Hunting as a Source of Local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge among Campesinos in Nicaragua

Campesinos are the most numerous hunters in Latin America. Yet, local and traditional knowledge (LTK) among campesinos about hunting is often invisible to conservationists who perceive them as nonindigenous or illegal hunters. Moreover, research and methods for accessing campesino hunting LTK are limited in theory and practice. Conservationists therefore know little about campesinos’ cultural understandings of hunting. We assessed the LTK of Nicaraguan campesinos to determine whether they shared cultural hunting knowledge. Through 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork, an ethnoecology framework, and cultural consensus analysis, we found that campesino hunting LTK was shared across the study community. This knowledge extended from a worldview that emphasized subsistence and hunting secrets to ensure bountiful harvests, expressed through folk taxonomies, hunting strategies, campesino-dog relationships, and preparation of hunted animals. Campesino hunting LTK emerged from campesino culture, yielding numerous implications for conservation in Latin America.

     

Neighborhood democracy in Nicaragua

Conclusion Outside observers are often too quick to assimilate Nicaraguan development to existing models provided, for example, by Cuba, and to employ the cold-war coordinates purveyed by the Reagan administrations and the mass media of the United States to locate modern Nicaraguan history. A more careful examination of the evidence reveals the particularity of the socio-political organizations introduced through the 1979 revolution, which often show innovative combinations of liberal and socialist models. Comparisons between the Nicaraguan CDS and the Cuban CDR must be made with caution, given the different origins and context in which the two organizations have developed.Whatever the theoretical merits of participatory democratic models, the CDS is not immune from problems of institutionalization, reward and incentive, and access to state power. Its future will depend upon its resilience and creativity in meeting these ongoing challenges of internal and external organization.Barry D. Adam, is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.     

Ecological research for development

Uganda is rich in aquatic ecosystems. Commercial fishing involves an off‐take that may not be ultimately sustainable. Aquatic ecosystems, like the forests, are under pressure. Forests, for many years to come, will remain the main source of energy for the people. They also continue to be cleared to make way for agricultural use of the land. Research for development must address problems of this kind as they are at the heart of the development process.     

A highly alkaline Lake in Nicaragua

Zusammenfassung Der Nejapa-See liegt in einem vulkanischen Krater. Sein pH übertrifft 10; die Bikarbonat-Alkalinität betrug 4.39 g/l, die Karbonat-Alkalinitat 10.44 g/l. Vier Blaualgenarten wurden gefunden, jedoch kein Zooplankton.     

Post-Sandinista Ethnic Identities in Western Nicaragua

The meanings of the ethnic labels Indian and mestizo in Latin America are often treated as stable, bounded, and clearly marked by anthropologists, nationalists, and indigenous intellectuals alike. In Nicaragua, the post-Sandinista emergence of a discourse of indigenous identity in the western region, where successive state elites have considered that identity erased, underscores the dynamic mutability of both indigenous and mestizo ethnicities. This reconsideration derives from dialogue between anthropological analysis and an indigenous intellectual involved in organizing in the western region.     

Cleptobiosis in the antEctatomma ruidum in Nicaragua

Summary Observations of the ponerine antEctatomma ruidum suggested that this is a cleptobiotic species which appears to use the pheromone trails of other ant species to locate individual workers carrying food. To test this hypothesis an arena was set up to quantify the position of eachE. ruidum that entered the arena with respect to its position on or off a well-established foraging trail ofPheidole radoszkowskii, a myrmicine. Encounters betweenE. ruidum andP. radoszkowskii are described. Quantitative data and behavioral observations support the cleptobiosis hypothesis. This study adds yet another dimension to the diverse array of foraging strategies of the Ponerinae.     

Agrarian Reform and Class Consciousness in Nicaragua

Agrarian Reform and Class Consciousness in Nicaragua. Laura J. Enriquez. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.206 pp.     

害虫研究与防治中的生态学尺度

尺度已成为生态学上的一个重要概念和研究热点 ,但在害虫防治中尚未引起足够的重视 .本文从生态学尺度概念和等级理论出发 ,分析了不同尺度水平上害虫研究的方法、内容、关键问题及研究成果对害虫防治的意义 .在对害虫发生为害特征、害虫种群动力学原理、农业生态系统结构的演变、害虫防治的社会化、害虫防治技术的发展等因素的分析的基础上 ,指出害虫防治策略在时空尺度上拓展的趋势和必要性 .     

生态足迹方法及研究进展

本文介绍了生态足迹的计算方法,回顾了国内外的研究进展,重点介绍了生态足迹计算中能源足迹算法的研究进展。目前,国外对生态足迹的研究集中在对长时间序列计算分析和计算方法的改进上,提出了改进的生态足迹方法“实际土地需求”法;国内研究还多限于生态足迹实例计算分析。探讨了生态足迹方法的优缺点,同时就生态足迹今后的研究重点提出一些看法和展望。     

生态风险评价及研究进展

生态风险是当前环境管理研究领域中的一个热点问题,其研究着重关注化学、物理和生物的胁迫因子可能对生态系统或其组分的有害影响.生态风险评价对科学制定环境管理决策有着重要的意义.要对生态系统进行有效地管理,必须预测不利生态影响发生的可能性及后果,减小其对于生态系统或某些组分的损害程度.本文对生态风险评价的研究方法、工具以及研究趋势进行了综述,指出了目前生态风险评价中还需要进一步加强的研究领域,认为在当前城市化水平不断提高的情况下要关注城市生态风险,并针对存在的一些问题提出了今后的研究展望.     

Cladocera (Crustacea) from Nicaragua

Thirty-one Cladocera taxa are recorded from lakes, rivers and ponds of Western Nicaragua. They include Alona bromelicola sp. nov. found in water accumulations in epiphytic Bromeliads. The Cladocera recorded are neotropical and circumtropical. Other invertebrates found are also listed.     

苔藓植物生态功能研究新进展

苔藓植物是一种形体微小、结构简单的高等植物,是水生向陆生的一种过渡形式,是高等植物中最原始的类群.随着研究的发展,人们越来越意识到苔藓植物在生态系统结构和功能中具有非常重要的作用,而且对苔藓在生物监测、水土保持、森林更新等方面已有一些研究和综述.本文针对目前环境科学研究中的一些热点问题,从全球气候变化、生态系统C、N、P循环等方面对近年来苔藓植物的生态功能研究方面的新进展进行了综述,以期加深人们对苔藓的认识并促进苔藓植物生态功能的进一步深入研究.     

兰科菌根的生态学研究进展

兰科植物(Orchidaceae)是典型的菌根植物,自然条件下其种子的成功萌发和生长的早期阶段对菌根真菌有绝对的依赖性,在有些成年兰科植物中菌根真菌仍起着重要的作用。目前大部分兰科植物已为濒危物种,鉴于兰科植物天然的菌根共生关系,开展兰科植物和菌根真菌互作的生态学研究不仅具有极高的科研价值,更有助于兰科植物的物种保护和野生种群的生态恢复。近年研究表明,兰科植物对真菌的选择和二者共生关系的建立与菌根真菌的空间分布和丰度密切相关,然而当前对自然环境中兰科菌根真菌的实际分布还了解甚少,因此文章从生态学角度系统分析兰科植物与菌根真菌的关系,探讨该领域的研究热点,旨在为兰科菌根的生态学研究提供参考。     

Post-civil war adaptation and need in Managua, Nicaragua

Within seven years after the end of the Nicaraguan civil war in 1990, forced migrants, whose lives had been most disrupted by the conflict, were self-settled in a squatter community in the capital city of Managua and lived in extreme poverty with minimal health, education, security and social service supports. Compared with voluntary migrant neighbours, whose lives had been less affected by the conflict, forced migrants exhibited equal clinically significant symptoms of physical and mental health and psychosocial maladaptation. These findings run counter to generally held theory and assumptions about the negative long-lasting effects of the trauma and stress of war, forced migration and resettlement. Explanations are offered to explain the discrepancies between theory and the study findings as well as the dominance of poverty and socioeconomic status. Implications are also drawn for increasing social support and other durable forms of assistance that emerge from the study as important to meeting the needs of equally poor and unhealthy forced and voluntary migrants in proliferating squatter communities throughout the Third World.