Towards an Ecological Pedagogy: Body Movement for Ecological Consciousness

This paper examines the moving body as a vehicle for raising ecological consciousness. Due to the modern over-preoccupation with the pursuit of rational aims, human interactions with the surrounding environment increasingly lack conscious awareness. Consequently, in the modern world people tend to lack an ecological consciousness. Nevertheless, the human body is a rich reservoir of ecological significance. From birth, humans are woven into tremendous interconnection with the world. However, humans thrive when their sensitivity to the physical world exists in harmony with their ability to pursue their rational aims. It is the combination of these characteristics that enables humans to survive in capricious surroundings and prosper in a wide array of contexts. Today, the human species faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens to collapse the reciprocality of the ecological bonds bolstering the prosperity of all worldly beings. This paper proposes that it is no longer a rational strategy for people to remain inattentive to their embodied ecological resonance, and that the moving body is an adequate pedagogical site for raising ecological consciousness. Ritualized body movements derived from Chinese traditional cultivation systems such as Taijiquan could orient practitioners to reestablish a perceptual intimacy with the larger cosmic world, thereby raising their ecological consciousness.

Changes in the Ecology and Abundance of Smallmouth Bass in Lake Ontario: 1958-2014

Understanding the reasons for long-term population change in a species requires an evaluation of ecological variables that may account for the observed dynamics. In this study, long-term changes in indices of Smallmouth Bass condition and population levels were examined for eastern Lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte. Smallmouth Bass are an extremely important recreational fish species native to Lake Ontario. They have experienced numerous changes in their environment through direct human impacts, climate change, predation, and habitat sharing with non-native species. Smallmouth Bass have experienced an increase in body length and weight likely due to a diet shift from crayfish to predominantly Round Gobies which has allowed them to increase their growth rate. According to existing assessment data however, this increase in body size has not been associated with an increase in abundance. Long-term data from gill net sampling shows that Smallmouth Bass populations have been declining since the late 1980s with no indication of recovery. This could be due to a variety of factors, but it is most likely due to a change in the selectivity of gill nets because of the change in body size as well as a habitat shift away from gill net sampling sites. Adjusting for gill net selectivity has revealed that sub-adult bass abundance is currently greater than it was historically, and that very large bass are likely not being retained within the gill nets that are currently used. The use of a long-term data set in this study has led to a much better understanding of Smallmouth Bass abundance and ecology.

Contact zone dynamics and the evolution of reproductive isolation in a North American treefrog, the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)

Despite over seven decades of speciation research and 25 years of phylogeographic studies, a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms that generate biological species remains elusive. In temperate zones, the pervasiveness of range fragmentation and subsequent range expansions suggests that secondary contact between diverging lineages may be important in the evolution of species. Thus, such contact zones provide compelling opportunities to investigate evolutionary processes, particularly the roles of geographical isolation in initiating, and indirect selection against hybrids in completing (reinforcement), the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation. The spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) has six well-supported mitochondrial lineages many of which are now in secondary contact. Here I investigate the evolutionary consequences of secondary contact of two such lineages (Eastern and Interior) in Southwestern Ontario using genetic, morphological, acoustical, experimental, and behavioural evidence to show accentuated divergence of the mate recognition system in sympatry. Mitochondrial and microsatellite data distinguish these two lineages but also show ongoing hybridization. Bayesian assignment tests and cline analysis imply asymmetrical introgression of Eastern lineage nuclear markers into Interior populations. Male calls are divergent between Eastern and Interior allopatric populations and show asymmetrical reproductive character displacement in sympatry. Female preference of pure lineage individuals is also exaggerated in sympatry, with hybrids showing intermediate traits and preference. I suggest that these patterns are most consistent with secondary reinforcement. I assessed levels of post-zygotic isolation between the Eastern and Interior lineages using a laboratory hybridization experiment. Hybrid tadpoles showed equal to or greater fitness than their pure lineage counterparts, but this may be countered through competition. More deformities and developmental anomalies in hybrid tadpoles further suggest post-zygotic isolation. Despite evidence for pre-mating isolation between the two lineages, isolation appears incomplete (i.e. hybridization is ongoing). I hypothesize that potentially less attractive hybrids may circumvent female choice by adopting satellite behaviour. Although mating tactics are related to body size, genetic status may play a role. I show that pure Eastern males almost always engage in calling, while hybrids adopt a satellite tactic. An absence of assortative mating, despite evidence of female preference, suggests successful satellite interception possibly facilitating introgression.