Migration of Garifuna

This chapter examines the causes and consequences of migrations as well as population expansions and reductions of the Garifuna (also known as the Black Caribs), and the Carib and Arawak Native Americans from South America to the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. In the 1600s, African slaves were brought by the British to the Lesser Antilles and admixed with Indigenous Native Americans to establish the Garifuna populations. British colonial takeover of St. Vincent (called Yurumein by the Garifuna) from the French resulted in conflict over land ownership with the Black Caribs, a war, and the forcible relocation of the Garifuna from St. Vincent to Baliceaux Island, Bay Islands, and eventually to the coast of Central America-- Honduras. From two founding communities established near Trujillo, Honduras, the Garifuna populations expanded through fission to form 54 villages distributed along the coast of Central America from Belize to Nicaragua. The evolutionary consequences of these migrations included an exceptional fertility in the founding populations, high genetic variability in some communities due to admixture between Native American and African populations, and resistance to malaria due to genes brought by the parental populations. The Garifuna provide an evolutionary success story driven by their unique history of migrations and genetic ancestry.

Состояние колоний морских птиц полуострова Старицкого (Тауйская губа, Охотское море)

Comparison of the 2019 census results with those obtained earlier permits to evaluate changes in the number and distribution of nesting seabird colonies оn the Staritsky Peninsula over the past 10 years. The Staritsky Peninsula coasts and the Gertner and Veselaya bay islands are located in close proximity to the city of Magadan, and therefore are subject to maximum anthropogenic pressure. The total number of breeding seabirds (including the urban population of the Slaty-backed Gull in the city of Magadan) increased from 36 thousand individuals in 2009 to 57.6 thousand individuals in 2019. Simultaneously, the proportion of main species changed in the largest colonies around the city - on the Tri Brata Islands and Cape Ostrovnoy. A very large colony (3,230 birds) of the Pelagic Cormorants near the mouth of the Dukcha River, which appeared in the last 20 years, now became the largest in the Tauy Bay. The colony formation and growth was promoted by the urban wastewaters discharged into the Gertner Bay.

THE SHORES OF KRESTA BAY (BERING SEA)

В заливе Креста Берингова моря в 1946 году приступили к строительству морского порта, а пять лет спустя в заливе начала работать первая береговая экспедиция Института океанологии АН СССР под руководством А.Т. Владимирова. Экспедиция определила главные факторы развития берегов, основные черты их морфологии и динамики, установила особенности эволюции побережья. Многие объекты залива (острова и мысы, бары и косы, бухты и лагуны) имеют как местные названия, так и обозначенные первыми гидрографами – исследователями, составляя своеобразную «мозаику» береговой топонимии. In 1946, the construction of a seaport began in Kresta Bay of the Bering Sea, and the first coastal expedition of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Vladimirov A.T. began to work five years later. The expedition identified the main factors of coastal development, the main features of their morphology and dynamics, and established the features of coastal evolution. Many objects of the Bay (islands and capes, bars and spits, bays and lagoons) have both local names and those designated by the first hydrographer-researchers, making up a kind of "mosaic" of coastal toponymy.

The T-shaped “axe” from Northeast Honduras: Observations on chronology and function of a pre Columbian stone tool

This paper provides a description and analysis of a distinctive type of pre-Columbian stone tool, usually termed a T-shaped axe, found almost exclusively in Northeast Honduras, Central America. There have been very few detailed or technical studies of lithics from Honduras. Early archaeological research and the current understanding of the regional prehistory are included, with Northeast Honduras viewed as a frontier zone located between the Mesoamerican and Isthmo-Columbian culture areas. Our study examines, in particular, a collection of these tools curated today at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA). The 39 (whole and fragmentary) specimens were collected between 1937 and 1939, from the Bay Islands, Northeast Honduras, but have never been published. This paper classifies the collection specimens into five varieties, based on morphology, with sample statistics, form dimensions, and illustrations provided for each. Manufacturing technology is primarily percussion flaking. The tool type is compared with similar specimens excavated and described from the Bay Islands and adjacent Honduran mainland, and with similar appearing implements from elsewhere in Central America. Insights about the possible age and function of these unusual, and distinctive, lithics are included. Based on preliminary macroscopic and microscopic analyses, it is concluded that the tools may have been employed as agricultural implements (hoes or spades), primarily for digging activities, rather than as axes or weapons used for cutting and slicing. It is most likely that these implements first appeared about 800 CE, and continued in use until at least 1400 CE. The tool type is most probably a local (not imported) product. More functional analysis is encouraged.

Range-Wide Population Assessment of the Endangered Yellow-Naped Amazon (Amazona auropalliata)

Yellow-naped amazons, Amazona auropalliata, have experienced a dramatic population decline due to persistent habitat loss and poaching. In 2017, BirdLife International changed the species’ status from threatened to endangered and estimated that between 10,000 and 50,000 individuals remained in the wild. An accurate estimate of the number of remaining wild individuals is critical to implementing effective conservation plans. Wright et al. conducted roost count surveys in Costa Rica and Nicaragua during 2016 and published their data in 2019; however, no population data exists for the rest of the range. We conducted roost counts at 28 sites across Mexico, Guatemala, and the Bay Islands in Roatan during 2018 and 2019. We counted 679 birds and combined our data with the published Wright et al. (2019) data for a total of 2361 wild yellow-naped amazons observed across the species’ range. There were fewer roosts detected in the northern region of the range than in the southern region. We found that roosts were most likely to occur in built-up rural and pasture habitat, with 71% found within 100 m of human habitation. Our results illustrate the need for immediate conservation action to mitigate decline, such as enforced legal action against poaching, nest guarding, and increased community education efforts.