Journal articles on the topic 'Bruce Peninsula'

The Bruce Peninsula, a carbonate bedrock escarpment, lies "downflow" from a sculpted bedrock terrain at the French River. The sculpted forms are attributed to a hypothesis of erosion by regional-scale, subglacial meltwater flooding. This paper presents new data from the Bruce Peninsula that tests the meltwater outburst hypothesis in a downflow direction of the predicted flood path. The bedrock surface of the Bruce Peninsula shows extensive development of sculpted features that bear a striking resemblance to s-forms at the mouth of the French River. They are self-similar and hierarchical in scale, ranging in dimensions from a few centimetres to several kilometres. Remarkable concentrations of potholes are located near the brow of the escarpment. The Bruce Peninsula lacks a pervasive cover of unconsolidated sediment. What little sediment exists has been modified into long, narrow drumlins. The Niagara Escarpment on the peninsula has been back wasted into the edge of the Paleozoic Michigan Basin. Along its east-facing slope, the escarpment is marked by more overdeepened reentrant valleys and intervening promontories than is normal for the rest of the escarpment. Clusters of rounded, percussion-marked boulders of exotic origin are concentrated at the heads of the reentrant valleys. Taken together, these features are inferred to support the hypothesis that subglacial outburst floods beneath the Laurentide ice sheet crossed Georgian Bay and strongly sculpted the Bruce Peninsula. The consistent orientation of the reentrant valleys, aligned with the French River sculpting across the basin to the northeast, and the backwasting of its caprock attest to the power and directional stability of the sheetfloods.

Two new pollen sequences from the Bruce Peninsula, southern Ontario, demonstrate the Holocene history of forests in the area. During the mid- and late Holocene, the southern portion of the peninsula supported a rich deciduous forest, dominated by Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia, while the northern portion was dominated by a forest with a much higher proportion of conifers. These two sites are compared numerically with a third site, on Manitoulin Island, by means of principal components analysis. Despite similar bedrock, soils, climate, and topography, the three pollen sequences show a remarkable divergence of Holocene forest history. The role of historical factors in determining forest composition may be much greater than previously appreciated. This study emphasises the need to understand the magnitude of variation between pollen sequences within uniform terrain before ascribing the differences in pollen sequences from contrasting environments (because of climate, soils or topography) to the factors causing the obvious contrast. Key words: Holocene forest history, pollen analysis, principal components analysis, Bruce Peninsula, southern Ontario.

δ13C values of 142 samples from the Manitoulin Formation and subjacent strata collected from 14 exposures and two drill-cores on Manitoulin Island, Bruce Peninsula, and the region south of Georgian Bay suggest that the Manitoulin Formation is latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) rather than earliest Silurian in age. A δ13C excursion identified as the Hirnantian isotope carbon excursion (HICE), which has a magnitude of nearly 2.5‰ above baseline values, is present in an interval from the upper Queenston Formation to the lower to middle part of the Manitoulin Formation in most of Bruce Peninsula and in the area south of Georgian Bay, whereas on Manitoulin Island the HICE appears to be absent. This indicates that a significant part of the Manitoulin Formation is older on the Bruce Peninsula and in its adjacent region than on Manitoulin Island. The chemostratigraphically based conclusions are consistent with biostratigraphic data from conodonts and brachiopods. The Hirnantian δ13C curve from Anticosti Island, Quebec is closely similar to those of southern Ontario. Traditionally, the Ordovician–Silurian boundary has been placed at the base of the Manitoulin Formation, but the new results suggest that it is more likely to be at, or near, the base of the overlying Cabot Head Formation. These new results have major implications for the interpretation of the geologic history and marine depositional patterns of the latest Ordovician of a large part of the North American Midcontinent.

ABSTRACT This paper describes a dune field on the gently-sloping Lake Huron shoreline of the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. The inland boundary is marked by a prominent dune ridge 60 m wide and up to 30 m high, which extends parallel to the shoreline for about 19 km, and was formed about 5000 years BP near the end of the Nipissing transgression. The islands and rock reefs which protect the modern shoreline were submerged under the higher lake levels, giving rise to a relatively straight, exposed beach from which sediment was supplied for building the dune ridge. Dunes formed between this ridge and the modern shoreline during the post-Nipissing regression decrease in height and continuity, reflecting decreased sediment supply associated with regression and reduced wave exposure as the offshore islands emerged. The sequence described here supports previous conclusions that transgressions are associated with periods of coastal dune formation and instability.

There is a crucial need to understand the genetic consequences of landscape modifications on continuous populations that could become fragmented, and to evaluate the degree of differentiation of isolated populations that were historically part of the core. Using 15 microsatellite loci, we evaluated the genetic structure of American black bears ( Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) across a vast, contiguous Ontario landscape (>1 × 106 km2) that largely represents their pre-European settlement distribution. Because geographic barriers are absent, we predicted that isolation by distance would drive genetic structure. We identified three genetic clusters (Northwest, Southeast, and Bruce Peninsula) that were less differentiated than when assessed with mtDNA, suggesting the influence of male-biased dispersal on large-scale genetic differentiation. Isolation by distance (r = 0.552, P = 0.001) was supported by a weak, clinal variation between Northwest and Southeast, illustrating the challenges to delineate populations in wide-ranging taxa. The Bruce Peninsula cluster, confined to a small area under strong anthropogenic pressures, was more differentiated from neighbouring clusters (FST > 0.13, P < 0.0001), with a genetic diversity corresponding to disjunct populations of black bears. Our results could be used in landscape genetics models to project the evolution of population differentiation based on upcoming landscape modifications in northern regions of North America.

Abstract. Two ice core boreholes of 143.18 m and 447.73 m (bedrock) were drilled during the 2009–2010 austral summer on the Bruce Plateau at a location named LARISSA Site Beta (66°02' S, 64°04' W, 1975.5 m a.s.l.). Both boreholes were logged with thermistors shortly after drilling. The shallow borehole was instrumented for 4 months with a series of resistance thermometers with satellite uplink. Surface temperature proxy data derived from an inversion of the borehole temperature profiles are compared to available multi-decadal records from weather stations and ice cores located along a latitudinal transect of the Antarctic Peninsula to West Antarctica. The LARISSA Site Beta profiles show temperatures decreasing from the surface downward through the upper third of the ice, and warming thereafter to the bed. The average temperature for the most recent year is −14.78°C (measured at 15 m depth, abbreviated T15). A minimum temperature of −15.8°C is measured at 173 m depth, and basal temperature is estimated to be −10.2°C. Current mean annual temperature and the gradient in the lower part of the measured temperature profile have a best fit with an accumulation rate of 1.9×103 kg m−2 a−1 and basal heat flux (q) of 88 mW m−2, if steady-state conditions are assumed. However, the mid-level temperature variations show that recent temperature has varied significantly. Reconstructed surface temperatures (Ts=T15) over the last 200 yr are derived by an inversion technique (Tikhonov and Samarskii, 1990). From this, we find that cold temperatures (minimum Ts=−16.2°C) prevailed from ~1920 to ~1940, followed by a gradual rise of temperature to −14.2°C around 1995, then cooling over the following decade and warming in the last few years. The coldest period was preceded by a relatively warm 19th century at T15≥−15°C. To facilitate regional comparisons of the surface temperature history, we use our T15 data and nearby weather station records to refine estimates of lapse rates (altitudinal, adjusted for latitude: Γa(l)). Good temporal and spatial consistency of Γa(l) over the last 35 yr are observed, implying that the climate trends observed here are regional and consistent over a broad altitude range.

Abstract. Two ice core boreholes of 143.74 m and 447.65 m (bedrock) were drilled during the 2009–2010 austral summer on the Bruce Plateau at a location named LARISSA Site Beta (66°02' S, 64°04' W, 1975.5 m a.s.l.). Both boreholes were logged with thermistors shortly after drilling. The shallow borehole was instrumented for 4 months with a series of resistance thermometers with satellite uplink. Surface temperature proxy data derived from an inversion of the borehole temperature profiles are compared to available multi-decadal records from weather stations and ice cores located along a latitudinal transect of the Antarctic Peninsula to West Antarctica. The LARISSA Site Beta profiles show temperatures decreasing from the surface downward through the upper third of the ice, and warming thereafter to the bed. The average temperature for the most recent year is −14.78 °C (measured at 15 m depth, abbreviated T15. A minimum temperature of −15.8 °C is measured at 173 m depth and basal temperature is estimated to be −10.2 °C. Current mean annual temperature and the gradient in the lower part of the measured temperature profile have a best fit with an accumulation rate of 1.9 × 103 kg m−2 a−1 and basal heat flux (q) of 88 mW m−2, if steady-state conditions are assumed. However, the mid-level temperature variations show that recent temperature has varied significantly. Reconstructed surface temperatures (Ts=T15 over the last 200 yr are derived by an inversion technique. From this, we find that cold temperatures (minimum Ts=−16.2 °C) prevailed from ~1920 to ~1940, followed by a gradual rise of temperature to −14.2 °C around 1995, then cooling over the following decade and warming in the last few years. The coldest period was preceded by a relatively warm 19th century at T15 ≥ −15 °C. To facilitate regional comparisons of the surface temperature history, we use our T15 data and nearby weather station records to refine estimates of lapse rates (altitudinal, adjusted for latitude: Γa(l)). Good temporal and spatial consistency of Γa(l)) over the last 35 yr are observed, implying that the climate trends observed here are regional and consistent over a broad altitude range.

The Fossil Hill Formation in the southern Georgian Bay region demonstrates considerable faunal and lithological variation. Well-defined distinctions exist between bedded chert-bearing, sparsely fossiliferous, argillaceous dolostones of the formation in the eastern Beaver Valley and relatively pure, fossiliferous, non-chert-bearing dolostones observed on the nearby southern Bruce Peninsula and Cape Rich Steps. Biostratigraphic studies and lithostratigraphic tracing through the intervening Bighead Valley suggest that the Fossil Hill Formation of the eastern Beaver Valley is correlative with the typical lower Pentamerus bank and the overlying coral-stromatoporoid biostrome of late Aeronian (Llandovery C1-C2) age observed on the southern Bruce Peninsula and Cape Rich Steps. Regionally, the Fossil Hill Formation exhibits significant age variation; biostratigraphically diagnostic brachiopods (Pentamerus oblongus, Pentameroides subrectus, and Plicostricklandia castellana) from the formation near Walters Falls indicate Telychian (Llandovery C4-C6) to early Wenlock age for part of the unit there. The highly localized preservation of Fossil Hill Formation strata of Telychian age in the Walters Falls area, along with contemporaneous facies changes noted in strata of Aeronian age and the apparent absence of Fossil Hill Formation strata at other localities, suggests that the paleotopography of the southern Georgian Bay region varied markedly during the mid to late Llandovery. A tectonic model that relates epeirogenic uplift associated with the Algonquin Arch in southern Ontario to the vertical rotation of fault-bounded lithospheric blocks, and additions to the model suggested herein, may explain the observed variations.

The occurrence of abandoned shoreline bedrock erosional features at the edge of the Niagara Escarpment at Cabot Head indicates the existence of a group of islands in glacial Lake Algonquin during early postglacial time, referred to herein as the Cabot Head Archipelago. The abandoned shoreline features are situated as much as 80 m above the level of contemporary Georgian Bay. The range of abandoned shoreline bedrock erosional features, including shoreline cliffs, adjacent wave-cut platforms, wave-cut notches, shore stacks, shore caves, and other features, are described. The occurrence of these features is thought to be the result of the interaction between wave action in glacial Lake Algonquin and two distinct lithological facies representing the Wiarton – Colpoy Bay and Lions Head members of the Amabel Formation. The exceptional development of the abandoned shoreline bedrock erosional features in massive reefal dolostone between elevations of ∼250 and 255 m above sea level (asl) is interpreted as representing the relatively long-lived and stable Main stage of glacial Lake Algonquin (∼11 000–10 200 years BP). Shoreline erosional forms at elevations between ∼240 and 250 m asl may be indicative of declining lake levels partially controlled by bedrock structural factors. The final abandonment of the glacial Lake Algonquin shoreline in this area occurred when the eastern outlets of the lake became ice-free and its level dropped rapidly some 10 200 years BP. The Cabot Head Archipelago and the associated suite of raised and abandoned shoreline bedrock erosional features represent a rare assemblage of landforms within the Great Lakes basin, and possibly within Canada.

The stability of the face of the Niagara Escarpment is a critical issue in the possible development of this important natural resource. In an attempt to provide background data for future resource management strategies a pilot study was initiated in the Hope and Barrow Bay section of the Bruce Peninsula. Results indicate that most of the initial erosion and steepening of the slopes resulted from the movement of glacial ice over the upper Escarpment. These steep slopes were maintained by low water stages of Lake Algonquin which resulted in the concentration of erosion in the relatively weak Fossil Hill Formation. At present instability is localized to certain parts of the Escarpment and appears to be both spatially random and sporadic, but is generally associated with certain conditions. Instability is usually found where outcrops of more resistant beds are being presently undercut by the weathering and mass wasting of weaker shale and heavily jointed dolomite beds. This activity is recognizable by lack of vegetation or by the dominance of Thuja occidentalis.

Abstract. This work deals with reconstructing firn layer thicknesses at the deposition time from the firn's observed thickness in ice cores, thus reconstructing the annual accumulation, yielding a timescale and an ice-core chronology. We employed a dynamic time warping algorithm to find an optimal, non-linear alignment between an H2O2 concentration data series from 98 m worth of ice cores of a borehole on the central ice divide of the Detroit Plateau, the Antarctic Peninsula, and an estimated local temperature time series. The viability and the physical reliability of the procedure are rooted in the robustness of the seasonal marker H2O2 in a high-accumulation context, which brought the entire borehole to within the operational life span of four Antarctic stations around the Antarctic Peninsula. The process was heavily based on numerical optimisation, producing a mathematically sound match between the two series to estimate the annual layering efficiently on the entire data section at once, being disposition-free. The results herein confirm a high annual accumulation rate of aN=2.8 m w.e./yr, which is of the same order of magnitude as and highly correlated with that of the Bruce Plateau and twice as large as that of the Gomez Plateau, 300 and 1200 km further south, respectively.

Across Atlantic ice: the origin of America's Clovis culture(Stanford & Bradley 2012) is the latest iteration of a controversial proposal that North America was first colonised by people from Europe rather than from East Asia, as most researchers accept. The authors, Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, argue that Solutrean groups from southern France and the Iberian Peninsula used watercraft to make their way across the North Atlantic and into North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). According to Stanford and Bradley, this 6000km journey was facilitated by a continuous ice shelf that provided fresh water and a food supply.AcrossAtlantic ice has received a number of positive reviews. Shea (2012: 294), for example, suggests that it is “an excellent example of hypothesis-building in the best tradition of processual archaeology. It challenges American archaeology in a way that will require serious research by its opponents”. Runnels (2012) is equally enthusiastic.

Because of their wide-ranging habits, conserving large carnivores such as American black bears ( Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) often depends on understanding habitat needs beyond the boundary of protected areas. We studied habitat selection by black bears in the vicinity of Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario — a small, isolated population whose persistence appears dependent on habitat on lands outside the Park. We used an approach based on Euclidean distances to document seasonal habitat selection at two spatial scales and to identify candidate habitat types for protection. Adult females selected dense mixed forests to establish home ranges within the population range, whereas subadults and yearlings selected dense deciduous forests. Within home ranges, adults selected dense mixed forest in spring–summer and dense deciduous forest in late summer – fall. Subadults selected dense deciduous forest, marsh, dense mixed forest, and water during the spring–summer and avoided developed lands and roads. Yearlings selected dense mixed forest, dense deciduous forest, and sparse forests in spring–summer and dense deciduous forest and dense mixed forest in late summer – fall. The selection of dense deciduous and dense mixed forest stands, especially at the broader scale, suggests that strategies to ensure persistence of this isolated population should focus on protecting the integrity of these stands.

Abstract A new ice core drilled in 2010 to bedrock from the Bruce Plateau (BP) on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) provides a high temporal resolution record of environmental conditions in this region. The extremely high annual accumulation rate at this site facilitates analysis of the relationships between annual net accumulation An on the BP and large-scale atmospheric oscillations. Over the last ~45 years, An on the BP has been positively correlated with both the southern annular mode (SAM) and Southern Oscillation index (SOI). Extending this analysis back to 1900 reveals that these relationships are not temporally stable, and they exhibit major shifts in the late-1940s and the mid-1970s that are contemporaneous with phase changes in the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). These varying multidecadal characteristics of the An–oscillation relationships are not apparent when only data from the post-1970s era are employed. Analysis of the longer ice core record reveals that the influence of the SAM on An depends not only on the phase of the SAM and SOI but also on the phase of the PDO. When the SAM’s influence on BP An is reduced, such as under negative PDO conditions, BP An is modulated by variability in the tropical and subtropical atmosphere through its impacts on the strength and position of the circumpolar westerlies in the AP region. These results demonstrate the importance of using longer-term ice core–derived proxy records to test conventional views of atmospheric circulation variability in the AP region.

To investigate the influence of insularity on plant reproductive biology at a local geographic scale, we examined aspects of reproduction in distylous Primula mistassinica Michx. (Primulaceae) on Lake Huron shorelines of the Bruce Peninsula and adjacent Tobermory Islands in Ontario, Canada. A total of 7 mainland and 13 nearshore island populations were compared. Controlled pollinations demonstrated that P. mistassinica possesses a dimorphic incompatibility system with intermorph crosses setting significantly more seeds than self or intramorph crosses. Floral morphology, population style-morph ratios, and seed fertility were compared in mainland and nearshore island populations to determine whether there was evidence for differences in reproductive traits between these areas. Style-morph ratios did not differ significantly from equilibrium expectations, and there were no consistent differences between island and mainland populations in floral morphology or fertility. Rather, the generalized pollination system of P. mistassinica and extensive historical opportunities for colonization appear to have mitigated insular effects so that proximate ecological factors are more relevant to the current reproductive biology of populations.Key words: distyly, insularity, pollination, reproductive biology.

AbstractThe historical distribution of Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Doubleday) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in southern Ontario, Canada was analysed using three major databases. In southern Ontario, G. lygdamus includes (1) subspecies G. lygdamus couperi Grote that has expanded its range from the north since the 1940s and 1950s reaching Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 2012; (2) a non-expanding population on the Norfolk Sand Plain, Ontario, Canada that appears phenotypically closest to G. lygdamus couperi, but with some wing marking characters that are transitional to the more southern subspecies G. lygdamus lygdamus; and (3) rare and local pre-expansion populations referable to G. lygdamus couperi that occurred in the Ottawa Valley and Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada in alvar woodlands, and possibly also on lakeshore dunes. The very rare and local occurrences of silvery blue in southern Ontario in the past is in direct contrast to its increasing abundance in the area in present times, but the genetic and phenotypic diversity of silvery blue may be declining due to genetic mixing with and/or to the effect of increasing parasitoids from the expanding race.

Plants of Erigeron philadelphicus L. var. glabra Henry, E. philadelphicus forma angustatus Marie-Victorin & Rousseau, and E. provancheri Marie-Victorin & Rousseau were grown in cultivation, where all retained their characters and had a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 18. Variety glabra was found to be an ecotype of E. philadelphicus which is only known from salt marshes at Port Albemi, Vancouver Island, B.C. It is distinguished by its subglabrous stem, leaves, and involucres and its somewhat fleshy leaves. Erigeron provancheri and E. philadelphicus f. angustatus are very similar to each other in morphology. They represent different populations of a single taxon, E. philadelphicus ssp. provancheri (Marie-Victorin & Rousseau) J. K. Morton stat.nov. It is distinguished by its perennial subglabrous habit, small size, small capitula, and white or nearly white ligulate florets. Only four populations are known: a population from the tidal estuary of the St. Lawrence near Quebec City; one in a similar habitat on the Hudson River near New York; one on the Waits River in Bradford, VT; and one on dolomite rocks along the shores of Lake Huron at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and on nearby islands.

Variable allele frequencies and a wide range of genotypes in samples of triploid Ambystoma laterale–jeffersonianum (LLJ) hybrids indicate that these forms have arisen on many occasions. Though suggested previously, we show here the first clear evidence that this has taken place, with examples from two loci (Pgm-B, M-Aat-A) that have different biogeographic allele distributions. (i) A polymorphism at Pgm-B in Ambystoma laterale, otherwise restricted to northwestern Ontario, was found in both diploid A. laterale and co-occurring LLJ triploids in southern Ontario, where it is confined to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Diploids and triploids not possessing the allele also occur here and throughout the range of the A. laterale–jeffersonianum complex in eastern North America. (ii) An east coast A. laterale polymorphism at the M-Aat-A locus is also represented in both the homozygous and heterozygous condition within syntopic diploids and triploids in single populations. These data demonstrate multiple origins of triploidy, suggest continual gene exchange between diploids and triploids, and are analogous to data presented for other hybrid complexes of Ambystoma. The origins and distribution of the alleles in question are briefly considered, as they are of some biogeographic interest.

AbstractThe Wenlock (middle Silurian) Eramosa Lagerstätte of the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, is becoming known for its rich and diverse faunas, different preservational styles, and a combination of soft-body preservation associated with shelly body and trace fossils. Sampling for scolecodonts—the jaws of polychaete annelids—has yielded unique material.Hindenites parkheadensisnew species is described from abundant specimens, including apparatuses, from a monospecific fauna that has allowed the complete dorsal maxillary apparatus to be reconstructed. The new species was recovered by acid digestion of carbonates, which are interpreted as having been deposited in shallow, marginally marine environments; the species may become a useful paleoenvironmental indicator, and the occurrence ofHindenitesat Park Head, Ontario, is the first record of the genus outside of Baltoscandia. Bedding-plane material from Wiarton, Ontario, reveals a more diverse fauna of seven to nine additional polychaete taxa, most belonging toKettneritesandOenonites. Strata at Wiarton are interpreted as having been deposited in environments with good water circulation and open-marine conditions. The faunal composition of Eramosa polychaetes varied between localities of the Lagerstätte outcrop belt, supporting previous interpretations of differences in environment and/or taphonomic history. The relative abundance of scolecodonts suggests that jaw-bearing polychaetes played a significant role in the biotas that are now preserved in the Eramosa Lagerstätte. Moreover, the results underpin the notion that different polychaete species had variable environmental preferences and tolerances during the Silurian, and that polychaetaspids and paulinitids formed two of the most common and widely distributed families.

The Bruce, Discovery, Herdman and Jane banks, all located along the central-eastern part of the South Scotia Ridge, represent isolated topographic highs, surrounded by young oceanic crust (∼5–23 Ma), whose petrological and structural nature is still the subject of speculation due to the lack of relevant data. Surface wave tomography in and around the Scotia Sea region, performed using eight broadband seismic stations and 300 events, shows that the central-eastern part of the South Scotia Ridge is characterized by negative surface wave group velocity anomalies as large as 6% in the period range from 15 s to 50 s. The spatial resolution of our data set (∼300 km) makes it possible to study a specific area (centred at 61°S and 36°W) that includes Discovery Bank and appears to show dispersion characteristics similar to those found beneath the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America. Surface wave dispersion curves are inverted to obtain 1-D isotropic shear wave velocity profiles that suggest a continental nature of Discovery Bank. Crustal thickness is in the range 23–28 km with a sub-Moho velocity of 4.1–4.2 km s−1. The boundaries of the negative group velocity anomalies are marked by a high level of seismic activity. The depth of the events and their large seismic moment suggest the presence of continental lithosphere. The continental-type crust of this topographic relief is supported by our interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles acquired across this rise, where the observed seismic structures are interpreted as thinned and faulted continental plateau.

Abstract—We used ITS sequences as species barcodes to evaluate 127 samples of 12 Helenium species from the eastern and central USA, focusing on a species complex of H. autumnale (76 sequences from 11 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces), the federally “threatened” H. virginicum, now recommended for delisting (30 sequences from three U.S. states), and H. flexuosum (11 sequences from four U.S. states). ITS sequences confirmed most species identifications and supported the presence of the first population of the “threatened” endemic Missouri-Virginia disjunct, Helenium virginicum, in Indiana. Because the Indiana plants grow in a restored wetland, have a cpDNA haplotype previously known only from Missouri, with a morphology similar to Missouri variants, and an herbarium search for additional populations in Indiana found none, it is unclear whether the Indiana population is natural or planted. The presence of a putative sister lineage to H. virginicum thought to exist on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, was not supported after sequencing 36 plants with the sister morphology that grew there along 18 km of beach fens and finding they had H. autumnale sequences. Fine-scale biogeographic patterns of intraspecific sequence variation were found mostly in H. autumnale, with centers of different base site polymorphisms found in northern North America and the Missouri Ozarks. As in a previous study, we found DNA evidence of hybridization between Helenium species in Missouri. We offer hypotheses to explain the biogeography of North American Helenium, focusing on the three species that compose the H. autumnale species complex and suggesting that H. autumnale may be a compilospecies showing incomplete lineage sorting. We encourage exploration of more Helenium species and their conspecific populations in search of fine-scale ITS base site polymorphisms to reveal emerging lineages and resolve the origins and evolutionary implications of these biogeographic patterns.

To better manage southern Ontario's natural forests, the former and present status of old growth must be understood. We hypothesize that old-growth pine (Pinus spp.), although dominant elsewhere, was less common in southern Ontario than popular history suggests: we are obliged to evaluate historical information that has been filtered both by the original compilers and through our own biases. Beginning around 600 AD, the predominant beech (Fagus americana) forest was partially replaced by maple (primarily Acer saccharum), oaks (Quercus spp.) and eastern white pine (P. strobus). This pine increase either followed abandonment of pre-Columbian agriculture or, more plausibly, accompanied climate cooling. Eighteenth and 19th century European settlers encountered abundant large trees, which they hewed for square pine timber, milled timber, and tanbark. Other stands were cut and burned for agricultural clearance, with a potash by-product. Until recently, Ontario research emphasized the old-growth pine stands of central and northern Ontario to the relative exclusion of other kinds of old forest because very few southern Ontario old-growth stands remained to study. Ontario forest resource inventory data (FRI) show stands of over 150 years totalling only 1475 ha in 1978, concentrated on the Oak Ridges Moraine, the St. Lawrence Valley and the Awenda Peninsula. Red (P. resinosa) and eastern white pine stands constituted only 5.3% of the 1978 forested area, with virtually none of over 150 years, whereas eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) stands constituted 12.8%. The difficulty in finding modern old growth necessitates historical reconstruction using physical, written and graphical resources, including early survey records and trade statistics. In a case study of 1822 survey data from Darling Township (Lanark Co.) and 1960 FRI, vegetation was classified using TWINSPAN and mapped using ARC/INFO Thiessen polygons. In 1822, dominant hemlock occupied half the township but it has since been eliminated as a dominant. Conversely, there were no pine-dominated forests in 1822, but these had increased to 16% of the area by 1960. A second case used similar methods, with 1855 data for St. Edmunds and Lindsay townships (Bruce Co.) and 1981 FRI. Although logging halved the area and reduced the stature of pines in the large pinery, the elimination of dominant hemlock (originally 41% by area) is more significant. Fragmentary square timber trade data suggest that at least half the large pines in Bruce County were in St. Edmunds, so pine must have been spectacularly concentrated in a few areas. The third case, a map constructed from Gourlay's 1817–1819 survey, also demonstrates that pine-dominated areas were in the minority in southern Ontario, concentrated on sandy soils around Lakes Ontario and Erie. However, big hemlocks, beeches, maples and oaks were much more common overall. Management responses to this information should include designation of older southern Ontario forest stands (especially those never cleared since settlement) for maturation into an old-growth state, and the systematic restoration of eastern hemlock and beech stands for conservation purposes in southern Ontario. Key words: old-growth forest, Canada, Ontario, historical ecology, forest history

Hubbs (1938) described Typhlias pearsei, representing both a new genus and species of blind cusk-eel (Ophidiiformes: Dinematichthyidae) from freshwater caves and sinkholes of the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. Whitley (1951:67) proposed Typhliasina as a replacement name for Typhlias, citing a list of zoological names published by Neave (1950:284), but did not mention the taxon and author to which the putative senior homonym belonged. Cohen and Nielsen (1978:60) treated Typhliasina as a junior synonym of Ogilbia Jordan & Evermann 1898 in their provisional classification of the Ophidiiformes, wherein they mentioned that Typhlias Hubbs 1938 is preoccupied by Typhlias Bryce 1910 in rotifers. Typhlias Bryce 1910 has subsequently been given as the senior homonym in three important works: the FAO species catalog of ophidiiform fishes (Nielsen & Cohen 1999:134), Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America (Nielsen 2003:507), and a revisionary study (Møller et al. 2004:186) in which Typhliasina is resurrected from the synonymy of Ogilbia. However, a careful reading of Neave (1950) and Bryce (1910) reveals a fact that had apparently been overlooked: Typhlias Bryce 1910 is not an available name, but a lapsus for Typhlina Ehrenberg 1831.

The discovery of new secondary metabolites from natural origins has become more challenging in natural products research. Different approaches have been applied to target the isolation of new bioactive metabolites from plant extracts. In this study, bioactive natural products were isolated from the crude organic extract of the mangrove plant Avicennia lanata collected from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia in the Setiu Wetlands, Terengganu, using HRESI-LCMS-based metabolomics-guided isolation and fractionation. Isolation work on the crude extract A. lanata used high-throughput chromatographic techniques to give two new naphthofuranquinone derivatives, hydroxyavicenol C (1) and glycosemiquinone (2), along with the known compounds avicenol C (3), avicequinone C (4), glycoquinone (5), taraxerone (6), taraxerol (7), β-sitosterol (8) and stigmasterol (9). The elucidation and identification of the targeted bioactive compounds used 1D and 2D-NMR and mass spectrometry. Except for 6–9, all isolated naphthoquinone compounds (1–5) from the mangrove plant A. lanata showed significant anti-trypanosomal activity on Trypanosoma brucei brucei with MIC values of 3.12–12.5 μM. Preliminary cytotoxicity screening against normal prostate cells (PNT2A) was also performed. All compounds exhibited low cytotoxicity, with compounds 3 and 4 showing moderate cytotoxicity of 78.3% and 68.6% of the control values at 100 μg/mL, respectively.

The rare Fissidens jansenii Sérgio & Pursell is reported on plateau de Millevaches, Limousin (France), nearly 1000 km north of the nearest known population. As a result, F. jansenii is known from the Iberian Peninsula and now from western France. An updated distribution map of the species in Europe is provided. The new material is fully described and illustrated and the ecology in France is outlined. Gametophytically, French specimens of F. jansenii do not deviate significantly from Portuguese material and the variability of characters is discussed. In France, on plateau de Millevaches, F. jansenii is relatively frequent but constitutes rather small populations, with a low number of individuals. Sporophytes were regularly encountered and reproduction is most likely to be by spore dispersal. On plateau de Millevaches, F. pusillus (Wilson) Milde shares a comparable habitat but is easily distinguished from F. jansenii. Morphologically similar species occurring in Western Europe and that could potentially be confused with F. jansenii (F. rivularis and F. rufulus Bruch & Schimp.) are compared.

Refugia and dispersal routes of smallmouth bass ( Micropterus dolomieu ) into the Great Lakes were identified using 427 mitochondrial sequences from across their native range. Overall, smallmouth bass accessed the Great Lakes via long-distance dispersal from multiple refugia, and the distribution of genetic variation reflected the consequences of vicariant, dispersal, and paleogeological events. Proximity of lakes to glacial outlets had a greater predictive power on the resulting distribution of mitochondrial diversity relative to interbasin migration. Populations in the Eastern and Interior Highlands contained the most divergent and oldest haplotypes, reflecting their role as glacial refugia and subsequent high incidence of endemicity. Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and northern Lake Huron were colonized by bass of a single mitochondrial clade that accessed the Brule–Portage (Mississippi and St. Croix rivers) and Chicago (Illinois and Fox rivers) outlets. Lakes Huron and Erie contained admixed mitochondrial lineages in part due to numerous access points, including the Fort Wayne (Wabash and Maumee rivers), Lower Peninsula of Michigan (Grand River valley), and Kirkfield (Kawartha Lakes) outlets. In contrast, populations in Lake Ontario, Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, and the St. Lawrence River were monomorphic, indicating a single but unidentified source. These patterns were consistent with many examples from the North American freshwater ichthyofauna.

Abstract. This paper reports preliminary results for a Limited area model Ensemble Prediction System (LEPS), based on RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modelling System), for eight case studies of moderate-intense precipitation over Calabria, the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula. LEPS aims to transfer the benefits of a probabilistic forecast from global to regional scales in countries where local orographic forcing is a key factor to force convection. To accomplish this task and to limit computational time in an operational implementation of LEPS, we perform a cluster analysis of ECMWF-EPS runs. Starting from the 51 members that form the ECMWF-EPS we generate five clusters. For each cluster a representative member is selected and used to provide initial and dynamic boundary conditions to RAMS, whose integrations generate LEPS. RAMS runs have 12-km horizontal resolution. To analyze the impact of enhanced horizontal resolution on quantitative precipitation forecasts, LEPS forecasts are compared to a full Brute Force (BF) ensemble. This ensemble is based on RAMS, has 36 km horizontal resolution and is generated by 51 members, nested in each ECMWF-EPS member. LEPS and BF results are compared subjectively and by objective scores. Subjective analysis is based on precipitation and probability maps of case studies whereas objective analysis is made by deterministic and probabilistic scores. Scores and maps are calculated by comparing ensemble precipitation forecasts against reports from the Calabria regional raingauge network. Results show that LEPS provided better rainfall predictions than BF for all case studies selected. This strongly suggests the importance of the enhanced horizontal resolution, compared to ensemble population, for Calabria for these cases. To further explore the impact of local physiographic features on QPF (Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting), LEPS results are also compared with a 6-km horizontal resolution deterministic forecast. Due to local and mesoscale forcing, the high resolution forecast (Hi-Res) has better performance compared to the ensemble mean for rainfall thresholds larger than 10mm but it tends to overestimate precipitation for lower amounts. This yields larger false alarms that have a detrimental effect on objective scores for lower thresholds. To exploit the advantages of a probabilistic forecast compared to a deterministic one, the relation between the ECMWF-EPS 700 hPa geopotential height spread and LEPS performance is analyzed. Results are promising even if additional studies are required.

Chan, Arlene. Righting Canada’s Wrongs: The Chinese Head Tax and Anti-Chinese Immigration Policies in the Twentieth Century. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Ltd., 2014. Print.This is a non-fiction book about the history of Chinese immigration and settlement in Canada. It takes the reader through a very long historical period that starts from the time the Chinese first stepped foot in Canada in the eighteenth century, through struggling under racial discrimination in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to attaining redress and public apology as captured in the title “Righting Canada’s Wrongs”.The title suggests a very serious topic that may not appeal to some readers looking to read for pleasure. However, this is an excellent resource for students doing a school or family genealogy project, or for those with an inquisitive mind. Once the book is opened, the photographs will definitely catch the attention and spark the interest of the reader. The author has skillfully used over 200 rare archival and modern day photographs and real-life audio accounts to make this book into an educational and thought-provoking audio-visual historical document. The only drawback is that the reader has to go back and forth between reading the book and going online to listen to the audio. While the book gives a good account of Chinese Canadian history, it missed the struggles and successes of the Prairie Chinese whose experiences are well-captured in the rich collection of rare archival materials housed in the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library of the University of Alberta, the Glenbow Museum, and the Edmonton Archives.The first chapter introduces the reader to the story by providing a brief historical background. Young readers may not be familiar with the two Opium Wars, British Columbia joining the Canadian Confederation, the First and Second World Wars, and the Chinese head tax redress campaign. Therefore, it will be very helpful if these events can all be put into historical perspectives by specifying the year of occurrence. The back of the book contains valuable references, such as: a “Timeline” diagram, a Glossary, a list of suggested reading, a list of visual credits, and an index to aid the readers. The “Timeline” diagram effectively chronicles significant historical events relevant to the story being told. However, it is inaccurate to say that Hong Kong becomes a British Colony in 1898. Hong Kong is a general name to mean the Island of Hong Kong and its surrounding islets, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories. Historically, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842, the Kowloon Peninsula ceded in 1860, and the New Territories leased for 99 years from 1898 to 1997. A similar inaccuracy is in the caption for a photograph on page 52 taken in Kowloon. At that point in history, it was a British Colony and not a part of China. This book is more suitable for young readers of grade five and above. They will get more out of reading this book if they are guided by parents or teachers who can help them better understand and appreciate the complex issues and historical occurrences. Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Helen Kwan Yee CheungHelen Kwan Yee Cheung has a B.Soc.Sc. from the University of Hong Kong and an MA from the University of Alberta. She has a diverse background of business, social work, psychology, personnel, and intergovernmental relations, having worked in the provincial and federal public service for twenty-five years. She has curated an exhibition “Painted Faces on the Prairies” for the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library of the University of Alberta in 2014 and currently working on a second project about Chinese merchants in the Canadian West as the Library’s guest curator.

Calculamos las profundidades del Moho a lo largo del eje del Macizo Peninsular de Baja California, usando ondas refractadas de eventos localizados en el norte de Baja California y registrados en un arreglo de 9 estaciones de banda ancha a lo largo de la latitud 31°N. Utilizamos 35 eventos localizados con RESNOM (Red Sísmica del Noroeste de México) y RANM (Red de Acelerógrafos del Noroeste de México) en el norte de Baja California. Las profundidades focales de estos eventos varían entre 3 y 15 km y las magnitudes entre 2.1 a 3.9. El modelo de velocidades en una dimensión, 1-D (Nava and Brune, 1982), fue usado para calcular los tiempos de viaje teóricos de Pg y Pn para diferentes profundidades. Las diferencias entre tiempos de viaje teóricos y observados (Pg-Pn) fueron minimizadas en un proceso iterativo a fin de encontrar la profundidad más probable del Moho a lo largo del eje del Macizo Peninsular entre las latitudes 31.3° y 31.7°N. Encontramos que la profundidad promedio del Moho es aproximadamente 42±3 km en el oeste del Macizo Peninsular, disminuyendo a 31±3 hacia el oeste a lo largo de la costa del Pacífico y 20±3 km hacia el Golfo de Baja California.

AbstractAntarctica is considered one of the most pristine regions on Earth, but evidences of global and local anthropogenic pollution exist. Chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) are bioaccumulated and sometimes biomagnified through the trophic web. We aim to determine whether a latitudinal gradient of these trace elements exists in benthic organisms along the rocky shores of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. Levels of Cr, Pb, and Hg were measured by ICP-MS in two macroalgae (Palmaria decipiens and Desmarestia anceps or Desmarestia menziesii), one gastropod (Nacella concinna), two starfishes (Odontaster validus and Diplasterias brucei), and suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) from five sampling sites ranging in latitude from 62°11′17″S to 67°33′47″S. Levels of trace elements differed among sites and species, but no latitudinal gradient was observed for these pollutants. Levels of Hg and Pb in animals were consistent with biomagnifications along the food web, as were higher is starfish than in limpets. However, macroalgae and SPOM are unlikely to be the main primary producers supporting those consumers, as Hg levels in macroalgae and Pb levels in SPOM were much higher than in animals. The levels of trace elements detected were similar or higher than in other Antarctic places and other regions of the world, thus indicating that the Antarctic Peninsula area is as polluted as the rest of the world.

The present monograph includes general systematic considerations on the family Epimeriidae, a revision of the genus Epimeria Costa in Hope, 1851 in the Southern Ocean, and a shorter account on putatively related eusiroid taxa occurring in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic seas. The former epimeriid genera Actinacanthus Stebbing, 1888 and Paramphithoe Bruzelius, 1859 are transferred to other families, respectively to the Acanthonotozomellidae Coleman & J.L. Barnard, 1991 and the herein re-established Paramphithoidae G.O. Sars, 1883, so that only Epimeria and Uschakoviella Gurjanova, 1955 are retained within the Epimeriidae Boeck, 1871. The genera Apherusa Walker, 1891 and Halirages Boeck, 1891, which are phylogenetically close to Paramphithoe, are also transferred to the Paramphithoidae. The validity of the suborder Senticaudata Lowry & Myers, 2013, which conflicts with traditional and recent concepts of Eusiroidea Stebbing, 1888, is questioned. Eight subgenera are recognized for Antarctic and sub-Antarctic species of the genus Epimeria: Drakepimeria subgen. nov., Epimeriella K.H. Barnard, 1930, Hoplepimeria subgen. nov., Laevepimeria subgen. nov., Metepimeria Schellenberg, 1931, Pseudepimeria Chevreux, 1912, Subepimeria Bellan-Santini, 1972 and Urepimeria subgen. nov. The type subgenus Epimeria, as currently defined, does not occur in the Southern Ocean. Drakepimeria species are superficially similar to the type species of the genus Epimeria: E. cornigera (Fabricius, 1779), but they are phylogenetically unrelated and substantial morphological differences are obvious at a finer level. Twenty-seven new Antarctic Epimeria species are described herein: Epimeria (Drakepimeria) acanthochelon subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) anguloce subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) colemani subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) corbariae subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) cyrano subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) havermansiana subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) leukhoplites subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) loerzae subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) pandora subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) pyrodrakon subgen. et sp. nov., E. (D.) robertiana subgen. et sp. nov., Epimeria (Epimeriella) atalanta sp. nov., Epimeria (Hoplepimeria) cyphorachis subgen. et sp. nov., E. (H.) gargantua subgen. et sp. nov., E. (H.) linseae subgen. et sp. nov., E. (H.) quasimodo subgen. et sp. nov., E. (H.) xesta subgen. et sp. nov., Epimeria (Laevepimeria) anodon subgen. et sp. nov., E. (L.) cinderella subgen. et sp. nov., Epimeria (Pseudepimeria) amoenitas sp. nov., E. (P.) callista sp. nov., E. (P.) debroyeri sp. nov., E. (P.) kharieis sp. nov., Epimeria (Subepimeria) adeliae sp. nov., E. (S.) iota sp. nov., E. (S.) teres sp. nov. and E. (S.) urvillei sp. nov. The type specimens of E. (D.) macrodonta Walker, 1906, E. (D.) similis Chevreux, 1912, E. (H.) georgiana Schellenberg, 1931 and E. (H.) inermis Walker, 1903 are re-described and illustrated. Besides the monographic treatment of Epimeriidae from the Southern Ocean, a brief overview and identification keys are given for their putative and potential relatives from the same ocean, i.e., the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic members of the following eusiroid families: Acanthonotozomellidae Coleman & J.L. Barnard, 1991, Dikwidae Coleman & J.L. Barnard, 1991, Stilipedidae Holmes, 1908 and Vicmusiidae Just, 1990. This overview revealed the existence of a new large and characteristic species of Alexandrella Chevreux, 1911, A. chione sp. nov. but also shows that the taxonomy of that genus remains poorly known and that several ‘variable widespread eurybathic species’ probably are species complexes. Furthermore, the genera Bathypanoploea Schellenberg, 1939 and Astyroides Birstein & Vinogradova, 1960 are considered to be junior synonyms of Alexandrella. Alexandrella mixta Nicholls, 1938 and A. pulchra Ren in Ren & Huang, 1991 are re-established herein, as valid species. It is pointed out that this insufficient taxonomic knowledge of Antarctic amphipods impedes ecological and biogeographical studies requiring precise identifications. Stacking photography was used for the first time to provide iconographic support in amphipod taxonomy, and proves to be a rapid and efficient illustration method for large tridimensionally geometric species. A combined morphological and molecular approach was used whenever possible for distinguishing Epimeria species, which were often very similar (albeit never truly cryptic) and sometimes exhibited allometric and individual variations. However in several cases, taxa were characterized by morphology only, whenever the specimens available for study were inappropriately fixed or when no sequences could be obtained. A large number of Epimeria species, formerly considered as eurybathic and widely distributed, proved to be complexes of species, with a narrower (overlapping or not) distribution. The distributional range of Antarctic Epimeria is very variable from species to species. Current knowledge indicates that some species from the Scotia Arc and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula are narrow range endemics, sometimes confined to one island, archipelago, or ridge (South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, Elephant Island or Bruce Ridge); other species have a distribution encompassing a broader region, such as the eastern shelf of the Weddell Sea, or extending from the eastern shelf of the Weddell Sea to Adélie Coast. The most widely distributed species are E. (D.) colemani subgen. et sp. nov., E. (E.) macronyx (Walker, 1906), E. (H.) inermis Walker, 1903 and E. (L.) walkeri (K.H. Barnard, 1930), which have been recorded from the Antarctic Peninsula/South Shetland Islands area to the western Ross Sea. Since restricted distributions are common among Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Epimeria, additional new species might be expected in areas such as the Kerguelen Plateau, eastern Ross Sea, Amundsen Sea and the Bellingshausen Sea or isolated seamounts and ridges, where there are currently no Epimeria recorded. The limited distribution of many Epimeria species of the Southern Ocean is presumably related to the poor dispersal capacity in most species of the genus. Indeed with the exception of the pelagic and semi-pelagic species of the subgenus Epimeriella, they are heavy strictly benthic organisms without larval stages, and they have no exceptional level of eurybathy for Antarctic amphipods. Therefore, stretches deeper than 1000 m seem to be efficient geographical barriers for many Epimeria species, but other isolating factors (e.g., large stretches poor in epifauna) might also be at play. The existence of endemic shelf species with limited dispersal capacities in the Southern Ocean (like many Epimeria) suggests the existence of multiple ice-free shelf or upper slope refugia during the Pleistocene glaciations within the distributional and bathymetric range of these species. Genera with narrow range endemics like Epimeria would be excellent model taxa for locating hotspots of Antarctic endemism, and thus potentially play a role in proposing meaningful Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean.

It is January 1930 and the restless Southern Ocean is heaving itself up against the frozen coast of Eastern Antarctica. For hundreds of kilometres, this coastline consists entirely of ice: although Antarctica is a continent, only 2% of its surface consists of exposed rock; the rest is buried under a vast frozen mantle. But there is rock in this coastal scene: silhouetted against the glaring white of the glacial shelf, a barren island humps up out of the water. Slowly and cautiously, the Discovery approaches the island through uncharted waters; the crew’s eyes strain in the frigid air as they scour the ocean’s surface for ship-puncturing bergs. The approach to the island is difficult, but Captain Davis maintains the Discovery on its course as the wind howls in the rigging. Finally, the ship can go no further; the men lower a boat into the tossing sea. They pull hard at the oars until the boat is abreast of the island, and then they ram the bow against its icy littoral. Now one of the key moments of this exploratory expedition—officially titled the British, Australian, and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE)—is about to occur: the expedition is about to succeed in its primary spatial mission. Douglas Mawson, the Australian leader of the expedition, puts his feet onto the island and ascends to its bleak summit. There, he and his crew assemble a mound of loose stones and insert into it the flagpole they’ve carried with them across the ocean. Mawson reads an official proclamation of territorial annexation (see Bush 118-19), the photographer Frank Hurley shoots the moment on film, and one of the men hauls the Union Jack up the pole. Until the Australian Flags Act of 1953, the Union Jack retained seniority over the Australian flag. BANZARE took place before the 1931 Statute of Westminster, which gave full political and foreign policy independence to Commonwealth countries, thus Mawson claimed Antarctic space on behalf of Britain. He did so with the understanding that Britain would subsequently grant Australia title to its own Antarctican space. Britain did so in 1933. In the freezing wind, the men take off their hats, give three cheers for the King, and sing “God Save the King.” They deposit a copy of the proclamation into a metal canister and affix this to the flagpole; for a moment they admire the view. But there is little time to savour the moment, or the feeling of solid ground under their cold feet: the ship is waiting and the wind is growing in force. The men row back to the Discovery; Mawson returns to his cabin and writes up the event. A crucial moment in Antarctica’s spatial history has occurred: on what Mawson has aptly named Proclamation Island, Antarctica has been produced as Australian space. But how, exactly, does this production of Antarctica as a spatial possession work? How does this moment initiate the transformation of six million square kilometres of Antarctica—42% of the continent—into Australian space? The answer to this question lies in three separate, but articulated cultural technologies: representation, the body of the explorer, and international territorial law. When it comes to thinking about ‘turf’, Antarctica may at first seem an odd subject of analysis. Physically, Antarctica is a turfless space, an entire continent devoid of grass, plants, land-based animals, or trees. Geopolitically, Antarctica remains the only continent on which no turf wars have been fought: British and Argentinian soldiers clashed over the occupation of a Peninsular base in the Hope Bay incident of 1952 (Dodds 56), but beyond this somewhat bathetic skirmish, Antarctican space has never been the object of physical conflict. Further, as Antarctica has no indigenous human population, its space remains free of the colonial turfs of dispossession, invasion, and loss. The Antarctic Treaty of 1961 formalised Antarctica’s geopolitically turfless status, stipulating that the continent was to be used for peaceful purposes only, and stating that Antarctica was an internationally shared space of harmony and scientific goodwill. So why address Antarctican spatiality here? Two motivations underpin this article’s anatomising of Australia’s Antarctican space. First, too often Antarctica is imagined as an entirely homogeneous space: a vast white plain dotted here and there along its shifting coast by identical scientific research stations inhabited by identical bearded men. Similarly, the complexities of Antarctica’s geopolitical and legal spaces are often overlooked in favour of a vision of the continent as a site of harmonious uniformity. While it is true that the bulk of Antarctican space is ice, the assumption that its cultural spatialities are identical is far from the case: this article is part of a larger endeavour to provide a ‘thick’ description of Antarctican spatialities, one which points to the heterogeneity of cultural geographies of the polar south. The Australian polar spatiality installed by Mawson differs radically from that of, for example, Chile; in a continent governed by international consensus, it is crucial that the specific cultural geographies and spatial histories of Treaty participants be clearly understood. Second, attending to complexities of Antarctican spatiality points up the intersecting cultural technologies involved in spatial production, cultural technologies so powerful that, in the case of Antarctica, they transformed nearly half of a distant continent into Australian sovereign space. This article focuses its critical attention on three core spatialising technologies, a trinary that echoes Henri Lefebvre’s influential tripartite model of spatiality: this article attends to Australian Antarctic representation, practise, and the law. At the turn of the twentieth century, Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen trooped over the polar plateau, and Antarctic space became a setting for symbolic Edwardian performances of heroic imperial masculinity and ‘frontier’ hardiness. At the same time, a second, less symbolic, type of Antarctican spatiality began to evolve: for the first time, Antarctica became a potential territorial possession; it became the object of expansionist geopolitics. Based in part on Scott’s expeditions, Britain declared sovereignty over an undefined area of the continent in 1908, and France declared Antarctic space its own in 1924; by the late 1920s, what John Agnew and Stuart Corbridge refer to as the nation-state ontology—that is, the belief that land should and must be divided into state-owned units—had arrived in Antarctica. What the Adelaide Advertiser’s 8 April 1929 headline referred to as “A Scramble for Antarctica” had begun. The British Imperial Conference of 1926 concluded that the entire continent should become a possession of Britain and its dominions, New Zealand and Australia (Imperial). Thus, in 1929, BANZARE set sail into the brutal Southern Ocean. Although the expedition included various scientists, its primary mission was not to observe Antarctican space, but to take possession of it: as the expedition’s instructions from Australian Prime Minister Bruce stated, BANZARE’s mission was to produce Antarctica as Empire’s—and by extension, Australia’s—sovereign space (Jacka and Jacka 251). With the moment described in the first paragraph of this article, along with four other such moments, BANZARE succeeded; just how it did so is the focus of this work. It is by now axiomatic in spatial studies that the job of imperial explorers is not to locate landforms, but to produce a discursive space. “The early travellers,” as Paul Carter notes of Australian explorers, “invented places rather than found them” (51). Numerous analytical investigations attend to the discursive power of exploration: in Australia, Carter’s Road to Botany Bay, Simon Ryan’s Cartographic Eye, Ross Gibson’s Diminishing Paradise, and Brigid Hains’s The Ice and the Inland, to name a few, lay bare the textual strategies through which the imperial annexation of “new” spaces was legitimated and enabled. Discursive territoriality was certainly a core product of BANZARE: as this article’s opening paragraph demonstrates, one of the key missions of BANZARE was not simply to perform rituals of spatial possession, but to textualise them for popular and governmental consumption. Within ten months of the expedition’s return, Hurley’s film Southward Ho! With Mawson was touring Australia. BANZARE consisted of two separate trips to Antarctica; Southward Ho! documents the first of these, while Siege of the South documents the both the first and the second, 1930-1, mission. While there is not space here to provide a detailed textual analysis of the entire film, a focus on the “Proclamation Island moment” usefully points up some of the film’s central spatialising work. Hurley situated the Proclamation Island scene at the heart of the film; the scene was so important that Hurley wished he had been able to shoot two hours of footage of Mawson’s island performance (Ayres 194). This scene in the film opens with a long shot of the land and sea around the island; a soundtrack of howling wind not only documents the brutal conditions in which the expedition worked, but also emphasises the emptiness of Antarctican space prior to its “discovery” by Mawson: in this shot, the film visually confirms Antarctica’s status as an available terra nullius awaiting cooption into Australian understanding, and into Australian national space. The film then cuts to a close-up of Mawson raising the flag; the sound of the wind disappears as Mawson begins to read the proclamation of possession. It is as if Mawson’s proclamation of possession stills the protean chaos of unclaimed Antarctic space by inviting it into the spatial order of national territory: at this moment, Antarctica’s agency is symbolically subsumed by Mawson’s acquisitive words. As the scene ends, the camera once again pans over the surrounding sea and ice scape, visually confirming the impact of Mawson’s—and the film’s—performance: all this, the shot implies, is now made meaningful; all this is now understood, recorded, and, most importantly, all this is now ours. A textual analysis of this filmic moment might identify numerous other spatialising strategies at work: its conflation of Mawson’s and the viewer’s proprietary gazes (Ryan), its invocation of the sublime, or its legitimising conflation of the ‘purity’ of the whiteness of the landscape with the whiteness of its claimants (Dyer 21). However, the spatial productivity of this moment far exceeds the discursive. What is at times frustrating about discourse analyses of spatiality is that they too often fail to articulate representation to other, equally potent, cultural technologies of spatial production. John Wylie notes that “on the whole, accounts of early twentieth-century Antarctic exploration exhibit a particular tendency to position and interpret exploratory experience in terms of self-contained discursive ensembles” (170). Despite the undisputed power of textuality, discourse alone does not, and cannot, produce a spatial possession. “Discursive and representational practices,” as Jane Jacobs observes, “are in a mutually constitutive relationship with political and economic forces” (9); spatiality, in other words, is not simply a matter of texts. In order to understand fully the process of Antarctican spatial acquisition, it is necessary to depart from tales of exploration and ships and flags, and to focus on the less visceral spatiality of international territorial law. Or, more accurately, it is necessary to address the mutual imbrication of these two articulated spatialising “domains of practice” (Dixon). The emerging field of critical legal geography is founded on the premise that legal analyses of territoriality neglect the spatial dimension of their investigations; rather than seeing the law as a means of spatial production, they position space as a neutral, universally-legible entity which is neatly governed by the “external variable” of territorial law (Blomley 28). “In the hegemonic conception of the law,” Wesley Pue argues, “the entire world is transmuted into one vast isotropic surface” (568) upon which law acts. Nicholas Blomley asserts, however, that law is not a neutral organiser of space, but rather a cultural technology of spatial production. Territorial laws, in other words, make spaces, and don’t simply govern them. When Mawson planted the flag and read the proclamation, he was producing Antarctica as a legal space as well as a discursive one. Today’s international territorial laws derive directly from European imperialism: as European empires expanded, they required a spatial system that would protect their newly-annexed lands, and thus they developed a set of laws of territorial acquisition and possession. Undergirding these laws is the ontological premise that space is divisible into state-owned sovereign units. At international law, space can be acquired by its imperial claimants in one of three main ways: through conquest, cession (treaty), or through “the discovery of terra nullius” (see Triggs 2). Antarctica and Australia remain the globe’s only significant spaces to be transformed into possessions through the last of these methods. In the spatiality of the international law of discovery, explorers are not just government employees or symbolic representatives, but vessels of enormous legal force. According to international territorial law, sovereign title to “new” territory—land defined (by Europeans) as terra nullius, or land belonging to no one—can be established through the eyes, feet, codified ritual performances, and documents of explorers. That is, once an authorised explorer—Mawson carried documents from both the Australian Prime Minister and the British King that invested his body and his texts with the power to transform land into a possession—saw land, put his foot on it, planted a flag, read a proclamation, then documented these acts in words and maps, that land became a possession. These performative rituals and their documentation activate the legal spatiality of territorial acquisition; law here is revealed as a “bundle of practices” that produce space as a possession (Ford 202). What we witness when we attend to Mawson’s island performance, then, is not merely a discursive performance, but also the transformation of Antarctica into a legal space of possession. Similarly, the films and documents generated by the expedition are more than just a “sign system of human ambition” (Tang 190), they are evidence, valid at law, of territorial possession. They are key components of Australia’s legal currency of Antarctican spatial purchase. What is of central importance here is that Mawson’s BANZARE performance on Proclamation Island is a moment in which the dryly legal, the bluntly physical, and the densely textual clearly intersect in the creation of space as a possession. Australia did not take possession of forty-two percent of Antarctica after BANZARE by law, by exploration, or by representation alone. The Australian government built its Antarctic space with letters patent and legal documents. BANZARE produced Australia’s Antarctic possession through the physical and legal rituals of flag-planting, proclamation-reading, and exploration. BANZARE further contributed to Australia’s polar empire with maps, journals, photos and films, and cadastral lists of the region’s animals, minerals, magnetic fields, and winds. The law of “discovery of terra nullius” coalesced these spaces into a territory officially designated as Australian. It is crucial to recognise that the production of nearly half of Antarctica as Australian space was, and is not a matter of discourse, of physical performance, or of law alone. Rather, these three cultural technologies of spatial production are mutually imbricated; none can function without the others, nor is one reducible to an epiphenomenon of another. To focus on the discursive products of BANZARE without attending to the expedition’s legal work not only downplays the significance of Mawson’s spatialising achievement, but also blinds us to the role that law plays in the production of space. Attending to Mawson’s Proclamation Island moment points to the unique nature of Australia’s Antarctic spatiality: unlike the US, which constructs Antarctic spatiality as entirely non-sovereign; and unlike Chile, which bases its Antarctic sovereignty claim on Papal Bulls and acts of domestic colonisation, Australian Antarctic space is a spatiality of possession, founded on a bedrock of imperial exploration, representation, and law. Seventy-four years ago, the camera whirred as a man stuck a flagpole into the bleak summit rocks of a small Antarctic island: six million square kilometres of Antarctica became, and remain, Australian space. Works Cited Agnew, John, and Stuart Corbridge. Mastering Space: Hegemony, Territory and International Political Economy. London: Routledge, 1995. Ayres, Philip. Mawson: A Life. Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 1999. Blomley, Nicholas. Law, Space, and the Geographies of Power. New York: Guilford, 1994. Bush, W. M. 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M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture,7,<http://www.media-culture.org.au/0403/02-feature australia.php>