Property matters: Agricultural restructuring and changing landlord-tenant relationships in England

Little research has been conducted on the restructuring activities of tenant farmers in response to changing tenancy legislation and recent CAP reforms. This paper examines the geography of farm tenancy agreements in England since 1995 and presents some findings from postal and telephone surveys on the possible future business trajectories of tenant farmers and the changing nature of landlord-tenant relationships. A clear north-south divide is identified in terms of farm tenancy agreements and a complex array of different tenancy agreements is demonstrated. The relationships between landlords and tenants are changing and the increasing variety of agreements provides evidence of a more fluid (post-feudal) system of agricultural leases. Nevertheless, high levels of uncertainty and negativity characterise tenant farmers’ views on the impacts of CAP reforms. Crucially, the very identity of a tenant farmer is changing, towards an owner-occupier who rents additional land, and there is an urgent need for more detailed research on the ‘consequential geographies’ of farm property rights and the changing nature of landlord-tenant relationships.     

Nutrient loss and water quality under extensive grazing in the upper Burdekin river catchment, North Queensland

Increased sediment and nutrient losses resulting from unsustainable grazing management in the Burdekin River catchment are major threats to water quality in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. To test the effects of grazing management on soil and nutrient loss, five 1 ha mini-catchments were established in 1999 under different grazing strategies on a sedimentary landscape near Charters Towers. Reference samples were also collected from watercourses in the Burdekin catchment during major flow events. Soil and nutrient loss were relatively low across all grazing strategies due to a combination of good cover, low slope and low rainfall intensities. Total soil loss varied from 3 to 20 kg ha(-1) per event while losses of N and P ranged from 10 to 1900 g ha(-1) and from 1 to 71 g ha(-1) per event respectively. Water quality of runoff was considered moderate across all strategies with relatively low levels of total suspended sediment (range: 8-1409 mg l(-1)), total N (range: 101-4000 microg l(-1)) and total P (range: 14-609 microg l(-1)). However, treatment differences are likely to emerge with time as the impacts of the different grazing strategies on land condition become more apparent. Samples collected opportunistically from rivers and creeks during flow events displayed significantly higher levels of total suspended sediment (range: 10-6010 mg l(-1)), total N (range: 650-6350 microg l(-1)) and total P (range: 50-1500 microg l(-1)) than those collected at the grazing trial. These differences can largely be attributed to variation in slope, geology and cover between the grazing trial and different catchments. In particular, watercourses draining hillier, grano-diorite landscapes with low cover had markedly higher sediment and nutrient loads compared to those draining flatter, sedimentary landscapes. These preliminary data suggest that on relatively flat, sedimentary landscapes, extensive cattle grazing is compatible with achieving water quality targets, provided high levels of ground cover are maintained. In contrast, sediment and nutrient loss under grazing on more erodable land types is cause for serious concern. Long-term empirical research and monitoring will be essential to quantify the impacts of changed land management on water quality in the spatially and temporally variable Burdekin River catchment.     

Partitioning of Ni between olivine and silicate melt: The ‘Henry's Law problem’ reexamined

The partitioning of Ni between olivine and silicate melt has been investigated experimentally at atmospheric pressure in air. Beta track autoradiography using ⁶³Ni and direct microprobe analysis of polished run products were employed. At constant temperature and bulk composition, the $\text{olivine}\text{liquid}$ partition coefficient for Ni in the system Di₇₀Fo₂₅Qtz₅ remains independent of concentration from approximately 10 ppm to 40,000 ppm Ni in olivine. Similar experiments by Mysen (1979) in the system Jd₈₀Fo₂₀ utilizing beta track autoradiography alone indicated that Henry's Law was followed only in the concentration interval of approx. 10–1000 ppm Ni in olivine. Above 1000 ppm, olivine/liquid partition coefficients decreased monotonically to about half of the value observed below 1000 ppm. We have performed experiments in the system Jd₈₀Fo₂₀, but are unable to replicate Mysen's results. While in agreement with Mysen below 1000 ppm Ni in olivine, we do not observe the decrease in partition coefficient value at higher concentrations. We conclude from our reversed experiments that, at constant temperature and bulk composition, the $\text{olivine}\text{liquid}$ partition coefficient for Ni in the system Jd₈₀Fo₂₀ remains independent of concentration from approx. 10–60,000 ppm Ni in olivine. Attempts to resolve these differing conclusions by changing experimental techniques have been unsuccessful.     

Temporal variations of aqueous constituents in a water-basalt-supercalcine system: Implications for the experimental assessment of nuclear waste forms

A Dickson-type rocking autoclave has been used for studying the interaction of a synthetic groundwater solution with the non-radioactive simulated nuclear-waste form supercalcine (SPC-4), and with a mixture of supercalcine plus basalt, at 300° and 200°C at 300 bars. Over the course of a month, the concentrations of the aqueous species of Mo, Na, Si, K, Rb, Al, Cr, and H⁺ displayed rapid change initially followed by a gradual approach to constant or nearly constant values, whereas the solids displayed very little alteration. These observations suggest that dissolution/precipitation reactions are quickly established even though the solids are very sluggish in attaining a completely altered or equilibrium state. The effects of various waste-form crystallinities and material preparations on the solution chemistry are quite different, but reproducible, and are discussed in terms of assessing potential waste forms.     

Boosted bodies: Genetic techniques, domestic livestock bodies and complex representations of life

This paper focuses on the burgeoning application of genetic techniques in livestock agriculture, examining how these are changing livestock breeding knowledge-practices and the representation of animal life. Conventional livestock breeding relies on visual appraisal of animals and maintaining performance records, whereas genetic and genomic techniques offer the potential to assess particular aspects of animals’ genotypes. Advertising and promotional material produced by organisations involved in developing genetic techniques, and reportage and discussion of such techniques in the agricultural media, are used to examine the ways in which the production and value of living bodies in the future is being mapped out in emerging knowledge-practice networks which centre around particular visions and representations of what livestock bodies are and should do or be. The paper argues that bodies should be understood in part in terms of the wider spatial relationships in which they are entangled. A process of’circulating reference’ [Latour, B., 1999. Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA] is identified in which rounds of simplification occur in relation to the representation of the genetic qualities of livestock animals. However, these attempts to simplify produce new complexities when livestock breeders attempt to make use of genetic knowledge-practices. Identifying different modes of complexity, the paper discusses their spatiality in terms of differences between genetic abstractions from animal bodies and breeders ‘multi-layered ‘lay’ knowledges of their livestock animals.     

Remaking white residential segregation: metropolitan diversity and neighborhood change in the United States

From 1990 to 2010, white tracts fell from 82% to 70% of all metropolitan tracts. This loss was concentrated among the most segregated white tracts – those with low diversity. White tracts that were moderately diverse actually doubled in number between 1990 and 2010 although this increase was insufficient to cancel the loss of low diversity white tracts. We model the effects of metropolitan characteristics on white-tract change by metropolitan area. Greater metropolitan-scale diversity increases the probability that low-diversity white tracts transition to moderate-diversity white. Moderately diverse white tracts, however, become more stable with increased diversity. A large metropolitan percentage of blacks or the foreign born reverses this stabilizing effect, increasing the probability that moderately diverse white tracts transition to non-white tracts. Overall, the results suggest a reconfiguration rather than a dissolving of white dominated neighborhood space in response to increased metropolitan area diversity.     

Smoke rings around supernova 1987a

Detailed observations of the [Oiii]5007 Å emission from the elliptical rings around SN 1987A suggest a model wherein the two faint, outer rings are due to emission from two circular toroids moving outwards (at 25 km s^–1) along a bipolar cone centred on the site of the supernova. The brighter, central ring is expanding radially outward at 8.3 km s^–1. The rings must have been created 2-3 × 10⁴ years before the supernova explosion and are thought to be a consequence of the interaction of stellar winds emanating from the progenitor system during the final stages of its evolution to a supernova.     

Extending the generality of ecological models to artificial floating habitats

Marine assemblages on natural hard substrata are generally different from those on artificial habitats. There is, however, the potential for certain ecological processes to operate on both types of structures. On the sides of floating pontoons in Sydney Harbour, there were strong patterns of vertical distribution of sessile epibiotic organisms and molluscan grazers across relatively small spatial scales (in three defined zones, namely splash, shallow and deep). Patterns of vertical distribution of the tubeworms Hydroides spp. were reversed depending on the cover of mussels. A manipulative experiment was done to test if patterns of vertical distribution of Hydroides spp. were due to (1) the functioning of mussels or (2) the structure provided by mussels. Neither the functioning nor structure of mussels accounted for the patterns of distribution of Hydroides spp. Mussels increased recruitment of Hydroides spp., in the shallow and deep zones, and this was not due to increased surface area of the mussel shells. Manipulation of numbers of grazers and covers of sessile epibiota showed that the observed negative relationship between grazers and epibiota was due to grazers reducing recruitment of epibiota and epibiota decreasing survival of grazers. Most importantly, processes that accounted for patterns of distribution of mobile and sessile organisms on artificial floating structures were similar to those repeatedly shown to create such patterns on natural rocky shores.     

“Henry's law” behaviour of Sm in a natural plagioclase/melt system: Importance of experimental procedure

We report an experimental study of the partitioning of Sm in a natural plagioclase/melt system as a function of concentration of Sm at constant pressure, temperature and bulk composition. Both radioactive ¹⁵¹Sm and non-radioactive Sm₂O₃ were used. In experiments in which the sample was initially held at a temperature above the liquidus for only one hour, we find that the plagioclase/ melt partition coefficient for Sm increases with decreasing concentration of Sm. There is also evidence for isotopic heterogeneity in the initially molten charge. In experiments in which the sample was initially held at the same temperature above the liquidus for 24 hours, the partition coefficient was constant as a function of concentration and no evidence for isotopic heterogeneity was observed. These experiments indicate that partition coefficients obtained from experiments involving tracer isotopes are very sensitive to experimental procedure. Our experiments also indicate that the partition coefficient for Sm between plagioclase and melt is constant over the range 3 to 50,000 ppm Sm in the melt. That range encompasses most concentrations in natural systems.     

Anhydrous partial melting of an iron-rich mantle II: primary melt compositions at 15 kbar

Primary melt and coexisting mineral compositions, at increasing degrees of partial melting at 15 kbar, were determined for an iron-rich martian mantle composition, DW. The composition of primary melts near the solidus was determined with basalt-peridotite sandwich experiments. In order to evaluate the approach of the liquids to equilibrium with a DW mantle assemblage, experiments were also performed to establish the liquidus mineralogy of the primary melts. Primary melt compositions produced from an iron-rich mantle are more picritic than those produced from an iron-poor mantle. By increasing the iron content of a model mantle composition (decreasing the mg#, where mg# = atomic [Mg/(Mg+Fe²⁺)^*100]), picritic and komatiitic magmas result at lower percentages of melting and at temperatures closer to the solidus than in an iron-poor mantle. Terrestrial iron-rich primitive volcanics may be the partial melting products of iron-rich, mg# 80, source regions. The DW partial melting results support the conclusion of previous authors that the parent magmas of the SNC (shergottites, nakhlites, chassignites) meteorites were derived from a source region that had been previously depleted in an aluminous phase.