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"Diamond, Jared M"
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Breeding Birds on Small Islands: Island Biogeography or Optimal Foraging?
1. We test MacArthur and Wilson's theory about the biogeography of communities on isolated habitat patches using bird breeding records from 16 small islands off the coasts of Britain and Ireland. 2. A traditional examination of patterns of species richness on these islands suggests that area and habitat diversity are important predictors, but that isolation and latitude have a negligible impact in this system. 3. Unlike traditional studies, we directly examine the fundamental processes of colonization and local extinction (cessation of breeding), rather than higher-order phenomena such as species richness. 4. We find that many of MacArthur and Wilson's predictions hold: colonization probability is lower on more isolated islands, and extinction probability is lower on larger islands and those with a greater diversity of habitats. 5. We also find an unexpected pattern: extinction probability is much lower on more isolated islands. This is the strongest relationship in these data, and isolation is the best single predictor of colonization and extinction. 6. Our results show that examination of species richness alone is misleading. Isolation has a strong effect on both of the dynamic processes that underlie richness, and in this system, the reductions in both colonization and extinction probability seen on more distant islands have opposing influences on species richness, and largely cancel each other out. 7. We suggest that an appropriate model for this system might be optimal foraging theory, which predicts that organisms will stay longer in a resource patch if the distance to a neighbouring patch is large. If nest sites and food are the resources in this system, then optimal foraging theory predicts the pattern we observe. 8 We advance the hypothesis that there is a class of spatial systems, defined by their scale and by the taxon under consideration, at which decision-making processes are a key driver of the spatiotemporal dynamics. The appropriate theory for such systems will be a hybrid of concepts from biogeography/metapopulation theory and behavioural ecology.
Journal Article
Evolution of Regulatory Responses to Feeding in Snakes
Do animal species that normally consume large meals at long intervals evolve to down‐regulate their metabolic physiology while fasting and to up‐regulate it steeply on feeding? To test this hypothesis, we compared postfeeding regulatory responses in eight snake species: four frequent feeders on small meals and four infrequent feeders on large meals. For each species, we measured factorial changes in metabolic rate, in activities and capacities of five small intestinal brush border nutrient transporters, and in masses of eight organs that function in nutrient processing after consumption of a rodent meal equivalent to 25% of the snake's body mass. It turned out that, compared with frequent feeders, infrequent feeders digest that meal more slowly; have lower metabolic rates, organ masses, and nutrient uptake rates and capacities while fasting; have higher energy expenditure during digestion; and have higher postfeeding factorial increases in metabolic rate, organ masses, and nutrient uptake rates and capacities. These conclusions, which conform to the hypothesis mentioned above, remain after phylogeny has been taken into account. The small organ masses and low nutrient transporter activities during fasting contribute to the low fasting metabolism of infrequent feeders. Quantitative calculations of partial energy budgets suggest that energy savings drive the evolution of low mass and activities of organs during fasting and of large postfeeding regulatory responses in infrequent feeders. We propose further tests of this hypothesis among other snake species and among other ectotherms.
Journal Article
Taiwan's gift to the world
Linguistic evidence for the Austronesian family of languages correlates well with archaeological evidence. Of the ten subgroups of Austronesian languages, nine are confined to Taiwan, and all Austronesian languages outside Taiwan belong to the tenth subgroup.
Journal Article
The world until yesterday : what can we learn from traditional societies ?
Diamond reveals how tribal societies offer an extraordinary window into how our ancestors lived for millions of years -- until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms -- and provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature.
Life with the artificial Anasazi
Scientists are combining masses of data with computer modeling to determine how the complex dynamics of human societies, such as population rise and fall, and movement can be explained. Two studies focus on the rise and fall of the Anasazi civilization of Native Americans in the southwestern US.
Journal Article
Upheaval : turning points for nations in crisis
\"In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this... trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet\" -- Provided by publishers.
Book
The Invisible Hands
Hedge fund managers who survived and profited through the 2008 financial crisis share their secrets
In light of the colossal losses and amidst the resulting confusion that still lingers, it is time to rethink money management in the broadest of terms. Drastic changes still need to be made, and managers who actually made money during 2008 make for a logical starting place.
This updated and revised edition of The Invisible Hands provides investors and traders with the latest thinking from some of the best and the most successful players in money management, highlighting the specific risk and return objectives of each, and discussing the evolution of certain styles and beliefs in money management.
* Divulges how top financial professionals are looking forward by thinking clearly, managing risk, and seeking a new paradigm of profit making opportunities in the post-crisis world
* Outlines investments and strategies for the rocky road ahead
* Gives guidance on how traditional investors such as pensions, endowments, foundations and family offices should rethink how they approach asset allocation and portfolio construction
* Written by respected industry expert Steven Drobny
Page by page, the professionals found in this book reveal their own approaches to markets, risk, and the broader world in which we live, as well as their advice on how investors should be approaching money management in today's uncertain world.
eBook