Long-term hurricane damage effects on tropical forest tree growth and mortality

Hurricane winds can have large impacts on forest structure and dynamics. To date, most evaluations of hurricane impacts have focused on short-term responses after a hurricane, often lacked pre-hurricane measurements, and missed responses occurring over longer time scales. Here, we use a long-term data set (1974-2009, 35 years) of tree stems ( >3 cm in diameter at 1.3 m aboveground) in four sites (0.35 ha in total) in montane rain forest (∼1600 m elevation) in Jamaica to investigate the patterns of crown damage in individual stems by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, and how subsequent growth and mortality were affected by hurricane damage, sprouting, and the incidence of multiple stems. Topographical position on a mountain ridge was the best predictor of crown damage, followed by crown size and species identity. The average diameter growth rate of stems that survived the hurricane was greater than that pre-hurricane for the whole 21-yr post-hurricane period. Growth rates of stems with damaged crowns increased less than those with undamaged crowns; differences in growth rate between damaged and undamaged trees disappeared after 11 years. Hurricanedamaged stems had two to eight times higher mortality than undamaged stems for 19 years post hurricane. Many stems sprouted shortly after the hurricane, but few sprouts managed to establish (grow to >3 cm diameter at breast height). However, sprouting and multi-stemming were associated with reduced mortality rate, particularly in damaged trees. From an initial population of 1670 stems in 1974, 54% were still alive in 2009 (21 years after the hurricane). We conclude that despite the high frequency of hurricane damage to tree crowns and the subsequent increased mortality rate in this hurricane-prone tropical montane forest, many stems will be hit and recover from several hurricanes in their lifetimePeer reviewe

Young people, crime and school exclusion: a case of some surprises

During the 1990s the number of young people being permanently excluded from schools in England and Wales increased dramatically from 2,910 (1990/91) to a peak of 12,700 (1996/97). Coinciding with this rise was a resurgence of the debate centring on lawless and delinquent youth. With the publication of Young People and Crime (Graham and Bowling 1995) and Misspent Youth (Audit Commission 1996) the 'common sense assumption' that exclusion from school inexorably promoted crime received wide support, with the school excludee portrayed as another latter day 'folk devil'. This article explores the link between school exclusion and juvenile crime, and offers some key findings from a research study undertaken with 56 young people who had experience of being excluded from school. Self-report interview questions reveal that whilst 40 of the young people had offended, 90% (36) reported that the onset of their offending commenced prior to their first exclusion. Moreover, 50 (89.2% of the total number of young people in the sample), stated that they were no more likely to offend subsequent to being excluded and 31 (55.4%) stated that they were less likely to offend during their exclusion period. Often, this was because on being excluded, they were 'grounded' by their parents

Using oral history to investigate police culture

This article focuses upon the use of oral history methodology in relation to studying the work of the police and, particularly, the culture or cultures of the police. An overview of oral history is followed by a discussion of the application of such techniques to investigating police work. This, in turn, is followed by an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of such methodological techniques when used in a piece of research which investigated the culture of the Metropolitan Police Force between the 1930s and 1960s