Academic literature on the topic 'Bermudes'

The littoral morphology of the Bermudas is an erosional morphology in limestones, the main processes being mechanical action and solution. The temperatures, in January and February, of the waters washing the Bermudas, are low enough to prevent the growing of true coral reefs. Therefore, it is not the morphology of a coral reef. The predominance of wave-cut cliffs is the most striking feature, despite the low and gently rolling topography. There are, however, other types of coasts on the islands, the mangrove being found on many sheltered shores. The writer thus opposes the sheltered shores of the sounds to the ones exposed on the southcoast, while the shores of the north and north-east coasts belong to an intermediate type. The steplike arrangement of the coastal forms of solution of the Bermudas limestones is primarily linked to the amount of the tidal range. These features are similar to those described on the shores of the warm seas, where the tide is negligible or weak. The Bermudas occupy an intermediate position between the regions where reefs are built by corals, and those, to the north, where solution, helped by other processes, occurs without compensation.

Abstract “Bermuda’s Persistent Futures” recovers Bermuda’s significance to the development of the settler colonial imaginations of early America. Following the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture that began its settlement, English settlers insisted that Bermuda’s apparent lack of any previous Indigenous population, Spanish failures to account for its potential, and its proximity to England, North America, and the West Indies all made the 20-square-mile archipelago an anomalous and exceptional plantation in an emerging colonial system. Writers and officials seized upon Bermuda’s perceived uniqueness to position it as an isolated, vacant laboratory perfectly suited for uncovering what they believed had been waiting to be discovered—an America that was natural to England. Bermuda, in this sense, inspired a corpus of colonial fantasies about the hemisphere’s futures under a permanent English presence that was previously unimaginable to colonial writers. This essay focuses on Richard Norwood’s The Description of the Sommer Ilands, Once Called the Bermudas (1622–23) and J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Lettres d’un cultivateur amèricain (1784) to reconstruct a Bermuda that persistently appeared to lead the way for the futures of American settlement.

En 1903, paraissent dans la Revue canadienne, les Mémoires de Robert Shore Milnes Bouchette, publiés par les soins de son fils Errol et annotés par l’historien Alfred Duclos DeCelles. L’ouvrage est composé en partie des mémoires (inachevés) dont Robert avait entrepris la rédaction, de son journal d’exil aux Bermudes, de notes biographiques rédigées par Errol et des commentaires de DeCelles, lesquels concernent tous la rébellion de 1837, dans laquelle Robert s’était engagé. Le présent article s’interrogera sur cette triple mise en oeuvre, qui engage trois auteurs (les deux Bouchette et DeCelles), trois genres (mémoires, biographie, journal de voyage), trois époques (le temps de l’événement, le temps de la rédaction et le temps de l’édition) et il cherchera à saisir l’enjeu de cette édition, enjeu à la fois politique, mémoriel et esthétique.

Small-bodied marine fishes play an important role in the food web, feeding both larger fishes and seabirds. Often referred to as baitfishes, they concentrate seasonally in coastal areas in large, often heterospecific assemblages that are targeted by both commercial and recreational fishers. Given apparent declines in at least some of Bermuda’s baitfish species over the past 40 years, it is useful to determine the species composition of baitfish assemblages, and how it varies among sites, in order to inform management. Using genetic barcoding of the Cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene (COI), we confirm species identity, assess intraspecific genetic diversity locally, and determine rates of broader genetic connectivity for baitfish assemblages in Bermuda. Species analyzed includedHypoatherina harringtonensis,Anchoa choerostoma,Jenkinsia lamprotaenia,Harengula humeralis,Opisthonema oglinumandSardinella aurita. Species identification based on molecular barcoding revealed some misidentification of individuals based solely on gross morphological characteristics, with an error rate of 11%, validating the usefulness of this approach. Interestingly, sequence results for the endemic Bermuda anchovy,A. choerostoma, were within 1% similarity to the more broadly distributed big-eye anchovy,A. lamprotaenia, and thus additional analyses are warranted to evaluate the genetic basis for endemism. Estimates of genetic diversity within and among baitfish assemblages in Bermuda were high, indicating high rates of local connectivity among sites for all species. As such, management should consider Bermuda’s baitfish species as single, highly mixed populations. However, with the exception ofH. humeralisand the endemicA. choerostoma, significant genetic differentiation and population structure were found when comparing Bermuda’s baitfish populations with those from other regions, suggesting limited gene flow between other regions and Bermuda for these species. Limited regional connectivity has implications for management, as strong genetic divergence suggests that populations in Bermuda are predominantly self-seeding and thus not likely to be replenished from distant populations. These results therefore support precautionary management of baitfish species in Bermuda.

The black coral fauna of Bermudan waters is poorly known, in large part due to the logistical challenges of surveying deep-water (>50 m) environments where most species occur. In 2016, the Nekton Expedition sought to survey the deep-water biodiversity around Bermuda using manned submersibles and mixed-gas technical SCUBA. A total of 28 black coral specimens were collected, and these were examined based on skeletal spine morphology, polyp morphology, colony branching pattern and in situ photographs. The specimens were assigned to seven species in three families and four genera, including (1) Antipathes atlantica Gray, 1857, (2) Antipathes furcata Gray, 1857, (3) Stichopathes pourtalesi Brook, 1889, (4) Stichopathes sp., (5) Distichopathes filix (Pourtales, 1867), (6) Tanacetipathes hirta (Gray, 1857), and (7) Tanacetipathes tanacetum (Pourtales, 1867). Of these, three species (Stichopathes sp., S. pourtalesi, and D. filix), one genus (Distichopathes) and one family (Aphanipathidae) are reported from Bermudan waters for the first time, thereby increasing the known black coral diversity of Bermuda to twelve species, five genera and four families. The diagnostic characters of the taxa identified as part of this study are illustrated and described.