Genetic Diversity in Marine Molluscs: A Test of the Niche-Width Variation Hypothesis

Abstract. A test of the niche width variation hypothesis was conducted in the three Mediterranean littoral species of the family Trochidae: Monodonta turbinata, M. turbiformis and Gibbula richardi. Allozymic variation encoded by 26 gene loci was analyzed, and the levels of polymorphism (P), heterozygosity (H) and allele diversity per locus (A) were estimated and appear to support the niche-width variation hypothesis. The broad-niche species, M. turbiformis and G. richardi are more polymorphic and heterozygous than the relatively narrow-niche M. turbinata (P = 0.571; 0.731 and 0.417; H = 0.108; 0.116 and 0.078; A = 2.025; 2.489 and 1.965, respectively).     

Reflections on a White Discipline

Utilizing a partially autobiographical format, this article considers the practice and study of race within geography. I argue that the overwhelmingly white composition of the discipline has very real implications for both individual experiences and our intellectual production and disciplinary culture. I explore these issues by drawing on my own experiences as a Chicana within geography, and by examining the extent to which one area of research, environmental justice, has engaged questions of race and the consequences of that engagement. I conclude with some general remarks on what it might take to significantly diversify geography.     

The Spaces of Conservation and Development around Lake Nakuru National Park,Kenya

Geographically or sociologically defined resource management units, such as buffer zones or community resource management territories, seek to harmonize local land–use practices with protected–area management objectives. The geographically restricted nature of these models often results in simplistic representations of society–nature relations over time and space. Conservation areas are misrepresented as ecologically and socially homogeneous, as well as politically neutral. This study examines the limits of a spatially defined conservation and development project designed around the physical geographical unit of the watershed at Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. It argues that politically motivated violence that has plagued the area since the early 1990s has severely undermined the suitability of such narrowly defined conservation territories. Specifically, the case study points to the permeability of the Lake Nakuru watershed to national and regional political forces that ultimately constrain participation in conservation activities. The spaces of conservation and development must be enlarged to include these extralocal arenas and processes if environmental problems are to be effectively addressed.     

Markets, ethnicity and environment in a vulnerable landscape: the case of small-scale vegetable production on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria, 1991–2001

This paper explores changing socio-environmental interactions in the vegetable producing areas of the Jos Plateau over the decade 1991–2001. It considers the pressures of market forces and ethnic competition and the tensions which arise as interactions between the two are played out in a fragile physical, social and institutional environment. The region has seen a remarkable expansion in irrigated vegetable production, as dry season surveys in 1991 and 2001 attest. Local farmers appear extremely positive in their perceptions of change, pointing not only to expanded production, but also to other improvements, like growing percentages of children in school and improved transport. But behind this rosy view of change there are tensions and a series of unresolved questions which may soon have to be addressed. We examine the changing nature of socio-environmental interactions over the decade and ask whether and how current levels of production can be sustained in the context of a currently largely unregulated production system and growing competition for land. Given the important role of the Plateau as a source of temperate fruit and vegetables in West Africa, these questions have significance far beyond the Plateau region itself.     

BELGIAN SETTLEMENT AND SOCIETY IN THE INDIANA RUST BELT*

ABSTRACT. At first glance the industrial city of Mishawaka, near the northern border of Indiana, appears to be ethnically homogeneous. Closer examination, however, reveals the rich ethnic heritage of Mishawaka, as it does in so many other Rust Belt cities from Pittsburgh to Chicago. One of the most fascinating of these immigrant stories is the rise of Belgian Town, on Mishawaka's southwest side. This study examines residential, commercial, and social patterns of this evolving ethnic community during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Although industrial jobs attracted immigrants to the city, creation of a Flemish Catholic church provided the foundation on which to build a tightly knit Belgian community.     

The current ethnic panorama in Bulgaria

Although a constant trickle of outmigrants and several larger waves (mostly to Turkey) are characteristic for the modern history of Bulgaria, its ethnic composition was relatively stable. The ethnic Bulgarians are a clear majority, the largest minority groups being in descending order the Turks, Roma (Gypsies), the Muslim Bulgarians and several much smaller groups. The geographical patterns of distribution have been analysed. Over time, the policies of the Bulgarian state towards the minority groups have been varying between benevolence and restriction measures. The ethnocultural communities have worked out moduses of co-existence preventing the escalation of conflicts at the local level.     

开封市的城市生态位变化分析

城市生态位作为生态学重要理论之一,用于分析城市生态不同功能模块间竞争、演化等现象。通过以开封市不同功能模块为研究对象,在各模块污染指数和适宜度指数的基础上,运用生态位理论和方法,探讨改革开放以来,特别是近十年来开封市不同功能模块生态位格局变化规律,并对变化的原因进行了分析。研究结果表明：(1) 1994~2003年开封市自然生态环境系统各模块生态位呈上升趋势的有大气环境模块、城市绿化模块,而呈下降趋势的有水环境模块、声环境模块。(2) 1994~2003年开封市经济系统各模块生态位呈上升趋势的是第三产业模块,呈下降趋势的是第二产业模块,而变化不大的是第一产业模块。(3) 1994~2003年开封市社会系统各模块适宜度生态位呈上升趋势的有社会基础设施模块、社会资源配置模块、社会生产与保障模块,而呈下降趋势的只有人口模块。(4) 国家政策体制的改革是改革开放以来特别是近十年来开封市各功能模块生态位发生变化的最直接和最根本的原因。该研究不但对城市不同功能模块的宏观规划、经济发展和环境保护有具体的指导意义,而且对拓展城市生态学理论、研究复合生态系统的内在作用机制也同样具有重大的理论和现实意义。     

甘肃酒泉荒漠戈壁灌木群落优势物种生态位特征

了解物种利用资源和占据生态空间的能力,对维持完善和科学保育荒漠戈壁植物群落的多样性具有重要意义。在综合反映各生态因子作用的群落类型和海拔梯度组合而成的两条资源轴上,测度分析了甘肃酒泉荒漠戈壁灌木群落主要优势种的生态位特征。结果表明：(1)在群落类型和海拔梯度两条资源轴上,红砂（Reaumuria songarica）、泡泡刺（Nitraria sphaerocarpa）和合头草（Sympegma regelii）的重要值和生态位宽度均较大,说明这些物种适应能力强,能够较好地利用环境资源,分布范围大,作为荒漠戈壁灌木群落中的广域种具有重要的生态地位和作用。(2)荒漠戈壁优势物种间的生态位重叠值多数较小,在群落类型和海拔梯度资源轴上生态位重叠值小于0.5的分别占总种对的62.63%和77.89%。生态位宽度大的物种之间一般生态位重叠值较高,物种利用资源能力强且存在竞争关系;然而,生态位宽度较小的物种与其他物种之间的生态位重叠程度较低,不同物种在环境资源的需求上产生互补,可以和谐共存;生态位宽度小的物种之间生态位重叠值仍较高,物种分布呈斑块现象;因此,生态位重叠与生态位宽度之间无显著相关性。(3)荒漠戈壁优势物种间总体表现为不显著的正关联,表明该植被群落结构及其物种之间处于稳定共存的状态。     

A case study on Landscape Component Niche based on Landscape Pattern Indices: Yanchi,Ningxia Province,China

Yanchi County is located in the agro-pastoral ecotone and belongs to the ecologically fragile area of Northwest China.It is important to study the evolution of landscape pattern to curb its environmental degradation.In order to intuitively show how the landscape pattern of the study area changes over time,Landsat Thematic Mappers(TM)and Landsat Operational Land Imager(OLI)data of 1991,2000,2010 and 2017 were used.This paper attempts to apply niche theories and methods into landscape ecology,and constructs a niche model of landscape components by using"n-dimentional hypervolume niche theory"and landscape pattern indices.By evaluating the spatial and temporal evolution of niche from the perspective of two-dimensional space to reflect the changes of landscape pattern in the study area over the past 26 years,new theories and methods were introduced for the characterization of landscape pattern.The results indicate that:1)The larger the attribute and dominance value of landscape components,the higher the ecological niche and the stronger the control effect on the overall landscape.2)The ecological niche of each landscape component was significantly different,just as its control effect on the overall landscape.3)The dynamic change of the ecological niche of each landscape component was different,with grassland,unused land and arable land always in a high dominant position,although the ecological niche of construction land and water area was always low.In general,the introduction of niche theory into the landscape ecology provided a new method to study the changes in regional landscape pattern.