Natural history of

Negative effects of human presence and activities on breeding success and survival of many water bird species are well documented. The New Zealand dabchick (Poliocephalus rufopectus) is a protected endemic New Zealand grebe, confined to the North Island mainland and classified as vulnerable. A third of the total New Zealand dabchick population live on the lakes of the central volcanic plateau, where there is potential conflict between humans and dabchicks. We used data from two independent surveys describing the distribution of New Zealand dabchicks to investigate the effect that human-made structures (i.e. jetties and houses) and human recreational activities (i.e. boating) have on the numbers of New Zealand dabchick pairs, chicks and nests in the bays of Lake Rotoiti, Tarawera and Okareka. Our results suggest that human-made structures and recreational activities are not significantly affecting the numbers and distribution of New Zealand dabchick pairs or nests at this time. Furthermore, the number of human-made structures was positively correlated with the number of chicks in the sampled bays. Humans and dabchicks may be distributed similarly around the lakes because factors such as wind exposure and shoreline topography made certain sites preferable for both species. Alternatively, humanmade structures may provide protected nesting environments and/or cover for chicks from predators, refuges from harassment by other bird species, or other benefits. Pairs may therefore be able to raise chicks to the fledging stage more successfully. However, little is currently known about dabchick life history or population dynamics. We recommend that a method of capturing and marking be developed so that further monitoring of behavioural and population changes can be carried out. It is also necessary to conduct research on how boats and human activities at jetties affect incubating dabchicks and their young during the nesting phase.     

Wetland history

Wetlands of the American Midwest: A Historical Geography of Changing Attitudes by Hugh Prince The University of Chicago Press (University of Chicago Geography Research Papers), 1997. $21.00/￡16.75 pbk (xiii+395 pages) ISBN 0 226 68283 8.     

Anthropology and history: the revaluation of history in anthropological research

The main premise of this paper is that the accepted view of history based on written documents (historiography) is marked by hierarchical ordering and evaluation implicit in it. The paper examines the context of the negation of history, and the revaluation of history in anthropological research. The lack of written documents concerning particular social groups on the internal plane, but also particular nations (ethnic groups) on the global plane, earned them the name of "nations (groups) without history". This criterion of historicity--the existence of a writing system and written documents--implies the hypothesis about the inferiority of those nations and groups. The attributes of history seen in this way are modernity, linearity and cumulativeness. This system implies ethnocentrism based on a twofold negation: a) the negation history, and b) the negation of otherness. What we must not forget is that the symbolic universes are social products with a history, and in order to understand their meaning, one must understand the history of their production. It is very important to pay close attention to the historical practice of projecting our cultural practices onto others. The question of who determines the history and which views are presented to a particular audience is a matter of power and contest. contemporary history-oriented sociocultural anthropology focuses on the total reconstruction of the way of life and thinking in particular periods of history: on the everyday life. This brought together the intellectual traditions of "new history", ethnology, sociocultural anthropology and the sociology of culture. While modernism stresses the present change versus the static past, postmodernism denies the past ever being static and hypostatises fluidity and change as permanent condition. Postmodernism strives to undermine the old, Euro-centric notion that "we" have a history but "they" do not; it has also lead to social scientists' renewed interest in history.     

Early history of theJuglandaceae

The major radiation of theJuglandaceae occurred during the early Tertiary as recorded by the proliferation of juglandaceous pollen and the appearance of fruits representing extinct and extant genera of the family. Juglandaceous pollen types of the Paleocene were predominantly triporate and exhibited a greater diversity in patterns of exinous thinning than occurs in the family today. Analyses of in situ pollen from early Tertiary juglandaceous inflorescences confirms the taxonomic value of certain patterns of exinous thinning. Data from co-occurring fruits and pollen indicate that relatively unspecialized, isopolar triporate pollen of the type presently confined to the tribeEngelhardieae also occurred in other tribes of the family during the Paleocene. Pollination has been mostly anemophilous throughout the Tertiary. Both wind and animal fruit-dispersal syndromes were established early in the radiation of the family but a greater diversity of wind-dispersed genera has prevailed.