The Savanna Controversy

Of the memoir entitled "Lagoa Santa" by Eugen Warming / [R. Goodland] -- Ecological studies of cerrado vegetation : a review of the literature / Robert Goodland -- The Cerrado Symposium, 1962, summaries / Mário Guimarães Ferri.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.

In 1971 the International Society of Tropical Ecology and the International Association for Ecology held a meeting on Tropical Ecology, with an emphasis on organic production in New Delhi, India. At this meeting a Working Group on Tropical Ecology was organized, consisting of K. C. Misra (India), F. Malaisse (Zaire), E. Medina (Venezuela) and F. Golley (U.S.A.). The object of this Working Group was to stimulate interaction between tropical ecologists through future scientific meetings and other exchanges and communications. A second meeting of ISTE and INTECOL was held in Caracas, Venezuela in 1973, under the direction of Medina and Golley and sponsored by the Depart ment of Ecology, Institute Venezolano Investigaciones Cientificas (lVIC). The basic structure of the meeting was provided by series of invited papers which considered topics of special interest from both an applied and theoretical view. These included physiological ecology (Pannier), populations (Rabinovich), tropical savannas (Lamotte), rivers (Sioli), estuaries (Rodriguez), and island ecosystems (Mueller-Dombois). Contributed papers considered details of these and other ecological topics, including the application of ecology to human problems. The present volume includes the invited papers listed above and a sampling of contributed papers which together illustrate the trends of research in tropical ecology. The papers show that tropical ecology is a vigorous subject of research. While the papers in this volume do not provide reviews of all the topics of study in tropical ecology, they do present authoritative statements on progress in the major subject in the field.

The climate of the Rupununi savannas is closely examined with particular reference to the effects on moisture conditions of the wet and dry seasons. Two areas are selected where the forest savanna boundary might be climatically controlled. The first is the windward side of the Kanuku Mountains and the other the lee of the Pakaraima Mountains. At the foot of the Kanuku Mountains forest vegetation displays a tendency to extend onto the level savanna surface while savanna tends to extend into the mountains of the Pakaraimas. It was therefore anticipated that the first area would be wetter and the second area dryer than the open savanna. Although the former rainfall is only slightly greater, it is shown from a study of the water balance that the area has only half of the moisture deficit experienced by the savannas during the dry season. It is also demonstrated that in the lee of the Pakaraimas rainfall is so reduced that soil moisture recharge may only rarely be complete. In this instance the aridity is markedly greater than in the savannas. A similar situation seems to exist in the lee of the Kanuku Mountains but is not proved. It is concluded that the uncharacteristic location of the forest savanna boundary in both of these areas is largely due to the differences in the moisture regime caused by the changes in climate. (Author).

"The Evolution Conspiracy" exposes the faults in evolutionary theories, the half-truths, and the inconsistencies through a secular lens.

An interdisciplinary text on the world's savannas, covering the geography, ecology, economics and politics of savanna regions. Savannas are a distinct vegetation type, covering a third of the world's land surface area and supporting a fifth of the world's population. There has been a wide range of literature on the subject, but the majority of work has focused on the ecology or development of savanna areas, ignoring the wider interdisciplinary issues affecting contemporary savannas. World Savannas aims to buck this trend, providing students with an up-to-date and comprehensive introduction to the global importance of savannas.

Annotation Achebe writes of the old Africa and the new, tribal warfare and the war that goes on in people's hearts. His story takes place two years after a military coup in the mythical West African state of Kangan, and shows the transformation of a brilliant young.