Academic literature on the topic 'Western Highlands Province'

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) species of the water beetle genus Hydraena Kugelann, 1794, are revised, based on the study of 7,411 databased specimens. The two previously named species are redescribed, and 130 new species are described. The species are placed in 32 species groups. High resolution digital images of all primary types are presented (online version in color), scanning electron micrographs of representative species are given, and geographic distributions are mapped. Male genitalia, representative female terminal abdominal segments and representative spermathecae are illustrated. Papua New Guinea Hydraena species are typically found in sandy/gravelly stream margins, often in association with streamside litter; some species are primarily pond or swamp dwelling, and a few species are usually found in the hygropetric splash zone on stream boulders or on rocks at the margins of waterfalls. The geographic distributions of PNG Hydraena are compared with the Areas of Freshwater Endemism recently proposed by Polhemus and Allen (2007), and found to substantially support those areas. Only one species, H. impercepta Zwick, 1977 is known to be found in both Australia and Papua New Guinea. The probable Australian origins of the PNG hydraenid genera Gymnochthebius and Limnebius are discussed. The origins of just a few species of PNG Hydraena appear to clearly be Australia, and of comparatively recent origin, whereas the origins of the remainder remain problematic because of lack of knowledge of the Hydraena fauna in Papua Province, Indonesia, and islands large and small to the west of New Guinea. No endemic genera of Hydraenidae are currently known for New Guinea, whereas 98% of the known species are endemic. New species of Hydraena are: H. acumena (Eastern Highlands Province: Koma River, tributary of Fio River), H. adelbertensis (Madang Province: Adelbert Mts., below Keki), H. akameku (Madang Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range), H. altapapua (Southern Highlands Province: Sopulkul, 30–35 km NE Mendi), H. ambra (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. ambripes (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Budemu), H. ambroides (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. apertista (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Lower Naho Valley, Hinggia), H. apexa (Eastern Highlands Province: Okapa), H. aquila (Madang Province: Simbai area), H. aulaarta (Western Highlands Province: Kundum), H. austrobesa (Central Province: nr. Port Moresby, Sogeri Plateau, Musgrave River), H. bacchusi (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. balkei (Eastern Highlands Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range), H. bicarinova (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. bifunda (Morobe Province: c. 7 mi. Lae–Bulolo road), H. biundulata (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road), H. brahman (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, 4.5 km N Brahman), H. bubulla (Madang Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range), H. buloba (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. buquintana (Western Highlands Province: Mt. Hagen town area), H. carinocisiva (Eastern Highlands Province: Aiyura), H. carmellita (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. cavifrons (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, 4.5 km N Brahman), H. cheesmanae (Central Province: Kokoda), H. clarinis (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. colorata (Morobe Province: 5 miles W of Lae, Buins Creek), H. confluenta (Eastern Highlands Province: Umg. [=environs of] Kainantu, Onerunka), H. copulata (Gulf Province: Marawaka, Mala), H. cunicula (Madang Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range), H. decepta (Eastern Highlands Province: Okapa), H. diadema (Eastern Highlands Province: Purosa Valley, nr. Okapa), H. dudgeoni (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. einsteini (Central Province: Port Moresby–Brown River road), H. essentia (Eastern Highlands Province: Sepik River Basin, stream beside milestone labelled G-99), H. exhalista (Gulf Province: Marawaka, Mala), H. fasciata (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. fascinata (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, nr. Moro), H. fasciolata (Madang Province: Madang, Ohu Village), H. fasciopaca (Madang Province: Keki, Adelbert Mts.), H. fenestella (Morobe Province: Lae-Bulolo road), H. foliobba (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. formosopala (East Sepik Province: Prince Alexander Mts., Wewak), H. funda (Central Province: Moitaka, 7 miles N of Port Moresby), H. fundacta (Madang Province: Adelbert Mts., Sewan–Keki), H. fundapta (Central Province: Port Moresby–Brown River road), H. fundarca (Eastern Highlands Province: Okapa), H. fundextra (Morobe Province: Markham Valley, Gusap), H. galea (Eastern Highlands Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range, 700 m), H. herzogestella (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Bundun), H. hornabrooki (East Sepik Province: Sepik, main river), H. huonica (Madang Province: Kewensa, Finisterre Range, Yupna, Huon Peninsula), H. ibalimi (Sandaun Province: Mianmin), H. idema (Eastern Highlands Province: Umg. [=environs of] Onerunka, Ramu River), H. impala (Central Province: nr. Port Moresby, Sogeri Plateau, Musgrave River), H. incisiva (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. incista (Western Highlands Province: Simbai, Kairong River), H. infoveola (Gulf Province: Marawaka, Mala), H. inhalista (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. inplacopaca (Eastern Highlands Province: Waisa, nr. Okapa), H. insandalia (Eastern Highlands Province: Headwaters of Fio River, 0.5 km downstream of river crossing on Herowana/Oke Lookout path, ca. 4.5 km N of Herowana airstrip), H. intensa (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road), H. johncoltranei (National Capital District, Varirata NP), H. jubilata (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Budemu), H. koje (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. koma (Eastern Highlands Province: Koma River, tributary of Fio River, 100 m downstream of rattan bridge crossing, ca. 3.8 km S by E of Herowana airstrip), H. labropaca (Central Province: nr. Port Moresby, Sogeri Plateau, Musgrave River), H. lassulipes (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. limbobesa (Gulf Province: Marawaka, near Ande), H. maculopala (Madang Province: Madang, Ohu Village), H. manulea (Morobe Province: Lae, Buins Creek), H. manuloides (Central Province: Port Moresby–Brown River road), H. marawaka (Gulf Province: Marawaka, Mala), H. mercuriala (Sandaun Province: May River), H. mianminica (Sandaun Province:May River), H. nanocolorata (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. nanopala (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. nitidimenta (Eastern Highlands Province: Koma River, tributary of Fio River, at rattan bridge crossing, ca. 2.6 km N by W of Herowana airstrip), H. okapa (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. ollopa (Western Highlands Province: Kundum), H. otiarca (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau, Snake River), H. owenobesa (Morobe Province: ca. 10 km S Garaina Saureri), H. pacificica (Morobe Province: Huon Pen., Kwapsanek), H. pala (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road, Gurakor Creek), H. palamita (Central Province: nr. Port Moresby, Sogeri Plateau, Musgrave River), H. paxillipes (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road, Patep Creek), H. pectenata (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. pegopyga (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, 3 km N Brahman), H. penultimata (Sandaun Province: May River), H. perpunctata (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. pertransversa (Eastern Highlands Province: Clear stream, summit of Kassem Pass at forest level), H. phainops (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road, Patep Creek), H. photogenica (Eastern Highlands Province: Goroka, Mt. Gahavisuka), H. picula (Eastern Highlands Province: Goroka, Daulo Pass), H. pilulambra (Eastern Highlands Province: Clear stream, summit of Kassem Pass at forest level), H. pluralticola (Morobe Province: c. 7 miles Lae–Bulolo road), H. processa (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. quadriplumipes (Madang Province: Aiome area), H. quintana (Morobe Province: Markham Valley, Lae–Kainantu road, Erap R), H. ramuensis (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, 6 km N Brahman), H. ramuquintana (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, 6 km N Brahman), H. receptiva (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road), H. remulipes (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. reticulobesa (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Moro), H. sagatai (Sandaun Province: Abau River), H. saluta (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. sepikramuensis (Madang Province: Ramu Valley, Sare River, 4 km N Brahman), H. sexarcuata (Eastern Highlands Province: Akameku–Brahmin, Bismarck Range), H. sexsuprema (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. spinobesa (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Budemu), H. striolata (Oro Province: Northern District, Tanbugal Afore village), H. supersexa (Eastern Highlands Province: Okapa), H. supina (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. tarsotricha (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau, Snake River), H. tetana (Eastern Highlands Province: Okapa), H. thola (Central Province: Port Moresby– Brown River road), H. tholasoris (Morobe Province: Markham Valley, Gusap, c. 90 miles NW of Lae), H. thumbelina (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. thumbelipes (Sandaun Province: Mianmin), H. tibiopaca (Morobe Province: ridge between Aseki–Menyamya), H. torosopala (Madang Province: Keki, Adelbert Mts.), H. torricellica (Morobe Province: Torricelli Mts., village below Sibilanga Stn.), H. transvallis (Madang Province: Finisterre Mts., Naho River Valley, Damanti), H. trichotarsa (Morobe Province: Lae–Bulolo road), H. tricosipes (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. tritropis (Madang Province: Sepik Ramu Basin, Kojé Creek), H. tritutela (Morobe Province: ca. 10 km S Garaina Saureri), H. ulna (Morobe Province: Herzog Mts., Wagau), H. variopaca (Eastern Highlands Province: Wanitabi Valley, nr. Okapa), H. velvetina (Eastern Highlands Province: Purosa Valley, nr. Okapa).

This ecological survey carried out along the Highlands Highway (71 locations-bridges) between Erap Bridge in Morobe Province to Whagi Bridge, Western Highlands Province. Data and information collection involved physical site observations and informant interviews. The survey used the capture-release method for insects, invertebrates, fish, and plankton; flyover counts were used for birds and informant interviews for mammals and other animals of interest. Terrestrial ecosystem: Common fauna included invertebrates such as Eurema hecabe, Danaus plexippus, Plutella xylostella, and other types of butterflies, Anisoptera, Apis cerena, and black ants (Fomicidae). Vertebrates such as sparrows (Passeridae), willy wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), eagle (Hieraaetus weiskei), kingfisher (Alcedinidae), mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae), tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) and Princess Stephanie’s Astrapia (Astrapia. Stephaniae). Flora across the highlands province commonly appeared bamboo, casuarina oligodon (she-oak), Ficus dammaropsis, coffee, elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), cow grass (Axonopus compressus), rain tree (Samanea saman), Piper adancum and banana. In contrast, common and significant flora along plain region included casuarina, pine, leucaena, bamboo, and other anthropogenic grasses, Piper adancum, sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Northofagus grandis, and Ficus. Aquatic ecosystem: Aquatic fauna along the highlands region included carp (Cyprinidae), tilapia (Oreochromis mossambica), juvenile fish, freshwater prawns (Palaemonidae), trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and catfish (Arius spp) while aquatic fauna of coastal province comprised of invertebrates like pond skaters, water beetle and tadpoles and invertebrates such as rainbow trout and tilapia. Aquatic flora was limited to green algae at a few locations in the highlands provinces where the water was stagnant or had human impacts, but it was primarily green and brown algae in the plain area. We also found Dendrolagus goodfellowii as an endangered species, while Phalanger carmelitae, Astrapia stephaniae, and Northofagus grandis are endemic but classified as the least concern. The findings indicated modification of habitats throughout the Highlands Highway. The absence of native and endemic species was also noted in most of the locations. Only six sites revealed some primary and secondary forests and vegetation.

We describe a new species of New Guinea Worm-Eating Snake (Elapidae: Toxicocalamus) from a specimen in the reptile collection of the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery. Toxicocalamus longhagensp. nov. can be easily distinguished from other species of this genus by the presence of paired subcaudals, a preocular scale unfused from the prefrontal scale, a prefrontal distinct from the internasal scale that contacts the supralabials, a single large posterior temporal and two postocular scales. The new taxon is currently known only from one specimen, which was collected from Mt. Hagen Town in Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea in 1967. The new species was originally identified as T. loriae, but the unique head scalation and postfrontal bone morphology revealed through micro-computed tomography scanning easily distinguish the new species from T. loriaesensu stricto. This is the first species of this genus described from Western Highlands Province.

Lizards of the genus Dendragama are endemic to the highland cloud forests of Sumatra’s Barisan Mountain Range in western Indonesia, and recent studies have uncovered widespread diversity within the genus. Here, a suite of morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA are used to compare three geographically isolated populations of D. boulengeri from (1) Mount Kerinci in Jambi province, (2) Mount Marapi of west Sumatra, and (3) the Karo Highlands of north Sumatra. Additional phylogeographic analyses with two recently described sister species, D. australis and D. dioidema were conducted. Five genetically distinct clades of Dendragama, all distributed allopatrically of one another were identified and some are suspected to inhabit small distributions. Morphological and genetic data confirm the Karo Highlands population D. schneideri (previously Acanthosaura schneideri Ahl, 1926) should be revalidated from the synonymy of D. boulengeri. Dendragama schneideri is endemic to montane forests of the Karo Highlands surrounding Lake Toba in Sumatra Utara province. Pairwise genetic distances of 6–11% separate D. schneideri from congeners. Two distinct clades of D. boulengeri from Mount Kerinci and Mount Marapi were identified, which are 5.0% genetically distant from one another. Using morphological characters, we provide the first key for distinguishing between species of Dendragama. Based on biogeographic patterns and levels of genetic variation it is suspected that at least 18 other isolated cloud forest locations may hold new species or divergent populations of Dendragama but lack survey work. Collectively, these comparisons among populations of montane lizards further elucidate the complex biogeographic history of Sumatra’s montane forest species and the first phylogeny of the genus Dendragama.

Myrsine exquisitorum Utteridge & Lepschi (Primulaceae-Myrsinoideae) is described and illustrated as a new species endemic to the Western Highlands Province from Papua New Guinea. The new species is unique in the relatively large, almost orbicular leaves with entire margins, and the tetramerous flowers arranged in axillary fascicles without forming short shoots.

A new species of the genus Lasianobia Hampson, 1905, Lasianobia nainysi Saldaitis, Volynkin & Zahiri, sp. nov. is described from highlands of western Sichuan Province of China. The new species is closely related to Lasianobia albilinea (Draudt, 1950). Adults, male and female genitalia as well as DNA barcode data of the new and related species are presented.

With the observation data of the whole year from November 2012 to October 2013 and results of numerical simulation, we do some research on the wind energy resources of Henan Province. Variation of wind energy resources is generally better in winter and spring, poor in summer and autumn. Diurnal variation of wind resources across different, but most good wind resource areas are located at higher elevations, and wind resource is generally better at daytime than night. Wind resources of Henan province is relatively limited, which can be technology developed are located in hills area and the mountain highlands of northern, central, western and southern part. Better resources are mainly located on hilltop and ridge.

In the highlands of Papua New Guinea, rain-fed subsistence farming has been the main source of food and small cash earnings for the majority of the rural population. Consequently, as a result of elongated period of drought, reduction in food and water supply bring forth starvation / malnutrition led sickness and death, especially when authorities fail to intervene because inaccessibility and remoteness of the highly dissected terrain, as a result relief and basic services don’t reach the hungry mouth on time. Such conditions were reported recently in many parts of Papua New Guinea especially prevalent in coastal regions and uplands of the highlands region. In this study, GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) technology were employed in highlighting and demarcating potential drought risk zones in Western Highlands Province. Basically, several environmental factors like; soil types, NDVI, rainfall, terrain, population demography and surface temperature were prepared and integrated in GIS environment through multi-criteria evaluation techniques where risk areas were identified. The final output generated from factors integration were then assessed and reclassified to indicate levels of drought risk zones from Low, Medium and High. Hence, several built-up areas where then marked on each risk zones in an attempt to highlight the location, distribution and accessibility in respect to the risk areas identified.

Climate is a fundamental and independent variable of human existence. Given that 50 percent of the Earth’s surface and much of its population exist between 30oN and 30oS, paleoenvironmental research in the Earth’s tropical regions is vital to our understanding of the world’s current and past climate change. Most of the solar energy that drives the climate system is absorbed in these regions. Paleoclimate records reveal that tropical processes, such as variations in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), have affected the climate over much of the planet. Climatic variations, particularly in precipitation and temperature, play a critical role in the adaptations of agrarian cultures located in zones of environmental sensitivity, such as those of the coastal deserts, highlands, and altiplano of the Andean region. Paleoclimate records from the Quelccaya ice cap (5670 masl) in highland Peru that extend back ~1800 years show good correlation between precipitation and the rise and fall of pre-Hispanic civilizations in western Peru and Bolivia. Sediment cores extracted from Lake Titicaca provide independent evidence of this correspondence with particular reference to the history of the pre-Hispanic Tiwanaku state centered in the Andean altiplano. Here we explore, in particular, the impacts of climate change on the development and ultimate dissolution of this altiplano state.

This article presents data on the Iron Age of eastern Anatolia. The roughly 900 years embraced by the Iron Age marked a period of radical political transformations shaped first and foremost by the rise and fall of empires. How Urartu emerged in the ninth century BCE is a question whose answer lies most immediately in the opening centuries of the Iron Age. Currently, the very roughest outlines of two different scenarios exist. In the western Armenian plateau, relatively flat settlement hierarchies (compared to the preceding Late Bronze Age) and undifferentiated built spaces in what appear to be village-like constructions at key sites in the Euphrates basin provide few clues for precursors to the kinds of consolidated political institutions that came to reproduce Urartian hegemony. At the other end of the highlands, however, especially in southern Caucasia but perhaps also further west, a political tradition characterized by imposing fortresses continued from the Late Bronze Age, potentially signaling the earliest foundations of Urartu's archipelagic fortress polity. These scenarios invite a two-pronged inquiry into the Iron 1 period focused both on the production of power and authority by an emergent political élite, perched within the stone citadels of the highland mountains, and on the constitution of social difference through routine practices among the region's subject communities.

The Blue Mountains domain is mostly in northeastern Oregon. It is the name that we and others (Orr and Orr 1996) have adopted for the Central Highlands subprovince of the Columbia Intermountain province (Freeman et al. 1945). Small areas of Blue Mountains ultramafic rocks are exposed in an arcuate trend from central Oregon through northeastern Oregon into western Idaho. They are in the Baker and Wallowa terranes (Vallier and Brooks 1995). These terranes with the ultramafic rocks are covered or surrounded by Tertiary volcanic flows, largely Columbia River basalt. The ultramafic rocks are exposed in the Canyon Mountain and Sparta complexes and in smaller areas from the edge of the Idaho Batholith near Riggins in Idaho south–southwest across northeastern Oregon to the Aldrich Mountains south of Dayville. The Snake River has cut a deep gorge through the Blue Mountains domain. At Hells Canyon it is >2000 m deep. Strawberry Mountain southeast of John Day rises to 2755 m. Ultramafic rocks are exposed from about 975 m at the foot of the Strawberry Range, near Canyon City, to 2243 m on Baldy Mountain in the Strawberry Range and a bit higher on Vinegar Hill, which is about 45 km northeast of the Strawberry Range, although the summit of Vinegar Hill (2478 m above sea level) is not composed of ultramafic rocks. Summers are hot and dry and winters are cold, with snow that persists through winters at the higher elevations. Mean annual temperatures are mostly in the 3°C–9oC range, and mean annual precipitation ranges from 25 to 100 cm. The frost-free period is about 150 days at lower elevations and <60 days at higher elevations. The ultramafic rocks were exposed by late Tertiary uplift and erosion of the overlying volcanic sequence. The older rocks are composed of a volcanic island arc complex that contains marine sediments interlayered with mafic volcanic flows. Deep erosion of this area has exposed the roots of the volcanic arc. The roots contain gabbro and peridotite–serpentine at their lowest levels. Seven-thousand-year-old volcanic ash from Mt.

The 4800 km Mekong (known as the Lan Tsan Chiang or Lancang in its upper reaches in Yunnan Province, China) rises at 5100 m elevation on the eastern edge of the Tibetan (Xizang) Plateau where the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) and Salween also rise. With a drainage basin covering 795 000 km2, the river ranks as the ninth largest and twelfth longest in the world and discharges some 475 billion m3 of water to the South China Sea annually. The mean annual flow at Kratié in Cambodia (where the catchment area upstream is 646 000 km2) is 14 700 m3 s−1 with a maximum of 67 000 m3 s−1 and a minimum of 1250 m3 s−1 (Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin 1966; Volker 1983). The river flows from the Tibetan Himalayas southward through China receiving tributaries from a small part of Myanmar. The drainage basin also encompasses nearly all of Lao PDR, northeast Thailand, most of Cambodia, and part of the Central Highland and the delta of south Viet Nam. In the heart of Cambodia, where the river is joined by the Tonlé Sap or Great Lake River, it rises from 1 or 2 m above sea level in May to 8 or 10 m above sea level in August. The Mekong Basin embraces some of the most diverse scenery in the world, with landforms ranging from deep gorges, to spectacular karst features, great lakes, and a huge delta. These varied landscapes support one of the most biologically diverse river systems in the world, surpassed only by the Amazon and possibly the Nile. The high biodiversity varies greatly across the following distinct landform and biogeographic provinces: 1. the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (here termed the Chinese upper reaches); 2. the highlands of Myanmar, northern Thailand, and the northern Lao PDR; 3. the Annamite Mountains of eastern Lao PDR and western Viet Nam; 4. the plains around the central Mekong in Lao PDR, Thailand, and Cambodia; 5. the Tonlé Sap Basin; 6. the Mekong Delta and coastal mangroves (MacKinnon and MacKinnon 1986).

Far western highland Mexico may provide the earliest evidence for the disruptions that emerged further to the east, during the Epiclassic. The distinctive Teuchitlán culture of the Late Formative and Early-Middle Classic was replaced with strikingly different architectural traditions, burial patterns, and ceramics (the El Grillo complex) with apparent origins to the east. I reconsider this material in light of proposals as to how community and identity are reestablished or reorganized after migration. The area remained politically fragmented at the time of the Conquest, and no language ever came to be associated with greater prestige as Nahuatl did in Central Mexico.

ABSTRACT Forty-three new U-Pb zircon ages from metasedimentary and igneous rock units throughout the Cobequid Highlands of northern mainland Nova Scotia, Canada, provide new insights into the Neoproterozoic evolution of this long-enigmatic part of Avalonia in the northern Appalachian orogen. Contrasts in ages and rock types resulted in the identification of fault-bounded Neoproterozoic assemblages of units forming the Bass River, Jeffers, and Mount Ephraim blocks. In the Bass River block, quartzite, metawacke, and minor calc-silicate rocks and marble (Gamble Brook Formation) with a maximum depositional age of 945 ± 12 Ma are associated with subaqueous mafic volcanic rocks, siltstone, and ironstone (Folly River Formation) and intruded by 615–600 Ma calc-alkalic subduction-related dioritic to granitic rocks of the Bass River plutonic suite. The contrasting Jeffers block forms most of the Cobequid Highlands and consists mainly of intermediate to felsic volcanic, epiclastic, and minor plutonic rocks. The western and eastern areas of that block yielded ages mainly ca. 607–592 Ma for both volcanic and plutonic rocks, whereas the central area has ages of ca. 630–625 Ma from both volcanic and plutonic rocks and inheritance in overlying Devonian conglomerate. The Mount Ephraim block forms the eastern part of the highlands and includes possible ca. 800 Ma quartzofeldspathic, semipelitic and pelitic gneiss and schist of the Mount Thom Formation, ca. 752 Ma volcanic arc rocks of the Dalhousie Mountain Formation and related 752–730 Ma gabbroic/dioritic to granitic plutons of the Mount Ephraim plutonic suite and Six Mile Brook pluton, as well as ca. 631 Ma granitoid rocks of the Gunshot Brook pluton. The pre–750 Ma high-grade regional metamorphism and deformation and 752–730 Ma subduction-related magmatism recorded in the Mount Ephraim block were previously unrecognized in Avalonia. Evidence from zircon inheritance and Sm-Nd isotopic data in igneous units suggests linkages among these now-separate areas, and comparison with other parts of Avalonia in the northern Appalachian orogen suggests similarity to southeastern New England.

There are large climatic differences among the boreal regions of the world. The extreme continental climates of central Siberia, with a mean annual temperature of –11°C or colder and precipitation of only 150 mm, for example, contrasts strikingly with the semicoastal climate of Newfoundland, with a mean annual temperature of +5°C and precipitation of 1400 mm. Yet both are considered boreal. This wide range in mean annual temperatures translates into large variation in the soil thermal conditions. Although much of the northern region of the boreal forest is underlain by continuous and discontinuous permafrost, southern regions are entirely permafrost-free. Boreal Canada has been classified into four major ecoclimatic provinces (Ecoregions Working Group 1989). The Subarctic Ecoclimatic Province extends from treeline in northern Canada south to the border with continuous stands of closed spruce. It ranges from the highly continental areas of northern Yukon Territory to the wetter and somewhat warmer regions of the Labrador Peninsula. The Boreal Ecoclimatic Province includes the main body of the boreal forests of Canada from the Mackenzie River east to Newfoundland. It is a complicated province that has been divided into High, Mid-, and Low Boreal, with a wide range of climate conditions. The Subarctic Cordilleran Ecoclimatic Province occurs only at higher elevations in western Canada. Forested areas in this region are usually restricted to valley bottoms or low, south-facing slopes. The Cordilleran Ecoclimatic Province includes the mountain ranges along the west coast and the continental divide from Montana to Alaska and from the Yukon River south to the boundary with the coastal forests. The boreal portion of this province has climates similar to that of the eastern section of the Interior Highland Ecoregion of Alaska (Fig. 2.3, Gallant et al. 1995). Alaska does not fit well into these Canadian ecoclimatic provinces because of differences in elevation, the effects of the two east-west-oriented mountain ranges (the Alaska and Brooks Ranges), and the coastal influences of the Bering Sea to the west and Cook Inlet to the south (Fig. 1.1; Hopkins 1959, Hare and Ritchie 1972). Hammond and Yarie (1996) separated Alaska into 35 ecoclimatic regions, of which nine include areas of boreal forest.

The stratal architecture of the upper Ely Limestone and Mormon Gap Formation (Pennsylvanian–Lower Permian) in west-central Utah reflects the interaction of icehouse sea-level change and tectonic activity in the distal Antler–Sonoma foreland basin. Nineteen stratigraphic sections correlated by physical and biostratigraphic means provide a basis for tracing Carboniferous–Permian boundary strata over a north–south distance of 60 km. These formations can be subdivided into 14 unconformity-bounded, third-order depositional sequences of differing internal architecture and regional extent. Conodonts and fusulinids provide ages for selected sequences and parasequences, permitting correlation with tectonostratigraphic units in the proximal foreland in north-central Nevada and with selected Midcontinent cyclothems. The 14 third-order sequences stack into three second-order supersequences characterized by distinctive differences in facies and facies stacking patterns, regional continuity of cycles, relative abundance of dolomite and limestone, calculated rock accumulation rates, and the frequency and inferred duration of sequence-bounding hiatuses. These reflect the effect of high-frequency sea-level change on an intermittently subsiding distal foreland shelf. Sediment accommodation was relatively high during the Bashkirian through middle Moscovian (upper part of Lower Absaroka I supersequence) and again during the late Sakmarian and Artinskian (lower part of Lower Absaroka III supersequence) as a function of continuous subsidence and high-amplitude sea-level change. During the late Moscovian through upper Sakmarian (Lower Absaroka II supersequence), however, subsidence slowed or ceased in response to tectonic activity in north-central Nevada, with concomitant development of the West-Central Utah Highlands (forebulge). During this episode of reduced subsidence, intermittent sedimentation was driven by second- and third-order eustatic fluctuations in sea level. Constituent strata form a wedge of onlapping, northward-thinning sequences and parasequences deposited during selected third-order highstands of the Lower Absaroka II second-order sea-level event. Depositional sequences in the distal foreland are bounded by low-relief disconformities of variable duration, in contrast to the angular unconformities and intensely deformed tectonostratigraphic domains that characterize the proximal foreland basin in north-central Nevada.

This chapter examines animal use among pre-Hispanic Mixtec-speaking peoples in western Oaxaca, Mexico. We focus on animals not only as impor- tant dietary resources but also discuss their use in craft activities, household economies, and ritual practices. Dogs, in particular, are an important com- ponent of Mixtec animal-based diet and religious life. We begin by present- ing new data from recent investigations at the Early and Middle Formative archaeological site of Tayata, a large pre-urban center in the mountainous Mixteca Alta region. Excavations of several households provide new in- sights on early village economies in the highlands. We then briefly discuss animal remains from a segregated area of public buildings and ritual spaces used briefly during the Early Classic period. Tayata’s zooarchaeological as- semblage is unique in that it is the only large and well-preserved collection of animal remains analyzed to date in the Mixteca. Lacking comparative data in the immediate vicinity of Tayata, we turn to previous zooarchaeo- logical research in the Valley of Oaxaca to help us better interpret our find- ings and contextualize them within broader, regional patterns of animal use.

In this chapter, we will attempt to address several interrelated questions about species and species formation. First we ask what, if anything, is a species? As we shall see, while most scientists are happy to agree on the essentials, the answer to this question is far from straightforward. We then briefly discuss the range of ways new species can evolve, and provide evidence for these different pathways. Finally, following from our opening quotations, we ask a somewhat more abstract and philosophical question that brings together many of the separate threads we have introduced: why is life not composed of a single species? . . . What is a species? . . . The classification of organisms into species is so familiar that it is easy to accept without much critical thought. On reading ‘Tiger, tiger burning bright’, or headlines such as ‘Man bites Dog’, we have no problem envisaging who the main protagonists are. Mention a tiger, and one immediately thinks of a large cat with stripes. To most people, species are simply a collection of organisms with a given set of physical traits. All classification systems include elements of personal preference as to how one chooses to classify any group of objects (e.g. by shape, size, or colour). However, there is evidence that ‘species’ represent categories that are more consistent between observers than the various ways of sorting out one’s stamp collection. The Fore, a highland people of New Guinea, are perhaps best known in the western world for the devastating prion-based disease ‘Kuru’ that afflicted their population as a result of ritualized consumption of dead family members. However, the people have close links to their natural environment and a remarkably detailed system of classifying the larger animals they see around them. In an early study to test the degree to which species assignations are consistent among peoples with different backgrounds, Jared Diamond compared the Fore nomenclature with that developed by European taxonomists. Birds found regularly in the Fore territory were divided by the Fore into 110 distinct types, and by zoologists into 120 types, with an almost exact one-to-one correspondence between Fore ‘species’ and taxonomists’ ‘species’.