bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Face of Roman Battle
Authors: Sabin Philip
Published: May 2006

Our perspectives on ancient history can sometimes be significantly affected by contributions from scholars of other disciplines. An obvious example from the military field is Edward Luttwak's 1976 book onThe Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Luttwak is a respected and insightful commentator on modern strategic issues, and his distinctive contribution was to analyse Roman military affairs in terms of modern concepts such as ‘armed suasion’ and the distinction between ‘power’ and ‘force’. His book has prompted considerable debate among specialist ancient historians, and although much of this has been critical of his ideas (largely due to the alleged anachronism of applying them in the Roman context), there is no doubt that the injection of this new dimension has helped to influence subsequent thinking on Roman imperial defence.
Roman Inscriptions 1981–5
Authors: Reynolds Joyce , Beard Mary , Roueché Charlotte
Published: May 2006

Like the survey of 1981, this is the product of a team: Reynolds is responsible for the introduction and sections II–VI, Beard for sections I, VII–IX and XI, Roueché for section X. Reynolds has, as previously, acted as editor; it is planned that from the next survey in 1991 Beard will take over this role.
The Poet and the Procuress: TheLenain Latin Love Elegy
Authors: Myers K. Sara
Published: May 2006

This paper investigates the figure of thelenain the elegies of Tibullus (I.5; II.6), Propertius (IV.5), and Ovid (AmoresI.8). While each poet treats the character of thelenain importantly different ways, each has in common a deep interest in contrasting his own position as both lover and poet with the activities of thelena, a bawd or procuress. All three poets curse thelena, denouncing primarily her malevolent magical powers, hercarmina, which are directed against them and theircarmina. Thelenanot only preaches an erotic code which in its emphasis on remuneration and the denigration of poetry directly opposes that of the poet-lover, she also usurps his role as instructor and constructor of the elegiacpuella. It is the elegiac poet's prerogative to describe and construct the elegiac mistress. By usurping his role aspraeceptor, thelenathreatens the poet with both sexual and literary impotence. It is precisely because thelenachallenges the male poet-lover's control over these terms that she is such a potent enemy; the woman with a pen, as Pollack writes inThe Poetics of Sexual Myth, ‘threatens to undermine a system of signification that defines her both as vulnerable and as victim’. If the elegiac mistress can be said to play a more masterful role asdominain Roman love poetry than in conventional Roman ideology, it must nevertheless be qualified with the reminder that she only plays a role constructed for her by elegy's first-person narrator who demands complete control over the discourse of their relationship, of the rules of the amatory game.
From Narmouthis (Medinet Madi) to Kellis (Ismant El-Kharab): Manichaean Documents from Roman Egypt
Authors: Gardner I. M. F. , Lieu S. N. C.
Published: May 2006

In 1968, Peter Brown read at the Society's Annual General Meeting a paper entitled ‘The Diffusion of Manichaeism in the Roman Empire’. Delivered at a time when little research was being carried out by British scholars either on Manichaeism or on the cultural and religious relationship between the Roman and the Sassanian Empires, it was for many a complete revelation. With consummate skill and vast erudition Brown placed the history of the diffusion of the sect against a background of vigorous and dynamic interchange between the Roman and the Persian Empires. He also mounted a successful challenge on a number of popularly held views on the history of the religion in the Roman Empire. Manichaeism was not to be seen as part of themirage orientalewhich fascinated the intellectuals of the High Empire. It was not an Iranian religion which appealed through its foreigness or quaintness. Rather, it was a highly organized and aggressively missionary religion founded by a prophet from South Babylonia who styled himself an ‘Apostle of Jesus Christ’. Brown reminded the audience that ‘the history of Manichaeism is to a large extent a history of the Syriac-speaking belt, that stretched along the Fertile Crescent without interruption from Antioch to Ctesiphon’. Its manner of diffusion bore little or no resemblance to that of Mithraism. It did not rely on a particular profession, as Mithraism did on the army, for its spread throughout the Empire. Instead it developed in the common Syriac culture astride the Romano-Persian frontier which was becoming increasingly Christianized consequent to the regular deportation of whole communities from cities of the Roman East like Antioch to Mesopotamia and adjacent Iran. Manichaeism which originally flourished in this Semitic milieu was not in the strict sense an Iranian religion in the way that Zoroastrianism was at the root of the culture and religion of pre-Islamic Iran. The Judaeo-Christian roots of the religion enabled it to be proclaimed as a new and decisive Christian revelation.
The Metamorphosis of a Poet: Recent Work on Ovid
Authors: Myers Sara
Published: May 2006

It is by now obvious that Ovidian studies have ‘arrived’, apologies are no longer issued, nor are defences launched at the beginning of books. The nineties alone have seen so far the appearance of over fifty new books on Ovid in English, French, Italian, and German, and not just on theMetamorphoses, but on theFasti, theAmoresandArs Amatoria, and the exile poetry, including the little knownIbis. Most importantly, there is a flourishing growth industry in commentaries on all of Ovid's works, with a greatly anticipated forthcoming commentary from Italy on theMetamorphosesauthored by an international team, new Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics commentaries, including a recent excellent edition onFasti4 by Elaine Fantham (with an extremely useful and much-needed section on Ovid's style), the vastly learned commentaries of J. McKeown on theAmores, among others (all seemingly getting longer and longer). The appearance of a series of excellent English translations has made Ovid’s works more widely available for teaching. A number of companion volumes on Ovid are also forthcoming. N. Holzberg's recent impressive German introduction to Ovid evidently made the author, for a while at least, a sort of celebrity in Germany, and the book has already been reissued in a second edition. The rehabilitation of later Latin epic of the first century has more than anything served to place Ovid's work within a vigorous post-Vergilian literary tradition.
Propertius 2.10 and 11 and the Structure of Books ‘2A’ and ‘2B’
Authors: Lyne R. O. A. M.
Published: May 2006

The manuscripts of Propertius present us with a single, massive ‘Book 2’ over thirteen hundred and sixty lines long. Like many before me, I am convinced that this ‘Book 2’ is a mistake of transmission and actually preserves the remnants oftwoancient books. In this article I identify and discuss the poem which I believe closed the first of the ancient books; for convenience's sake we can call this book ‘Book 2a’. I shall be saying something, too, about the structure and content of both ancient books — of Book 2b as well as Book 2a.

It was Lachmann who first made the — to me — irresistible suggestion that our ‘Book 2’ is the product of two ancient books. There has been strong support for this view. For example, a succinct case is put forward by Otto Skutsch; and highly convincing and detailed support has been offered in an important recent paper by Heyworth. There are intricacies of evidence to consider (for example, Nonius Marcellus' citation of our 3.21.14), but I shall set these to one side. I shall simply cite two crucial and probably familiar facts, which are in summary as follows.
Redressing Elegy'sPuella: Propertius IV and the Rhetoric of Fashion
Authors: Debrohun Jeri Blair
Published: May 2006

Much recent criticism of Roman love elegy, especially Propertian love elegy, has been concerned with the exposure of elegy'segoandpuellaas poetic constructions whose ‘partially realistic’ characteristics and actions serve as metaphorical representations of the poet's writing practice and poetic ideals. As Duncan Kennedy has pointed out, however, this discourse of representation has already threatened to create its own limitations of applicability, as it privileges the ‘partial realism’ of love elegy's first-person narratives, in which an authorial male narrator (ego) writes of his female subject (puella), at the expense of the more openly unrealistic representational strategies of works such as Ovid'sHeroides and Fastior, the more immediate concern of this article, the fourth book of Propertius' elegies.
The Last Days of Constantine: Oppositional Versions and their Influence
Authors: Fowden Garth
Published: May 2006

The earliest surviving account of Constantine's last days, April to May 337, was written by Eusebius of Caesarea as instant history, since Eusebius died in May 338 or 339. Parts of this concluding section of theVita Constantini, for example the paragraphs about the first Christian emperor's baptism and mausoleum, have attracted scholarly curiosity, others less so. Here I would like to investigate systematically, for the first time, the versions of Constantine's abortive Iranian campaign provided by Eusebius and others, and then move on to consider the origins of a famous account of Constantine's baptism. Both exercises will show how oppositional versions of Constantine's last days influenced the formation of conventionally accepted narratives—or, more specifically, how polytheist historiography helped to mould the Nicaean or ‘orthodox’ perspective, parts of which have prevailed to the present day. Discussion of the fictional accounts of Constantine's baptism by ‘Eusebius of Rome’ and Silvester of Rome will also provide an opportunity to underline the truth of Michel van Esbroeck's observation that ‘the historical aspect of propaganda literature eludes positivist history, of which it is, even so, a part’.
Augustus and Capricorn: Astrological Polyvalency and Imperial Rhetoric
Authors: Barton Tamsyn
Published: May 2006

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the great astronomer Kepler wrote to his patron, the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II:

Most noble lord, I have now for several weeks on end devoted my utmost efforts to the nativity of Caesar Augustus, about which your kingly majesty wishes to know, but, as I see, it has been almost in vain. For although it is no specially difficult task to calculate the configuration of the heavens for a particular time, nevertheless, what is lacking in the nativity we are now considering is that we no longer today know the correct time of it.

The unfortunate astronomer had spent considerable time combing the evidence of the ancient authors available to him about the date of Augustus' birth. He attempted to sift through the conflicting evidence about which day would have been Augustus' birthday, before performing complex calculations of the planetary movements, in order to assess the role Capricorn might have played in his horoscope. His ingenious solution to the problem failed to impress Rudolf, as we can see from Kepler's second letter on the subject (the emperor's letters are not extant):

Most noble lord, your kingly majesty has suspected me of a lack of diligence, as though I had not sufficiently reported the nativity of Augustus…
Statistics and the Conversion of the Roman Aristocracy
Authors: Barnes T. D.
Published: May 2006

In a justly famous paper published in 1961, Peter Brown set out a model for understanding the historical process whereby the formerly pagan aristocracy of imperial Rome became overwhelmingly Christian during the course of the fourth and fifth centuries. Brown's paper has deeply influenced all who have subsequently studied this historical phenomenon, at least in the English-speaking world. Since this article argues that the Roman aristocracy became Christian significantly earlier than Brown and most recent writers have assumed, it must begin by drawing an important distinction. Brown's paper marked a major advance in modern understanding because it redirected the focus of scholarly research away from conflict and confrontation, away from the political manifestations of paganism culminating in the ‘last great pagan revival in the West’ between 392 and 394, away from episodes which pitted pagan aristocrats of Rome against Christian emperors, away from ‘the public crises in relations between Roman paganism and a Christian court’, towards the less sensational but more fundamental processes of cultural and religious change which gradually transformed the landowning aristocracy of Italy after the conversion of Constantine. This change of emphasis was extremely salutary in 1961, it has permanently changed our perception of the period, and it entails a method of approaching the subject which remains completely valid. Unfortunately, however, Brown also adopted prevailing assumptions about the chronology of these changes which are mistaken, on the basis of which he asserted that the ‘drift into a respectable Christianity’ began no earlier than the reign of Constantius. The evidence and arguments set out here indicate that the process began much earlier and proceeded more rapidly than Brown assumed, but they in no way challenge the validity of his approach to understanding the nature of the process.
Gibbon's First Thoughts: Rome, Christianity and the Essai sur l'Étude de la Littérature 1758–61
Authors: Ghosh Peter
Published: May 2006

While Gibbon's Roman History and his Memoirs are established as classic works in any canon of English or historical literature, the first of his three books, the youthful Essai sur l'Étude de la Littérature (1758–61), remains the victim of comparative neglect. There has been no edition of this work since 1814, but we can ill afford to ignore a text which is at once the first fruit of Gibbon's intellectual ‘creation’ at Lausanne in the 1750s, and also serves as an indispensable general and methodological introduction to his History. One symptom of our casual attitude lies in the fact that, although the Essai is the only one of Gibbon's works which can be traced from its manuscript conception through to final publication, no attempt has been made to explore his compositional and intellectual processes by this route. Furthermore, in an age where every scrap of new text by the great historian has become a precious relic worthy of immediate publication, we have overlooked thereby the last really significant cache of his unpublished writing. Given its subject matter, one may say that the omission is not merely significant but spectacular. In a series of cancelled passages from the Essai's first draft of 1758, Gibbon dealt with topics such as the need for philosophic detachment, rather than sentimental alignment, in discussing Roman history; the role of ‘general’ or profound causes in explaining Rome's rise and fall; and the significance of Pagan corruption for the rise of Christianity.
Relations between Rome and the German ‘Kings’ on the Middle Danube in the First to Fourth Centuries A.D.
Authors: Pitts Lynn F.
Published: May 2006

In recent years the ‘rex sociusque et amicus’ of the Roman Empire—frequently, if mistakenly, called a ‘client king’—has been the subject of much study, notably by D. Braund. Although ostensibly Braund and others are discussing the position and role of these kings on all the Roman frontiers, they concentrate in the main on those in the east. This is perhaps inevitable, since literary and epigraphic evidence abounds for the east, while it is scarce and often ambiguous for the west. Unfortunately direct comparison between east and west is meaningless: conditions which can be seen to apply to Rome's relations with her neighbours in the east cannot always be transferred to the west. Unfortunately direct comparison between east and west is meaningless: conditions which can be seen to apply to Rome's relations with her neighbours in the east cannot always be transferred to the west. In Greece and Asia Minor Rome was dealing with developed societies who could be integrated into a Roman administrative system; in the west, on the other hand, the peoples living beyond the frontiers, and indeed within them, were culturally less well-developed; here Rome had, on the whole, to negotiate with constantly changing tribal chiefs rather than with established monarchies.
Cicero and the Spectacle of Power
Authors: Bell Andrew J. E.
Published: May 2006

On the second day of January 63 B.C. Cicero, with the full dignity of a consul, appeared in the Forum to address the Populus at acontio(assembly). This occasion, when he voiced his opposition to the agrarian legislation moved by the tribune Rullus and his colleagues, can be remembered because a text of the speech has survived asDe lege agararia II. His words were apparently persuasive, since the bill was defeated in the subsequent voting of the tribal assembly. Eloquence was Cicero's greatest political asset and theDe lege agraria IImight be read as testimony to the power of words alone. Yet while it might be tempting for a literary critic to imagine that ‘when he stood before his audience, Cicero had at his disposal only words and the stylistic genius to construct from those words arguments that would shape men's opinions and move their hearts’, the words and genius, although powerful as political weapons, operated in conjunction with the physical presence and ideological pre-eminence that the consul brought to the Rostra. There Cicero engineered persuasiveness by presenting a congruence between his verbal argument and his dignity as speaker. Since knowledge of Rullus' legislation is wholly dependent upon Cicero's representation of it, Cicero's speech might best serve then to illustrate what this embodied rhetoric suggests about the relations between a political actor and those who heard and saw him.
Propertius 2.7: Militia Amoris and the Ironies of Elegy
Authors: Gale Monica R.
Published: May 2006

Criticism of Propertius 2.7 has usually centred around the elegy's role as evidence for the poets's attitude towards Augustus. Treated as such, it has been used to support a surprising variety of conclusions. For Stahl and Lyne the poem represents a courageous defence of individualism under a repressive and intolerant regime. At the other end of the spectrum, Cairns has tried to show that the poet's deliberate presentation of himself as ‘a morally tainted individual’ undercuts his argument to such an extent that the poem is effectively an endorsement of the legislation which it purports to attack. Between these two extremes, Baker detects ‘a cautious blend of levity and gravity’ and suggests that, while emphasizing the value of amor, the elegy hints at a tension between Propertius' personal inclinations and the demands of others or his own sense of duty; Boucher, who believes that Propertius is generally pro-Augustan, reads 2.7 as an open and straightforward critique of the princeps' attempts at moral reform, which, by its very openness, militates against the reading of subtle irony into apparently patriotic elegies such as 3.11 and 4.6; and Camps speaks of ‘a certain extravagance, even shrillness, in the manner in which Propertius expresses his defiance of ordinary Roman values’ which ‘may reflect tensions within the poet himself’. More recently, Cloud has argued that Propertius has simply used the marriage law as a peg on which to hang his working out of a collection of Hellenistic erotic topoi, and that the poem cannot be read as a serious statement of opposition to the princeps.
An Island Nation: Re-Reading Tacitus'Agricola
Authors: Clarke Katherine
Published: May 2006

Tacitus'Agricolais one of the most tantalizingly enigmatic of ancient texts. Coming from the pen of one who was to become a renowned historian, it is notoriously hard to place in generic terms. It fails to conform to any commonly accepted model of political history, and yet, as I shall argue, it has much to tell us about Tacitus' views of Roman political life. We can turn to the parallel of theGermaniafor another possible way out of the dilemma, and yet the ethnographic details which theAgricolaundoubtedly encompasses could hardly be seen as its main focus. The most natural cast to give the work draws on its ostensibly biographical aspect. Commemorating theres gestaeof Tacitus' father-in-law, Agricola, is the purpose signalled to the reader from the first sentence onwards: ‘to hand on to future generations the deeds and values of distinguished men’ (‘clarorum virorum facta moresque posteris tradere’). All of these interpretations have had their proponents. But I shall argue here for a different reading of theAgricola, one which not only highlights an aspect of the text which has tended to be sidelined, but also provides an interpretative framework within which some of the other, more extensively treated, themes may be reconsidered. My reading of theAgricolais focused not on the state of Rome under the emperor Domitian, nor on the customs of the inhabitants of Britain, nor even on the figure of Agricola himself, but on the actual location of hisres gestae. I shall consider how Tacitus' portrayal of Britain itself may ultimately offer us insights into Agricola, Domitian, and Roman political life.
Cicero and Archimedes' Tomb
Authors: Jaeger Mary
Published: May 2006

In the Pro Archia Cicero writes that Alexander, looking upon the tomb of Achilles, cried out, ‘O happy youth, who found a Homer to sing your praises!’; words truly spoken, adds Cicero, since without Homer Achilles' tomb would have buried the great man's fame along with his body. And in the Tusculan Disputations he writes that the Athenian Themistocles, when asked why he spent his nights wandering about the city, replied that the trophies of Miltiades kept him awake. Juxtaposing one great man and the reminder of another, both anecdotes present vivid and memorable images of rivalry between the ambitious among the living and the high-achievers among the dead. A competition of this kind can be direct, between the man commemorated by a monument and the man viewing it, as are the rivalries of Alexander and Achilles, Themistocles and Miltiades, or it can be indirect, as in the Pro Archia, where with a sleight of hand Cicero replaces the rivalry between Achilles and Alexander with the competition between the Iliad and Achilles' physical monument. A great mound bears witness to Achilles' death at Troy, but the outburst of the competitive Alexander testifies that a poem is a better memorial than a tomb.
The Statue Monument of Oecumenius: A New Portrait of a Late Antique Governor from Aphrodisias
Authors: Smith R. R. R.
Published: May 2006

Ancient portraits are best interpreted with their busts or statue bodies and in the contexts in which they were set up and experienced, but such fully preserved monuments are not common. This article is the first publication of a new late antique portrait from Aphrodisias in Caria that has a statue body, an inscribed base, and a precise ancient setting. It was set up in honour of a provincial governor named Oecumenius, and his chlamydatus statue is now the most complete example around which others of this characteristic type of late antique statue can be understood. The monument also has wider connections outside Aphrodisias and raises interesting problems of historical interpretation in the period arounda.d.400.
Vegetation as a component of a non‐nested hierarchy: a conceptual model
Authors: Acker Steven A.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. A general conceptual model of vegetation based on hierarchy theory is presented. The model emphasizes that prediction of vegetation requires consideration of both mechanisms of vegetation change and the constraints within which it occurs. The mechanisms of vegetation change are the responses to and effects upon their surroundings of individual plants. The most general constraints upon vegetation are aspects of the environment not affected by vegetation over successional time, and the pool of species within dispersal range. Examples of such environmental factors include macroclimate and soil parent material. In some cases, vegetation may alter important labile environmental factors such as soil nutrient and water availability. Some vegetation compositions appear to be resistant to changes in the general constraints. Due to both sources, there are multiple possible vegetation compositions given the same general constraints. Disturbance is defined as an abrupt change in the constraints on the vegetation resulting in a change in the vegetation's state or dynamics. Both the recognition of disturbance and the distinction between independent and labile environmental factors depend on the spatial and temporal scale of observation. For example, a particular wildfire at a given stand may be a disturbance, whereas at a larger scale of observation the same event may contribute to the wildfire regime, part of the constraints at that scale. Similarly, levels of soil organic matter may constrain vegetation over short time scales, due to influencing availability of water and nutrients. Over long time scales, the vegetation itself is a primary determinant of soil organic matter content.

This model contains elements of both the initial, holistic theory of vegetation and recent, reductionistic approaches. It reiterates the need to considerboth mechanisms and constraints, stressed by contemporary and earlier workers. Hierarchy theory provides new insights concerning sufficient conditions for prediction, possible limits on predictability, and appropriate research strategy.
Twenty years of vegetation change in five long‐unburned Florida plant communities
Authors: Menges E. S. , Abrahamson W. G. , Givens K. T. , Gallo N. P. , Layne J.N.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Rates and directions of change over a 20‐yr interval in five long‐unburned (> 60 yr) plant communities were studied using multivariate analyses and compositional vectors. The study sites were located in fire and summer‐drought adapted, xerophytic vegetation with many endemics on acidic, nutrient‐poor, sandy soils in south‐central peninsular Florida. Sizes of individual stems from 72 sets of nested permanent quadrats were measured in 1969, 1979, and 1989.

Patterns of vegetation change differed by community. Flatwood and bayhead quadrats showed rapid increases in densities and basal areas of Persea borbonia (red bay). In the southern ridge sandhill community, evergreen clonal Quercus species (oaks) and Pinus clausa (sand pine) increased in dominance and grasses declined. Oaks (especially Q. geminata) also increased in importance in scrubby flatwoods. Sand pine scrub was relatively stable in composition, but experienced marked structural changes due to substantial sand pine mortality (18% during 1969–1979, 39% during 1979–1989). Compositional changes in the absence of fire were greatest whereas structural changes were least in southern ridge sandhill and scrubby flatwoods, both communities which normally receive frequent, recurrent fire. Compositional changes were lowest in sand pine scrub, which is normally infrequently burned.

Classic successional patterns such as species replacement, decreases in density, and increases in basal area were generally lacking. Tree densities increased in two of four community types (southern ridge sandhill, scrubby flatwoods); while basal area declined in the flatwoods/bayhead and sand pine scrub sites. Directions of compositional vectors included divergent, opposing, and complex patterns, suggesting vegetation change in the absence of fire has a strong stochastic component.
Changes in the understory of Canadian southern boreal forest after fire
Authors: De Grandpré Louis , Gagnon Daniel , Bergeron Yves
Published: May 2006

Abstract. We investigated changes in the composition and abundance of understory species after fire in the southern boreal forest around Lake Duparquet, Québec. Ten plots of 100 m2 were sampled in each of eight sites varying in post‐fire age from 26 to 230 yr, with 20 1‐m2 quadrats in each of these 80 plots. Variation in the understory was described by DCA ordination and interpreted as a regeneration succession series. Thickness of the organic layers, stand age and canopy composition were all correlated with vegetational change. This change was not constant throughout succession; some old sites showed an increase in the diversity and abundance of certain pioneer species. This was partly related to openings in the canopy resulting from a major outbreak of spruce budworm, which affected sites dominated by Abies balsamea. The ordinations were performed on both the 100‐m2 plots and the 1‐m2 quadrats. Heterogeneity within sites was larger at the 1‐m2 scale and there was a great deal of overlap in the position of the quadrats in ordination space. At the smaller scale of analysis, stand age and thickness of the organic layers were not correlated with the changes observed in the understory.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Peterson Chris J.
Published: May 2006

Book reviewed in this issue.

Packham, J. R., Harding, D. J. L., Hilton, G. M. & Stuttard, R. A. 1992. Functional Ecology of Woodlands & Forests. xii + 408 pp. Chapman & Hall, London. Cloth ISBN 0–412–44390–2. Price: USD 95.‐. Paper ISBN 0–412–43950–6. Price: USD 35.‐.
Deterministic versus Individualistic community structure: a test from invasion by Nothofagus menziesii in southern New Zealand
Authors: Wilson J.Bastow , Allen Ralph B.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The Clements' Deterministic model of plant communities implies that a change in one species, especially a change in the physiognomic dominant, would have profound effects on the remainder of the community. Gleason's Individualistic model suggests there would be little effect.

These alternative models are tested by examining the forest composition on both sides of a boundary along which the tree Nothofagus menziesii is slowly invading.

Classification of forest composition, excluding N. menziesii, gave little evidence of an effect of N. menziesii on the lower strata: understorey vegetation types were distributed across the boundary. Some differences were found at individual sites, but these were often inconsistent between sites.

Ordination, also excluding N. menziesii, similarly showed that none of the first three understorey axes reflected any effect of N. menziesii. The fourth axis was correlated with the presence of N. menziesii, but only when canopy trees were included. It is concluded that specific composition of the canopy in these montane New Zealand evergreen forests has little effect on the understorey, supporting Gleason's Individualistic concept of the community.
Disturbance and forest dynamics along a transect from Andean rain forest to Patagonian shrubland
Authors: Veblen Thomas T. , Kitzberger Thomas , Lara Antonio
Published: May 2006

Abstract. At ca. 40° S in northern Patagonia, Andean rain forests are replaced eastwards by woodlands and shrublands and eventually by steppe. Along this gradient we examined stand dynamics by analyzing tree population age structures and tree growth patterns. We also examined spatial and temporal characteristics of disturbance regimes by dating disturbances and mapping stands of differing disturbance history. From west to east, the ecological importance of earthquake‐related disturbance decreases, whereas that of fire, logging, and livestock increases. Abrupt changes in rates of tree growth correspond with earthquakes in 1837, 1939 and 1960. In the mesic western forests earthquakes can result in massive new tree establishment on landslide‐affected sites and increased rates of treefall.

Fire, however, is the more pervasive disturbance over most of the gradient and creates extensive even‐aged patches dominated by the regionally dominant trees, Nothofagus and Austrocedrus. Although some lightning‐ignited and aboriginal‐set fires occurred in these forests prior to European settlement, much of the present forest structure may be attributed to the massive burning associated with European settlement of this area near the turn of the present century. In contrast to the settlement‐related increase in fire frequency in the western forested district, at the woodland/steppe ecotone the demise of the native American population resulted in a decrease in fire frequency. Heavy browsing and grazing following fire can seriously impede post‐fire tree regeneration. These preliminary results document the important influences of varying disturbance regimes along a major environmental gradient in creating landscape‐scale vegetation patterns.
Trajectory analysis of Chinese vegetation types in a multidimensional climatic space
Authors: Sun C. Y. , Feoli E.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The concept of trajectory of a vegetation type is used as a tool to study the position of vegetation types in a multidimensional climatic space. This space was obtained by Principal Component Analysis based on climatic data ‐ based on monthly means. The positions of the main vegetation types distinguished in China were plotted in the climatic space and trajectory lengths and shapes of the types were compared. Three main groups were found, which correspond to: (1) cold and temperate, (2) alpine and mountain, and (3) subtropical and tropical conditions. Within each main category sub‐categories were distinguished on the basis of trajectory length and direction. In total, seven trajectory shapes were defined. Based on the correlation between climatic variables and PCA‐axes temperature is suggested to be the overriding factor in determining the trajectory shape. But, trajectories can also be affected by the combination of other climatic variables.
Dynamics of a Tasmanian cushion heath community
Authors: Gibson Neil , Kirkpatrick J. B.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Little is known of the dynamics of the alpine cushion plant communities of Tasmania. The present study investigates the nature of the short (5 yr) and long (850 yr plus) term dynamics within one such community at Newdegate Pass, Tasmania. This involved observations of permanent plots, quadrat sampling of cushion heath in different stages of a secondary succesion and cuticular analysis of a core through the cushion peat. Data from the peat core showed the continued presence of the cushion heath community at this site for at least 850 yr, while the regeneration patterns indicated community composition was largely achieved by species accumulation rather than species replacement. Over a 5–yr period there was little or no change in total percentage cover yet a surprisingly high degree of interspecific competition for space in areas of complete plant cover. These observations best fit non equilibrium models of community succession and stability.
Floristic composition and structure of vegetation under isolated trees in neotropical pastures
Authors: Guevara S. , Meave J. , Moreno‐Casasola P. , Laborde J.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Large isolated trees are a common feature of the agricultural landscape in humid tropical regions originally covered by rain forest. These isolated trees are primarily used as a source of shade for cattle and people. 13 pastures (totalling ca. 80 ha) currently used as cattle pasture were studied. In them, we registered 265 isolated trees belonging to 57 species. 50 trees of the most frequent species (Ficus spp. n = 30 and Nectandra ambigens n = 20) were selected to examine the influence of isolated trees on floristic composition and vegetation structure in the pastures. At each tree, three 4–m2 quadrats were sampled: under the canopy, directly under the canopy perimeter, and beyond the canopy in the open pasture. Under‐canopy vegetation was structurally and floristically different from the other two sampling sites. Mean species richness per quadrat was significantly higher under the canopy (17.8 ± 4.3 SD) than at the canopy perimeter (11.2 ± 3.4) and in the open pasture (10.6 ± 3.6) sites. Stem density was higher at under‐canopy sites, where greater proportions of endozoochorous and rain‐forest species were found. Isolated trees function as nursery plants for rain‐forest species by facilitating the establishment of zoochorous species whose seeds are deposited under the tree canopies by frugivorous birds or bats. Our results imply that isolated trees may play a major role in seed dispersal and establishment of native species, which is of consequence for the preservation of rain‐forest species in these fragmented landscapes.
Tiller demography in seashore populations of Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca rubra and Poa irrigata
Authors: Jónsdóttir Gudrun A.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The dynamics of tillers in natural populations of three cohabiting perennial grass species, Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca rubra and Poa irrigata (= Poa pratensis ssp. irrigata) were studied for five years in a Baltic seashore meadow. The process of tiller population maintenance was very dynamic. Both birth and death rates of tillers were high, particularly in A stolonifera, and the turnover rate of the populations was high. Recruitment was mainly by vegetative tillers, produced continuously throughout the growing season. The proportion of flowering tillers was low, but varied between years. Considerable year‐to‐year variation was also found in birth and death rates. Despite this between‐year variation and the differences found between species in flowering frequency, pattern of survivorship and tiller longevity, population sizes of the species remained relatively constant.
Inferences for life history strategies of Artemisia tridentata subspecies
Authors: Bonham C. D. , Cottrell T. R. , Mitchell J. E.
Published: May 2006

Communities dominated by Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata, A. tridentata ssp. wyomingensis, and A. tridentata ssp. vaseyana, found in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado, were evaluated for life history strategy. Species cover data were analyzed using Grime's (1984) triangular model. Then a canonical analysis was conducted to obtain an ordination of relative species cover. Results from these two analyses were then used to infer strategy differences among life histories of subspecies, based on the respective plant community associates. These differences were found to be consistent with the divergent evolution assumed to have occurred in this species. The primary ordination axis was interpreted as an elevation‐moisture gradient. Further analysis of soil data by factor analysis also separated the three Artemisia subspecies along a soil texture gradient.
Classification, species richness, and environmental relations of monsoon rain forest in northern Australia
Authors: Russell‐Smith Jeremy
Published: May 2006

A floristic classification for monsoon rain forest vegetation in the Northern Territory, Australia, is derived based on comprehensive floristic inventory and environmental data. Allied aims include relating the floristic classification to Australia‐wide structural and floristic schema, documenting species richness, and exploring site‐environmental relations. TWINSPAN classification and complementary DCA analysis of a data set comprising 1219 sites x 55 9 rain forest taxa yielded 16 floristic assemblages. A diagnostic floristic key to these groups is presented. Eight groups describe rain forests associated with sites of perennial moisture; eight groups are associated with seasonally dry landforms. The structural typology of Australian rain forests is found wanting when applied to relatively simple monsoon rain forest communities. Rain forest patches are mostly less than 5 ha in size; maximum species richness is ca. 135 species per patch. Two major environmental gradients are identified through indirect gradient analysis: a primary latitudinal‐moisture gradient and a subsidiary topographic‐drainage gradient. Given the demonstrated tolerance of monsoon rain forest to a broad range of environmental conditions, the question remains: why is this vegetation type so restricted in occurrence in northern Australia?
Hydro‐ecological analysis of the fen system Lieper Posse, eastern Germany
Authors: Van Diggelen R. , Grootjans A. P. , Kemmers R. H. , Kooijman A. M. , Succow M. , De Vries N. P. J. , Van Wirdum G.
Published: May 2006

The Lieper Posse is a calcareous, ground water‐fed fen system, situated in the end‐moraine area of northeastern Germany. Nowadays the fen is partly drained and the vegetation adversely affected; hence regeneration measures are considered. Here we report a pilot survey of the actual vegetation cover in relation to the hydrological conditions of the system.

The vegetation in the central part of the fen system can be assigned to the Caricetum lasiocarpae, with small areas of Eleocharitetum quinqueflorae. The southern part of the system includes a Ledo‐Pinetum sylvestris bog. Along the edges eutrophic forest types are present.

Peat analysis revealed that the system started as an open lake and subsequently changed into a rheophilous mire, ‘percolating mire’. The southern bog has only recently come into being. Hydrological investigations showed that the original mineral‐rich ground water had to a large extent been replaced by acid rainwater; this is likely due to the construction of a ditch before 1850. The effects of this drainage on hydrological conditions and some aspects of soil fertility are discussed. Possible consequences for the restoration of calciphilous vegetation types are being considered. It is concluded that the vegetation development is predictable only to a limited extent, which is mainly due to a lack of knowledge on hysteresis effects in both vegetation and soil.
A simulated map of the potential natural forest vegetation of Switzerland
Authors: Brzeziecki B. , Kienast F. , Wildi O.
Published: May 2006

Using empirical data (ca. 7500 phytosociological releves), a simple, probabilistic ‘vegetation‐site’ model was developed, to simulate geographical distribution of 71 forest community types, representing the potential natural vegetation (PNV) of Switzerland. The model was interfaced to a geographic information system (GIS) and used to generate a numerical vegetation map, on the basis of digital maps of 12 environmental variables including climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation), topography (elevation, slope, aspect), and soil parameters (soil pH and physical soil parameters). The predicted distribution of forest communities was compared with several vegetation maps, prepared for some subregions of Switzerland by means of traditional field methods. Similarity ranged from 50 to 80 %, depending on the community type, level of vegetational hierarchy and the geographical region. The current resolution and accuracy of the simulated vegetation map allows us to study the vegetational patterns on the level of the entire country or its major geographical and climatic regions. The simulated vegetation map is potentially an important tool in ecological risk assessment studies concerning the possible impacts of climate change on the ecological potential of forest sites and biological diversity of forest communities.
Environmental relations of the bryophytic and vascular components of a talus slope plant community
Authors: Cox Janet E. , Larson Douglas W.
Published: May 2006

The environmental factors correlating with community structure of vegetation on talus slopes of the 785 km long Niagara Escarpment, southern Ontario, Canada, were studied using canonical correspondence and regression analysis. The bryophytes and higher vascular plants were analysed separately to see if their responses were similar or different. Both vascular plants and bryophytes responded similarly to the environmental variables that were measured. For both vegetation components, location from north to south explained most of the variance. When species richness was plotted against location for the complete vegetation and for the two components separately, the results showed that vascular plant species richness decreased with increasing latitude, while bryophyte richness increased. The magnitude of both of these trends was slight but consistent with the hypothesis that available environmental energy governs a significant amount of the variance in species richness. Since separate components of the talus vegetation were shown to respond differently to the same environmental variable, groups of taxa should not be excluded from community level studies without a consideration of the possible consequences of this bias.
Experimental analysis of patch dynamics in tallgrass prairie plant communities
Authors: Glenn Susan M. , Collins Scott L.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Previous research has indicated that patch structure at small spatial scales (<100m2) in tallgrass prairies was defined by a diverse array of infrequent species because dominant species occurred in all samples at this scale. Also, patch structure was not significantly different from that derived from random species associations. Based on these results, we hypothesized that remo val of a dominant species would have no effect on patch structure in these prairies. We tested this hypothesis by removing a dominant grass, Schizachyrium scoparium (Poaceae), from half of each of four 10 m × 10 m study blocks, and comparing differences in patch structure between control and removal halves before and after removal. The minimum resolution in our study was 1 m2. Patches of similar species composition were defined by cluster analysis of presence/absence data and cover data. Patch sizes ranged from 1 to 34 m2.

Following the removal of S. scoparium there was an overall increase in the number of species in the removal half of each block compared to pre‐treatment levels. However, the number of patch types and number of spatially mapped groups, based on presence/absence or cover data, did not change between control and removal plots after the removal of S. scoparium. This supports the hypothesis that removal of a large, dominant species would have no effect on patch structure at this scale of resolution in these prairies. Thus, patch structure, as defined here, is an emergent property in these grasslands that is not predictable from changes in species composition. This property of stochastic patch structure results from interactions of processes operating at scales both larger and smaller than our scale of resolution. Stochastic models may provide a reasonable approach to modelling small‐scale patch dynamics in tallgrass prairie communities.
New Zealand machair vegetation
Authors: Wilson J. Bastow , Watkins Anni J. , Rapson Gillian L. , Bannister Peter
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Machair vegetation is reported for the first time from New Zealand. The habitat is similar to that of British machairs in climate, topography and generally in soil. pH and CaCO3 content are much lower through most of the sequence, though this difference may partly reflect the greater disturbance of British machair. Sea machair is present, predominantly comprising native species. This grades into machair proper, which contains many species found also in British machair. The machair includes Ammophila‐occupied hillocks, a feature typical of British machair. Machair marsh is also present.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Burrows Colin J.
Published: May 2006

Book reviewed in this issue.

John A. Matthews. 1992. The Ecology of Recently Deglaciated Terrain. A Geoecological Approach to Glacier Forelands and Primary Succession. xvii + 386 pp. ISBN 0–521–36109–5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Price: USD 120.‐.
Habitat‐related variation in tree leaf form in four tropical forest types on Pulau Ubin, Singapore
Authors: Turner I. M. , Tan H. T. W.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Sun leaves from 37 species of tree and shrub were collected in four forest types on Pulau Ubin, Singapore. Evidence of habitat‐related variation in the form of leaves is presented. The species were from the habitats: mangrove, beach forest, adinandra belukar (secondary forest on degraded soils) and secondary forest on undegraded soils. The mangrove forest species sampled had thicker leaves with a lower specific leaf area than the beach forest species. Leaves of species from the adinandra belukar were thicker and smaller, with more dry weight per unit area, than those of pioneers from undegraded sites. This is interpreted as oligotrophic xeromorphy in adinandra belukar.