Uncommon Ground: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Values

Uncommon Ground: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Values. Veronica Strang. New York: New York University Press, 1997.310 pp.     

Contested Landscapes: Movement, Exile and Place

Contested Landscapes: Movement, Exile and Place. Barbara Bender and Margot Winer, eds. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2001. 320pp.     

Cultural Landscapes in the Ancient Andes: Archaeologies of Place

Cultural Landscapes in the Ancient Andes: Archaeologies of Place . Jerry D. Moore. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. 270 pp.     

The Fractured Community: Landscapes of Power and Gender in Rural Zambia

The Fractured Community: Landscapes of Power and Gender in Rural Zambia. Kate Crehan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.258 pp.     

Landscapes of Devils: Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco

Landscapes of Devils: Tensions of Place and Memory in the Argentinean Chaco . Gastón R. Gordillo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005. 304 pp.     

Landscapes of Power and Identity: Comparative Histories in the Sonoran Desert and the Forests of Amazonia from Colony to Republic

Landscapes of Power and Identity: Comparative Histories in the Sonoran Desert and the Forests of Amazonia from Colony to Republic . Cynthia Radding. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005. 431 pp.     

Rich RNA Structure Landscapes Revealed by Mutate-and-Map Analysis

Landscapes exhibiting multiple secondary structures arise in natural RNA molecules that modulate gene expression, protein synthesis, and viral. We report herein that high-throughput chemical experiments can isolate an RNA’s multiple alternative secondary structures as they are stabilized by systematic mutagenesis (mutate-and-map, M²) and that a computational algorithm, REEFFIT, enables unbiased reconstruction of these states’ structures and populations. In an in silico benchmark on non-coding RNAs with complex landscapes, M²-REEFFIT recovers 95% of RNA helices present with at least 25% population while maintaining a low false discovery rate (10%) and conservative error estimates. In experimental benchmarks, M²-REEFFIT recovers the structure landscapes of a 35-nt MedLoop hairpin, a 110-nt 16S rRNA four-way junction with an excited state, a 25-nt bistable hairpin, and a 112-nt three-state adenine riboswitch with its expression platform, molecules whose characterization previously required expert mutational analysis and specialized NMR or chemical mapping experiments. With this validation, M²-REEFFIT enabled tests of whether artificial RNA sequences might exhibit complex landscapes in the absence of explicit design. An artificial flavin mononucleotide riboswitch and a randomly generated RNA sequence are found to interconvert between three or more states, including structures for which there was no design, but that could be stabilized through mutations. These results highlight the likely pervasiveness of rich landscapes with multiple secondary structures in both natural and artificial RNAs and demonstrate an automated chemical/computational route for their empirical characterization.     

A Genetic and Cultural Odyssey: The Life and Work of L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza

Cultural Landscapes in the Ancient Andes: Archaeologies of Place . Linda Stoneand Paul Lurquin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. 227 pp.     

Analysis of Large-Scale Spatial Heterogeneity in Vegetation Indices among North American Landscapes

We analyzed the spatial heterogeneity in vegetation indices among 13 North American landscapes by using full Landsat Thematic Mapper images. Landscapes varied broadly in the statistical distribution of vegetation indices, but were successfully ordinated by using a measure of central tendency (the mean) and a measure of dispersion (the standard deviation or the coefficient of variation). Differences in heterogeneity among landscapes were explained by their topographic relief and their land cover. Landscape heterogeneity (standard deviation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) tended to increase linearly with topographic relief (standard deviation of elevation), but landscapes with low relief were much more heterogeneous than expected from this relationship. The latter were characterized by a large proportion of agricultural land. Percent agriculture, in turn, was inversely related to topographic relief. The strength of these relationships was evaluated against changes in image spatial resolution (grain size). Aggregation of NDVI images to coarser grain size resulted in steady decline of their standard deviation. Although the relationship between landscape heterogeneity and explanatory variables was generally preserved, rates of decrease in heterogeneity with grain size differed among landscapes. A spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that rates of decrease were related to the scale at which pattern is manifested. On one end of the spectrum are agricultural, low-relief landscapes with low spatial autocorrelation and small-scale heterogeneity associated with fields; their heterogeneity decreased sharply as grain size increased. At the other end, desert landscapes were characterized by low small-scale heterogeneity, high spatial autocorrelation, and almost no change in heterogeneity as grain sized was increased—their heterogeneity, associated with land forms, was present at a large scale. Received 1 October 1997; accepted 11 February 1998.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Reintegrating Fragmented Landscapes towards Sustainable Production and Nature Conservation. R. J. Hobbs and D. A. Saunders. editors
Restoring Acid Waters: Loch Fleet 1984–1990. G. Howels, and T.R.K. Dalziel, editors     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this issue. Zonneveld, I. S. & Forman, R. T. T. (eds.) 1990. Changing Landscapes: An Ecological Perspective . Springer Verlag, New York. ISBN 0–387–97102–5. Price: USD 69.50.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this issue. Vos, W. & Stortelder, A. 1992. Vanishing Tuscan Landscapes. Landscape Ecology of a Submediter-ranean-Montane area (Solano Basin, Tuscany, Italy) . 404 pp. Pudoc, Wageningen. ISBN 90220–0964–5, Price: NLG 120.-.     

It doesn’t always pay to be fit: success landscapes

Journal of Biological Physics - Landscapes play an important role in many areas of biology, in which biological lives are deeply entangled. Here we discuss a form of landscape in evolutionary...     

基于TM影像的景观空间自相关分析——以北京昌平区为例

格局与尺度之间的关系是景观生态学的核心研究内容。景观格局发生在不同的尺度 ,而尺度又影响格局的研究 ,因而 ,在景观生态学研究中应用多种量化研究方法于一系列尺度来确定和特征化空间格局研究 ,并探求空间格局与生态学功能和生态学过程之间的关系是非常必要的。以北京昌平区为例 ,从 TM影像中选取 5个具有突出自然和社会经济背景差异的景观 ,即林地景观、农田景观、都市边缘景观、卫星城景观和灌丛景观为研究对象 ,基于归一化植被指数 (N DVI) ,采用常用空间自相关指数 ,即 Moran的 I系数和 Geary的 c系数进行一系列的空间自相关分析 ,旨在阐明 :变化的空间粒度如何影响空间分析 ?以及空间分析如何响应划区效应 ?此外 ,基于 N DVI和数字高程模型 (DEM)也探讨了对于不同的数据类型 ,格局的尺度依赖性如何变化。研究结果表明 :空间粒度的变化对于景观分析有着显著的影响 ,随着空间粒度的增加 ,空间自相关均呈下降趋势 ;不同景观类型对于空间粒度的变化有着不同的响应 ,人为干扰较多的景观具有较低的空间自相关 ,但对空间粒度的变化表现出较强的敏感性 ;对于不同的数据类型 ,格局分析对空间粒度变化的响应是不同的     

Riverine landscapes: an introduction

1. This paper is an introduction to a special issue of Freshwater Biology containing selected papers from the First International Symposium on Riverine Landscapes held in March 2001 in Switzerland.
2. The primary goal of the symposium was to synthesise present understanding of riverine landscapes from the perspectives of different disciplines. A landscape approach was used to address interactions between patterns and processes, in the context of spatial heterogeneity, across scales in physical and biological systems.
3. The three main themes were: (i) hydrogeomorphic processes, (ii) biological dynamics and (iii) human influences in riverine landscapes.     

景观保护与受胁景观红皮书

地球上大多数景观是自然过程与人类文化过程交互作用的产物,是长期适应和演化形成的稳定类型。它们可以作为协调人类与环境相互关系的模型,具有十分重要的科学、文化和示范价值。但近几十年来,随着人口的快速增长,新技术的采用,世界各地的景观正受到严重威胁,使它们面临退化,有些走向消失。保护和抢救一部分有价值的景观已成为当前的紧迫任务。 国际上于1991年在 IUCN 的 CESP 内成立了“景观保护工作组”,制定了“景观保护计划”,接着在意大利和英国分别举行了两次景观保护专题讨论会,并在希腊克里特岛开展了事例研究。现正着手编制事例研究地点的《受胁景观红皮书》和世界范围的《濒危景观红色名录》。     

北京东灵山区景观类型空间邻接与分布规律

景观由斑块实间镶嵌而成。如何从错综复杂的斑块镶嵌中发现景观类型的空间分布规律,是景观格局研究中亟待解决的问题。通过对北京东灵山地区景观类型空间邻接关系的研究,借鉴群落生态学方法对其空间分布规律进行了探讨。结果表明,各个景观类型的空间邻接特征明显差异,可依紧密邻接的类型数目和程度分为３类;决定景观类型邻接多样性的主要因素是邻接类型的数目;采用作者提出的以景观类型空间邻接长度替代群落学数据的群落分类方     

Mapping Local Conformational Landscapes of Proteins in Solution

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Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson. The Origin and Evolution of Cultures Zohl dé Ishtar. Holding Yawulyu: White Culture and Black Women's Law Donald Denoon. A Trial Separation: Australia and the Decolonisation of Papua New Guinea Sarah F. Green. Notes from the Balkans: Locating Marginality and Ambiguity on the Greek‐Albanian Border Holger Jebens. Pathways to Heaven: Contesting Mainline and Fundamentalist Christianity in Papua New Guinea Verena Keck. Social Discord and Bodily Disorders: Healing among the Yupno of Papua New Guinea Hotze Lont. Juggling Money: Financial Self‐help Organizations and Social Security in Yogyakarta Fiona Magowan and Karl Neuenfeldt (eds). Landscapes of Indigenous Performance: Music, Song and Dance of the Torres Strait and Arnhem Land David McKnight. Of Marriage, Violence and Sorcery: The Quest for Power in Northern Queensland B. J. Parker and L. Rodseth (eds). Untaming the Frontier in Anthropology, Archaeology and History Alexei Yurchak. Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More     

Adaptive Patch Searching Strategies in Fragmented Landscapes

The search strategies dispersers employ to search for new habitat patches affect individuals’ search success and subsequently landscape connectivity and metapopulation viability. Some evidence indicates that individuals within the same species may display a variety of behavioural patch searching strategies rather than one species-specific strategy. This may result from landscape heterogeneity. We modelled the evolution of individual patch searching strategies in different landscapes. Specifically, we analysed whether evolution can favour different, co-existing, behavioural search strategies within one population and to what extent this coexistence of multiple strategies was dependent on landscape configuration. Using an individual-based simulation model, we studied the evolution of patch searching strategies in three different landscape configurations: uniform, random and clumped. We found that landscape configuration strongly influenced the evolved search strategy. In uniform landscapes, one fixed search strategy evolved for the entire spatially structured population, while in random and clumped landscapes, a set of different search strategies emerged. The coexistence of several search strategies also strongly depended on the dispersal mortality. We show that our result can affect landscape connectivity and metapopulation dynamics. Co-ordinating editor: N. Yamamura