title: Variation in mandible shape and body size of house mice Mus musculus across the New Zealand archipelago: A Trans-Tasman comparison using geometric morphometrics

authors: West, Annie Grace

subjects: geometric morphometrics

abstract: Islands create unique environments that provide niche expansion opportunities for invading species not previously available on continental areas. This thesis investigates variation in house mouse mandible shape and body size across the New Zealand archipelago, and aims to identify environmental variables that might influence change between island populations using geometric morphometric techniques.
Mice were introduced to New Zealand in the early 19th century with European explorers and settlers. The Mus phylogroups currently known in New Zealand include Mus musculus domesticus, M. m. musculus, and M. m. castaneus. Each of these subspecies has a distinct distribution throughout the archipelago, with M. m. domesticus dominating the northern New Zealand ‘mainland’.
Past studies have shown habitat composition and co-existence with rats can significantly influence the activity and behaviour of house mice. Additionally, environmental events such as seed masting are known to provide abundant food resources that inflate house mouse density. Consequently, different habitats may promote variation in dietary components. Here I examined variation between house mice inhabiting five different forest environments across the North and South Islands. Significant variation in mandible shape and body size was found between all five forest populations. Annual rainfall was the most significant covariate with mandible shape. General variation in body size somewhat followed rising latitude, supporting the general ecological trend known as Bergmann’s rule. Habitat type, ambient temperature, and presence of rats were also significant predictors of body size under regression.
Ecological complexity and biodiversity are known to vary with island size. Islands with greater landmass are associated with increased habitat and species diversity which support heightened competition and predation. Small mammals colonising diminutive, remote islands often experience ecological release from these interactions, leading to the largest cases of gigantism currently known. This study investigated variation between six populations of house mice on small, often very remote islands in the New Zealand archipelago. Significant variation in body size and mandible shape was found between all six populations, but again, rainfall was the most significant covariate with mandible shape. The general pattern in body size between island populations followed Bergmann’s rule, and is also consistent with previous studies that observe an inverse relationship between island size and body size, peaking at 50° latitudes. Ambient temperature, rainfall, and genetics were also significant predictors of body size.
Significant variation was also found between all New Zealand mouse populations compared with samples from Sydney. Australia. Sydney was an important shipping port during the settlement of New Zealand. Modern Sydney house mice are probably descendants of the original population from which northern New Zealand domesticus mice are derived. Sydney mandibles clustered with extreme examples of variation in New Zealand mouse mandible shapes on separate axes. Collectively, these studies describe significant variation between distinct house mouse populations of the New Zealand archipelago, and lay the foundations for further research in this area.

text: Variation in mandible shape and body size of house mice Mus musculus across the New Zealand archipelago: A Trans-Tasman comparison using geometric morphometrics Islands create unique environments that provide niche expansion opportunities for invading species not previously available on continental areas. This thesis investigates variation in house mouse mandible shape and body size across the New Zealand archipelago, and aims to identify environmental variables that might influence change between island populations using geometric morphometric techniques.
Mice were introduced to New Zealand in the early 19th century with European explorers and settlers. The Mus phylogroups currently known in New Zealand include Mus musculus domesticus, M. m. musculus, and M. m. castaneus. Each of these subspecies has a distinct distribution throughout the archipelago, with M. m. domesticus dominating the northern New Zealand ‘mainland’.
Past studies have shown habitat composition and co-existence with rats can significantly influence the activity and behaviour of house mice. Additionally, environmental events such as seed masting are known to provide abundant food resources that inflate house mouse density. Consequently, different habitats may promote variation in dietary components. Here I examined variation between house mice inhabiting five different forest environments across the North and South Islands. Significant variation in mandible shape and body size was found between all five forest populations. Annual rainfall was the most significant covariate with mandible shape. General variation in body size somewhat followed rising latitude, supporting the general ecological trend known as Bergmann’s rule. Habitat type, ambient temperature, and presence of rats were also significant predictors of body size under regression.
Ecological complexity and biodiversity are known to vary with island size. Islands with greater landmass are associated with increased habitat and species diversity which support heightened competition and predation. Small mammals colonising diminutive, remote islands often experience ecological release from these interactions, leading to the largest cases of gigantism currently known. This study investigated variation between six populations of house mice on small, often very remote islands in the New Zealand archipelago. Significant variation in body size and mandible shape was found between all six populations, but again, rainfall was the most significant covariate with mandible shape. The general pattern in body size between island populations followed Bergmann’s rule, and is also consistent with previous studies that observe an inverse relationship between island size and body size, peaking at 50° latitudes. Ambient temperature, rainfall, and genetics were also significant predictors of body size.
Significant variation was also found between all New Zealand mouse populations compared with samples from Sydney. Australia. Sydney was an important shipping port during the settlement of New Zealand. Modern Sydney house mice are probably descendants of the original population from which northern New Zealand domesticus mice are derived. Sydney mandibles clustered with extreme examples of variation in New Zealand mouse mandible shapes on separate axes. Collectively, these studies describe significant variation between distinct house mouse populations of the New Zealand archipelago, and lay the foundations for further research in this area.

year: 2017

title: The Indigeneity of Archaeological Research in Fiji: Issues and Opportunities

authors: Vunidilo, Tarisi Sorovi

subjects: Fiji

abstract: A literature review showed that there are substantial materials written on Fiji with regards to the search to identify the origin of Fijians. Archaeologists, in particular, began their work in the early 1900s (see Chapter 5). They use cultural material, either from the earth surface or excavated from below, as evidence to reconstruct ancient societies. They also use materials written by early explorers to attempt to map out the pre-contact period. Parry (1981), used air photography to assess landscapes in his work in the Navua delta. Through this form of assessment, he was able to identify hill-forts, ring-ditches and old village settlements. He was also able to utilise oral history, collected from local residents, to identify stories of war, which were then substantiated by archaeological sites and place names (Parry, 1981:30). This thesis aims to build further on the work of Parry (1981) in terms of his work with both archaeology and oral history. The aim is to discuss this relationship between the two research methods and identify factors that can clearly state what indigenous Fijians know and believe as their place of origin. Nabobo-Baba (2006) has highlighted the importance of an indigenous perspective approach to research. This is an area that I have personally experienced in my work in the field of archaeology at the Fiji Museum. This collaboration included the proactive involvement and recognition of local staff in the research, in most cases through co-authorship, and in other cases they were acknowledged in academic reports and relevant writings. I believe that traditional knowledge should be just as highly regarded as western and scientific knowledge.

text: The Indigeneity of Archaeological Research in Fiji: Issues and Opportunities A literature review showed that there are substantial materials written on Fiji with regards to the search to identify the origin of Fijians. Archaeologists, in particular, began their work in the early 1900s (see Chapter 5). They use cultural material, either from the earth surface or excavated from below, as evidence to reconstruct ancient societies. They also use materials written by early explorers to attempt to map out the pre-contact period. Parry (1981), used air photography to assess landscapes in his work in the Navua delta. Through this form of assessment, he was able to identify hill-forts, ring-ditches and old village settlements. He was also able to utilise oral history, collected from local residents, to identify stories of war, which were then substantiated by archaeological sites and place names (Parry, 1981:30). This thesis aims to build further on the work of Parry (1981) in terms of his work with both archaeology and oral history. The aim is to discuss this relationship between the two research methods and identify factors that can clearly state what indigenous Fijians know and believe as their place of origin. Nabobo-Baba (2006) has highlighted the importance of an indigenous perspective approach to research. This is an area that I have personally experienced in my work in the field of archaeology at the Fiji Museum. This collaboration included the proactive involvement and recognition of local staff in the research, in most cases through co-authorship, and in other cases they were acknowledged in academic reports and relevant writings. I believe that traditional knowledge should be just as highly regarded as western and scientific knowledge.

year: 2010

title: Mana Wahine Geographies: Spiritual, Spatial and Embodied Understandings of Papatūānuku

authors: Simmonds, Naomi Beth

subjects: Mana wahine

abstract: This thesis is a theoretical and empirical exploration of Māori women's knowledges and understandings of Papatūānuku in contemporary Aotearoa. The primary focus of this research is on the complexities, connections, and contradictions of Māori women's embodied relationships with the spaces of Papatūānuku - spaces that are simultaneously material, discursive, symbolic, and spiritual. In doing so, I displace the boundaries between coloniser/colonised, self/other, rational/irrational and scientific/spiritual. I demonstrate that Māori women's colonised realities produce multiple, complex and hybrid understandings of Papatūānuku. 

This thesis has three main strands. The first is theoretical. I offer mana wahine (Māori feminist discourses) as another perspective for geography that engages with the complex intersections of colonisation, race and gender. A mana wahine geography framework is a useful lens through which to explore the complexities of Māori women's relationships to space and place. This framework contributes to, and draws together, feminist geographies and Māori and indigenous academic scholarship.

Autobiographical material is woven with joint and individual semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with nine Māori women in the Waikato region. The second strand, woven into this thesis, is a critical examination of the colonisation of Māori women's spiritual and embodied relationships to Papatūānuku. The invisibility of Māori women's knowledges in dominant conceptualisations of mythology, tikanga and wairua discourses is not a harmless omission rather it contains a political imperative that maintains the hegemony of colonialism and patriarchy. I argue that to understand further Māori women's relationships to space and place an examination of wairua discourses is necessary.

The third strand reconfigures embodied and spatial conceptualisations of Papatūānuku. Māori women's maternal bodies are intimately tied to Papatūānuku in a way that challenges the oppositional distinctions between mind/body and biology/social inscription. Māori women's maternal bodies (and the representation of them in te reo Māori) are constructed by, and in turn, construct Papatūānuku. Furthermore, women's spatial relationship to tūrangawaewae, home space and wider environmental concerns demonstrates the co-constitution of subjectivities, bodies and space/place. 

My hope is that this thesis will add to geographical literature by addressing previously ignored knowledges and that it will contribute to indigenous scholarship by providing a spatial perspective.

text: Mana Wahine Geographies: Spiritual, Spatial and Embodied Understandings of Papatūānuku This thesis is a theoretical and empirical exploration of Māori women's knowledges and understandings of Papatūānuku in contemporary Aotearoa. The primary focus of this research is on the complexities, connections, and contradictions of Māori women's embodied relationships with the spaces of Papatūānuku - spaces that are simultaneously material, discursive, symbolic, and spiritual. In doing so, I displace the boundaries between coloniser/colonised, self/other, rational/irrational and scientific/spiritual. I demonstrate that Māori women's colonised realities produce multiple, complex and hybrid understandings of Papatūānuku. 

This thesis has three main strands. The first is theoretical. I offer mana wahine (Māori feminist discourses) as another perspective for geography that engages with the complex intersections of colonisation, race and gender. A mana wahine geography framework is a useful lens through which to explore the complexities of Māori women's relationships to space and place. This framework contributes to, and draws together, feminist geographies and Māori and indigenous academic scholarship.

Autobiographical material is woven with joint and individual semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with nine Māori women in the Waikato region. The second strand, woven into this thesis, is a critical examination of the colonisation of Māori women's spiritual and embodied relationships to Papatūānuku. The invisibility of Māori women's knowledges in dominant conceptualisations of mythology, tikanga and wairua discourses is not a harmless omission rather it contains a political imperative that maintains the hegemony of colonialism and patriarchy. I argue that to understand further Māori women's relationships to space and place an examination of wairua discourses is necessary.

The third strand reconfigures embodied and spatial conceptualisations of Papatūānuku. Māori women's maternal bodies are intimately tied to Papatūānuku in a way that challenges the oppositional distinctions between mind/body and biology/social inscription. Māori women's maternal bodies (and the representation of them in te reo Māori) are constructed by, and in turn, construct Papatūānuku. Furthermore, women's spatial relationship to tūrangawaewae, home space and wider environmental concerns demonstrates the co-constitution of subjectivities, bodies and space/place. 

My hope is that this thesis will add to geographical literature by addressing previously ignored knowledges and that it will contribute to indigenous scholarship by providing a spatial perspective.

year: 2009