In this two part analysis I attempt to answer questions with reference to historical land use and tenurial systems in Bhutan. The first part throws light on the popularly held view that land tenure in Bhutan was feudal prior to the advent of moderisation. By looking at the lived experiences of peasants in Bhutan, as human agents at the nexus of social, political, economic, and ecological forces...

Domestic goats, Capra hircus, were intentionally introduced to numerous oceanic islands beginning in the sixteenth century. The remarkable ability of C. hircus to survive in a variety of conditions has enabled this animal to become feral and impact native ecosystems on islands throughout the world. Direct ecological impacts include consumption and trampling of native plants, leading to plant co...

[1] The Ecosystem Demography (ED) model was parameterized with ecological, forest inventory, and historical land use observations in an intensively managed, wetland-rich forested landscape in the upper midwest United States. Model results were evaluated against a regional network of eddy covariance flux towers and analyzed about the roles of disturbance, forest management, and CO2 fertilization...

The mountain pine beetle has wreaked havoc in North America, across forests from the American Southwest to British Columbia and Alberta, with the potential to spread all the way to the Atlantic coast. Millions of acres of forest have been lost, with severe economic and ecological impacts from a beetle outbreak ten times larger than previous outbreaks. Because of its importance and impact on for...

by Steven H. Strauss, Stephen P. DiFazio and Richard Meilan Poplars (genus Populus) have emerged as a model organism for forest biotechnology, and genetic modification (GM: asexual gene transfer) is more advanced for this genus than for any other tree. The goal of this paper is to consider the benefits expected from the use of GM poplar trees, and the most significant claims made for environmen...

This paper analyzes how sustained yield (SY) forestry is defined and implemented in Sweden and Russia, two countries with different forest-industrial regimes. We first compare definitions of SY forestry in national legislation and policies. Then we study forest management planning in two large forest management units with respect to: delivered forest products and values, how the harvest level o...

A representational approach to ecological psychology is presented. This paper identifies a computational-level commonality in ecological psychology research related to passability of apertures. It is argued that a cognitive mechanism capable of comparing the geometric properties of an environment and the geometric properties of the agent can be used to support judgments for action in space.

An alternative view of presence is introduced based on existential philosophy and ecological psychology. This view favors a Heideggerian/Gibsonian metaphysic over the more conventional rationalistic orientation. In this alternative view, notions of subjective presence and objective presence no longer exist. Presence is instead tied to one’s successfully supported action in the environment, this...