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Introduction to Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia University Press). © 2023 Columbia University Press. Used by permission of Columbia University Press. All Rights Reserved.

Contemporary symbioses in extreme environments can give an insight into mechanisms that stabilize species interactions during environmental change. The intertidal sea anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima, engages in a nutritional symbiosis with microalgae similar to tropical coral, but withstands more intense environmental fluctuations during tidal inundations. In this study, we compare baseline symbiotic traits and their sensitivity to thermal stress within and among anemone aggregations across the intertidal using a laboratory‐based tank experiment to better understand how fixed genotypic and plastic environmental effects contribute to the successful maintenance of this symbiosis in extreme habitats. High intertidal anemones had lower baseline symbiont‐to‐host cell ratios under control conditions, but their symbionts had higher baseline photosynthetic efficiency compared to low intertidal anemone symbionts. Symbiont communities were identical across all samples, suggesting that shifts in symbiont density and photosynthetic performance could be an acclimatory mechanism to maintain symbiosis in different environments. Despite lower baseline symbiont‐to‐host cell ratios, high intertidal anemones maintained greater symbiont‐to‐host cell ratios under heat stress compared with low intertidal anemones, suggesting greater thermal tolerance of high intertidal holobionts. However, the thermal tolerance of clonal anemones acclimatized to different zones was not explained by tidal height alone, indicating additional environmental variables contribute to physiological differences. Host genotype significantly influenced anemone weight, but only explained a minor proportion of variation among symbiotic traits and their response to thermal stress, further implicating environmental history as the primary driver of holobiont tolerance. These results indicate that this symbiosis is highly plastic and may be able to acclimatize to climate change over ecological timescales, defying the convention that symbiotic organisms are more susceptible to environmental stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fundão dam collapse in 2015 resulted in the largest environmental disaster in Brazil's history with the release of tons of ore tailings mainly in aquatic environments. Amphibians are susceptible to contamination and they typically develop in aquatic and terrestrial habitats, making them useful indicators of environmental impact. Nonetheless, the effects of mining on amphibians are much overlooked compared with other waterborne organisms. We examined the impact of the disaster on the generalist treefrog Boana albopunctata (Spix, 1824) by measuring fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and liver mass in specimens collected in southeastern Brazil, before the disaster (2014) and at two time points after (2018 and 2022). Specimens collected in 2022 had lower FA levels in their tympanic area, which indicates the selection of individuals with more symmetrical eardrums across generations. We found liver hypertrophy after the accident, indicating the resilience of this biotransformative organ after heavy metal exposure but with likely physiological damage. This study is the first to demonstrate the impact of the Fundão dam rupture on an amphibian population living in the affected area. Our findings highlight the diverse impacts of mining on organisms and suggest that studies with amphibians can contribute in comprehending the magnitude of this and similar disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Temperature is regarded as an important driver of broad‐scale biodiversity patterns. However, less is known of the role of dispersal in shaping broad‐scale species and trait distributions, particularly given that species had to disperse out of glacial refugia after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Here, we used a unique dataset describing the distributions of freshwater fauna combined with trait information to evaluate biodiversity relationships to distance to glacial refugia and temperature. Location: Twenty‐five biogeographical regions across Europe. Time Period: Data from species occurrence were gathered in 1978. Major Taxa Studied: A total of 2816 freshwater invertebrate species and 230 freshwater fish species. Methods: Using the occurrence of invertebrate and fish species in the biogeographical regions, and publicly available trait information, we analysed patterns in diversity indices (i.e. species richness, trait richness and trait redundancy), trait distribution and species and trait β‐diversity, and their relationship to distance to known glacial refugia and regional temperature. Results: We show that distributions of European invertebrate and fish species and traits are primarily explained by distance to refugia and its covarying effect with temperature (i.e. refugia tend to be warmer). Specifically, species and trait richness were higher in regions proximate to refugia and lower in distant regions. Additionally, communities in colder and distant regions exhibited reduced niche dimensions and slower life histories, suggesting increased vulnerability to environmental change. Main Conclusions: Species more distant from their refugia were characterized by higher dispersal capacities. Accordingly, since the LGM, only a subset of species was able to colonize distant regions, while many species have spatial ranges constrained by their dispersal capacity, increasing their potential for extinction under ongoing climate change. Therefore, additional conservation measures considering species' dispersal capacities are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Modern sharks are a diverse and highly threatened group playing important roles in ecosystems. They have an abundant fossil record spanning at least 250 million years (Myr), consisting primarily of isolated teeth. Throughout their evolutionary history, sharks have faced multiple environmental changes and extinction events. Here, we aim to use dental characters to quantify how shark functional diversity has changed during the last 66 Myr. Location: Global. Time period: Cenozoic era (66–0 million years ago; Ma). Major taxa studied: Sharks (Selachii). Methods: We complied a dataset of over 9000 shark teeth belonging to 537 taxa from museum collections and scientific literature and measured six dental characters strongly linked with functional traits. We then quantified different functional diversity metrics across Cenozoic time bins, compared them against null expectations and identified the most important taxa contributing to maintaining functional diversity. Results: Sharks displayed relatively high functional diversity during the Cenozoic, with 66%–87% of the functional space being occupied for ~60 Myr (Palaeocene to Miocene). High levels of functional redundancy during this time resulted in larger‐than‐expected functional richness; but a large decline (−45%) in redundancy in the Oligocene (~30 Ma) left shark functional diversity highly vulnerable to further loss. Shark functional diversity declined from the late Miocene (~10 Ma) onwards, losing 44% of functional richness by the Recent. Extinct sharks disproportionally contributed to the Cenozoic functional diversity and spanned a wider range of functional space than extant sharks, with the loss of mid‐sized suction feeders and large‐bodied predators driving functional declines. Main conclusions: After maintaining high levels of functional diversity for most of the Cenozoic, sharks lost nearly half of their functional diversity in the last ~10 Myr. Current anthropogenic pressures are therefore likely eroding an already diminished shark functional diversity, leaving future communities ecologically deprived compared with their thriving geological past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on institutional historical records, interviews and student theses, this article charts the intersection of hospital acquired illness, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), environments of armed conflict, and larger questions of social governance in the specific case of the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Lebanon. Taking a methodological cue from approaches in contemporary scientific work that understand non-clinical settings as a fundamental aspect of the history and development of AMR, we treat the hospital as not just nested in a set of social and environmental contexts, but frequently housing within itself elements of social and environmental history. AMR in Lebanon differs in important ways from the settings in which global protocols for infection control or rubrics for risk factor identification for resistant nosocomial outbreaks were originally generated. While such differences are all too often depicted as failures of low and middle-income countries (LMIC) to maintain universal standards, the historical question before us is quite the reverse: how have the putatively universal rubrics of AMR and hospital infection control failed to take account of social and environmental conditions that clearly matter deeply in the evolution and spread of resistance? Focusing on conditions of war as an organized chaos in which social, environmental and clinical factors shift dramatically, on the social and political topography of patient transfer, and on a missing "meso" level of AMR surveillance between the local and global settings, we show how a multisectoral One Health approach to AMR could be enriched by an answering multisectoral methodology in history, particularly one that unsettles a canonical focus on the story of AMR in the Euro-American context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the modern temporalities by using the ocean as the site. Topics mentioned include the science of oceanic time, the genealogies of national time, the emergence of a spatial historicity of the Pacific Ocean, the geospatial dimensions of the Pacific, and the use of integrative geo-anthropological time to find evidence about the macroscopic correlations in earth history.

To conserve biodiversity and combat climate change it is vital to restore forest ecosystems. Natural forest regrowth is a nature‐based solution to restore forests, but it has rarely been evaluated how this is affected by the combination of previous land use intensity and surrounding forest cover, and how this varies between the two main tropical forest types; dry and wet forests. Thirty‐three plots were established on abandoned agricultural fields in a dry (13 plots) and wet (20 plots) tropical forest in Mexico and monitored 3 years for the following tree community attributes: structure, diversity, regeneration mode, potential symbioses with N fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Previous land use intensity was described using interviews, and landscape forest cover and fragmentation within a 1000 m radius surrounding the plots were quantified using satellite images. Variable importance analyses indicated that land use intensity was more important than forest cover and fragmentation for the state of the tree community attributes after 3 years. This suggests that previous land use impacts the start of succession and leaves important legacies on the vegetation. Land use intensity, forest cover and fragmentation were equally important in determining the change in tree community attributes over time, indicating that both management practices and dispersal shape subsequently community assembly. A higher land use intensity decreases tree richness recovery, while size of the largest forest patch decreases tree density and connectivity of these patches increases tree density. The dry forest had a faster increase in tree density recovery compared to the wet forest through a high initial resprouting capacity and abiotically dispersed trees. Synthesis and applications: Both a higher land use intensity and fragmented forest landscape decreases the speed of forest recovery, indicating that human actions and landscape transformation shape the course of succession. Restoration in fragmented forest landscapes through natural regeneration is more suitable in areas with low previous land use intensity, higher forest connectivity and abiotically dispersed species. Effective restoration should therefore consider both land use history and landscape forest cover and be tailored to local socio‐ecological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bringing environmental history, the history of medicine and the history of poverty into conversation with material culture studies, this article argues that sleep management in early modern England involved environmental practices in which bodies and matter were interwoven. Using records relating to the Worshipful Company of Upholders in London as a starting point, the article uncovers for the first time the range of animal and plant matter upon which early modern people slept. In so doing it transforms our view of the sleeping conditions of the early modern poor and demonstrates the significance of place-specific, material knowledge for health care practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cenozoic topographic development of the Himalaya‐Tibet orogen (HTO) substantially affected the paleoenvironment and biodiversity patterns of High Asia. However, concepts on the evolution and paleoenvironmental history of the HTO differ massively in timing, elevational increase and sequence of surface uplift of the different elements of the orogen. Using target enrichment of a large set of transcriptome‐derived markers, ancestral range estimation and paleoclimatic niche modelling, we assess a recently proposed concept of a warm temperate paleo‐Tibet in Asian spiny frogs of the tribe Paini and reconstruct their historical biogeography. That concept was previously developed in invertebrates. Because of their early evolutionary origin, low dispersal capacity, high degree of local endemism, and strict dependence on temperature and humidity, the cladogenesis of spiny frogs may echo the evolution of the HTO paleoenvironment. We show that diversification of main lineages occurred during the early to Mid‐Miocene, while the evolution of alpine taxa started during the late Miocene/early Pliocene. Our distribution and niche modelling results indicate range shifts and niche stability that may explain the modern disjunct distributions of spiny frogs. They probably maintained their (sub)tropical or (warm)temperate preferences and moved out of the ancestral paleo‐Tibetan area into the Himalaya as the climate shifted, as opposed to adapting in situ. Based on ancestral range estimation, we assume the existence of low‐elevation, climatically suitable corridors across paleo‐Tibet during the Miocene along the Kunlun, Qiangtang and/or Gangdese Shan. Our results contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and processes of faunal evolution in the HTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Softwater ponds with Lobelia dortmanna (EU habitat type 3110) represent the rarest aquatic habitat in Belgium. As in many other European countries, its unfavourable conservation status necessitates restoration according to the EU Habitats Directive, which is compromised by a range of pressures and faces increasing social–economic opposition. To explore appropriate goals and remaining obstacles for its ecological rehabilitation, we investigated the environmental history of a pond, formerly renowned for the occurrence of this habitat. We complemented monitoring data with information inferred from diatoms analysed from old samples, herbarium specimens and surface sediments, vegetation records, physical–chemical analyses and additional observations. This indicated almost circumneutral, slightly buffered and nutrient-poor conditions for the first decades of the 20th century. Deposition of atmospheric pollutants caused gradual acidification from the early 1940s, intensifying into mineral-acidic conditions by the 1970s. More recently, a period of alkalinisation and eutrophication followed despite some restoration efforts. We discuss these changes in the contexts of general setting, external pressures and internal processes. Reflecting upon the prospects for restoring the pond's emblematic biodiversity, management implications for this and other softwater sites dealing with similar problems are discussed. A new combination in the diatom genus Iconella is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migratory patterns of the catfish Genidens genidens in four estuaries along the Brazilian Atlantic coast are reconstructed from otolith Sr/Ca, a salinity proxy, to test estuarine‐dependency. To facilitate interpretation of this proxy in otolith core‐to‐edge profiles, a Sr/Ca Reference Value for High Salinity (RVHSSr/Ca) of 4.88 mmol/mol was established experimentally, from fish specimens reared in water with a salinity level (33 psu) between estuarine and high salinity (marine) water. All wild specimens exhibited otolith Sr/Ca values higher than RVHSSr/Ca, suggesting that G. genidens utilizes environments with marine salinity. Our results reveal highly variable environmental histories, with at least five major habitat usage patterns. Most distinctive among these, we find that (a) fish from Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (PEC) exhibit high intraindividual heterogeneity; (b) most fish (57%) from Guanabara Bay (GB) exhibit prolonged exposure to very high salinities, often exceeding 36.5 psu levels found in some shelf sectors; and (c) some fish from Paraiba do Sul River, GB and PEC exhibit Sr/Ca values below RVHSSr/Ca consistent with estuarine residence. These results suggest that G. genidens is not strictly estuarine‐dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Agraria is the property of Historia Agraria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Barshore is a small village in the Pishin District, Balochistan, Pakistan, with dry summers and cold rainy winters. This is an agrarian region, mostly with orchards of various fruit trees. This study investigated the physico-chemical properties and macrofauna of soils under various agricultural management practices of this region. The concentrations of soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (SOC), nutrients, pH, electrical conductivity, soil texture, and the abundance and number of species of soil macrofauna of the agricultural fields were measured. Fifteen agricultural fields were sampled. Fourteen fields were orchards of apple, apricot or the mixture of apple and apricot trees and one field was a cropland, cultivated with wheat as a monocrop. The orchards were under conservation agricultural practices; whereas, the cropland was under conventional management. These agricultural lands were 2–26 years old. The concentration of soil organic matter (SOM) in the upper 0–10 cm depth of these field sites ranged from 11.6 g kg−1 to 32.8 g kg−1 soil. As compared to cropland, orchards had significantly higher concentration of SOM and SOC. A total of 18 soil macrofauna species were found and the most common and abundant were ants (Monomorium minimum, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, Solenopsis invicta, and Lasius niger) followed by Arion ssp. (Brown Slug) and earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. Regression analysis revealed non-significant relationship of the age and the concentration of SOM with the number of macrofauna species and with the concentrations of total mineral nitrogen, bioavailable phosphorus and clay. The existence of ants had no relationship with the concentration of SOM; whereas, existence of Lumbricus terrestris tended to had a positive relationship with the concentration of SOM. The field of tree-based intercropping system was 2 years of age since the land was converted from rangeland to a cropland, had two ant species coexisting. This indicates the positive influence of crop diversification on soil macrofauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The interplay between microbial taxonomy, functional diversity, and land-use changes across diverse ecosystems must be better understood. This study explores, through a statistical modeling approach, the intricate relationships between microbial communities, soil properties (nutrient contents and physicochemical parameters), and land-use changes, using stable isotopes ratio (δ13C/δ15N) as ecosystem function indicator. Methods: Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) this study aims to investigate how soil microbial communities, soil properties and ecosystem function are interconnected in three ecosystems undergoing land-use change in Nevado de Toluca, Mexico. Results: Multivariate analyses of microbial communities and soil parameters for the different land-uses reveal significant variation in both microbial composition and soil properties (i.e. nutrient contents) mainly explained by the land-use history of the studied ecosystems. Through the SEM approach, it was possible to disentangle the relative contribution of land-use change, microbial community composition and nutrient contents to the ecosystem function defined as the δ13C/δ15N ratio. Conclusions: Microbial communities are the main drivers of soil ecosystem functioning. However, through SEM approach it is possible to formally test direct and indirect relationships impacting microbial communities and the resulting functional consequences, contributing to a mechanistic understanding of the ecological implications of land-use change, aiding in sustainable land-use decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life history information such as growth and longevity have been useful for understanding evolutionary relationships and predicting species responses to management and habitat alteration for aquatic species. For unionid mussels, which are globally imperilled, life history information remains unknown for a majority of unionid mussels and because of this has not been broadly used to guide mussel conservation efforts.To address this knowledge gap, growth and longevity were estimated for Cyclonaias petrina, Texas pimpleback, and Lampsilis bracteata, Texas fatmucket, using thin‐sectioning and validated using cross‐dating. Both species are proposed for listing under the US Endangered Species Act.Growth and longevity estimates differed between C. petrina (K = 0.065, 0.086, 0.101; L∞ = 55.03, 76.44, 94.43) and L. bracteata (K = 0.187, 0.208; L∞ = 61.40, 61.52), and growth for L. bracteata correlated to annual flow indices. Cross‐dating revealed high interseries correlations (R = 0.400–0.573), indicating estimates can be viewed with some certainty.Growth and longevity estimates indicate C. petrina is positioned near the K endpoint and L. bracteata near the r endpoint along the r/K life history continuum. This suggests C. petrina should be favoured in stable habitats where disturbance is minimal, whereas L. bracteata is expected to tolerate habitats with frequent and likely stochastic patterns of disturbance.Knowledge of growth and longevity along with life history position provides a qualitative basis to help scientists and practitioners better anticipate how species will respond to environmental change and management actions. Given the conservation status of C. petrina and L. bracteata the life history findings from this study are timely and should be useful in their conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mediterranean landscapes were drastically affected by high levels of abandonment of agricultural and other land practices during the last century. These changes in land use can have significant effects on diversity patterns by altering disturbance and competition equilibria within plant communities at the landscape level. Particularly, such changes have been found to affect the patterns of phylogenetic diversity and structure by causing nonrandom losses of species through filtering effects and landscape homogenization. By investigating diversity patterns across a region submitted to high levels of land use changes, located in a (sub‐) mountainous area of northwestern Greece (northern Pindus), we aimed at understanding the patterns of phylogenetic diversity and structure in relation to land abandonment and the subsequent recovery of natural vegetation. We sampled 250 vegetation plots equally divided in grasslands and forests, distributed across the different classes of land use occurring in the general study area based on the period since the last change in land use. Standardized metrics of Faith's phylogenetic diversity, mean phylogenetic distance, and mean nearest taxon distance were used to investigate phylogenetic diversity patterns across communities and different land‐use regimes. A Principal Coordinates of Phylogenetic Structure analysis was employed to evaluate the variation in lineage composition among communities, and boosted regression trees were used to identify the relative influence of community differentiation (as captured by the classification of sampling plots in ecologically and floristically distinct vegetation communities), plant life strategies (competition, stress tolerance, and disturbance), and climatic, topographic, and soil variables on phylogenetic diversity metrics. Community differentiation was identified as the main driver of phylogenetic patterns. Additionally, phylogenetic diversity and structure were observed as having a statistically significantly negative correlation with disturbance, a statistically significantly positive correlation with stress tolerance, and a weaker positive correlation with competition. Phylogenetic clustering was observed for the early successional grassland communities submitted to stronger effects of disturbance, while phylogenetic randomness (or rarely overdispersion) was observed in forest communities submitted to stronger effects of competition. Finally, phylogenetic clustering of grassland communities was more evident shortly after land abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with Verena Winiwarter, Professor of Environmental History at the University of Vienna. She discusses the early history of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH), including the first ESEH conference in Saint Andrews, Scotland, the establishment of the society's structure, and the creation of its website. Topics include the society's origins, early conferences, and initial digital resources.

The movement of plants, animals, and microorganisms by humans, consciously or unconsciously, has changed both ecosystems and societies throughout history. This article focuses on one such transformative species, lodgepole pine, and its relocation from northwestern America to northern Sweden in the mid-twentieth century. A cultural biography of the lodgepole pine's existence in Sweden examines how this tree has been linked to different value regimes, which creates a historical pattern. Through so-called 'thinning processes', powerful actors, in both production forestry and the environmental movement, have tried to reduce the importance of the species to a limited meaning and context. At the same time, more arguments, knowledge and changed contexts have made the lodgepole pine a 'thick thing', with superimposed values and meanings. Although the tree has moved far geographically, from one continent to another, its importance has continued to be framed by interacting international, national and local perspectives. The lodgepole pine, however, is not just an inert thing that is determined by cultural discourses. It is a living tree, with its own ability to act and whose life in a foreign land has created a dynamic that crosses the border between nature and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern North Pacific gray whales are famed for their remarkable ecological history: from near extinction to recovery and from 'devil-fish' to 'friendly whale'. This article critically examines the origins and development of the narrative framing of gray whales' history as one in which the whales were long known as 'devil-fish', until they became 'friendly whales' in the 1970s. Drawing on archival sources from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, this article interrupts the premise of a smooth and linear transition from devil- fish to friendly whale. Instead, gray whale histories reveal much more complex and even contradictory human--whale encounters along the California coast. Throughout the time period examined, precursors of the familiar contemporary narrative of gray whale history emerged, each building on prior remembrances of gray whale pasts. More broadly, this article contributes to contemporary conversations in more-than-human historical studies about nonhuman agency, multispecies encounters, memory, and environmental histories of emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Film has played a seminal role in Australian environmental history, as an instrument of advocacy to shape political disputes and government actions. Such cinematic activism originated in the 1960s with the dispute over the damming of Tasmania’s iconic Lake Pedder. Here, documentary filmmaking was used by the protagonists to influence public opinion and convey rival views of the remote wilderness lake. For conservationists, film helped build an emotional connection and sense of place, whilst for pro-dam proponents, film helped curate an ideology of economic progress. The protagonists’ mutually reinforcing tactics, especially the intermediary role of the Tasmanian Department of Film Production, combined with the outstanding beauty of Lake Pedder, drove the turn to cinematic activism. Understanding how these films were produced and screened is also important to appreciating their significance for cinematic activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of Arctic summer sea ice due to climate change can lead to increased primary production in parts of the Barents Sea if sufficient nutrients are available. Changes in the timing and magnitude of primary production may have cascading consequences for the zooplankton community and ultimately for higher trophic levels. In Arctic food webs, both small and large copepods are commonly present, but may have different life history strategies and hence different responses to environmental change. We investigated how contrasting summer sea-ice cover and water masses in the northern Barents Sea influenced the copepod community composition and secondary production of small and large copepods along a transect from 76°N to 83°N in August 2018 and August 2019. Bulk abundance, biomass, and secondary production of the total copepod community did not differ significantly between the two years. There were however significant spatial differences in the copepod community composition and production, with declining copepod abundance from Atlantic to Arctic waters and the highest copepod biomass and production on the Barents Sea shelf. The boreal Calanus finmarchicus showed higher abundance, biomass, and secondary production in the year with less sea-ice cover and at locations with a clear Atlantic water signal. Significant differences in the copepod community between areas in the two years could be attributed to interannual differences in sea-ice cover and Atlantic water inflow. Small copepods contributed more to secondary production in areas with no or little sea ice and their production was positively correlated to water temperature and ciliate abundance. Large copepods contributed more to secondary production in areas with extensive sea ice and their production was positively correlated with chlorophyll a concentration. Our results show how pelagic communities might function in a future ice-free Barents Sea, in which the main component of the communities are smaller-sized copepod species (including smaller-sized Calanus and small copepods), and the secondary production they generate is available in energetically less resource-rich portions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental variation often induces plastic responses in organisms that can trigger changes in subsequent generations through non-genetic inheritance mechanisms. Such transgenerational plasticity thus consists of environmentally induced non-random phenotypic modifications that are transmitted through generations. Transgenerational effects may vary according to the sex of the organism experiencing the environmental perturbation, the sex of their descendants or both, but whether they are affected by past sexual selection is unknown. Here, we use experimental evolution on an insect model system to conduct a first test of the involvement of sexual selection history in shaping transgenerational plasticity in the face of rapid environmental change (exposure to pesticide). We manipulated evolutionary history in terms of the intensity of sexual selection for over 80 generations before exposing individuals to the toxicant. We found that sexual selection history constrained adaptation under rapid environmental change. We also detected inter- and transgenerational effects of pesticide exposure in the form of increased fitness and longevity. These cross-generational influences of toxicants were sex dependent (they affected only male descendants), and intergenerational, but not transgenerational, plasticity was modulated by sexual selection history. Our results highlight the complexity of intra-, inter- and transgenerational influences of past selection and environmental stress on phenotypic expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article presents the results of implementing a didactic design based on the "hourglass model" for teaching ecology. This model is based on environmental history and the interactions among organisms in space-time systemically. This study was conducted with 16 high school students from a public school in Bogotá, focusing on wetland ecosystems as a reference. The guiding activities were based on modeling, environmental history, and georeferencing. These activities included: 1) a field trip to the Torca wetland, and 2) a video about the environmental history of wetlands in Bogotá. The students, in pairs, constructed models that reflected their initial perception of the wetland, which were cotinually refined through socialization and feedback until they arrived at a more complex second version. This research has a qualitative approach and is a multiple-case study. For analysis, NVivo software was used with three pre-established categories: the material model, the intercultural approach, and socio-ecological factors. Both versions of the models were considered, and word clouds were generated from the transcriptions of the presentations. Among the results, it is highlighted that students were able to georeference bodies of water, eastern hills, roads, garbage, and buildings, not only from the video but also thanks to the experience on the field trip. Most students understood past events as a result of current socio-cultural and environmental conditions. The models, as a didactic resource, demonstrate the importance of developing models as sensory tools that facilitate the construction of explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genomic evidence suggests that lysogenic viruses significantly influence the evolution of their host communities and soil microbial ecology and functionality. However, the response of soil viral reproductive strategies (VRS) to environmental factors, in particular soil water stress, remains poorly understood. We investigated this by employing a laboratory microcosm incubation system with different soil moisture levels (30%, 60% and 90% field capacity). Our study focused on soil biochemical properties, bacterial and viral populations, lysogenic fractions and virus/bacteria ratio (VBR). The results showed that soil moisture significantly affected bacterial and viral counts, lysogenic fractions and VBR (p < 0.01), with bacterial counts increasing and viral counts decreasing with increasing soil moisture. The lysogenic fraction peaked at low moisture, suggesting a shift in viral strategy under hydration stress, which may affect virus‐bacteria interactions and nutrient dynamics, enhancing host adaptability. Analyses using correlation, random forest and structural equation modelling identified soil moisture as the dominant factor shaping VRS by altering nutrient availability and host population. These findings provide a new insight into microbial regulation of feedback to environmental change from the life history strategies of soil viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) display remarkable life history diversity, underpinning their ability to adapt to environmental change. Maintaining life history diversity is vital to the resilience and stability of Chinook salmon metapopulations, particularly under changing climates. However, the conditions that promote life history diversity are rapidly disappearing, as anthropogenic forces promote homogenization of habitats and genetic lineages. In this study, we use the highly modified Yuba River in California to understand if distinct genetic lineages and life histories still exist, despite reductions in spawning habitat and hatchery practices that have promoted introgression. There is currently a concerted effort to protect federally listed Central Valley spring‐run Chinook salmon populations, given that few wild populations still exist. Despite this, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the genetic and life history diversity of Chinook salmon present in the Yuba River. To understand this diversity, we collected migration timing data and GREB1L genotypes from hook‐and‐line, acoustic tagging, and carcass surveys of Chinook salmon in the Yuba River between 2009 and 2011. Variation in the GREB1L region of the genome is tightly linked with run timing in Chinook salmon throughout their range, but the relationship between this variation and entry on spawning grounds is little explored in California's Central Valley. We found that the date Chinook salmon crossed the lowest barrier to Yuba River spawning habitat (Daguerre Point Dam) was tightly correlated with their GREB1L genotype. Importantly, our study confirms that ESA‐listed spring‐run Chinook salmon are spawning in the Yuba River, promoting a portfolio of life history and genetic diversity, despite the highly compressed habitat. This work highlights the need to identify and protect this life history diversity, especially in heavily impacted systems, to maintain healthy Chinook salmon metapopulations. Without protection, we run the risk of losing the last vestiges of important genetic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paraguayan Chaco is increasingly known for the extreme rates of forest loss caused by the rapid expansion of cattle ranching and crop farming over the last few decades. Knowledge of its twentieth-century land-use history, however, remains limited. In this article, I address that gap by discussing land-use dynamics since the 1900s in the Pilcomayo River basin, a part of the Chaco that borders Argentina and Bolivia, and hosts a great diversity of actors and land uses. Using the concept of land-use regimes, I show that the area, once characterized by what can be called an Indigenous mixed-use regime, transitioned to a land-use regime dominated by livestock herding by Argentine Criollo settlers after the Chaco War (1932–35), and then again to one of large cattle ranches managed by absentee owners toward the end of the twentieth century. No land-use regime ever completely dominated the area, however, and I use this fact as a starting point to then discuss how using the concept of land regimes can help direct attention to the coexistence of regimes in space and to their relationships in a way that helps refine our understanding of land-use transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this text, an analysis of the agricultural structure that was formed in the Yurirapúndaro area (Yuriria, Guanajuato) at the end of the 16th century is carried out, based on research made in recent years. To do this, a detailed study of the Map of Yurirapúndaro and its Subjects (1580) was carried out, belonging to the corpus of the Geographical Relations of 1577, as well as other archival documentation that provides information at a more local level. Through Environmental History and the reconstruction of the landscape, the aim is to interpret what is represented on the map, contextualizing it in the general process of hierarchization and exploitation of space in the north of the viceroyalty of New Spain. This work offers a map with all the information collected and organized from a historical GIS, the identification of plant and animal taxa, as well as the identification and contextualization of the human activities represented in the document. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the concept of commodity frontiers within Australian capitalism and their role in exacerbating socioecological crises. Topics include the Anthropocene debate, where human impacts on the environment prompt reevaluations of geological epochs, challenging established disciplinary boundaries and theories.

Copyright of Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi is the property of Tarih Incelemeleri Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The period since the 1970s has seen a «cultural turn» that affected many areas of historical research. Environmental history is no exception. It emerged in the United States five decades ago and was strongly influenced by intellectual history. However, in the 1990s, the focus of environmental historians gradually shifted towards «new cultural history». Although foreign historiography has repeatedly acknowledged this shift, the underlying reasons that prompted historians to pursue the new research path remain overlooked. This article seeks to bridge the «gap» in the historiography of human interactions with the natural world over time, an important branch of history. The results of a thorough analysis of the major works written by American historians between the 1970s and 2010s show that the «cultural turn» in the American historiography of environmental history was gradual and included two distinct stages. During the first stage, from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, historians explored the problems of environmental history from the perspectives of postcolonial and gender discourses. The second stage, from the mid-1990s to the present day, was marked by a rethinking of the concept of «wilderness», as well as an emphasis on a variety of previously unaddressed problems of environmental history.

The paper focuses on the issue of air pollution in the industrially important Most region in the 1960s. It analyses how society and government responded to increasing environmental degradation in the region within the evolving political and economic context by examining the media and changes in legislation. Inspired by Donald Worster’s environmental history framework, the paper aims to illustrate the dynamic interplay between the expansion of industry, environmental concerns and policymaking during this crucial period. By investigating the nuances of media discourse and legislative reforms, it explores how air pollution was perceived and what actions were taken to tackle it in the region, contributing to a deeper understanding of the interconnections between society, state, and ecology in environmental contexts.

This article delves into the environmental consciousness and criticism present in Kazuo Ishiguro’s eighth novel Klara and the Sun. Ishiguro depicts AI robots reliant on solar energy, with smoke being a significant obstacle for both these robots and humans to obtain sufficient sunlight for survival. This allegorical metaphor is revealed through the perspective of the naïve narrator, Klara, who notes that the source of smoke is the capitalized Pollution emitted from the Cootings Machine, a prototype of steam engine. By associating the novel with British environmental history, this article investigates Ishiguro’s representation and reflection of pollution, employing modernity theories on the environment by Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens, Bruno Latour, and Timothy Morton. I argue that the novel not only inherits the British literary tradition of smoke representation since the era of Romanticism, but also imbues this literary motif with new meanings in posthuman society. By doing so, Ishiguro critiques the human behaviors that have challenged the well-being of both planet Earth and all its inhabitants, and urges immediate action to prevent an ultimate uninhabitability of this planet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the establishment of plant species is important to inform management of restored grasslands and to preserve biodiversity in ancient grasslands. In grassland communities, plant species can establish from seeds arriving via spatial dispersal, from seeds in the soil seed bank or through vegetative spread from nearby source individuals. However, this colonization potential and the likelihood of species establishment can vary in grasslands with different land‐use history. We investigated the relative importance of local species recruitment sources, such as dispersal in space and time and species presence in adjacent grasslands, in determining establishment of plant species in eight grasslands with different land‐use history (paired ancient grasslands continuously managed as pasture vs. restored grasslands on former forest). At each grassland, we established plots (0.25 m2) to monitor seedling emergence from seed dispersal, seed bank, and recorded clonal growth over two growing periods. We found that the likelihood of species establishment was highest from local seed rain, and that species present in the local species pool were more able to germinate and establish in both type of grasslands. Species from the seed bank and clonal growth contributed to a lesser extent to species establishment, but represented a greater proportion of the recolonization and regeneration of species in ancient grasslands. These results demonstrate that surrounding grasslands serve as a source for colonizing species and that dispersal from the adjacent grasslands is the key process in regeneration and colonization of plants. These results imply that the recovery of grasslands depends heavily upon to links to species source in grasslands, especially in restored grasslands. Therefore, management plans should incorporate rotational livestock grazing and larger networks of grassland in restoration efforts, which will enable to desirable species to establish and persist in grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organismal colours have long captivated and inspired naturalists and scientists. Since colours depend on the life history of a species, it is expected that they respond to environmental changes, especially in an increasingly anthropized world. Aiming to evaluate how this trait responds to different anthropogenic disturbances, we assess wing colour aspects of fruit-feeding butterflies sampled in Atlantic Forest remnants. These remnants, with well-defined understory and canopy, are crossed by artificial edges and surround exotic pine silviculture areas of different ages, representing landscapes commonly found in the subtropical Atlantic Forest. We obtained colour measurements of brightness, saturation, contrast, colour diversity and heterogeneity, and the presence of eyespots and iridescence for dorsal and ventral wing surfaces of 47 fruit-feeding butterfly species. We evaluated colour trait distribution and abundance in the distinct native (understory and canopy) and anthropized (edge, old and young Pinus) habitats, and hypothesised that butterfly assemblage colouration will differ in each habitat due to biotic and abiotic differences. In addition, butterfly assemblages in anthropized environments should present less diverse colour traits due to the pressures generated by anthropogenic actions, like microclimate changes and higher exposure to predation. As expected, the natural environments have butterflies with diverse colours and unique contrast colour traits. These patterns are not found in anthropized ones despite artificial edges presenting brighter and even more diverse colours. However, pine silviculture areas present butterflies with less diverse colours, leading the most colourful species to disappear. We demonstrate that different anthropogenic disturbances can impact butterfly colouration. Our results reinforce the close relationship between butterfly colouration and the environment, highlighting that colours can be used as bioindicators for conservation purposes, representing a useful form of functional biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]