The media and the coup leader: Sitiveni Rabuka: Fiji Coups Retrospective 1

Brigadier-General Sitiveni Rabuka, the former prime minister of Fiji who gained notoriety for staging twin coups in 1987, has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with the Fiji and Pacific media for almost two decades. University of Canberra PhD student, Anthony Mason, interviewed Rabuka in the course of his research into Australian media coverage of the coups. He also interviewed the former editor of The Fiji Times, Vijendra Kumar. Pacific Journalism Review is publishing the transcripts of these interviews, where both Rabuka and Kumar reflect on the May 1987 coup and its aftermath—helping to put the May 2000 coup into perspective

A High-Resolution Paleoecological Perspective on Temperate Oak Forest Dynamics: Implications for Understanding Contemporary Oak Decline

Recruitment failure of oak (Quercus) during the past century has raised concerns about ongoing changes in temperate forests of the eastern United States. Although the causes of oak decline and the associated forest changes are widely debated, most arguments have focused on the effects of fire suppression or moisture availability. Paleoecological records have provided long-term perspectives on oak forest dynamics, but these pollen and charcoal data are often limited by poor spatial, temporal, or taxonomic resolution. In this study I utilized pollen, charcoal, and plant macrofossils preserved in Turtlehead Rock Bog, a small floating peatland occupying a unique depositional basin in an oak-black birch (Betula lenta) forest in southwestern Pennsylvania to 1) reconstruct the depositional and wetland history of this unusual system, 2) compare the timing of wetland and upland changes with fire history and regional paleoclimate records, 3) develop a high-resolution record of fire and oak forest dynamics, and use these data to discuss oak decline and current management strategies. Results indicate contemporaneous shifts in the arboreal pollen and wetland macrofossil records, along with changes in sediment accumulation rate, soil bulk density, organic matter content, and overall macrofossil preservation, suggesting a climate or disturbance driver for most vegetation changes. From 9000 to 2000 cal yr BP, sandy, charcoal-rich sediment accumulated slowly and preserved evidence of a changing upland forest and fern-dominated wetland. Then a \u3e1000 year depositional hiatus occurred, likely caused by regional aridity. At 800 cal yr BP a sedge marsh occupied the basin, followed by the establishment of a diverse sedge peat mat around 550 cal yr BP, associated with an increase in black birch and likely wetter conditions. Oak (likely Q. prinus and Q. rubra), American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and black birch have dominated the surrounding forest for the past 900 years, while fire occurrence and oak abundance both gradually declined. Comparisons of charcoal accumulation and oak pollen support a historical fire-oak linkage influenced by overall forest composition; however, oak has expanded in the past 75 years during a period of fire suppression. Recent oak recovery at the site may be attributable to a local fire event around 1930 and/or the eradication of American chestnut. Therefore, although prescribed burns likely increase oak recruitment in some forest types, human modifications to the landscape appear to have altered the historical relationship between fire and oak, warranting caution in using prescribed burns to increase oak recruitment on the modern landscape

Evaluation of IRI's seasonal climate forecasts for the extreme 15% tails

This paper evaluates the quality of real-time seasonal probabilistic forecasts of the extreme 15% tails of the climatological distribution of temperature and precipitation issued by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) from 1998 through 2009. IRI’s forecasts have been based largely on a two-tiered multimodel dynamical prediction system. Forecasts of the 15% extremes have been consistent with the corresponding probabilistic forecasts for the standard tercile-based categories; however, nonclimatological forecasts for the extremes have been issued sparingly. Results indicate positive skill in terms of resolution and discrimination for the extremes forecasts, particularly in the tropics. Additionally, with the exception of some overconfidence for extreme above-normal precipitation and a strong cool bias for temperature, reliability analyses suggest generally good calibration. Skills for temperature are generally higher than those for precipitation, due both to correct forecasts of increased probabilities of extremely high (above the upper 15th percentile) temperatures associated with warming trends, and to better discrimination of interannual variability. However, above-normal temperature extremes were substantially underforecast, as noted also for the IRI’s tercile forecasts

Green Building in the Pacific Northwest: Next Steps for an Emerging Trend

This report provides an understanding of why green building is important to our communities, a brief look at the emergence of green building standards, research evidence on the perceived pros and cons of green building, and original research on green building in the Pacific Northwest. The original research is an analysis of perspectives voiced in conversations, focus groups and surveys with both members of the construction industry and local government on the barriers and incentives to green building in their local communities. As nearly 500 construction industry members and just over 300 local governments participated in the research, this report encompasses, perhaps for the fi rst time, one of the largest examinations of the aggregated voices of both the public and private sector on factors that aff ect green building. Green house gas emissions from commercial buildings are growing at a faster than average annual rate – 1.8% higher – than either transportation or residential emission rates. This trend alone provides strong justification to take a close look at the factors that may help change this dynamic

An assessment of chemical contaminants in the marine sediments of southwest Puerto Rico

This report summarizes the results of a characterization of chemical contaminants in the sediments in southwest Puerto Rico. The report is part of a project to integrate various analytical specialties to assess linkages between chemical contaminants and the condition of coral reefs. In this phase of the project, over 120 chemical contaminants were analyzed in sediments collected, including a number of organic (e.g., hydrocarbons), inorganic (e.g., metals), and biological (bacterial) compounds/analytes. The report also provides a preliminary analysis of the association between sediment contaminants and coral species richness. Overall, the levels of chemical contaminants in the study area between Guanica Bay and the town of La Parguera were fairly low. At most of the sites sampled, particularly adjacent to the town of La Parguera, concentrations of organic and inorganic contaminants were below the median values from NOAA’s National Status and Trends Program, which monitors the Nation’s coastal and estuarine waters for chemical contaminants. Elevated levels of a number of contaminant classes were seen at the two sites sampled within Guanica Bay. An initial analysis of modeled PAH (hydrocarbon) data and coral species richness (reef building species) indicated a strong negative correlation between the presence of PAHs in the sediments and coral species richness. Additional work is needed to assess possible reasons for this observed pattern. (PDF contains 126 pages)