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Aim: We expand here previous own biogeographic work on the determinants of avian colonisation of a major land‐bridge Mediterranean island. So far we have explained mechanistically the high current rate of colonisation of the island which proceeds by overflow of mainland species with growing population trends and with prior experience as winter visitors. However, here we focus on the historical factors that have led to such a high colonisation rate. Location: Majorca Island and a nearby Iberian mainland coastal region with equivalent characteristics (Alicante province). Time Period: Twenty‐five years (1991–2015). Major Taxa Studied: Birds. Methods: We compared the pattern of species gain and loss in Majorca and Alicante during the study period. Results: We found that while Alicante only gained eight new species and lost one, Majorca lost none and gained 21 species as breeders (odds ratio 2.6). The process of species gains in 5‐year periods since 1991 showed a nonlinear pattern in both regions, with an abrupt decline in Alicante starting in 2006–2010 and final stagnation during 2011–2015, but just a smooth and recent pattern of slowdown in Majorca (2011–2015 on). Taxonomic diversity of colonising species at the family level, as well as habitat of colonisation, were quite similar between regions, but larger body size species were more common in Majorca. Main Conclusions: We conclude that current differential colonisation rates between both regions are consistent with a more intense past defaunation of the resource‐poor region (Majorca) prior to modern rural flight that happened simultaneously in both regions. While Alicante could be approaching a theoretical carrying capacity in the number of species, Majorca is farther from it. We predict that the island will continue gaining species in the next few decades. Worldwide, further research on comparing wildlife recovery rates between regions with differential intensity of past wildlife defaunation is badly needed to understand biodiversity recovery processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon-based payments for ecosystem services solely consider afforestation and reforestation to assess sequestration. However, political ecology researchers demonstrate that tropical forests are complex socioecological systems where humans and institutions play an integral role in shaping landscapes. The current framing overlooks the net effect of traditional subsistence agriculturalists leaving behind low emission lifestyles, despite the likelihood of a significant increase in per capita emissions over time. In this case study, we use the history of forest use in the Pueblos Mancomunados—a commonwealth of indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico—to explore sequestration through a socioecological systems lens. As negative emissions programs consider afforestation, we triangulated semistructured interviews, an unsupervised GIS classification of land cover, and a review of carbon dioxide emissions to consider out-migration, abandonment, and lifestyle change. We find that communities are struggling to maintain livelihoods as migration to urban centers and the United States continues. Meanwhile, spatial analysis revealed 800 ha of afforestation. Our analysis of out-migration scenarios and per capita emissions changes identified a tipping point in which no net-sequestration would occur from afforestation due to the changing lifestyles of the migrants and recommend improved local development to avoid this form of "leakage" when assessing global carbon stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay examines the memory of the ‘great transformation’ of Italy from an agricultural to an industrial economy in the postwar years by focusing on the case of the rice belt located around the city of Vercelli in Piedmont. Between 1945 and 1965, a society that for more than two centuries had been organized around the culture of rice experienced abrupt and all-embracing change. The mechanization of farming and the introduction of herbicides overlapped with the exodus of rural workers to the city and factories, transforming a local world – from the natural landscape and built environment to the structures of production, division of labor, and everyday domestic, social and cultural life. Based on interviews with former rice farmers and workers, the essay sheds light on the subjective experience of this far-reaching transition. Its aim is to delineate the contours of a collective representation of historical change. What emerges from these personal narratives of the Vercellese rice fields is a complex, coherent, but ultimately selective public memory. The shared understandings that this memory sustains tend to mute a history of fear and oppression, unresolved conflicts and unbalanced relations of power. In its place, Vercellese public memory offers an epic story of the Italian rice belt in which all historical actors are accorded dignity and social relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]