The Evolution of Peat‐Swamp Channels and Organic Floodplains,Barrington Tops,New South Wales,Australia

Geomorphology, geochronology and palynology are used to assess the development and stability of two channelled swamps on the Barrington Tops plateau. While both swamps commenced peat accumulation prior to about 4000 cal BP, new stratigraphic data indicate incision between 700 and 1000 cal BP, in response to regional climate change. Two broad stratigraphic units are identified in each swamp: the upper floodplain, comprised entirely of peat, and the inset floodplain, underlain by interbedded peat and fluvial sediments. Following incision, rapid vertical growth of the inset floodplain occurred on the Barrington River between 690 and 620 cal BP, and palynological data indicate a change from more saturated pre‐incision swamp flora to less saturated post‐incision swamp flora. Bankfull stage‐height, achieved many times in a year, is remarkably consistent along the length of each swamp channel. Its elevation controls the overall elevation of the swamps by controlling the height of the water‐table and hence the growth of swamp vegetation and formation of peat. In particular, contemporary channel dimensions control the growth and height of the inset floodplain, a process that results in the formation of an organic floodplain not previously described in the geomorphic literature.     

The World's Water Resources and their Changes Over Space and Time

A moisture cycle of 1800 to 2000 years has been established for the earth as a whole, and the present period represents a transition from a wet to a dry phase in which the amount of water in oceans is gradually increasing at the expense of water from the land surface. Runoff fluctuations on the land surface also follow cycles of varying duration. It has been established that wet periods in some sections of the earth's surface are always matched by dry periods elsewhere. A definite geographic localization of zones of synchronous and asynchronous runoff fluctuations can be used in long-range runoff forecasts, which are needed for water-budget and waterpower-potential calculations. Prospects for future elimination of the disproportion between water needs and water resources are suggested. Steps to overcome the growing pollution problem are also proposed.     

Syrian refugee resettlement and the role of local immigration partnerships in Ontario,Canada

We examine Canada's recent Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative (SRRI) paying close attention to the resettlement role played by mid‐sized urban communities. We elaborate on a key policy dimension at work at this scale of action: local immigration partnerships (LIPs). We start with a very brief review of Canada's history of mass refugee resettlement. Second, we assess the policy of LIPs, particularly how they have been presented as a form of “place‐based policy,” and third, we offer an overview of the role the LIPs played in three case study communities (Hamilton, Ottawa, and Waterloo) during the SRRI. Finally, we present three overarching themes that emerged from our research in each of these communities: the importance of each community's history of immigration and refugee resettlement; the embeddedness of the LIP and its leadership in the local community; and how the positioning of each LIP relative to the three levels of government and its official Resettlement Assistance Program agreement holders impacted its ability to act. The history, location, and place characteristics of each community influenced the nature of intersectoral and intergovernmental relations in distinctive ways, and differentially shaped the effectiveness of each LIP's ability to contribute to the SRRI.     

Hillslope Runoff and Soil Erosion Following Reforestation in the Copper Basin,Tennessee, USA

The landscape of the 130 km² Copper Basin, in the southeastern USA, became extremely degraded during more than a century of logging, mining, acidification, grazing, and fire. In the twentieth century, the Copper Basin became the focus of a series of reforestation programs and is now largely tree‐covered again. To investigate the effects of over 50 years of reforestation efforts, we developed a space‐for‐time substitution and conducted rainfall simulation experiments in ‘forest’ patches of various ages, at sites remaining unvegetated, and at forested reference sites outside the basin. At 59 sites, we monitored surface runoff and sediment detachment rates during 30‐minute rainfall simulation experiments; and at 54 of those sites, we determined soil organic matter content. Then, we measured litter and observed soils at 25 of the sites, and measured soil respiration at a site in each age zone. The results demonstrate that soil erosion by sediment detachment decreases within a decade following reforestation. Recently reforested sites have soils with significantly less organic matter and have higher runoff rates than forests more than 50 years old. The long‐term persistence of low infiltration rates suggests that, at sites where the A and B soil horizons and the biological health of the soil have been lost, restoration of the hydrologic function of a landscape by reforestation may require centuries.     

Non-marine ostracods from two Quaternary profiles at Pulbeena and Mowbray Swamps,Tasmania

Two spring-fed swamp deposits in northwestern Tasmania which contain non-marine ostracods are characterized by an alternation of marl, peaty marl and peaty layers: the Pulbeena Swamp deposit (4.80 m thick) was formed over approximately the last 80,000 years, and Mowbray Swamp (2 m thick) over about the last 110,000 years. Fifteen ostracod species have been recovered from 179 samples: three are new, three are in open nomenclature and the others have living representatives.

The ostracod data compared with pollen curves for both sites demonstrate, for most levels, a good correlation between the abundance of ostracods and that of Cyperaceae and Potamogeton-Triglochin pollen. This implies that ostracods can be successfully used as indicators of different water regimes for spring-fed swamps. Comparison of the ostracod fauna from the two Tasmanian sites is also made with that of other known Australian and New Zealand swamp deposits.     

The Australian Summer Monsoon: a Biogeographic Perspective

Knowledge of the climatological processes that drive the Australian summer monsoon and the ecological consequences of this highly predictable seasonal cycle of wet summers and dry winters has greatly increased over the last several decades. Nonetheless, remarkably little is known about the antiquity of this climate system or how the geographic extent and duration of the monsoon have varied across temporal scales from the recent to the distant geological past. Late Pleistocene sedimentary records from lakes in the interior and north of the Australian continent have been used as a measure of the strength of the palaeo–monsoon. However, in the case of the inland lakes this approach is confounded because it is known that under the contemporary climate, full–lake conditions occur infrequently in response to high rainfall following either a strongly positive ENSO phenomenon (la Nina conditions) or following the continental incursion of tropical depressions. While the general absence of sedimentary and fossil records of the early Pleistocene and late Tertiary prevents elucidation of the timing of onset of the summer monsoon, the degree of biological adaptation of a diverse assemblage of organisms to the wet–dry tropical climate suggests that the summer monsoon climate is of great antiquity. This point is substantiated by a brief review of the ecophysiology of a range of Eucalyptus savanna plant species, the biophysics of the endemic ‘magnetic’ termite mounds and the reproductive cycle of a freshwater turtle. Assuming that the configuration of land and sea is of critical importance in controlling the strength of the Australian summer monsoon, then the notion of great antiquity of the monsoon is also consistent with the fact that for much of the Quaternary, and probably also during the late Tertiary, the relative extent of sea and land has been similar to that of today. The reliable, dry season, southeasterly trade winds create conditions favouring widespread, frequent bushfires. Under both European and Aboriginal management regimes most fires are started by people, although fires can be started by rain–free thunderstorms that occur during the transition between the dry and wet season when intense convection storms are common. Prior to human colonisation such storms would have been an important ignition source for landscape fires, and this may help explain why the north Australian biota is so remarkably tolerant of recurrent fires. The general absence of fossil evidence also frustrates attempts to determine what effect burning by late–Pleistocene human colonisation had on the north Australian landscapes. Given the tolerance of biota to fire, this change may have only affected vegetation structure. Therefore the effect may be very difficult to detect from the pollen record once suitable longer–term records become available. The isotopic signature in extinct and extant ratite eggshells from late Pleistocene sediments in the Lake Eyre basin has been used to infer the destruction of large expanses of woody vegetation by anthropic burning. It has been hypothesised that this changed the hydrological cycle thereby ultimately weakening the continental penetration of the summer monsoon. However, this interpretation is difficult to sustain given the great difficulty in extracting a clear ‘signal’ of an anthropic impact from the inherent variability and fragmentary record of the palaeo–summer monsoon.     

Une histoire de résidus : à propos des facteurs généraux et locaux de croissance régionale au Canada,de 1971 à 2001

Starting from an econometric model of local employment growth, applied to Canada (1971–2001), residuals—relative to model predictions—are analyzed over time and over space, in turn allowing us to draw a distinction between general explanatory variables and factors of a more local, cyclical or accidental nature. The model's explanatory power grows over time, founded on variables such as urban size, market access and industrial structure, allowing us to conclude that local employment growth in Canada follows an increasingly geographically predictable pattern. However, an examination of the residuals reveals more localized processes. Growth volatility is most manifest in Alberta and British Columbia, home to the most erratic local economies. Emerging patterns are visible in the last period, most notably the underperformance of Northern Ontario and of non‐metropolitan communities between Windsor and Québec City, lying along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. The over‐performance—compared to model predictions — of small and mid‐sized towns in south‐eastern Québec can, on the other hand, be interpreted as a sign of truly local social processes, generally associated with a particularly dynamic local entrepreneurial class.     

The role of local immigration partnerships in Syrian refugee resettlement in Waterloo Region,Ontario

As of January 29, 2017 Canada had received 40,081 Syrian refugees. The scale and scope of this resettlement is historic, with the only comparable event being the arrival of 60,000 Indo‐Chinese refugees in the late 1970s. Since that time, much has changed in local resettlement policy. This research focuses on one component of these changes—the role of Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) in Syrian refugee resettlement—through a case study of an official refugee reception centre in the Waterloo Region of Ontario and a series of interviews with key informants from multiple sectors involved in resettlement. Results indicate Waterloo's LIP playing a sizable role, but not acting as the sole response body to refugee resettlement. Nevertheless, participants saw the LIP as a crucial part of Waterloo's resettlement efforts. Despite being a product of a tri‐level intergovernmental agreement, the LIP played a central role in shaping a local strategy by using local solutions. LIPs represent an example of place‐based policy that worked well during the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative, but LIPs’ success may set a challenging precedent for future mass refugee resettlement events.     

Variabilité et fréquence des cycles de gel‐dégel dans la région de Québec, 1977–2006

Freeze‐thaw cycles are most common at the beginning or near the end of the winter season. These cycles have various effects on the ecosystems of Eastern Canada, affecting both biotic and abiotic components of temperate cold environments. Using air temperature minima and maxima from four meteorological stations close to Québec City, we determined the frequency of daily freeze‐thaw cycles for the last 30 years. The results show no significant increase in the number of freeze‐thaw cycles despite a small increase in air temperature. Polynomial curves describing the relationship between mean air temperatures and the number of freeze‐thaw cycles were calculated. Based on these equations and anticipating a climate change scenario, we projected future freeze‐thaw cycles. Assuming a 5 °C increase in mean air temperatures by 2100, we estimated that the number of days with a freeze‐thaw cycle could increase by approximately 20 days per winter. The increase in the number of such cycles will be concentrated during the coldest months of the winter (January and February).     

Changing views in Canadian geomorphology: are we seeing the landscape for the processes?

Geomorphology in Canada, as elsewhere, has evolved into an essentially bipartite discipline focusing either on ‘process’ or broader ‘historical’ (Quaternary) landscape interpretation. A growing emphasis on process‐oriented research that relies increasingly on instrumentation and computational technologies has occurred. Critics of such research note limited applicability for landscape evolution, fashionability of methods and limited societal relevance. Indeed, some say we are not seeing the landscape for the processes. This article discusses the changing nature of geomorphology since the Quantitative Revolution of the 1950s including new advances, recent trends and challenges. Publication trends and recent advances suggest that the discipline is very healthy (following a slump in the early 1990s) and continues to evolve, which may reflect increasing research infrastructure and/or funding opportunities and new publications spotlighting Canadian research. Unfortunately, fundamental (less applied) research is threatened by funding program shifts, changing institutional pressures and a decline in research capacity from retirement attrition, and student recruitment challenges. Three research priorities are recommended: (1) continued fundamental research, (2) more integrated modelling to link micro scale processes to macro scale landform behaviour and (3) improvements in profiling our discipline amongst students and related professionals.     

On globalization,borders, and borderlands: A historical geographical perspective

Under current dialectical conditions of globalization and increased demands for security, borders are no longer just symbols of sovereignty and national histories; they are evolving into new forms and as such are taking on new functions. Yet while borders continue to exist and are arguably more fluid and dynamic than ever before, despite the once robust but now contested rhetoric of “a world without borders,” this doesn't mean that borders prior to the current phase of globalization were relatively static and stable. What is constant is the fact that borders and borderlands are always in a state of becoming and in this context, we need to address the relationship that exists between borderland evolution and the changing forces of globalization. This paper considers the important role that time‐space plays in globalization and borderland theory and in doing so emphasizes that any such effort must recognize the importance of historical geographical context. My argument is developed with reference to the Canadian‐American borderlands and the relationship between Canada and the United States that developed during the various phases of globalization that emerged after the creation of two North American polities following the American Revolution.     

Are new patterns of low‐income distribution emerging in Canadian metropolitan areas?

Recent studies on urban poverty in Canadian cities suggest a growing spatial concentration of poor populations within metropolitan regions. This article assesses trends in the intra‐urban distribution of the poor population from 1986 to 2006 in eight of Canada's largest cities. We consider five well‐known dimensions of segregation, as identified by Massey and Denton (1988) , in order to examine changes in the spatial distribution of poor populations within metropolitan areas: evenness, exposure, concentration, clustering, and centralization. These indices were calculated for low‐income populations at the census tract level using data from five Canadian censuses. Although each metropolitan area has distinctive characteristics, we were able to identify some general trends. The results suggest that, in 2006 compared to 1986, low‐income populations lived in more spatially concentrated areas, which were, at the same time, socioeconomically more homogeneous and more dispersed throughout the metropolitan area. In addition, we observed that over the last twenty years areas of poverty have been located, for the most part, in neighbourhoods adjacent to downtown cores. Nevertheless, we found that poverty has mostly increased in suburban areas located outside inner‐city neighbourhoods. Growing socioeconomic homogeneity and dispersion of low income areas in metropolitan areas reveal new spatial patterns of urban poverty distribution. These findings should be cause for concern as social isolation in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods could affect the life chances and opportunities for the residents of those areas.     

Methods for assessing stormwater management at archaeological sites: Copan Ruins case study

Archaeological sites may be discovered by fortuitous soil erosion, but their protection requires deliberative stormwater management plans and estimates of runoff volumes. This paper uses the Maya site of Copan, Honduras to demonstrate widely applicable methods to estimate runoff, including use of satellite rainfall data processed by single parameter models. Our analysis compares present day estimates of runoff and erosion with those of two historic periods, 900 A.D during peak Maya occupation of the Great Plaza, and 1800 A.D. prior to excavation when the site was mostly forest covered. For each period, the watershed area, soil, land cover, and rainfall data were used with a single parameter Curve Number model to estimate the runoff volume for annual to decadal storms. The maximum runoff depth and erosive potential in conveyance channels was then computed with the HEC-RAS model. The models did not predict runoff would occur for the forested period of 1800 A.D., but predicted that runoff for 900 and post-1800 A.D was large enough to cause the erosion observed in the drainage channel today. Our results provide runoff magnitudes that demonstrate the need for Copan Maya designed stormwater removal infrastructure described in earlier archaeological analysis. The need for stormwater removal was also designed into the wet Maya site of Palenque, while stormwater capture and storage was designed into the Maya sites of Tikal, a drier site due to local drainage characteristics and water availability. Methods used in stormwater runoff analysis can empower communities and managers to develop scientifically and culturally appropriate non-structural management methods to conserve archaeological sites.     

Use of repeat house sales to measure changes since the early‐ or mid‐1980s in two inner‐city neighbourhoods in Windsor,Ontario

Changes in the prices of homes and the reasons for those changes may be more accurately predicted from repeat sales of the same homes after controlling for their changed attributes and differences in time between their sales and resales. This paper analyzes 346 of 583 sold houses in the Glengarry neighbourhood in Windsor, Ontario, that were sold more than once between 1981 and mid‐2017, and a corresponding 414 of 737 sold houses in the city's Wellington‐Crawford neighbourhood, sold more than once between 1986 and mid‐2017. After comparing types of resold homes with once‐sold ones, a repeat sales model predicts a first period of increasing annual percentage changes in resale prices compared to sale prices during the 1980s, followed by a second period of stagnation and possible decreases until 2011, and then increases during a third period after that. In addition, changes in resold homes’ attributes of the dwelling unit and neighbourhood are a second type of neighbourhood change in two inner‐city neighbourhoods during the past 30 or more years.     

NDVI variation and its relation to climate in Canadian ecozones

Parks Canada began the Northern Satellite Monitoring Program in 1997, with the objective of tracking large‐scale vegetation variation in Canadian ecosystems and helping land managers to develop appropriate management practices in response to climate change. Under this program, a sequence of 10‐day composite Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)‐derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 1985 to 2007 was examined to study seasonal and inter‐annual relationships between vegetation and climate data over Canadian ecosystems using statistical and wavelet analysis. Statistical analysis showed that temperature was the principal driver for seasonal variability in greenness, explaining more than 70 percent of seasonal variation in vegetation for most Canadian ecozones. In comparison with temperature, the relationships between NDVI and precipitation were weaker but still significant. Maximum annual NDVI showed increasing trends in Canadian ecozones during the study period, although increasing rates were spatially heterogeneous. Wavelet analysis confirmed that inter‐annual variation in NDVI was different at two ecozones in Canada. NDVI variation in the Northern Arctic was significant at scales of 3–4 years from 1997 to 2001, which was associated with temperature and precipitation variation. Comparatively, NDVI variation in the Boreal Shield was significant at scales of 5–8 years from 1991 to 1999, but did not correspond with climate variation.     

Syrian refugee resettlement: A case study of local response in Hamilton,Ontario

This paper examines the response by local government and stakeholders to the arrival and resettlement of Syrian newcomers in Hamilton, Ontario in 2015 and 2016—the first major wave of refugee arrivals since two significant changes in Hamilton's settlement organizational landscape. The creation of a local immigration partnership called the Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council (HIPC) is an example of place‐based policymaking within local immigration and settlement in Canada. Place‐based approaches emerged to bypass top‐down policy ineffectiveness, and the shift to empower civic participation in the local decision‐making process is seen as one solution to public policy innovations. Examination of HIPC's role in this context is thus critical to understand the challenges and learnings encountered in one place‐based setting. Our findings suggest that the lack of power (in terms of information, communication, resources, and funding) led to a missed opportunity for HIPC to lead a significant resettlement initiative. HIPC's inability to bring together key partners across the sector prior to and during the event is symptomatic of systemic barriers the Council had faced, including competing interpretations of HIPC and its role by its members. This study suggests the effectiveness of place‐based policy is not without its nuances, and iterative challenges and learnings.     

Mapping international flows of electronic waste

In this paper, we map the international trade in electronic waste (e‐waste). We quantify the directions and magnitude of this trade at the global scale and examine the utility of the pollution haven hypothesis for explaining the observed trade patterns. Our results demonstrate four key findings: the international trade in e‐waste is a more complex story than being one about ‘rich’ countries dumping waste in ‘poor’ countries; the trade in e‐waste is highly regionalized, with intra‐regional trade accounting for most of the total trade flows; the pollution haven hypothesis is an important, but partial, explanation of observed trade patterns; and there is a need to conceptualize the trade and traffic of e‐waste as open ended and contingent processes facilitated by situated practices of wasting and valuing that rely on geographic difference and mobility for the exchanges between the domains of waste and value to occur.     

Trends in the residential mobility of seniors in Canada, 1961–2006

This article examines residential mobility for seniors 65 years of age and older in Canada using census data from 1961–2006. We addressed three questions. First, have seniors been increasingly likely to change their residential location within Canada or alternatively become increasingly likely to age‐in‐place? Second, has the in‐migration of seniors to Canada from other countries become more pronounced over the years? Third, does the residential mobility of seniors vary by age and sex? We used census data to calculate the percentages of seniors who changed their residence in the five‐year periods prior to each of the 1961–2006 censuses and the percentages of seniors who moved in the previous year for the 1991–2006 censuses. We calculated the percentages of seniors making local moves, longer distance moves within the same province, moves from one province to another, and moves to Canada from another country. We found that rates of residential mobility for seniors tended to increase in the 1961–1981 period but have been lower and relatively consistent from 1986–2006. We found no evidence to suggest a pattern of sustained increase in residential mobility of seniors. We conclude that Canadian seniors tend to age‐in‐place and that when seniors do change residence, the likelihood of residential mobility decreases with the distance of the move and decreases with age. Nevertheless, the likelihood of changing residence may increase for seniors 75+ years of age who need assistance and are at risk of institutionalization. We found that senior women were more likely to change residence locally than senior men. Finally, we found that from 1961 to 2006 between 0.8 percent and 1.4 percent of seniors had migrated to Canada in the five years prior to each census from other countries and that this pattern has fluctuated over the past half century with no clear trend.     

Ambitious deep energy retrofits of buildings to accelerate the 1.5°C energy transition in Canada

Scientists advise limiting global warming to 1.5°C with substantial actions by 2030. Our viewpoint argues that climate response strategies in Canada have underemphasized and underestimated the potential contribution deep energy retrofits can make to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, leading to inadequate responses in the building sector, and that Canada can (and should) be ambitious with building retrofits over the next decade. GHG savings from building retrofits can be realized more quickly than GHG reductions from other sectors, and either deliver net cost savings or are cost‐effective when compared to other mitigation measures. Retrofits can also provide social and economic benefits, such as improved health and comfort, and lower energy costs. This paper reviews energy use and building retrofits in Canada and argues the following should be implemented: (1) focus innovation on deep energy retrofit processes, not singular retrofit actions; (2) maximize both social and environmental benefits; (3) improve data gathering and availability for analysis and delivery; (4) innovate for a process of decisions and to avoid “dropouts” during the retrofit process; and (5) focus innovation on business models that maximize benefits.     

Inter‐Indigenous development aid: markets,corporations, and biases

The Canadian government and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council sponsored a forest extraction corporation in eastern Nicaragua that restructured 16 Miskitu and Mayangna villages and transformed local human‐environment interactions. The Central American aid project demonstrated paternalistic and interventionist tendencies and exposed biases in inter‐Indigenous aid that rendered it inseparable from conventional aid. This case encourages reflection on social and ecological impacts from the marketing of collective resources, the creation of Indigenous development corporations, and the decision‐making criteria and processes driving foreign aid. The case study demonstrates how foreign aid programs targeting Indigenous Peoples may actually thwart the self‐determination that they set out to encourage. Aid agencies and business partners, who had limited knowledge of local cultures and institutions, created externally defined rules that instigated resource conflicts and undermined the authority of customary leaders without resolving poverty or uneven development.