Ecology

The influence of O2 concentration on mineralisation processes was examined by sediment incubation experiments under controlled laboratory conditions over a sequence of oxic, anoxic and then reoxidising conditions. Sediments were studied from five locations representing marine, lagoonal and brackish environments in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea). A complete depletion of dissolved O2 and nitrate were observed after ~6 –15 days in marine and lagoonal sediments, and after 5 days in brackish sediments. During the reoxygenation phase, nitrification occurred at some sites, as evidenced by increases in NO3– concentrations, but not at other sites, indicating an inhibited recovery response to intermittent oxic conditions. NH4+ and PO43– regeneration during mineralisation was much more extensive in sediments overlain by oxygen-depleted waters, driving additional eutrophication. During reoxygenation, an influx of phosphate was observed in all three sedimentary environments, removing soluble phosphorus through coagulation and finally precipitation. Two degraded organic matter (OM) types could be distinguished: OM degraded under oxic conditions in marine and brackish sediments v. OM rapidly degraded under anoxic conditions in lagoon sediments.

ABSTRACT The morphology of the petrosal is often employed in mammalian systematics, yet this bone has not been described in detail for a comparative sample of extinct members of Suoidea (the clade encompassing pigs, peccaries and their extinct relatives), a total clade that represents one of the major divisions within Artiodactyla. Here, the petrosal osteology of fossil Suoidea ranging from their early representatives (Late Eocene) up to Late Miocene is described. A sample of petrosal specimens documenting eight genera from the four suoid families (Suidae, Tayassuidae, Sanitheriidae and Palaeochoeridae) has been collected from in situ mechanical preparation, CT-based reconstruction or identification of isolated petrosals. The diagnostic significance of petrosal characters for suoid systematics is assessed by the inclusion of the new petrosals data in a phylogenetic analysis. As in other mammal groups, petrosal characters are shown to be of primary phylogenetic interest. The monophyly of the included families and subfamilies shown by craniodental and postcranial characters is supported by petrosal characters, and the problematic New World suoid Perchoerus is interpreted as the first offshoot of the Suoidea clade. This work allows definition of Suoidea on the basis of petrosal morphological characters and reveals the shaping over time of the peculiar petrosal morphology observed in extant suoids, notably the drastic reduction of the mastoid of this ‘amastoidean’ group, convergently present in hippos.

... The forehead is broad; the sus orbitari sulci are wide, deep and converge sharply. They originate from deep supra orbital fo-ramina, situated close to the sagittal plane in a posterior position (midline of the orbit's upper margin). The frontal is thick and domed (Fig. 2B). ...

Texto curatorial e dossier da exposição "da serra e da terra".

Exposição coletiva de 11 de setembro a 8 de novembro 2020.
Curadoria de Daniel Moreira e Rita Castro Neves.
Artistas: Alice Geirinhas . José de Almeida . Maria Lino . Pedro Saraiva . Tânia Dinis.
Maus Hábitos, Porto.
Fotografias de Daniel Moreira e Rita Castro Neves.

Organização: Saco Azul & Maus Hábitos.
Ciclo de programação: "Outros Portos”

Curatorial text and exhibition dossier of the group exhibition "da serra e da terra" (of hills and earth).
"da serra e da terra" proposes a set of works by five artists from different Portuguese geographies. It is from the mountain that the drive of the land gains weight in their artistic explorations, in practices that are based on an experience lived from the rural materials.The works presented are carried out under a telluric impulse, either through routes and research on the matter, through the use of clay in ceramics, through intimate observation of the fire's gestures or through daily experience in the
mountain, where art and life intersect.
Film, text, drawing, painting, linoleum, embroidery, ceramics and sculpture come together
in this project, with an exhibition design carried out by the curators – also
artists.

It may sound patently absurd to discuss a “re-Indigenization” of society. Yet, I argue not only is it practical but necessary if humanity is to survive into this century and beyond. Humans, for most of their history, lived as hunter-gatherers, for about the first 290,000 years or so. It is only in the last ten to fifteen thousand years from the “Agricultural Revolution or Neolithic Revolution”, did we begin domesticating animals and plants, and thus began so-called “civilization” with writing, hierarchies, state systems, endemic warfare, and worst of all, slavery. In fact, most of us do not even think about this pre-history. We simply “are” in the world today—a globe we inherited from our collective human shift of moving away from hunting and gathering to a world of domesticating the natural environment.
    If we are to legitimately address a history of these inequalities and their historical consequences, “environmental destruction”, “genocide”, “racism”, “systemic warfare”, “human exploitation”, and “state system oppression”, we must begin by examining if progress means a continuation on our present path toward self-destruction. In part, I address some of the effects of these colossal man-made calamities in my new book, Epochal Reckonings (2020, Co-Winner of the Proverse Prize)—a poetic guide to some of our 21st century crises.
    What I wish to examine here is a re-thinking of ourselves on our planet earth, in relation to an indigenous understanding of “Mother Earth”. Moreover, I will argue while we have moved well beyond the likes of French philosopher René Descartes, for many reasons his intellectual legacy still remains as we struggle to come to terms with our environment and our heritage from the Agricultural Revolution.

El 10 de julio de 2008 pudimos leer la noticia de que se había derrumbado el túnel del glaciar Perito Moreno (Patagonia, Argentina). En otro momento se hubiera tratado de una ordinaria experiencia catastrófica natural de los veranos australes, cada cierta cantidad de años. Esta vez se ha producido al medio del invierno, sin que medie regularidad alguna. Este mismo año se predijo que no habría hielo en el Ártico, y no son infrecuentes en estas fechas las historias de osos polares de Groenlandia que aparecen varados en un desprendido bloque de hielo en Islandia, donde son tristemente asesinados por los pobladores que los encuentran. El Gran Hermano ofrecía "pensamiento único" a cambio de un poco del hoy manifiestamente caro petróleo. Sin percatarnos, hemos pasado de la naturaleza a la política.