Pre-settlement exploration of Tasmania and the natural sciences: the Clive Lord Memorial Lecture 1983

The unfolding of knowledge of Australian natural history as a result of the visits of marine explorers is briefly reviewed, particular attention being paid to Tasmania. The importance of the D'Entrecasteaux and Baudin expeditions is stressed, the unique observations of the Baudin expedition on the Tasmanian Aborigines being emphasised. The observations of exploring expeditions must form the basis for the study of the ecology of the Australasian region because they provide evidence as to the state of the country before it was disturbed by European settlement

Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science

The dates of publication of the separate parts of the tasmanian Journal of Natural Science have been determined. Some comment is made on the history of the publication of the Journal, on the quality of the articles and their scientific value, and on a few of the contributions

The Return of the Ingrian Finns: Ethnicity, Identity and Reforms in Finland's Return Immigration Policy 1990-2010

This thesis investigates the construction of Finnish identity by Finnish policymakers when discussing the Right to Return Policy for Ingrian Finns. This policy, which existed from 1990 to 2010, granted Finnish residency to citizens of the Soviet Union, and subsequently Russia and Estonia, who descended from seventeenth century Finnish émigrés to the region around St Petersburg. The thesis critically analyses the discursive constructions of Finnish identity presented in the language of lawmakers on this policy, and argues that lawmakers established an ideology of Finnishness initially predicated on ideas of language, religion, ancestry, and historical relations to Finland’s neighbours Sweden and Russia. I further argue that lawmakers’ calls for an end of the policy in the late 1990s and 2000s used some of the same discursive constructions of Finnishness initially employed to justify Ingrian inclusion to now exclude Ingrians from their idea of Finnishness. To a large extent, the history of the Ingrian Return policy therefore presents a renegotiation of Ingrian, but not Finnish, identity by Finnish lawmakers. The thesis contributes to the study of identity construction on two levels. Firstly the policy presents the tension between constructions of Finnishness as an ethnic identity and as a community of Finnish citizens, and shows the relative resilience of ethnicity-based identity constructions in Finnish immigration policy at this time. Secondly, the Ingrian Finnish Return policy provides a case study of how essentialising discursive constructions of identity can be strategically used in political discussions. Analysis of this policy contributes to the broader study of identity theorisations as an example of establishing identity norms through public policy, using essentialising identity constructions that ignore alternative views of the nation as a diverse community, particularly in a period of increasing migration

Some notes on the anterior dorsal fin and venous drainage in Callorhinchus (Holocephali)

The region of the anterior dorsal fin of the elephant-fish (CalZorhinchus callorhynchus (L.) has been examined by dissection, by injection of radio-opaque material and in serial sections. Particular attention has been paid to the venous system in the region. A large venous sinus lies below the basal plate of the fin skeleton and has connections running anteriorly and posteriorly in the midline. Anteriorly, the sinus is connected with the left posterior cardinal vein by a large communicating vein which lies close against the left side of the vertebral column. This arrangement is generally similar to that found in the Selachii, but in the latter group two venae circulares are found instead of the median dorsal sinus of Callorhinchus and other Holocephali

Notes on some Tasmanian Aborigines and on portraits of them

Notes are given on the parentage and histories of Fanny Cochrane and Mathinna, the first a half-caste Tasmanian and the second a full-blood. The busts of the Tasmanian aborigines attributed to P-M-A-Durnoutier are all, or nearly all, based on originals by other hands. Some sculptures by Benjamin Law are listed. Some new information about Thomas Bock's portraits of the Tasmanian aborigines is considererd

Remodelling of the angular collagen fiber distribution in cardiovascular tissues

Understanding collagen fiber remodelling is desired to optimize the mechanical conditioning protocols in tissue-engineering of load-bearing cardiovascular structures. Mathematical models offer strong possibilities to gain insight into the mechanisms and mechanical stimuli involved in these remodelling processes. In this study, a framework is proposed to investigate remodelling of angular collagen fiber distribution in cardiovascular tissues. A structurally based model for collagenous cardiovascular tissues is extended with remodelling laws for the collagen architecture, and the model is subsequently applied to the arterial wall and aortic valve. For the arterial wall, the model predicts the presence of two helically arranged families of collagen fibers. A branching, diverging hammock-type fiber architecture is predicted for the aortic valve. It is expected that the proposed model may be of great potential for the design of improved tissue engineering protocols and may give further insight into the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases

Using the IUCN Red List to map threats to terrestrial vertebrates at global scale

The Anthropocene is characterized by unparalleled human impact on other species, potentially ushering in the sixth mass extinction. Yet mitigation efforts remain hampered by limited information on the spatial patterns and intensity of the threats driving global biodiversity loss. Here we use expert-derived information from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List on threats to 23,271 species, representing all terrestrial amphibians, birds and mammals, to generate global maps of the six major threats to these groups: agriculture, hunting and trapping, logging, pollution, invasive species, and climate change. Our results show that agriculture and logging are pervasive in the tropics and that hunting and trapping is the most geographically widespread threat to mammals and birds. Additionally, current representations of human pressure underestimate the overall pressure on biodiversity, due to the exclusion of threats such as hunting and climate change. Alarmingly, this is particularly the case in areas of the highest biodiversity importance

A generic method for estimating and smoothing multispecies biodiversity indices using intermittent data

Biodiversity indicators summarise extensive, complex ecological data sets and are important in influencing government policy. Component data consist of time-varying indices for each of a number of different species. However, current biodiversity indicators suffer from multiple statistical shortcomings. We describe a state-space formulation for new multispecies biodiversity indicators, based on rates of change in the abundance or occupancy probability of the contributing individual species. The formulation is flexible and applicable to different taxa. It possesses several advantages, including the ability to accommodate the sporadic unavailability of data, incorporate variation in the estimation precision of the individual species’ indices when appropriate, and allow the direct incorporation of smoothing over time. Furthermore, model fitting is straightforward in Bayesian and classical implementations, the latter adopting either efficient Hidden Markov modelling or the Kalman filter. Conveniently, the same algorithms can be adopted for cases based on abundance or occupancy data—only the subsequent interpretation differs. The procedure removes the need for bootstrapping which can be prohibitive. We recommend which of two alternatives to use when taxa are fully or partially sampled. The performance of the new approach is demonstrated on simulated data, and through application to three diverse national UK data sets on butterflies, bats and dragonflies. We see that uncritical incorporation of index standard errors should be avoided