An increasing number of studies have described the presence of microplastics (≤5mm) in many different fish species, raising ecological concerns. The factors influencing the ingestion of microplastics ...by fish remain unclear despite their importance to a better understanding of the routes of microplastics through marine food webs. Here, we compare microplastics and planktonic organisms in surface waters and as food items of 20 Amberstripe scads (Decapterus muroadsi) captured along the coast of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to assess the hypothesis that fish ingest microplastics resembling their natural prey. Sixteen (80%) of the scad had ingested one to five microplastics, mainly blue polyethylene fragments that were similar in colour and size to blue copepod species consumed by the same fish. These results suggest that planktivorous fish, as a consequence of their feeding behaviour as visual predators, are directly exposed to floating microplastics. This threat may be exacerbated in the clear oceanic waters of the subtropical gyres, where anthropogenic litter accumulates in great quantity. Our study highlights the menace of microplastic contamination on the integrity of fragile remote ecosystems and the urgent need for efficient plastic waste management.
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•Most (80%) of Decapterus muroadsi fish from Rapa Nui had ingested microplastics.•Blue polyethylene polymers were preferentially ingested by the fish.•Fish seem to mistakenly ingest blue microplastics similar to their copepod prey.•Floating microplastics may enter food webs through visual planktivorous fishes.
Collapses of food producer societies are recurrent events in prehistory and have triggered a growing concern for identifying the underlying causes of convergences/divergences across cultures around ...the world. One of the most studied and used as a paradigmatic case is the population collapse of the Rapa Nui society. Here, we test different hypotheses about it by developing explicit population dynamic models that integrate feedbacks between climatic, demographic and ecological factors that underpinned the socio-cultural trajectory of these people. We evaluate our model outputs against a reconstruction of past population size based on archaeological radiocarbon dates from the island. The resulting estimated demographic declines of the Rapa Nui people are linked to the long-term effects of climate change on the island's carrying capacity and, in turn, on the ‘per-capita food supply’.
In 1721, a fleet under the command of Admiral Jakob Roggeveen set out on a circumnavigation. The armed ships of the Dutch East India Company advanced into the South Pacific, where a landing party ...committed a massacre on the island of Rapa Nui. European prospectors were supposedly willing to resort to violence in order to secure profits for the investors. An analysis of the reports by Carl Friedrich Behrens, a member of the ship’s militia, shows that the crew feared falling victim to the natural force of the ocean or the savages of the Southern Sea associated with it. This paranoid projection of one’s own savagery significantly encouraged the use of violence.
This article is based on a qualitative study regarding two World Heritage Island destinations, Gotland in the Baltic Sea and Rapa Nui in the Pacific Ocean. The two islands are used as cases ...illustrating different views on the development of cruise tourism. By applying conjunctural analysis the authors are able to account for the broader context of cruise tourism. Different perspectives on cruise tourism are found to be embedded in both local and global contexts, which are associated with three kinds of challenges: cruise tourism is developing without the local community’s involvement in decision making, it is not aligned with the aims of local tourism and ignores local products and services. We therefore call for more involvement of the local community in the development of cruise tourism.
Fish are an important food source for South Pacific (SP) island countries, yet there is little information on contamination of commercial marine fish species by plastic. The aim of our study was to ...perform a broad-scale assessment of plastic ingestion by fish common in the diet of SP inhabitants. We examined 932 specimens from 34 commercial fish species across four SP locations, and some of the prey they ingested, for the presence of marine plastics. Plastic was found in 33 species, with an average ingestion rate (IR) of 24.3 ± 1.4% and plastic load of 2.4 ± 0.2 particles per fish. Rapa Nui fish exhibited the greatest IR (50.0%), significantly greater than in other three locations. Rapa Nui is located within the SP subtropical gyre, where the concentration of marine plastics is high and food is limited. Plastic was also found in prey, which confirms the trophic transfer of microplastics.
Ecology of the collapse of Rapa Nui society Lima, M.; Gayo, E. M.; Latorre, C. ...
Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences,
06/2020, Letnik:
287, Številka:
1929
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Collapses of food producer societies are recurrent events in prehistory and have triggered a growing concern for identifying the underlying causes of convergences/divergences across cultures around ...the world. One of the most studied and used as a paradigmatic case is the population collapse of the Rapa Nui society. Here, we test different hypotheses about it by developing explicit population dynamic models that integrate feedbacks between climatic, demographic and ecological factors that underpinned the socio-cultural trajectory of these people. We evaluate our model outputs against a reconstruction of past population size based on archaeological radiocarbon dates from the island. The resulting estimated demographic declines of the Rapa Nui people are linked to the long-term effects of climate change on the island's carrying capacity and, in turn, on the ‘per-capita food supply’.
This study centers on excavations in the inner region of Rano Raraku, the megalithic statue (moai) quarry of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). In Rano Raraku a transformed landscape is reconstructed based ...upon soil chemistry, micromorphology, and macro and micro-botanical data framed within a stratigraphic and radiocarbon informed Bayesian model that is the first for Rapa Nui. We focus on moai RR-0001-156, one of only three moai in the island-wide corpus known to be embellished with a dense suite of cohesive petroglyph motifs. Our results confirm a cultivated landscape present on the inner south and east slopes of Rano Raraku that included sweet potato and probably bottle gourd along with Polynesian transfers banana, taro, and paper mulberry from the 14th century AD continuing into the early 19th century AD. During this time of sociopolitical transformation and land use change across the island labor-intensive rock gardens were developed to increase productivity as soil fertility declined in the context of deforestation and perhaps drought while the pan-island center of ‘Oroŋo (Orongo) emerged at Rano Kau with an intensive ritual focus on fertility. Rano Raraku in sharp contrast had (and still has) extremely fertile soils that are the weathering byproduct of lapilli tuff sediments generated from the quarrying process and localized human activity. This study validates Rano Raraku as the major moai production center, establishes chronological parameters for the unique embellished statue and describes agricultural fertility to hypothesize a rich, multi-use landscape for Rano Raraku inner region that is unparalleled elsewhere on Rapa Nui.
•Rano Raraku statue quarry: Easter Island’s horticultural “sweet spot”.•Statue quarrying and created rare soil fertility.•Statue production and horticulture coexisted from 14th century AD to 19th century.•Sweet potato (originating in South America) and Polynesian plant transfers cultivated in Rano Raraku.•Moai 156 was erected inside the quarry, not abandoned there, and likely served a ceremonial purpose.
Celem artykułu było zaprezentowanie sytuacji ludności Rapa Nui (Wyspy Wielkanocnej) oraz dokonanie jej prawnej analizy w świetle regionalnych norm prawa międzynarodowego. Rapa Nui została ...zaanektowana przez Chile w 1888 r. Od tego czasu obserwuje się łamanie praw ludności autochtonicznej zamieszkującej Wyspę. Sytuacja prawna mieszkańców Wyspy Wielkanocnej jest trudna ze względu na nierespektowanie przez chilijski rząd m.in. prawa do samostanowienia czy prawa do ochrony środowiska naturalnego. Założeniem badawczym było omówienie sytuacji faktycznej, w jakiej znajdują się autochtoni, oraz skonfrontowanie jej z sytuacją prawną, która daje sposobność do polepszenia trudnej pozycji Rapa Nui. Istnieje szereg norm prawa regionalnego Ameryki, wraz z serią wyroków Międzyamerykańskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka, które mogą pomóc w faktycznym odzyskaniu swobód przez miejscową ludność, a także doprowadzić do poprawy ich sytuacji materialnej. Zastosowana metoda badawcza to metoda analizy prawnej, polegająca na analizie treści obowiązujących regulacji prawnych, umów prawa wewnętrznego, regionalnego sądownictwa oraz międzynarodowych porozumień regulujących sytuację mniejszości autochtonicznych, a także wewnętrznych danych urzędowych. Wyniki wskazują na konkretne możliwości prawne dla ludności Rapa Nui, która ma podstawy egzekwować swoje prawa w zakresie uniwersalnych swobód obywatelskich, respektowania ich konstytucyjnych praw społecznych i ekonomicznych wraz z prawem do życia w czystym środowisku naturalnym.
Congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS) is a severe kidney disorder characterized by edema, massive proteinuria, and hypoalbuminemia that manifests
or within three months after birth. CNS affects 1-3 per ...100,000 children, primarily associated with genetic variants and occasionally with infections. Genetic analysis is the first-line method for diagnosis. The most common founder variants have been identified in European populations, often resulting in end-stage kidney disease by 1-2 years of age.
A female full-term neonate, without prenatal signs of kidney disease, was admitted to Rapa Nui (Eastern Island) Hospital at the age of 2 months due to bronchial obstruction. She presented fever, oliguria, edema, urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPCR) 433.33, and hypoalbuminemia (0.9 g/dL). She was transferred to a mainland Chilean hospital following CNS diagnosis. Viral screening detected cytomegalovirus (CMV) positivity in both blood and urine. A kidney biopsy revealed interstitial nephritis and diffuse podocyte damage and the tissue PCR resulted negative for CMV. Interviews with the parents revealed consanguinity, suggestive of hereditary CNS. Genetic analysis identified the Maori founder variant,
c.2131C>A (p.R711S), in homozygosis. The patient received albumin infusions and antiviral therapy, being discharged when she was 5 months old, with improved laboratory parameters evidenced by UPCR 28.55, albumin 2.5 g/dL, and cholesterol 190 mg/dL. Subsequent clinical monitoring was conducted through virtual and in-person consultations. At her last follow-up at 4 years 2 months old, she presented UPCR 16.1, albumin 3.3 g/dl and cholesterol 220 mg/dL, maintaining normal kidney function and adequate growth.
To our knowledge, this represents the first case of CNS in Chile carrying a
variant associated with prolonged kidney survival. As described in the Maori population, the patient exhibited a less severe clinical course compared to classical
patients. Genetic testing for the Maori founder variant in CNS patients related to the New Zealand population, could impact management decisions and potentially prevent the need for nephrectomies.
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