Potential of Svalbard reindeer winter droppings for emission/absorption of methane and nitrous oxide during summer

Droppings of Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) could affect the carbon and nitrogen cycles in tundra ecosystems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of reindeer droppings originating from the winter diet for emission and/or absorption of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in summer. An incubation experiment was conducted over 14 days using reindeer droppings and mineral subsoil collected from a mound near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, to determine the potential exchanges of CH4 and N2O for combinations of two factors, reindeer droppings (presence or absence) and soil moisture (dry, moderate, or wet). A line transect survey was conducted to determine the distribution density of winter droppings at the study site. The incubation experiment showed a weak absorption of CH4 and a weak emission of N2O. Reindeer droppings originating from the winter diet had a negligible effect on the exchange fluxes of both CH4 and N2O. Although the presence of droppings resulted in a short-lasting increase in N2O emissions on day 1 (24 h from the start) for moderate and wet conditions, the emission rates were still very small, up to 3 μg N2O m−2 h−1

Integrating field and satellite data for spatially explicit inference on the density of threatened arboreal primates

Spatially explicit models of animal abundance are a critical tool to inform conservation planning and management. However, they require the availability of spatially diffuse environmental predictors of abundance, which may be challenging, especially in complex and heterogeneous habitats. This is particularly the case for tropical mammals, such as nonhuman primates, that depend on multi-layered and species-rich tree canopy coverage, which is usually measured through a limited sample of ground plots. We developed an approach that calibrates remote-sensing imagery to ground measurements of tree density to derive basal area, in turn used as a predictor of primate density based on published models. We applied generalized linear models (GLM) to relate 9.8-ha ground samples of tree basal area to various metrics extracted from Landsat 8 imagery. We tested the potential of this approach for spatial inference of animal density by comparing the density predictions for an endangered colobus monkey, to previous estimates from field transect counts, measured basal area, and other predictors of abundance. The best GLM had high accuracy and showed no significant difference between predicted and observed values of basal area. Our species distribution model yielded predicted primate densities that matched those based on field measurements. Results show the potential of using open-access and global remote-sensing data to derive an important predictor of animal abundance in tropical forests and in turn to make spatially explicit inference on animal density. This approach has important, inherent applications as it greatly magnifies the relevance of abundance modeling for informing conservation. This is especially true for threatened species living in heterogeneous habitats where spatial patterns of abundance, in relation to habitat and/or human disturbance factors, are often complex and, management decisions, such as improving forest protection, may need to be focused on priority areas

Indian Education in Louisa May Alcott's Little Men : Motives for Depicting an Indian in Children's Literature

In the last chapter of Little Women, or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868-69) Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) announces that there is a quadroon student in Jo (Josephine) Bhaer's and her husband's school which is called "Bhaer Garten." However, in Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out (1871), a sequel to the novel, she abruptly changes the nonwhite student from a quadroon to an Indian-like boy, Dan. The second aspect of the novel's queerness is that Alcott reveals that Bhaer Garten is modeled on Temple School run by her father, the so-called educational philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), but she changes the day school system of his school into a boarding school one in Bhaer Garten. The aim of this paper is to explore her motive and strategy in starting writing an Indian tale. Judging from Bronson's decision to republish his own school record in 1871, the exact year when his daughter published Little Men, it is safe to say that her hit school story is like an advertisement of Bronson's forthcoming book. As a matter of fact, in Little Men, Alcott adopts his educational philosophy, that is, to admit children's inner animal impulse and to patiently help to dissipate it by recreation until their human attributes, such as affection, conscience, and intellect, awake. Since Alcott places too much emphasis on representing Indians in her work, she, intentionally or unintentionally, succeeds in revealing the limitations of her father's educational philosophy, rather than enhancing his value as an exceptional educator. For example, all of the white students of Bhaer Garten can conquer their animal impulse; the Indian boy cannot, however, due to the influence of his uncontrollable innate impulse. Through using this kind of traditional racially-biased dichotomy, Alcott stresses Dan's 'savageness.' One of the reasons why Alcott stops depicting the quadroon is that she avoids reigniting complicated political issues including black education. Temple school, for example, closed just after Bronson permitted a black girl to enter the school. Even in postbellum era, only a very small number of the black people were admitted to school. Consequently, we can easily guess that Alcott judged that an Indian school story would be much less of a problem than a black school one. By the 1870s, the government had already started to build off-reservation boarding schools to forcibly 'civilize' and Christianize Indian children. In addition to her political strategy mentioned above, she writes the Indian tale in an attempt to attract much more public attention and achieve a financial success just like that of Mrs. S. L. A. N. G. Northbury, the foremost author of sensational stories in Little Women. Even more important is that Alcott calls Indian problems of the 1870s in question as the story draws to a close. She, for example, criticizes the Marches' forced expulsion of Dan from their school through Jo's heavy feeling of guilt, the phrase "one wild March," and the tragic circumstances of Dan's death in the West. Alcott thus clings to an Indian student with the purpose of expressing her critical views regarding the Indian problem of those days

The Violence Called Cleanliness-Conscious Education : Measures for Vagrants in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The community of St. Petersburg is divided into two worlds: the tyrannical legal world and the benevolent and caring world of mothers. People's attitudes towards vagrants are also split in two. The judges, a typical example of the legal world, severely impose a penalty on Huck's pap and Injun Joe for vagrancy; on the other hand, widow Douglass, a representative of the world of mothers, adopts Huck and provides him with education in hygiene. In this regard, there is a complete antithesis between "the legal world of judges" and "the world of mothers." But, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck happens to realize that there is another kind of violence in women's world. The widow's cleanliness-conscious correctional education is a good example. As soon as he moves to her house, the widow starts to drum cleanliness into his head. Huck, who has not got used to wearing clean tight-fitting clothes and washing his body, and so on, cannot keep up with her "respectable" way of living. Huck is not arrested as a vagrant like his father and Injun Joe, and moves to the widow's house in this story, because he has the role of disclosing the negative side of women's excessive concern with childbearing

Calibration and Validation of Polarimetric ALOS2-PALSAR2

PALSAR2 polarimetric distortion matrix is measured using corner reflectors deployed in the Amazonian forest. The Amazonian forest near the geomagnetic equator provides ideal sites for the assessment of L-band PALSAR2 antenna parameters, at free Faraday rotation. Corner reflectors (CRs) deployed at free Faraday rotation provide accurate estimation of antenna cross-talks in contrast to the biased measurements obtained with CRs deployed at significant Faraday rotation. The extended Freeman–Van Zyl calibration method introduced and validated for ALOS-PALSAR calibration is used for the assessment of PALSAR-2 calibration parameters. Six datasets collected over the Amazonian rainforests (with CRs) are used to assess PALSAR-2 distortion matrix for five beams (FP6-3 to FP6-7) with incidence angle varying from 25° to 40°. It is shown that the PALSAR2 antenna is highly isolated with very low cross-talks (lower than −40 dB). Finally, the impact of a significant Faraday rotation on antenna cross-talk measurements using CR is discussed