Ecological insights into the polyp stage of non-native hydrozoans in the San Francisco Estuary

The populations of several invasive jellyfish appear to be increasing around the globe. While data on non-native hydromedusae in the San Francisco Estuary have been accumulating in recent years, little is known regarding their polyp phase. The goal of this study was to gather the first field-derived ecological data for polyp stages of Blackfordia virginica, Moerisia sp., and Cordylophora caspia in the estuary. Monthly fouling plates were deployed at five sites during 2007 and 2008. Settlement data indicate a seasonal presence of B. virginica and Moerisia sp., with both distribution and abundance correlated with a combination of water quality and physical parameters. Cordylophora caspia appeared to be present beyond the time period sampled and may be active in the system year-round. The ability of polyps to persist month to month was low, likely due to predation by other non-native species and competition for space.     

In search of certainty in revolutionary India

In this article, I focus on the dilemmas of a friend in Jharkhand who might have joined the revolutionary armed squads of the Maoist insurgency in India. I show how the question of why one supports a revolutionary movement, as well as the nature of that support, can change over time. In particular, I stress the importance of the dialectics between epistemological and ontological uncertainty and certainty, which may be central to the making of a revolutionary in a particular phase of a revolutionary movement. These dialectics are not just the result of an ontological uncertainty of ideological commitment to the movement, but are crucially also about the search for epistemological clarity in social relations imagined to be less opaque and hence more trustworthy. Doubt, an uncertainty about what one knows about one’s social relationships is characteristic of the epistemic murk that accompanies the breakdown of the normative order in the revolutionary situation analysed here. In this context, Maoist terror arises from the creation of epistemic clarity—the possibility that on the other side norms and relationships will be more certain. This is a certainty that is carved out of uncertainty and ambivalence, a certainty that denies or projects away uncertainty. Its weapon is paranoia, an ability to make enemies where there would be doubt, betrayal where there would be benefit of the doubt. The potential revolutionary is therefore not only unsure about his/her ideological commitments, but moreover, a crucial component of their predicament might be an uncertainty about the social relations in which they find themselves and the hope that revolutionary engagement might come with more guarantees. Becoming a revolutionary is also about being in search of certainty.