title: Historical museum samples reveal signals of selection and drift in response to changing insecticide use in an agricultural pest moth

authors: Parvizi, Elahe

subjects: cotton bollworm

abstract: In response to environmental and human-imposed selective pressures, agroecosystem pests frequently undergo rapid evolution, with some species having a remarkable capacity to rapidly develop pesticide resistance. Temporal sampling of genomic data can comprehensively capture such adaptive changes over time, for example, by elucidating allele frequency shifts in pesticide resistance loci in response to different pesticides. Here, we leveraged museum specimens spanning over a century of collections to generate temporal contrasts between pre- and post-insecticide populations of an agricultural pest moth, Helicoverpa armigera. We used targeted exon sequencing of 254 samples collected across Australia from the pre-1950s (prior to insecticide introduction) to the 1990s, encompassing decades of changing insecticide use. Our sequencing approach focused on genes that are known to be involved in insecticide resistance, environmental sensation, and stress tolerance. We found an overall lack of spatial and temporal population structure change across Australia. In some decades (e.g., 1960s and 1970s), we found a moderate reduction of genetic diversity, implying stochasticity in evolutionary trajectories due to genetic drift. Temporal genome scans showed extensive evidence of selection following insecticide use, although the majority of selected variants were low impact. Finally, alternating trajectories of allele frequency change were suggestive of potential antagonistic pleiotropy. Our results provide new insights into recent evolutionary responses in an agricultural pest and show how temporal contrasts using museum specimens can improve mechanistic understanding of rapid evolution.

text: Historical museum samples reveal signals of selection and drift in response to changing insecticide use in an agricultural pest moth In response to environmental and human-imposed selective pressures, agroecosystem pests frequently undergo rapid evolution, with some species having a remarkable capacity to rapidly develop pesticide resistance. Temporal sampling of genomic data can comprehensively capture such adaptive changes over time, for example, by elucidating allele frequency shifts in pesticide resistance loci in response to different pesticides. Here, we leveraged museum specimens spanning over a century of collections to generate temporal contrasts between pre- and post-insecticide populations of an agricultural pest moth, Helicoverpa armigera. We used targeted exon sequencing of 254 samples collected across Australia from the pre-1950s (prior to insecticide introduction) to the 1990s, encompassing decades of changing insecticide use. Our sequencing approach focused on genes that are known to be involved in insecticide resistance, environmental sensation, and stress tolerance. We found an overall lack of spatial and temporal population structure change across Australia. In some decades (e.g., 1960s and 1970s), we found a moderate reduction of genetic diversity, implying stochasticity in evolutionary trajectories due to genetic drift. Temporal genome scans showed extensive evidence of selection following insecticide use, although the majority of selected variants were low impact. Finally, alternating trajectories of allele frequency change were suggestive of potential antagonistic pleiotropy. Our results provide new insights into recent evolutionary responses in an agricultural pest and show how temporal contrasts using museum specimens can improve mechanistic understanding of rapid evolution.

year: 2024

title: Constructing and Reconstructing Criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Dominant Media Discourses on Crime and Criminality and their Impact on Offenders’ Identities and Rehabilitation Efforts

authors: Riches, Murray

subjects: Media Discourse

abstract: This study investigates the dominant media discourses and ideologies surrounding crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand, how such discourses are constructed and legitimised by media reporting of crime, and the implications of these discourses for deemed offenders. 
The study firstly involves a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of ‘mainstream’ media reports relating to crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand over a 12-month period – paying particular attention to the reporting evident in two major newspaper outlets. This analysis reveals two key themes: the construction of criminal offenders as undeserving criminalised others – particularly through the use of truth-claims about criminality and the simplification of offenders’ identities – and the legitimisation of retributive, tough-on-crime, responses to offending. 
The analysis of media discourses is augmented by an ethnographic study of an offender rehabilitation programme. This investigation is used to explore how dominant discourses and ideologies on crime and criminality contribute to the construction of offenders’ self-identities, the impact of such identity construction on their patterns of offending and rehabilitation, as well as the ways in which these discourses are contested (or reinforced) by those deemed ‘offenders’. This follow-up ethnographic case study involves participant observation, focus groups and interviews with participants of the Good Lives Model offender rehabilitation programme at Anglican Action in Hamilton over a 12-month period. The participants of this programme are men transitioning back into the community after serving significant prison sentences. 
The ethnographic investigation reveals the ways the otherising discourses exposed in the CDA are present for, and effect, the men as they make the challenging journey out of prison, particularly in their experiences of discrimination and otherisation when seeking to engage with, and transition back into, the wider community. This exploration also reveals a nuanced negotiation of identity and power, whereby the men both draw on and challenge the dominant discourses at different times in the process of negotiating an identity position and accessing agency within a marginalising discursive framework. 
Thus, the discourse analysis and the ethnographic study together provide rich insights into the pervasive impacts of dominant public constructions of criminality on offenders’ sense of identity and on their attempts to reintegrate with society.
The study concludes by arguing that the CDA and ethnographic investigation together emphasise the need to challenge the destructive nature of the dominant discourses and cultivate a more inclusive and reasoned discursive framework for exploring ideas around crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The thesis argues that one way to counter the ‘wilful blindness’ exemplified in media and public discourses, is through the use of story for it is through listening and seeking to know the other that we can begin to have our assumptions challenged. 
It is important to note that this thesis in no way endorses any criminal offending nor does it seek to minimise the pain and suffering of any victims of crime. Rather, it argues that such a dualistic understanding of crime, and the relationship between victims and offenders, only inhibits our ability to look at the issues surrounding crime and criminality with clarity.

text: Constructing and Reconstructing Criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Dominant Media Discourses on Crime and Criminality and their Impact on Offenders’ Identities and Rehabilitation Efforts This study investigates the dominant media discourses and ideologies surrounding crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand, how such discourses are constructed and legitimised by media reporting of crime, and the implications of these discourses for deemed offenders. 
The study firstly involves a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of ‘mainstream’ media reports relating to crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand over a 12-month period – paying particular attention to the reporting evident in two major newspaper outlets. This analysis reveals two key themes: the construction of criminal offenders as undeserving criminalised others – particularly through the use of truth-claims about criminality and the simplification of offenders’ identities – and the legitimisation of retributive, tough-on-crime, responses to offending. 
The analysis of media discourses is augmented by an ethnographic study of an offender rehabilitation programme. This investigation is used to explore how dominant discourses and ideologies on crime and criminality contribute to the construction of offenders’ self-identities, the impact of such identity construction on their patterns of offending and rehabilitation, as well as the ways in which these discourses are contested (or reinforced) by those deemed ‘offenders’. This follow-up ethnographic case study involves participant observation, focus groups and interviews with participants of the Good Lives Model offender rehabilitation programme at Anglican Action in Hamilton over a 12-month period. The participants of this programme are men transitioning back into the community after serving significant prison sentences. 
The ethnographic investigation reveals the ways the otherising discourses exposed in the CDA are present for, and effect, the men as they make the challenging journey out of prison, particularly in their experiences of discrimination and otherisation when seeking to engage with, and transition back into, the wider community. This exploration also reveals a nuanced negotiation of identity and power, whereby the men both draw on and challenge the dominant discourses at different times in the process of negotiating an identity position and accessing agency within a marginalising discursive framework. 
Thus, the discourse analysis and the ethnographic study together provide rich insights into the pervasive impacts of dominant public constructions of criminality on offenders’ sense of identity and on their attempts to reintegrate with society.
The study concludes by arguing that the CDA and ethnographic investigation together emphasise the need to challenge the destructive nature of the dominant discourses and cultivate a more inclusive and reasoned discursive framework for exploring ideas around crime and criminality in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The thesis argues that one way to counter the ‘wilful blindness’ exemplified in media and public discourses, is through the use of story for it is through listening and seeking to know the other that we can begin to have our assumptions challenged. 
It is important to note that this thesis in no way endorses any criminal offending nor does it seek to minimise the pain and suffering of any victims of crime. Rather, it argues that such a dualistic understanding of crime, and the relationship between victims and offenders, only inhibits our ability to look at the issues surrounding crime and criminality with clarity.

year: 2014

title: Maori internal and international migration at the turn of the century: An Australasian perspective

authors: Bedford, Richard

abstract: At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were two major national clusters of Maori: New Zealand, the ancestral home for Maori, and Australia, home to a much smaller Maori population from the early years of the nineteenth century. In the 2001 censuses of New Zealand and Australia, the usually resident Maori populations were, respectively, 526,281 (ethnic group classification) and 72,956 (ancestry classification). In this paper we examine four dimensions of Maori population movement between 1996 and 2001 using the census data from New Zealand and Australia: 1) internal migration between rural and urban areas in New Zealand; 2) internal migration between rural and urban areas in Australia; 3) migration into New Zealand of Maori resident overseas in 1996; 4) migration into Australia of Maori resident overseas in 1996. There has never been a comprehensive assessment of Maori migration in an Australasian context before, but in the light of developments in population exchanges between New Zealand and Australia this sort of analysis is critical if one wishes to understand contemporary Maori population dynamics.

text: Maori internal and international migration at the turn of the century: An Australasian perspective At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were two major national clusters of Maori: New Zealand, the ancestral home for Maori, and Australia, home to a much smaller Maori population from the early years of the nineteenth century. In the 2001 censuses of New Zealand and Australia, the usually resident Maori populations were, respectively, 526,281 (ethnic group classification) and 72,956 (ancestry classification). In this paper we examine four dimensions of Maori population movement between 1996 and 2001 using the census data from New Zealand and Australia: 1) internal migration between rural and urban areas in New Zealand; 2) internal migration between rural and urban areas in Australia; 3) migration into New Zealand of Maori resident overseas in 1996; 4) migration into Australia of Maori resident overseas in 1996. There has never been a comprehensive assessment of Maori migration in an Australasian context before, but in the light of developments in population exchanges between New Zealand and Australia this sort of analysis is critical if one wishes to understand contemporary Maori population dynamics.

year: 2004