title: Imperial landscapes of health: Place, plants and people between India and Australia, 1800s-1900s.

authors: Beattie, James John

subjects: Imperial health

abstract: In the nineteenth century, place bore immediately and urgently on questions of imperialism, race, and health. This article considers European strategies to control local environments and improve healthiness through the exchange of people, plants, ideas and garden designs between India and Australia. Migration removed Europeans from unhealthy environments, either permanently (to Australia and elsewhere) or temporarily (to hill stations in India). Trees like the eucalyptus were introduced into India to enhance European health, based on belief they drained sources of disease. I argue a crucial new understanding of the intersection between health and place in the nineteenth-century British Empire can be provided by tracing the networks through which people, plants, and ideas moved to consider the broader imperial frameworks.

text: Imperial landscapes of health: Place, plants and people between India and Australia, 1800s-1900s. In the nineteenth century, place bore immediately and urgently on questions of imperialism, race, and health. This article considers European strategies to control local environments and improve healthiness through the exchange of people, plants, ideas and garden designs between India and Australia. Migration removed Europeans from unhealthy environments, either permanently (to Australia and elsewhere) or temporarily (to hill stations in India). Trees like the eucalyptus were introduced into India to enhance European health, based on belief they drained sources of disease. I argue a crucial new understanding of the intersection between health and place in the nineteenth-century British Empire can be provided by tracing the networks through which people, plants, and ideas moved to consider the broader imperial frameworks.

year: 2012

title: Trends in soil carbon and nutrients of hill-country pastures receiving different phosphorus fertilizer loadings for 20 years

authors: Schipper, Louis A.

subjects: soil carbon

abstract: There are few records of long-term trends in soil C and N in grazed pasture systems but recent measurements have demonstrated unexplained losses on New Zealand lowlands. To determine whether losses were also occurring in hill country pastures, we analyzed archived soil samples collected between 1983 and 2006 from two slope classes (steep and easy) at the Whatawhata Research Centre. Soils were Ultic Hapludand and Typic Haplohumult on the easy slopes (10–20°), and Typic Haplohumult on the steeper slopes (30–40°). Soil samples (0–75 mm) had been collected from paddocks that were fertilized with six different loading rates of P (ranging from 0 to 100 kg P ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ since 1985). This range of P loadings allowed us to determine whether P inputs would regulate trends in soil C and N. While there were significant temporal trends in C and N (P < 0.05), these were not unidirectional and trends were not dependent on P loading rate. On average, soil C initially increased during the first 6 years of the trial at 0.270% C year⁻¹ (1.56 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) and 0.156% C year⁻¹ (1.06 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on easy and steep slopes, respectively. Subsequently, there was no significant trend in soil C on the easy slopes but soil C declined at −0.066% year⁻¹ (0.45 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on the steep slopes. Similarly, soil N increased between 1983 and 1989 at 0.025% N year⁻¹ (144 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) and 0.012% N year⁻¹ (82 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on easy and steep slopes, respectively. Post-1989, small but significant losses of total N were measured on the steep slopes of 0.004% year⁻¹ (27 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) (P < 0.05) with no trend on the easy slopes. Two potential causal factors for these decadal-scale patterns were identified, operating via changes in primary productivity. These were lower S inputs from 1989 due to a change in fertilizer type, and a series of relatively dry summers during the 1990s. These significant inter-annual trends in soil C and N complicate attempts to measure long-term changes in soil organic matter associated with land use change and management practices. This study has demonstrated the potential error associated with infrequent soil sampling to determine long-term trends in soil C and N; large gains or losses could have been detected at Whatawhata depending on when sampling started and finished. Understanding these long-term trends in soil organic matter dynamics and driving factors requires more long-term sampling trials.

text: Trends in soil carbon and nutrients of hill-country pastures receiving different phosphorus fertilizer loadings for 20 years There are few records of long-term trends in soil C and N in grazed pasture systems but recent measurements have demonstrated unexplained losses on New Zealand lowlands. To determine whether losses were also occurring in hill country pastures, we analyzed archived soil samples collected between 1983 and 2006 from two slope classes (steep and easy) at the Whatawhata Research Centre. Soils were Ultic Hapludand and Typic Haplohumult on the easy slopes (10–20°), and Typic Haplohumult on the steeper slopes (30–40°). Soil samples (0–75 mm) had been collected from paddocks that were fertilized with six different loading rates of P (ranging from 0 to 100 kg P ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ since 1985). This range of P loadings allowed us to determine whether P inputs would regulate trends in soil C and N. While there were significant temporal trends in C and N (P < 0.05), these were not unidirectional and trends were not dependent on P loading rate. On average, soil C initially increased during the first 6 years of the trial at 0.270% C year⁻¹ (1.56 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) and 0.156% C year⁻¹ (1.06 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on easy and steep slopes, respectively. Subsequently, there was no significant trend in soil C on the easy slopes but soil C declined at −0.066% year⁻¹ (0.45 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on the steep slopes. Similarly, soil N increased between 1983 and 1989 at 0.025% N year⁻¹ (144 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) and 0.012% N year⁻¹ (82 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) on easy and steep slopes, respectively. Post-1989, small but significant losses of total N were measured on the steep slopes of 0.004% year⁻¹ (27 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) (P < 0.05) with no trend on the easy slopes. Two potential causal factors for these decadal-scale patterns were identified, operating via changes in primary productivity. These were lower S inputs from 1989 due to a change in fertilizer type, and a series of relatively dry summers during the 1990s. These significant inter-annual trends in soil C and N complicate attempts to measure long-term changes in soil organic matter associated with land use change and management practices. This study has demonstrated the potential error associated with infrequent soil sampling to determine long-term trends in soil C and N; large gains or losses could have been detected at Whatawhata depending on when sampling started and finished. Understanding these long-term trends in soil organic matter dynamics and driving factors requires more long-term sampling trials.

year: 2010

title: Protecting the heartwood: How can tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori inform the construction of digital identities and relational responsibilities to data in Aotearoa New Zealand?

authors: Lucas, Danielle

abstract: A report prepared by Danielle Lucas as part of the Tikanga in Technology research project

text: Protecting the heartwood: How can tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori inform the construction of digital identities and relational responsibilities to data in Aotearoa New Zealand? A report prepared by Danielle Lucas as part of the Tikanga in Technology research project

year: 2025-02-11