Peatland conservation in Buchan,north‐east Scotland: The historic context and contemporary issues

Scottish peatlands are now recognised as important habitats for conservation, and are increasingly protected by both national and international designations. This paper examines peatland conservation in north‐east Scotland, using recently published data to assess habitat quality, and relating this to longer‐term historical trends in attitudes towards peatlands, and their utilisation. The historical data indicates that peatland losses in northeast Scotland have been extensive, and occurred rapidly during the 18th and 19th centuries, when peatlands were regarded as fuel sources, or wastelands which could be converted to agricultural use. Threats have lessened in the second half of the 20th century, and many sites are now protected by conservation designations. However, historical attitudes towards peatlands often persist, and this can pose problems which must be addressed if conservation management is to be successful.     

Rewilding – A New Paradigm for Nature Conservation in Scotland?

Abstract

Rewilding is a strategy for the conservation of complete, self-sustaining ecosystems, primarily involving the protection and, where necessary, reintroduction, of populations of keystone species in large, connected reserve networks. A potential method of preserving ecosystem functions and biodiversity, it is now receiving a great deal of practical and political attention, particularly in North America. In Scotland, where many native species have been extirpated in the relatively recent past, rewilding has clear relevance and may provide an overarching set of objectives for current programmes of native woodland restoration and species reintroductions. Nevertheless, rewilding is not widely used as a term or strategy in Scottish conservation. This review considers the development of the concept and its possible application in Scotland, and identifies substantial scope for rewilding, in terms of the restoration and protection of large areas of wild land, and of the reintroduction of native species which have been driven to extinction by human activity. As the environmental, social and economic benefits which are likely to result from a programme of rewilding in Scotland outweigh the potential drawbacks, the adoption of rewilding is recommended as one aim of environmental policy.     

On the Lower Units of a Zoogeographical Regionalization

A lower-level zoogeographical regionalization of Northern Europe is proposed on the basis of the distribution of 50 species and subspecies of typical freshwater fishes and anadromous fishes native to the region. European species are found to give way gradually to Siberian species from west to east. A detailed zoogeographical regionalization for freshwater fishes has practical use because it meets the planning needs of inland fisheries, which are greatly dependent on the distributional patterns of the ichthyofauna. In general, lower-level zoogeographical regional units can be established only for organisms distinguished by a relatively low level of vagility, the capacity to move freely about. For highly vagile species, only more generalized regional units can be established.     

从鱼鸟相战到鱼鸟相融──仰韶文化鱼鸟彩陶图试析

在仰韶文化彩陶图中,有一些是鱼鸟纹同绘于一件器物之上。本文通过综合分析,认为其中反映了仰韶文化不同支系之间社会集团的相互关系。即“鱼”集团与“鸟”集团之间的战争与融合。     

Neolithic fish remains from the freshwater shell midden Riņņukalns in northern Latvia

The Neolithic site Ri??ukalns in the Lake Burtnieks/River Salaca area in northern Latvia is the only freshwater shell midden in the eastern Baltic Sea area. An excavation carried out in 2011 revealed an intact stratigraphy with alternating layers of unburnt and burnt mussel shells and yielded various kinds of archaeological finds, among them several thousand fish remains. To gain an understanding of the fish species and specimens caught by the Neolithic settlers, and to discern any temporal development in the fish species composition, we analysed fish remains from different sections and layers. Results from both the archaeozoological and stable isotope data, give evidence for a change in the relevance of fish species during the period of use, and they also provide information for reconstructing the former river and lake hydrology in the vicinity of the midden. The Stone Age landscape seems to have been very similar to the present situation, so that the study area has been an extraordinarily stable ecosystem for more than 5000 years. Comparisons with the results of recent monitoring programmes, long-term changes since Medieval times, and written sources from the 18th century, show that the fish species community is almost unchanged since the Stone Age. This underlines the importance of the region in nature conservation.     

The politics of wetlandscape: fishery heritage and natural conservation in Hong Kong

The north‐western part of Hong Kong is a marsh with traditional freshwater fish farming; however, this brackish area has been agriculturally diversified to include cultivation of red rice, reeds, shrimp and fish, and has only largely concentrated on freshwater fish farming starting from the 1960s. By looking into the geographical and social changes that have taken place in the brackish area, I will explain how the coastal landscape was changed in the 1910s through the introduction of large‐scale rice production in Tin Shui Wai which has turned into a high‐density residential new town, and the wetland conservation of Mai Po marshes. This article aims at understanding the meanings of intangible as well as agricultural/fishery heritage and the local politics among indigenous communities, conservation groups, the government and developers in post‐handover Hong Kong society. Inland freshwater pond cultivation was actually a major industry in the 1970s since it supplied most of the freshwater fish for the local market. Nowadays, the industry is shrinking because of lack of manpower and high operation costs compared to the mainland. With various kinds of social, economic and physical pressures, the local communities which are located at the buffer areas of the wetland in Mai Po are actually facing the tremendous dangers of losing those fishponds; most importantly, the fishponds have been serving not only as mitigation zone and source of a traditional local food but also as a major food supplier for migratory birds, adding to the conservation value of the Mai Po marshes and Inner Deep Bay in Hong Kong at large.     

Future Non-Analogue Climates for Scotland’s Temperate Rainforest

Temperate rainforest is restricted to a globally rare set of climatic conditions. Scotland has among the best remaining examples of intact temperate rainforest in Europe, characterised ecologically by a unique assemblage of epiphytic bryophytes and lichens. Given climatic control on rainforest distribution and ecology, climate change is a probable risk to Scotland’s rainforest. This study investigated climate change impacts for 20 target sites, classified based on (i) bioclimatic conditions, and (ii) epiphytic diversity, into contrasting rainforest and more continental (non-rainforest) examples. Space-for-time matching identified climate analogues within the European conservation forest network, which at present have a climate similar to that expected of the target sites during the 2080s (WorldClim datasets). The results show that 2080s analogues for sites in more continental north-eastern Scotland occur in Wales and southern England. However, Scottish rainforest sites were their own ‘best analogues’ through to the 2080s, despite the fact that their climate is projected to change significantly; they had no suitable future analogue within Europe’s conservation forest network. These contrasting regional patterns highlight the need for a flexible approach to species conservation during climate change, including a strategy to cope with ecological uncertainty in Scotland’s zone of oceanic rainforest.     

Heritage conservation and advocacy coalitions: the state-society conflict in the case of the Enning Road redevelopment project in Guangzhou

The Enning Road redevelopment project has been controversial in Guangzhou as the site possesses many vernacular buildings that are not officially recognised by the authorities as significant but are nevertheless highly regarded by non-state stakeholders as important entities that embody the unique essence and culture of local neighbourhoods. This paper examines the positive role led by the press media, the New Express, in bringing about changes in the government-sanctioned Enning Road redevelopment project plan through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The significance of this paper lies in detailing how the news group has helped shift the project priority from being property-led to conservation-led. Its reports have gained a wide audience in appreciating and recognising the conservation value of non-designated vernacular architecture in inner city areas. Nonetheless, this paper raises question about the sustainability of civil mobilisation in subsequent conservation efforts, due to a general lack of enthusiasm. Neither urban redevelopment strategies nor conservation agenda have been subject to a major overhaul due to the impact of this individual redevelopment project. Therefore, the promise of change is at best a tactical compromise adopted by the municipal authorities to nullify opposing public voices in Guangzhou.     

Understanding the variability in freshwater radiocarbon reservoir offsets: a cautionary tale

Freshwater resources in past diets can lead to inaccuracies when attempts are made to ascertain their radiocarbon ages or those of the consumers. Radiocarbon reservoir effects may lead to significant age offsets when the bones or other tissues of these consumers are radiocarbon dated. A number of recent studies have investigated freshwater reservoir offsets. However no study thus far has satisfactorily obtained a ubiquitous freshwater reservoir correction due to variability in the ecosystems analysed. This study tests the possibility of predicting freshwater reservoir effects from the carbonate alkalinity of the water with measurements on modern fish bone and water samples. A predictive capability would be especially valuable in the absence of well-preserved archaeological fish bone. We surveyed samples from lakes and rivers in varying geological settings in Britain and Ireland. Modern fish bone and water samples were analysed to investigate modern radiocarbon offsets from the atmosphere. Archaeological fish bone was also analysed to examine past reservoir offsets at selected sites. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values were measured to aid in interpretation of any variability in the offsets. Large freshwater reservoir offsets were measured in some modern and archaeological samples (maximum offset = 1638 ¹⁴C years). The freshwater reservoir offsets in the fish bone were highly correlated with alkalinity of water in modern lake sites analysed. However, a high amount of variation within and between fish species was also evident in the results, precluding the possibility of providing regional corrections for freshwater reservoir offsets from alkalinity although this still may provide a general guideline. The variability is thought to be due to differences in the diet of individual fish.     

"In need of care and attention" Local authorities and the implementation of the Scottish NHS Act, 1948–1960

Abstract

This article looks at the influence and reaction of Scottish local authorities in the implementation of the NHS (Scotland) Act, 1947. It examines the implementation of the Act through local authorities and the problems encountered in co-ordinating the NHS. Furthermore, it considers the problems encountered through the lack of clear dividing lines of responsibility between the three administrative areas of the NHS. It proposes that local authorities were seen as service providers within the NHS and were unable to assert any influence over the implementation of the NHS, apart from within their own health service sphere. The implementation of the Scottish NHS Act was full of inconsistencies and problems and was not as smooth as many historians would argue. The impact on patient care was the provision of an uneven service throughout Scotland.     

New insights into ancient environments using dental characters in Australian Cenozoic lungfish

Environmentally-related wear conditions and pathologies affecting the dentition of fossil lungfish from freshwater deposits in Australia have been analysed and compared with similar changes in the dentition of the living Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsten. Fossil populations from the Namba, Etadunna, Wipajiri and Katipiri formations in central Australia, and the Carl Creek Limestone and the Camfield beds in northern Australia were assessed.

Tooth plates from populations of living lungfish from the Brisbane River and Enoggera Reservoir in southeast Queensland were analysed for comparison. Tooth plates were measured to determine the numbers of different age groups in each population. They were assessed for abrasion, attrition, spur and step wear, erosion and caries, and for trauma and pathological conditions such as malocclusion, hyperplasia, abscesses, osteopenia and parasitic damage. AH of these conditions are related to the environment where the fish lived, are found in living members of the group, and can be compared directly with those of fossil relatives.

The results suggest that some of the fossil populations were at risk before climatic changes late in the Cainozoic destroyed their habitats. Some fossil lungfish populations, such as those of the Wipajiri Formation, exhibit active spawning and recruitment, good growth rates and a low incidence of disease and environmentally related damage to the tooth plates. Others, like those of the Katipiri and Namba Formations, include no young, and the adult fish were ageing and show environmentally-related damage to the dentition. Etadunna lungfish had active recruitment, but the tooth plates show a high incidence of attrition and caries. Riversleigh lungfish were actively spawning but did not grow large. Tooth plates from this latter deposit have a high incidence of pathological conditions. Fish from the Camfield Beds, where food was severely limiting, had little serious pathology but high levels of caries. Pathologies among living lungfish are common, but fossil fish were comparatively healthy, with few serious dental problems. Information from studies of fossil lungfish confirms that conservation of the few living species of lungfish depends on the maintenance of clean environments that provide adequate supplies of food and suitable sites for spawning and for the growth of young fish.     

Ideological content and institutional frameworks: Unionist identities in Northern Ireland and Scotland

This article examines the complex interactions between British national identity and the territorial identities of Northern Ireland and Scotland. We argue that the current literature on national identities in Britain misunderstands the nature of British identities in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Indeed, much of this literature wrongly defines Unionists in both of these areas. By examining the content of British national identity, a comparison of Scotland and Northern Ireland reveals that Unionism finds political significance through an ideological project committed to the Union. However, we also have to account for the differences in the Unionist ideology of Scotland and Northern Ireland. We argue that the institutional framework in which these identities and ideologies are exercised explains this variation. Overall, we argue that the debate on nationalism in the United Kingdom has not adequately shown how the integrative functions of British national identity can co-exist with the separatist nature of territorial national identity.     

Applied Zooarchaeology of Freshwater Mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) Shell from Golson (22HU508), A Deasonville-Period Site on the Yazoo River,Mississippi

Excavations at Golson (22HU508), an archaeological site on the Yazoo River in western Mississippi, USA, produced an assemblage of over 4000 freshwater mussel shells, 77 percent of which were identifiable to species. Although limited spatial sampling of the deposits limits what can be said about past mussel community characteristics, twelve new river records for mussel species are derived from the assemblage. This typical result emphasises the value of archaeological shell assemblages for conservation biology and provides a rationale for why sites containing shell may be considered significant based upon their potential contributions to environmental history.     

日军“慰安妇”制度在南京实施的再考察

“慰安妇”制度是日本军国主义者在第二次世界大战期间实施的一项侵犯人权的制度,是有组织的国家犯罪。但是,战后日本官方矢口否认曾经实施过这项制度,辩解称其为个别从业者的私人行为,与日本政府和军队无关。然而,在已经发现的若干中日档案资料中,明确记载了日本政府和军队在“慰安妇”制度建立和实施过程中发挥了重要作用。南京是日军“慰安妇”制度实施较早的城市。本文以南京地区为例,结合前人的研究和新近发现的部分档案资料进一步考察日军“慰安妇”制度在南京的实施过程及其特点。     

‘Birds,bogs and forestry’ revisited: The significance of the flow country controversy

This paper evaluates the significance of the battle between forest and conservation interests in the Flow Country of northern Scotland during the late 1980s. It summarises the key arguments for and against afforestation as they were presented at the time, and reviews their validity in the light of subsequent developments. Commercial afforestation was claimed to be an economically valuable land use in a region with few alternatives, whereas conservationists presented the Flow Country as a wetland habitat of international significance. The controversy had far‐reaching consequences both for forest practice and nature conservation in Scotland and the UK. The break‐up of the Nature Conservancy Council and the remit given to Scottish Natural Heritage, the negative public perception of commercial forestry, the adoption of multiple objective forest management, Indicative Forest Strategies, and the participatory philosophy in conservation, can all be wholly or partly traced to the controversy. Ultimately, the controversy is shown to have had positive outcomes both for conservation and forest practice.     

Fish ’n chips: ZooMS peptide mass fingerprinting in a 96 well plate format to identify fish bone fragments

Fish are a large, highly diverse, and anthropologically important group of vertebrates. However, fish bones are underrepresented in the archaeological literature because they are less stable than those of other taxa and identification of bone to species is often difficult or impossible. We explore a new identification system, ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry), which is based upon protein barcoding. As proteins can be cleaved enzymatically and analyzed by mass spectrometry in a repeatable way, protein barcoding is used widely in microbiological contexts for quick and inexpensive protein identification; mass spectra reflect the differences in protein sequence and can therefore be reproducibly linked to a particular protein or protein fragment. ZooMS uses peptide fingerprinting of bone collagen as a method for rapid identification of archaeological bone. This has involved the identification of masses related to peptides of known sequence. For mammals, sufficient sequence information is available for this approach but for groups, such the teleost fish, species are highly diverse and there are few available collagen sequences. Here we report a preliminary investigation into the identification of fish species by peptide mass fingerprinting that does not require sequence information. Collagen mass spectra are used to identify eight species of bony fishes (Osteichthyes) from four orders: Clupeiformes, Salmoniformes, Gadiformes, and Perciformes. The method is applied to both modern and archaeological fish remains and offers the capacity to identify traditionally unidentifiable fish fragments, thus increasing the Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) and providing invaluable information in specialized contexts.     

Developing baseline data to understand environmental change: a geochemical study of archaeological otoliths from the Coorong,South Australia

Otoliths are calcium carbonate structures found in the inner ear of teleost fish. While they are routinely studied by marine scientists, analyses of otoliths recovered from archaeological sites in Australia and the Pacific have generally been restricted to identification of species and sometimes the fish age. Otoliths can also provide information on the season of catch, and, through trace element analysis, allow the reconstruction of environmental conditions experienced by fish. In this study, we use otoliths from mid- to late Holocene aged archaeological shell middens at the Coorong (South Australia) to examine species present, season of catch, age of fish and environmental conditions experienced by fish. Results demonstrate that the majority of the fish (identified as Argyrosomus japonicus and Acanthopagrus butcheri) were caught in freshwater environments during the warm season, and had grown to an age and size indicative of their having reached sexual maturity. This study provides data indicating fluctuating levels of salinity in the estuary, which are significantly lower than the hypersaline conditions experienced today. Ultimately, this project highlights the usefulness of conducting more detailed investigations of otoliths, including geochemical analyses, to address a wide range of research questions in archaeology and palaeoenvironmental research.     

Conservation charity land ownership in Scotland

Land ownership in Scotland has been the subject of increasing public debate. This paper traces the establishment of the conservation land ownership movement in Scotland from 1931. Charitable donations influence and affect the ability of voluntary bodies to acquire land. Voluntary ownership increased dramatically from the 1960s and the growth in outdoor recreation focused attention on the way mountain estates are managed by charities. Public bodies are instrumental in providing funding and influencing government support for land acquisition. The National Lottery, for example, affects greatly the ability of charities to acquire land. New charities have been formed with a specific focus on trees and wild land but conservation charities have been criticised for aspects of their land management. These charities continue to attract funding from people with a deep belief that their activities are for the benefit of the people of Scotland.     

The Central Scotland airport: Transport policy‐making in Scotland

The recognition that the central belt of Scotland will exhaust its existing airport capacity by 2020 has provoked serious and at times acrimonious debate, both economic and political, whether capacity should be expanded at Edinburgh Airport or at Glasgow Airport. This paper confronts the question of whether an entirely new single airport in the central belt, requiring the closure of Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports, should be built. Clearly, megaprojects on this scale, require a national decision‐making framework involving, amongst others, the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Treasury and the British Airports Authority plc. However, regional bodies such as the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise Network, and local authorities are involved in confronting local issues concerning ground transport, the environment, economic development and labour market shifts.     

Exploring stakeholder groups through a testimony analysis on the Hawaiian aquarium trade

ABSTRACT

A remote archipelago, Hawai'i, offers a plethora of sought after coastal and marine tourism experiences. The same unique marine fauna that draws tourists also makes Hawai'i a major player in the international ornamental aquarium trade. For many residents of Hawai'i, the marine realm is part of their island home and interactions with tourists and tourism activities are a part of everyday life. For many residents, the ocean is an important resource and for some a staple source of livelihood, be it through tourism, fisheries, or the aquarium trade. This variance between extractive and non-extractive marine resource use creates conflicts between stakeholder groups in Hawai'i. This study thematically analyzes public testimony records, which included 1652 individual testimonies, from proposed legislation aimed to establish ‘an aquatic life conservation program in the Division of Aquatic Resources to implement conservation measures, including limited entry areas and certification requirements, to regulate the collection of fish and other aquatic life for aquarium purposes. Public opinions evident in individual testimonies are representative of the disagreement in the literature regarding the stability and health of reef fishes populations in Hawai'i and broader resource-user conflicts. This study aims to better describe the user conflict between stakeholder groups in the marine resources of Hawai'i by exposing themes concerning change in natural environments.