Sporting Nature(s): Wildness,the Primitive,and Naturalizing Imagery in MMA and Sports Advertisements

This essay examines two Nike commercials, a TapOut commercial, and the proliferation of mixed martial arts (MMA) t-shirt visual culture, all of which symbolically link wildness and “nature” as primitivity to their particular sport contexts. MMA in particular, it is argued, is more symbolically available to symbolic discourses of the “natural” and the “primitive” because of the sport's technological minimalism. The MMA t-shirt is posited as a safe, masculine primitive performance, functioning as an expressive personal substitute (or supplement) to the analogous tattoos “worn” by many fighters and fans. Additionally, this paper reviews and connects several disparate bodies of literature, moving from a discussion of eco-critical principles for critiquing the cultural production of nature / the natural, to an assessment of “nature” as primitivity, and finally to highlight how critical analyses of sport and MMA implicate related categories. While environmental communication has addressed the place of “nature” in advertising, little has been written about how discourses of nature, gender, and the environment intersect with the highly mediatized culture of sports. This article adds to the subfield by initiating just such a critical discussion. Finally, I contend that one of the main ideological functions of the employment of nature imagery here is to implicitly authorize notions of wildness or the “primitive” in close association with a male animal ideology, and also to symbolically reinforce existing narratives which naturalize aggression. These advertisements posit, I argue, a metaphysical rather than realist ecological discourse, enabling an unsustainable narrative of the naturalness of human-on-human violence and aggression.     

海南尖峰岭自然保护区野生观赏植物资源开发利用

概述了海南尖峰岭的自然条件与植被现状。通过全面深入的野外调查与标本采集,根据不同的园林应用,对调查区域内野生植物资源的观赏特性进行分类,提出开发利用尖峰岭自然保护区内野生植物资源的建议。     

Dispersal connectivity and reserve selection for marine conservation

Although larval dispersal is crucial for the persistence of most marine populations, dispersal connectivity between sites is rarely considered in designing marine protected area networks. In particular the role of structural characteristics (known as topology) for the network of larval dispersal routes in the conservation of metapopulations has not been addressed. To determine reserve site configurations that provide highest persistence values with respect to their connectivity characteristics, we model nine connectivity topological models derived from graph theory in a demographic metapopulation model. We identify reserve site configurations that provide the highest persistence values for each of the metapopulation connectivity models. Except for the minimally connected and fully connected populations, we observed two general ‘rules of thumb’ for optimising the mean life time for all topological models: firstly place the majority of reserves, so that they are neighbours of each other, on the sites where the number of connections between the populations is highest (hub), secondly when the reserves have occupied the majority of the vertices in the hub, then select another area of high connectivity and repeat. If there are no suitable hubs remaining then distribute the remaining reserves to isolated locations optimising contact with non-reserved sites.     

祁连山青海云杉群落物种组成及α多样性垂直分布

通过对祁连山自然保护区青海云杉群落物种组成及α多样性垂直分布格局的研究,结果表明：祁连山自然保护区青海云杉群落内有维管植物25科51属96种,其中乔木4种,灌木29种,草本62种;植物种相对集中分布于海拔2 680～2 890 m的阴坡;随海拔梯度升高,群落内植物种数减少,且相邻样地的共有种数呈不明显的先减少而后增加的趋势,Margalef指数、Shannon-Wiener指数和Pielou指数呈降低趋势;不同林型的植物种的丰富度依次为：青海云杉混交林〉草类-青海云杉林〉苔藓-青海云杉林〉灌木-青海云杉林〉马先蒿-青海云杉林。     

Determination of Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land and Wetland Land Use in Balçovas’ Delta by Remote Sensing and GIS Technique

Because of their intense vegetation and the fact that they include areas of coastline, deltas situated in the vicinity of big cities are areas of greet attraction for people who wish to get away from in a crowded city. However, deltas, with their fertile soil and unique flora and fauna, need to be protected. In order for the use of such areas to be planned in a sustainable way by local authorities, there is a need for detailed data about these regions. In this study, the changes in land use of the Balçova Delta, which is to the immediate west of Turkey’s third largest city Izmir, from 1957 up to the present day, were investigated. In the study, using aerial photographs taken in 1957, 1976 and 1995 and an IKONOS satellite image from the year 2005, the natural and cultural characteristics of the region and changes in the coastline were determined spatially. Through this study, which aimed to reveal the characteristics of the areas of land already lost as well as the types of land use in the Balçova delta and to determine geographically the remaining areas in need of protection, local authorities were provided with the required data support. Balçova consists of flat and fertile wetland with mainly citrus-fruit orchards and flower-producing green houses. The marsh and lagoon system situated in the coastal areas of the delta provides a habitat for wild life, in particular birds. In the Balçova Delta, which provides feeding and resting for migratory birds, freshwater sources are of vital importance for fauna and flora. The settlement area, which in 1957 was 182 ha, increased 11-fold up to the year 2005 when it reached 2,141 ha. On the other hand, great losses were determined in farming land, olive groves, forest and in the marsh and lagoon system. This unsystematic and rapid urbanization occurring in the study region is not only causing the loss of important agricultural land and wetland, but also lasting water and soil pollution.     

The sands of Forvie (Scotland): A case study in geomorphology and conservational management

The Sands of Forvie, National Nature Reserve, Scotland is a complex coastal sand dune system which is associated with the dynamic estuary of the River Ythan. The dune system has developed over more than 5000 years. The south part is a peninsula of dunes, sand hills, sand arcs, erosion and deflation surfaces. The north part is superimposed on a rock plateau with a cliff coastline. This plateau is covered in glacial deposits and is essentially an upland heath landscape. Some of the best examples of large active parabolic dunes in Britain are found in North Forvie. The sequence of geomorphic development is described. As a nature reserve with a rich ecology it has been managed for conservational purposes since 1960s. As such it is an excellent case study of how conservational management has changed to become more flexible and more aware of the importance of dynamic processes.     

四川喇叭河自然保护区的两栖爬行动物垂直分布及保护区型式

四川省喇叭河自然保护区已知分布有39种两栖爬行动物，本文对在该地区海拔700-2600m的地段划分为19个小带，并对其物种多样性的分布特点和分布规律进行了研究．结果表明：两栖爬行动物在保护区内具有明显的垂直分布现象，海拔900-1099m过渡带和2100-2299m过渡带是该地物种保护的关键地区，该区域具有物种丰富、区系复杂和生态脆弱等特点；因此，在规划建设和旅游开发过程中应避免对该区域的影响，同时保护区的规划应遵循物种多样性的分布规律，合理设计保护区的空间格局，初步提出了多核心、多层次的保护区新型式．图5表2参16     

周至国家级自然保护区综合评价体系研究

根据周至国家级自然保护区的实际情况，从3个准则、24个基层指标因子出发，运用定性和定量相结合的德尔菲法、模糊数学法以及层次分析相结合的综合方法进行评价。其中，运用对称贴近度进行各个指标因子排序比较；运用非对称贴近度评价出生态质量、有效管理质量、社会经济价值分别处于较好、较差、较好水平，同时得出周至自然保护区综合水平较好。     

东洞庭湖保护区1989～1998年水禽栖息地动态研究

栖息地的改变是全球生物多样性存在的最大威胁。利用卫星遥感技术和地理信息系统的空间分析功能,从景观尺度上研究了东洞庭湖自然保护区1989～1998年越冬水禽栖息地的动态变化特征,结果表明:1989～1998年水体、泥滩地、草滩地和水田等水禽适宜栖息地的面积在减小,破碎化程度有所增加,而芦苇滩地、旱地、林地、建成区这几类水禽分布较少栖息地类型的面积和破碎化程度的变化正好相反;近10年来水禽栖息地的变化比较明显,其中草滩地演变为芦苇滩地及水田改为旱作农田的变化最为突出,变化的面积分别占整个保护区面积的10.66%和6.13%。这些变化趋势意味着研究区近10年来水禽的适宜栖息地在退化。针对变化的原因,论文还对该区域生物多样性的保护与栖息地管理提出了可行的建议。     

特殊区域地表水环境背景值表征技术方法研究与应用

选取黑龙江省源头水保护区作为研究对象,根据DEM数据对保护区内随机布设的水质监测点控制单元进行划分并提取单元内的相关指标建立监测点背景特性量化模型,基于量化结果提出地表水环境背景值监测方案,建立背景值数据库.选取研究区自然属性指标与空间属性指标,以空间叠置技术与聚类分析方法对研究区地表水进行背景值分区,最终将黑龙江省分为六大地表水水质背景值地理分区,并计算了各分区地表水环境背景值表征范围.表征范围显示：依据现行标准进行水质评价,保护区内水质背景值已超出Ⅱ类水质标准限值.因此,基于水质背景值研究成果提出了考虑背景值影响下的水环境质量评价方法,并将方法应用于研究区,结果表明方法切实可行且优于单因子评价法.研究成果可为区域制定背景值影响下的水环境评价方法提供科学的数据支撑与理论依据.