Changing Ruralities: Between Abandonment and Redefinition in the Catalan Pyrenees

In this article we discuss the process by which the upper areas of the Alt Urgell, in Northern Spain, are redefining themselves in order to survive in the new postindustrial order. These communities, during the twentieth century, witnessed a steady demographic and economic collapse that resulted in a progressive decline of agricultural activities and the abandonment of mid-mountain villages. In the sixties, the area deepened its milk production specialisation that offered, for a while, a path towards economic sustainability via connections to national networks of consumption. This solution was severed by the entry of Spain into the European Union. The new European regulations obliterated the industrial production of milk and disconnected the area, once again, from national markets. The early nineties saw these valleys fully engage in a postindustrial economy based on leisure and heritage. This case study allows us to examine how macroeconomic changes that affect rural communities in the Western world redefine the ways in which rural areas engage with larger economic frameworks that, at the end of the day, redefine their identities even as they ensure their viability.     

Nested clade and phylogeographic analyses of the chub, Leuciscus cephalus (Teleostei, cyprinidae), in Greece: implications for Balkan Peninsula biogeography

Phylogenetic relationships among Greek populations of the chub, Leuciscus cephalus, were investigated using 600 bp of the cytochrome b gene. The aim of this study was to test the assumption that the main difference in ichthyological composition between both sides of the Balkan Peninsula is directly linked to differences in the dispersion mechanisms used by fish in order to extend their distribution range. Phylogenetic and nested clade analyses clearly showed that populations in Greece are significantly differentiated. Greek populations were found to descend from three lineages in three geographical provinces: Western, Central, and Eastern Greece. The chub reached Western Greece at the beginning of the Pleistocene and Eastern Greece during the mid-Pleistocene. Chub dispersion occurred mainly by river confluence due to sea level lowering and river capture in Western Greece and sea dispersal with low-salinity conditions within the Aegean Sea in Eastern Greece. However, in Central Greece, the original mtDNA lineage has presumably been lost owing to a genetic introgression following a second invasion from the Danube during the final stage of the last glaciation. This study provides new elements for a better understanding of the composition of the contemporary ichthyofauna in Greece and highlights possible evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the high endemism rate in the Western Greek biogeographic province.     

The impact of the economic crisis on the implementation of the EU Nature Directives in Greece: An expert-based view

Established under the European Union (EU), the thirty-year trans-national network, Natura 2000, is considered one of the largest biodiversity conservation frameworks worldwide. The global financial crisis has afflicted European economies since 2008 and has not only caused radical changes to the economic development but has also resulted in major implications on nature conservation activities in one of the weakest EU member states, however a biodiversity hotspot, Greece. The present research constitutes a broad-based assessment of the effects of the current economic crisis on the application of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives by the Greek state for the first time. By applying an expert elicitation method, Policy Delphi, we attempt to address the impact of the crisis on the administrative levels, competent authorities and procedural frames of the national protected area system, as perceived by 38 Greek key stakeholders and experts on the topic. An evaluation of the practices and obligations of 4 Management Bodies of the Greek protected area system was conducted to get an insight of the financial consequences on their operation. The structured and participatory approach followed in this study, allowed a systematic collection of experts’ transdisciplinary judgments on the state of the Greek Natura 2000 network in terms of implementation, management, administration, monitoring and legislation. With a strong tradition in managing its high nature value in a centralized way, in the face of the economic crisis, implementation challenges of the Greek state concerning Natura 2000 have been enlarged. According to a substantial part of the Greek conservation community that participated in the survey, many enforcement obstacles are considered, either direct or indirect consequences of the economic crisis, while some are inherent to the lack of a national comprehensive conservation strategy and not necessarily attributed to the austerity. However, the lack of national structural strength, as illustrated by the respondents, rather than the funding size proved to be an important cause of vulnerability for the Greek network. Based on the findings of this study we propose recommendations for improvements that align economic with conservation interests and measures that can substantially counteract the negative impacts of the economic austerity on the enforcement of nature conservation.     

Grandmaternal childcare and kinship laterality. Is rural Greece exceptional?

Grandmothers provide more childcare for their daughters' children than for those of their sons, almost everywhere. Exceptions occur where virilocal (patrilocal) postmarital residence makes the children of sons more accessible, but even under virilocality, preferential care of daughters' children, net of the effects of proximity, is often demonstrable. A unique counter-example has been reported by Pashos (2000, Evolution & Human Behavior, 21, 97–109) who found that rural Greek grandmothers cared more for their sons' children even when effects of proximity were controlled; however, this result was based on an analysis in which everything from living in the same household to living in nearby villages was treated as equally close.Here, we present new analyses that replicate Pashos's result, based on a large European survey with a finer differentiation of residential proximity. In interviews conducted in 2004–2007, rural, but not urban, Greek women indeed reported more care of sons' than of daughters' children, net of the effects of proximity and other variables, This rural reversal of the usual uterine (matrilateral) bias was not observed elsewhere in Europe. Greeks were not surveyed again until 2015, whereupon the pattern had disappeared, with rural women now exhibiting a strong uterine bias in grandchild childcare. It seems likely that the financial crisis of 2008–2009, which hit Greece especially hard, played some role in this dramatic change, but it cannot readily be traced to increases in either unemployment or multigenerational households.     

Some Policy Implications of the Resurfacing of Rural Factor Markets Following Agrarian De-collectivization in Ethiopia

Prior to 1975, agriculture in Ethiopia was organized largely under feudalistic/imperial arrangements. The Ethiopian military government (1974–1991)issued the Land Reform Proclamation in 1975 which nationalized and redistributed most of the agricultural land among rural households. Land redistribution was meant to achieve equal land area per household and improve agricultural performance. Sale of land and hiring of agricultural labor were prohibited and there were fears that livestock would be nationalized. Following the ousting of the military regime in 1991, there has been a reduction of the imperfections in rural factor markets. Results from a field survey in the central Ethiopian highlands indicate that selling, hiring, renting, and exchanging of agricultural land, farm labor, and animal traction are increasing. These changes will influence agricultural production in many ways, particularly if reform with respect to rural factor markets is encouraged and accorded appropriate policy support.     

The European Refugee Crisis and Humanitarian Citizenship in Greece

Greece has been at the epicentre of two overlapping ‘humanitarian crises:’ the economic crisis and the crisis of refugees. Since 2011, as austerity policies have hamstrung the Greek state’s capacity to meet the basic needs of citizens, long-term residents, and new arrivals alike, formal and informal humanitarian initiatives have sought to provide for diverse beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the ‘refugee crisis’ has opened up a booming humanitarian marketplace in Greece. This article draws on my long-term research in the field of asylum in Greece, and ethnographic data from research on ‘social solidarity clinics and pharmacies,’ grassroots initiatives meant to provide medicines and care to citizens and non-citizens in need. I argue that the Greek case signals the emergence of what I call ‘humanitarian citizenship’ on European margins: the replacement of both social rights (afforded to citizens) and human rights (afforded to refugees) with humanitarian logics and sentiments, positioning both citizens and non-citizens in a partially shared continuum of precarity.     

Species diversity,endemism and conservation of the family Caryophyllaceae in Greece

The family Caryophyllaceae includes world-wide 86 genera and approximately 2100 species. Greece is one of its most important centres of diversity and endemism. A total of 428 Caryophyllaceae taxa are distributed in Greece, 161 of them being endemic to the Greek political territory. The endemic element represents approximately 5% of the global diversity of the family at the species level. The aim of this paper is to discuss the distribution patterns of the Greek endemic Caryophyllaceae, as well as those with a limited distribution range to the neighbouring areas of the Balkans and Anatolia, on the basis of the phytogeographical regions of Greece in order to identify the important regions for their conservation. The majority of the Greek endemic Caryophyllaceae (64.6%) are distributed in only one single phytogeographical region, or even a smaller area indicating the extremely restricted distribution ranges of the endemic plants in Greece. Actually 83 Greek endemic Caryophyllaceae can be grouped on cytotaxonomic criteria. Most of them belong to the category of schizoendemics (91.6%), indicating that the endemism of Caryophyllaceae in Greece has mainly originated in an active way. Cluster analysis has been used to classify the phytogeographical regions according to their floristic similarities. Two iterative complementarity methods were used to evaluate the importance of each phytogeographical region in the conservation of the endemic Caryophyllaceae in Greece. Peloponnisos, Kriti-Karpathos and Sterea Ellas are the most important phytogeographical regions in this respect, followed by North Central and North East. When adding the Balkan-Aegean-Anatolian endemics to the analysis, Peloponnisos, North Central, Kriti-Karpathos, North East and Eastern Aegean result as the most important areas. In every case, an elevated number of sites are required for the conservation of Caryophyllaceae in Greece, reflecting the great dissimilarities in the floristic composition of the various phytogeographical regions. The results provided by the different methods are compared. A catalogue of the Greek endemic Caryophyllaceae is appended.     

Genetic characterization of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) populations from Greece using mitochondrial DNA sequences

Wild common carp from two lakes and two rivers in Greece were genetically characterized with sequencing analysis of two mitochondrial DNA segments: cytochrome b (1119 bp) and D-loop (646 bp). A total of 9 variable singleton sites and 7 unique haplotypes were detected. A common haplotype was found in three out of the four populations examined, which seems to be the ancestral one and represents the European origin of common carp from Greece. This haplotype could be also justified by the introductions reported with individuals belonging to the Central European race, into many natural habitats in Greece. Limited genetic variation — in Evros and Aliakmonas populations — could be due to bottleneck effects and small effective population sizes, whereas the different haplotypes found in Lake Volvi could represent different common carp stocks. Values of sequence divergence among Greek haplotypes ranged from 0.0006 to 0.0023. The Neighbour-Joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree constructed based on the combined sequences, reveals that the populations of common carp from Greece belong to the European group of populations — which is highly divergent from the South East-Asia cluster — and to the subspecies Cyprinus carpio carpio.     

Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in Greeks.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences were determined in 54 unrelated Greeks, coming from different regions in Greece, for both segments HVR-I and HVR-II. Fifty-two different mtDNA haplotypes were revealed, one of which was shared by three individuals. A very low heterogeneity was found among Greek regions. No one cluster of lineages was specific to individuals coming from a certain region. The average pairwise difference distribution showed a value of 7.599. The data were compared with that for other European or neighbor populations (British, French, Germans, Tuscans, Bulgarians, and Turks). The genetic trees that were constructed revealed homogeneity between Europeans. Median networks revealed that most of the Greek mtDNA haplotypes are clustered to the five known haplogroups and that a number of haplotypes are shared among Greeks and other European and Near Eastern populations.     

The Astronomical Orientation of Ancient Greek Temples

Despite its appearing to be a simple question to answer, there has been no consensus as to whether or not the alignments of ancient Greek temples reflect astronomical intentions. Here I present the results of a survey of archaic and classical Greek temples in Sicily and compare them with temples in Greece. Using a binomial test I show strong evidence that there is a preference for solar orientations. I then speculate that differences in alignment patterns between Sicily and Greece reflect differing pressures in the expression of ethnic identity.     

Nutrition transition and dietary energy availability in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism.

After the economic transition of the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a rapid increase in overweight and obesity in many countries of Eastern Europe. This article describes changing availability of dietary energy from major dietary components since the transition to free-market economic systems among Eastern European nations, using food balance data obtained at national level for the years 1990-92 and 2005 from the FAOSTAT-Nutrition database. Dietary energy available to the East European nations satellite to the former Soviet Union (henceforth, Eastern Europe) was greater than in the nations of the former Soviet Union. Among the latter, the Western nations of the former Soviet Union had greater dietary energy availability than the Eastern and Southern nations of the former Soviet Union. The higher energy availability in Eastern Europe relative to the nations of the former Soviet Union consists mostly of high-protein foods. There has been no significant change in overall dietary energy availability to any category of East European nation between 1990-1992 and 2005, indicating that, at the macro-level, increasing rates of obesity in Eastern European countries cannot be attributed to increased dietary energy availability. The most plausible macro-level explanations for the obesity patterns observed in East European nations are declines in physical activity, increased real income, and increased consumption of goods that contribute to physical activity decline: cars, televisions and computers.     

Global environmental changes in terrestrial ecosystems. International issues and strategic solutions: introduction

Human activities are having major impact on biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems worldwide. Rapid urbanization and changes in rural populations are affecting ecosystems in often-drastic ways. Ecologists are using long term monitoring and experimental studies to understand and to help mitigate the effects of these changes. The collection of 15 papers in this special volume “global changes in terrestrial ecosystems” describes some of these studies, particularly concentrating on effects on terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes, and demonstrating the importance of understanding the problems at both the multi-scale and international levels.     

Genetic variability in the Skyros pony and its relationship with other Greek and foreign horse breeds

In Greece, seven native horse breeds have been identified so far. Among these, the Skyros pony is outstanding through having a distinct phenotype. In the present study, the aim was to assess genetic diversity in this breed, by using different types of genetic loci and available genealogical information. Its relationships with the other Greek, as well as foreign, domestic breeds were also investigated. Through microsatellite and pedigree analysis it appeared that the Skyros presented a similar level of genetic diversity to the other European breeds. Nevertheless, comparisons between DNA-based and pedigree-based results revealed that a loss of genetic diversity had probably already occurred before the beginning of breed registration. Tests indicated the possible existence of a recent bottleneck in two of the three main herds of Skyros pony. Nonetheless, relatively high levels of heterozygosity and Polymorphism Information Content indicated sufficient residual genetic variability, probably useful in planning future strategies for breed conservation. Three other Greek breeds were also analyzed. A comparison of these with domestic breeds elsewhere, revealed the closest relationships to be with the Middle Eastern types, whereas the Skyros itself remained isolated, without any close relationship, whatsoever.     

Renegotiating gender and class in the berry fields of Michoacán,Mexico

This article examines the renegotiation of gender and class in a rural Mexican community where economic crisis in the sugar industry led foreign agribusinesses to promote blackberry and raspberry production for export and hire primarily women as berry pickers. Analysis focuses on the transition from a sugar economy where mostly men worked in the cane fields to non-traditional agricultural exports when women entered agricultural waged labor in unprecedented numbers. This restructuring of the regional economy raises important questions regarding the marginalization of differentiated subaltern groups and the nature of new sets of power relations between transnational agribusinesses, berry growers, and waged workers. I analyze the contradictions of this changing social field that connects Northern consumers, transnational company executives, berry growers, and waged laborers in a web of differential power relations as they reverberate along the commodity chain from campesino households to the global market.     

Spontanvegetation Nordgriechischer Bergdörfer

The synanthropic vegetation in seven villages of Northern Greece (N Pindhos and Olympus massif)—situated either in theQuercion confertae or in theFagetalia zone—is analyzed on the basis of about 100 phytosociological relevés. The most important vascular plant species of ruderal sites have also been mapped floristically. Nineteen plant communities are discernible, some of which are mentioned for the first time here. Nevertheless, the author refrains from hastily describing new associations, unless a more detailed phytosociological data basis on ruderal vegetation in the Southern Balkans is available. A table refers to differences and similarities between the recognized plant communities in Greek villages and those which correspond to them in Central Europe. Non-industrial methods of agriculture and animal husbandry are among the most important conditions for the remarkable rich vegetation in Greek mountain villages.     

Gendered migrations,social reproduction and the household in Europe

As a framework for empirical studies, global chains of care has become the favored theoretical lens to capture the global transfer of physical and emotional labor from less wealthy regions, whether in the South or the poorer regions of the North to wealthy regions. However, the global chains of care literature has tended to channel research into a narrow set of sectors, skills and sites. In particular, its analysis is framed in terms of flows between households, thus rendering invisible the other sites, external agents and institutions of care interacting with the household as well as the diversity of familial arrangements within the household. Moreover, the household in feminist analysis had moved from being a site of unpaid work to a site of unpaid care. In this article, I suggest we need to unpack what is actually happening in the household in a period of economic, social and political change in which inequalities have increased massively, and state intervention is reshaping how and what activities are undertaken in particular sites and institutions. In order to do this, I suggest in this paper that revisiting the concept of social reproduction would enable us to better appreciate the complexity of the transfer of labor, both in relation to different institutional arrangements and the spatial extension of social reproduction. I firstly briefly review the relationship between social reproduction and its relationship with care in the last 30 years and consider some of the initial North American analyses applying the concept of social reproduction to migrant labor and its increasingly globally extended reproduction. The analysis of specific developments of social reproduction in the household focuses on the European Union.     

The Balkans and the colonization of Europe: the post‐glacial range expansion of the wild boar,Sus scrofa

Aim We focus on the biogeographical role of the Balkan Peninsula as a glacial refugium and source of northward post‐glacial dispersal for many European taxa. Specifically, we analysed the genetic structure and variation of wild boar (Sus scrofa) samples primarily from Greece, a region that has repeatedly served as a glacial refugium within the Balkan Peninsula. Location Continental Greece, the Aegean island of Samos and Bulgaria. Methods We analysed wild boar samples from 18 localities. Samples from common domestic breeds were also examined to take into account interactions between wild and domesticated animals. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out on a 637‐bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region in 200 wild boar and 27 domestic pigs. The sequences were also compared with 791 Eurasian wild boar and domestic pig D‐loop sequences obtained from GenBank. Results Ninety‐four haplotypes were identified in the European wild boar data set, of which 68 were found in the Balkan samples and assigned to two previously described clades: the E1 European and Near Eastern clades. All of the continental samples clustered in the E1 clade and the samples from Samos fell into the Near Eastern clade, consistent with the island’s proximity to Asia Minor. Intriguingly, 62 novel haplotypes were identified and are found exclusively in the Balkans. Only six haplotypes were shared between wild boar and domestic pigs. Main conclusions Our data reveal numerous novel and geographically restricted haplotypes in wild boar populations, suggesting the presence of separate refugia in the Balkans. Our analyses support the hypothesis of a post‐glacial wild boar expansion consistent with the leading edge model, north and west from modern day Greece, and suggest little maternal introgression of Near Eastern and domestic haplotypes into wild Balkan populations.     

Rural-to-Urban Labor Migration,Household Livelihoods,and the Rural Environment in Chongqing Municipality,Southwest China

Rural migration and its relationship to the rural environment have attracted increasing research interest in recent decades. Rural migration constitutes a key component of human population movement, while rural areas contain most of the world’s natural resources such as land and forests. This study empirically evaluates a conceptual framework incorporating rural household livelihoods as an integrative mediating factor between rural migration and the rural environment in the context of rural-to-urban labor migration in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. The analysis draws on data collected through household surveys and key informant interviews from four villages. Results confirm the hypothesis that labor-migrant and non-labor-migrant households differ significantly in livelihood activities including agricultural production, agricultural technology use, income and consumption, and resource use and management. Implications for the subsequent environmental outcomes of rural labor out-migration and corresponding natural resource management and policy in rural origin areas are discussed.     

Water flowing north of the border: export agriculture and water politics in a rural community in Baja California

Favored by neoliberal agrarian policies, the production of fresh crops for international markets has become a common strategy for economic development in Mexico and other Latin American countries. But as some scholars have argued, the global fresh produce industry in developing countries in which fresh crops are produced for consumer markets in affluent nations implies “virtual water flows,” the transfer of high volumes of water embedded in these crops across international borders. This article examines the local effects of the production of fresh produce in the San Quintín Valley in northwestern Mexico for markets in the United States. Although export agriculture has fostered economic growth and employment opportunities for indigenous farm laborers, it has also led to the overexploitation of underground finite water resources, and an alarming decline of the quantity and quality of water available for residents’ domestic use. I discuss how neoliberal water policies have further contributed to water inequalities along class and ethnic lines, the hardships settlers endure to secure access to water for their basic needs, and the political protests and social tensions water scarcity has triggered in the region. Although the production of fresh crops for international markets is promoted by organizations such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank as a model for economic development, I argue that it often produces water insecurity for the poorest, threatening the UN goal of ensuring access to clean water as a universal human right.