES FOR THE ANCESTORS: CREMATION IN HONG KONG*

ABSTRACT. A massive, voluntary shift to cremation has taken place in Hong Kong over the past forty years. The provision of facilities by the colonial government and private organizations began with niche walls in existing cemeteries. These were soon supplemented by sizable buildings known as columbaria. The largest and most recent columbarium, completed in 1996, provides 49,884 niches, each of which can hold at least two sets of ashes. Designing columbaria that are functional, sensitive, and culturally specific provides a fascinating challenge to architects. This article contrasts the conservative response of the public sector with the more expressive solutions of private providers.     

THE SEARCH FOR OIL: FACTORS INFLUENCING US INVESTMENT IN FOREIGN PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT*

Determinants of foreign exploration and development spending by US oil companies are examined with multiple regression analysis. Since major US oil companies earn higher profits abroad, I test the role of profit rate surrogates and cash flow in a petroleum investment model. A high income tax rate is shown to discourage foreign oil investment, a finding that should be recognized by foreign governments. Institutional factors also appear to limit the flow of investment funds out of the United States, despite attractive foreign profit rates.     

EXPLORING MARKET‐BASED DEVELOPMENT: MARKET INTERMEDIARIES AND FARMERS IN CALAKMUL,MEXICO*

ABSTRACT. Market intermediaries play important roles in the development of tropical‐forest frontiers but are often overlooked in the assessment of land‐change dynamics. Consistent with research beyond land‐change studies, intermediaries are found to be a pivotal element in land‐use and land‐cover change in southeastern Mexico. They have stimulated commercial chili cultivation in this development frontier, providing transportation and other services to smallholders who could otherwise not enter the chili market. This role comes at the cost of a near monopoly on chili marketing. The various roles played by these intermediaries, or coyotes, the means by which they operate, and the consequences for smallholders and land use are detailed for the Calakmul Municipality, Campeche, Mexico.     

RURAL POPULATION LOSS AND CROPLAND CHANGE IN THE SOUTHERN PLAINS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CROPLAND RETIREMENT POLICY*

Given steadily increasing federal expenditures to manage surplus crop production, it would seem to make economic and environmental sense to concentrate production on the best acreage and to retire marginal crop acreage to alternate uses. A major obstacle constraining adoption and implementation of cropland retirement programs in the past has been the fear that cropland retirement threatens the viability of rural communities. Regression of change in population and retail establishments on changes in farm structure, nonfarm employment, and agricultural land-use in the rural Southern Plains between 1930 and 1970 provides only weak evidence to support this fear. In fact, short-term cropland idling under post-1960 price-support programs appears to pose more of a threat to rural communities than does cropland retirement.     

天山地区影响稳定积雪形成的初始气候条件研究──以天山积雪雪崩研究站为例

本文利用天山积雪雪崩研究站的历史资料分析了影响稳定积雪形成的初始气候条件，对降雪量的月间分布、降雪及气温与地温对稳定积雪的影响进行了阐述。