How can linguistics contribute to our knowledge about human dispersals in the distant past? We will consider the case of New Guinea and surrounding islands, one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world. This study is a follow-up on the Eurocores OMLL project Pioneers of Island Melanesia, reported in Dunn et al. (2005).
Peatlands are common in montane areas above 1,000 m in New Guinea and become extensive above 3,000 m in the subalpine zone. In the montane mires, swamp forests and grass or sedge fens predominate on swampy alley bottoms. These mires may be 4–8 m in depth and up to 30,000 years in age. In Papua New Guinea (PNG) there is about 2,250 km2 of montane peatland, and Papua Province (the Indonesian western half of the island) probably contains much more. Above 3,000 m, peat soils form under blanket bog on slopes as well as on valley floors.
Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the region south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and Island Melanesia - lands that have remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present .
We present the first large-scale synthesis of indigenous knowledge (IK) on New Guinea’s useful plants based on a quantitative review of 488 references and 854 herbarium specimens. Specifically, we assessed (i) spatiotemporal trends in the documentation of IK, (ii) which are New Guinea’s most useful ecosystems and plant taxa, (iii) what use categories have been better studied, and (iv) which are the best studied indigenous groups. Overall, our review integrates40,376 use reports and 19,948 plant uses for 3434 plant species.
Species diversity
Human Adaptation and Plant Use in Highland New Guinea 49,000 to 44,000 Years Ago
10 paged document outlining the development and conservation in societies of great cultural and biological diversity in New Guinea of PNG. This was published in 2003
Here we analyze rainfall data for the New Guinea region comprising station observations, reanalysis products and satellite-based estimates in order to better understand some of these details. We find that most gridded products are limited due to their relatively coarse horizontal resolutions that fail to resolve topographic effects. However, the relatively fine resolution TRMM satellite–based product appears to provide reliable estimates and linear correlations between the data and the NINO34 sea surface temperature index provides an insight into the pattern of ENSO rainfall impacts.
The New Guinea region evolved within the obliquely and rapidly converging Australian and Pacific plate boundary zone. It is arguably one of the most tectonically complex regions of the world, and its geodynamic evolution involved microplate formation and rotation, lithospheric rupture to form ocean basins, arc-continent collision, subduction polarity reversal, collisional orogenesis, ophiolite obduction, and exhumation of (ultra)high-pressure metamorphic rocks.
Rapid Marine Biodiversity Assessment of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea—Survey II (2000)
The mammals collected on the Chevert Expedition in 1875 are discussed on the basis of information in William Macleay’s journal, Lawrence Hargrave’s diary and old newspaper articles. William Petterd’s published reports give the collection location of the type specimen of Isoodon macrourus moresbyensis.
The island of New Guinea harbours one of the world’s largest tracts of intact tropical forest, with 41% of its land