Upland Regions (upland + regions)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Rural Europe reshaped: the economic transformation of upland regions, 1850,20001

ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
FERNANDO COLLANTES
Agriculture is no longer the main sector in the economy of rural Europe. Based on a comparative analysis of nine upland areas from five different countries (Scotland, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain), this article argues that, contrary to the claims of most social science work on ,rural restructuring', the decline of agriculture in the rural economy should be understood from a long-term perspective and in relation to European industrialization, rather than as a recent process linked to postmodern dynamics. In fact, widely diverging paths of rural change during industrialization similarly imply occupational change. [source]


Regional-scale measurements of CH4 exchange from a tall tower over a mixed temperate/boreal lowland and wetland forest

GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 9 2003
Cindy Werner
The biosphere,atmosphere exchange of methane (CH4) was estimated for a temperate/boreal lowland and wetland forest ecosystem in northern Wisconsin for 1997,1999 using the modified Bowen ratio (MBR) method. Gradients of CH4 and CO2 and CO2 flux were measured on the 447-m WLEF-TV tower as part of the Chequamegon Ecosystem,Atmosphere Study (ChEAS). No systematic diurnal variability was observed in regional CH4 fluxes measured using the MBR method. In all 3 years, regional CH4 emissions reached maximum values during June,August (24±14.4 mg m,2 day,1), coinciding with periods of maximum soil temperatures. In 1997 and 1998, the onset in CH4 emission was coincident with increases in ground temperatures following the melting of the snow cover. The onset of emission in 1999 lagged 100 days behind the 1997 and 1998 onsets, and was likely related to postdrought recovery of the regional water table to typical levels. The net regional emissions were 3.0, 3.1, and 2.1 g CH4 m,2 for 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively. Annual emissions for wetland regions within the source area (28% of the land area) were 13.2, 13.8, and 10.3 g CH4 m,2 assuming moderate rates of oxidation of CH4 in upland regions in 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively. Scaling these measurements to the Chequamegon Ecosystem (CNNF) and comparing with average wetland emissions between 40°N and 50°N suggests that wetlands in the CNNF emit approximately 40% less than average wetlands at this latitude. Differences in mean monthly air temperatures did not affect the magnitude of CH4 emissions; however, reduced precipitation and water table levels suppressed CH4 emission during 1999, suggesting that long-term climatic changes that reduce the water table will likely transform this landscape to a reduced source or possibly a sink for atmospheric CH4. [source]


Proto-Uto-Aztecan: A Community of Cultivators in Central Mexico?

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2001
Jane H. Hill
Authorities on the origin and history of Uto-Aztecan have held that speakers of the protolanguage were foragers who lived in upland regions of Arizona, New Mexico, and the adjacent areas of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua about 5,000 years ago. New lexical evidence supports a different view, that speakers of the protolanguage were maize cultivators. The Proto-Uto-Aztecan speech community was probably located in Mesoamerica and spread northward into the present range because of demographic pressure associated with cultivation. The chronology for the spread and differentiation of the family should then correspond to the chronology for the northward spread of maize cultivation from Mesoamerica into the U.S. Southwest, between 4500 and 3000 B.P. [Uto-Aztecan, cultivation, Mesoamerican, historical linguistics, migration] [source]


Permafrost properties, patterns and processes in the Transantarctic Mountains region

PERMAFROST AND PERIGLACIAL PROCESSES, Issue 3 2006
Iain B. Campbell
Abstract The properties, distribution patterns and thermal processes that influence the active layer and permafrost in the Transantarctic Mountains region of Antarctica, as deduced from our soil investigations since 1964 and drilling investigations since 1990, are outlined. The active layer depth varies from around 80,cm thick in coastal areas to <5,cm in inland and upland regions, due to the effect of the adiabatic lapse rate. Saline, ice-bonded, dry permafrost and transitional types of permafrost all occur. Ice content is highest in ice-bonded permafrost of the coastal regions and lowest in inland dry permafrost where values may be <1%. At the regional scale, ice-bonded permafrost most commonly occurs at lower elevations and beneath younger land surfaces but with increasing elevation, distance inland and land surface age, dry permafrost becomes predominant. At the local scale (<1,m) there are large variations in the depth to the permafrost table due to variations in ground surface features. Permafrost properties are largely governed by solar energy receipt, but albedo, air temperature cooling and available soil moisture strongly modulate the conversion of solar energy receipt into soil heating. These factors account for the considerable broad-scale and local variability in permafrost properties that exists. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]