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Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change. Here, we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies — not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond.
The categorical view of mental illness, which implies the existence of discrete neuropsychiatric disorders that are distinguishable from each other as well as from the healthy state, is evolving into a more realistic “dimensional” view. The dimensional view explains neuropsychiatric symptoms in terms of natural phenotypical variance along certain independent dimensions that are continuous with “normal.” This view can account for the comorbidity and extensive symptom sharing that is observed among categorically defined disorders. Classic animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders—very much in line with the categorical model of psychopathology—explicitly or implicitly attempt to replicate the human disorder in the animal subject, and the validity of the model hinges on how closely the animal model match the human condition. As the conceptualization of mental illness shifts from categorical to dimensional, approaches to animal modeling of mental illness must also change. Dimensional approaches to animal modeling include the “domain interplay” approach proposed by Kalueff and colleagues (Kalueff et al., 2008a, Kalueff et al., 2008b, LaPorte et al., 2010), the “behavioral domain” approach proposed by Kas and colleagues (Kas et al., 2007, Kas et al., 2009, Kas et al., 2011). A common theme running through these newer ideas is that psychopathology represents dysfunction in specific cognitive, emotional, or behavioral domains (such as fear and stress responsiveness, motivation, hedonic capacity, and social interaction). These domains comprise adaptive responses and behaviors that are conserved among mammalian and nonmammalian species. Identifying the genetic and environmental factors associated with phenotypic variation within these domains should provide clues to understanding the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. Likewise, the “domain interplay” approach aims to identify factors that are associated with dysfunction in multiple domains and those that underlie the tendency for certain domain dysfunctions to co-occur. This chapter provides an overview of the natural history of the laboratory mouse and rat, emphasizing how domestication has altered some behavioral characteristics, while other behaviors have remained unchanged. An understanding of rodent behavior in natural conditions can provide new insights into laboratory rodent behavior and suggest alternative interpretations of the results that are obtained in standard behavioral tests. Factors responsible for individual differences in personality traits are likely to overlap with those that confer vulnerability to mental illness, so the study of individual differences in “animal personality” is highly relevant to understanding psychopathology. One basic stable personality trait, coping style, is strongly associated with behavioral responses in several tests that are relevant to modeling neuropsychiatric disorders. The proactive coping style is associated with decreased behavioral and cognitive flexibility, decreased immobility in the forced swim tests, susceptibility to learned helplessness, and susceptibility to developing stereotypies. The reactive coping style is associated with increased behavioral and cognitive flexibility, increased immobility in the forced swim test, and increased avoidance behavior in approach–avoidance test paradigms. Personality is formed through an interaction between genotype and environment. Some important environmental factors that can account for individual differences in behavioral traits are prenatal stress and intrauterine position (in the case of litter-bearing mammals), the mother–young interactions, the social status of the mother, and environmental enrichment. Finally, this chapter discusses which aspects of human mental illness probably do not have homologs in nonhuman animals; these include rumination, anxiety sensitivity, and metacognition. Nevertheless, a body of work indicates that the so-called “big-brained” mammals (great apes, elephants, and dolphins) might have human-like capacities for self-awareness, empathy, metacognition, and perhaps theory of mind.
<b>Publisher's Description:</b> The papers in this volume all result from field work in the Indian Himalayas and the TAR conducted by the Interdisciplinary Research Unit, Austrian Science Fund. While the research goals were established within the framework of transdisciplinary research, each scholar approaches scientific problems according to the methodologies associated with their respective disciplines: philology, philosophy, history, art history, linguistics, and anthropology.<br>In the contribution published here, Steinkellner, Klimburg-Salter, Widorn, and Jahoda explicate the structure, methods, and advantages of transdisciplinary research. Lasic and Tauscher analyse two different philosophical questions on the basis of manuscripts from Tabo (Spiti) and Gondhla (Lahaul). Pasang Wangdu, Tropper and Ponweiser each examine a Buddhist monument from a different perspective: Keru (TAR), Wanla (Ladakh), and Tabo. Papa-Kalantari and Hein discuss respectively an iconographic problem and oral traditions from Spiti and upper Kinnaur.
Khawa Karpo, in the eastern Himalayas, is a mountain considered sacred throughout Tibet, and is internationally recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. Numerous areas within this landscape are considered ‘sacred’ by the indigenous Tibetans of the region, who interact with these sites in ways potentially beneficial to conservation. Our previous remote sensing study indicated that sacred sites are found in habitats with greater species richness, diversity, and endemism than randomly selected non-sacred sites. This study examines the role of sanctity in biodiversity conservation within habitats in the Khawa Karpo region by pairing plots within the same habitats in sacred and non-sacred areas. Understory richness, diversity, cover, and number of useful species are measured; for trees, richness, diversity, cover, and density are measured. Results indicate that within habitats sanctity does not affect understory plant communities; however, within sacred areas trees are larger (p = 0.003) and forests have greater cover (p = 0.003) than non-sacred areas. Our results indicate that, whereas placement of sacred areas and preservation of vegetation cover affects useful plants, biodiversity and endemism, within habitats sacred sites preserve old growth trees and forest structure. In sum, Tibetan sacred sites are ecologically unique and important for conservation on varying scales of landscape, community, and species.