Narratives of success among Irish and African Caribbean migrants

This paper compares the narratives of two men in midlife who migrated to the UK from Ireland and from the Caribbean as children, in the middle of the last century. We examine how success is narrated over the life course to show how migrants’ positioning of themselves differs from the ways in which they are positioned by outsiders, including in policy and public discourse. We conclude that while outsider narratives often polarise success and failure, insider understandings of success are dynamic and culturally and historically situated.     

Abalone I: Analyzing Mark-Recapture-Recovery Data Incorporating Growth and Delayed Recovery

Abalone are semimobile marine gastropods that form the basis of Australia's second most valuable fishery. A site off the coast of Port Arthur, Tasmania, was visited on six occasions. On each occasion, any unmarked live abalone found were marked with a unique identification number and were recorded. Any previously marked abalone found had its identification number and whether or not it was still alive recorded. This results in integrated mark-recapture-recovery data, as in Catchpole et al. (1998, Biometrics 54, 33-46). During the study period, abalone grew in size, and we model the survival of individuals as a function of their size, estimated from a fitted growth curve. The shells of dead animals are long lasting, and we extend existing methodology to allow for the possibility that an animal found dead may have been dead but overlooked for several visits.     

Stopover and fat deposition by North American wood-warblers (Parulinae) following spring migration over the Gulf of Mexico

Summary Length of stopover and rate of weight gain (fat deposition) were studied in several species of passerine birds that stopped in southwestern Louisiana along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico after a trans-Gulf flight. Fatdepleted birds were more common among the birds that arrived at our study site in southwest Louisiana, though variability characterized our samples. Migrants that landed after encountering opposing winds or rain over the northern Gulf of Mexico were, on average, fatter than migrants that landed when weather was favorable for continued migration. Some of the variation in the energetic condition of arrivals may be explained by the location where migrants initiated crossings. Our simulation of flight over the Gulf of Mexico showed that with following winds a warbler can cross the Gulf of Mexico from Yucatan with fat reserves to spare, and stronger tailwinds make flights from as far south as Honduras energetically permissible. The length of stay after a trans-Gulf flight was related to the extent of fat-depletion upon arrival: lean birds stayed longer than fat migrants. Migrants stopped over for 1–7 days and replenished energy reserves at rates that varied from 0.19 g/d for Hooded Warblers (Wilsonia citrina) to 0.87 g/d for Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus). Within each species, most individuals gained weight at a rapid rate, though a few individuals lost or maintained weight during their stay.     

Life history adaptations of Gasterosteus aculeatus in a Mediterranean wetland

Synopsis The life cycle of leiurus-type Gasterosteus aculeatus occurring in a Mediterranean coastal wetland is described. Fish have a low number of lateral plates, short spines and marked sexual dimorphism in size. The life cycle is strictly annual, adults dying shortly after breeding. Adult fish migrate into seasonally-flooded freshwater marshes to breed, and the young migrate back to brackish water to pass the summer and autumn. Breeding occurs in March at water temperatures of about 10°C, the season lasting about 50 days. Growth of fish occurs throughout the year, but differs from year to year, resulting in variable adult size. Maximum gonadal investment of male fish is in autumn, whereas that of females is in spring. Gonadal investment of female fish, as measured by gonado-somatic index and fecundity, is higher than in other studied leiurus populations, but the number of clutches produced in a season is probably low. These differences in life history from other studied populations of sticklebacks are seen as adaptations to a mediterranean-type climate (high summer temperatures, seasonality of water bodies) and to heavy predation by fish-eating birds.     

Butterfly migration from and to peninsular Florida

Abstract.

• 1 Migrating butterflies were monitored with traps for 10 years at a site in north peninsular Florida, to determine seasonal and annual variation in numbers and directions of flight.
• 2 In the spring, 81–96% of the principal migrants, Phoebis sennae (L.), Agraulis vanillae (L.), Precis coenia (Hübner) and Urbanus proteits (L.), flew northward; in the autumn, 86–95% flew southward.
• 3 Estimated mean net numbers of these four species flying northward in spring across each ENE-WSW metre were 3, 6, 69 and <1 respectively; numbers flying southward in autumn were 222, 413, 37 and 146.
• 4 During a 5-year period, the ratio of highest to lowest seasonal migration for a species did not exceed 9.3.
• 5 The average median date of spring migration was 27 March for P.sennae, 23 April for P.coenia, and 12 May for A.vanillae. The average median date of autumn migration was 2–5 October except for U.proteus, whose average date was 14 October.
• 6 The autumn migratory period, as measured by the duration of the middle half of migration, was about 2 weeks in P.coenia and about 4 weeks in the other three species.
• 7 Compared to previously reported butterfly migrations, the ones studied here were notably uniform in magnitude and regular in timing.
• 8 These and other data suggest that 4 million or more of these butterflies migrate northward from peninsular Florida almost every spring and that 40 million or more migrate southward to peninsular Florida almost every autumn.

     

Habitat and population size of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae at Grand Comoro

Synopsis In 1987 and 1989 coelacanths were observed for the first time in their natural habitat with the help of submersibles. Coelacanths were found between 150–253 m depth, their preferential depth seems to be around 200 m; the water temperature ranged between 16.5–22.8° C. During the day coelacanths aggregate in small non-aggressive groups in sheltered lava-caves. Caves might be a limiting factor for distribution. At night they leave the caves for hunting by drifting singly along the steep lava slopes. They migrate between different caves located within a large home range covering more than 8 km coastline. Coelacanths are site-attached, some for a period of at least 2 years. Our own observations and earlier catch records show that only the west coast of Grand Comoro is a suitable coelacanth habitat with more structural complexity and prey fish abundance than other coastlines of the island. From our survey we estimated a total coelacanth population off Grand Comoro to be 150–210 individuals; a saturated population would be 370–510 individuals. This small relict population seems to be stable. International protection of coelacanths against commercial interests is needed     

Age at menopause of Tamang women tea-labourers of Jalpaiguri district,West Bengal,India

The Tamang women tea-labouren of Jalpaiguri district show no significant difference in age at menopause among their three «migration status» groups, viz., MO, M1 and M2+. The mean age at menopause is 47.3±4.26 and the median age is 47.68 years. A significant difference occurs between the observed mean age at menopause and 45 years, which is generally taken to be the menopausal age by convention. These Tamang women seem to be similar to other hill women in respect of age at menopause.     

Social policy,economics, and demographic change in Nanticoke-Moor ethnohistory

The Nanticoke-Moors of Delaware are an ethnic group of Native American, Afro-American, and Euro-American descent. Their physiognomic and ethnic marginality has subjected them to a limited range of social and economic options under the influence of American racial policies. This article concerns their ethnic formation in the colonial period and the demographic effects (changes in fertility, mortality, and structure) of their 19th- and 20th-century social history. The demographic sample consists of 406 headstones from three community cemeteries. Each cemetery represents a socially and economically distinct unit, including a group that identifies with its traditional Indian heritage, an Afro-American acculturated group, and a migrant community of marginal ethnic affiliation. Variation and change in life expectancy is shown. Relationships between the political and economic processes affecting Nanticoke-Moor social affiliation, and those affecting color caste-class formation among mainstream Afro-Americans, are discussed.     

Convergence of genetic distances in a migration matrix model

A recurring problem with the use of migration matrix models of genetic differentiation has to do with their convergence properties. In practice, predictions can be drawn from these models only at equilibrium; but in the case of the standard predictors (most of which are modifications of Wright's FST), it can take an unrealistically large number of generations to approach equilibrium. An alternative set of predictors, the set of all pairwise genetic distances among the populations that define the rows and columns of the migration matrix, is investigated here. These distances are shown analytically to converge much more rapidly than the more commonly used predictors. In an application of the model to migration data on a human population from Papua New Guinea, it takes only about three to four generations for the pairwise distances to converge, in contrast to more than 100 generations for one of the standard predictors. In this case, moreover, the distances predicted by the model at equilibrium are similar to those calculated from the available genetic data.