Search

Summary: Tourism can be a powerful tool for wildlife conservation if well controlled and responsibly managed. Apex predators constitute particularly attractive subjects for tourism, but simultaneously they may generate conflict with local communities. Harpy Eagles Harpia harpyja are the largest eagle species and are highly sought-after by ecotourists. The last stronghold of the Harpy Eagle is the Amazon Forest, which is being deforested for cattle ranching. We tested methods for developing Harpy Eagle ecotourism as a potential tool to harmonize these issues. Using camera traps, we collected data on timing of Harpy Eagle visits to their nests, as well as on probabilities of viewing an eagle. Harpy Eagles can only be seen predictably during the first 12 of the 30–36 month nest cycle. In nests with nestlings (up to 5–7 months), adults are visible on a daily basis, and this period lasts 16.6% of the nesting cycle, demanding a minimum of 13, 17, and 26 nests to have at least one nest with a nestling on 90%, 95% and 99% of the days. After this 5–7 month window, we found that two and 4.16 days spent at nests afforded high probabilities of sighting a fledgling or adult eagle, respectively. Harpy Eagles were mainly active at the beginning and the end of the day. Activity core lasted 6.5 decimal hours for adults, peaking at 10h00, and 7.45 decimal hours for fledged eagles, peaking at 15h00. Our results demonstrate that Harpy Eagles fit several criteria for a viable wildlife attraction: predictable in activity and location, viewable, and diurnal, even though at the same time they are considered a rarity. In a broader perspective, Harpy Eagle tourism shows every indication of being a significant tool for more robust rainforest conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays any city, of any size, with any sense of self-regard wants to be a financial centre. Not just any financial centre, but an international financial centre. This is new. [...]

These ten volumes represent the most adventurous and worthwhile exercise in economic history for many years. Each of the volumes deals with a separate topic in the history of money [...]

The highly interactive nature of predator-prey relationship is essential for ecosystem conservation; predators have been extirpated, however, from entire ecosystems all over the Earth. Reintroductions comprise a management technique to reverse this trend. Species Distribution Models (SDM) are preemptive tools for release-site selection, and can define levels of habitat quality over the species distribution. The Atlantic Forest of South America has lost most of its apex predators, and Harpy Eagles Harpia harpyja—Earth’s largest eagle—are now limited to few forest pockets in this domain. Harpy Eagles are supposedly widespread in the Amazon Forest, however, where habitat loss and degradation is advancing at a rapid pace. We aim to describe the suitability of threatened Amazonian landscapes for this eagle. We also aim to assess the suitability of remaining Atlantic Forest sites for Harpy Eagle reintroductions. Here we show that that considerable eagle habitat has already been lost in Amazonia due to the expansion of the “Arc of Deforestation”, and that Amazonian forests currently represent 93% of the current distribution of the species. We also show that the Serra do Mar protected areas in southeastern Brazil is the most promising region for Harpy Eagle reintroductions in the Atlantic Forest. Reintroduction and captive breeding programs have been undertaken for Harpy Eagles, building the technical and biological basis for a successful restoration framework. Our distribution range for this species represents a 41% reduction of what is currently proposed by IUCN. Furthermore, habitat loss in Amazonia, combined with industrial logging and hunting suggest that the conservation status of this species should be reassessed. We suggest researchers and conservation practitioners can use this work to help expand efforts to conserve Harpy Eagles and their natural habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S. KINSEY and L. NEWTON (eds.), International Banking in an Age of Transition: Globalisation, Automation, Banks and their Archives (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. Pp.xii + 208. ISBN 1 85928 384 5, [...]

This is one of the most remarkable books of the past decade. It has been produced by the European Association for Banking History (EABH), a very youthful organisation founded in [...]

This is the fourth and final volume of Frank King's history of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. The earlier volumes of this work have all attracted favourable reviews and [...]

This article examines the emergence of joint-stock banking in the British Isles. The more modern generation of textbooks give some credit to Scotland for evolving the system of joint-stock banking in the 18th century which was then adopted in England following the repeal of the six-partner legislation of 1708 in 1826. The system of banking which had evolved in Scotland by the 1820s was three tiered. There was also a number of private banks in Edinburgh which acted as retailers of credit from the public banks. Many of the provincial banking companies had branches. The bulk of lending was by discounted bills which were of the usual three varieties, that is, local bills, inland bills and bills of exchange. Also of importance was lending by cash credit, sometimes called cash accounts. The changing of the law in England and Wales to permit the formation of joint-stock banking is a tale so familiar. Briefly, legislation was passed in 1826 to permit the formation of note issuing joint-stock banks outside a 65-mile radius of London, England and in further legislation permitted joint-stock banks within that radius, but these were not to be permitted note issues. Perhaps the most glaring difference between joint-stock banking as it emerged in Scotland and Ireland compared with England was in the numbers of branches operated by each bank.

Sir Robert Clayton and the Origins of English Deposit Banking, 1658-1685. By Frank T. Melton. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. xii + 259 pp. Illustrations, charts, tables, appendixes, and [...]