Survival under chronic stress from sediment load: spatial patterns of hard coral communities in the southern islands of Singapore

Six reef sites were chosen along the west coasts of Singapore's southern islands, to: (1) quantitatively assess and compare coral community composition and structure, and recruitment rates, (2) assess the relationship between the aforementioned patterns and the environmental conditions, and (3) provide insights on potential processes that incorporate history at these study sites. Chronic exposure to high sediment load was the most obvious form of anthropogenic stress. Recruitment rates on ceramic tiles were low (1.4+/-1.0-20+/-14.7 recruits m(-2)year(-1)) but decreased towards the main island of Singapore as did hard coral cover and coral density. Coral fauna consisted of genera generally found in deeper waters (e.g., fungiids, foliose Oxypora, Leptoseris, and Echinopora) or those well adapted to turbid waters (e.g., Porites, Pectinia, Leptastrea, Montipora). Light extinction coefficient (K) and % live coral cover (%LCC) showed a strong and inverse curvilinear relationship (%LCC=13.60 *K(-3.40)). Similarly, the rate of sediment deposition (DFSPM) (Recruitment rate, RR=1.51-0.17 *DFSPM) and water clarity (RR=3.56-2.92 *K) exhibited strong and inverse relationships with recruitment rates. Although measured levels of the down-ward flux of suspended particulate matter and suspended solids were well within "normal" levels recorded in the literature, it was the proportion of benthic space, generic coral composition, and site history that offered compelling evidence of chronic exposure to increased sediment load. Clearly a reduction in both water clarity and live-coral cover has taken place since monitoring efforts began in the early 1970s, in fact coral cover has more than halved at all sites examined since the 1980s and benthic space was predominantly occupied by dead corals covered with sediment and filamentous algae.     

George J. Miller award for Distinguished Service

Abstract

With this paper, I elaborate the use of the movies American History X and Mi Familia in classroom settings to highlight issues of ethnicity and the social construction of identity through families and communities. Taken together, these movies draw attention to racial geographies of Los Angeles but in very different ways. I contrast the ways they involve familial reactions to geographies of exclusion and betrayal, and how racial space is structured through larger community and institutional relations. I speak to how these issues are broached in a large introductory, interdisciplinary class.     

Floribec: The life and death of a tourism-based transnational community

The authors outline how a tourist destination can morph into a tourism-based transnational community. A three-phase model is designed to explore the touristification process of a transnational community. The phases are the adoption of a tourist destination, the transformation of the destination into a tourism-based transnational community, and decline under real estate and ageing population pressures.     

Competing rationalities in water conflict: Mining and the indigenous community in Chiu Chiu,El Loa Province,northern Chile

Conflict over water is a significant phenomenon in many parts of the world where globally linked neoliberal economic activities encroach on the lands of indigenous peoples. This case study from Chile examines how water scarcity affecting indigenous agricultural communities in the Chilean Altiplano has been exacerbated by legally sanctioned mining‐related practices. Notably, the legal framing of the 1981 Water Code promotes private ownership of water rights and enhanced mining activity usually at the expense of the ancestral territorial rights of indigenous communities. In the case of the Atacameño community of Chiu Chiu, a serious decrease in subsistence and agriculture production has been suffered as a consequence of reduced flow in the Loa River, resulting from the water intensive needs and extraction practices of the nearby Chuquicamata mine owned by Codelco, the National Copper Corporation of Chile. Via an analysis of the political ecology of competing rationalities this paper explores how an economic rationality based on utilitarian and reductionist thinking manifested by Codelco has taken precedence locally over a socionatural rationality grounded in holistic thinking and sustainability concerns as articulated by the Chiu Chiu community.     

Rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment

This paper reviews and synthesizes findings from scholarly work on linkages among rural household demographics, livelihoods and the environment. Using the livelihood approach as an organizing framework, we examine evidence on the multiple pathways linking environmental variables and the following demographic variables: fertility, migration, morbidity and mortality, and lifecycles. Although the review draws on studies from the entire developing world, we find the majority of microlevel studies have been conducted in either marginal (mountainous or arid) or frontier environments, especially Amazonia. Though the linkages are mediated by many complex and often context-specific factors, there is strong evidence that dependence on natural resources intensifies when households lose human and social capital through adult morbidity and mortality, and qualified evidence for the influence of environmental factors on household decision-making regarding fertility and migration. Two decades of research on lifecycles and land cover change at the farm level have yielded a number of insights about how households make use of different land-use and natural resource management strategies at different stages. A thread running throughout the review is the importance of managing risk through livelihood diversification, ensuring future income security, and culture-specific norms regarding appropriate and desirable activities and demographic responses. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

南海北部台西南盆地973-4岩芯碳的地球化学特征

对南海北部台西南盆地天然气水合物潜在区(973-4岩芯)碳的形态、含量和稳定同位素组成进行了分析,并探讨了成岩环境因素和细菌种群与碳地球化学行为的关系。结果显示:(1)TOC含量为0.4%~1.3%,δ~(13)CTOC为–26.7‰~–23.9‰,说明973-4岩芯主要为陆源有机质,能够满足微生物产甲烷的需要;DIC和δ~(13)CIC的垂向变异及其显著负相关,指示:973-4岩芯560~890 cm深度段有SO42–驱动的AOM反应。(2)p H、Eh、沉积物粒径等成岩环境参数与TOC、IC、δ~(13)CTOC、δ~(13)CIC等碳地化参数显著相关。(3)细菌种群与DIC、δ~(13)CIC显著相关。结论认为:(1)973-4岩芯碳的地化行为与天然气水合物成藏存在明显响应关系。(2)成岩环境参数的垂向变异与碳的地球化学特征密切相关。(3)细菌种群对碳的地化参数变异有着显著影响。     

Downstream effects of dams on livelihoods of river-dependent communities: the case of Ghana’s Kpong Dam

Construction of dams affects the livelihoods of the population living along the dammed river. There is a need for more studies to guide dam development policies and management to safeguard the livelihoods of local river users. This paper examines the effects of dams on the socio-economic livelihoods of downstream communities by drawing on the Kpong Dam in Ghana constructed from 1979 to 1982 with the goal of supplying energy and for irrigation purposes. Primary data were collected in resettled and non-resettled downstream communities using a mixed-research approach. This case study highlights how the Kpong Dam has affected the downstream river-dependent population whose livelihoods, particularly farming and fishing revolved around the seasonal flow regimes of the Volta River. Our study challenges the general perception that dams increase agricultural production by illustrating that developing ancillary facilities such as irrigation schemes as part of dam projects can enhance all-year-round agricultural production to improve food and income security of downstream households only when constraints such as lack of farm inputs are addressed. To safeguard livelihoods and limit the social impacts of dams, compensation schemes and alternative livelihood activities should be designed to include resettled and non-resettled communities along the downstream areas affected by dam projects.     

The Influence of Community Size and Location on Different Dimensions of Vulnerability: a case study of Australian coastal communities

ABSTRACT

Coastal communities are part of the Australian identity but little is known about their characteristics and their long-term prosperity prospects. Increased migration to coastal areas and increased exposure to extreme climatic events indicates a need for social and economic data to inform socio-ecological systems planning. Here, we undertake a geo-spatial analysis to develop a typology of Australian coastal communities and assess relative vulnerability to climate-driven environmental change for a range of social and economic indicators. The aim of this study is to understand how the vulnerability of Australian coastal communities varies with geographic location or community size, and in comparison to other community types. Results show that both the population size and location of a coastal community matter and that coastal communities overall are more vulnerable on some socio-economic dimensions to climate-driven environmental change than their rural equivalents. However, results also demonstrate that the smallest coastal communities are strong in some important aspects of the human, social and financial domains, putting them in a good position to deal with some changes. Scale-appropriate and context-specific social policies are needed to address identified socio-economic vulnerabilities, supported by a range of formal and informal institutional structures, such as strategies to improve education and female workforce participation, and encourage participation in volunteering to increase human and social capital.     

Exploring a New Regionalism-Based Approach to Managing Drinking Water Systems in Rural Regions

Rural regions face many challenges when managing drinking water systems. Current management approaches lack the ability to deal with the complexity that surrounds these infrastructure systems and the critical service they provide, in particular, the links between these systems and the economy and environment. This research explores the potential for an alternative approach. The proposed new regionalism-based approach recognizes and accounts for the myriad of influencing factors, using different mechanisms to support and encourage drinking water systems in fulfilling their potential role in supporting regional resilience. Using a case study approach, data collected from semistructured interviews indicate that elements of the proposed approach are already in use within the Kootenay Development Region of British Columbia, Canada. Results indicate that while the need for an alternate management approach is recognized, and elements of the proposed approach are increasingly applied, substantive barriers remain, such as the existing institutional and jurisdictional structure.     

Debordering and rebordering in the residential borderlands of suburban Guangzhou

Gated communities and enclave urbanism in China have recently drawn considerable attention of researchers and policy makers. The integration of urban space is now even on the agenda of the Chinese Central Government. This article therefore sets out to advance our understanding of how exactly urban borders function and how they change over time. This is done by applying concepts of border theory to what may be called residential borderlands. The empirical study is conducted in two such borderlands between gated communities and suburban villages in southern Guangzhou. It is based on over 70 qualitative interviews and the observation of spatial behaviour at the respective borders. Both debordering and rebordering processes are found to occur with regards to three dimensions: cross-border mobility, cross-border social connectivity and symbolic border functions. The identified dynamic processes at the neighbourhood borders are embedded in the overall urban spatial reconfiguration of Guangzhou.