Life history aspects of the lentic caddisfly, Nectopsyche albida (Walker), were investigated in the field and laboratory using systematic observational and conventional collecting methods. A two cohort population could be recognized based on field collections of approx. 110,000 adults and 2000 larvae made during 1975-1976.Premating swarming is described and consists of "figure 8" display flights performed by males at dusk and dawn. Attracted females then enter the swarm and select a mate. Sperm transfer is completed via a spermatophore in mid-air.Selection of aquatic vascular plants with suprasurface shoots as an oviposition site is favored over areas of water lacking such cues. Hatching larvae disperse to the shallows to develop. Bylate autumn predominantly fifth-instar larvae remain and these return to the deeper waters of the pond to overwinter on the aquatic plant, Myriophyllum exalbescens Fernald. Only about 20% of these late instar larvae move to the shallows to pupate during late spring.New records of nematode (Mermithidae) and water mite (Pionidae) infestations of the adults are also reported.

During the eighteenth century, the Chocó became an area of great importance to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The region's sources of precious metal not only contributed to the economic recovery of the neighbouring cities of the Cauca Valley, but also enriched immensely the individual owners of the Chocô's mines and slaves gangs, the merchants who traded with them, and the royal officials and priests who served there. Despite the region's economic importance, it remained badly underdeveloped: a combination of climate and terrain discouraged Spanish settlement. While Spaniards were not attracted to the Chocô f or the purpose of settlement, slaves were nevertheless introduced in large numbers to exploit its gold deposits, and these were supported by the labour of the region's native inhabitants. This thesis will show, however, that it took the Spaniards nearly 300 years effectively to bring the Chocó under Crown control. Although the region had been known since the earliest days of conquest - Balboa, Almagro, and Pizarro had been among the first to explore the area - Indian resistance prevented the Spaniards from establishing a firm and lasting foothold in Indian territory until the 1660s. By the 1670s, a Franciscan mission had been established for the purpose of converting the Indians of the Chocô to the Christian Faith. Even at this stage, however, Spanish control was far from secure. By the 1680s, one of the Indian groups inhabiting the region - the Citarâ - had rebelled against the colonists and their increasing demands, and massacred as many Spaniards as they were able to surprise. It was the defeat of the rebel leaders which marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Chocó peoples. After the region had been finally pacified, Spaniards began to settle the area in growing numbers, the size of the slave population grew at a rapid rate, and the exploitation of gold deposits began in earnest. But while the Spaniards had undoubtedly established control of the native peoples by the beginning of the eighteenth century, the latter continued to resist both resettlement and conversion by fleeing from their settlements and refusing to accept the teaching of Christian Doctrine. Their continuing resistance was facilitated by the ineffective methods of administration introduced in the Chocó, controlled by corrupt tenientes, corregidores, secular priests, and Franciscan missionaries. These are the main themes that will be taken up in this study.

This thesis examines the experiences of the inhabitants of St. Vincent during the first fifty years of freedom. It examines social changes, work opportunities and areas of conflicts that developed during the period. It also details the effects of the declining economy on the islanders. The main subjects of the thesis are the agricultural labourers who were freed from slavery. It investigates their working lives, their attempts to achieve independent status as freeholders and their family and religious experiences. It also examines the changing attitudes towards them that were held by the planter class, the clergy and colonial officials, and how these views influenced the formation of a free society. In particular, the thesis investigates how perspectives of race, class and gender differed within the island, and how these divergencies created hostilities between different social groups often leading to unrest. While the main focus of the thesis is St. Vincent, it also compares conditions in St. Vincent with other Caribbean islands and Britain. This has helped illustrate how some local conditions, such as the lack of available land, ineffective plantation management and economic factors, reduced the opportunities for the freed people of St. Vincent. However, it also illustrates a commonality of experiences among the poor in both the Caribbean and Britain. It illustrates how the lives of the poor in the Caribbean were often restricted by the same class and gender biases experienced in Britain, as well as by racial prejudices held by the ruling authorities. The thesis relies on a variety of source material. Most of the primary sources were official Colonial Office dispatches, newspapers and Wesleyan missionary letters and reports. Throughout the thesis, I have questioned the motivations of the writers of these documents and interpreted the discourses they employed. I have also attempted to place the findings of my research within current debates among Caribbean historians of the postemancipation period to illustrate the importance of further gender analysis and research.

This study provides a first approach to the economic and social history of the Valley of Tulancingo in the late colonial period. In examining the development of this agricultural area of central Mexico, the author discusses the broader transformations that affected the country as a whole during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: population growth, migration, urbanization, and the commercialization of agriculture. On this score, the study participates in the current debate on the best way to characterize the Mexican agricultural sector at the end of the colonial rule. Most modern historiography tends to emphasize that demographic growth transformed the traditional balance between population and resources and was a major cause of economic and social disruption in the countryside. The author combines new evidence with recent findings from the specialist literature, to argue that Tulancingo fully participated in the roster of economic and social changes of the period. The work begins with a description of Tulancingo's population trends and an analysis of the spatial distribution of the population. It goes on with an analysis of the Valley's agricultural economy, describing the complementary rural elements of Indian communities and haciendas, and examining a series of related transformations in landholding, marketing, and social relations. This study will be of interest to anyone concerned with Mexican economic and social history, or the history of agriculture.

This research was prompted by the questions 'What is being Chilean?, Who are tile Chileans? Do all those born in the country feel the same about their nationality and about their fellow nationals? A large number of Chileans will describe their country as culturally and ethnically homogenous, probably because they do not include the native peoples in their description; least of all would they acknowledge that mestizo blood runs in their veins. Therefore, my objective has been to deconstruct the myth homogeneity in the Chilean identity. Moreover, this research, which started as an exploration into tile complex terrain of tile Chilean identity, finally turned into a rather painful soul-searching process. It is obvious that having been born in Chile, it was impossible for me not to become involved, not to feel touched more than once, not to feel guilty more than once. The identities of the indigenous peoples and the descendants of Spanish colonisers have been profoundly transformed during 500 years of social, cultural and political change. Tile rise of the nations states and tile construction of national identities after the wars of Independence were key moments for Latin America, but although no longer tinder colonial rule, the social and cultural differences between 'Indians' and Spaniards continued into the republic, based on the imagined superiority of the Spanish culture, language and religion. Currently Chile, where in recent times - and in the past as well - the military played a crucial role, is in a process of globalisation and reconstruction of the national identity. The research was framed by the understanding that the imagined community of the nation is formed by 'us' and 'them', and a distinction which does not indicate a binary opposition but a complex articulation which both supports and fractures tile nation. In the imagined community of tile Chilean nation identities are multiple and cultures are multiple too. They are constituted in relation to dimensions such as history, place and culture. Geography, in Chile, is also a defining marker of national identity that does not imply inert geography, but an essential dimension in the cultural and social dynamics of tile nation. I challenge the view, long sustained by many Chileans that their country is culturally and ethnically homogeneous. In order to achieve this end I explore the 'skeleton in the cupboard' of the Chilean identity, that is to say, their mestizo origin. With that objective in mind, this research was conceived as a contribution to make Chileans come to terms with the fact that they have some amount of 'Indian' blood in their veins. Only when they are able to take that step, will they be able to appreciate and take pride in the ancient cultures they descend from because in that way they will shed light into that dark comer of their identity. National communities are not only in people's heads or in the imagination of a nation of citizens, but are projected and articulated through channels like the media and educational practice; they are also embodied and practised. From the moment that identity is conceived, not as a fixed ethos formed in a remote past, but as a future project, Chileans great challenge now is to define what they want to be. There may be different projects, alternative proposals and different versions of national identity that will lead on to different roads, but they must include a notion of collective identity that is open to alterity, invention and transgression and also a diversity that Chileans have so far refused to accept.

This study examines what effect the presence of the Chinese in the West Indies had on understandings of belonging in terms of nation. It examines the construction of the category "Chinese" across different modes, particularly literary texts, from the nineteenth century to the present, and from the positions of colonial, creole and Chinese spaces. The results of this research challenge the common view that the Chinese have had a marginal impact on the perception of nationhood in the West Indies. Instead, images of the Chinese were, and continue to be, a key means of exploring the ambiguities, potentialities and limitations of nation as it developed in the West Indies. In particular, they reveal that neither "nation" nor "belonging" are static positions; rather, they signify continuing renegotiations of power relationships and cultural identities. Several factors impact on representations of the Chinese. In the nineteenth century, such images were molded by the specific aims of colonial enterprises, entangled at the intersection of the discursive constructs of "East" and "West" during a period of mass migrations and the peculiar tensions of post-emancipation West Indian societies. In the twentieth century, "the Chinese" have been created in response to a need to assert ownership of what was once colonised space and to perform nation before a global audience. Of late, Chinese West Indians have taken a more visibly active role in the construction and dissemination of images of themselves and their communities. In the process they have sometimes radically redefined the imaginative nation space of the West Indies and, in the process, challenge established boundaries of belonging, and contest "belonging" itself.

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No description available.

No description available.

The improved dry matter digestibility of the brown midrib (bmr) sorghum cultivars is attributed to constitutive deficiencies of the lignin biosynthesis pathways which results in lower lignin concentrations. The lower lignin concentrations are expressed only in a homozygous recessive genotypes and it is phenotypically identified by a brown to tan vascular coloration present in the mid-rib of the leaf blades. Utilizing this trait increases forage consumption and productivity of both dairy and beef production. There is a need to extend this trait into more forage production systems, including those in Central America where forages constitute a major portion of the ruminants’ diets. To achieve this goal, the bmr12 gene was incorporated via conventional breeding, into 16 lines derived from commonly used Central American sorghum varieties. These experimental lines were tested for agronomic performance during 2010 and 2011 in the Central American region. In addition, grain and biomass composition were estimated using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) whereas the dry biomass digestibility was evaluated using an in vitro approach. The combined analysis indicated the bmr trait increased in vitro dry matter digestibility and reduced acid detergent lignin and acid detergent fiber levels. This combination results in improved sorghum forage quality. Furthermore, negative traits typically associated with bmr mutants such as plant height reduction, delayed flowering, and lodging problems were not observed and the bmr trait had no effect on grain composition. Additionally, post hoc tests identified CI0947bmr as the best experimental line for dry both biomass and grain yield across multiple environments. Stability analysis, identified CI0947bmr as the most stable genotype for both traits. Finally, the “which-won-where” biplot analysis graphically identified CI0947bmr as the best bmr inbred for Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua across several environments.