title: Transient geographies: 50:50 sharemilking in the Waikato

authors: Adams-Hutcheson, Gail

subjects: assemblage

abstract: Spacings of mobile farming in New Zealand: Assemblages of cows, bodies, farms and the weather Weather changes moods – Nirvana, “In bloom” (1991) Cresswell (2011) broadens mobility studies to include non-human objects and structures, but rarely, non-human animals and the weather. I add here both livestock and the more literal atmospheric conditions of sun, wind and rain which are largely missing from mobilities studies. Weather is ubiquitous, yet hard to ignore – it impacts on both researcher and the researched. I visited farms and was: jumped-up-on by dogs, rode on 4-wheel bikes, got licked by calves [happy/sunny], felt hot, got covered in dust [tired/sweltering], stood still in the milking-shed [tension/cold], and was blasted by freezing winds and slopped through thick mud [depression/winter wet]. For Ash (2013a, 35) “the body is a kind of living or somatic memory, which is composed of various retentional apparatuses”, which become ignited by alignment of senses. In this paper I argue for attention to be paid to sharemilking and the materiality of atmospheres to draw attention to the ‘centrifugal’ forces of mobile rural dwelling. Sharemilking is a largely unique agrarian practice in New Zealand which is embedded in the notion of mobility. Sharemilkers typically own the livestock and machinery, but not the land and enter into contract with landowners on a share profit basis. Contracts are finished and new ones are taken up on a set day, the 1st June which is often termed colloquially as ‘Gypsy-day’. The contract nature of sharemilking stimulates a cascade of mobilities and enabling infrastructures (assemblages) as farmers move on a stuttering schedule of contract renewals. The frequent upheaval of hundreds of large animals and sheer amount of equipment moved, which is needed to run a sharemilking operation, does warrant further consideration.

text: Transient geographies: 50:50 sharemilking in the Waikato Spacings of mobile farming in New Zealand: Assemblages of cows, bodies, farms and the weather Weather changes moods – Nirvana, “In bloom” (1991) Cresswell (2011) broadens mobility studies to include non-human objects and structures, but rarely, non-human animals and the weather. I add here both livestock and the more literal atmospheric conditions of sun, wind and rain which are largely missing from mobilities studies. Weather is ubiquitous, yet hard to ignore – it impacts on both researcher and the researched. I visited farms and was: jumped-up-on by dogs, rode on 4-wheel bikes, got licked by calves [happy/sunny], felt hot, got covered in dust [tired/sweltering], stood still in the milking-shed [tension/cold], and was blasted by freezing winds and slopped through thick mud [depression/winter wet]. For Ash (2013a, 35) “the body is a kind of living or somatic memory, which is composed of various retentional apparatuses”, which become ignited by alignment of senses. In this paper I argue for attention to be paid to sharemilking and the materiality of atmospheres to draw attention to the ‘centrifugal’ forces of mobile rural dwelling. Sharemilking is a largely unique agrarian practice in New Zealand which is embedded in the notion of mobility. Sharemilkers typically own the livestock and machinery, but not the land and enter into contract with landowners on a share profit basis. Contracts are finished and new ones are taken up on a set day, the 1st June which is often termed colloquially as ‘Gypsy-day’. The contract nature of sharemilking stimulates a cascade of mobilities and enabling infrastructures (assemblages) as farmers move on a stuttering schedule of contract renewals. The frequent upheaval of hundreds of large animals and sheer amount of equipment moved, which is needed to run a sharemilking operation, does warrant further consideration.

year: 2016

title: The whole-plant compensation point as a measure of juvenile tree light requirements

authors: Lusk, Christopher H.

subjects: forest dynamics

abstract: 1.	Although ‘shade tolerance’ has featured prominently in the vocabulary of foresters and ecologists for a century, we have yet to agree on a standardized method for quantifying this elusive property. The ‘whole-plant compensation point’, interpolated from stem growth measurements across a wide range of light environments, has been proposed as a simple, robust measure of species shade tolerance. Others have argued that shade tolerance is primarily a function of differential ability to survive periods of slow growth (‘suppression’), implying that measurements of survival are vital.
2.	We measured growth of juveniles (500–1000 mm tall) of five evergreen trees over 12 months in a cool-temperate rain forest in New Zealand, to determine whether whole-plant compensation points predicted species differences in occupancy of understorey light environments, which were quantified using hemispherical photography.
3.	The five species encompassed 3•5-fold variation in whole-plant compensation points. Compensation points of most species fell within the first quartile of the distribution of light environments occupied by juveniles; they were also correlated with low-light mortality rates of juveniles, estimated from permanent plot data archived in the National Vegetation Survey Databank. Compensation points were also significantly positively correlated with height growth rates in high light, confirming the presence of the growth vs. shade tolerance trade-off detected in many other forest tree assemblages.
4.	Results show that, in temperate evergreen forests, the whole-plant compensation point distinguishes reliably between species of differing shade tolerance. Excepting situations involving parameterization of demographic models, shade tolerance can therefore be assessed without survival measurements. However, estimating whole-plant compensation points may prove more difficult in deciduous forests, where seasonal variation in understorey light transmission poses additional challenges.

text: The whole-plant compensation point as a measure of juvenile tree light requirements 1.	Although ‘shade tolerance’ has featured prominently in the vocabulary of foresters and ecologists for a century, we have yet to agree on a standardized method for quantifying this elusive property. The ‘whole-plant compensation point’, interpolated from stem growth measurements across a wide range of light environments, has been proposed as a simple, robust measure of species shade tolerance. Others have argued that shade tolerance is primarily a function of differential ability to survive periods of slow growth (‘suppression’), implying that measurements of survival are vital.
2.	We measured growth of juveniles (500–1000 mm tall) of five evergreen trees over 12 months in a cool-temperate rain forest in New Zealand, to determine whether whole-plant compensation points predicted species differences in occupancy of understorey light environments, which were quantified using hemispherical photography.
3.	The five species encompassed 3•5-fold variation in whole-plant compensation points. Compensation points of most species fell within the first quartile of the distribution of light environments occupied by juveniles; they were also correlated with low-light mortality rates of juveniles, estimated from permanent plot data archived in the National Vegetation Survey Databank. Compensation points were also significantly positively correlated with height growth rates in high light, confirming the presence of the growth vs. shade tolerance trade-off detected in many other forest tree assemblages.
4.	Results show that, in temperate evergreen forests, the whole-plant compensation point distinguishes reliably between species of differing shade tolerance. Excepting situations involving parameterization of demographic models, shade tolerance can therefore be assessed without survival measurements. However, estimating whole-plant compensation points may prove more difficult in deciduous forests, where seasonal variation in understorey light transmission poses additional challenges.

year: 2013

title: Ngā takenga o te riri

authors: Murphy, Ēnoka

subjects: Pakanga

abstract: Ko te kaupapa ake o tēnei tuhinga, ko te whakawhāriki i ētahi kōrero mō te takenga mai o te riri, o te pakanga ki tā rā ngā kōrero a te Māori. Ko aua take mai rā kei ngā kōrero o tua whakarere, e hokia ana ki a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku me tā rāua hūnuku. Ko tāna e pātai ake nei, nō hea ake te riri Māori, otirā, te pakanga a te Māori? Nō hea anō hoki āna tikanga? He aha ā ērā kōrero tauiratanga mai ki te toa o te Māori ki te whawhai. Ka mutu, ko te wāhi uaua pea o ngā pātai nei, ko te āhua ki ngā kōrero a te Māori kāore nei i te tapatahi mō te oroko hīmatanga. Ahakoa rā, tērā ōna rite, ōna rerekē. Kua tuhia nuitia te kaupapa o te oroko tīmatanga mai o te ao e ngā momo o te kaituhi Pākehā, ā, tērā anō hoki ko ngā tuhinga a te Māori ake. Inā te rerekē o ngā kōrero mō te oroko hīmatanga mai o te ao, tērā noa ētahi kōrero kua tīkina hei mātaitanga mō tēnei rangahau, mō tēnei tuhinga. Ka mutu, ko tā tēnei tuhinga, he whakaatu i te takenga mai o te riri, o te matawhāura Māori.

text: Ngā takenga o te riri Ko te kaupapa ake o tēnei tuhinga, ko te whakawhāriki i ētahi kōrero mō te takenga mai o te riri, o te pakanga ki tā rā ngā kōrero a te Māori. Ko aua take mai rā kei ngā kōrero o tua whakarere, e hokia ana ki a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku me tā rāua hūnuku. Ko tāna e pātai ake nei, nō hea ake te riri Māori, otirā, te pakanga a te Māori? Nō hea anō hoki āna tikanga? He aha ā ērā kōrero tauiratanga mai ki te toa o te Māori ki te whawhai. Ka mutu, ko te wāhi uaua pea o ngā pātai nei, ko te āhua ki ngā kōrero a te Māori kāore nei i te tapatahi mō te oroko hīmatanga. Ahakoa rā, tērā ōna rite, ōna rerekē. Kua tuhia nuitia te kaupapa o te oroko tīmatanga mai o te ao e ngā momo o te kaituhi Pākehā, ā, tērā anō hoki ko ngā tuhinga a te Māori ake. Inā te rerekē o ngā kōrero mō te oroko hīmatanga mai o te ao, tērā noa ētahi kōrero kua tīkina hei mātaitanga mō tēnei rangahau, mō tēnei tuhinga. Ka mutu, ko tā tēnei tuhinga, he whakaatu i te takenga mai o te riri, o te matawhāura Māori.

year: 2017