Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic: Modern (Re)Constructions of the Cave Man

Although we have never seen Paleolithic humans in the flesh, we recognize them immediately in illustrations, art, cartoons, and museum displays. The familiar iconography of the "Cave Man" often depicts our early human ancestors with longish, unkempt hair. However, this conventionalized image is not congruent with available archaeological data on the appearance of Upper Paleolithic humans. The lengthy iconographic history of representations of our prehistoric humans is rather a palimpsest of beliefs about the origins of humans, "natural man," human nature, primitive humans, and the savage "Other": a history of discourses about human evolution, human language, and the place of humans in the natural world. These images are traced in their anthropological, evolutionary, and philosophical contexts from medieval art through recent scientific illustrations, art, cartoons, and murals, and their influence on the scientific interpretation of our ancestors is assessed. [Cave Man, Paleolithic, evolution, primitive, illustration]     

Introduction to "In Focus: Global Change and Adaptation in Local Places"

ABSTRACT   In recognition of unavoidable changes that human actions are producing in our environment, the term adaptation has become ubiquitous in the environmental and climate-change literature. Human adaptation is a field with a significant history in anthropology, yet anthropological contributions to the burgeoning field of climate change remain limited. This "In Focus" section presents studies of local adaptations to climate variation and change. Each is concerned with current environmental challenges and future environmental change, and each study is placed within a wider context that includes processes of globalization and integration into market economies, formal and informal institutions, and disasters. These studies highlight the challenges involved in understanding complex adaptations under conditions of stress. They also illustrate how anthropologists engage the larger climate-change and human-adaptation discussions and enhance our ability to respond to the challenges of a changing environment.     

The Phenomenon of Personalization of the Environment: A Theoretical

The changes taking place in the residential environment have raised a very acute question: How to give due consideration to the distinctive features of the particular human being and the laws and patterns of his activity and social intercourse; how to include the "human element" in the ever more complicated mechanism of environmental planning as the man-made world, from the apartment to urban agglomerations, is shaped and transformed? Quests for an answer to this question over the past fifteen to twenty years have produced a new area of psychological investigation, most commonly referred to as "environmental psychology."     

Population regulation and the life history studies of LaMont Cole

Transformative changes marked the growth of mid-twentieth century American ecology. This included redirection of the scholarly focus of the discipline, especially on the role evolutionary theory and "levels of selection", and increased visibility of ecologist as public figures in the environmental movement with special knowledge of how natural systems work. Cornell ecologist LaMont Cole is an important figure to examine both of these trends. Like many of his contemporaries, Cole was devoted to a perspective on natural selection operating at levels above the individual. However, because of his influential mathematical treatment of animal demography he has been historically subsumed into a group of scholars that views the events in the life course as adaptations to the maximization of individual fitness--life history theory. Cole's popular writings and lectures, which consumed his later career, extend his scholarly portrayal of natural populations as tending toward stable and homoeostatic equilibrium, with the goal of drawing contrasts with the deviance of rapid human population growth. In both regards, Cole serves as a topical and temporal extension of the well-documented and analyzed ecology of his mentors--Alfred Emerson, Thomas Park, and Warder Allee--in the University of Chicago Zoology Department.     

我国环境功能评价与区划方案

我国地区间自然环境和社会经济发展差异悬殊,主体发展功能和环境功能定位各不相同。从环境功能的角度出发,统筹考虑各环境要素,建立基于环境功能区划的环境管理制度具有重要的理论和现实意义。采用RS与GIS技术的空间评价方法,构建了基于环境功能评价和主导因素法的环境功能区划技术体系,在对全国自然生态环境及社会经济发展科学评估的基础上,充分衔接现有的相关区划与规划,明确全国环境功能区划方案。国土面积的53.2%划为自然生态保留区和生态功能保育区,为国民经济的健康持续发展提供生态安全保障;国土面积的46.8%划为食物环境安全保障区、聚居环境维护区和资源开发环境引导区,主要从事农业生产、城镇化和工业化开发以及资源开发利用,是国民经济和社会发展活动的主要集中地区,重点维护人群健康。环境功能区划是改变环境保护目标制定和考核中"一刀切"现象的基础性研究,实行环境分区管理和分类指导,促进实现环境保护管理战略转型。     

World-wide environmental problems.

Man and the physical and natural resources necessary to support him in a civilized society are on a collision course. It is simple to say that man cannot continue to grow in number at an ever-increasing rate without a destructive effect upon the environment. Positive scientific proof for this impending calamity is not now available, yet many indications--sometimes physical and sometimes natural--point towards major world-wide environmental troubles in the near future. A number of environmental problems are described, particularly as they relate to the total world system. A computer model simulating future world-wide environmental trends from 1900 to 2100 A.D. is evaluated and suggested as a major tool for data-gathering purposes to determine the extent of world-wide environmental problems. It is suggested that scientists take an active role in the study of the environment, particularly in relation to man's future on earth. The problems for the future are so potentially dangerous that we must not wait for a global catastrophe and then rely on science to rescue us. The article is about human survival.     

Infrastructure and the environment in the Anthropocene

For centuries, man‐made infrastructure has been viewed as separate from natural systems. Yet in the past few centuries, as the scale and scope of human activities have dramatically increased, there is accumulating evidence that natural systems are becoming increasingly, and in some cases entirely, managed by humans. The dichotomy between infrastructure and the environment is narrowing, and natural systems are increasingly becoming human design spaces. This is already apparent with the management of hydrologic systems for urban water supply, wildlife, agriculture, forests, and even the atmosphere, and we can expect management of the environment to become more so as human activities grow. Yet our infrastructure largely remains obdurate. They are designed to last for long times even as changes in the environment and technology accelerate. As such, our current infrastructure paradigms fail at the level of the complex, integrated systems and behaviors that characterize the Anthropogenic Earth. Infrastructure in the future will need to be designed for adaptive capacity and the complexities associated with techno‐environmental systems.     

Plant–environment interactions through a functional traits perspective: a review of Italian studies

Abstract

Italy is among the European countries with the greatest plant diversity due to both a great environmental heterogeneity and a long history of man–environment interactions. Trait-based approaches to ecological studies have developed greatly over recent decades worldwide, although several issues concerning the relationships between plant functional traits and the environment still lack sufficient empirical evaluation. To draw insights on the association between plant functional traits and direct and indirect human and natural pressures on the environmental drivers, this article summarizes the existing knowledge on this topic by reviewing the results of studies performed in Italy adopting a functional trait approach on vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Although we recorded trait measurements for 1418 taxa, our review highlighted some major gaps in plant traits knowledge: Mediterranean ecosystems are poorly represented; traits related to belowground organs are still overlooked; traits measurements for bryophytes and lichens are lacking. Finally, intraspecific variation has been little studied at community level so far. We conclude by highlighting the need for approaches evaluating trait–environment relationship at large spatial and temporal scales and the need of a more effective contribution to online databases to tie more firmly Italian researchers to international scientific networks on plant traits.     

Charles Lyell –"the father of geology"– as a forerunner of modern ecology

In 1830, Charles Lyell published the first volume of his influential book, "The principles of geology". Young Charles Darwin took the book on board the "Beagle" and, upon his return, acknowledged the contribution it made to his own research. Lyell did not believe in transmutation and evolution, and explained the differences in the fossil fauna between different geological formations by the accumulated environmental changes over a very long geological time. He describes ecological interactions of organisms with their biotic and abiotic environment in a language similar to current ecological concepts. Lyell may be seen as one of the forerunners of modern ecology.     

Ukhtomski? and the nature of the human "ego"]

A. Ukhtomski? is one of those Russian naturalists of the beginning of the 20th century (K. Tsiolkovski?, V. Vernadski?, K. Timiriazev, I. Pavlov), whose scientific work is characterized by a combination of the valuable contribution to a specific field of science and deep philosophical conceptualizations. Ukhtomski? enriched modern neurophysiology by the ideas on dominant--a stable focus of enhanced excitability, determining the organism reactions to the environmental stimuli. Unlike artificial experimental models, natural dominant--vector of the goal-directed behaviour--represents the needs of immediate satisfaction, dominating at the present moment. Formation of needs hierarchy, characteristic of the given personality, occurs during the process of people communication. Namely, another man serves to the subject a mirror, looking into which he realizes himself as a human being (K. Marx). By his teaching on the dominant, Ukhtomski? has revealed the dual nature of the personality's self-consciousness in the process of its perception of the surrounding people. He showed that involuntary projection of its dominating vital and social needs (motives, intentions) to the image of another man makes the latter only the "double" of the observer, which does not promote the development and enrichment of personality. Actually productive is only the perception which is motivated by the ideal need of learning another personality, sincere interest in him, what makes another person a "well-deserved colocutor", a source of new knowledge about people and himself. The ideas of Ukhtomski? on the nature of human "self" are close to ideological searchings of L. Tolsto? and F. Dostoevski?.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

人类活动对榆树疏林土壤环境和植物多样性的影响

人类活动已成为地球上生物多样性的主要影响因素,而生物多样性的变化是目前主要的全球变化问题之一。榆树疏林是分布于温带草原地带的沙地生境顶级群落,其生态环境脆弱,极易遭到人类活动的破坏。研究结果表明,各种人类活动（包括人工林的建造）对原生榆树疏林土壤环境和植物多样性有很大的影响,其中人工樟子松林和重牧干扰影响最大,其次是人工杨树林。在沙地环境治理中应充分地考虑自然规律和系统的短期与长期生态过程的统一。     

Comments on "The Grand Objectives" by Thomas E. Graedel

In "The Grand Objectives: A Framework for Prioritized Grouping of Environmental Concerns in Life-Cycle Assessment". Thomas Graedel (1997) proposed an elegant schema for prioritizing environmental concerns. It operates at three levels: grand objectives, environmental concerns, and targeted activities. I argue that consensus is most likely on the first and third levels, but that the middle level, environmental concerns, is more problematic. Even among individuals who agree on general societal directions, strong differences of views can occur regarding specific technologies. I illustrate by applying Graedel's system to his "radionuclide" category, under his first grand objective (human species extinction). I use the example of nuclear waste to illustrate how values are inextricably involved at the "environmental concerns" level. My analysis suggests ways to enhance the utility of Graedel's useful system.     

社会-经济-自然复合生态系统

当代若干重大社会问题,都直接或间接关系到社会体制、经济发展状况以及人类赖以生存的自然环境。社会、经济和自然是三个不同性质的系统,但其各自的生存和发展都受其它系统结构、功能的制约,必须当成一个复合系统来考虑,我们称其为社会-经济-自然复合生态系统。本文分析了该复合系统的生态特征,提出了衡量该复合系统的三个指标:(1)自然系统的合理性;(2)经济系统的利润;(3)社会系统的效益。指出复合生态系统的研究是一个多目标决策过程,应在经济生态学原则的指导下拟定具体的社会目标,经济目标和生态目标,使系统的综合效益最高,风险最小,存活机会最大。文中还提出了一些复合生态系统的研究方向和具体决策步骤。最后给出了三个复合系统的事例。     

Environmental variation and population responses to global change

Species' responses to environmental changes such as global warming are affected not only by trends in mean conditions, but also by natural and human‐induced environmental fluctuations. Methods are needed to predict how such environmental variation affects ecological and evolutionary processes, in order to design effective strategies to conserve biodiversity under global change. Here, we review recent theoretical and empirical studies to assess: (1) how populations respond to changes in environmental variance, and (2) how environmental variance affects population responses to changes in mean conditions. Contrary to frequent claims, empirical studies show that increases in environmental variance can increase as well as decrease long‐term population growth rates. Moreover, environmental variance can alter and even reverse the effects of changes in the mean environment, such that even if environmental variance remains constant, omitting it from population models compromises their ability to predict species' responses to changes in mean conditions. Drawing on theory relating these effects of environmental variance to the curvatures of population growth responses to the environment, we outline how species' traits such as phylogenetic history and body mass could be used to predict their responses to global change under future environmental variability.     

Fieldwork: man in the system of nature and priority of natural laws in human life

Fieldwork is a branch of inseparable unity of natural and humanitarian sciences; it is aimed at the cultural origin of humanity on the maximum level of its variety. Practically all natural sciences have some space determined by ethnic conscience in nature cognition: ethnodemography, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, etc. Fieldwork guides the research of human culture from the laws of nature. This kind of knowledge is useful to balance human relations with nature and avoid conflicts. Peoples should exchange their wisdom in the dialogue with nature to be more safe. Fieldwork understood as traditional culture only, explaining the variety of ethnoses on our earth, is just the narrow and diachronic level of this branch of knowledge. The cosmological knowledge, where fantasy and not exhausted in its cognition understanding the world of nature are mixed, forms the source of fieldwork and in many respects explains the direction of knowledge: the man finds himself under the open sky, he is the child of nature. Then as time went on there appeared a gradual transition--first nature was creating the man, then by and by he began turning to answer nature by his activity. Nowadays the man is actively creating nature. There are two levels of fieldwork: the ancient one which deals with the origin of ethnoses and the modern one which explores how contemporary life is determined by ethnic specific traits. Fieldwork is the core of multidisciplinary situation in man's knowledge. It is related to such humanitarian sciences: semiotics, culturology, sociology, history, philosophy, literature, linguistics. In the cycle of natural sciences fieldwork stands close to anthropology, geography, biology, demography. Fieldwork as a science has the two main levels--the "sophy" level and the logos "level". The first one discovers wisdom of human life, the second one is aimed at logical structuring of knowledge, here proceed various classifications of peoples.     

"生态环境"内涵界定探讨

“生态环境”是在中国使用频率较高的一个名词,由于一直没有明确而公认的定义,使用者往往误用,不利于今后理论研究和实践工作。本文追溯了生态环境概念的起源,对比分析了“生态环境”内涵的不同理解,基于生态学、环境科学理论,认为生态环境是以特定生物体(包括人类)为中心,多元复合生态系统各要素和生态关系的总和,强调生态系统的整体性、连续性、稳定性和协同进化性,以及在此基础上对主体提供的环境功能。     

哺乳动物牙釉质碳氧稳定同位素揭示早期人类演化与环境关系

早期人类演化、扩散、技术发展与自然环境的关系一直是学术界关注的前沿与热点.本文梳理了环境变化与早期人类演化关系研究中牙釉质碳氧稳定同位素分析的研究历史、原理以及取样方法,与此同时,介绍了不同学者利用哺乳动物牙釉质碳氧稳定同位素分析在早期人类演化与环境关系探索的相关研究进展,并对东非早期人类奥杜威技术向阿舍利技术转变过程...     

Future eating and country keeping: what role has environmental history in the management of biodiversity?

In order to understand and moderate the effects of the accelerating rate of global environmental change land managers and ecologists must not only think beyond their local environment but also put their problems into a historical context. It is intuitively obvious that historians should be natural allies of ecologists and land managers as they struggle to maintain biodiversity and landscape health. Indeed, ‘environmental history’ is an emerging field where the previously disparate intellectual traditions of ecology and history intersect to create a new and fundamentally interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Environmental history is rapidly becoming an important field displacing many older environmentally focused academic disciplines as well as capturing the public imagination. By drawing on Australian experience I explore the role of ‘environmental history’ in managing biodiversity. First I consider some of the similarities and differences of the ecological and historical approaches to the history of the environment. Then I review two central questions in Australian environment history: landscape‐scale changes in woody vegetation cover since European settlement and the extinction of the marsupials in both historical and pre‐historical time. These case studies demonstrate that environmental historians can reach conflicting interpretations despite using essentially the same data. The popular success of some environmental histories hinges on the fact that they narrate a compelling story concerning human relationships and human value judgements about landscape change. Ecologists must learn to harness the power of environmental history narratives to bolster land management practices designed to conserve biological heritage. They can do this by using various currently popular environmental histories as a point of departure for future research, for instance by testing the veracity of competing interpretations of landscape‐scale change in woody vegetation cover. They also need to learn how to write parables that communicate their research findings to land managers and the general public. However, no matter how sociologically or psychologically satisfying a particular environmental historical narrative might be, it must be willing to be superseded with new stories that incorporate the latest research discoveries and that reflects changing social values of nature. It is contrary to a rational and publicly acceptable approach to land management to read a particular story as revealing the absolute truth.     

Optimizing nitrogen management in food and energy production and environmental protection: summary statement from the Second International Nitrogen Conference

Human efforts to produce food and energy are changing the nitrogen (N) cycle of the Earth. Many of these changes are highly beneficial for humans, while others are detrimental to people and the environment. These changes transcend scientific disciplines, geographical boundaries, and political structures. They challenge the creative minds of natural and social scientists, economists, engineers, business leaders, and decision makers. The Second International Nitrogen Conference was designed to facilitate communications among all stakeholders in the "nitrogen community" of the world. The Conference participants" goal in the years and decades ahead is to encourage every country to make optimal choices about N management in food production and consumption, energy production and use, and environmental protection. Scientific findings and recommendations for decision makers that emerged from the Conference are presented.     

新疆哈巴河桦木属湿地3600年以来的植被变化和人类活动

湿地是水陆相互作用形成的独特自然综合体,对全球气候变化敏感,尤其是干旱半干旱区分布的湿地对自然环境和人类活动的响应更为显著。基于新疆哈巴河地区桦木林湿地人工开挖130 cm深的地层剖面,结合较高时间分辨率的¹⁴C测年数据和孢粉组合,揭示出该区3600年来曾经历5个时段的植被变化和人类活动的影响。3540—3430 cal a BP期间,该区以蒿属(Artemisia)等旱生植物为主,湿地尚未形成;3430—2640 cal a BP期间,局地小环境较湿润,湿生草本和以沼泽蕨(Thelypteris palustris)为代表的蕨类植物大量生长,落叶阔叶的桦木属(Betula)植物开始出现;至2640—660 cal a BP期间,浅水湿地开始形成,桦木属植物迅速扩张,但在大区域仍分布着由藜科(Chenopodiaceae)和蒿属等为主要组成的荒漠植被;尤其在660—210 cal a BP期间,桦木属成为森林的优势种;值得关注的是,近200年以来,该区以藜科为代表的草本植物增多,而桦木林出现萎缩。通过对选取的典型局域湿地不同历史时期环境变化和人类活动影响的研究,揭...