Academic literature on the topic 'Mossel Bay Region'

Vyborgsky Sanctuary occupies the coastal zone of the Gulf of Finland and Vyborg Bay, the northern part of the Kiperort Peninsula, Lisy Island and about 40 adjacent small islands. The annotated list of 171 moss species and brief analysis of the moss flora are provided. Aulacomnium androgynum (Hedw.) Schwagr. is included in The Red Data Book of Russia (2008), Ulota drummondii (Hook. et Grev.) Brid. is new for the Leningrad Region and 9 species are protected in the Leningrad Region.

Results of study of rare and protected species of five proposed protected areas of the northwestern Leningrad Region are generalized. The sanctuaries «Salmon Rivers of Vyborg Bay», «Karelian Forest», «Oyayarvi-Ilmenjoki», «Kuznechnoye» and the natural monument «Lakes Anisimovskiye» were explored. The short descriptions of these protected areas are provided. 44 rare and protected in the Leningrad Region species of mosses are listed. Their ecology and distribution are discussed. Their protection status in comparison with adjacent territories (Republic of Karelia and Finland) is provided.

104 moss species were found in the vicinities of Portovaya Bay of the Gulf of Finland. The annotated list of species includes information on habitats, substrate and sporophyte production for every species. The peculiarities of moss flora are considered. One of the recorded species — Aulacomnium androgynum — is rare and protected in Russia.

Some people agreed that trade transaction can give great<br />advantages to develop the region. The transaction should be<br />done properly therefore both of the sides get the benefit. It will<br />be done if we apply the principle of Syari‟ah. Since Islam<br />spread out by the Prophet Muhammad Saw, it is already well<br />organized from the process until the detail things. Trade in<br />Islam will be valid if they fulfilled all the requirements and<br />obedient all the pillars. The problem is mostly happened in<br />khiyar. Most of the people do not understand well what it is<br />and how to apply khiyar itself. They should be already known<br />about it before they want to do the transaction. According to<br />Hadist of Moslem they are not allowed to enter the market if<br />they do not know the rules. By applying Syari‟ah trade<br />transaction hopefully can give calm and pleasure to everyone<br />and the most important thing is get bless from Allah SWT.

Bolshevik Isl. is the one of the largest islands within the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. It is situated in the southern part of the polar desert zone. In the course of three field work trips in 1997, 1998 and 2000 years 252 relevees were made in its southern part on three geomorphologic surfaces: coastal plain, inner upland close to glacier and ancient high river terraces. As the result 27 syntaxonomical units of different rank (15 associations, 2 subassociations, 2 variants, and 8 community types) were described using Braun-Blanquet approach. All syntaxa, except one, are new and mostly similar to communities described on Franz Josef Land. The problems were to put new syntaxa into the higher level units (including class) within the syntaxonomical hierarchy. The main bulk of syntaxa, both zonal and intrazonal ones, has to be preliminary placed into Salicetea herbaceae class although there is a lot of reasons to consider zonal syntaxa as a new class that is specific for the polar desert zone. In any case, there are no one syntaxon that can be referred to Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea class that combines zonal vegetation in the tundra zone. The wide ecological range of great majority of species as well as the changes of their intralandscape distribution compare to the tundra zone made additional difficulties in finding character and differential species. 340 species (vascular plants — 52, mosses — 97, liverworts — 41, lichens — 150), that compiles 73 % of the whole island flora and 84 % of its southern part, were recorded within the all relevees. Almost half of these (182) are very rare on the island and 127 species were met 1—2 times. There are 70 species with wide ecological range throughout all landscape types with such commonly distributed herbs as Saxifraga cernua, S. hyperborea and Stellaria ed­ward­sii, mosses Polytrichastrum alpinum and Sanionia uncinata and lichen Stereocaulon rivulorum among these. Phippsia algida, the character species for snow bed communities, occurs in about 70 % of syntaxa. Useful for differentiation of syntaxa have been appeared 87 species. Few species with wide distribution within a landscape demonstrate their preference to a certain syntaxon by higher abundance (preferential character species). These are mostly bryophytes: mosses Bryum cryophilum and Grimmia torquata, and liver­worts Gymnomitrion corallioides, Marsupella arctica and Scapania crassiretis. Cryptogam species predo­minate in the whole flora as well as in each syntaxon. The number of species varies from 12 to 70 per sample plots 5÷5 m and from 20 to 195 in different syntaxa. The richest in species (70 per community and about 190 for association) are zonal plant communities on the accumulative coastal plain in the region of Sol­nechnaya Bay, the poorest one, with 10 and 20 species consequently, is ass. Hygrohypno polari—Saxifragetosum hyperboreae that was described on the upland, close to glacier in the inner part of island.

In 1842, J.D. Hooker collected a number of mosses on Hermite Island (Cape Horn region). From one of those gatherings, Hooker 141, four species of Ulota have been described: U. luteola, U. fuegiana, U. glabella, and U. eremitensis. The first two species are widely accepted, whereas the identity of the latter two has been recently discussed, and the names are now synonymized under U. fuegiana, the more widely distributed species in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Our studies, based on recent collections of Orthotrichaceae from Patagonia, show that specimens different from those of U. fuegiana and agreeing with the protologues of both U. glabella and U. eremitensis are common in Patagonia. Comparisons with type material of all four names demonstrate that the type for U. glabella is in such bad condition that it cannot be used, and an epitype should be selected. In this paper, we comment on the whereabouts of the collection Hooker 141 and the species described from it, discuss the distinct identity of U. glabella and its relationship with U. eremitensis as well as its differentiation from other species, present a diagnostic description of U. glabella and, finally, select an epitype to fix the application of this name.

Long-term studies of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and organic compounds (OCs)—Corg, lipids, hydrocarbons (aliphatic—AHCs and polycyclic aromatic—PAHs), and chlorophyll a in the snow cover of the Arctic (Franz Victoria Trough, Mendeleev Rise, White Sea) and Antarctica (in the coastal waters on fast ice and on the mainland near Russian stations) were generalized. It was shown that in the Arctic, the influence of continental air masses leads to an increase in OCs in snow. Therefore, despite the fact that the Franz Victoria Trough and the Mendeleev Rise are at the same latitude (82° N), the OCs content in the snow in the region of the Mendeleev Rise was lower for aliphatic hydrocarbons 5 and 14–18 μg/L. In the White Sea, the AHC content in the snow and the upper layers of the ice in the mouth of the Severnaya Dvina River and in the Kandalaksha Bay was higher than that in the lower layers of the ice and sharply decreased with distance from the emission sources. As a result, the snow was supplied mainly by pyrogenic PAHs. In the Antarctica, the lowest OCs levels in atmosphere were found in areas where coastal hills are covered with snow. The maximum SPM and AHCs concentration was found in the sludge (SPM—to 4.37 mg/L, AHC—to 33 μg/L). An increase in the concentration of OCs and SPM in snow sampled on the continent took place in the areas of stations and oases (St. Novolazarevskaya) where the predominance of mineral particles in the SPM was registered. In the area of the operating stations, mainly low molecular weight PAHs with the dominance of petroleum PAHs were found in the SPM of snow and in mosses.

One of the thermokarst relief forms is baidzharakh massif — the group of mounds separated by trenches formed as a result of the underground ice-wedge polygonal networks melting (Fig. 1). Study of baidzharakh vegetation took place on the northeast coast of the Taimyr Peninsula (the Pronchishcheva Bay area) and on the New Siberian Islands (the Kotelny Island) in 1973–1974 (Sumina, 1975, 1976, 1977a, b, 1979 et al.). The aim of this paper is to produce the classification of baidzharakh mound and trenches communities according to the Brown-Blanquet approach (Westhoff, Maarel, 1978) and to compare these data with the community types earlier established on domination principle (Sumina, 1975 et al.). The information obtained in the 1970s could be helpful in a comparative assessment of the thermokarst process dynamics over the past 4 decades, as well as for comparing these processes in other regions of the Arctic. Both studied areas are located in the northern part of the arctic tundra subzone. On the Taimyr Peninsula (and in particular in the Pronchishcheva Bay area) the plakor (zonal) communities belong to the ass. Salici polaris–Hylocomietum alaskani Matveyeva 1998. Our relevés of plakor tundra on the Kotelny Island demonstrate similarity with the zonal communities of the northeast coast of the Taimyr Peninsula (Table 2). Relevés of communities of thermokarst mounds were made within their boundaries, the size of ~ 30 m². In trenches sample plots of the same area had rectangular shape according to trench width. Relevés of plakor tundra were made on 5x6 m plots. There were marked: location in relief, moistening, stand physiognomy, nanorelief, the percent of open ground patches and degree of their overgrowing, total plant cover, that of vascular plants, mosses, and lichens (especially — crustose ons), and cover estimates for each species. The shape of thermokarst mounds depends on the stage of thermodenudation processes. Flat polygons about 0.5 m height with vegetation similar to the plakor tundra are formed at the beginning of ice melting (Fig. 3, a), after which the deformation of the mounds (from eroded flat polygon (Fig. 3, b) to eroded conical mound (Fig. 3, c). Such mounds of maximal height up to 5 m are located on the middle part of steep slopes, where thermodenudation is very active. The last stage of mound destruction is slightly convex mound with a lumpy surface and vegetation, typical to snowbed sites at slope foots (Fig. 3, d, and 5). Both on watersheds and on gentle slopes mounds are not completely destroyed; and on such elongated smooth-conical mounds dense meadow-like vegetation is developed (Fig. 6). On the Kotelny Island thermokarst mounds of all described shapes occur, while in the Pronchishcheva Bay area only flat polygons, eroded flat polygons, and elongated smooth-conical mounds are presented. Under the influence of thermodenudation the plakor (zonal) vegetation is being transformed that allows to consider the most of mound and trench communities as the variants of zonal association. On the base of 63 relevés, made in 14 baidzharakh massifs, 2 variants with 7 subvariants of the ass. Salici polaris–Hylocomietum alaskani Matveyeva 1998 were established, as well as 1 variant of the azonal ass. Poo arcticae– Dupontietum fisheri Matveyeva 1994, which combines the vegetation of wet trenches with dense herbmoss cover. A detailed description of each subvariant is done. All these syntaxa are compared with the types of mound and trenh communities established previously by the domination principle (Sumina, 1975, 1976, 1979 et al.) and with Brown-Blanquet’ syntaxa published by other authors. The Brown-Blanquet approach in compare with domination principle, clearly demonstrates the similarity between zonal and baidzharakh massifs vegetation. Diagnostic species of syntaxa of baidzharakh vegetation by other authors (Matveyeva, 1994; Zanokha, 1995; Kholod, 2007, 2014; Telyatnikov et al., 2017) differ from ours. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that all mentioned researchers worked in another areas, and on the other, with different hierarchial levels of syntaxa, which are subassociations (or vicariants) in cited works or variants and subvariants in the our. Communities of mounds as well as of trenches in different regions have unlike species composition, but similar apearance, which depends on the similarity of the life form composition and community pattern, stage of their transformation and environmental factors. This fact is a base to group communities by physiognomy in order to have an opportunity of comparative analysis of baidzharakh vegetation diversity in different regions of the Arctic. In total, 6 such groups for thermokarst mounds and trenches are proposed: “tundra-like” ― vegetation of flat polygonal mounds (or trenches) is similar to the plakor (zonal) communities; “eroded tundra-like” ― tundra-like vegetation is presented as fragments, open ground occupies the main part of flat polygonal mounds; “eroded mounds with nonassociated vegetation” ― eroded mounds of various shapes up to sharp conical with absent vegetation at the top and slopes, sparse pioneer vascular plants on a bare substrate and crustose lichens and chionophilous grasses at foots; “meadow-like” ― herb stands with a participation of tundra dwarf-shrubs, mosses, and lichens on elongated smooth-conical mounds and in moderately moist trenches; “communities in snowbeds” ― thin plant cover formed by small mosses, liverworts, crustose lichens, and sparse vascular plants in snowbed habitats on destroyed slightly convex mounds with a lumpy surface and in trenches; “communities of cotton grass” or others, depending on the dominant species ― in wet trenches where vegetation is similar to the arctic hypnum bogs with dominant hygrophyte graminoids as Eriophorum scheuchzeri, E. polystachion, Dupontia fischeri et al. This sheme according to physiognomic features of thermokarst mound and trench communities, as a simplier way to assess the current dynamic stage of the baidzharakh massifs, may be useful for monitoring the thermodenudation activity in different areas of the Arctic, particularly in connection with observed climate changes (ACIA, 2004) and a possible dramatic “cascade of their environmental consequences” (Fraser et al., 2018).

By use of a newly developed electronic barostat, we investigated chyme-mediated intestinal regulation of gastric tone in a canine model. In this model the proximal (3 dogs) or distal (3 dogs) small intestine was luminally isolated, maintaining neuromuscular continuity. Gastric tone was measured by recording variations in the volume of air within an intragastric bag that was maintained at a constant pressure (2 mmHg) by the electronic barostat. The isolated intestinal loop was perfused constantly (5 ml/min) with either isotonic saline (control) or with test infusates (osmolality, 300 mosmol/kg; pH 7.4) of carbohydrate (maltose), protein (casein hydrolysate), fat (sodium oleate), or a combination of all three nutrients. The combined nutrient solution, infused into either the proximal or the distal intestine, profoundly inhibited gastric tone. Fat infused into the proximal intestine induced gastric relaxation, whereas protein had only a modest effect and carbohydrate had no effect. In contrast, in the distal intestine carbohydrate and protein markedly reduced gastric tone, whereas fat had no effect. We conclude that nutrients in the small bowel regulate gastric tone by a mechanism that is nutrient and region specific.

The history of the plant cover studies of the Far North in the Komarov Botanical Institute (BIN) and its predecessors dates back to the second third of the XIX century and it is associated with the names of two eminent botanists — A. Schrenk and F. Ruprecht, who in 1837 and 1841 years made their long trips to the north of the European part of Russia. A long break in the study of the Arctic, which came after that, has been resumed within our institute only in the Soviet period. Already before the Great Patriotic war the scientific expeditions were organized both on the European North and on the Asian part of the Arctic up to the eastern borders of the country. In the 1920–1930th the brightest star in the sky of the Russian tundrology – B. N. Gorodkov worked on the vast area fr om the Kola Peninsula up to the Wrangel Island. This vigorous activity resulted in excellent descriptions of plant cover, and the classic, still actively quoted monograph «The vegetation of the tundra zone of the USSR» was published in 1935. In 1930–1931 years a lot of scientists (F. V. Sambuk, A. I. Leskov, K. N. Igoshina, M. N. Avramchik, V. P. Savich, Z. N. Smirnova and others) participated in various botanical expeditions (the Franz Josef Land, the Novaya Zemlya, the Kolguev Isl., the Malozemelskaya tundra, the interior parts of Taymyr Peninsula). The Great Patriotic war had interrupted botanical work in the Arctic. However the numerous expeditions took place as early as in the first post-war years (1946– 1949). At that time, besides mentioned researchers, B. A. Tikhomirov has already participated in these studies. Later (1952) B. A. headed the Sector of North, transformed in 1960 into the Laboratory of the vegetation of Far North. This Laboratory is the exclusive botanical team not only in Russia but throughout the world, which all over its existence was being specialized in comprehensive study of plant cover in the Arctic, coordinating the northern investigations within the whole country. The outstanding achievement, received international recognition, is undoubtedly the multi-volume edition «Arctic Flora of the USSR» (1960–1987), initiated by the eminent botanist A. I. Tolmachev and completed through intense activity by B. A. Yurtsev. This great work, later translated into English, was done during the large-scale floristic studies in different regions of the Asian Arctic fr om the Yamal, Gydan and Taymyr peninsulas in the west to Chukotka in the east. The implementation of annual field work became possible due to the establishment of Polar Expedition, funded by a «separate item» within the budget of the Institute. A period fr om 1966 to 1991 year without exaggeration may be called as «golden age» in the study of vegetation of the Russian Arctic. This was a time when not only numerous research teams carrying out the floristic studies, but up to 3 long-term research stations simultaneously worked in one field season. The durable stationary studies were performed in the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra (Sivaya Maska), on the Taymyr Peninsula (Tareya and Agapa settlements and Ary-Mas forest «island»), Putorana plateau (Kapchuk lake) and Wrangel Island (Somnitelnaya Bay). According to the results of these stationary studies 11 collective Proceedings have been published. Most lasting (1965–1977) and large-scale investigations were biogeocenological studies at the «Tareya» station, wh ere in the period of the International Biological Program the organizational skills by B. A. Tikhomirov collected up to 40 specialists from different branches of biology and ecology. In the years 1972–1991 these works were continued on Taymyr Peninsula at 6 short-term field stations at the latitudinal gradient from southern tundra up to polar deserts, which became the basis for a comprehensive study of zonation display in the living cover. As a result of extensive studies by the method of concrete floras the data on the composition of vascular plants for nearly 170 sites in all latitude-zonal stripes of Asian North from Yamal up to Chukotka has been obtained. At present these data are the fundamental basis for work on the detailed floristic subdivisions that was started by the great trio — B. A. Yurtsev, A. I. Tolmachev and O. V. Rebristaya in their famous paper «Arctic floristic region» (1978). The end of the last and the beginning of this century became a time of summing up the study of arctic flora and vegetation. The checklists of fungi, lichens, mosses and liverworts of Russian Arctic were compiled; the monographs on the vascular flora of Chukotka and Yamal as well as the book on mosses of Chukotka were published. The electronic version of Pan-Arctic flora and the Circumpolar vegetation map of the Arctic were prepared with the active participation of BIN florists and geobotanists. In the last ten years the obvious lack of information on the diversity of plant communities at the vast arctic territory is being compensated by publishing the numerous papers on syntaxonomy. The intensity of field works, declined sharply in the early 1990s, still continues, albeit in smaller scale. For the first time in the history of the study of the Far North nature the recurrent botanical observations were made in few sites wh ere many-sided studies were performed in the past. This allows assessing the dynamics in the flora and vegetation in situ. The changes in plant cover are well recorded by the earth’s surface remote sensing using multispectral satellite imagery. The analysis of image series allows us to monitor changes in intra-landscape vegetation patterns as well as some technological and cryogenic transformations. In the development of the concepts of classical Arctic and Antarctic geobotanical subdivision suggested by V. D. Aleksandrova for higher system units, the work on the designation of the lower units is being intensified presently. An assessment of current environmental safety of Arctic ecosystems in the areas with heavy anthropogenic load caused by oil and gas production will be the most required in the nearest future. However, there are still large areas within the vast Arctic territories wh ere classic fundamental studies are necessary to close the «white spots» in our knowledge of plant cover. The growing geopolitical interest to the Arctic region gives the hope for the revival of full-scale researches, which are impossible without adequate funding. More than one and a half century of brilliant botanical investigations in the Arctic were carried out by our famous predecessors. This fact allows us to look optimistically for the future and expect the growth of the scientific activities in the Far North.

Relations between Israel and the Gulf states are not anything new. In the immediate aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords, both Qatar and Oman established low-level yet open diplomatic ties with Israel. In 2010, Ha'aretz reported that the former Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, was on friendly terms with Shaykh Abdullah bin Zayed, her counterpart from the UAE, despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two states. The shared suspicion towards the regional designs of Iran that undoubtedly underpinned these ties even extended, it was alleged, to a secret dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia, led by the late Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad. Cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia in thwarting Iran's regional ambitions also casts light on Washington's lack of strategic leadership, which had previously been the totem around which Israel and the Gulf states had based regional security strategies. Jones and Guzansky contend that, at the very least, ties between Israel and many of its Gulf counterparts are now more vibrant than hitherto realized. They constitute a tacit security regime which, while based on hard power interests, does not preclude competition in other areas. Ultimately, these relations are helping shape a new regional order in the Middle East.

This chapter compares David Drake to George Moses Horton. Like Dave the Potter, Horton is a once-forgotten African American author who was living and writing in the South during the slave era. Barrett historicizes Horton’s formalism as a poet to reveal the racial and social underpinnings of his aesthetic. The fact that Horton’s poems were regularly commissioned by the slave-owning gentry of his region gives us a comparable model with which to comprehend the unexpected leniency shown Dave the Potter. Beyond the similarities, Barrett traces compelling differences between Horton and Drake, advancing, while also considering the limits of, a comparative approach to Dave the Potter.