‘You have to call the right name' – Operation Joshua meets Cosmology and Catholicism at Lake Chambri in Papua New Guinea

In the Sepik, names feature centrally in political and religious contexts. Esoteric knowledge about totemic names enables Nyaura men to achieve status and power and can set them in contact with spirits. A recently arrived Pentecostal/evangelical movement—Operation Joshua—claims to have found the true name of God, whom it presents as being radically different to the beings people's ancestors have known. At Lake Chambri, however, the Nyaura (West Iatmul) community Timbunmeli had accommodated Catholicism to their culture long before Operation Joshua came to their village. While Operation Joshua demonizes Nyaura spirits, the Catholic community understands God to be an ancestral being for whom different clans know different names. Taking a political ontology perspective, I analyze the encounter of Operation Joshua and Nyaura Catholicism in Timbunmeli in relation to cosmo‐ontological politics pursued by ambitious Nyaura men and different denominations. I suggest that denominational pluralism creates ontological pluralism in Timbunmeli, where different actors engage different truth claims concerning the being and reality of central Christian figures in their world‐making practices.     

The Veil of Objectivity: Prophecy, Divination, and Social Inquiry

It is possible for folk inquiry to become a source for the modification of anthropological thought. This paper discusses two alternative knowledge systems: traditional divination and syncretic prophecy in Central Africa. The processes of scientific discovery, causal reasoning, and the evaluation of evidence are compared with oracular reasoning and prophetic prediction. The oracular aspects of scientific reasoning are delineated along with the problems of reformulating and presenting basic data. Part of this presentational process is the "translation" of events from the context of their occurrence into a theoretical framework. The modifications generated by data analysis affect the explanatory adequacy of the method of inquiry. A rapprochement between folk inquiry and Western scientific assumptions diminishes the forms of theoretical reductionism that inhibit the possibility for describing and analyzing contrasting belief systems within an anthropological framework . [folk inquiry, prophecy, divination, scientific reasoning, Africa]     

The fourth level of social structure in a multi‐level society: ecological and social functions of clans in hamadryas baboons

Hamadryas baboons are known for their complex, multi‐level social structure consisting of troops, bands, and one‐male units (OMUs) [Kummer, 1968. Social organization of hamadryas baboons. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 189p]. Abegglen [1984. On socialization in hamadryas baboons: a field study. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. 207p.] observed a fourth level of social structure comprising several OMUs that rested near one another on sleeping cliffs, traveled most closely together during daily foraging, and sometimes traveled as subgroups independently from the rest of the band. Abegglen called these associations “clans” and suggested that they consisted of related males. Here we confirm the existence of clans in a second wild hamadryas population, a band of about 200 baboons at the Filoha site in lowland Ethiopia. During all‐day follows from December 1997 through September 1998 and March 2005 through February 2006, data were collected on activity patterns, social interactions, nearest neighbors, band fissions, and takeovers. Association indices were computed for each dyad of leader males, and results of cluster analyses indicated that in each of the two observation periods this band comprised two large clans ranging in size from 7 to 13 OMUs. All band fissions occurred along clan lines, and most takeovers involved the transfer of females within the same clan. Our results support the notion that clans provide an additional level of flexibility to deal with the sparse distribution of resources in hamadryas habitats. The large clan sizes at Filoha may simply be the largest size that the band can split into and still obtain enough food during periods of food scarcity. Our results also suggest that both male and female relationships play a role in the social cohesion of clans and that males exchange females within clans but not between them. Am. J. Primatol. 71:948–955, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Divination and experience: explorations of a Chagga epistemology

This article argues that anthropological approaches to African divination are characterized by a certain epistemology, which creates specific problems with regard to vernacular truth-claims. Using ethnographic material from the Chagga-speaking people of Kilimanjaro, the article traces the multiple overlapping ramifications that interrelate vernacular concepts, physical objects, and local subjectivities. By thus avoiding reductionist arguments, the article endeavours to demonstrate that careful attention to these complex lateral relationships reveals how local diviners are able 'to see', or 'be shown', the 'truth' pertaining to their clients.     

Finding Meaning in the Text: The Process of Interpretation in Text-Based Divination

Some systems of divination are used to select particular sections of text, which are typically arcane and erudite, in which lies the answer to the particular, pressing problems of the client. Celebrated examples of such systems are the Chinese I Ching and the Yoruba Ifá . Werbner's work on Kalanga and Tswapong divination provides a case-study of the detailed praxis in such systems. Diviners have a multiple role when a divination technique selects a text. At each consultation they must satisfy themselves, their client, and their audience that they have followed the correct procedures to select the text. A second stage follows. The client has a particular question and the selected text was not composed as a specific answer to it. Interpretation is required to satisfy the client that the question has been answered. The diviner thus plays the role of indigenous critic, a role both similar to and different from that of literary critics in the Western tradition. The concept of 'dialogic' used by Barber in her analysis of Yoruba praise poetry is taken to illustrate similarities and differences between diviner and critic.     

A garden experiment revisited: inter‐generational change in environmental perception and management of the Maya Lowlands,Guatemala

This study reports ethnographic and experimental analyses of inter‐generational changes in native Itza' Maya and immigrant Ladino populations of Guatemala's Petén rainforest concerning understanding of ecological relationships between plants, animals, and humans, and the perceived role of forest spirits in sustaining these relationships. We find dramatic changes in understanding ecological relationships and the perceived role of forest spirits. Itza' Maya conceptions of forest spirits (arux) are now more often confounded with Ladino spirits (duendes), with Itza' spirits no longer reliably serving as forest guardians. These changes correlate with a shift in personal values regarding the forest, away from concern with ecologically central trees and towards monetary incentives. More generally, we describe how economic, demographic, and social changes relate to the loss of a system of beliefs and behaviours that once promoted sustainable agro‐forestry practices. These changes coincide with open access to common pool resources.     

Of love and fur: grandmothers,class, and pre‐mortem inheritance in a southern Polish city

This article analyses the pre‐mortem alternate‐generation inheritance of fur clothing in Kraków: a practice that speaks to the conventions of grandmother‐granddaughter relationships and also to the connection between inheritance and social class. The perception of fur as a symbolically loaded material enhances its suitability for being ‘kept in the family’. Clothing inheritance fosters bourgeois belonging over multiple generations, encouraging the patronage of selected spaces and services (including furriers). In the shorter term, however, generational differences within amicable grandmother‐granddaughter pairs are amplified in part through the way pre‐mortem inheritance practices highlight granddaughters' non‐reciprocable debt to their grandmothers. A focus on fur as a particular kind of object highlights the significance of certain inheritance practices and their links to the affective ties in the reproduction of class in Poland. The article also contributes to a broader understanding of the reproduction of class by analysing the interconnections between taste, the body, and memory.     

Post‐Conflict Non‐Aggressive Behaviours may be neither Friendly nor Conciliatory: Conflict Management of Male Hamadryas Baboons

The relational model of conflict resolution predicts that after an aggressive conflict there should be a motivational shift from aggression to attraction. Most tests of the reconciliation hypothesis assume, however, that all non‐aggressive post‐conflict behaviours between former opponents are motivationally homogeneous and qualify as friendly reunions. In fact, although the hypothesis predicts an increased occurrence of friendly contacts after conflicts, in practice, however, post‐conflict reunions often include a mixture of contact and non‐contact behaviours. Most reconciliation studies either (often) assume a conciliatory function for post‐conflict reunions or (less often) test functional predictions. Finally, the valuable relationships hypothesis predicts that conciliatory rates should be relatively higher between friends and allies than between non‐friends/allies. In this paper, we use data on non‐aggressive interactions following conflicts between adult male hamadryas baboons that are neither friends nor allies to assess the implications of all these important but largely overlooked issues. The analyses of the rate and temporal relation of non‐contact greeting (NCTG) to anxiety‐related behaviours and side‐directed aggression as well as of the behaviours used during non‐aggressive interactions with male and female third‐parties suggest that the NCTG used by males after conflicts were neither motivationally friendly nor functionally conciliatory. We point out that the gestures exchanged during these post‐conflict NCTG can be interpreted as formalized signals of equal status and that the rate and form of the greetings used by male opponents are indicative of high relationship insecurity and incompatibility respectively. We conclude that although male hamadryas’ post‐conflict NCTG are not conciliatory they may serve to assess their opponents’ attitude and to negotiate the restoring of their pre‐conflict levels of peaceful but non‐amicable co‐existence.     

How does social behavior differ among sperm whale clans?

When individuals primarily associate with and learn from those who behave similarly, society and culture become closely tied. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) exhibit multilevel social structure, the levels of which are differentiated in part by characteristic cultural behaviors. Sperm whales are organized into sympatric clans, with distinctive vocal repertoires that are socially learned. Other behaviors, such as movement patterns and foraging, also differ among clans. Here we ask whether the clan partition also includes divergences in social behavior. Off the Galápagos Islands, members of two clans differed consistently in diving synchrony, heterogeneity, and temporal stability of social relationships. While number of associates (indicated by social unit, group, and cluster sizes) were similar between clans, Regular clan members dived more synchronously and had more homogeneous relationships than the Plus‐One clan members. Plus‐One social units had generally longer associations than those of the Regular clan. Differences in surface‐time coordination and quality of social relationships are likely byproducts of the clan segregation, which could affect alloparental care giving, therefore scaling up to differential calf survival rates between clans. This new dimension of behavioral divergence between sperm whale clans indicates that sympatric, socio‐cultural entities of nonhumans can also display characteristic social behavior.     

Post‐conflict third‐party affiliation in chimpanzees: what's in it for the third party?

Affiliative behavior after conflicts between conflict participants and other group members is common in many primate species. The proposed functions for such triadic interactions are numerous, mostly concerning the benefit for the former conflict opponents. We investigated post‐conflict third‐party affiliation (TPA) in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with the aim of assessing what the affiliating third parties may gain from affiliation. Specifically, we tested whether third‐party‐initiated affiliation protects the third parties from further aggression by conflict opponents. We found support for this “self‐protection hypothesis,” in that third parties selectively directed affiliation to those opponents who more often gave further aggression to them, and affiliation effectively decreased their chance of receiving aggression from these opponents. However, a subset of affiliation, provided to conflict victims by their own kin, appeared to not be self‐protective and the function of it remained open. We conclude that chimpanzee third‐party‐initiated affiliation is a more heterogeneous behavior than thus far assumed. Am. J. Primatol. 71:409–418, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Post‐genomic behavioral genetics: From revolution to routine

What was once expensive and revolutionary—full‐genome sequence—is now affordable and routine. Costs will continue to drop, opening up new frontiers in behavioral genetics. This shift in costs from the genome to the phenome is most notable in large clinical studies of behavior and associated diseases in cohorts that exceed hundreds of thousands of subjects. Examples include the Women's Health Initiative ( www.whi.org ), the Million Veterans Program ( www.research.va.gov/MVP ), the 100 000 Genomes Project ( genomicsengland.co.uk ) and commercial efforts such as those by deCode ( www.decode.com ) and 23andme ( www.23andme.com ). The same transition is happening in experimental neuro‐ and behavioral genetics, and sample sizes of many hundreds of cases are becoming routine ( www.genenetwork.org , www.mousephenotyping.org ). There are two major consequences of this new affordability of massive omics datasets: (1) it is now far more practical to explore genetic modulation of behavioral differences and the key role of gene‐by‐environment interactions. Researchers are already doing the hard part—the quantitative analysis of behavior. Adding the omics component can provide powerful links to molecules, cells, circuits and even better treatment. (2) There is an acute need to highlight and train behavioral scientists in how best to exploit new omics approaches. This review addresses this second issue and highlights several new trends and opportunities that will be of interest to experts in animal and human behaviors.     

Land Succession and Fission in Nineteenth‐century Western Victoria: The Case of Knenknenwurrung

This article examines the evidence for land succession in western Victoria and considers the fission, fusion, and extinction of some clan groups at the time of contact with non‐Aboriginal people in the late 1830s and 1840s. A special study is made of the intriguing scraps of evidence surrounding Knenknenwurrung. This appears to be the case of a cluster of related clans fragmenting and being absorbed into contiguous language groups—some into Djadjawurrung, some Jardwadjali, and the majority absorbed into Djabwurrung. Exactly when this fragmentation and fission occurred is unclear, but certainly within the living memory of Aboriginal people in the early 1840s.     

Post‐heading heat stress and yield impact in winter wheat of China

Wheat is sensitive to high temperatures, but the spatial and temporal variability of high temperature and its impact on yield are often not known. An analysis of historical climate and yield data was undertaken to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of heat stress between heading and maturity and its impact on wheat grain yield in China. Several heat stress indices were developed to quantify heat intensity, frequency, and duration between heading and maturity based on measured maximum temperature records of the last 50 years from 166 stations in the main wheat‐growing region of China. Surprisingly, heat stress between heading and maturity was more severe in the generally cooler northern wheat‐growing regions than the generally warmer southern regions of China, because of the delayed time of heading with low temperatures during the earlier growing season and the exposure of the post‐heading phase into the warmer part of the year. Heat stress between heading and maturity has increased in the last decades in most of the main winter wheat production areas of China, but the rate was higher in the south than in the north. The correlation between measured grain yields and post‐heading heat stress and average temperature were statistically significant in the entire wheat‐producing region, and explained about 29% of the observed spatial and temporal yield variability. A heat stress index considering the duration and intensity of heat between heading and maturity was required to describe the correlation of heat stress and yield variability. Because heat stress is a major cause of yield loss and the number of heat events is projected to increase in the future, quantifying the future impact of heat stress on wheat production and developing appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies are critical for developing food security policies in China and elsewhere.     

Let's Call A Truce…For Now: The Silent Bared‐Teeth Face Expression in Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) During Baseline and Post‐Conflict Conditions

The distinction between signals that are friendly and those that are non‐aggressive but motivationally neutral (signals of benign intent, SBIs) has not often been well elucidated in the literature. Although both signals occur in similar contexts, friendly signals should be exchanged more often between animals with good relationships whereas SBIs should be more commonly exchanged between animals with poor or unpredictable relationships. The importance of this distinction is particularly salient in the post‐conflict context, because the two different types of signals may have disparate distributions and functions. This study examines the nature of the silent bared‐teeth face (SBTF) in captive mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) both during baseline interactions and following aggressive conflicts. We report that the SBTF is most commonly exchanged between mandrills with high rates of agonism. In addition, the SBTF is the most common post‐conflict signal exchanged, and the mandrills exchanging this signal after fighting also have poor relationships. We conclude that, although one must be careful in generalizing from studies of captive populations, the mandrill SBTF observed in this study is most accurately classified as a signal of benign intent, but not a truly friendly signal and discuss problems with interpreting post‐conflict data without distinguishing between these types of signals.     

Post‐fledging survival of altricial birds: ecological determinants and adaptation

For altricial young, fledging is an abrupt step into an unknown environment. Despite increasing numbers of studies addressing the post‐fledging period, our current knowledge of the causes and consequences of post‐fledging survival remains fragmentary. Here, we review the literature on post‐fledging survival of juvenile altricial birds, addressing the following main questions: Is low post‐fledging survival a bottleneck in the altricial reproductive cycle? What is known of proximate and ultimate causal factors such as trophic relations (food and predation), habitat conditions, or abiotic factors acting in the post‐fledging period? We analyzed weekly survival estimates from 123 data series based on studies of 65 species, covering weeks 1–13 post‐fledging. As a general pattern, survival of fledglings was low during the first week post‐fledging (median rate = 0.83), and improved rapidly with time post‐fledging (week 4 median rate = 0.96). For ground‐nesting species, survival immediately after leaving nests was similar to egg‐to‐fledging survival. For species breeding above‐ground, survival during the first week post‐fledging was substantially lower than during both the nestling period and later post‐fledging stages. Thus, the early post‐fledging period is a bottleneck of markedly elevated mortality for most altricial species. Predation was the main proximate cause of mortality. Various factors such as habitat, annual and seasonal variation in the environment, and the physical condition of fledglings have been found to affect post‐fledging survival. Individual survival depended strongly on physical traits such as mass and wing length, which likely influence the ability of fledglings to escape predation. Trophic relationships at various levels are the main ultimate driver of adaptation of traits relevant to survival during the pre‐ and post‐fledging periods. Spatiotemporal dynamics of food resources determine the physical development of juveniles and, in turn, their performance after fledging. However, predators can cause quick and efficient selection for fledgling traits and adult breeding decisions. Parental strategies related to clutch size and timing of breeding, and the age and developmental stage at which young fledge have substantial effects on post‐fledging survival. The intensity and duration of post‐fledging parental investment also influences fledgling survival. Post‐fledging mortality is therefore not a random and inevitable loss. Traits and strategies related to fledging and the post‐fledging stage create large fitness differentials and, therefore, are integral, yet poorly understood, parts of the altricial reproductive strategy.     

Post‐fire vegetation and climate dynamics in low‐elevation forests over the last three millennia in Yellowstone National Park

Conifer forests of the western US are historically well adapted to wildfires, but current warming is creating novel disturbance regimes that may fundamentally change future forest dynamics. Stand‐replacing fires can catalyze forest reorganization by providing periodic opportunities for establishment of new tree cohorts that set the stage for stand development for centuries to come. Extensive research on modern and past fires in the Northern Rockies reveals how variations in climate and fire have led to large changes in forest distribution and composition. Unclear, however, is the importance of individual fire episodes in catalyzing change. We used high‐resolution paleoecologic and paleoclimatic data from Crevice Lake (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA), to explore the role of fire in driving low‐elevation forest dynamics over the last 2820 yr. We addressed two questions: 1) did low‐elevation forests at Crevice Lake experience abrupt community‐level vegetation changes in response to past fire events? 2) Did the interaction of short‐term disturbance events (fire) and long‐term climate change catalyze past shifts in forest composition? Over the last 2820 yr, we found no evidence for abrupt community‐level vegetation transitions at Crevice Lake, and no evidence that an interaction of climate and fire produced changes in the relative abundance of dominant plant taxa. In part, this result reflects limitations of the datasets to detect past event‐specific responses and their causes. Nonetheless, the relative stability of the vegetation to fires over the last 2820 yr provides a local baseline for assessing current and future ecological change. Observations of climate–fire–vegetation dynamics in recent decades suggest that this multi‐millennial‐scale baseline may soon be exceeded.     

Stacking transgenic event DAS‐Ø15Ø7‐1 alters maize composition less than traditional breeding

The impact of crossing (‘stacking’) genetically modified (GM) events on maize‐grain biochemical composition was compared with the impact of generating nonGM hybrids. The compositional similarity of seven GM stacks containing event DAS‐Ø15Ø7‐1, and their matched nonGM near‐isogenic hybrids (iso‐hybrids) was compared with the compositional similarity of concurrently grown nonGM hybrids and these same iso‐hybrids. Scatter plots were used to visualize comparisons among hybrids and a coefficient of identity (per cent of variation explained by line of identity) was calculated to quantify the relationships within analyte profiles. The composition of GM breeding stacks was more similar to the composition of iso‐hybrids than was the composition of nonGM hybrids. NonGM breeding more strongly influenced crop composition than did transgenesis or stacking of GM events. These findings call into question the value of uniquely requiring composition studies for GM crops, especially for breeding stacks composed of GM events previously found to be compositionally normal.     

Post‐dispersal seed predation and its relations with seed traits: a thirty‐species‐comparative study

Post‐dispersal seed predation is a key process determining the variability in seed survival in forests, where most seeds are handled by rodents. Seed predation is thought to affect seedling regeneration, colonization ability and spatial distribution of plants. Basic seed traits are the essential factors affecting rodent foraging preferences and thus seed survival and seedling recruitment. Many studies have discussed several seed traits and their effects upon seed predation by rodents. However, the results of those previous studies are usually equivocal, likely because few seed traits and/or plant species tend to be incorporated into these studies. In order to elucidate the relationships between seed predation and seed traits, we surveyed the predation of 48 600 seeds in a natural pine forest, belonging to 30 species, for three consecutive years. The results demonstrated that: (i) seed size and seed coat hardness did not significantly affect seed predation; (ii) total phenolics had a negative effect upon seed predation; (iii) positive effects of nitrogen content upon seed predation were found. From our study, it seems that the better strategy to prevent heavy predation is for plants to produce seeds with higher total phenolics content rather than physical defenses (i.e. hard seed coat) or larger seeds. Additionally, rodent foraging preference may depend more on Nitrogen content than other nutrient content of seeds.