Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand

Lee, D.E., Kaulfuss, U, Conran, J.G., Bannister, J.M. & Lindqvist, J.K., August 2016. Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

This paper highlights the biodiversity and palaeoecology of the 23 million year old Foulden Maar, the first Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit described from New Zealand and a key site for reconstructing early Miocene Southern Hemisphere terrestrial ecosystems. The 1000-m-diameter, ca 200-m-deep Foulden Maar volcanic crater lake was a closed system with anoxic bottom waters, capturing and preserving in exquisite detail organisms from the lake and adjacent rainforest. The fossils include numerous leaves, flowers with in situ pollen, fruits, seeds, fish and arthropods. Surrounding Foulden Maar was an evergreen, Lauraceae-dominated notophyll vine forest with a diverse understorey, lianes, epiphytes and mistletoes. Diverse pollination and seed dispersal modes are evident. Fish include larval to adult stages of articulated specimens of Galaxias, some with preserved soft tissue and a species of eel resembling Anguilla. The arthropod fauna comprises ca 20 families in the orders Araneae (spiders), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Odonata (dragonflies), Isoptera (termites), Hemiptera (true bugs), Diptera (true flies), Coleoptera (beetles), Trichoptera (caddis flies) and Hymenoptera (wasps, ants and bees), representing faunas typical of soil, leaf litter, forest floor or freshwater habitats. Many fossil taxa have close relatives in the extant New Zealand biota; others are now locally extinct. Coprolites containing quartz sands sourced from outside the lake indicate the presence of volant birds, presumably waterfowl. The Foulden Maar Lagerstätte is crucial for reconstructing Miocene lake and forest ecosystems in New Zealand, particularly the terrestrial arthropod component.

Daphne E. Lee [daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand., Uwe Kaulfuss [uwe.kaulfuss@otago.ac.nz] and Jon K. Lindqvist, [jonlind@ihug.co.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu.au], Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, School of Biological Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia; Jennifer M. Bannister [jennifer.bannister@xtra.co.nz], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.     

On Authority and Political Destination: Michael Polanyi and the Threshold of Postmodernism

ABSTRACT

This study challenges a prevalent view that Aquinas's political thought develops over time on the question of legitimate resistance to tyranny. Many scholars argue that Aquinas gradually restricts the scope of legitimate political resistance and morally permissible tyrannicide. On this view Aquinas defends tyrannicide in his early Commentary on the Sentences, adds strong qualifications in the Summa Theologiae, and finally repudiates tyrannicide in De Regno. This study finds the evidence for such a development lacking and seeks to rehabilitate a long and diverse Thomistic tradition of legitimate resistance including tyrannicide. Indeed, a close reading of De Regno shows that Aquinas upholds a doctrine of political resistance and defends the legitimacy of tyrannicide under certain circumstances. Moreover, Aquinas's doctrine of political resistance is wide open and underdeveloped. Later attempts to clarify and qualify Aquinas's doctrine of political resistance, therefore, are appropriate and even necessary.     

The quest for cod: Some causes of fishing conflicts in the north Atlantic

This article presents an historical overview of the role played by the North Atlantic cod fisheries in shaping the relations between two ecological zones: a fish‐surplus zone in the north and a fish‐deficient zone in the south. As production changed from a predominantly subsistence‐based economy to one of market orientation, fierce competition developed between national fleets and trading companies when the quest for cod increased due to demographic and climatic changes. The introduction of highly efficient technologies since the latter half of the 19th century has caused severe over‐exploitation in certain parts of the North Atlantic region and encouraged the fish‐producing states to nationalise cod resources by extending their borders extensively, thus generating inter‐state conflicts known as ?cod wars?.     

Day centres for homeless people: spaces of care or fear?

It is now widely argued that the contemporary city is becoming an increasingly hostile environment for homeless people. As basic street survival strategies are criminalized and public space ‘purified’ of those whose ‘spoiled’ identities threaten to ‘taint’ fellow members of the public, city authorities seem to have turned from a position of ‘malign neglect’ to more obviously punitive measures designed to contain and control homeless people. Less widely acknowledged but equally prevalent, however, is a parallel rise in the ‘urge to care’; evident in the growing number of night shelters, hostels and day centres emerging in recent years to provide shelter and sustenance to homeless people. This paper contributes to a small but growing body of work examining the development of the ‘spaces of care’ springing up in the interstices of a ‘revanchist’ city, by examining the development and internal dynamics of day centres for homeless people in the UK. Drawing upon a national survey of service providers, and a series of interviews and participant observations with day centre staff and users, the paper argues that day centres act as important sources of material resource and refuge for a highly stigmatized group. However, it warns against the romantic tendencies implicit in the notion of ‘spaces of care’, emphasizing that what for one person may operate as a ‘space of care’ might, for another, be experienced as a space of fear. The paper concludes by noting the ambiguity and fragility of such spaces within the wider ‘revanchist’ city.

Les centres d'hébergement temporaire pour itinérants: espaces de soins ou de peur?

On affirme couramment que la ville contemporaine est en train de devenir un milieu de plus en plus hostile pour les itinérants. Pendant que les stratégies ordinaires de survie dans la rue sont érigées en crime et l'espace public est «purifié» de ceux dont les identités «souillées» risquent d' «entacher» les autres membres du public, les autorités de la ville sont moins disposées à appuyer une position de «négligence pernicieuse» que des mesures nettement plus punitives conçues pour contenir et contrôler les itinérants. Ce qui est moins reconnu mais aussi courant est la progression simultanée du «désir de donner des soins» que permet de témoigner la croissance depuis quelques années de foyers d'hébergement, de gîtes, et de centre d'hébergement temporaire qui offre un toit et des moyens de subsistance aux itinérants. Cet article contribue à enrichir le corpus d'une ampleur limitée mais grandissante sur l'émergence d' «espaces de soins» dans les interstices de la ville «revancharde» par l'examen du développement et les dynamiques internes de centres d'hébergement temporaire pour itinérants au Royaume-Uni. Cet article a recours à un sondage national sur les fournisseurs de services et à un éventail d'entrevues et d'observations participatives auprès d'employés et d'usagers des centres d'hébergement temporaire. Il y est proposé que ces centres servent de lieu de distribution de ressources matérielles et de refuge pour un ensemble de personnes très défavorisées. L'article prend toutefois ses distances par rapport au penchant romantique implicite dans l'idée d' «espaces de soins», et souligne que les processus à l'?uvre peuvent être le reflet d'un «espace de soins» pour une personne ou celui d'une expérience d'un «espace de peur» pour une autre. Cet article termine par le constat qu'à l'échelle de la grande ville «revancharde», ces espaces demeurent ambigus et fragiles.

Centros diurnos para la gente sin techo: ¿lugares de asistencia o de miedo?

Hoy en día se reconoce que la ciudad contemporánea representa un lugar cada vez más hostil para la gente sin techo. A la vez que se criminalizan las estrategias básicas de sobrevivencia en la calle y se ‘purifican’ los espacios públicos, sacando a personas cuyas identidades ‘arruinadas’ amenazan con ‘contaminar’ a otros miembros del público, las autoridades cívicas parecen haber dejado su postura de ‘negligencia maligna’ a favor de medidas más punitivas, concebidas para contener y controlar a la gente sin techo. Menos reconocido, pero no menos corriente, es el aumento paralelo del ‘impulso a asistir’, evidente en el número cada vez mayor de refugios nocturnos, hogares y centros diurnos que han surgido en recientes años donde les dan alojamiento y alimento a los sin techo. Este papel contribuye a un conjunto de trabajo que examina el desarrollo de ‘espacios de asistencia’ que surgen en los intersticios de una ciudad ‘revanchista’, por medio de un estudio del desarrollo y la dinámica interna de los centros diurnos para los sin techo en el Reino Unido. Haciendo uso de un estudio nacional de las organizaciones que proporcionan servicios para los sin techo, y de una serie de entrevistas con funcionarios y usuarios de los centros diurnos, el papel sugiere que los centros diurnos sirven como fuentes importantes de recursos materiales y de refugio para un grupo muy estigmatizado. Sin embargo, argumenta en contra de las tendencias románticas que son implícitas en la noción de ‘espacios de asistencia’ y enfatiza que lo que puede servir como un ‘espacio de asistencia’ para una persona puede ser experimentado como una espacio de miedo por otra persona. El papel concluye por notar la naturaleza ambigua y frágil de estos espacios dentro de la ciudad ‘revanchista’ más amplia.     

Mundane mobilities,banal travels

Participatory approaches have become a critical and somewhat normalised methodology in geography for working in a positive and constructive way with Indigenous communities. Nevertheless, recent literature has seldom examined the sustainability of participatory projects or looked critically at their ongoing impacts. Since the early 2000s, Nibutani, an Ainu community in Hokkaido, Japan, has developed several participatory projects led by a non-Indigenous professional. The projects have involved community members working to revitalise and promote local Ainu culture. Over the last decade, some positive outcomes from the projects have been observed; for example, the younger generation has had opportunities to engage intensively in learning local Indigenous knowledge and skills. The projects have also helped some participants to develop a stronger sense of ethnic identity and gain empowerment. Still, the power transfer from the talented non-Indigenous leader to community members has been limited and Nibutani has yet to realise a sustainable project structure. Also, community members have multiple perspectives in regard to the direction of participatory projects and their impact. I discuss these issues in Nibutani's participatory projects based on my observations and interviews and suggest that Indigenous geographies need to undertake follow-up evaluations of participatory projects.