Placing Colonial Ornithology : Imperial Ambiguities in Upper Canada, 1791- 1841

This paper examines the emergence of colonial ornithology in Upper Canada, 1791-1841, to determine the impact of empire and local contexts on the natural history activity. I argue that colonial ornithology emerged as a by-product of British imperialism that helped to reinforce British, upper- and middle-class, gender-specific white identities through practices of sportsman-hunting, taxidermy, natural theology, and the romantic-aesthetic. However, as this paper reveals, British imperial practices and ideas of ornithology relied on the participation of First Nations and Métis peoples, whose knowledge and skills were instrumental to British naturalists. The First Nations and Métis peoples therefore exerted a real presence in colonial ornithology in Upper Canada—albeit a subservient one in the British ornithological texts—as they positioned themselves as part of the ornithological trade with the collection and trading of specimens. Furthermore, British military officers, settlers, and tourists tapped into American scientific networks and knowledge systems rather than focusing solely on Britain as an imperial centre of accumulation. British imperial ideas and practices of colonial ornithology in Upper Canada therefore remained ambiguous during the early nineteenth century.Cet article examine l’émergence de l’ornithologie coloniale dans le Haut-Canada entre 1791 et 1841 afin de déterminer l’influence des contextes locaux et impériaux sur la pratique de l’histoire naturelle. Je soutiens que l’ornithologie coloniale émerge comme un sous-produit de l’impérialisme britannique et aide ainsi à renforcer les identités blanches, britanniques, et genrées spécifiques aux classes moyennes et élevées par l’entremise de la chasse sportive, de la taxidermie, de la théologie naturelle et de l’esthétique romantique. Toutefois, les pratiques impériales britanniques et les conceptions de l’ornithologie dépendent de la participation des Premières Nations et des métis, dont les connaissances et les habiletés sont instrumentales aux naturalistes britanniques. Les Premières Nations et la population métis exercent donc une présence réelle — bien que subordonnée selon les textes ornithologiques britanniques — dans l’ornithologie coloniale du Haut-Canada, alors qu’elles se situent elles-mêmes comme partie intégrante du commerce ornithologique par la collecte et l’échange de spécimens. De plus, les officiers militaires, colons et voyageurs britanniques intègrent les réseaux scientifiques et les systèmes de connaissances américains au lieu de se concentrer uniquement sur la Grande-Bretagne comme centre impérial d’accumulation. Les idées et les pratiques britanniques impériales en matière d’ornithologie demeurent donc ambiguës au Haut-Canada durant la première partie du 19e siècle

Recreational birdwatching, empire, and gender in southern Ontario, 1791-1886

This thesis addresses the historical and cultural development of the recreational birdwatching in southern Ontario, 1791-1886, and the efforts of empire and gender on birdwatchers’ identities and ideas about birds. By deconstructing recreational ornithological discourse, I suggest that recreational birdwatching reproduced the imposition of British colonial rule in Canada, together with condescension towards aboriginal peoples and non-British immigrants; and the reinforcement of British, middle-class, gendered identities in southern Ontario. This research therefore shows that recreational ornithological texts provide a medium to deconstruct the impact of birdwatching on people’s lives in their gendered approach to the activity

"Swee-ee-et Cán-a-da, Cán-a-da, Cán-a-da": Sensuous Landscapes of Birdwatching in the Eastern Provinces, 1900–1939

Birdwatching emerged as a popular Canadian pastime as rapid industrialization and urbanization encroached on rural and wilderness landscapes at the end of the nineteenth century. This paper analyses birdwatching as a bodily engagement with place and a sensuous transformation of material setting into landscapes of personal and collective identity. Focusing on the development of activities such as Nature Study and "camera hunting," we argue that birds linked people to specific places and that these relationships helped (re)define national identities and landscapes in eastern Canada. In attending to ways in which sensuous experience of birds has been informed by normative and nationalistic discourse, we also begin to trace the imaginative and moral geographies that have "placed" birds in idealized landscapes, protected zones and categories such as "native" and "foreigner." Résumé L'observation des oiseaux est devenue un loisir populaire au Canada lorsque l'industrialisation et l'urbanisation ont empiété sur les campagnes et les paysages inexplorés à la fin du XIXe siècle. Cet article examine ce passe-temps sous l'angle du rapport physique avec un lieu et de la transformation par les sens de cadres matériels en paysages d'identité individuelle et collective. En se concentrant sur l'émer gence d'activités telles que « l'observation de la nature » et « la chasse aux images », les auteures soutiennent que les oiseaux ont relié les gens à des endroits déterminés et que ces liens ont contri bué à (re)définir identités nationales et paysages dans l'Est du Canada. En considérant les façons dont l'expérience sensorielle vécue avec les oiseaux a influencé les discours normatifs et nationalistes, elles relèvent les géographies morales et imaginatives qui ont « placé » les oiseaux dans des paysages idéalisés, des zones protégées et des classifications en oiseaux « indigènes » et « étrangers »

Quantifying Exceptionally Large Populations of \u3ci\u3eAcropora\u3c/i\u3e spp. Corals Off Belize Using Sub-Meter Satellite Imagery Classification

Caribbean coral reefs have experienced dramatic declines in live coral cover in recent decades. Primary branching framework Caribbean corals, Acropora cervicornis (Lamarck, 1816) and Acropora palmata (Lamarck, 1816), have suffered the greatest collapse. Coral Gardens, Belize, is one of few remaining, and perhaps the largest, refugia for abundant, healthy, but undocumented populations of both Acropora species in the Caribbean Sea. In the present study, GeoEye-1 multispectral satellite imagery of a 25 km2 reefal area near Ambergris Caye, Belize, was analyzed to identify live Acropora spp. cover. We used a supervised classification to predict occurrence of areas with live Acropora spp. and to separate them from other benthic cover types, such as sandy bottom, seagrass, and mixed massive coral species. We tested classification accuracy in the field, and new Acropora spp. patches were mapped using differential GPS. Of 11 predicted new areas of Acropora spp., eight were composed of healthy Acropora spp. An unsupervised classification of a red (Band 3):blue (Band 1) ratio calculation of the image successfully separated Acropora corals from other benthic cover, with an overall accuracy of 90%. Our study identified 7.58 ha of reef dominated by Acropora spp. at Coral Gardens, which is one of the largest populations in the Caribbean Sea. We suggest that Coral Gardens may be an important site for the study of modern Acropora spp. resilience. Our technique can be used as an efficient tool for genera-specific identification, monitoring, and conservation of populations of endangered Acropora spp

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Systematic review and metaanalysis of perinatal outcomes after radiofrequency ablation and bipolar cord occlusion in monochorionic pregnancies

The aim of this study was to analyze perinatal outcomes after selective reduction in monochorionic pregnancies with the use of either radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or bipolar cord occlusion (BCO). This was a systematic review and metaanalysis that included all studies with ≥5 cases that described perinatal outcomes after BCO or RFA that were identified in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, COCHRANE, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Science Direct, and MEDLINE that were published between 1965 and July 2014. For count data, incidence risk ratios (IRR; 95% confidence interval [CI]) were calculated with BCO as the reference standard. The analysis included 481 cases of BCO and 320 cases of RFA from 17 studies. The mean median gestations at procedure were 21.1 ± 1.2 weeks (BCO) and 18.8 ± 2.5 weeks (RFA; P =.03). The rate of cotwin death was higher in the RFA group (14.7%) vs the BCO group (10.6%; IRR, 1.38; 95% CI, 0.93-2.05; P =.11). The live birth rate was 81.3% for the RFA group and 86.7% in the BCO group (IRR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.80-1.09; P =.41). BCO had higher neonatal death rates (8.1%) vs RFA (4.5%; IRR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.30-1.04; P =.07). Overall survival was 76.8% for RFA and 79.1% for BCO (IRR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.82-1.14; P =.72); however, none of these differences were statistically significant. Preterm premature rupture of membranes occurred in 17.7% of RFA cases and 28.2% of the BCO cases (IRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.91; P =.01). The mean median gestational age at delivery was 34.7 ± 1.7 weeks in the RFA group and 35.1 ± 1.6 weeks in the BCO group. Our data do not demonstrate clearly the superiority of 1 procedure over the other. The clinical situation and preference of the operator are important considerations. Rates of preterm delivery and preterm premature rupture of membranes remain substantial for both procedures