Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

The Production of Space

. Landslides are a ubiquitous hazard in terrestrial environments with slopes,
incurring human fatalities in urban settlements, along transport corridors
and at sites of rural industry. Assessment of landslide risk requires
high-quality landslide databases. Recently, global landslide databases have
shown the extent to which landslides impact on society and identified areas
most at risk. Previous global analysis has focused on rainfall-triggered
landslides over short ∼  5-year observation periods. This paper presents
spatiotemporal analysis of a global dataset of fatal non-seismic landslides,
covering the period from January 2004 to December 2016. The data show that in
total 55 997 people were killed in
4862 distinct landslide events. The spatial distribution of landslides
is heterogeneous, with Asia representing the dominant geographical area.
There are high levels of interannual variation in the occurrence of
landslides. Although more active years coincide with recognised patterns of
regional rainfall driven by climate anomalies, climate modes (such as El
Nino–Southern Oscillation) cannot yet be related to landsliding,
requiring a landslide dataset of 30 + years. Our analysis demonstrates that
landslide occurrence triggered by human activity is increasing, in particular
in relation to construction, illegal mining and hill cutting. This supports
notions that human disturbance may be more detrimental to future landslide
incidence than climate.

/pdf/global-fatal-landslide-occurrence-from-2004-to-2016-1to3ljrrt3.pdf

Global fatal landslide occurrence from 2004 to 2016

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Water Resources Monograph Series, Volume 18. Landslides are a constant in shaping our landscape. Whether by large episodic, or smaller chronic, mass movements, our mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, and streams bear evidence of change from landslides. Combined with anthropogenic factors, especially the development and settlement of unstable terrain, landslides (as natural processes) have become natural disasters. This book charts our understanding of landslide processes, prediction methods, and related land use issues. How and where do landslides initiate? What are the human and economic consequences? What hazard assessment and prediction methods are available, and how well do they work? How does land use, from timber harvesting and road building to urban and industrial development, affect landslide distribution in time and space? And what is the effect of land use and climate change on landslides? [Book Synopsis]

Landslides: Processes, Prediction, and Land Use

It is ‘the logic of these late-capitalist phenomena’ that Augé attempts to describe. So far, so good, but this is only from Non-places’ back-cover blurb. In fact the book is very disappointing: the author offers a bland narrative of the experience of modern life, for example, on the supermarket: ‘The customer wanders round in silence, reads labels, weighs fruit and vegetables on a machine that gives the price along with the weight, then hands his credit card to a young woman as silent as himself—anyway, not very chatty—who runs each article past the sensor of a decoding machine before checking the validity of the customer’s credit card’ (pp.99–100). He nostalgically contrasts this to some romantic idealization of the (French) past, and mixes it up with what can only be described as pretentious waffle. To be fair, some of the concepts introduced are interesting. Anthropological places are contrasted to spaces; places in turn are contrasted to nonplaces: ‘If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a nonplace’ (pp.77-78). Modernity is contrasted to supermodernity: it is supermodernity which creates non-places, ‘spaces which are not themselves anthropological places and which, unlike Baudelairean modernity, do not integrate the earlier places...’ (p.78). For example, ‘in the modernity of the Baudelairean landscape ... everything is combined’, the old and new are interwoven; on the other hand, supermodernity ‘makes the old (history) into a specific spectacle, as it does with all exoticism and all local particularity ... in the non-places of supermodernity, there is always a specific position ... for “curiosities” presented as such’ (p.110). It’s true that airports, supermarkets, new housing estates, suburbs and so on are alienating (non-)places—just listen to Strummer’s lyrics to ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ (The Clash, London Calling, 1979); it is also true that we are forced to spend more and more of our lives in such (non-)places. This is why this little book appeared promising. But the concepts Augé employs are hopelessly inadequate to explain the proliferation and character of these ‘late capitalist phenomena’. The definition, cited above, of place vis-à-vis non-place begs the questions: relational to whom?, concerned with whose history?; whose identity? Augé’s point is, of course, that everywhere 144 Capital & Class #60

Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity

1. Islands: dreams and realities 2. Islands, their formation and nature 3. Insularity: processes and effects 4. Islands in the past 5. Islands, people and migration 6. Islands: communications and services 7. Politics and small islands 8. Making a living: island economies in the contemporary period 9. Islands of dreams: tourism, the universal panacea for island problems? 10. Conclusion: St Helena wins again

A geography of Islands : small island insularity

Urban landslide hazards: incidence and causative factors in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006

Geography Of Islands

. The destruction caused by tropical cyclone (TC) Pam in March 2015 is considered one of the worst natural disasters in the history of Vanuatu. It has highlighted the need for a better understanding of TC impacts and adaptation in the Southwest Pacific (SWP) region. Therefore, the key aims of this study are to (i) understand local perceptions of TC activity, (ii) investigate impacts of TC activity and (iii) uncover adaptation strategies used to offset the impacts of TCs. To address these aims, a survey (with 130 participants from urban areas) was conducted across three SWP small island states (SISs): Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga (FVT). It was found that respondents generally had a high level of risk perception and awareness of TCs and the associated physical impacts, but lacked an understanding of the underlying weather conditions. Responses highlighted that current methods of adaptation generally occur at the local level, immediately prior to a TC event (preparation of property, gathering of food, finding a safe place to shelter). However higher level adaptation measures (such as the modification to building structures) may reduce vulnerability further. Finally, we discuss the potential of utilising weather-related traditional knowledge and non-traditional knowledge of empirical and climate-model-based weather forecasts to improve TC outlooks, which would ultimately reduce vulnerability and increase adaptive capacity. Importantly, lessons learned from this study may result in the modification and/or development of existing adaptation strategies.

/pdf/tropical-cyclone-perceptions-impacts-and-adaptation-in-the-4j2l1mh07b.pdf

Stephen A. Royle

Papers

A geography of Islands : small island insularity

Urban landslide hazards: incidence and causative factors in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006

Geography Of Islands

Tropical cyclone perceptions, impacts and adaptation in the Southwest Pacific: an urban perspective from Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga